#going to work is probably a terrible idea but i have to

[noxexistant]

jack kelly is homeless he is an orphan he is living in absolute poverty, i am holding you by the shoulders — even in modern aus he would Still Be Poor.

he would probably be a high school dropout. he’d probably have absolutely terrible grades when he did go to school, but his attendance is shit anyway because he’s had to work since he was fourteen. he drops out as soon as he can, or he’s kicked out of school — given up on — to work More, to scrape together minimum wage paychecks so he can survive. he’s so hungry and so tired, so worn down by everything in his life, but survival is the only option for someone in his circumstances.

he has no family to support him, no parents to get money off of or even call just to cry when it’s all too much. he has no money behind him. he has nothing else to do but survive. he clings to his friends as much as he can, but they’re all in similar situations. all drowning together.

jack kelly would not be a popular high school jock with a winning smile and a letterman jacket. he couldn’t afford a letterman jacket, couldn’t afford to play sports in the first place. he wouldn’t go to college! he can’t afford it!! he can’t afford anything! debt scares him shitless and follows him wherever he goes — owing a month or two’s rent is bad enough, the idea of student loans is laughable.

he lives his life in survival mode. college, sports, hobbies — it’s all a million miles away. jack scrapes for rent and food. he loves with all his heart and works himself sick. he’s Tired. he fantasises about maybe getting his GED some day.

he’s never going to college.

[beatrixst0nehill]

Ethan knocked on Laura's desk, stirring her as she started nodding off to sleep. "Rise and shine, darling!"

"Oh, Mr. Henderson, sorry! I wasn't sleeping, I just.... I probably need a coffee."

"Why not get up and get one?"

Laura blushed. "Ummmm..... I, uh..... I'd rather not get up."

"Now why's that? And straighten up your back, your posture is getting terrible, darling."

Laura tried to sit up straight but didn't quite make it as the weight of her thirty-pound breasts lifted off her desk. "I'll try.... it's getting a bit hard to carry these things."

"Nonsense, you aren't even that large yet, Kim in accounting has breasts double your size and she's fine."

"She uses a wheelchair...."

"See? You just need to get inventive. And if you want to keep earning a paycheck with my company you better not get any funny ideas about skipping your supplements."

"I know, I know..... I like working here. It's just kind of hard to grow such big boobs so fast. I'm not used to it, is all."

"Well, you better be grateful, darling. Since Prop 845 passed, I could technically make extreme pregnancy mandatory or even have you strapped into a fuck machine all shift. I could tell our company insurance to prescribe almost anything to you, or perform any surgery. There are plenty of companies where every female employee is turned into a quad amputee!"

"I know.... Thank you for taking pity on us...... I'm happy to grow such massive breasts for you and all my coworkers to enjoy."

"That's the spirit." Ethan placed his hand on Laura's breasts, squeezing it. "My, they are getting nice and full aren't they."

"Yeah....." Laura blushed and nodded submissively.

"Now you get back to work, but I better not see you dozing off!"

"I know, I just..... these company parties are taking it out of me! It's a struggle to carry my boobs around but to perform for so many men almost every work night until 1am! Sir...... My whole body aches."

"I know, you are quite the trooper, and you're getting very popular with your coworkers. It's impressive watching that pussy and ass of yours take so many hours of abuse in a row. You're quite the seasoned little nymph."

"I don't have much choice...."

"All while carrying these little rays of sunshine." He forcibly pushed back her shoulders, pushing her back in her seat a couple feet, revealing her big round belly sticking out, covered in stretch marks, babies kicking and squirming inside. He held her shoulders up, head tilted back as he kissed her neck smacking her belly a few times. "I appreciate your commitment to the company by getting nice and pregnant from our staff parties."

"I-I don't really have much choice, sir. They fill my pussy up for hours on end every work night......"

"Good girl. I like to think of us as one big family at this company." He squeezed one of her overgrown breasts, causing it to squirt milk through her top. "I'm the dad, and you're the cum-rag little sister we all use to relieve ourselves in." He arched her back more, kissing her on the lips from behind.

Laura tensed up, tapping on his hand holding her shoulders back, the strain from her breasts and belly feeling unbearable. "Ummm! Sir, please let go!"

"Nonsense, darling. Let's have some--"

Laura gasped as a loud click came from her neck. "!!! What was that!?"

"Oh dear, that didn't sound good. I told you sleeping at your desk wasn't a good idea....."

"Uhhhh, I can't feel my arms or legs! Wh-What's going on?"

Ethan smiled, propping her against the back of her chair. He roughly squeezed both of her breasts. "Can you feel that?"

She shook her head. "No...."

"How about this?" He slapped her pregnant belly as hard as he could, so the whole office could hear.

"Nothing.... Mr. Henderson....! I can't feel anything. I can't move anything below my neck!"

"Awwww, poor thing." He suddenly wheeled her out in front of the whole floor. "Announcement everyone. Announcement! Ms. Laura Davis's back just snapped from her unwavering dedication to our company and its bottom line! This is the kind of commitment I want to see from you girls. Now our Laura will need help doing everything from going to the restroom, to getting around the office. Hey, Mason, can you train Ms. Davis on how to use our ocular computer software so she can get back to her remarkable data entry skills. And feel free to have some fun with her along the way, not like she can get up and stop you. From now on, Ms. Davis is free use, I'll be promoting her as our new Stress Relief Expert as of this afternoon! Congratulations, Laura."

The whole floor erupted into applause as people walked up to Laura, congratulating her one by one, some lifted her hand, others grabbed her breasts or rubbed her belly as they congratulated her. Laura gracefully nodded and thanked all of her coworkers, blushing deep red.

One guy reached between her legs, fondling her wet sex. "No reason to hold back anymore, we can go all out and you won't feel a thing. Can't wait to bring the guys to the company party tonight. We're gonna have some serious fun now, girlie."

Laura gulped and nodded. "I-I can't wait.... I'll do my best to satisfy you..... even if I won't feel a thing," she said, almost relieved she won't have to feel every guy at the company relentlessly pound her ass and pussy for hours every work night.... Laura smiled gratefully, thinking to herself it'll be kind of fun to just watch everything happen to her body instead of having to endure it. Even if she'll miss cumming over and over....

[kings-highway]

who do you think from haikyuu would successfully find the fountain youth (and possible if they would/wouldn't drink from it / consequences) ⊂(◉‿◉)つ

this is so funny because this is clearly a direct result of my "couples that would/could bring each other back from the dead" post and I love that. please keep sending me ridiculous prompts

anyway yes here are the haikyuu characters that I think could/would be able to find the fountain of youth if they so desired. long post below lots of characters.

hinata: no

kageyama: no

yamaguchi: no

tsukishima: no and wouldn't even try

hinata, kageyama, yamaguchi + tsukki working together as a group: yes, I think they could find it and hinata would drink from the fountain and immediately it would be a problem for everyone involved because now he's young again but the rest weren't sure they wanted to and they'd start fighting and they'd probably at some point have to develop an underground cult to protect the fountain from others and guard it's waters and Hinata would be watching his friends grow older and realize they're all going to die without him and try desperately to convince them to drink as well and he'd succeed eventually but it would create a horrible mortal fear of them all to suddenly be put in a position to have to choose when they die and effectively create a scenario for all four of them that the only way out is suicide, even if that death is technically old age and because they would all have this terrible mental hurdle that cult they started would just spiral out of control into a terrrifying urban legend run by 4 old immortals

Asahi: no and he wouldn't want to

Noya + Asahi together: yes and Asahi would not want to. They would not drink from the fountain due to Asahi having several breakdowns over the idea of having to live forever and the fact that they don't really know what that means

Noya + Tanaka: no and they would try so hard it would be so frustrating for them

Daichi: Yes but it would be like a whole quest like he'd have to fully quit his job and commit to being an explorer and he'd probably find the holy grail before he found the fountain and by the time he got to the fountain he'd be like 85 and so old and just choose to not drink so that he can die in peace and be done

Suga + Daichi: Yes, but they wouldn't because despite the above if the words "let's find the fountain of youth" came out of Suga's mouth Daichi would immediately recognize it as terrible fucking idea and shut it down

Kiyoko: yes, but she wouldn't

Ennoshita: he already knows where it is but he's not telling

Yachi: no she's too afraid of bugs to go into any forest bushwacking to find it alone

Hinata + Kageyama + Yamaguchi + Tsukki & Yachi: Yes, and they'd manage to circumvent the previously stated disaster due to having even one goddamn braincell now

Oikawa: yes but I feel like he wouldn't independently decide to give up that much volleyball time he'd risk falling behind so he wouldn't go. Maybe if kageyama died young he'd pick up a second hobby like hunting for the fountain of youth

Iwaizumi: no the thought wouldn't even cross his mind

Oikawa + Iwaizumi: absolutely they could and Oikawa *would* drink from the fountain of youth and then experience the dire consequences of living forever young and becoming addicted to constantly revitalizing himself and Iwaizumi would live and die refusing to do such a thing and it would be tragic

Oikawa + Iwaizumi + Makki + Mattsun: no they'd get killed by one of the monsters on the path to finding it

Makki + Mattsun: no but they'd lie and say they did and trick everyone into buying their very expensive fountain of youth water and then go to jail for fraud

Kyotani: yes but by accident i don't think he'd know what he was looking at and just write it off as some stupid fountain and leave

Kunimi: yes but he wouldn't bother

Kindaichi: no and he'd spend his whole life trying to convince Kunimi to help him

Kunimi + Kindaichi: no because Kindaichi wouldn't be successful in convincing this to even happen

Yahaba: already drank from the fountain of youth once and is on his second life

Ushijima: no but he wouldn't even try

Leon: yes but he wouldn't even try

Semi: no and he would try so hard it would piss him off so badly

Yamagata: no, but he's only putting in like 10% effort anyway he's not sure it exists

Tendou: no he would find something much more dangerous and ancient on his way to it instead and that would cause all sorts of problems.

Ushijima + Tendou: yes and ushijima would keep him on track enough to avoid ancient secret evils and find the fountain. They would ultimately decide to drink from it together but they'd have minimal consequences because both of them would only drink enough to reset once and then leave it be, and use the second life to live a life together (presuming their first had been separated by continents, careers, and family pressures, but in this new one it's 80 years passed any expectations of them and they can just be happy for a lifetime and then die.)

Semi + Tendou: would be killed my some monster guarding the fountain so fast

Leon + Ushijima: Would talk each other out of trying to find the fountain and get breakfast instead

Taichi: thought he was going with the third years but got left behind

Shirabu: yes, and he would then live an ancient immortal life that would corrode his soul terribly over the centuries

Shirabu + Semi: yes and then they would live an ancient immortal life that would corrode their souls terribly over centuries

Goshiki: no and he thought he was going with the third years and got left behind

Goshiki + Ushijima: yes but it would be a terrible trip and neither would want to drink from the fountain and they'd just stare at it for a bit and then go home. pointless trip.

Kuroo: Yeah he could do it. He would probably drink without thinking it through and regret it immediately things would go bad for him

Kenma: Yes but he wouldn't bother

Kuroo and Kenma: yes, but they wouldn't go together unless something had happened that made them crave youth and in this case they would have a nightmare cosmic horror experience that torments them for the rest of immortality

Taketora: no and it would frustrate him because he knows Fukunaga knows

Fukunaga: found it by accident; drank from it by accident. sometimes visits for picnics. spends a lot of time thinking of riddles to hand off to the other haikyuu cast about where or how to find the fountain. Sorta of vibing with being an immortal riddle-giver.

Kai: yes but he's not going to

Yaku: no, he'd get frustrated along the way and just go home, this isn't worth his time

Kuroo + Kai + Yaku: no they'd die along the way. even if they could do it independently, as a group they wouldn't be stealthy enough a monster would get 'em

Lev: no! obviously not

Yuki: no and please don't ask him to he's scared

Inuoka: no, but he would try

Lev + Yuki + Inuoka: eaten SO fast oh my god no they wouldn't find it

Daishou + Mika: honestly they probably could but I could only imagine them doing so in a tragic fairytale kind of way so maybe just hope they don't decide to go

Futakuchi: couldn't find it

Aone: no, wouldn't be able to find it

Futakuchi + Aone: no, they'd fail. they'd try several times and never make it work.

Kogane: no, obviously not, he'd be so lost so fast.

Moniwa + Sasaya + Kamasaki: they absolutely would and then make like a weird bloodpact to never tell anyone else where this fountain is and Moniwa would be so distressed by this and his weird dramatic friends but he'd go along. I don't think any of them would actually drink it, though, Moniwa would talk them down from it. Kamasaki really thinks that water looks good though.

Hoshiumi: he'd try really hard, but no

Hirugami: yes he could.

Hirugami + Hoshiumi: they could do it and then drink from the fountain and they'd definitely abuse this power but I don't think ultimately anything terrible would happen except to their own mental health

Sakusa: yes I think he could find it but I don't think he even knows what he wants to do with it. Would have to make a pros and cons flowchart regarding whether or not drinking is worth it and then by the time he decided to go back to the fountain it would have disappeared as per the magic fountain rules.

Komori: would go with Sakusa the second time and then fully believe Sakusa was just making shit up when they can't find the fountain

Kita: could absolutely find it but has the wisdom to know the impermanence of life is what gives it meaning and would choose to not find it.

Atsumu + Osamu: would die in the middle of a forest eaten by monsters

Atsumu: would spend his life searching and trying to convince Osamu that "any day now he'll figure it out!"

Osamu: no wouldn't try

Alan: no, wouldn't try

Alan + Kita: yes and they'd have a very nice lunch under the shade of a nearby tree. Alan would suggest they drink from it and receive an 4.5 hour lecture on why that is not going to be happening.

Alan + Osamu + Atsumu: they would die in the woods by a monster

Kita + Osamu + Atsumu: they would find the fountain and there would be a great fight about whether or not they could drink from it. Atsumu would, ultimately, choose to drink from it and merely from fear of being separated from his brother by this kind of time and magic, Osamu would do the same. Kita would not. This would end badly for the twins, as they are now in the terrifying suicide-horror story and have to choose when to die and they would feed off of each other and really never grow wise enough to make that call. Kita would suffer most for the feelings of guilt of leading them there.

Suna: no he got lost in the woods before he even found the ancient magic forests.

Akagi: no he might try and then be embarrassed that he even tried.

[nastasya--filippovna]

I wanna say this real quick. I'm super sick and tired of hearing all those people right now who keep saying "Did Terry know about this?" "Michael and David are so vocal about women rights and stuff so why are they silent; I bet they are complicit" "Ew I always hated Amanda Plamer's fake punk feminism I knew she was a liar. She is also equally guilty".

CAN YOU GUYS STOP! FOR ONE MINUTE!!

Stop making this about other people. Stop diverting the attention from the main criminal. Stop diluting the narrative. The only thing it does is make him seem less bad because suddenly y'all are not focusing on the actual horror of his crimes but instead on whether someone made a twitter statement about him. Why? Does it help assuage your own moral conundrum right now? help justify the fact that you too are probably benefitting from a system that encourages and protects people like NG?

We don't know Terry. he's dead. We cannot possibly know if he knew or not, if he ever said or did something about this. (and btw some close friends are testifying that he had some idea of NG's creepiness and had distanced himself from him but we'll never know for sure).

Michale and David are completely bound by their contracts and probably a lot of NDAs right now. they're probably more horrified than me and you too bcs we never personally knew NG. Imagine being close to someone, liking them as a friend, inviting them into your homes and then realising how fucking terrible that man is.

Stop speculating if they knew or not. Stop saying "DT wanted to have background checks on his co-workers in any project after some co-star turned out to be a domestic abuser so how could he have not known about NG." None of us knew. So many people did not know. He had curated this nice gentlemanly image of himself to such perfection that no one knew and I think we should forgive ourselves and others for not knowing.

As for Amanda.... she is complicit no doubt. But she is not the main bad guy. In the words of terry Pratchett people like her ".... they accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no.” Instead of taking your anger out on her, take it out on the one who totally deserves it. Why are we all, in the 21 century, still behaving like a wild, unruly medieval crowd who just wants to throw tomatoes and eggs at anyone just to vent out our feelings and then go back to working for our fief-masters and cruel kings without question.

[asarigg]

About: Part 1

this section is meant to be for topics that I didn't include either because it didn't feel very organic with what was being talked about or... honestly I don't remember. Anyway, I hope these can also bring new ideas for you.

YEARS ALONE

Koujaku received his tattoo around the age of 15, and was at least 23 when he returned to the island, leaving a gap of around eight years that he spent completely alone, dealing with his trauma, without help. We don’t know anything about how he lived since then, what kind of contact he had with the rest of his family, because he says that he lost the contact he had with the rest of his family, when he traveled to Midorijima and the border was closed, not before. In those years he had to learn to cut hair, work on his own and gradually separate himself from his family. I always imagined that Koujaku would be homeschooled, instead of going to a normal school, since he was chosen as the heir. Maybe before that he would go to a regular school with other children. Without having a normal education he probably had to go back to studying as an adult to be able to get his degree. I mention some hcs about this later on too.

SCRAP

Observing the elements that appear in his mind, I’ve always wanted to have a bad ending that would involve the Scrap environment, it’s ideal for horror, can you blame me? When Aoba enters, he’s in a dark room, without furniture or decoration. When he goes to another room it turns out to be exactly the same as the previous one, and so on, countless more rooms until finally the appearance changes. For Koujaku being in that house felt like an endless labyrinth, all the rooms seemed equally oppressive, equally caging, hence why they all look the same. And all the doors have a dragon painted on them, wherever he looked, wherever he went, there was no escape, just another dark room, uninviting, cold, strange, disturbing, hostile, suffocating, all while some hairlike snakes chased him, demonstrating just how engraved the image of Ryuuhou is in his mind, torturing him and keeping him prisoner. The dragon painted on the doors has five claws, meaning it's an imperial dragon. The imperial dragon is supposed to represent the chinese emperor, so other dragons had four or three claws. Japanese dragons have a standard of three claws, and you can see three claws on the dragon that is on Ryuuhou's kimono. Maybe this is just meant to be Ryuuhou seeming like a regular, standard person (with a bunch of skulls around his neck uh), but in Koujaku's mind, he reveals his true form, almighty, powerful, someone way superior to him.

When the next room finally changes its appearance, Aoba finds a teenage Koujaku being tattooed, strands of hair enveloping him in a cocoon in a bed drenched with his own blood. And how ironic that the very tattoo that keeps him trapped and transforms him is made of hair.

Also, don’t you find it curious that Koujaku is reborn from a cocoon giving him a connection with butterflies and that Aoba’s dad told him about those big blue butterflies when he was a kid? Yeah… My butterfly kouao art was canon after all, they're not beating the allegations. The butterfly on the vip card of the club too…

DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP. PATH TO HEALING: part 1

We talked already about Aoba and Koujaku’s relationship, symbolically, already starting long before you even get to their route. Obviously the route is a crisis in their friendship, but the feelings were already emerging long before, so it’s also a "breakup in their romantic relationship". The lack of communication and trust is what makes everything start to fall apart, and given the fact that he leaves with some women right at the beginning, it gives space to the infidelity and jealousy themes. I also have my opinions about this scene, but it’s nothing we haven’t mentioned already and they’re not things unique to them but in the entire game. I think it’s a terrible mistake that all this happens immediately after they walk through the door into PJ. They don’t give you any time to get used to the new environment, when we had Koujaku swearing his loyalty to Aoba and telling him that they would do everything they could to put an end to Toue’s cartoon villain evil plans.

I really think it would have been a good thing if they could wander the streets for a while, making you see that Koujaku is committed to this instead of making him fuck off as soon as he sees a woman, helping with the pace of the story and the feelings you should be having about them. He gives such a carefree image that it feels weird especially coming after the talk he gives to Aoba, it doesn’t feel true to himself.

And yes, it’s true that they leave crumbs, like describing his smile as forced, and that he has a strange expression when he sees the woman with the tattoo, but they are things that could be done later perfectly, and I even think it could work better, because it would leave you more disoriented, which is precisely what you should be thinking at this moment, better than a “okay man whatever”. You don’t even think about these details the first time you read it so the impression is more impactful. I don’t think Koujaku would walk away so soon, even if they ran into the girls as soon as they entered. Ryuuhou ruined his life, as well as his father, it’s not just any family problem, but a snowball of traumas that has been rolling around since his childhood. After years of working on forgetting him and stop seeking revenge, seeing a tattoo probably made by him must have felt like a kick in the balls, like seeing a ghost. He would be surprised and confused, of course, but I don’t know if he would go with them right away. His impulsiveness is important, but as an adult this is more nuanced. It’s not like one of the “provocations” he was responding to before, it’s no direct danger, it’s just a tattoo that might have been made by him, while he also has to keep appearances up next to Aoba. When faced with a personal dilemma he thinks about it a lot more, he hesitates. Maybe he needed time to process all this, to really think about what to do now that his memories are more vivid than ever.

Which btw after Koujaku sees Aoba sleeping in his bed you never see him with women (willingly lol). The ones in the beginning of his route don’t count because that’s for lore reasons :smug face:

Maybe as a result of this, Aoba would notice that his attitude after saying goodbye to those two women has changed, that he seems more quiet and serious, nervous, looking for excuses when Aoba asks him. Maybe later, when they decided to go to rest, instead of going to Glitter with Aoba, he would leave him alone and go see these women after exchanging numbers or something like that. That way, you can feel the role that Koujaku has as Aoba’s friend, and the tension and mystery are built step by step, not throwing it all at once.

Aoba not only gets angry with him when he chooses to go with those women, but rather he gets disappointed, he gets tired. Being in the critical situation they are in, in which they basically have to infiltrate “enemy territory” and overthrow the brainwashing empire of a millionaire bastard, you’d expect him to get angry way more forcefully. Of course we later learn why he does it, but at this moment the only thing that would cross his mind would be to hold it against him, grab his arm and stop him, but none of that happens.

But Aoba’s initial annoyance quickly fades, he seems rather disappointed, sad, especially when he sees them enter a nightclub. Because Koujaku has chosen to go with them instead of staying by his side, leaving him alone. Whenever he goes with these women, Aoba sees him from behind, from a distance. A cold and impersonal posture representative of the distance that is growing between them, as if he was something unattainable for him.

[harryshomebaby]

this is literally the worst i've ever felt in my life and i have to leave for work in 20 minutes

[egophiliac]

We ARE going to bring up Captain Amelia. You have good taste! GOOD TASTE I SAY! *aka I just rewatched Treasure Planet and got hit with, "Oh yeahhhhh... that explains a lot!"*

honestly, the Meg/Jasmine/Amelia trifecta tells you 90% about me as a person. (the rest is covered by Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Uranus and, uhhh, I'll stop baring my soul to the world now)

and speaking of Amelia, this is tangential, but like -- there's one Twst comic I have been kicking at for a while where I needed an RSA sports/flight teacher and, uh, well

someday I will wrangle this stupid comic into coherency and she'll get to make an appearance (in the background of a single panel, half-obscured by a tall hat) (but I will know she's there and that's the important thing)

[danielnelsen]

things aren’t going well with peach. while i think my dad’s very right to be concerned that she hasn’t eaten anything in nearly 60 hours (obviously i am too), im becoming increasingly concerned that she hasn’t slept at all in around 36 hours and prior to that she was under anaesthetic, which isn’t exactly restful, so it’s closer to 48 hrs

like dad took her back to the vet today and we’ve got injections for her painkillers now because she’s not eating, and also injections for fluids (because she doesn’t drink; she only gets water from her food), so the not eating is Bad but also kinda under management, but if she doesn’t sleep soon i’m extremely worried. dad was like ‘if she doesn’t eat by tomorrow afternoon we’ll take her back because the injections will run out’ but like. if she doesn’t sleep tonight we have GOT to take her back first thing in the morning so they can sedate her or something

[biillys]

yo merry christmas i'm thinking about christmas at the hargrove-mayfield's house throughout the years

wanna think about their first christmas together as a family, maybe before neil and susan even got married, or maybe just after. wanna think about what susan got billy for that first december 25th that they knew each other and what neil bought for max. did neil just pass that duty off to susan and stick his name on the from: section of the gift tag or did he put effort in and actually go to the shops and try and find something, specifically for his new step-daughter.

wanna think about the following few christmas' in california where billy never heard from his mom, never even got a fucking christmas card, but max heard from her dad; spending the time between christmas breakfast and christmas lunch on the phone, thanking him for the present he sent in the mail. wanna think about susan listening in, hearing her ex sounding distant and barely focused, agreeing with everything their daughter says, and biting her tongue; half relieved max hasn't picked up on the fact that sam's handwriting and her own is exactly the same, and half mad that sam's willing to take the credit without even blinking.

wanna think about their last christmas in california where they don't even realise it's their last one there; billy hitting his stride in being the worlds moodiest and most hard done by teenager, max following quick in his footsteps. wanna think about how all the gifts hand-picked by susan would be too lame and embarrassing to be thankful for, both kids screwing their nose up at most presents. maybe billy and max exchanging small gifts that christmas becos they haven't been at each others throats all year, only some, and susan thought it would be nice.

wanna think about their first christmas in hawkins, with things still so messy and uncomfortable and rough, but somehow settling into it like it's their new normal. wanna think about it being cold as fuck, none of them prepared for hawkins winters, and everyone walking on eggshells around each other and pretending it's fine. wanna think about max growing up and officially moving into her teenage years and billy counting down the days until he leaves them, adulthood so close yet still so fucking far. wanna think about them all sitting down for christmas dinner and billy barely being acknowledged, things still so tense even though it's been almost two months since everything went to shit, and max forcing out answers every time susan tries to keep the conversation flowing, her doing her best to carry the christmas spirit.

wanna think about a world where there's no living nightmares, no government conspiracies, and no death, but billy still spirals out of control anyway, feeling trapped and cornered in an unfamiliar town with unfamiliar people, his only solution to lash out and fight, anger and violence and distrust being all he knows. wanna think about max coming to the realisation that there's bigger monsters than her asshole step-brother, that maybe billy isn't the start of everyone's problems, just always somehow the end of them. want her to trace the line back to the source and realise neither of them ever stood a fucking chance.

wanna think about a christmas where billy's eighteen and max is fifteen, and they still live on cherry lane, and neil still fucking sucks, and susan still fucking tries, and everything's still awkward, the four of them never quite becoming the family unit their parents try to pretend them to be, but maybe billy and max get along these days, in a way they never could when they were younger, them going from being against each other to realising it's team up or be picked apart.

max gives him a present she saved up for for months, maybe as they're all going to bed, and billy raises an eyebrow at her before sighing and unwrapping it, still too fucking stubborn to be able to say thank you, but somehow brave enough to reach a hand into his room and grab out a present he got for her, and it's unwrapped cos he hasn't wrapped a present since his mom left, so max does her little sister duty and tells him she loves the wrapping and effort he put into it, before actually looking at what he got her, and he walks into his room and closes the door before she can even acknowledge it for the gift it is.

wanna think about billy eventually moving out, but not making it far; too fucking broke to live out his dreams of going home. wanna think about neil clapping him on the back on moving day and telling him he's done good, that this is what growing up is. graduating school, getting a job, moving out, providing for yourself. that's what makes a man. that it was rough there for a while, and he was worried, but he's glad to see his son's shaped up and straightened out finally, thanks to his solid parenting. wanna think about billy having no idea how to react, thinking that's the closest he'll ever get to his dad saying he's proud of him. wanna think about max helping him move and helping him chose a couch, claiming it has to be comfortable enough to sleep on when she crashes there on school breaks. want billy to tell her to get fucked, but buy the couch she picked out anyway.

wanna think about his first christmas out of home, and how how he probably feels indifferent about it at best, and pain about it at worst. christmas was never like the movies growing up, no matter how much susan tried, so it's not like being alone and having no decorations or presents is going to hurt, but he has enough memories of his mum, and a few moments over the years from when max and susan tried, and there's such a build up and fucking atmosphere about it all in hawkins that he can't escape it even if he tried, and he's starting to realise maybe he's really fucking lonely.

wanna think about neil calling him up and billy answering, cos now that they don't live in the same house and billy's finally taking responsibility for his own life, neil's like a whole new person. he wants to do father-son shit like talk about cars, offer advice about fixing the kitchen sink, tell him when to hire someone to fix something and when you should be able to fix something yourself, wants to watch sports games and crack open a beer on a saturday afternoon, and billy makes up reasons to say no most of the time, but sometimes he caves and says yes, cos there's a small part of him that's always wanted this. wanna think about neil calling and asking billy when he's coming over for christmas, saying that susan's cooking his favourite. wanna think about billy not even knowing what his favourite is, but saying he'll be at breakfast by 7:30am before he can stop himself.

wanna think about billy staying 'til afternoon and max raising an eyebrow at him, muttering don't you have a home to go to? while they clean up after lunch, but then neil offers him a beer, so he ignores her, and listens when his dad says he's welcome to stay for dinner, too. wanna think about billy and max smoking a joint out the back while their parents end the day with a christmas movie, and max turns to him and asks him what neil's deal is these days, and billy shrugs her off, too stubborn to look at it all too closely.

wanna think about billy pulling some money out of his wallet cos he has some now, and he didn't have time to get a present, too busy working overtime, but he has cash, so that'll do. wanna think about max handing him a new zippo, then somehow unearthing a whole-ass wrapped present, and when he opens it, it's a set of cheap fake glass cups, becos billy doesn't have any yet and every time she comes over she has to drink something either directly from the bottle in the fridge or remember her own drink bottle, and it's a housewarming gift, asshole, and this isn't my house, billy thinks, this isn't my fucking home, but it's also all he's got, so he finds a place for them in the cupboard above the sink, and max hunts them down the next time she's over first thing.

wanna think about christmas' in their future, when max moves out, when they're in their 20's and 30's, maybe billy keeps coming home, finding an uneasy peace with his dad reserved for special occasions only, the only few times of the year he's willing to lie to himself and pretend things were never as bad as his memories made them out to be, or maybe everything eventually crumbles, and billy finally gets to put some real distance between them, and finally then, he can breathe and stop pretending.

maybe max continues going, her seeing her mom try and so she puts in the effort to try as well, and maybe that works for a while, maybe even a lifetime, but maybe it doesn't, and by the time both her and billy are closer to 30 than 20, the only family they see on christmas is each other, and billy never wraps her presents, and max only gets him practical things, and they drink and bitch most of the time, but it's so much easier to exist in each others space when they don't have to act and pretend and play parts.

[co27]

i guess my question is why DOES nuance immediately become looked down upon when it comes to that one webcomic

[sskk-manifesto]

Atsushi's back in the game!!! ۶( ˆ o ˆ )

[supercantaloupe]

schedule sending emails for the morning so i don't look like a freak sending them at 11:39 pm on a friday in late december

[natelia-aldelliz]

Guys... Listen I know I said I'd draw something for valentine's day but I had a bit of a rough week sooooo I'm just going to write it out instead, maybe I'll finish drawing it some day, maybe not. It's behind a show more because it's long.

(also there's talks about having sex but no actual sex, and like, general warnings about Ghost's backstory but it's very vague here).

Soap was hanging around outside, trying to bring himself to do something, anything. But the weather was nice for a February day, and the sun was out, and it was making him feel like a cat basking in the heat.

An arm wrapped itself around his shoulders, a huge body suddenly weighing on him. Ghost.

Soap hummed comfortably. This day was getting better by the minute. Any chill he might have felt from being outside in a tank top out of pure Scottish spite was instantly soothed.

Simon often times saw himself as a cold man, freezing to the touch, hidden behind a layer of ice. A proper little Elsa, Soap almost snorted out loud. The truth was that while yes, his fingers and toes' temperature was sometimes abysmal, especially in bed, the rest of him was the warmest place Johnny had ever been.

"I've got something for you in our room," Ghost whispered against his throat, making Soap shiver.

Simon had begun calling Soap's room theirs a few weeks ago and Johnny couldn't have enough of it. He was so in love it genuinely hurt sometimes to restrain himself from squeezing him to death.

"Is that so?" he purrs, knowing how Ghost likes that. If this day didn't end in sex he'd be very surprised. He'd long learned to recognize when Simon wanted sex and when he didn't, and the way he squeezed his pec in response to his voice was a very easy tell.

But then again Simon was way less subtle than he thought he was.

They made their way back to their room, and there it was, a repurposed shoebox, badly wrapped with cheap wrapping paper. Johnny couldn't be more excited, he had never received any gift from a significant other. To be fair he adored gifting but always felt awkward receiving.

But this was Simon. Something that Simon had chosen to give him.

He sat on the bed, leaving enough space behind him for Ghost to sit there so he could use him as a very comfortable backrest. When he did, he grabbed the gift and began opening it.

He knew that Ghost liked to tear the wrapping paper, liked the sound of it and liked tearing it into the smallest pieces possible after, but he himself loved carefully unwrapping it and folding it flat so he could later maybe do an origami with it or put a piece in his journal. Probably both.

This one was full of tape but he still very much enjoyed himself, considered it a challenge. He enjoyed the chase, wanted to drag it on. Ghost huffed impatiently behind him, a bit tense, probably nervous.

Inside the box was a weird old fashioned clunky thing. It was bright red, looked slightly like binoculars, definitely from the 70's, with a wheel of tiny pictures wedged in the top of it. Memories hit him all at once.

"Oh my god ah remember, my Ma had one of these when ah was a child! My sister and I loved it, it had pretty landscapes in!"

He put it against his eyes, excited to see what this one came with. At his biggest surprise, it was a picture of them. Simon had customised it.

The picture showed the back of himself a bit further away from the camera, pointing at something while in full gear, in a dilapidated town, Ghost's face in the foreground looking at the camera. It looked like Soap was talking to someone, but that person was cut by the framing.

"Wait, ah remember that mission, it's when ah saved Gaz from a landmine just to be shot seconds later," he laughed. "ah spent two fucking weeks in the hospital, ah was miserable. Ye kept joking ah should hiv left Gaz explode while staring at him, he was convinced ye actually wanted him dead!"

Then the next picture was indeed him in his hospital bed, unconscious but the state of his injuries told him he was probably just sleeping at least a few days after his admission, his life no longer in danger. In this one, Ghost was sleeping too, head in his elbow near Soap's head and his other hand holding Soap's hand.

"Who took this one?" Soap asked, moved by the tenderness of Ghost's hold on him in the picture. It would have been right after Johnny had admitted to maybe liking him more than friends, before they were officially dating.

"The hospital one?"

Soap hummed.

"Price did. Said it was for blackmail. Should have seen him, he looked like his child had just married the person of their dreams and had ridden off into a rainbow on a unicorn or some shit. Old man's sentimental as fuck, but I didn't call him on his bullshit, he's already old, that's punishment enough."

Soap giggled in response. The next few pictures were all of them together but each time he was either turning his back or asleep.

"Why the fuck am ah never looking at the camera?" he whined. He wanted some cute couple pictures, dammit!

"Couldn't have you suspecting what I was planning," Simon said, kissing his shoulder soothingly. Only then Soap noticed that he had taken his mask off at some point and turned to ask for a proper kiss, which he immediately got.

"Keep going, there's more pictures," Simon whispered against his lips when he tried to turn around to kiss him some more. His pouting only got him a smirk in response, so he got comfortable again and brought the slide viewer back against his eyes.

He was happy he did. The next picture waiting for him was just Simon in the mirror, almost in full gear, but with one gloveless hand dragging his trousers down so the camera could see the bottom of his stomach, follow along his happy trail and reaching the very top of his pubic hair. The picture cut of his head, but he could see that his mouth was uncovered and he was holding the glove with his teeth.

Soap groaned. "Steaming Jesus, love, you're so hot."

He felt Simon hide his face in the back of his neck, warmer than usual, and chuckled a bit. He loved him so fucking much.

There were four more pictures of Simon, in various suggestive poses and states of undress, some almost showing his cock but never quite committing, making Johnny feel like he was being teased.

He was getting hard though and so ready to be done with the pictures and access the real thing. But Simon was still tense behind him. In fact, he had only gotten tenser and tenser with each click.

Soap was unsure why. They never had a problem with their sexual life, Simon had already changed his mind about having sex after starting and Soap had absolutely no problem with that, was glad to hug him instead and reassure him when he had tried to apologize.

Simon knew that there was no pressure, ever, to have sex. Hell, Johnny would still be happy even if Simon decided that he never wanted to have sex again, and he had made sure to make Simon understand that.

Then he got to the last picture and immediately understood.

It wasn't a picture of either of them, just a little bit of paper, with a few words written in Ghost's awful handwriting.

Just a few words that made Johnny drop the viewer on the covers and turn around to grab Simon's face, worriedly looking in his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking for any trace of Simon forcing himself. "Baby, ah'm happy to bottom for the rest of mah life, there's no pressure, okay?"

Simon looked at him with warmth in his eyes and his cheeks completely red, a wrapping bow added on top of his head. "I know," he said simply. "I just want to. I don't want to be haunted by memories anymore. I used to like it, and I want to like it again. With you. Just.... Be gentle, okay?"

Johnny kissed his forehead. "Ah dinnae think ah ken how no tae be gentle with ye, love."

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Me: I should probably clean my room, unpack, find my laptop and finish the work tasks that were due yesterday

Also me: I think I'm going to hot glue flowers, vines, and ribbons to a basket instead :)

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[mad-hunts]

♡ + food

OOH, thank you so much for the ask, @crimeclean! this is honestly a prompt that i was kind of hoping to get because i've been looking for an excuse to talk about this. so, allow me to tell you about one food that barton has had an aversion to over the years and for... honestly, a very unfortunate (to say the least), but also a good reason. and this is mushrooms. now i have talked about this a bit a while ago, but whenever barton was still with his bio father, wesley mathis; he went through a period of having to feel food insecurity and hoarding food. this was due to the fact that wesley had lost his job as a forester at one point, which caused them both to struggle a lot with having enough to eat. and one day, as sad as this may sound, barton had ran out of the food that he stockpiled for a day where wesley wasn't able to feed either of them. so the choice was either to go out to try to find something to eat or simply ruminate in his hunger / try to make it go away by sleeping. however, barton was just SO hungry this day that he was literally having pains and as a result, because they lived out in the woods at the time — a six or seven year old barton went out to see if he could find something to eat amongst the wilderness.

and barton had found morel mushrooms, a species that is known to grow in new jersey that isn't toxic when eaten cooked, BUT is when eaten raw. and he had eaten a good amount of them so the onset of symptoms he got from eating them arrived pretty quickly. they are known to cause gastrointestinal issues especially in large amounts and have even killed some people who didn't have the knowledge that you can't eat them uncooked. as a result, barton had to be hospitalized and after that, he didn't even want to look at mushrooms for years. even now, he doesn't really like eating them because of the fact that they caused him to have a quite traumatic experience as a kid, but if they're being cooked by someone as a part of a dish and barton KNOWS that this person doesn't have a toxic type of mushroom... he'll eat them. though about 9 times out of 10, if someone actually offers him the choice to eat something without them, he will gladly take that.