#he knows so much about every other country but knows shit all about canada for some reason

[grinchwrapsupreme]

watching a british guy play geoguessr and he keeps mentioning "canadian states"

[alltimecharlo]

maybe some angst where will thinks hes not good enough for mack? hehe ty

i’ve gotchu!!! the angst is there but so is the hurt/comfort bc i am a sucker for it 🥹🩵

Will lies flat on his back in the dark, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling of his hotel room. The thin sheets are twisted around his ankles, kicked off in frustration half an hour ago. The hum of the air conditioning fills the silence, and somewhere in the hallway, someone’s laughing way too loud for midnight.

He should be sleeping. They have a game tomorrow. But his mind won’t stop chewing on the same thought over and over again like a dog with a bone: Mack deserves better.

He rolls over and picks up his phone from the bedside table. No notifications. Not even from Mack.

It’s not like he expects a play-by-play of Team Canada’s locker room, but… still.

Mack scored a ridiculous goal today against Sweden. An insane breakaway off a backhand pass from fucking Sidney Crosby, so clean it made the highlight reel within minutes. Twitter’s losing its mind. Every NHL account’s posting about it. Crosby himself said in an interview that Mack’s one of the smartest young players he’s ever played with.

Will’s on the fourth line now.

He curls into himself on the too-firm mattress, pressing his cheek against the cool pillowcase. It doesn’t help.

The worst part is that he’s not even mad about the demotion. Not really. He gets it. It’s strategy. Matchups. Warsofsky’s trying to find the right mix and Will’s caught in the shuffle. Again.

But then he thinks about Mack—who doesn’t have to fight for ice time, whose face is lighting up the Jumbotron, who probably got swarmed by reporters after the game and handled it all like a pro—and he feels small. Smaller than he has in a long time.

It wasn’t always like this. Back in San Jose, they were equals. Rookies together. Same line. Same weird rookie rituals and late-night Uber Eats orders. Will had Mack’s number memorized before he had the team systems down. They made each other better on the ice, fed off each other like magnets.

But now? Worlds is different.

Different teams. Different countries. Different rooms.

Will misses the little things the most. Mack flopping onto his hotel bed. Mack dragging him to the gym way too early and rewarding him with coffee after. Their little milk-and-cookies-before-bed tradition that Mack made fun of until he got used to it—and then needed it.

And God, Mack.

Mack with his hair still damp from the shower, tugging Will’s hoodie over his head like it’s his. Mack whispering some ridiculous idea at midnight like sneaking into the hotel kitchen. Mack’s stupid white noise app playing ocean sounds while he falls asleep curled around Will, breath warm against the back of his neck.

It’s easy to believe Mack wants him when they’re together. Mack’s never been subtle about it. He touches Will constantly, talks to him like he’s the most interesting person in any room, laughs at all his jokes even when they’re bad.

But now, with miles between them and Will stuck on the fourth line while Mack headlines the highlight reels, it’s harder to remember what any of that means.

Why would Mack want someone like him?

His phone buzzes.

Will startles, heart flipping as the screen lights up with a FaceTime request. Macklin Celebrini.

He answers in under a second.

Mack’s grinning, face slightly flushed, hair damp and curling around his ears. “Hi.”

Will swallows. His voice comes out hoarse. “Hey.”

“You look like shit,” Mack says cheerfully.

Will laughs, the sound shaky. “Thanks.”

“You sleeping?”

“Was trying.”

Mack leans in closer to the camera. “Thinking too much?”

Will shrugs. “Something like that.”

Mack’s eyes soften. “Miss me that bad?”

Will tries to play it cool, but he knows Mack sees through him. “You’re annoying when you’re not around to distract me.”

Mack grins. “You’re annoying when I am around.”

Will smiles, just a little. “Yeah, well. Guess I miss that too.”

There’s a pause. Mack doesn’t say anything for a beat, just looks at him like he can see through every cracked piece of Will’s confidence. Then he says, quieter, “I miss you too.”

Will’s chest goes warm and tight at the same time.

“Was thinking,” Mack says, “after this whole international bullshit’s done, I’m gonna steal you for like a week. No hockey. No cameras. Just us.”

Will’s throat is suddenly too tight to answer, so he nods.

Mack sees it. Smiles, gentle now. “Good. Also, Mo’s asleep already, so I can stay on for a bit. You want the ocean sounds?”

Will closes his eyes. The ache eases a little. “Yeah. That’d be good.”

Mack flips the camera around, aims it at the nightstand where his phone speaker starts playing a familiar soft tide. Then he sets it down, turns back, and stretches out.

“Go to sleep, Will,” he says, voice low and steady. “I’ll be here.”

And Will, for the first time all night, thinks he actually might.

♡

[batboyblog]

So…..Trump wants the US to make the rules in Gaza apparently. What are your thoughts about that at least from what we do know about it?

its really a little hard to know what the fuck is going on,

based on Trump's public comments and his fucked up repost of an AI video of Trump Gaza, it sounds like what Trump wants is the the US to... basically take over Gaza not as some kind of peace keeping mission or UN Mandate but as.... a colony effectively? and to largely if not totally depopulate it of its Arab Palestinian population to be replaced by ???? Americas maybe? Gulf Arabs? tourists for sure but who will in fact live and work in this beach front tourist hot spot with Trump branded properties? unclear.

there's a lot of debate about how real or serious this idea is. My default is not to think that Trump is playing 5D chess, so much as eating the pieces. Trump clearly has a hang on on the 19th century and wanting to be William McKinney and get his own American Empire he's made a lot of comments about different things, like all the shit with Greenland or Canada, or about McKinney himself etc. So I tend to think at least Trump himself is serious.

That said it came out the other day that the Trump Team went behind Israel's back to talk directly with Hamas, something no past US government has done. The Israelis told them not to, particularly without any preconditions, Trump's team ignored them and didn't even tell the Israelis they were doing it.

Now normally I'd say this is a play, Trump is wacky in public to pressure Hamas in private "look we're reasonable but the boss is crazy, work with us to get a deal before..." and maybe that's the line these people are using on Hamas, but I'd be shocked if Trump was in on the play, because he's stupid, lazy, and crazy. Someone told him Gaza would be nice beach front if not for all the war and his rotting haunted house of a brain ran with that to his happy place "making money from my scams"

any ways. It's really bad when the leader of your country is floating ethnic cleansing as a policy idea, and while the why is not important there's something super insulting and depressing that the reason is "so I can built a casino" Trump really wants to be King Leopold (look it up) in Gaza.

finally... a lot of people in America, just don't live in reality when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Don't have any understanding of what October 7th was, what it was like, I'm lucky I didn't lose anyone close to me, but I had met a few people in passing and they were dead and that was November 2023 realizing "oh shit, I know him" about people who were killed in the worst ways imaginable. I can only imagine what it was like inside Israel when it was your friends, neighbors, family, through work I've met a lot of hostage families and that suffering is just unimaginable. Any ways point being Israel suffered a 9/11 level event, with rape and torture on top of the body count. The Two State Solution has been on life support since 2001, with slowly worsening vitals every year. 10/7 killed it for the Israelis.

And this is where the unreality many Americans live in comes in, they don't understand Biden's involvement in the war was a last ditch effort to keep that Two State Solution alive, time and time again pushing Netanyahu off from re-settlement or annexation in Gaza, pushing to involve the Palestinian Authority, forcing a refocus on hostages, over and over again.

so certain people loudly declared that nothing could be worse than the war, that it didn't matter who was President, that punishing Biden, Harris, Democrats mattered more than any results that might come from Trump.

well here we are, the President of the United States endorsing ethnic cleansing in the name of enriching himself... that is, at least on paper, the policy of the United States, we've gone from Biden's policy of a path to statehood, to Trump's of "GTFO of Gaza so I can build a Trump Casino!"

at the very end of Biden's term he managed to deliver a ceasefire that brought home most of the hostages and stopped the fighting and had Israeli forces pulling back. Under Trump that ceasefire is falling apart. I think that's the clearest split in the timeline? like what would have been vs what we will see.

idk what's gonna happen, I don't have a great deal of optimism.

[alpaca-clouds]

On Santa, the Christkindle, Krampus and Frau Holle

Let me tell you Americans something – because I know that most people on this specific hellsite are in fact American, while I am not. I am European. German, to be exact, with some Asian roots, according to my mother. And a few days in a rather useless attempt to get a bit into the Holiday spirit, I watched the movie “Red One”. An American friend already noted, how he was aware that in the finale of the movie, it does not make a lot of sense to save Christmas, given not everyone celebrates Christmas around the world, and how also a couple of countries have the presents out on January, 6th, on the Epiphany. Which, yes, is true.

When I watched the movie, though, and got to the place, I messaged that friend: “By the way, do you know that Santa does in fact not bring us the presents in Germany? Or most of Europe, in fact. Oh, and also, Krampus is in fact not really the Anti-Santa or Santa’s brother or some shit, but that goes back a whole lot further than just Christianity.”

On the next day, though, I could not help it, but think about the entire thing. Because I was not quite sure whether I had some cognitive bias about Krampus – or if my gut feeling was right. And that got me down a long, long rabbit hole.

So, my dear Americans, let me regail you with Christmas stories from Europe, and why Krampus has more to do with white men being butthurt than anything else. Alright? Alright!

Christkindelein, Christkindelein

Now, I will not go too deeply into the entire Santa thing. Just know: Yes, St. Nikolaus is in fact connected to Christmas traditions all over Europe. However, in quite a lot of European countries, like in Germany, St. Nikolaus only comes on December 6th, where he will bring a bit of chocolate, and maybe some socks. No big presents. Those are for Christmas.

So, why does Nikolaus come on December 6th? Well, this has to do with Saints’ Days in the Catholic calendar. Basically: Every saint in the Catholic canon has a day dedicated to them. And yes, we have more than 365 saints, so yes, several saints will usually share a day. St. Nikolaus, the Turkish bishop, has his day on December 6th, hence this is the day when someone dressed as a somewhat more historical St. Nikolaus will appear in German kindergardens and schools. And also in some other countries. (Not all countries celebrate this.) That will usually look something like this.

Now, Germany will have the presents on Christmas Eve. Not on the morning of December 25th, but the tradition was originally for the family to go to Christmas (like a literal mas) on the evening of December 24th, and then come home for a good feast and presents, because the presents had been “delivered” while the family was in the church. But no, they were not delivered by St. Nick, but by the Christkind, the Christ Child. And generally speaking in most of the Catholic areas of Europe it tends to be either the Christ Child who delivers the presents, or the Magi – in those areas of Europe where the presents get to the kids on Epiphany.

And yes, there are absolutely a lot of families in Europe today, who have not a strong religious tradition, and hence just use Santa, because American Imperialism is a thing, and most movies the kids are aware off use Santa. After all those families will usually not go to Church for the literal Christmas and… Well, what difference does it make.

However, I should not that it is generally not a thing over here – even in those families that were taken in by American Imperialism – to put out cookies and milk for Santa. That very much is an American thing. Please, dear Americans, just do not assume that something that is a traditions with you folks gets done the same everywhere on the world. Because in fact, very few things Americans celebrate are celebrated the same way anywhere else (outside of Canada, I guess).

But this is actually the less interesting part of this little essay.

No, I actually wanted to talk with you about Krampus.

Krampus is not Santa’s Brother

Now I will tell you something, that has surprised all my American friends: I never heard of Krampus until I was 18. Never once was I aware that Krampus was a thing that existed, despite me being from Germany. Shocking, right?

Because here is the thing: Krampus does not originate in Germany, but in Austria. And specifically the Krampus tradition originates in Styria. Which once more is the moment I will remind my dear Castlevania fans that: Yes, indeed. Styria is a real place. It is a region within Austria. And to be exact it is the region in Europe that was Christianized the latest. (Please mind: Yes, there were other region that were not-majority Christian later, but those got Christianized before, but were taken over by Muslims afterwards. Meanwhile Styria was only Christianized majorly in the 12th century. Mainly because it is an area that is so high up in the mountains, that pretty much everyone until then who tried to forcefully Christianize failed.)

And when I was 18, I moved in with my then boyfriend, who lived in Leoben in Styria. So that year was the first time, that I ever heard of Krampus, because there was a lot of Krampus related stuff happening in Styria. Mainly there was a Krampuslauf pretty much everywhere on December 5th, so in the night before December 6th, before St. Nikolaus came. And yes, as you might be aware, the story about Krampus is usually about how he will take the naughty children and kidnap and eat them in some way or form.

In Austria meanwhile this looks like this: A whole lot of men dress up with creepy masks, run through the streets, and hit people with whips. A very Castlevania holiday indeed. Yes, usually some bullshit happens, because of people are anonymous some bullshit always happens, right?

And for my whole life I have always wondered: While I was living in Austria I noticed a whole lot more references to Krampus in American media. I chucked it up to be a cognitive bias. You know, when you learn about a new word for example, you notice it a lot more being used. So I shrugged and went on with my life, not really thinking about this again. Until that conversation a couple of days ago. And this time… This time I could not help myself. Because I was like: “I am pretty sure the Krampus tradition is older than the St. Nikolaus tradition in that area. So it is probably not a Christian thing.” But I also kept thinking: “Is it though?” Mainly, because during this years @fluff-cember I also wrote a story about Perchten, and I could not help but notice one thing: Krampus has an awful lot of similarity to Perchten.

Mother Holde and Perchten

Hey, you. Americans specifically. Do you know the story of Frau Holle? Because while I know you might probably not be familiar with a lot of European folklore, there is a good chance you at least will know the fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.

If you don’t, don’t worry. I will give you the short rundown. (Mind you, like with all fairlytales, there are about 10 different versions of this story going around. Because those were oral stories first.)

The short version however is like this.

A miller looses his wife and marries anew. And his new wife has a daughter from a previous marriage. Now they have two daughters named Marie. And like it goes in those fairytales, the stepmother treats the Marie from the old marriage very poorly, especially after the father dies. However, this Marie is a diligent child. She will do all her chores without complaining. And one day she is send to spin yarn at the local well. However, her spindle falls into the well – and when she tries to fetch it, she falls into it as well. However, instead of being stuck in the well, it turns out she gets basically isekai’d into another realm, where an old woman meets her, introducing herself as Frau Holle. And she offers this Marie to help her with her chores, and if Marie does so, she will be rewarded. Marie, being the diligent child, obviously agrees. And she does the chores, that unbeknownst to her actually allow the season on earth to move on properly. Part of it is to beat out the pillows and blankets, making it snow on the world. And after a while, Frau Holle is very impressed with her, and showers her in gold, before sending her back home. Now, the stepmother finds this child now rich and golden, and asks her where she got all that gold. And Marie, being the diligent child, tells her. So the stepmother tells her own daughter to do the same. So this daughter will also spin by the well, drop her spindle, fall in and get isekai’d. And indeed. It happens. However, this Marie is lazy and not at all diligent. And after a while Frau Holle has enough with her, and instead of with gold, she showers this Marie in pitch and sends her back.

And then there is this moral about being a diligent girl and diligence being rewarded and stuff.

However, Frau Holle actually goes far, far back into German, and especially alpine mythology to the goddess Holde, Berchte, or Perchten.

Now, we have a pretty good idea from mythological research, that Berchte (to be translated as “the bright one”) was probably very related to Frigg from Norse mythology, just with some adjustments given that this was a goddess who was prayed to in the alps, rather than Scandinavia – and mythology will always shift to reflect the area people live in.

But yes, Berchte was – from all we can reconstruct – always linked to spinning, and to the midwinter holidays. After all, most cultures did celebrate the solstices in some way or form. And it seems that indeed Berchte was connected to bringing gifts during the solstice, but also with punishing lazy and naughty children and servants. While we do have little written evidence for this in the pre-Christian culture (because they wrote down very little), we know that Berchte was said to roam around during the Christmas holidays, after these areas got Christanized.

And while Berchte would both appaear as a pretty young woman, and a motherly old woman, there seemed at some point a shift to happen. And when she came to punish those who had been lazy or naughty, she would appear as a monsterous woman with goat horns, who more commonly was called Perchten. (Still same word root though.) It is not quite clear whether Perchten at that point already was a different being from Berchte – or just a slightly varied name for a different incarnation. But however it happened: Over the next few centuries the Berchte worship died out, but Perchten survived.

Perchten and the Angry White Men

Now, here comes the interesting bit. Because we have written evidence of Perchten going as far back as the 12th century. And we know that even after Christianization of these area, Perchten stayed around. And in fact, it became a tradition for the women to dress up as Perchten during the Christmas celebrations (which back in the day lasted for 12 days, as you might know) and play tricks on everyone, who they perceived to have been naughty.

And… Well, here is the thing. We do not know how it happened. But one of the current theories is, that simply some men were like: “Why do women get to have all the fun?!” And kinda wanted to make a male pendent for Perchten. Which ended up being Krampus.

Now, please consider two things: 1) There is a theory too, that Krampus might have been influenced by Ottoman and Balkan mythology, though this connection is kinda hard to source, though it would explain the origins of the name. 2) In northern areas of the Germanic people, St. Nikolaus was already celebrated and had a companion, who was indeed punishing the naughty kids. Servant Rupert (Knecht Ruprecht). However, this companion was not monstrous like Krampus, but just a guy in a servant’s uniform and with a whip made of twigs. Simple as that. It still might have been an influence.

One way or another: Ethnologists are very, very certain that Krampus did come to be as a reaction to Perchten and the Perchtenläufe, which also explains the visual correlations between Krampus and Perchten.

The first written sources we have for Krampus showing up only go back to the mid-17th century, but historians assume that this tradition started in the late-16th century. But the exact details are fairly hard to pin down.

It turns out, though, that my very subjective experience of not noticing a whole lot of Krampus stuff earlier was very correct. Because… this tradition kinda got lost mostly during the 19th century. Like, sure, some places still had a Krampuslauf of some sort, and had Krampus come with St. Nikolaus during the celebrations, but for several reasons (one of them being that the Krampus just appeared too pagan) the tradition mostly got lost for a long, long while.

White People and their Lost Culture

And this brings me back to me never ever hearing anything about Krampus until I moved to Austria about 15 years ago. Because when I was in Austria, everyone told me that, yeah, sure, this Krampus thing is totally an old tradition. And heck, many of them might not even have meant to lie to me, given they were themselves fairly young. But indeed, the widespread comeback of the Krampuslauf actually only started in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Again, no, it was never a fully dead tradition, but it had petered off over the centuries and only was a thing in very few places until Styria came into the problem, that a lot of western European nations generally have to struggle with: “Well, Christianity got pushed onto us during the middle ages, and we actually do not fucking know a whole lot about our culture before Christianity, do we now? So if I do no longer align with Christianity, what the heck is my culture?” This need to have a culture of their own clearly also was influenced by the influx of immigrants and the racist reflex to be like: “Hey, this is our culture” in comparison.

And so… someone stumbled across the entire Krampus thing and was like: “Welp, this certainly does feel kinda pagan, doesn’t it?” And so Krampus was brought back, and within a couple of years became a tradition pretty much every place in Styria participated in, before it even spread to other parts of Austria.

Which brings me back to being a little alpaca standing in Austria and being like: “Huh, I never heard of it.” And then seeing horror movies themed around Krampus spring up, tilt my head and wonder: “Wait, was this always a thing?”

The answer is: Nope. Nope, it wasn’t! American references to Krampus in media go only back until 2004, and actually the big push to include Krampus in western media only happened in the early 2010s. So no, it was actually no subconscious bias on my side. It was true. Krampus was actually fairly new and the reason I never noticed this before was, that it simply had not been a thing for very long, when I came to Austria – and that indeed American media only started to broadly include Krampus in the early 2010s.

Which brings me back to the most important thing this rabbit hole has taught me: It was actually not my subconscious cognitive bias! HOORAY!

So, what about St. Nikolaus?

Let me finish with this: St. Nikolaus has been a figure who has brought treats and presents to children and servants (I cannot stress the later part enough) at least since the 11th century, probably already earlier. The historical figure that inspired this tradition goes back to the 4th century, obviously, and the way St. Nikolaus has given out presents in Europe for the most part was related to the legend around the historical figure. And yes, from all we know, the tradition of giving St. Nikolaus some sort of other person who accompanies him and at times is responsible for punishing the evil kids and servants might go back at least until the 12th century. Those servants of St. Nick have had a whole lot of names in a whole lot of different areas, and talking about them all would let me write at least a small novella here.

And in a way, I am somewhat sad, that the one of the figures who somehow managed to get picked up by Americans is actually Krampus – and how very much divorced from the cultural context he originated it became.

I guess in some way it is fitting, given that of course the American version of St. Nikolaus is also very much divorced from any cultural context he once had. It is simply the thing American culture does: Divorcing things from their cultural context. I mean, I am gonna be mean here, but I am gonna bet that I know more about the bible than pretty much 95% of American Christians, given how Christianity came ot the US and is taught there to this day. Again: Fully divorced from the cultural context.

And still, I wish it would not be that way. It would at least make Holiday movies a whole lot more interesting. Be it the ones about Santa dealing with Santa actually being a brown man, or the ones about Krampus dealing with my horny boy originating from men wanting to have a horned representation as well, while running around the alps during the winter months.

[thatdeadaquarius]

OKAY BUT I HAVE MORE IDEA FOR BLUNT READER CUZ I LOVE THAT AU SO MUCHANDMDJFKSLDKF

So you know how french people's insult are always outta pocket (from a person who's first language is french I can tell you that no other language compares in insult -apart for African languages)

Like,, some "bad" insult here would be : bitch, fuck off, whore,..

Which we can all agree is boring...

BUT THEN IN FRENCH!!!

We be getting creative with it

Eg.

"mange tes mort" wich translates to "eat your dead (relatives)"

"vas te fair enculer" means "go get yourself pegged in the ass"

(yes, we have a specific word for being fucked in the ass 💀)

AND THOSE WOULD BE THE COMMON ONES AS WELL

English could never compare ✨

BUT ANYWAYS

how would the characters react if reader was from france/ belgium/ canada(or any other french speaking country) and started cursing people out like they eould do in their home countrie !?!?

The eay their face would drop

We would make a couple of people cry

AND GOD(us haha) FORBID A KID OVER-HEAR US AND STARTS REPEATING US

Trying to un-teach them would be hell *cries*

Your thoughts?

Love yaaaa~

ABSOLUTE TOP TIER ORAH MY BELOVED!!

Nobody has any idea how much I HATE ENGLISH both for its rules/pronounciation BS/etc. But also, most importantly, THERES LIKE NO GOOD CUSS WORDS- OR LIKE CUSS PHRASES??

I HAD TO PUT THIS GIF BC THAT WAS LITERALLY ME WHEN I HAD THE REALIZATION TO LOOK UP OTHER LANGUAGE CUSS WORDS AND I WAS JUST BLOWN AWAY BY HOW GOOD THEY WERE- HOW CREATIVE- 😫😭🥲 ENGLISH WHY R U SO SHITY IN EVERY POSSIBLE LANGUAGE SITUATION-

like idk we got "eat shit and die / fuck off / go fuck yourself" ???? Like- thats pathetic 😟.

I love hearing someone just cuss smbody out their native language/non-english, it’s so badass and cool to see

Anyway u already know i love non-native english speakers from the bottom of my heart✨️

GOD I FUCKING LOVE BLUNT LANGUAGE AU ITS LIKE ONE OF TOP FAV AS U CAN PROBABLY GUESS I COULD WRITE A LITERAL FANFIC ENTIRELY OFF THIS SIMPLE PREMISE 💖💓💗💞❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

omg so i HAVE SPECIFICALLY HEARD ABT FRENCH BEING RLLY CREATIVEEE

and i researched french cusswords/phrases,,,

😭 BRO IM CRYING

“bête comme ses pieds!” IM ROLLING ON THE FLOOR-

(trans: you’re as stupid AS YOUR FEEEEEETT)

idk what’s funnier, you translating urself in real time and saying all these phrases to ppl,

OR just scaring the ever-loving shit out of every teyvat citizen within a mile radius bc oh wow- you look pissed, so yeah somebody’s about to lose all their self-esteem for the rest of their life bc ur insults are known to be extra cutting bc ur so blunt-

OH CREATOR ABOVE (…oh creator, present??)- you changed to your holy language FOR THIS???

everybody just giving the npc the most bombastic side-eye for pushing you to do this,

or even just you stubbing ur toe/ate food when it was too hot

or my favorite, getting onto ppl like Wanderer when they do smth silly lmao

STOP I HAD A FOUL THOUGHT OF GETTING ONTO Ei AND WANDERER (like ei for not keeping him/at least giving him to someone else to raise, then all the shit he did as Scaramouche lol)

AND THIS CUSSWORD COMES OUT UNDER UR BREATH OR SMTH- DOES THIS FIT BC THIS KILLS ME:

“Putain de salope…” (whore of whore, I LIED IT MEANS FUCKING BITCH LMAO😭)

JUST GETTING THE MOM AND THE SON IN ONE FULL BREATH CRYINGGGG

STOPPP wanderer using it against other ppl ever since u used it lol

oh no stop dont bring the kids into thisss 😭😭

Klee would deffo be the first one to pick up ur words and use them, omg she just uses them as catchphrases like when throwing her bombs 💀

“Mange tes mort!” JUST WITH A SMILE ON HER FACE AS SHE THROWS HER HUGE SKILL BOMB INTO A FISH POND

Venti would definitely make sure the winds “pass along phrases of the sacred All-God language!”

which just means anyone who UNDERSTANDS YOU JUST GETS GENTLY CREATIVELY CUSSED OUT BY THE WIND IM SOBBINGGG

☆

i hope u guys are having a great summer! its basically too hot to go outside where I am, not unless ur going straight into the water or smth

which hey, ill be doing that this weekend, floating down the river about an hour away from my house with friends! :]

which,,, if anyone sees this, U GOTTA HELP ME THINK OF A 1000 FOLLOWERS MILESTONE THING TO DO IDK WHAT TO DO BUT I WANNA CELEBRATE IT BC I NEVER THOUGHT THATD HAPPEN!! lmk what u think in the comments if u read this!

☆

Safe Travels 0rah,

💀♒

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi

[landolovef]

Going home - lando norris

Summary: Many months had went into planning this trip. From the timing, the days and the activities to scheduling down who your going to introduce to your boyfriend and at what time and day. You hed spent everyday making sure that this was going to go perfectly just for everything to change last minute

Warnings: swearing

As a Canadian i felt it was right to use canada as the country. Plus fc is canadian as well!!

Over the last months after moving in with lando although everything had gone perfect its began to feel lonely. The constant change happening has been feeling like to much recently so you decided to plan a trip for yourself and lando to go back to your home in canada. To reunite with your loved ones and friends.

Yes Lando knows about the trip and everything that is planned for the two of you yet he does not possess the same excitement that has been slowly creeping inside of you. Infact Lando is dreading this trip and everything about it. Including going to canada, meeting new people and just everything. He thought that it was made clear by his reactions to your plans that he did not want to accompany you on this trip. every time you mention it his face drops and he groans.

You know about how much lando doesnt want to go on this trip with you but you cant figure out why. You want to share your life with him. You want to share where you came from your friends your family and everything in between. Yet he just doesn’t seem on board for reasons you and him are not even sure about.

Finally approaching the final days before the trip you decide to sit down with Lando and have a conversation with him about him refusing to come with you. Althought the conversation beging peaceful you never expected for it to come to this.

“Lando please just tell me why you cant come with me ive spent months planning this for us me and you not me alone” you plead with him hoping hell understand how important this is for you.

“Ive made plans plus canada is a shit country anyway I’ve seen it before i don’t need to see it again” lando states out of anger leaving you confused.

“Oh… im going to leave don’t follow me dont text me just not until i get back at least” it hurt, it hurt you to hear lando say your country isnt worth visiting, it hurts to hear hes disregarded every plan you had made for the two of you just to make his own. It hurt knowing he didn’t care enough to do something he knew you were so excited about even if he didn’t want to. Everything about him doing this hurt.

Lando knew he fucked up the moment he saw you leave with your suit case. He didn’t mean to hurt you he just had other things he wanted to do during his summer break and that doesn’t include spending it in canada. He made

Plans about a week ago to go golfing with Carlos and his father, he made plans to stream with max, he made plans to stream with filly,

And he had stuff he wanted to do with quadrant he didn’t see the big deal.

2 days later you made it to the airport alone. You had an uber drop you off. In the uber you have came to the conclusion that you don’t need lando to enjoy spending time with your family and friends so you had blocked his number. Although you and all of your friends knew that this was only temporary until you get back to Monaco. You thought it was best you and Lando have some space as he truly did hurt you with every action and every word he had said and done.

Making it to canada your first stop off the plane is to grab a coffee from Tim hortons as it was closest to the airport.

Lando at home had been busy all these plans he made have finally caught up to him and he’s realizing now that he not getting the break he had thought he would during the summer. He missed you, he missed waking up with you he missed your voice, your smile just everything about you. You had been radio silent for days and lando doesn’t understand why so he decided to be the first to reach out

It’s not till he’s speaking with max does he notice that he’s been blocked. Max made him realize a lot that day including why you had been so upset about what he said and his choices to set up his own plans when you had spent months planning something for the both of you.

He feels guilty. He knows he messed up and he knows he has to make up for it. It doesn’t help when he sees your instagram post about how much you had missed home and your friends. So he spends the next day setting everything up. He messages your parents to see when would be a good time to stop by, he books a flight, and finally packs everything he needed from the list you had sent him a while ago.

YourUsername . Just posted

Liked by: Landonorris, carlossainz55, yourfriend1, username8 and 763 others

YourUsername: canada i missed you couldnt be more glad to be back

Yourfriend1: so only missed the country then?

-YourUsername you would be correct

LandoNorris: miss you baby

- username4 hes not with her?

Username48: shes stunning

-YourUsername: all you

Finally he knocks. You’re confused and so are your friends. No one else was coming over so who was knocking? You paused the movie which happened to be your and landos favourite movie to watch together the hangover.

As you swing the door open your met with the piercing eyes of Lando which makes you feel so many different things. He’s here.

He’s actually here you don’t believe it so you do what you see in movies and punch him in the arm but not hard enough to hurt him.

“Ouch babe what the hell” Lando exclaims even though you both knew it didn’t hurt.

“Sorry had to make sure you were real plus you deserve that” he knows he does, he really does deserve that and so much more. So as he pulls you into the tightest hug ever he whispers.

“I know i know im so sorry i fucked everything up, i fucked up this trip you’ve been planning for months and in the process i hurt you im so sorry you have no idea” he continues to go on and on so you pull him into a deep heart felt kiss that he knew meant you appreciated him coming.

Although you knew he still had to work to be forgiven in the moment all you cared was that despite not wanting to he had come all this way.

Authur:

Thankyou to everyone who reached out last post and to everyone who engaged means alot!!

Also i messed up the text messaages nooo just know their meant to be from lando to y/n

[themotherofhorses]

paloma: first meeting

— simon "ghost" riley x oc!silentdove reyes.

summary: he's not annoyed, per se, but ghost is just not really in the mood to chit-chat with the american airman scurrying around the base. at best, he tolerates them.

(or the first exchange between ghost and his montanan woman.)

warnings: none, aside from explicit language.

note: okay, so despite this being an obvious OC-insert series, i invite anyone and everyone to read it :D this is actually my first time tackling an OC-insert fanfic (as well as writing ghost) so im still trying to get the rhythm of things.

dividers by: @saradika

paloma (masterlist) | main masterlist

[2021] 

Simon Riley won’t ever admit it — never aloud, anyway — but every time he steps foot on American soil, he feels more akin to a wolf draped in sheep’s clothing. 

In his mind, he sticks out like a sore thumb. He is not a hero, really; unlike the lot teetering around the military base he is currently stationed at for the next five or so weeks, he is less flesh and blood, and more a phantom. Or something along those lines. Actually, that could explain why there is such little traffic aimed his way. But he doesn’t particularly care. His schedule lacks the room to voice any complaints. 

Right now, his main concern is doing his job, and doing it right. 

Two weeks back, Price had him fishing out his passport tucked away inside his bedside table. “Fancy a two month getaway to the States?” Great Falls, Montana, to be exact. High west, nearing the border of Canada, and surrounded by land he’s only ever seen in those silly ass spaghetti western movies. 

The view is nice, he’ll admit. Beautiful, even. Exhilarating. He now understands why they refer to Montana as “Big Sky Country.” 

Malmstrom is much smaller than he imagined, and homier too. The Air Force base is nestled within the city’s east side, offering its own museum and park. He’s quite grateful for the latter; the trails allow for his nighttime walks when the nightmares prove too shitty to sleep. 

Great Falls is pretty as well. Price would like it, maybe Garrick too. He knows the two are big on history, and almost every inch of the city is drenched with some memory belonging to the old frontier days. 

Upon arriving, the yanks provided him with his own private office, housed in the back of the 341st logistics readiness squadron. It’s nothin’ fancy, really, just a wee room furnished with a dark mahogany desk, two windows, a steel cabinet, the Montana flag to his left, and the American to his right. 

Again, he’s not one to complain. Something’s something. 

Earlier, one of the higher-up airmen, a Staff Sergeant Benson (he believes is the name), had handed him a folder jam-packed with a shit ton of mission statements — logistics, strategic planning, reports of previous global concerns, and reviews of the base’s Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. All the documents are dated in a time range varying between two months ago to 0800 this morning. 

In the back of his mind, he can already hear Price chuckling.

“Have fun, Simon.”

Bloody bastard. 

So now, Ghost sits hunched over the desk, feeling a little too damn big for it. All the paperwork is strewn about messily around him, with sticky notes, a pen, and some other random shit of his. No one has yet to visit him; until that happens, he feels little need to remain organized. 

His boot taps against the floor. “—Initial efforts to clean polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from launch facilities at Malmstrom AFB are ongoing but seeing success…” Ghost reads under his breath. PCBs? That’s nice to hear.

“...after PCBs were detected on surfaces in launch facilities at all three of the command’s missile wings.” 

PCBs. Polychlorinated biphenyls — man-made and highly toxic, consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine atoms. He clicks his tongue, shaking his head as he flips onto the next page.

“We know they’re present on what appears to be otherwise pristine surfaces, due to the survey—” 

—a sudden knock interrupts his reading. 

With a curse on his tongue, Ghost sets down the report. He quicks a sneaking glance at his watch. 1342 hours. He’s due in a meeting at 1700. 

“Come in.” His voice sounds low and raspy, the two words sounding more like a growl than a greeting. He’s not annoyed, per se, but Ghost is just not really in the mood to chit-chat with the American airmen scurrying around the base. At best, he tolerates them.

(In his mind, they’re all little Graves, ready to stir up a headache.) 

The door slowly cracks open.

“Lieutenant Riley?” A female voice calls out — soft and cautious; Ghost’s chin drops against his knuckles. “Apologies for the disruption, sir, but I have some additional paperwork I need to drop off with you, at the request of my superior.” He grunts, and the airman then steps into his office, quickly shutting the door behind her before meeting his eyes. 

It is entirely unlike him, Ghost knows, but his brain almost short-circuits right then and there. Two dark brown eyes, framed by thick lashes, peering up at him. Shit. He’d always thought brown was such a pretty eye color on a woman, but hers stretched further across common compliments. 

Both of  ‘em — they held no animosity, no uneasiness or fear, nothing. 

That, itself, is quite fucking bizarre. He’s not used to that.

Ghost is .... well, Ghost. He knows the mask he is always donning on his face isn't exactly a sign of welcomeness. Just his mere presence is enough to startle the living shit out of rookies, baby recruits, wide-eyed sergeants, and the like. There is something inherently unnerving when you are unable to get a good reading of the person you're standing across from.

She’s brave, he thinks. Or merely oblivious to who he is. 

“Here you go, sir,” the airman says while placing the packet of new documents down on his desk. Her lips are shaped prettily, plump and shining with a fresh layer of gloss, and across her nose is a splatter of faint freckles. Under a different circumstance, maybe he would’ve taken the time to try and count them all.

Ghost swallows hard, incapable (for what feels like the first time in his life) of mustering up an appropriate reply. “Ah, thank you, ma’am.” 

The airman's brow lifts.

“Reyes,” she then corrects him with a kind smile, gesturing to the name badge sitting above her right chest pocket. Sure enough, in bold military lettering, reads Reyes. “My name is Senior Airman SilentDove Reyes. I am actually a cryptologic linguist analyst here on base; but sometimes I run errands for others, when not needed for a translation, of course.”

There is a slight chirp in her voice that Ghost picks up, along with the way she casually rocks back and forth on her feet. She seems awfully young, no older than 22, possibly 23, but even that's cutting it; a kid, compared to him. Maybe 5'7, with dark hair pulled back into two tight braids that fall at her belted waistline.

A stark contrast compared to him.

He's oddly curious now — about her age and first name and those long braids and why she stands before him, calm, collected, and sure — but he knows damn well this is not the time nor place for any questions. Both of them are on the clock, and it is likely she’ll need to report back to her supervisor soon. 

He offers her a curt nod. “Well, thank you again, Reyes,” he states, keeping his voice flat. 

“You are welcome, sir.” She turns to leave, but when her hand latches onto the doorknob, Reyes glances over her shoulder at him, “—oh, and Lieutenant? If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” 

–

The successful cleaning came after a bioenvironmental team at Malmstrom AFB …. Malmstrom AFB .. consulted with engineers and ….. and medical experts on the cleaning …. cleaning processes and– 

–and agents most likely to effectively remove the chemicals…. 

He knows his mind is wandering off, in desperate search of that pretty senior airman from fifteen minutes ago. “Bloody fucking hell,” Ghost grumbles, leaning back in his chair. His head lolls back as he blinks upward, studying the ceiling overhead. The texture is popcorn, a creamy color, with a simple fan jutting down. One light bulb, probably a recent replacement. 

Fuck. He doesn’t need this shit. Not one bit. 

Five more weeks and he’ll be gone from here. 

Ghost rechecks his watch, feeling a bit peeved at the time. 1411. He has several more hours until he can leave all this work shit behind for the evening, and maybe catch a short walk before hunkering down for the night. He doesn’t like sitting down for too long; it causes him to become restless. Agitated. Overthinking.

He doesn’t want distractions. He doesn’t need ‘em. Distractions ruin work ethic; clouding up the mind while fucking up all sense of responsibility. Price will have his ass if he – somehow – becomes compromised. And he'll never hear the end of it from Johnny. 

Settling back into the paperwork, he decides that he won’t allow himself another second thinking about all that – the American airman and her pretty brown eyes and high cheekbones and first name. 

Something tells him that’s easier said than done. 

[ego-meliorem-esse]

Could you talk a bit about Matthew and Alfred relationship? Our boys need love too

The lads! The fellas! The absolute units!

Bear with me here I wanna give a little bit of a context and a personal explanation as to why I'm really fascinated with these two countries in general.

If there is one nationfolk relationship that comes as close to pure and friendly as it possibly can, it would be the Us-Can one. Of course, it has major problems and unavoidable disputes. But let me tell you, as a balkan, ex-yugoslav cretin, I cannot help but be intriqued with the way these two comunicate. They make fun of eachother sure, they have disputes and squables, sometimes outright clashes, but when there is crisis in the US for example, all I hear is Americans straight up saying "ok well time to move to Canada". It's fascinating to me! As a Croat who, after returning from Serbia from a 3 day trip, brought home souveniers (key chains mostly, with the Serbian flag) I was yelled at by my dad who afterwards didn't talk to me for a few days. All because I dared to bring this enemy countrys flag into our home. Now, I was born in 1999. I have no connection to the war 8 years prior. No excusable, personal vandetta. But still it' s very much acceptable to hate so strongly. And even if it wasn't 8 years that passed, but 80, there still would be a widely accepted resentment. But alas, I am not talking about people, cus frankly people are just people. Alliances and relations between countries are another thing. Imagine sharing a huge fucken border with another country and being friends. My euro brain is imploding. Uncomprehensible.

Now I do understand the US is often described as a bit of a phycho, and frankly Canada is an expert at dealing with the phycho. Kudos. Keep the yanks from whipping out their home protection assault rifles and unleashing hell fire is risky shit. Canada manages tho. What I'm really interested in is the USA's view of Canada. They aren't a threat. They aren't suspicious. They are a force to be reckoned with tho, but they are friends. If there is one ally the USA can rely on its the maple sucking french/anglo bastards up north. So much history in such a short time. Fascinating.

To relate this to the bros, I think these two understand eachother better than most. Matt is quiet, obsetvand and passive (mostly), while his unit of a brother is loud, idealistic and prone to thinking the world owes him time on the world stage. And it works. Matt is the one to talk to his brother in a way that gets Alfred to listen. H speaks Alfreds language and can communicate with him freely. I think that that is a skill and in the modern era, a privilage that not many have. Not many dare to tell Alfred to his face that he fucked up majorly, but Matt can. He knows he can. Alfred knows he can. So he does. Matt can pull his brother aside after an outburst, and for the lack of a better word, humble him.

Alfred respects his brothers oppinion more then other nations'. He went from seeing Matt as a weak, self-pitying and ambitionless dominion, to accepting his views, ideas and even asking his oppinion on certain matters. I like to draw a parallel here. Matt had to sacrifice everything and himself to have Arthur call him into the war room and ask Matthew for his oppinion. Alfred is not much different. It takes time for Matthews voice to be heard, but when the time comes, it's desperately needed.

Alfred tho, is and always will be Alfred. And if somthing else catches his attention, he will ignore the house on fire across the street. He is prone to isolation and ignoring his brother for extended periods of time, just sending him a tiktok every month or so. That being the only indication to Matt that his brother is alive. Alfred has so much shit going on and his 13 braincells have to spread evenly across to cover it all. His brother is a constant in his life, stable and therefore forgotten.

That being said, I don't think there is another person on Earth Alfred loves more than his brother. Showing it is not something he ever learned tho. He knows he cannot buy his way into showing his love for Matt, so with his lack skills of other forms of love expressions, he does nothing.

As for Matt, he checks up on Alfred as much as he can. His history and past have tought him to expect nothing form the people he loves. So he doesn't. He knows Alfred is his closest ally and best friend, but doesn't ask for anything Alfred himself isn't giving. He is a person who waits to be asked to hang out on Saturday instead of asking his friends himself.

So while almost all I talked about is sad and somewhat negative, I do think the bond and conversations these two share are one of the most honest and true expressions of brotherly love. And by god I usually don't use the world love when describing nation-folk relationships, but in this case there isn't a replacement.

sorry for the personal shit and Alfred slander, I love him.

[sassysnakedemon]

I've been thinking (I know, that's dangerous)

So, I last posted about being weird about the news about GO3, and drinking whiskey with fly shit in it. Well, now I've been drinking whiskey without fly shit in it, and I have new thoughts.

Mostly these - it doesn't really matter what they do with GO3. It doesn't really even matter if we get a GO3. Because the planet is burning, and there's an American election on the horizon that has the potential to change the entire world. GO3 seems small in that comparison. Maybe that's the whiskey talking, but there it is.

I have a sinking suspicion that the Orange Menace is going to win. My friends are taking odds on it, but the main consensus is that he will win. And then enact (or try to) a dictatorship in America. America, who was the first enactor of Democracy. This will reverberate throughout other Democratic nations. There are several of them that are starting to be fascist leaning. My own (Canada) included. Yes, I said Canada. Canada is starting to lean so far right that fascism isn't out of reach. I live in fear. And in poverty, as, while inflation in the US is ridiculous, it is damaging to human life in my country.

I'll give an example. I make roughly 30k per year. My husband makes roughly 60k per year. My mother, who lives in the same house makes roughly 30k per year. Our house has recently been valued (and it used to be valued at about 300K) at 1.5 MILLION. Our combined incomes could not even get us 10% down on a mortgage on the home WE LIVE IN. Thank Somebody that we already own it, or we for sure could NOT afford it now. And yes, I absolutely recognize the privilege that we already owned this property at the earlier value. Thank Somebody for generational 'wealth'. I say that in quotes, because we're nowhere near wealthy, and yet, so much better off than others.

I personally know people who cannot afford to live on CANADA's minimum wage (which is a slightly respectable 17.30 per hour), one of whom is living in my house (despite her making almost 25 per hour), and I cannot fathom how anyone is expected to live on the US's 7.25 per hour. That was the minimum wage when I last worked in the US - almost 20 years ago. And it wasn't enough then. I now make almost 40 an hour (as a business owner, no less), and it still isn't enough. Not enough to get ahead. I maintain, at best. That's where we are up here in Canada. 40 per hour doesn't get you shit all. So, what does that say about 17.30 per hour? Or, even worse, 7.25 per hour (which by CAD today is 10.05)?

So let's go back to the Orange Menace trying to enact a fascist dictatorship in America - it's possible. He will try to undermine the Constitution at every turn. Because it doesn't sit well with his narcissism. And yes, Generals of the military are willing to put a stop to him going against Constitutional order. But are their underlings in the military willing to do the same? Because if not, friendly fire is a thing. And I know there are many Trump supporters within the military. So that sits us with a Civil War in America. Again. But now, the 'New Improved Civil War, this time with NUKES!' Do you want that? I admit, it makes for excellent entertainment value, but it has far reaching consequences. Consequences that affect far more than just the US. We're talking all Democratic nations, as well as all Enemies of the State. Not to mention that the US will be dealing with a Civil War at the same time.

This sounds like Hell to me. And if it is to be, then I don't want to be here for it.

I have fought intrusive thoughts for so long. I have fought them with the belief that things would get better. They are getting worse. America is set to become Gilead, Canada is set to follow suit, Democracy is set to fall, and if that all happens, then I'll say a cheery 'Bye', and take myself out of it.

So after thinking all of that, what a few people do for a show I very admittedly love, seems small. The world is burning. I am burning with it. I am angry, desperate, willful, but in this moment, defeated.

I am so sorry for this whiskey-soaked rant. But at the same time, not so sorry. The world picture is bleak, and we can soak our souls in entertainments while the world burns, but it won't stop the world burning.

As a last cry from Gen X - FIGHT THE POWER!!! Fight as hard as you can - NOLITE TE BASTARDES CARBORUNDORUM!!!

And go vote if you're an American. Only you can stop a Civil War in its tracks.

[feotakahari]

What Arknights Thinks of Your (Fictionalized) Country

Because we all know Victoria is just England with a different name.

Amazon Rainforest: decent government, but poor and has barely any infrastructure. Low life expectancy due to lack of access to medicine. One of the friendlier, less bigoted regions.

Australia: corporate hellscape, company town edition. Lots of mining with notoriously shitty worker safety. Constant natural disasters.

Basque Country: cheerful, innocent drunks. One of the nicer places to live.

China: mostly a nice place to live. Government is too big and gets in its own way sometimes. But we're not saying our government is bad, not at all, censor!

Eastern Europe: outsiders think of this as one race, but it's actually a hundred different ethnic groups that sometimes band together when an outsider hates them more than they hate each other. Lots of civil wars, and not much in the way of infrastructure to support anything besides mercenary work. Lots of Jews live here.

England: rich nobles ignore the plight of factory workers who're getting sick from toxic chemicals. Violently suppresses Irish independence, but the independence terrorists are also murderous bastards. Executed their last king because he tried to tax rich nobles to support the poor.

Finland/sort of Canada: nature shamans fighting against both malevolent spirits and resource-hungry invaders. Not much tech, but lives in harmony with the local god. Kinda offensive.

France: annihilated in a world war, but violent restorationists keep popping up. Home of a mad god who kills people for art.

Germany: recovering from the legacy of a mass-murdering dictator, but some assholes want to bring him back. The current government is incapable of agreeing on anything. There's some sort of magical song that brainwashes the populace--I'm not clear on what this is a metaphor for. Heavily associated with classical music.

Greece: threw off the influence of a totalitarian African shah. (This game's Persia is in Africa - just go with it.) Today's shahs are still trying to reconquer it. Literally worships military heroes, but surprisingly peaceful if they're not attacked first. The Olympics started here, and so did pretty much all modern philosophy.

Hong Kong: trade center, but has a lot of desperate poor people. The most recent government tried to kill everyone in the slums.

Italy: literally governed by the mafia. Has rules to prevent violence, but the rules are broken all the time, and if a higher-up gets caught, they get out of it by blaming someone less important. Rigged legal system.

Japan: lots of conflict between northern and southern samurai clans, but currently in a fragile peace. Economic bubble is about to burst.

Korea: the writers forgot about it.

Mongolia: world-conquering warriors, but the whole nation fell apart a thousand years ago when their great khan died.

Poland: corporate hellscape, bloodsports edition. The former freedom fighters now work as corporate assassins, and the former knights mostly fight in bloodsports now. At every possible level of wealth and power, you think you'll be happier if you get just a little more, but even the most powerful people are scared for their lives and can't meaningfully change anything.

Russia: we've mostly seen this from the perspective of the minorities their military tries to exterminate. Long history of invading other countries, which the conservatives are trying to bring back. Showing signs of democratic reform.

South America: U.S. proxy faction fights German proxy faction fights faction that claims to represent the people but really just wants resources. The one neutral town is a glitzy tourist trap.

Spain: used to have the same religion as Vatican City, but split off because the Vatican didn't give a shit about them. Invaded by sea monsters, so they kill racial minorities they suspect of being monster-connected. Isolationist and generally anti-science.

Tibet/kinda Switzerland: hasn't changed anything for a thousand years. Current head of state is dragging them kicking and screaming into the future. Secretly building weapons in case someone else decides to invade them and take all their resources.

The U.S.: corporate hellscape, mad scientist edition. The Department of Defense is paying mad scientists to experiment on their own citizens in order to make better weapons for their wars for oil originium. Has unusually fair laws, but all the protections depend on you having money, and medical debt in particular will destroy you. Makes a lot of popular movies.

Vatican City: hive-minded, and looks down on anyone who wasn't born into the hive. Hates Jews and tries to massacre them, refusing to admit they have Jewish origins themselves. Talks about acting for the good of mankind, but never follows through. Surprisingly prone to making things explode.

The Entire African Continent: want to include a country that's not on this list? Just say it's somewhere in Africa, because Africa is big and nobody's keeping track. Technically, this game's Amazon rainforest is part of the Africa-equivalent country.

[ladylooch]

Soft Thoughts Sunday- Lio & Lucie

We have four requests that are on one ask! I’m going to post them individually, then all together with the ask.

First up! Lio/Lucie- (I just love their relationship so much, I always wished I had an older brother figure in my life 😭) Lio consoling lucie either after a fight with her boyfriend or with her parents 🥰

A/N: ME TOO!!!! Let’s pick up after she gets grounded for throwing the party that Lio pretended he threw when Nico and Lexi were out of town. (He really thought that was believable?)

Lucie is sitting at the kitchen table, glowering ever so often at her dad where he sits across from her and reads a book.

“I don’t need supervision for algebra.” She mumbles.

“Mmm and yet your childish actions last weekend proved otherwise.” Nico says, flipping the page of his book. He doesn’t even look up. Lucie glowers harder. Nico pretends not to notice.

More silence ensues except for the scratching of Lucie’s pencil as she solves her problems. The noise of the garage door opening perks Lucie’s ears. Good, her mom and sisters are home to take her dad’s attention.

“We are home!” Lexi cheers, coming in and brushing her hand along Lucie’s brown hair. Lucie jerks away from her mom’s touch. Lexi crosses her eyes at her husband in annoyance and meets him with a kiss.

“Well, I’m happy to see you.” Nico says, running his hand discreetly over her butt. Lucie notices and shudders with a gag. Lexi sighs at their daughter’s obvious contempt for her parents. At least the other two still love them.

“Remember when Lucie was a baby and she went through that stage where she would only contact nap with you?” Lexi asks Nico.

“Yeah, that was tough during the season when I was on the road.” Lucie slams her book shut, grabbing her stuff and glaring at her parents. 

“Some of us are trying to learn.” She huffs, then dodges her two younger sisters to go up to her room.

“I think we need to call in the reinforcement.” Nico murmurs, tugging Lexi down into his lap. She tosses an arm around his shoulder, stroking his long hair back from his face.

“Yeah, we are suffering more than her with this arrangement.” 

Lucie is staring at the ceiling of her bedroom, watching the shadows of the leaves dance against the white paint. A knock sounds at her door. She doesn’t respond.

“I have gelato.” Lio’s voice calls. Lucie bounds up, tossing the door open and throwing herself into his arms. Lio has to carefully catch her, swerving the ice cream cones around her limbs.

“How are you allowed in here?”

“Your dad called me.” Lucie bites her lip in response.

“My parents are the worst.” Lio hands her the chocolate gelato before going to sit on her desk chair. Lucie curls her legs under her on the bed, looking at her cousin for his support.

“You know they aren’t, LuLu. They love you. And you scared them.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” She snaps.

“You broke every single rule. And you got caught doing it.” Lio chuckles, kicking his feet up onto the bed next to her.

“Who’s side are you on?”

“Yours. Always. But… If my mom lets me go to Canada next year, I’m not going to be here to save you from this stuff. You were scared Lu. Things could have gotten bad. You need to be careful. ”

Lucie’s heart clenches at the realization that Lio may be leaving Switzerland in a few months. But, the last thing Lucie wants is to be careful. She wants to throw that all into the wind and be who she wants to be. Not what everyone else thought Nico Hischier’s daughter should be.

“Do you ever think about what life would be like if we had different parents?”

“No.” Lio shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have you. That would suck.” Lucie considers then nods.

“But we also wouldn’t have all this shit either.” 

“Luc, one day you aren’t going to live in this house anymore… maybe not even the same country as your parents either. And you’ll want all of this back.” Lio gets up, joining her on the bed and pulling her in for a hug. She hates how pensive he has gotten with his impending junior trip. Although, Lucie isn’t quite sure Auntie Em is going to come around.

“One day, you and I won’t live in the same country either…” Two tears drip down Lucie’s face as she talks. “What if we grow apart?”

“You and me? Nah. We are Lio & Lucie. Nothing is coming between us. I won’t let it.” 

Lucie smiles, sitting up so she can eat the rest of her melting gelato. 

[the-mothmaam]

A few notes

Since I'm not sure you even have that old email any more, I figure I'll write to you here. It will allow you the discretion of only looking at and or reading this if I'm ever unblocked. I kind of felt that's how email was supposed to work back when one of the last things you told me was that I was allowed to write, and that you would read it when you had the opportunity.

Anyway, I started re-watching "How I Met Your Mother" along with a retrospective podcast that came out starring Ted's actor. I started remembering why we liked to watch it together. How many things from it became part of our world or our parlance. The olive theory, (salute) General Anxiety, and just about anything that Lilly and Marshall did together. But I was reminded of something that I latched onto and that you would subsequently take offense on in the years that followed.

Robin was from Canada, and every other character gave her shit for it on the show in a fun-loving, teasing way. That's where my treatment of Kaiden Alenko's Canadian origin was derived from. I have nothing against Canada. In many way (especially these days) it a more progressive country than where we live. But I wanted to let you know - I never hated Kaiden, or your attraction to him. It was always meant as light hearted teasing. But it really did bother you, and that's why I eventually stopped. I admire Kaiden and in nearly every way I think he's a better choice to save in that trilogy than Ashley, the xenophobic bigot.

I've been realizing a lot about how my anxiety caused me to treat you without ever being aware of it. I deal with a few people who are AT LEAST as bad as I was. And seeing it from the other side... I don't know how you made 14 years work. I can easily see how it could have contributed to the erosion of your patience and the ultimate end of the marriage. I was always worried about something - and if my fears on that were quelled - I'd find something else to fixate on. I do now, as you tried to do back then and reassure the anxious party, only to have them get flippant and act ungrateful about the care you were trying to demonstrate. I can see why that may have fed into your complaint about "how I talk to you." But I'm not 100% on if that's true or not. Either way, there are countless times now that I look back on at find myself cringing at. The ones that stand out the most were ones that caused fights or disagreements. My paranoia about being trapped in NB if the ice came, my need to use a restroom and being stuck in traffic. I am far more aware of the ways I hurt you now, and I want to offer you an apology for any and all ways in which that aspect of my personality became problematic for you - throughout the marriage. And a secondary apology for all the times I've likely forgotten that are fresh in your mind.

Lastly, I think that previous point plays in a lot to the very last time we were in therapy together. I told you I was worried about money and asked if you'd help in therapy by paying for it. And despite you agreeing, that was something that never happened. I don't know what was worse for you - the anxiety or the codependency in a request like that. But the honest truth was that you'd been late to so many sessions, and opted to be a no show for so many others... I was using it as a litmus to see how invested you really were in helping me meet in the middle and fix things. I'd asked Amy a day or two before if that was too manipulative, and she agreed that it was, but that it would probably give me the honest answer I was looking for. And I guess in a way, she was right. That was pretty much the end of things. I'm sorry I didn't just ask you. I'd asked you your feelings on so many other things only for you to back further into your shell of silence. I honestly didn't think asking you something that straight forward would get me an answer other than - let me think about it.

Something that helped me cross over that barrier while in therapy was emotion work. Identifying exactly what I was feeling and why. I'd honestly love to share some of the work I did on that with you if you ever thought it would help. I found it kind of exciting in a way that brought me joy. I felt... free, liberated from what was holding me back inside my own head. But it's your journey. You need to tackle it in whatever way you think is best. And if you don't agree that emotion work will be of help to you, I apologize for being forward with it. I want the best for you - even if takes us in opposite directions. You'll always be, first are foremost, my best friend - even if I've squandered that relationship from my side of things.

I hope Spring is bringing some beautiful weather your way, ttyl.

[shawnjacksonsbs]

Us vs Them?

Like 50/50, 80/20, or 20/80, and please enlighten me as to who the "Them" truly are. 1-25-25

"Most people aren’t against you—they’re simply for themselves" - (?)

I don't know who gets credit for the original quote, but I read it on the Sierra Counseling Facebook page and their blog.

(*Also, they're not affiliated with my opinions in here. I just find. . .valuable pieces of my peace with their writing.)

Although that quote is a good point of perspective for an individual, I don't know if I like it for any leadership roles, no matter how big or how small the position.

Leadership roles should be for others.

. . .

Mercy-

I'm confused why this isn't the stand of every American, at the very least the heads of church's and religious leaning people in roles of religious leadership.

This thought of mercy, when empathy is just too strong an emotion to bear, for whatever reason.

Mercy is a huge Christian sentiment. Is it not? I thought so.

How is it that so much of it is . . . .

Just why isn't it more of a thing?

I stay lost with my American brothers and sisters sometimes.

I'll be the first to stand up for the fact that we should all have the right to feel how we feel, but it is sad if what you want the right to feel is . . .a form of hate, or dislike, or distain or whatever it is you feel that's not love for your fellow human beings.

. . .

The next 4 years, are already not holding water.

~

How is the price of insulin going up supposed to help the price of eggs go down?

How does granting pardons for the Jan 6th rioters who assaulted police officers, some of which died, help us?

Maybe I'm being a little preemptive in my accusations. I should be patient(?).

Maybe after he outlaws gays, and trangenders, or maybe after the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico (lol), maybe after he tries to take control of Canada and Greenland, maybe after tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, maybe after implementing tariffs on our foreign allies (which assuredly gets passed on to consumers), or maybe after the mass deportation. . .

then my life, our lives will get better(?).

Yes??

Still lost here.

C'mon.

Per usual in this political climate, I stay lost.

Please don't read this and start comparing to Biden either. Thats straight deflection. I have nothing good or bad to say about him or the outgoing administration. I don't care. Irrelevant.

Good results at the cost of our souls? Lol Worth that win is it? No lol

Tit for tat, or quid pro quo, is good for board room meetings and school yard revenge tactics, but for the state of this Union, we need a bit more don't you think?

Just my 2 cents.

I don't dive too deep into political shit in my entries much any more, but I am sad and seriously worried about people I care about, and the fact that our collective empathy-ometer is reading its lowest in my life time.

Once again, I believe Mr Rogers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and my Grandfather would all be disappointed.

By the way, when should I expect the egg prices to drop? Just so I can plan accordingly. Lol Not day 1 obviously. Week 1 surely. First month? C'mon help me out here. Last check, they went up actually.

Ok. I'm done, with the condescension

Hopefully, I'll keep in check my DISTAIN as I try to keep my pockets of peace always at the ready.

I will find peace and love and kindnesses in all my circle, I assure you.

I hope you have the same.

Until next week;

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender, and Democratic and Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities — these children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those that are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands, find compassion, and welcome here.” - Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde

[saltedlimes]

The military has a ton of benefits so I totally understand wanting to join it for that but something to think about is: why does it have all these benefits, why is this the best option available to you?

Jobs offer extra incentives and benefits when the work itself is shit. University educations could be freely subsidized for every Canadian, but not doing that allows universities to make more money and the government to steer people towards the labor they're looking for the most. And since Canada's economy is so deeply tied to the US - I mean what other neighbors do y'all have - it is then deeply invested in protecting the US economy, which is built on the imperialism we're all talking about. Imperialism isn't just "when you are racist and mean to other countries" it's aggressively protecting the empire's ability to continue maximizing the wealth it can extract from its tributaries and crush political dissent that would endanger their bottom lines.

For example, if a global south country wanted to nationalize its main industry so it can provide healthcare and education its people, just as your country is currently doing, the leaders proposing that will be swiftly penalized and there might be more negative (propaganda) coverage about that country. Canada is purchasing your consent with this state of affairs by providing you with these nice gun laws, reproductive rights, university educations and healthcare services - some benefits are for all Canadian citizens, and some are only given to military folks because it needs to work even harder to convince you to be okay with potentially killing people.

Even if you claim to only have fighting as your purpose in life, killing other people is hard to do - which is why imperialists work hard to convince their citizens to dehumanize the other. It's already working right now, if you can't conceive of their suffering to be worth more than your access to the best future you can see, which envisions you and your circle living well without having to care about the global community you are crushing underfoot. I'm also curious why you would claim you have nothing to do with your life other than fight, because in your defenses you are apparently not fighting anyway and justifying your complicity by showing us how clean your hands are. It sounds like all you do is hang out with your military bros and work out which honestly tracks because my brother joined the US Navy for a lot of the same reasons you're offering and all he does is work out and play WOW. He also started out much more sceptical and I watched him turn into an ultra patriotic war apologist over the several years he's stayed in. Leaving now if you can is going to be better than leaving later.

You can hang out with your friends and work out with another job, I promise you. There are communities of veterans who have left the military as conscientious objectors, if you really feel like you can only relate to military bro types. But don't fool yourself into assuaging your consciousness thinking your actions are not as harmful as they could be, because you can also be taking much less harmful actions. It might be that all you're doing is sitting at a military base, but imperialists have military bases everywhere in the world to maintain dominance over regions and deter dissent, not to actively kill locals (although that still happens, nevermind the sexual violence and criminality soldiers will engage in when they can do whatever they want with the impunity that comes with being a soldier of imperialism).

I know everyone and their mother is talking to you about this rn but I do hope you read what I'm saying and think on it a bit. And also maybe do some research on what indigenous peoples have to say about the Canadian military so you can be more informed of what you are currently a part of, especially if you're so sure it is so much more preferable than the US military.

[floaromatown]

do you have any tips about getting PR in canada, i'm trying to figure this out with my gf who lives in america (also idv edaters. unfortunately)

WE WERE NOT IDV EDATERS SCREAMMMMM you should have just kicked sand in my eyes. i begged him to play idv with me he wouldnt cos he was scared. anyway.

unfortunately my tips are very limited as ive been 'done' with the bullshit for over a year now. and like immigration lawyers literally get paid thousands cause its so complicated :( like not in a 'pay me' way but like its an insane feat to pull off without professional help. that and pr shit is changing all the time so im sure a lot of what i experienced is outdated

i spent like 1.5 years no exaggeration in the pr RESEARCH mines (mostly on r/immigrationcanada) and honestly i still felt like i was learning new shit right up until the day i submitted my application. and then more and more after i had submitted it. its really really hard unfortunately. i really advise asking/searching for questions on that subreddit whenever possible, there are a lot of people who can help when youre unsure.

if it wasnt clear you have to be married to apply for the spousal sponsorship, which as far as I understand is pretty much how most american to ca prships happen. if you (when i say you i mean your american girl bc thats the perspective im coming from) happen to have a skilled job (the canadian gov website has a key to determine if your job classifies as skilled) then I believe there is another route, but I wasn't eligible so idk shit about that. dont bother looking into whether you qualify as common law or conjugal or whatever bc you very very likely dont meet their standards. i got married in the states a week before crossing the border, your marriage certificate would be valid in canada

off the bat i would say, unless you know for sure your living situation would 100% COMPLETELY PROVIDE FOR YOU for 6 months to a year, then you should probably apply for an OUTLAND spousal sponsorship. if you move in together in canada and apply for INLAND spousal sponsorship then you cannot work period, there is no legal way for you to make any cent of income. you will not be eligible for provincial healthcare, so i recommend getting long term travel insurance (i rec geoblue). the border is a whole other ordeal if you don't have any status in canada, you can't look like you're moving (i.e no moving boxes no tons of luggage) you can't look like you're eloping or staying for more than a couple months and even if you do everything right they still may suspect you and deny you entry. i did inland and it was really really difficult and at times scary for these reasons, i did not exactly do some things by the book in order to get by *WINKKK*. if you can stand to get married and then part for upwards of a year then i would really really suggest the outland route. unless youll be provided for then GOOD FOR YOU *shaking fist* random but americans also have to continue filing us taxes even if they have moved out of country. so remember that.

moreso tips umm DOCUMENT EVERYTHINGGG YOU DO TOGETHER this is my biggest piece of advice. you have to prove your relationship is legit, here is a list of stuff i included in my application:

receipts/the route we took for our honeymoon

screenshots of support from relatives, like facebook or other social media posts acknowledging your relationship

we got our wills done to make each other the sole benefactor

receipts and pictures of gifts weve gotten each other

photos of both of you with friends and family is 100% required

proof of past visits to each other

receipts and pics for past dates/outings/events

letters of support from family/friends (i got these notarized)

lots of stuff from online chat logs/social media. pictures of chats, phone calls, video calls from across years. i think i included at least one of each from every month since we got together. chats should be relevant to relationship stuff like discussing moving in, getting married, relatives, etc.

a letter detailing our relationship with exact dates, locations, etc. like when we met, when we started dating, when we visited, how we got engaged, etc. you have to make a case for yourself as if you were in court.

if youre researching stuff there is honestly not a lot of resources specifically for edaters! so many people like have like children together in another country or have been established there as a married couples for years so they have a ton of foundation to work off of. canada doesnt just want to see that youre in love they want to see the work that goes into that, like shared leases and joint bank accounts and years of financial support and children etc etc. it sucks but you have to justify it in other ways when youre (im assuming) young and childless and unmarried until recently. you can get some of those things once you move in together but idk, i was rather safe than sorry an scrounged up all the 'soft' evidence i could right up until i submitted it.

i think thats about it i wish i could help more lol. its definitely one of the hardest things ive had to do like emotionally financially temporally effortfully lmfao. good luck?!

[nadinebrooks-sides]

Here is the link to my masterlist.

Loki x Reader: Broken Glass

Warnings: Language, very brief mention of blood, and a little sad. So for this one, Loki’s exile was cut short. Odin and Freya are still alive.

The media basically came up with her superhero name. To everyone's surprise, she was rather fond of the name. To be fair, it did suit her pretty well. She was known all throughout the universe as the White Queen.

She was a natural leader, regal, humble, and didn't take shit from anyone. (y/n) had the ability to conjure and control ice and snow. That included manipulating wind currents, causing deadly blizzards, and creating structures made of ice and snow. During the winter months, (y/n)'s powers were stronger because she had access to the elements rather than having to create them herself.

As a joke, the media would often call her Elsa. (y/n) happened to like the platinum blonde Disney princess so she never saw any ill intent behind the nickname. Besides, everyone knew that her powers were much more deadlier than Elsa's.

During the month of December, (y/n) was practically invincible. There was very little that could stop her and she could take out anyone that stood in her way with the flick of her wrist. The media often portrayed her as this detached and heartless person, but she wasn't like that at all. (y/n) was pleasant girl until you crossed her. Nobody liked to see her angry. If she was angry, everyone was going to know it.

(y/n) was someone who demanded respect. And respect is exactly what she was given. It was hard to disrespect someone of her caliber. Whenever people were around her, all they wanted to do was prove that they were worthy enough to even be in her presence. It didn't matter where she went, people often found themselves sitting up straighter or expanding their vocabulary whenever they spoke.

Before she was introduced to the Avengers, (y/n) often fought crime on her own. She found herself bouncing between countries like Japan, Canada, and Norway because of all the snow they got. Being in countries like that just made her job easier. After a lot of convincing, Tony and Natasha were able to get her to join the team. Everyone welcomed her with open arms.

Even though she had superpowers, (y/n) took it upon herself to learn other forms of fighting. She became so skilled at hand to hand combat that the other Avengers would find excuses to not fight her during training. Natasha was one of the few members of the team who didn't mind going against (y/n).

Whenever the two of them were fighting against each other, their friends would stop their own training to watch. They were clearly two of the best fighters when it came to close combat. Even Bucky Barnes couldn’t help but be impressed.

Within the first year of her living in the tower, there were many rumors floating around about who the White Queen was dating. Not that it was anyone's business, but the public liked to be informed about these types of things. When she was fighting on her own, (y/n) didn't have to deal with the media, but now it was something she dealt with every single day. She hated it. There was no reason for her private life to be made public.

The tabloids mentioned her dating Bruce Banner as well as Sam Wilson. The name Natasha Romanoff floated around for a while. (y/n) and Natasha had a good laugh over that one during dinner. The two of them were close, but not that close. (y/n) was always quick to shut down the rumors about Banner, Wilson, and Romanoff.

Then one day, a name started coming up much more than the others. She wasn't so quick to address the rumors about the very handsome god of mischief.

In fact, she hadn't shut down the rumors about him at all.

***

As Loki entered his bedroom, the first thing he noticed was the almost empty bottle of Asgardian mead in her hand. (y/n) was standing out on his balcony staring out over the night life of the city. He had been out of his chambers for the majority of the day so he had no idea how long (y/n) had been waiting on him to return.

He opened his mouth to ask her how long she had been waiting, but he thought against it. Maybe she hadn't noticed him and he could slip back out of the room.

Loki knew that (y/n) was in his room the second his hand touched his doorknob. He thought he felt her as he was walking down the hallway towards his chambers, but he wasn't positive. He had never been able to explain it, but he could feel her presence whenever she was close. At first he thought he was imagining the feeling because he had started to miss her. She felt cold. Loki felt as if he was standing in the middle snow globe. Of course he didn't mind the cold one bit. In fact, he found it quite comforting. (y/n) wasn't naturally cold to the touch to everyone else like he was, but that was the best way to explain it. He was a Frost Giant and she was the White Queen. Maybe they were meant to be.

Loki decided to come back to Asgard for a couple of days to take care of some business. During his exile on Earth, he truly missed Asgard. He never thought that he would say that. Now that his exile had been lifted, it was time to come back. All he wanted was a couple of days at home. He mostly wanted to spend some time with his mother.

It wasn't (y/n)'s first time here in Asgard, but it was her first time showing up unannounced. In all honesty, Loki had no idea why she was even here. He wasn't even surprised that she had managed to get here without him. She could be manipulative when she needed to be. He hadn't been able to figure out if that was part of her powers or if that was something she was naturally good at. She was almost as manipulative as him.

(y/n) heard Loki enter the room, but she chose to ignore him. She was still enjoying the view from his balcony. Asgard was one of the most beautiful places she had ever been to. (y/n) took another gulp of alcohol hoping it would calm her thoughts.

Loki cautiously walked toward (y/n) as if he was approaching a wild animal. In this moment, he considered her one. He easily noticed the tension in her shoulders, the way she was angled away from her, the way her jaw was set. He had never seen her in this state before. Something was very wrong. Had he done something wrong?

"Darling, what are you doing here in Asgard?" He finally gained enough courage to speak. "It isn't that I'm not happy to see you, but is there a reason you've come all this way?"

Did (y/n) scare him? Hell yes. But he would never admit that out loud to anyone. Loki had traveled throughout the Nine Realms many times and nothing had truly scared him. That was until he met (y/n). The White Queen. Thor would have a field day if he found out that bit of information.

Throughout the day, Loki found often found his thoughts drifting toward (y/n). It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to occupy his thoughts. He had been thinking about inviting her to visit Asgard as his guest for a couple of days.

Most people who were seeing each other didn't live and work together, but Loki and (y/n) did. The combination of that did cause some tension between their relationship.

If you asked their fellow Avengers to describe their relationship, there was only one word that came to mind. Toxic. It was an extremely unhealthy relationship where neither of them were on the same page with each other.

Thor often tried to get his younger brother to reevaluate his relationship with (y/n). It wasn’t that Thor didn't like (y/n). He loved her like a little sister. He just didn't think that the two of them were compatible in that way. Natasha often found herself doing the same thing with (y/n).

She only wanted the best for her closest friend in the tower. Loki and (y/n) would make great friends, but being lovers may not be the best thing for either of them. Maybe everyone was right and the two of them should be better off as just friends.

Loki didn't know how he would be able to work so closely with (y/n) knowing that he couldn’t have her. When he was with her, he actually felt something. She made him feel something. She was one of the very few people in the universe who could say that.

"What the hell did you say to Thor for him to tell those reporters that we were dating? The tabloids are loving it. You know how I feel about them being in my personal life." (y/n) calmy stated after finishing the rest of the bottle of mead. Loki knew how much (y/n) hated the reporters and the magazines. She did everything in her power to make sure that her personal life stayed private.

Loki was secretly wondering if she had drank the entire bottle herself. He was impressed and even surprised that she was still standing. Asgardian mead was no joke. A couple of glasses of that would have him slurring his words. It seemed as if Thor had taught her how to handle her liquor.

"I must've said something to Thor about you and he took it out of context. You know how he gets whenever he's around anyone who works for a newspaper. He'll say whatever he can to hold their attention. I don't believe you came all the way out here to talk about something my brother said darling."

"No, that's not why I'm here. I actually came here to surprise you Loki. I'm not sure if you celebrate these anymore, but I heard it was your birthday tomorrow. I wanted to do something nice for you. I arrived this morning and overheard a conversation you were having with Lady Sif."

"I don't know what you heard, but-" Loki started blabbering. He knew exactly what conversation (y/n) was talking about. She must have only heard the beginning of their conversation if she was upset with him. Loki had been talking to Lady Sif to get some advice from her.

He opened his mouth to try to explain his side, but (y/n) held up a hand to silence him. He knew better than to interrupt her. You never interrupt the queen. Every fiber in him was telling him to cower and apologize. All he wanted to do was make everything right.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know what I heard Loki. You said that I was nothing but a casual fuck to you. I know that you and Lady Sif have unfinished business. Is that why you've returned to Asgard? Did you really think that I wouldn’t have found out? Your brother couldn’t keep a secret even if his life depended on it. I understand if you want her Loki. I mean who wouldn’t? But why not just admit that to me?"

Loki let out an agitated sigh and rubbed his temples. He wasn't afraid to admit that (y/n) was a casual hookup in the beginning. He did the one thing that he promised himself he would never do. He fucked around and fell in love. That's what he wanted to talk to Lady Sif about. Maybe he should have asked Natasha what to do when it came to (y/n), but she had always been so cold toward him.

(y/n) was so much more than a casual fuck. He hadn't outwardly said his feelings to her, but he hoped that she understood what she meant to him. He couldn’t shake her even if he tried. She made him feel safe. Being wrapped up in her arms felt like home. Yet for some odd reason, he hadn't been able to admit his feelings to her.

"Darling, we've been doing this for almost a year now. You and I both know you've heard the rumors about us and you haven't addressed them at all. You were so quick to shut down the ones about Wilson and Banner. I know that I haven't officially asked you out, but I like to think we're practically together." He tried to explain to her. Loki wanted to keep his voice calm and casual, but it was too casual for (y/n)'s liking. His tone sent a rush of anger down her spine and for a split second she considered using her powers against Loki. She instantly hated herself for thinking that because she really did care for him and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. Especially when she didn't know what he powers would do to him.

"Practically together? What the hell does that even mean Loki? Are you practically together with me on Earth and then practically together with Lady Sif when you come visit Asgard?"

"No." Loki immediately shook his head. "It seems as if you only heard part of my conversation with Lady Sif. I was telling her about how I want to be with you."

"What makes you think I would ever want to be with you?" (y/n) spat before she could even stop herself. She wanted to take the words back, but she couldn’t. Those weren't words that you could simply take back.

She wasn’t sure where the harsh words were coming from, but all she wanted to do was make Loki hurt. She could see the connection he had with Lady Sif and she was jealous. And now she was taking that jealously out on him.

Loki was frozen in his place. It wasn't anything that (y/n) had physically done to him. She had done it all with her words. That was not what he was expecting to hear from (y/n). He knew it was the alcohol talking and she didn't really mean it. But wasn't there a Midgardian saying that "drunken words are sober thoughts"?

"What are you saying?" His shaky voice caused (y/n) to smirk. His voice never shook. He was always so sure of his words. That was until he met (y/n).

"Weren't you the one who said you didn't want strings attached when we started this? I've always liked you Loki. You were the first person that greeted me when I entered the tower. I will never forget that day. You made me feel so welcomed. I felt warm. It was the first time I had felt like that in a very long time. Anyway, a couple of months after that, I remembering pouring my heart out to you after the first time we had sex. You brushed me off saying that you didn't want to ruin our friendship. I was okay at first. I kept telling myself that if I couldn’t have you in the way I wanted, I could at least have you in that way. I hated myself for it. It took me longer than I care to realize that you saw me as someone who was good enough to fuck, but not good enough to invest your feelings in."

"Stop (y/n), please don’t say that. You were so much more than that. You make it seem like I was using you for your body and you know that I would never do that. I was too scared to admit that I wanted you. I don’t even know how to put my thoughts into words. I've never loved anyone the way that I love you."

"I find that hard to believe." She scoffed. "You've never even invited me to meet your parents Loki. The only reason I've met them was because of Thor."

"I was exiled (y/n). I couldn’t just waltz into the palace and ask my parents to meet you." He sneered.

"Then what are you doing here now Loki?" She tilted her head to the side studying his expression. She was practically daring him to lie to her. "You didn't even tell me that your exile had been lifted. I had to find that out from Thor. I want to know how you think I want to be with someone who won't even let me in?" Her voice was sharp.

"I won't let you in?" He threw his head back and laughed. "I can't let someone in that doesn't want to be let in. Maybe the magazines are right to call you callous and compassionless. Have you considered the fact that maybe this is why you're alone?"

It was her turn to freeze. And before she could even stop herself, she launched the empty bottle at Loki's face. He easily dodged it but it did hit the wall behind him. It shattered and a couple of shards of glass bounced back and cut his perfect cheek. He reached up and wiped the blood away.

How dare he? How dare he call her callous and cold-hearted? Even after she spent countless hours letting Loki cry about his relationship with his father while she held him. When she listened to him rant about how everyone treated Thor so much better than him. And let's not forget when she talked him through the nightmares.

"How stupid I am to think that you actually loved me back?" He let out an emotionless laugh. Everyone in his life found some way to let him down. Why was she going to be the exception?

"Honestly Loki, based off your fucked up relationships within your family, I don’t think you truly know what love is." She spat with more venom than Loki thought was humanly possible. He had heard some pretty harsh things before, but he didn't ever think he would hear something like that from (y/n). But here he was, slowly coming unhinged. Nobody ever made him feel this many emotions.

He knew that love was messy and violent. He was starting to realize he didn't want that. At least not with (y/n). He wanted it to be easy and simple.

As he stood there with hot tears streaming down his cheeks, he started to consider the idea that maybe love isn't real. (y/n) glared right back at him with matching tears. If he couldn’t experience love with (y/n), then he knew he wasn't going to experience it at all.

"I think you need to leave (y/n)." He pointed in the direction of Heimdall.

"What?" (y/n) crossed her arms across her chest. He couldn’t be serious. Usually when they had arguments, the two of them would end up in bed and the whole thing would blow over by the next morning. But this argument felt different.

"You heard me (y/n). Go back to Earth. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking by getting attached to you." He growled. She gave him a curt nod before heading toward the door. She looked around his room one last time before pulling open the door and walking out.

Watching (y/n) walk out of his bedroom was one of the hardest things he had ever done. He felt as if he was watching her walk out of his life. Every part of his brain was screaming at him to stop her from walking out of his life and to fix what he had horribly broken. As the bedroom door slammed behind her, he realized just how broken the two of them truly were.