#for the record: this is about someone who died a year and a half ago

[star-anise]

"Don't grieve for me when I'm go—" listen up here asshole. If you wanted to tell me how to feel about your death, you shoulda fucking stuck around. You're not here so you don't get a say anymore. You're not the one who has to deal with the emotional and logistical consequences of your passing. You are the missing piece in my life now, so you have (had) neither the knowledge nor ability to predict the best way for me to cope with it. And frankly, yes, I would have felt better if there'd been some kind of massive event where I could join everyone else grieving your loss and we could say to each other the awful hollow things that can't make it okay but can make it better, and then we could go get drunk about how much we missed you. So frankly, go fuck yourself. I miss you like hell. Hopefully you can take this criticism on board the next time you die. xo.

[rafesweetie]

in which you’re forced into having a talk with your ex-boyfriend, rafe cameron, on the boat ride to morocco.

being a pogue and rafe cameron’s ex was not easy. although you dated shortly before he killed peterkin, and you were sure he barely even remembered your favourite colour, seeing him blatanly disrespect you and his friends, and go down a path you tried so hard to prevent him from, was hard to watch. but now he’s picked himself up since ward died. you thought you had another chance to at least be on good terms. sending flowers and a card to tanneyhill when ward died, smiling at him when you’d see him around. it didn’t work, he still hated you and your friends.

fortunately, he redeemed himself ever so slightly by volunteering to take the pogues to morocco. rafe had to find chandler groff, you guys wanted the blue crown. it was perfect.

until jj punched him, that is. he knocked him out cold. with a scolding “jj!” coming from majority of the pogues, including you, jj carries him down into the downstairs washroom and ties his wrists to a pole. they don’t trust him, which is fair. you don’t either — you shouldn’t, anyway.

rafe was down there quietly for a mere half hour until he woke up with a groan from his head hitting the ground earlier, followed up with yelling once he realizes he was stuck down there.

all touching your noses and saying ‘not it’ the minute pope suggests someone going down there to check on him, you’re the unlucky one who said it last. shutting up your protests, john b gently coaxes you downstairs, saying things like, “you used to mack on him”, “this is good, you know him”, “he won’t hurt you,” john b leaves you downstairs once you make it to the door of the bathroom. knocking gently, you timidly ask, “can i come in?”

there’s no answer. you can picture him. wrists tied, brows furrowed, eyes closed tightly as his head leans against the wall and towards the ceiling. his gorgeous stressed face. you slowly open the door, peeking your head in. “hi,” you say gently, timid around the scary and aggressive man you have the curse of calling your ex.

“…hey,” rafe says, voice rough as he shuts his eyes tight.

unsure what to say, you awkwardly stand there and stare down at him. “um, i brought asprin,”

“right, right, like i can fuckin’ swallow it. what, you gonna throw it in my mouth like a.. seal or something?” sassy, his upper lip lifts a bit as he thinks about it and isn’t very fond of the idea.

a second of silence as you figure out what to say. “…um, ill just set it down here,” you say, putting the container down beside him. “sorry about your head.”

“yeah, uh, your little boyfriend can’t control his fists, huh?”

“…not my boyfriend,” you correct softly, though you’re not sure why you feel the need to tell him that. “but no one really.. trusts you, rafe, so you kind of brought this on yourself—“

he quickly interrupts you. “bullshit. you know why that’s bullshit? because i was helping. who got you this boat, huh? me. i did. rafe. i’m the reason that you guys aren’t swimming, or some shit, to north africa. i’m being helpful and understanding, and this is what i get. you think that’s fair?” when you’re stood there in silence at his sudden raised voice, he repeats, “you think that’s fucking fair, y/n!?” he kicks a can in anger.

it’s like you’re his girlfriend again as you sit down next to him instantly instead of running. you get deja vu to the time three years ago when he was high on coke and got kicked out of the house. everyone ignored him except for you. “..um, okay, i’m gonna give you some asprin,” you say softly. “help your head. open,” you tell him, grabbing a pill as he gives you a look but opens his mouth. you pop it in his mouth and he dry swallows. “there.”

you two share a look. you don’t think it’s a bad look by any means. he looks frustrated still, but there’s an underlying gentleness in his eyes, as if he registers you’re still the same girl you were when you two were together. “…and, um, for the record, i don’t think it’s fair that you’re down here. you helped us, thats.. nice.”

the word ‘us’ when referring to you and the pogues makes him feel weird. “i don’t get why you hang out with them,” he mutters as he looks at the ground. “tried so fucking hard to keep you away from them when we were.. together.”

“i know,” you whisper, your gaze dropping as well, to his tied wrists. you feel awful. “trust me, your warnings still play in my head when i’m with them sometimes,”

“you remind me of sarah.” he says. you’re not sure what that means.

“you hate sarah,”

“nah, nah— i don’t hate her. hate who she’s turned into,” he adjusts himself. “she makes me sad. i’m sad for her, alright? she had so much potential.“ he shrugs. “but there’s no saving her. she’s in too deep,” he looks back up at you again. “i think there’s saving you, though,”

“…this is weird, rafe,”

“how?” he asks.

“because in the years we’ve been broken up, you’ve never talked to me about this. feels like it’s a… trick or something,”

“it’s not a trick,” he assures, voice still rough. “look, i’m out half a mill, i’m tied up in a bathroom, i’m probably gonna.. die or something. i got nothing to lose, may as well tell you my concern,”

“um, i appreciate it,” you say gently, unsure how to respond. “and i’m gonna go back upstairs.”

“hey— no, woah, woah, woah,” he stops you quickly. “stay. okay?”

“i should go up and help with dinner, though—“

“no, stay. i— i want you to stay, okay? i don’t wanna be down here alone, and i want you away from the pogues,”

he doesn’t wanna be alone. you feel bad for him all over again, nodding gently as you sit back down beside him. you always were so good for rafe.

you’re not sure how long you’ll be down here with him. maybe until it’s late at night and he’s asleep. so gently, after about five minutes of silence, to ease some of the tension and pass the time, you murmur a, “truth or dare?”

rafe just smiles.

[shower-phantom-ideas]

Batman figures out Dannys secret identity but the thing is that hes not in the system. Like any system. His face isnt a match for anyone in any database anywhere??!?! This needs investigation. So someone bumps into him for some dna. Which turns out wasn’t even needed because he got stabbed while defending Damian so we got fresh blood samples now baby! But nothing. Not even a relative or anything.

What they do learn is that he just started appearing on cameras a little over 6months ago but before that? Nothing. And he doesn’t seem to be any older than 15 (hes 16 and a half fuck you batman) but how could someone so young be so hidden in the system. Hell even in paper records they can’t find anything in him.

Maybe Bruce can vent to his Justice League friends…. No who am I kidding man would rather die then that. Probably Red Robin (yum) who gets to vent to his friends. Anyway I just need Clark added to the mix because I want him to think Danny isnt human. Boiz heart isnt going fast enough. If it’s going at all. Holy shit Bruce is that a ghost?? Ahh a ghost! … ok wait I hear a beat phew not a ghost. But he might need medical help.

Oo maybe now we have something. A reason hes not jn any record. He might be a testtube baby. Look at how scrawny and guarded he is. Aww B he might have been some sort of labrat. Oh we gotta help him out. He hardly gets any social interactions so it totally makes sense. Look at him B he doesn’t even run from Joker (I hardly know her). We have to protect this poor lost child.

Oh lord now the batclan is spiralling with crazy theories about him.

Do you think Danny would know too? Like maybe hes watching all the nonsense unfold. Or hes trying very hard to convince the bats that no hes just a normal human 16 year old. Like he ho la di da look at me just a normal kid doing normal kid things.

[schmergo]

Today I learned a fact that kinda blew my mind, and I'm almost astonished I didn't know this before as someone whose chief interests include zoo animals, the U.S. Presidency, true crime, and D.C. history. What an opener, right? How could those topics possibly combine?

Well, buckle up and get ready to hear how negligent National Zoo leadership potentially could have killed a US President or started a local epidemic. Spoiler alert: They didn't. But only because luck was in their favor.

First, the part that I DID already know. In 2004, Lucy Spelman stepped down as the director of the National Zoo after a spate of controversial zoo incidents, including a string of unfortunate (and often preventable) animal deaths, misleading and missing zoo records, and other signs of negligence. The AZA even "tabled" renewing the National Zoo's accreditation for a year until they made some significant improvements. Spelman was also a vet and some of the cases she was accused of bungling happened at her own hands, not just under her supervision. It was a major disgrace for a zoo that was meant to represent the nation's capital.

I was in elementary school during these fraught years and I remember devouring articles about this in the newspaper, riveted with shock and dismay. Some of the deaths were just bad luck, but others were obviously negligent. The most infamous case was two red pandas killed by rat poison shallowly buried in their enclosures as a slapdash solution to the zoo's pest problem. A young zebra died of starvation and hypothermia after Spelman ordered the zebras' feed be cut in half, an orangutan was euthanized due to a recurrence of cancer that didn't exist (she actually had salmonella), a lion died after being administered over twice the usual amount of anesthetic, and more. I remember the names and details of these animals from when I first read these cases 20 years ago. But the one I'm talking about today is that of Nancy the elephant.

Nancy was a 46-year-old African elephant whose health had been steadily declining for several years. She suffered from a bone infection in her foot that seriously affected her mobility and quality of life. She had lost a lot of weight, she was fatigued, she even lay down at times. Nobody could be blamed for deciding to euthanize the obviously ill animal.

But they could be blamed for what was discovered in the necropsy after she was euthanized. While she did indeed have a diseased foot, the bone infection was only "moderate." Why, then, was she so obviously unwell? Her lungs had been destroyed by the effects of untreated tuberculosis. It was the tuberculosis, not the sore foot, that most contributed to her decline in health.

Here’s the scary part: nobody knows how long she'd had it because she hadn't been tested for tuberculosis, a known concern for zoo elephants, in TWO YEARS. All this despite the fact that it's MANDATORY for all zoo elephants to receive a tuberculosis test once per year-- and in fact, it was a National Zoo staff member who pushed for that reform in the first place. And the elephant was on Prednisone for her foot issues, which zoo staff noted in her records made her more vulnerable to illnesses like TB. In fact, none of the zoo's elephants had been tested recently, which meant any of them, including one who was pregnant, may have had tuberculosis, too.

There are documented cases of humans catching tuberculosis from elephants. Now, Nancy the elephant had bovine tuberculosis, which seems to be less contagious to humans and which elephants haven't so far spread to humans... BUT it has spread to humans from black rhinos, a fairly close relative, so it seems likely that elephants COULD spread it. It can also take a while for TB for incubate (and can also be latent without symptoms), especially for elephants, so the elephants OR keepers who were around Nancy were at serious risk for TB.

NOW HERE IS THE PART THAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT UNTIL TODAY:

Spelman actively tried to COVER UP the situation, potentially putting many more people at risk. The elephant house was closed to zoo guests, but they were only told it was for "renovations." (The actual renovations, incidentally, were to improve ventilation so that illness would be less likely to spread.)

A BBC news crew that came to film the elephants was asked to keep a healthy distance from the elephants for their emotional health and the crew's safety-- the explanation given was that the elephants' group dynamics had been thrown off by Nancy's death. Spelman instructed zoo staff not to mention the TB situation to the BBC crew and, if asked why Nancy died, they were to respond that it was for multiple reasons and that the official test results weren't all back yet.

And here's the most shocking part of all, the part that made me GASP out loud. Spelman still personally gave some special VIP behind-the-scenes tours of the elephant house during the months that the elephant house was closed, a time when the remaining elephant inhabitants could potentially still develop active TB.

One VIP who received an elephant house tour was PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON and five family members!!!!

BILL. CLINTON. THE GOSHDARN PRESIDENT.

While zoo staff says that the tour was deliberately distanced and nobody got close to an elephant, there are photos of Bill Clinton's nephew about a foot away from an elephant's trunk. You know, their nose. The part they can spread disease with. So, uh, definitely in the danger zone there.

Hillary Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, was on the tour and he said that nobody in the party was warned about TB risk or asked if they had any medical conditions that might (a. make them susceptible to communicable disease, or (b. be contagious to the elephants. This is especially egregious because according to zoo guidelines, all behind-the-scenes tour participants MUST be asked these questions-- not just when there's a very real possibility of a TB outbreak at the zoo.

Fortunately, none of the zoo's other elephants OR keepers ever tested positive for tuberculosis. But it was certainly a close call! And imagine what would have happened if a US President caught TB from a close encounter with an elephant thanks to poorly managed zoo staff.

Presidents meet a lot of people. In fact, this zoo visit happened only 2 weeks before the inauguration of President George W. Bush, which Clinton attended. He very well could have started a TB outbreak there. Heck, TWO US Presidents could have been infected!

Now THAT is something I will be thinking about for a long time!

[yuri-is-online]

... so what do we know about the Clash? (pt. 2)

moving right along from part 1

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS THROUGH EPISODE 5: HOTARUBI. PLEASE INTERACT WITH DUE CAUTION.

The Laurel Crown is first referenced by Ritsu in Episode 4. It is an award given to the best performing house of the year at an event called the Darkwick Gala. Kaito says it is held one week before graduation, Ritsu says there are a lot of rewards given out to graduating winners. He also very specifically says that it is "the shortest path to success and independence from Darkwick for us ghouls." That word independence strikes me as important, though it is not followed up on here or elsewhere unless you count the discussion surrounding Article 78 in Episode 5. Ritsu thinks that Taiga was interested in it once upon a time due to his impressive mission completion record in his first year. We know Zenji wanted to win the crown to obtain recognition as an author, while most of the other ghouls we've met show a degree of disinterest or lack of knowledge of it. Ren mentions at the end of this conversation that he didn't know about the Gala, and Ritsu points out that despite being canceled it was never removed from last years schedule. It is not not this year's though, and he implies that Cornelius is covering something up. Which really does seem to be the case...

The Crown system was discontinued as a direct result of the Clash... we think. It is never explicitly stated "yeah the Clash happened so we aren't doing this anymore" it's instead alluded to as something they can't do because there are too many ghouls to control. We know it had to be this as Haku tells Zenji that it was discontinued after he died, and Zenji died during the Clash. According to Haku, he was killed by a rogue anomaly. He adamantly discourages MC from looking into the Clash gee why would you do that HAKU and this seems to be a similar stance to what Cornelius would take if he knew you were curious. Cornelius and Moby are reluctant to let Lyca free because "what if we have another case of a ghoul-" We can assume he is going to say "killing" or something along those lines based off the concerns listed about Lyca, but that's not confirmed.

Ritsu finds documents about the Clash in the school's archives. he finds them alongside disciplinary documents, he says he either overlooked them or someone had them checked out as he has not read them before. The file is thick and is specifically titled "The Clash: An Overview of Civil Affairs Instigated by Darkwick Students." The term "civil affairs" is interesting. As best I can tell it is a military term that refers to small scale missions undertaken by small teams that focus on civil action? Like diplomacy stuff? Or organizing humanitarian aid? And in more sinister scenarios to assist in psychological warfare to condition a population to not fight against your military but I don't know if that's what the translation team was going for here exactly. I think it's just meant to imply things got really bad and really violent.

Lastly, this is less easy to prove than some of the other things as fact but I still think it is one: there are hints of a split in the student body over who is pro-anomaly and anti-anomaly. Subaru is obviously very pro-anomaly and thinks that capturing them is cruel, Taiga seems to be pro eating anomalies while Romeo is very comfortable with catching them and collecting bounties. A lot of this seems to be tied to how they view the school, the Institute that runs it, and their place in that hierarchy. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that they are trapped at Darkwick and don't want to be. At least not forever.

So to re cap all of the things we know to be fact: the Clash happened sometime last year, half a year ago at the absolute latest. The fight is thought to have been started by the ghouls, we do not know over what. The Laurel Crown system and the Darkwick Gala were both canceled after the fallout of the Clash, in which at least two named people are thought to have died: Zenji Kotodama who would have been a second year Hotarubi student and Dante whose former role is unknown. Zenji still resides in the school as a ghost, though this is unknown to Darkwick staff, and Dante has been brought on as a Professor. Also, all of the Inspectors seem to have quit at the end of the previous year due to the ghouls abusing mesmer matches on them. Three dormitories were disbanded at some point and one new one was created. We do not know if this was connected to the Clash or if it was an inciting incident for it, but at some point Clementia, one of those dormitories, was the scene of some sort of fight. Some of the students of Dionysia dorm went missing, presumably the ghouls. We know nothing about what happened to Ultio aside from the prison they were tasked with running now being run "by Darkwick." All general students from these dorms were re-assigned elsewhere, as were the general students previously assigned to Jabberwock who had general admissions halted. There is a spy amongst these ghouls who Taiga believes is intending to make them look bad; Alan and Tohma are attempting to isolate this spy. We do not know who this spy is spying for, or what Alan and Tohma want out of him exactly, nor do I really expect to find out anytime soon.

So. Now onto the Questions and Theories. As in things we can assume but cannot exactly prove:

Questions and Theories

Jiro and Zenji look extremely similar with a few noticeable differences, namely the piercings Jiro has and the glasses Zenji wears. My first thought was that maybe Jiro was made out of Zenji's corpse, but his birthday is listed as October 13th, which is not the middle of the year by any stretch. They also have different blood types; I think the most practical explanation comes from Zenji himself. When describing why he's so attached to the haunted doll you've found, he says it looks just like his brother did when he was a baby. I have some screenshots of Zenji following Jiro around in a campus event because he wants to help him find something he's looking for, so it does make a bit of sense. And make me even more sad.

The Institute that runs Darkwick seems to be deeply suspicious of ghouls and feel a need to keep them on a short leash. There is a great deal of distrust and resentment between the ghouls and the Institute, and the Clash seems to have been the result of that distrust. The thickness of the records Ritsu finds suggests to me that whatever the Clash was exactly, it took up most of the previous year and that it had something to do with Darkwick's treatment of anomalies.

On that point, I think that Clementia was likely destroyed by a rogue anomaly. The destruction MC sees is described as something going on a rampage, and not as a fight. The fight angle is still possible of course, and if that's the case I wonder if it has something to do with how Ultio was running the prison. I mentioned in the previous post that the goddesses these dorms are named after are meant to sort of balance each other out, so if there was going to be a clash of ideals between anyone on campus it'd probably be these guys.

I feel like Obscuary was set up as a result of the Clash? Or at the very least some time before it specifically so there would be some place for Rui and Ed to go. I think the dorm members will all be crossed with an anomaly in some way, Ed with a vampire, Rui with a reaper, and Lyca with a werewolf. Also, Ed is rumored to have done something. What? No fucking clue, don't even know if it's related to the Clash but still he has done something to get added into the rumor mill.

We don't know what Haku's stigma is as he didn't tell us. He also makes a point of saying that he thinks it's a good thing to get through a mission without using your stigma, if anything he seems to discourage the MC from using or relying on the ring to help the ghouls. You could see this as him trying to encourage her to value herself more, or maybe he thinks that there is a cost for using stigmas we don't know about just yet and they're not the blessings the ghouls think they are. Also he asks Cornelius if he has ever lied to him at the end of the chapter and if you think I didn't find that sus as all hell-

I need to sleep, but remind me to make a post about Haku sometime. Because I don't think he's evil exactly, but I do still think he's the spy.

[amaramizuki666]

Shared sensation part.4

Where was he? Who was he? Why did everything hurt?. Those where the constant questions going through 27's head. He didn't know what was happening. He was in some sort of tube filled with green liquid.

Every once in a while someone in a white coat will walk over to the tube and press some buttons then insert some blue liquid into the tube, causing these weird dreams.

"Red Robin focuse we need to be careful about this" a gruff voice orders and tim nodded "yeah b I know" tim says his voice hollow. He felt so numb as if he was drowning in a sea of ice.

Why should he care if he gets hurt he isnt going to feel it. Tim tries to stay focused during the fight but his mind keeps wandering, wandering to the beautiful black haired boy, and how his face flashed with horror when tim rejected him.

By the time the fight ended tim was bruised and bloody. "Red robin I told you to stay focused" bruce criticized once they got back to the cave. "I'm sorry ok, I just cant think properly" tim sighs, he can feel a headache comeing on.

Bruce put a hand on Tim's shoulder. "I think it's best for you to take a break" bruce said "bruce I'm fine" tim growls. He wasnt fine he was numb, nothing mattered anymore.

He lost his other half. He shouldn't have let him go. he shouldn't have pushed away. HE FAILED, IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT, HE SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED HIM!

27's eyes opened again he felt pressure behind his eyes almost as if something wanted to escape them. 27 felt so confined. He didnt like it in here. He felt like something was pulling him, that something was missing. He dosnt understand what was going on.

D.A.N.N.Y the name at the top of the file bright in red. It contained so much and so little. "Danny" tim says while running his fingers down the photo of the boy a year younger than himself. "My sweet danny" tim mumbles reading over the suspicious death records.

They say he died a few months ago but tim knows that he died 2 years ago. Things arnt adding up. He has to find out what happened, what happened to danny. HOW DID DANNY DIE!? WHO IS COVERING IT UP?!

27 studied his surroundings. He wanted out of here, he wanted to go where his chest wanted to lead him.

"AHHHHHH!" Danny's screams rang loud even through the muzzle that was shoved onto his face as people in white coats cut him open. even if it was only over video tim could clearly see how they looked at his soulmate. like he was less than human. How dare they, I will kill them the thought rolled into Tim's mind, the yeah the GIW will pay.

27 didn't want to be in here anymore he wanted out. 27 moved his arm placing his palm against the glass. None of the white coats paired him attention so he reeled his arm back and punched. And punched, and punched, until the glass cracked.

Part 3

Part 5

[pocketramblr]

Au where quirks exist ever since the beginning of humanity but thought the last 200 years they started becoming rarer for no explainable reason

"for no explainable reason"? Not "because someone born two hundred years ago started eating them all"? Well, both can be true I suppose

1- humans have always had quirks so just go ahead and disabuse yourself of the idea that world history looks anything like ours now. Any boundaries humans have drawn between themselves or their spaces are totally different. Anyway, our story is set on the island nation of Akitsuba, which has begun to receive reports of children who are born without quirks- it seems impossible, but apparently the child born in Canton Province to two glowing parents but had no light himself was not the result of an affair. He is genetically both his parents child - just, without any unique plus alpha factor at all.

2- when the news breaks, Setsuji looks over at his twin brother. The two stay in a group home, and on the record, they have a spike quirk, just like their mother did before she died at their birth. In truth, Setsuji can take others quirks. He assumes he took his brother's in infancy, which why the boy can't use them, but now he wonders if his brother was in fact simply born without. He doesn't say anything, but his brother does- whispering it at night, apologizing for assuming his brother took it all this years ago and refused to even try to return it, but there's simply nothing to return, is there?

3- more people are born quirkless over time, and more people lose their quirk to AfO over time. Ujiko theorizes that quirks would get too strong, so both quirklessness and AfO are evolutions to prevent plus alpha self destruction. That is, sadly, a generous view- quirklessness is largely viewed as a horrible strange disability, and suddenly quirks become more important. Few people before had jobs that specifically used their quirks, but now no one wants to be mistaken for not having one. Many people campaign to treat and 'fix' quirklessness, trying to force activate one, study and prevent it, etc. Just go ahead and assume all the terrible things that can happen with this mindset, it all happened.

4- by the time of canon, however, quirklessness has been around for two hundred years, and it isn't going away- clearly the opposite. about half the population of the world has no quirk, and the number's hanging around 45% in Akitsuba when our main character, Akatani Mikumo is born. He's quirkless, and lives in the capitol of Higakyou, as schools there are required by law now to no longer require certain or any quirks. It's an election year, so his first semester of high school all anyone can do is talk about the candidates- especially Yagi Toshinori, a bit of a symbol for quirkless politicians and one people thought would run years ago. Mikumo, who helped Yagi carry groceries home one day and didn't recognize him outside of the bright suit, camera lights, and makeup, makes friends with a few kids at school. (Ochako, and the twins Tokoyami Fumikage and Kuroei- while the latter has a quirk, the former does not).

5- Then one day, Yagi is kidnapped, vanishing on live tv through a smokey warp. Mikumo doesn't know what to think about that, until he runs into the man on his way home from school- clearly in bad shape, with strange dark eyes that glow with some quirk he shouldn't have. Mikumo helps Yagi hide, and asks what happens, and how he can help. (AfO decided to end Yagi's use as a symbol by forcing a quirk on him and controlling him, but one of his brother's successors managed to break Yagi out first and give him his brother's quirk, allowing him to fight against AfO's quirk and withstand them safely. As for what Mikumo can do to help... he's done far more than he should already, a kind boy, but that answer isn't going to be good enough for him- he's determined to do more anyway.)

[listerbirdloml]

this was probably from ages ago but some fun asks for you; favorite lister headcannons? [I]

OOH idk man i’m shit at head cannons ALSO THIS WAS SAT IN MY DRAFTS FOR AGES IM SO SORRY I THOUGHT I POSTED IT

- well in my mind i always read him with a northern english accent and i’m not sure why. i know he’s from kent like Rowan + Jimmy but he just gives off northern vibes idk. and after learning that his dads scottish i can also see him using lots of Scottish slang terms.

- i think he’s a slag for a bit of pop too. Britney, Ariana, Taylor, Reneé, you name it. he gets a bit embarrassed though so he turns off his AirBuds when he wants to listen to girly pop music. he has the widest music taste out of the ark, so his Spotify wrapped is always mental. he posts them every year and not once has the same song appeared in his top listened to

- ik he’s not like blonde blonde but i think his natural hair is a lot darker but he’s been dying it blonder since he first met Jimmy and Rowan. when the ark are on hiatus he lets it grow out to his natural colour for a bit.

- he tried to grow a stache one time but Rowan shaved it while he slept. Also he didn’t know how to shave when he first met Jimmy and Rowan, so Pierro taught him. Pierro also taught him how to tie a real tie rather than use a clip on one.

- Joan LOVED lister. she would always fuss over him when he would come over. When he’d come round he would help her in the garden, but really he was terrible and Joan would always have to fix his mistakes. when he told her about how he and his mum would listen to albums together when he was little, she began showing him her collection of old records from when she was a teen/young adult. when she died she left Lister a few of his favourites. Lister keeps them hidden at all times so when he was hosting parties there was no chance they’d get damaged. after they stopped having so many people over Lister kept them displayed in the living room.

- i think that before he and Jimmy got together he had healthy and fun relationship with someone unrelated. it’s not anything ridiculously serious but it helps him see what he should realistically be looking for and what he deserves. it’s not like he’s using the person though, and he actually really likes them. they eventually end things amicably though, and stay good friends.

- it says on the WIKI article alice wrote for him that he has three half siblings. as far as i can think there’s no canon information about them other than that, so i like to HC that they are all from his dads second marriage and they don’t talk much since Lister hasn’t been to visit his dad in years. the ages are;

1.) Lister (19-20)

2.) a sister who’s like 17ish, she’s super embarrassed about the whole ark thing and is reluctant to rebuild a relationship with him again when he reaches out to her post IWBFT, because she remembers how he used to constantly fight with their dad when he’d come over for christmas / two weeks in the summer holidays. when they do start to reconnect and get closer she helps him bond with their dad too. (maybe she’s called Maya?)

3.) a younger brother who’s 13ish and a total TWAT. they look really similar and he’s just like how Lister was in school but he’s hilarious and really admires Lister. somehow he’s stupid smart though, even if he’s class clown. i think he reaches out to Lister when he’s still in the hospital after the incident. i also think it would be funny if the younger brother’s celebrity crush was Jimmy but his image of jimmy is completely shattered when he meets him properly. (i call him Brodie in my head)

4.) his youngest sister who’s like 7 who barely remembers lister but once they get closer she has him wrapped around her little finger. he almost bought her a horse once but Jimmy and Rowan had to remind him that a 7 year old who lives in a city centre can not logistically look after a whole horse. (i think her names Eilidh)

- the ark move from the flat into a house just outside london and he makes sure they all have a room so they can visit whenever they want to.

- after getting to know them better, he gets really close with Angel and Juliet. the three of them and Bliss have “girls” nights in the arks flat. when Listers hair grows they teach him how to pleat it. he gets really good and when he starts seeing his half siblings again he pleats his sisters hair for them)

sorry idk man i yapped a bit 🤷‍♀️

[plagueybirb]

Because I love all things creepy and spooky and horrifying, and it's basically spooky season, imagine how much MORE messed up the Shadow Temple could be if it were in the BOTW era.

Ten thousand years go by. The Temple has all but been forgotten and buried with the rest of the Sheikah's dark past. I don't doubt at least the chieftains are told, at least as much can be recorded and remembered safely, but that's not all that important. Cut to BOTW. Link is exploring, and he comes across a part of the cliff wall in the Kakariko graveyard that just. Doesn't look Quite Right.

Does he bomb it? Does he Magnesis it out of the way? Does he Stasis it and beat the ever loving crap out of it and send it spiraling into the stratosphere? Whatever the case, he gets it open. There's a long, long, LONG staircase down. It's dark, dank, and there's a heavy scent of something rotting and undeniably Wrong.

Link, being Link, descends.

It gets darker. The smell of rot and decay gets even heavier. The air is thick with it, so strong you can almost physically taste it. It's overwhelming. There's almost a dark aura in the very air, like the shadows themselves take up physical space and are no longer confined to a flat plane.

There's a dias at the bottom, like the typical Sheikah shrines have. There's torches, but they're techy, and glow like stars when activated by the Slate. Lighting them opens the first door. Is it magic? Advanced technology? Who knows, that's not important.

There are messages on the walls. Ancient writing, glowing red in warning instead of the usual blue. Warning you to turn back, that there's nothing worth finding here, that whatever is there is meant to stay buried forever.

Discarded tech litters the rooms, everything was left in a hurry. Tossed about randomly like people were just throwing things into the hidden underground labyrinth just to get it in there. But that's only the first few rooms, the ones that are easy to reach. The tech is nothing special, it's just everyday items one might've had over ten thousand years ago.

The next couple of rooms are very different. They're labs. There's large rooms with long tables filled with weapons that were scrapped. Ranged weapons, ancient blueprints for outfitting guardians with all sorts of weapons before a design was settled on. Sickles, scythes, even energy whips that would snake out and snatch you, little thorns and hooks digging into you to keep you trapped like a fish on a line. Guardians designed to go in water, Guardians designed to swim in sand. All plans, half tested, unfinished, and forgotten. Meant to fight monsters with brutal efficiency in all types of terrain, just in case the Calamity escaped Hyrule.

The rooms after that are very different. Locked behind a terminal you need such high security clearance that genuinely no one alive even has access to anymore. Link, having the last Sheikah Slate, is perhaps conveniently the only person who is able to unlock it. Suspiciously so. One has to wonder who's Slate it was originally, before passing through to Zelda and eventually Link.

The rooms are forbidden. The further in you go, the older and more ancient everything becomes. The more horrific.

There's a Dead Hand. But it's not normal. It lumbers through the halls, slithering among mounds of bones and discarded fleshy and techy amalgamations that failed. This Dead Hand has Gaurdian limbs jutting out at odd angles, dragging it along like a severely messed up spider. It's a horrible fusion of dying tech and revived flesh and too many hands. It's the only "success" of merging tech and flesh to try and create something or someone that might stand up to Calamity Ganon in the event the Hero dies. It was never meant to exist, and never meant to leave, and therefore must be slain.

And after that, it just keeps going. Up until you reach the bottom. There's another staircase and a stone dias, and torches. Actual torches, that need to be lit with fire to open the last door. It's older than anything else in the Temple, older than living memory. Almost like another temple that was just built on top of. From there it's just a straight shot through oddly familiar and terrifying torture rooms and death traps, a ferry that floats without any water to carry it, and a gaping pit that leads to an old arena.

Now, there's probably no Lens of Truth anymore, I doubt an already old artifact survived that long. So maybe there's nothing in the arena. Maybe it's just a big drum in a dark and vaguely poisonous abyss.

But maybe there is something. And Link just can't see it. Or can only see it through the camera on his Sheikah Slate. Something even worse than Dead Hand. Something that had to stay trapped down at the deepest, darkest, most ancient depths of the temple.

Impa would possibly be the only one alive who knows even a fraction of what Link would see in there. Perhaps Paya too, but who knows?

Would the Yiga Clan know? Would they know the horrors of a BOTW Shadow Temple? What would they do with the information if they did know?

Can y'all tell I've been thinking about this for a while? Just a tiny bit?

I just REALLY like the Shadow Temple and want to see it return someday in a way that spooked me like it did the first time I played OOT. It doesn't even have to be a main dungeon, it could be entirely optional and I'd be happy

[intersexalastor]

au where shouto suddenly realizes he doesn't want to be a hero and enji loses his fucking mind. there's a huge fight, with fuyumi trying to interject and calm things down. natsuo shows up (bc fuyumi called him for backup) and he tells shouto to grab a bag and he'll take him out of there.

at some point, endeavor says something like, "what did touya even die for" which almost makes fuyumi so sick to her stomach she feels like throwing up

nat doesn't have a place for shouto, but says he knows someone that does. and after acting kind of strange (which shouto chalks up to the fact that they really haven't had the chance to communicate almost at all bc endeavor lol), natsuo eventually says he'll explain things but it's complicated and he can't ever tell endeavor about any of it

anyway. they end up at an apartment in a part of the city that shouto has never been to. and when natsuo knocks on the door of some apartment, a man with light blond hair and deep set eyes answers. he looks happy to see natsuo, at least, but looks kind of panicked when he gets a sight of shouto.

eventually natsuo introduces him to jin, who, uh, happens to be, hm, touya's partner. yeah, that touya, our older brother, the one that died 11 years ago. he's alive and in a long-term relationship with a former criminal and, no, endeavor and their mother do not know about this at all and, btw, you were never supposed to know either so you have to SWEAR you'll never say anything, even to mom, got it?

nat leaves (half because he has a final exam that he cannot afford to fuck up on and half because he's a lil cowardly in the fact that touya is not someone to be trifled with and he does not want to be there when touya pops his lid) and touya shows up with take out, bc both he and jin knew nat was stopping by (just not what for). so shouto gets something to eat, at least.

but touya is very much pissed about all of this. shouto only sees him briefly when touya's head pops into the doorway with a look of fury. (and shouto doesn't remember his face, only knows what he looks like from photographs, but some of his questions are answered when he sees the obvious skin graph job wrapping around his lower face and remembers the jaw bone that was found)

touya takes his meal in his bedroom. shouto at least has jin for company. jin is kind, but his loyalty to touya outweighs that aspect, so he gives sparse details about shouto's older brother, really only telling parts that have to do with himself (how they met, how they operate, etc.). anything else he insists that is not his business to tell.

the thing is, it's one thing that touya not try to kick shouto to the curb for one night. but the question that nat and fuyumi have to ask themselves is what they're going to do when endeavor is so angry and considering his track record.

[dirtysvthoughts]

𝓟 𝓡 𝓘 𝓥 𝓐 𝓣 𝓔 𝓓 𝓐 𝓝 𝓒 𝓔 𝓡 - CHAPTER FOUR

pairing: rapper! seungcheol x stripper! reader

word count: 3.2k (longest for this series so far!)

general tags/warnings: smut, pwp, female! reader, dom! seungcheol, deep voice cheol, dirty talk, giving cheol head, reader gets partially nude, mentions of d*ugs, pet names, grinding on the d w/o a condom (please protect yourselves tho, always), seungcheol’s fave body part on you is your ass (he is an ass man, i’m not fighting people on this, it’s a fact)

notes: after about a nearly two month break we’re back! sorry y’all i know the momentum has kinda died out a bit, but between coming back to the states after a month long trip and returning to my normal routines and going back to work and some family stuff, it was hard to find the energy to write. but we’re back nonetheless! thank you for sticking by if you’re still here!

playlist songs: money showers - fat joe, remy ma, ty dolla sign, hey daddy (daddy’s home) - usher, another nasty song - latto

taglist: @im-gemmy @enhacolor @hooniewnderland @svtup @kawaiikels @weeevrse @diorsfxck @kyexvly @woozarts @ifuckcheol @marsstarxhwa @haoxiaoba (if your user is crossed out that means i cant tag you)

the smell of weed is strong enough to take over the small studio space, it slightly crowded with the amount of people in the room. a few producers sit in their chairs, altering the sound board controls every and now and then, a heavy bass booming through the system.

behind the door and in the booth is seungcheol, or s.coups (his stage name), spitting fire into the mic as he records the final tracks for an upcoming, anticipated mixtape. he had a pretty decent following after posting some songs on soundcloud for the fun of it, and it continued to grow when he released his first mixtape a few months ago. now pretty much everyone knew his name and it wouldn’t be long before he caught the attention of a mainstream, viral artist.

as he says his last words, the volume goes down and a voice fills the booth, “yeah man, that was great as fuck!” seungcheol smiles as he puts up his headphones and exits the room, dapping up all the producers to thank them for their hard work.

“this mixtape is gonna be so fire, cheol, you’re really out there now!”

“yeah, soon you’re not even gonna need us anymore, working with all those big time producers,” someone chimes in and seungcheol immediately frowns.

“hey man, don’t even say that. you guys were the first people to give me a chance, i’m never gonna forget my brothers,” he nudges them in their shoulder, and they respond by rolling their eyes.

“well that was the last track we had to do for today, what are you guys’s plans for tonight?” someone asks, but before he can even answer, seungcheol hears his phone ring with a text message alert.

princess: hey cheollie, just making sure you’re still on for tonight at illusion! i have a vip room ready and waiting just for you baby ❤️

he can’t help it, but his dick twitches at the last sentence you typed out. he was intoxicated just by the thought of you.

seungcheol has been one of your few regulars ever since he showed up to the club one night two years ago, celebrating the release of his first mixtape. the night in it of itself was a movie, expensive bottles everywhere, music blasting, and girls half-naked dancing on the tables and couches. cheol’s section was upstairs and it was where the party was really at. word got around quickly through the dressing room that cheol was there, and most of the dancers were hanging out with him and his entourage, trying to be the one girl to get him all to themselves. who wouldn’t want him all his glory to be honest?

you however, not exactly enticed by the rowdiness, took your spot at one of the available poles on the main floor. “just another one of those wannabe rappers,” you thought. not too far from his section, you went into one of your routines once a new song started playing. while spinning and inverting, enjoying the high the pole gave you, you didn’t even notice that seungcheol’s attention somehow made its way towards you.

to say the least, he was astounded. not only were you gorgeous in every way possible, you danced like you were on air, as if gravity meant nothing to you. as one of the bottle girls walked through to deliver another round of shots, she calls out to him, waking up from his trance when one of his friends shakes his shoulder.

“coups, are we getting more shots or what? stop daydreaming, it’s way too lit in here for that,” he grabs the ass of the dancer that was currently grinding onto him, matching his body to her energy to mimic riding her.

“y-yeah, sorry, we’ll have more shots,” seungcheol stutters as the server puts down the tray. before she can leave though, he taps her hand.

“do you know all of the dancers here?”

“yeah..” she responds in a slightly confused tone. “why are you asking?”

cheol then points to you, thanking the gods that you didn’t disappear from his line of sight. cash now lined your pole’s platform as your hips rolled to the beat, and then dropped down into a surprise split, patrons tossing even more bills at you.

“who’s she? she’s so fucking sexy,” he sighs sweetly, wanting to leave the table and everyone else just to have even a moment with you.

“oh, that’s sage - she’s one of our main dancers. if you wanna see her dance for you though, you better ask fast. there’s a reason why she’s so popular,” she says as she walks away carrying the empty tray under her arms.

without a second thought, he gets up from the table and goes down the stairs, his friends groaning in disappointment that seungcheol was leaving them. “this is all for you and you’re leaving the fun?” someone calls out behind him.

“i’ll be back in a bit!” he waved his hand, motioning to shoo them away. “there’s something i wanna do first.” with his friends out of the way, now he could focus on what he really wanted - you.

little did the both of you know that you would meeting sooner than you thought. you needed to make your way to the dressing room to grab something, but you got so caught up in your drive that you didn’t even notice another body heading directly towards you. you and cheol then accidentally bump into each other, and luckily you’re able to regain your balance in your heels just in time.

“whoa, i’m so sorry, i didn’t see you ther-” seungcheol freezes mid-sentence when he realizes it was you he bumped into. “holy shit,” he thought to himself. you looked gorgeous from afar, but right in front of him? it was taking everything in him not to have his hard-on show.

“no, it was my bad, i wasn’t paying attention,” you respond, your voice flowing sweet like honey to him. you try to continue walking but cheol reaches out and grabs your hand. you look at him funny as he doesn’t say anything at first.

“is there something else you need?” you ask, a bit confused, wanting to hurry up and go to the dressing room.

“yeah, you,” he thinks to himself again, trying to keep his eyes on yours and not at how your boobs were almost spilling out of your olive green two-piece.

he gathers his thoughts and takes a mental sigh. “there is actually,” he smirks as he pulls you closer to his body, his hands on your waist. he whispers in your ear and it sends shivers down your spine and your core.

“lemme take you to a room, princess. i saw you dancing over there and i wanna have you all to myself.” you bit your lip hard at the proposal. while he may have awkwardly grabbed your hand and you questioned his actions for a second, you could see why practically everyone was trying to be in his section. he’s handsome as fuck, his dark hair slightly hanging over his eyes, and his black shirt and jeans defining his built body. and to top it off, he had a voice that melted you like chocolate fondue.

“how will i know that it’ll be worth it? you’re clearly not the first guy i’ve taken to a room and you definitely won’t be the last. how will you make it worth my while?” you tease him, twirling your hair in between your fingers.

he chuckles and runs his hand through his hair. “why tell you and waste time when we can just get to it now, princess?”

yup, just your style.

“wait by the bar for me?” you wink at him as you go to the dressing room, purposefully walking slower to make sure got a full view of back of your body, admiring how good your ass looked even from afar.

he couldn’t help but smile to himself as he walked to the bar, in awe at the fact that he was so damn lucky today. a successful mixtape release, a great party, and now the most gorgeous woman he ever laid eyes on was about to be in his sole presence. nothing could get better than this.

or so he thought, because later than night. things definitely got way better when you finally took him to a vip room. after you danced for him on the pole, it lead to one of the hottest lap dances you’ve ever given, which subsequently lead to seungcheol taking you down on the couch, having you scream and moan his name until you came not once, not twice, but three times in the span you two were together.

ever since then, seungcheol came to see you nearly every single week, providing you with stacks of cash, phenomenal sex, a good conversation, and sometimes even all three. you also quickly realized that cheol definitely was not one of those “wannabe soundcloud rappers.” he had the talent, charisma, and passion for the industry, and you hoped that someone would recognize him for his gifts very soon.

going back to the present, cheol speaks up getting the attention of his audience. “well sage is working tonight, and today’s the usual day i go see her, so if anyone wants to hit up club illusion with me, we’ll roll right now,” he looks down at his silver audemars piguet watch, the hands pointing very close to the 10. a few people agree to go with him, others saying that they weren’t in the mood for a strip club or they had other places to be at.

cheollie: i’ll be there soon, i just wrapped up another studio session. can’t wait to see you princess, been on my mind all day

after getting some food and chilling out, the group finally makes its way to the club, the line pretty much nonexistent at this time for a thursday night. he and his crew stick together, some of the dancers approaching them.

“hey coups,” one of the girls flirts with him, biting her lip. another dancer next to her waves her hand, flipping her hair back to show off her decorated neck, inviting seungcheol to come touch her. he nods and smiles at the both of them, but he was only interested in just one person.

“coups!” you call out for him, spotting him from a distance. you walk down from the platform - your lemon-colored sequin bikini set tracing every beautiful curve on your body, the yellow heels you wore matching perfectly. as you walk down to meet him, you can’t help but admire how sexy he looks. his blonde hair, his white shirt encapsulating his muscles, his expensive sunglasses on his forehead. seungcheol quickly embraces you when you take your last step off the stairs, hands on your waist and both your lips locking immediately. it quickly escalates, moaning into his mouth when you feel his tongue roaming yours.

his friends groan behind of him when they see how intimate you two become, seungcheol’s hands starting to palm your ass. he turns his head, chuckling at their reactions, “like what you see?” he winks at them and goes back to kissing you, hands now moving their way across your chest.

they mumble to each other and leave the two of you alone, making their way to the main floor to find a table. once you know they’re out of sight, you grab his chin, causing seungcheol to stop and look at you. “finally,” you sigh happily, kissing the inside of his neck. “i’ve been waiting for you baby.”

he caresses your cheek, “didn’t you say you had a room for me too? c’mon princess, let’s go somewhere a lot less crowded.” you take his hand and lead him to the hall of private rooms downstairs, opening the second to last one, revealing a soft, golden lit room - the furniture basked in a champagne hue, and the stage decorated in a chrome, slick black.

“welcome to the champagne room, seungcheol!” you exclaim walking him in, cheol making sure the door was closed behind you. he whistles in amazement - the two of you have been in a share of private rooms in illusion, but this is the first time he’s been in a room as decorated as this.

“a change of pace i see,” he says walking towards the center chair, taking a seat on the cushions. “why the new setting princess?” he asks, running his hand behind his hair, unintentionally making you clench with how his muscles flexed.

you sultrily saunter toward him, making sure he could see all of you, making him crave for more of you. without another word, you gingerly sit on his lap, lacing your arm around his neck. “i actually wanna try something new with you, cheol,” you sheepishly smile, looking down at his chest, fingers starting to play with the necklace he was wearing.

“we’ve done so many things in these four walls, but the one thing i haven’t done yet is give you head in the private rooms.. which is crazy now that i’ve think about it,” you let out a small laugh, mind wandering to all of the dirty things you two have done, from cheol fucking you against the wall, handcuffed to nearly having a threesome. but one of the simplest things you could’ve ever done with cheol - neither of you had acted upon it yet.

“whaddaya say? can i go down on you seungcheol?” you whisper the last few words in his ear, and he groans as he reaches for his pants and his belt, loosening it up without hesitation.

“i’m all yours baby,” he tilts your chin up to look at you. “get this dick wet like only you can.”

——

is this the first time you’ve given head at a strip club? of course not, but it’s never felt as good as tonight. you’ve seen and felt seungcheol’s dick several times, knowing he was big. but you still weren’t prepared for the feeling of bliss having him deep inside your throat.

“that’s it baby, take some more in,” he guides your head, bobbing it up and down his length, making sure your pacing wasn’t going too fast. he wanted to savor you for as long as he could.

the tip of his dick was hitting the back of your throat, and it felt so good that you felt tears might prick your eyes. you moan around him, taking it a bit faster, and he groans loudly, head tilting backward, hands roaming your hair.

“fuck.. baby, keep taking me… mmm, just like that,” he breathlessly smiles at you and you feel you immediately clench, your panties getting even wetter. you speed up your pace for the final time, and not even a minute later, he cums into your mouth, and you don’t hesitate to swallow everything he gives you.

you lick your lips and open your mouth to let him know you’ve finished, and he kisses you again, your tongue fighting for dominance as you stand up and sit in his lap. he undoes your bra as it falls onto his lap and you begin to feel his length on your panty covered crotch.

“mmm, you just can’t enough of me, can’t you cheol?” you giggle, maneuvering your fingers to pull your panties to the side. “got you so rock hard that the only thing you can think of is me, huh? you’re so down bad,” you fully sink down on him and you both moan out loud, adoring the way how both of you feel on each other.

he grabs a handful of your ass and starts groping at the skin, to which you respond by grinding down on cheol, tits slowly beginning to bounce as you established a rhythm.

“okay, so i am down bad, but what about you princess? i bet your panties got wet the second you laid eyes on me tonight,” he says planting a smack on your ass, not too hard, but definitely not soft either. “but then again, when do you not get wet when you’re around me? always so needy for me, my baby. but you’re so patient and so ready,” he begins to kiss down your chest, reaching your breasts.

“fuck- don’t stop talking, please keep going!” you moan again as you both start to speed up the pace. “i-i don’t think i’ve told you this but, i love your voice, cheol.. it melts me like butter, ah!” you exclaim as he envelops one of your nipples in his mouth, pushing his head in further so he could take more of you.

at this point, you were now fully bouncing in his lap, his hands bringing you in closer, making sure you both were body to body, as close as you could be.

“feels so good my princess, fuck yeah, keep bouncing on me like that. doing such a good job for me, pretty girl,” he can’t help but revel in your glow, the faces you’re making, and how you're riding him - he knew you weren’t too far off, and he was getting close too.

as you keep grinding down on him the coil in your belly continues to tighten, and when you finally feel it break, you can’t even give seungcheol so much as a warning when you come all over the lower half of his body.

“holy shit,” you breathe out, trying to compose yourself after the amazing orgasm you just experienced. “cheol, holy shit, you’re amazing,” you chuckle at him and smiles back at you, giving you little pecks around your face.

“nah, that’s all you, princess, no one can do me the way you do.” he stares at you lovingly and you try not to let the blush creep up your face.

——

after a few minutes go by, you both begin to put your clothes back on and you across the room for your bra top. as you bend over to get it, cheol whistles, mentally groaning at how full and pretty your ass looks from far.

“damn princess, have you been working out?” he asks coming closer, giving another smack to your cheek one more time, then putting a few bills in between the strings. you put on your bra, making sure it was decently tight.

“a little bit… you like?”

“like? more so love,” he grabs you by the waist, back flush against his body. his hands stay there, going up and down to every inch of skin. you start to sway your hips, seeing if you could get him hard again.

“ah ah,” he whispers in your ear, licking your earlobe. “don’t start anything you cant finish, sweetheart.”

“i could say the same for you, cheol,” you snake your hands up to caress his face. “but don’t you love that about me baby? when i get started, it’ll be an experience you’ll never ever forget.”

and he’ll admit it - you were right. you are addicting, irresistible, a flame that continues to burn in his heart - his forever pole princess.

[ariathemortal]

lore inspire by Fay’s <3

Start recording

“wait is this working? hi! my name is isabel- isla don’t break it!”

“i got it, bells! her name is actually ariadne so if anyone finds this, here’s her home address-“

*laughs* “isla no!”

End recording

Start recording

“….zae?”

“yea?”

“i’m scared.”

“i know….me too, bells. me too.”

End recording

Start recording

”you haven’t had your first kiss yet?!”

“no? i don’t see why that’s a problem, isles.”

“…..do you want to?”

“want to what?”

“..have…your first kiss?”

“……ok…”

End recording

Start recording

“day one. ariadne brown here. gods that feels weird to say. i-i’m running away. i don’t belong here and im not wanted here either. i see it everyday on dad and moms face. so isla, zae? if you find this, i love you guys. i won’t forget you.”

End recording

Start recording

“hey, it’s been a minute. day….i’ve lost count. it was just my 16th birthday and i’ve found a place. Camp Half-blood. sounds weird but it’s better than the streets.”

End recording

Start recording

“turns out i can see the future! zae would be absolutely amazed. i made a friend. her name is rosalie. is it a bit too early to say friend for life?”

End recording

Start recording

“so i’ve been adopted. i met him about 20 minutes ago. it’s insane how much of an impression someone can make because i totally thought i would get murdered here. not find a…….nevermind. ari out.”

End recording

Start recording

“i met someone else! her name is fay and she seems pretty cool. i think……i think she’s gonna be one of the ones who stays.”

End recording

Start recording

“a camper died today…..it’s all my fault. i gave him a prophecy and he went through with it. i just- ugh! i feel like this power is a curse. i feel like……i make everyone’s lives worse…”

End recording

Start recording

“it’s been 6 years, 2 months, 3 weeks, and 21 days since you left. I’m not giving up on you, Belle. You’re out there. You have to be because I don’t know what’s i do if- gods, you make me crazy. Love, your shitty older brother, Zae.”

End recording

tags!:

@chaos-pers0nified @that-girl-cupid @demigod-jack-hearth @divine-wine-daughter

[apoemaday]

The Hurting Kind

by Ada Limón

1.

On the plane I have a dream I’ve left half my torso on the back porch with my beloved. I have to go

back for it, but it’s too late, I’m flying and there’s only half of me.

Back in Texas, the flowers I’ve left on the counter have wilted and knocked over the glass— I stay alone there so the flowers are more than flowers.

At the funeral parlor with my mother, we are holding her father’s suit, and she says, He’ll swim in these.

For a moment, I’m not sure what she means, until I realize she means the clothes are too big.

I go with her like a shield in case they try to up-sell her— the ornate urn, the elaborate body box.

It is a nice bathroom in the funeral parlor, so I take the opportunity to change my tampon.

When I come out my mother says, Did you have to change your tampon?

And it seems a vulgar life all at once. Or not vulgar, but not simple.

I’m driving her now to the Hillside Cemetery where we meet with Rosie who is so nice we want her to work everywhere. Rosie as my dentist. Rosie as my president.

My shards are showing, I think. But I do not know what I mean so I fix my face in the rearview, a face with thousands of headstones behind it. Minuscule flags, plastic flowers.

You can’t sum it up, my mother says as we are driving and the electronic voice repeats, Turn Left onto Wildwood Canyon Road,

so I turn left, happy for the mundane instructions. Let us robot at once.

Tell me where to go. Tell me how to get there.

She means a life, of course. You cannot sum it up.

2.

A famous poet said he never wanted to hear another poem about a grandmother or a grandfather.

I imagine him with piles of faded yolk-colored paper, overloaded with loops of swooping cursive, anemic lyrics

misspelling mourning and morning. But also, before they arrive, there’s a desperate hand scribbling a memory, following

the cat of imagination into each room. What is lineage, if not a gold thread of pride and guilt. She did what?

Once, when I thought I had decided not to have children, a woman said, But who are you to kill your own bloodline?

I told my friend D that and she said, What if you want to kill your own bloodline, kill like it’s your job?

In the myth of La Llorona, she drowns her children to destroy her cheating husband. But maybe she was just tired.

After her husband of 76 years has died, my grandmother, (yes, I said it, grandmother, grandmother) leans to me and says,

Now teach me poetry.

3.

Sticky packs of photographs heteromaniacal postcards.

The war.      The war.        The war. Bikini girls, tight curls, the word gams.

Land boom. Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe. Southern Pacific.

We ask my Grandma Allamay about her mother for a form.

Records and wills. Evidence of life. For a moment she can’t remember her mother’s maiden name.

She says, Just tell them she never wanted me. That should be enough.

“Red sadness is the secret one,” writes Ruefle. Redlands

was named after the soil. Allamay can still hold a peach in her hand

and judge its number by its size. Tell you where it would go in the box

if you’re packing peaches for a living. Which she did,

though she hated the way the hairs hurt her hands.

4.

Why do we quickly dismiss our ancient ones? Before our phones stole the light of our faces, shiny and blue in the televised night,

our elders worked farms and butchered and trapped animals and swept houses and returned to each other after long hours and told stories.

In order for someone to be “good” do they have to have seen the full tilt world? Must they believe what we believe?

My grandmother keeps a picture of her president in the top drawer of her dresser, and once when she was delusional she dreamt

he had sent her and my grandfather on a trip to Italy.  He paid for it all, she kept repeating.

That same night on her ride to the hospital, she talks to the medical technician and says,

All my grandchildren are Mexican.

She says it proudly. She repeats it to me on the phone

5.

Once, a long time ago, we sat in the carport of my grandparents’ house in Redlands, now stolen for eminent  domain,

now the hospital parking lot, no more coyotes or caves where the coyotes would live. Or the grandfather clock

in the house my grandfather built. The porch above the orchard. All gone.

We sat in the carport and watched the longest snake I’d ever seen undulate between the hanging succulents.

They told me not to worry, that the snake had a name,

the snake was called a California King,

glossy black with yellow stripes like wonders wrapping around him.

My grandparents, my ancestors, told me never to kill a California King, benevolent

as they were, equanimous like earth or sky, not

toothy like the dog Chacho who barked at nearly every train whistle or roadrunner.

Before my grandfather died, I asked him what sort of horse he had growing up. He said,

Just a horse. My horse, with such a tenderness it rubbed the bones in the ribs all wrong.

I have always been too sensitive, a weeper from a long line of weepers.

I am the hurting kind. I keep searching for proof.

My grandfather carried that snake to the cactus, where all sharp things could stay safe.

6.

You can’t sum it up. A life.

I feel it moving through me, that snake, his horse Midge sturdy and nothing special,

traveling the canyons and the tumbleweeds hunting for rabbits before the war.

My grandmother picking peaches. Stealing the fruit from the orchards as she walked

home. No one said it was my job to remember.

I took no notes though I’ve stared too long. My grandfather, before he died, would have told

anyone that would listen, that he was ordinary,

that his life was a good one, simple, he could never understand why anyone would want to write

it down. He would tell you straight up he wasn’t brave. And my grandmother would tell you right now

that he is busy getting the house ready for her. Visiting now each night and even doing the vacuuming.

I imagine she’s right. It goes on and on, their story. They met in first grade in a one room school house,

I could have started there, but their story, their story is endless and ongoing. All of this

is a conjuring. I will not stop this reporting of attachments. There is evidence everywhere.

There’s a tree over his grave now, and soon her grave too

though she is tough and says, If I ever die,

which is marvelous and maybe why she’s still alive.

I see the tree above the grave and think, I’m wearing

my heart on my leaves. My heart on my leaves.

Love ends. But what if it doesn’t?

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for feigning my suicide after my mentor was found guilty of murdering my father when I was a child?

I (26M) (Well, that's the age I was when the aforementioned incident occurred) had been working as a prosecutor since my debut when I was 20. I was trained under the mentorship of "A"(??M), raised by him after my father was shot and killed when I was a child of nine years. Since his death, I had believed that I was the one who shot him, but had discovered it was actually my mentor all along, who killed him when I was unconscious.

I was put on trial regarding a murder on christmas eve (I did not kill him), separate from the one involving my father, and out of misplaced guilt I had all but succumb to accepting a guilty verdict when my... associate(?) "B"(26M) offered to be my defense attorney. I eventually agreed, and thus began the trial.

During the trial, it was revealed that the true culprit was one of the witnesses "C"(??M), and it brought to light new information about my father's case all those years ago, which was consequently retried, B uncovering that A had conspired with the witness to carry out the recent murder on account of revenge against me. C believed it was my fault that his life was ruined (he was tried and acquitted for my father's death 15 years prior, but the backlash of the case ruined his reputation. Needless to say he wasn't very fond of me, also under the assumption that I had been the one to shoot my father). A had plotted it all because my father, who was a defense attorney, had blemished A's spotless record as a prosecutor the day he died.

This was both a great relief, to know I hadn't in fact murdered my father, and also very taxing on me mentally, to know that I had been raised and moulded by this man for 15 years into becoming the antithesis of my father.  

Ergo, I was in a very bad place, and shortly after my acquittal, I left a note behind that suggested I wasn't keen on continuing to live. I didn't go through with anything, just took some time to evaluate my life in Europe.

Here's where I recognize I may be an asshole. I didn't tell B any of this, letting him assume I was dead. B was very angry with me when I returned. Upon seeing me again, he told me it would've been better for everyone if I'd never come back from the dead. 

Well you see, our relationship is a bit complicated. I owe him a great deal, and I had come to consider him as a good friend. I had also known B briefly when we were children, and ever since he's become a part of my life again, he's saddled me with unnecessary feelings... Although he used to be someone I absolutely loathed, because I could not win against him when we faced off in court, he ended up being the sole catalyst for my life turning around for the better. Regardless of my opinion on B, he seems to think very highly of me, or in the very least he used to. He was definitely upset that I let him believe I was dead for a year, while I believe it was perfectly reasonable due to the duress I had been under, and I hadn't made any promises to stay around. It's not unusual for me to leave the country, as I resided in Europe for nearly half my life. B has also accused me of leaving because he put an end to my win streak, which as I said, used to be the case, but is absolutely not the reason I left. 

AITA?

#tw suicide #tw murder

[oceandirtcountry]

I’d like to thank @kittykatchao for this Kenny idea—it’ll be a long time before he makes it into the fic for legit, but I wanted to do a little thing with him because he’s been bouncing around my head for a little while.

“Kenny, a word, please.” Weiss waves the boy over. Dressed in a jet-black T-shirt and jeans, the boy was about as distraught as they get. He hadn’t stopped crying since the funeral event started, but who could blame him?

Weiss sighs. Ruby was her partner, and as much as she’d hate to admit it back then, her best friend. She’d done the impossible on more than one occasion, risen even higher that she ever had when she was kicked down to her lowest.

In her years as a Huntress, she saved so many, and inspired many more.

It’s why so many came.

“Look, Kenny…Not to be the one to say it, but…I have to. Your dad, he’s…not exactly in a clean bill of health to keep going. As it stands, he can barely even give the speech today, and that’s why Yang will be filling in.”

“But the world…it needs its symbols of peace. It needs the Ninja, the Revolution, and…Ben 10, above all else.”

Kenny isn’t really listening, as Weiss could tell. She didn’t blame him, but he really needed to.

“Kenny, look at me.”

The boy stares up at her with puffy red eyes, having run out of tears about a good half hour ago. The only sounds that escape his mouth are choked sobs.

“Aurelia—your sister—is picking up exactly where your mother left off. She’s going to be away from home for extended periods of time, like your mom used to. So I’m going to need you to support your elder sister in whatever ways you can.”

Kenny gives her a small nod.

“I know you put away the Omnitrix earlier this year. But I’m also going to need you to care for those two who have the watches right now. Charlie hasn’t taken the news well, and neither has your dad.”

“You’ve got your mom’s enthusiasm, but you’ve got this down-to-earth mentality I haven’t seen in those two with their heads-in-the-clouds. That’s why you’re the only one I know I can trust to bring them back to how they should be.”

Weiss places a hand on the boy’s shoulder, a pang of sorrow shooting through her heart. For once, this wasn’t a death someone could simply come back from.

It wasn’t like Ben’s, and it wasn’t like their acid trip to the Ever After. They found her body, they checked her pulse.

“I trust you, Kenny.”

Those words lingered in his mind for a long time. Why him? Weiss had her own kids. Auntie Yang’s kids were far better off combat-wise than him. Uncle Rex’s kid was a prodigy.

Why did she trust him? What did he have?

In the weeks to come, Aurelia pushed herself harder and harder. The gap her mother left was a canyon she could never hope to fulfil, the expectations growing wider and wider, the strain growing.

Charlie got back on her feet quickly enough thanks to his motivation, but his dad was still far gone. She took over as the Omnitrix-wielding hero.

All the while, he was lost. Without a purpose, without a drive to do something for the world.

But that’s when he decided to really look into why and how his mother died.

5a.m. in the morning, his mother stepped out of her bed after hearing an explosion in the distance. She rushes down the Omnitrix tower in milliseconds, grabbing her Crescent Rose on the way.

5:01, she gets into a scuffle with two very odd criminals. Every time he checked the records on them, they were different from how he remembered them—but they remained mostly constant now.

Subdora and Exo-skull. Never found, never caught. Found fifty years ago, then ten years ago, then never again.

But he kept finding inconsistencies. His mother pulled out all the stops—and failed to land a single hit. They predicted her every move, and even prepared some device to stop her Semblance from functioning the way that it should.

It was a beatdown, but nobody could do that, right? His mother was the greatest fighter in Remnant, if not the universe, famed for her unpredictability.

And yet she was predicted?

After more research into his father’s logs, Kenny became more and more sure it was a time-related issue. The two criminals suddenly appeared in the logs five years ago, with an attempted murder on his mother that he swears was never there.

Then another, then another. Each about a few months apart.

Using whatever tech he could get his hands on and help from his uncle Rex, Kenny got to work on a suit he planned to use to go back in time and save his mother.

It malfunctioned. Rex had no idea on the intricacies of time travel, and Kenny sure as hell didn’t either.

But they were saved. Someone came for them, brought them back, and fixed his suit to work as intended.

“Your mother was never meant to die, young Tennyson. She was but an unintended causality in the time-war. But your drive…it could help. What would you say, Kenny? Would you like to save your mother?”

Like that was a question.

(Honestly, Ruby dying is a great motivation—Kenny just fucking went back in classic for…some reason.)

[lordeemailarchive]

OUR SUN SETS — tour reflections edition

(28/03/2023) (Solar Institute Bulletin No. 21) (From Auckland)

She emerges! by Aleks Zaric

Hello darling friend, Whoaaaaah it’s been a minute since I wrote. Something died inside my laptop, and I’ve been putting off the repair for a few months (stubborn refusal to form a relationship with another bit of tech?), but the realisation that I was actively not doing my job due to not having one made me bite the bullet. How have you been??? Last time we spoke I was in South America, just about to turn twenty six, at the tail end of a big year of shows. Got off the plane in New Zealand and torpedoed straight into bed with a fevery cold, emerged a week later into the chaos of December, typically the start of the beautiful summer days here, instead that of several months of storms and humid rain. I wrote this, back then: “I’m playing this song my brother showed me, Mariella, over and over. It sounds like how I feel these days, soft with some pain, the voice of someone who’s touched a lot of beautiful things. This year has wrung me out. I’m a rag. I’m the t-shirts and underwear I hand-washed in so many hotel sinks. Christmas is a tall wave and I haven’t bought anyone gifts.” Always amused by the drama of the past self! Had some lush swims between the storms, cooked a lot of fish, set off on the Aus/NZ tour feeling relaxed and unwound.

Off grid bb.

A couple days ago, we played the last official sundial-and-eight-band-members show for Solar Power, the last of 70 shows in 20 countries (!!). I feel actual pride in myself, something that’s extremely hard for me to let myself feel, not just for completing it but for loving it, relaxing into it, feeling really open and free and not tight and fearful like tours past. I want to thank you for your part. I’ve always felt that pop music is a collaboration between artist and audience, that a pop song isn’t truly finished until listeners add their voices to it, and I think the same goes for your participation in the show. You show up and you sing every word, and all of our voices is what we all hear. At this stage in the piece I feel there are no casual fans, just people singing extremely loudly and clearly for 100+ minutes, and the commitment and generosity of this is not lost on me. The final show in Perth was an encapsulation of how special and right this tour has felt. We played at a beautiful grass and stone amphitheatre outside the city. I cried at soundcheck thanking the crew, overwhelmed by the love and care behind this group of people working so hard to get it right for me. At showtime the stars were clear and you could smell eucalyptus mixing with the smoke machine. We did the show for the last time looking over at one another and smiling, savouring all the last times we’d do things. I took my place for Royals and in the first flash of white light I saw a silk thread. In the next flash I followed the thread down to find a thick black spider, maybe an inch and a half long, two feet away from my eyes. I gasped and drew the microphone towards me, watched it slowly travel all the way back up the truss. Some kind of special omen.

Touring this record changed how I heard and saw the album — I wonder if you felt this too? — showed me that a work is constantly shifting and in progress, the definition changing all the time. Looking back yesterday at some of your pictures from the show, sourced by the very dedicated and special twitter account Lorde_fix, I realised that you give me the opportunity to see myself in states of power, glory, grace, sides of myself I don’t think I’d be able to access or see as clearly if not for these nights together. 

Your pix I loveeeeee <333

I said onstage that night that making and touring this album has set so much right inside me, I truly think it’s bought me decades in this bizzzzniz, can’t wait to show you what I mean. I finish this chapter feeling for the first time not like I need to get away from the world but like I want to get deeper inside it, more countries, more flavours, more life. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Here’s a little Aus tour diary, by Aleks Zaric:

Moments after coming offstage in Perth

Levitating!

Makeup removal, and a scenario with MUNA that I cannot fucking explain -so special to have them join us on this run

11:52pm: standing on the stage in Sydney after you all went home.

So. Where to now? [REDACTED] I guess I’m not telling, not for a while. I’ll send you an update from time to time though, now that the laptop’s back online. Special books I’ve read recently: Notes by Eleanor Coppola My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux Second Place by Rachel Cusk Life’s Work by David Milch Dinner With Lenny by Jonathan Cott Books I’ve ordered: Love Me Tender - Constance Debre The Nature Book - Tom Comitta Small Fires - Rebecca May Johnson Animal Joy - Nuar Alsadir Alma Mahler’s diaries The People’s Hospital - Ricardo Nuila Idra Novey - Take What You Need Gwendoline Riley - First Love Jenny Odell - Saving Time

Oh, I had a party in December and made a really nice punch based off a post I saw from Stissing House. I’m copying the loose/made-up recipe here, give it a try if you like! 1 cup gin 1/2 cup chartreuse 1 1/2 cup green tea 1/2 cup pineapple 3 cups soda water 1/2 cup citrus (lemon/grapefruit/lime) Lots of fresh mint Topped up with extra citrus as the night went on.

Leaving you with a beautiful bit of fan art, basically how I envisioned the SP universe, a fitting way to say — for the last time — serve the bees… wear sunscreen… thank you and goodniiiiiiiiight! I love you so much. Speak soon, from somewhere, E

PS. BONUS SECRET CONTENT::: The pillow I commissioned from Bode for my dressing room before the tour started, feat. all the things that make me feel calm — grapefruit fruju, hibiscus, kissing, Pearl, books, bud.

(source: received this email)