#i am 100% right about everything in that post

[city-tickles]

Two Tickle Sessions In One Day!

Hi!

It's been a while but I hope you are doing well. I am still on break from posting clips or requests but I wanted to let you know about my recent sessions.

A month ago I was in one of those bad tickle moods. One of those moods where it was all you could think about and the rush of getting tickled or tickling someone was intense. I don't get these moods often and usually when I do, I don't like it because the last couple of times that has happened, I've received bad news about someone I care about, so it also makes me a little anxious when I get that way. Thankfully, it did not happen this time.

I needed to get the mood out but there was no one in the area to session with. Since no one was available, I decided to check out two parties that I have not been to in years. One M/M party and one Female Foot Party.

When it comes to M/M, I am 100% lee and it is something that does not give me much if any arousal. It's just tickling, and I can appreciate it. I'm sure I'd appreciate it more if it could "get me there" but I've seen enough clips and done sessions, and it usually doesn't. I also rarely do M/M because I have to be in a mood for it. This time, I was in a big mood for it, so I decided to go.

I've spoken about the M/M party in the past. Last time I went about 8 years ago, I just wasn't comfortable or ready to be there and it seemed like the owner took umbrage with that when I tried to leave. I figured a lot of time has passed and I have gained more experience, so hopefully things would be fine. I explain why I wanted to go to the party, and I was allowed to go.

I entered the party, and as a cis-identifying male, it's a little overwhelming at first. Action (Everyone is clothed) is everywhere right in front of you, but everyone is also very nice and doing their thing. I like to give people space, but there was no space to go, so I was just watching everything go down lol.

While waiting, I was introduced to a guy, who had grey hair and , who was also into tickling and we began talking. At first, the convo was small talk, but then we realized we knew each other from a previous meeting, which made things easier. After some talking, he asked what I was here for and when it comes to males, I am strictly a lee, so I told him I wanted to be tickled. Luckily, a massage table opened up and was cleaned off and ready to be used. We asked the table owner, who was a tall, slender man with grey hair and facial hair, if we could use it. Lucky or not lucky for me, we were allowed but the table owner was also into tickling. They asked me if he could join in and I figured why not?

I laid on the table and decided not to be bound because sometimes I stay still anyway. And before I know it, I have two lers all over me, testing out my spots and trying to find where I am most ticklish. They would glide their fingers all over my sides, under my arms, my tummy, my thighs and of course, my feet while I laughed and didn't move around too much. It was extra sensitive because 1. With the massage chair, I'm mostly looking upwards and can only see the ceiling. And 2. I'm getting teasing from all angles! The two very skilled lers keep saying things like, "Oh, he's real ticklish!" "I think he likes it!" While others at the party are watching and saying things like, "I think he doesn't want it to stop" and "He's having a lot of fun now"

With two lers on me, I never had time to have one spot make me off the wall ticklish because it was always changing. Sometimes it was their fingers lightly tickling my stomach that was the most intense. Other times, it was harder touches on my feet by one of the lers. Sometimes it was an attack under my arms. There were a lot of different moments during the 20-30 minutes of tickling that just kept making me laugh hysterically. I do know at one point, a hairbrush was used because I felt it and that always felt more surprising than ticklish. The other interesting part about having two lers on your feet were both styles were different. One was lighter and the other was harder, but both were effective!

(I couldn't find a MM/M gif)

After my time was done, I thanked them for the session and decided to wrap up since the party was coming to an end anyway. It was time to go to the next party.

This party, which I also had low hopes for, runs all the time in NYC and it is pay-to-play. I was that down bad, that I was willing to do it this evening lol. I went in with very low expectations and the reminder that if the first few moments are bad, I can just leave.

When I got there, it took forever for them to let me in, which already set my expectations to low. Despite this, I walked in and heard laughter already. Someone was getting tickled under the sheets, so I knew I wasn't the only tickler in the area. The girls that I saw in there were nice and chill to talk to for the most part. Some were more personable, while others just wanted to make their money, which I am not upset about. They're not there to be my friend.

The first lee was a tiny girl with red hair, and was ticklish but not that reactionary. I don't think she was ticklish on her feet at all, but I would always ask if it's okay to tickle elsewhere. Thankfully it was, and her upperbody, especially her arms, were her weakspot. She did not seem into it in the slightest, so I tried not to overdo it.

The second lee was this tall, black girl, with long hair and very nice to talk to. She wasn't sure how ticklish she could be, so I would tested some of her spots. Her feet were tolerable, her knees were very sensitive, and under her arms, she was almost unable to do!

I brought some tools that I didn't bring out at the M/M party (my bag at that party was all the way on the other side I just didn't want to bother with it) I ran an ostrich feather up and down her soles and her legs, which felt more relaxing to her. Then, I brought out TicklingDuck's device vibrating device.

As the device touched her soles, she would laugh hard, squirm around, cover her mouth, and was genuinely shocked at something being so ticklish on her. I asked if I could use the device on her knees and she went "Oh no!" and let me do it anyway, which I didn't do for long because she couldn't handle it.

The third lee was another redhead, who was also a nice person to talk to and wearing boots and long socks. I tickled her through the socks first, which made her giggle a bit, before taking them off and scribbling on her toes and soles so more. Her feet were also moderately ticklish, so I asked if I could tickle other parts of her body. Her weakspot was the ribcage and made any other spot look like a 1 compared to them! I spent most of my time on her feet since the ribcage was so intense, but we did play a few games. I would tell her if she could let me tickle there for 10 seconds, she would get a reward, which would be a foot massage or other foot worship. She agreed and barely opened up her arms until I scribbled in there and teased her further, saying "You gotta let me get in there or I'm gonna increase the time" She opened up her ribs and it was the longest 10 seconds of her life. Afterwards, I would congratulate her for making it through and doing such a good job.

After we were finished, I was ready to go since I had an obligation to get to later in the evening, but another taller woman approached me and asked me if I like tickling. She mentioned that she liked tickling to and wanted to know if I wanted to session. I was skeptical at first, because it felt like a money-grab, but I figured I'm already here so why not?

Best decision I made at that party. I started by spider tickling all the way up from her feet to legs, to her sides, across her tummy, back to her ribs, and of course under her arms. This woman was genuinely ticklish everywhere and was a lot of fun to play with. I would caress her thighs and tease like I'm about to tickle there, only to sneak attack and tickle her tummy. I brought out the TicklingDuck device again and we played another counting game to see how long she could last without moving, and I made sure to count the longest 30 seconds I could, running my fingers all across her tummy and under hear arms while she laughed her head off underneath the covers. The last thing I did to her, was bring out the pair of stocks that just arrived. I was itching to try them on someone and she was so excited to see stocks. We locked her bare feet and the stocks and I ran my fingers all across her soles and under her toes, while she was unable to get away or pull them out. While these sessions lasted 10 minutes, this one was definitely longer and we both knew it. After she was done, she complimented my ler skills, saying most male lers are rough, but I was very gentle with her, but also devastating, which I took as a big compliment.

Before I left, I had one request for her. I had a hard time locking the stocks on myself at my home, but when I did, they were not very comfortable. I asked if she could test the stocks out on me to see how good they were. She obliged and got my feet in the stocks. Once I was locked in, she began running her nails across my soles, which was one of the more intense tickles I got all night! I laughed hard and and was unable to do anything else, my feet were trapped and that definitely made the tickling worse! She would tease me and say things like "Aww! Is someone ticklish?" And "Now who's ticklish" until I had to stop her because I really had to get going. I thanked her for the fun time and planned to come back in the future.

Overall, it was a great day of tickles and satisfied my ler and lee moods!

[mythalism]

what if solas was a spirit of faith?

ok hear me out. i dont 100% prescribe to this theory. most of the evidence we have is in favor of solas being a wisdom spirit, however when i was writing this post i came across something that made me go hm.

now, not everything david gaider says is automatically canon. in fact, david gaider regularly and loudly says a lot of racist, misogynistic, and generally awful things about his own games and characters, so i actually do not respect his opinion at all.

however he was indeed the lead writer for dragon age: inquisition and had input into solas's writing, so i think for him to say this means it was at least something the developers talked about and agreed upon at that time.

the wiki's citation leads to a forum post by gaider from july 2013:

"the corruption of faith is pride".

hm.

also notable is that david gaider is the writer of cassandra, and i bring this up because solas's banters with cassandra are basically the foundation of this, and why i started thinking about it in the first place.

solas is a lot of things. definitely a pride demon. an judgemental jerk, a lot of the time. a "mirror", as his writer puts it. a staunch atheist as well. extremely critical of anyone who claims godhood. and......... strangely respectful of *checks notes* THE MAKER???????

for someone who spends so much time decrying the corruption of false gods, many people have found solas's banter with cassandra to be out of character. and it is pretty jarring when placed in context with the rest of his statements.

remember that spirits embody a particular single virtue, and will do whatever they can to bring it forth in others:

“Spirits are not complex in the sense that they seize upon a single facet of human experience, and this one idea becomes their identity.[3] They are formed as a reflection of the real world and its passions.[10] A spirit embodies and latches onto a specific purpose and will do all in its power to fulfill that purpose. For instance, a hunger demon will attempt to feed on anything it crosses,[4] and a spirit of justice will stop at nothing to uphold its name”

solas, strangely, speaks of cassandra's faith with great respect and even reverence. he mentions her faith several times in their banter, and rather than criticize it as foolish as you might assume from someone who embodies pride, led a rebellion against false gods, and does not hesitate to hold back his judgement when he disapproves of something, solas actively encourages cassandra's continued faith in both the maker and herself.

he tells her that her position, of a seeker of truth (an arm of the templars which he despises?) and right hand of the divine, is "an honorable one and well-earned" and that her presence is a comfort, because there is no lie in what she is:

he outright mentions spirit of faith as gentle spirits that cannot afford to be lost to corruption:

he tells cassandra he is impressed by her faith, after the revelations about the truth of the seekers:

he praises her templar abilities and the maker?????

and, most notably....

when cassandra learns the truth about the seeker vigil and her abilities being borne of a ritual involving a spirit of faith, he tells her...

she should be proud

part of the reason these banters are so confusing and seemingly out of character of solas is due to his comments on the nature of gods, organized religion, and belief at other points throughout the game.

but i believe there is a common thread to them, and that it is not faith that he criticizes, but those who take advantage of it.

some of the best examples of his disgust for one who uses someones faith in them to accrue power are with a low-approval inquisitor. what he hates are those who manipulate faith in others.

solas hates to see faith corrupted by falsity.

but why would he hate such a thing so much? why does he actively encourage cassandra's faith in the maker, while criticizing an inquisitor who used the people's faith in andraste to amass power? well, because it reminds him of the evanuris, of course. but i think there could be more to it than just that.

whatever kind of spirit solas was, we (pretty much) know that he came into being at the behest of mythal according to cole:

we also know that solas was deeply devoted to mythal in the time of elvhenan, and even thousands of years later, he staunchly defends her as someone worthy of his faith, admiration and respect.

he approves of completing her rituals in the temple of mythal:

and greatly disapproves if you do not:

he cannot stand to let morrigan misrepresent her in dialogue (lol):

he even actually refers to her as a goddess at one point, despite often asserting that the ancient elvhen gods were not gods:

and, of course, the way he speaks of her in trespasser is quite literally reverent, as he reveals her murder was the catalyst for his entire rebellion:

could solas have been borne of mythal's faith? of the people's faith in her? of her faith in her people? of her faith in herself? of the People's faith in each other? how does he still have such faith in her after all of these years?

keeping in mind the way a spirit becomes corrupted,

combined with solas's answer to cassandra's question about what he truly believes, to which he answers that he believes in people:

and of course this new mural:

could solas have originally been a spirit of faith, corrupted into pride by the evanuris's abuse of the virtue he embodied? a spirit of faith, borne of mythal's faith in her people, and turned into pride when her people, her own family, betrayed her? when their gods proved false and the only thing left to have faith in was themselves?

as much as i love this and think it fits, it cant be ignored that there is equal, if not more, that suggests he was a spirit of wisdom first. however this is so clearly intentional and satisfying that i dont think it's a coincidence - they're definitely doing something with this. whether or not solas was always Pride and thus he is just drawn towards the two other sides of his coin, wisdom and faith, or if he was one and corrupted into pride, i dont know, but i think faith and the manipulation of it to evil ends will continue to be integral to his story.

[spot-the-ableism]

https://www.tumblr.com/homochadensistm/762029424206020608/do-not-open-this-persons-archive-and-go-to-october

just was made very uncomfortable with the use of the r-slur (especially as an autistic person)

“The R-word, also known as the R-slur, is a hurtful term that remains prevalent throughout social media, according to a Kantar Social Listening study. The research shows that when social media users are posting about people with intellectual disabilities, 7 in every 10 of those posts are negative, and 6 in 10 contain a slur.  The R-word is a form of hate speech that stands for “retard,” “retarded,” or other offensive words ending in “-tard.” While “mental retardation” was originally introduced as a medical term in 1961 for people with intellectual disabilities, in the decades since, the R-word has become an insult used all too commonly in everyday language. Those who use the R-word often do so with little regard for the pain it causes people with intellectual disabilities—and the exclusion it perpetuates in our society.” -source

there’s not exactly any perfect resource I can point to that explains everything correctly so I will explain, since I will be @‘ing homo with this information I genuinely do think it’s that because their first language is not English they probably don’t know about the reason why people are upset, so I am using the benefit of the doubt.

“Retard”, “retarded”, “retardation” and “retardant” are all words that mean to slow or delay something. It’s originally a French-ish word.

there are many different contexts that the word is used, not all times is it a slur.

But the reason it is, is due to almost a hundred plus years of systemic abuses to intellectually disabled people, epileptics, people with learning disabilities and people with autism and schizophrenia.

for almost a 100 plus years people were sent to institutions or asylums to live out the rest of their lives abused or dying, many many people died in those institutions.

they were diagnosed with “mental retardation” which is actually an umbrella term for all sorts of mental and neurological disabilities, many people with Down’s syndrome, facial deformities and differences, people without the use of their vocal cords and more were also treated in these asylums and institutions and were among the many effected by the rampant systemic ableism and eugenics of the time.

there is this idea that asylums and institutions are not bad, when in reality it’s been almost 200-300 years of them and you can have families and friends and people who wrote books about it and they’ll tell you what it is. Hell.

so why did I give you that context?

well the reason “retarded” or “retard” is a slur is because of those institutions and asylums treatment of people they called the R slur.

their autonomy was taken away, they had no rights, anyone calling out the abuses of institutions were for a long time also penalised, and the eugenics of the time had swayed way too many peoples opinions of the rights of the neurodevlopmentally disabled.

over time things got better and the eugenics of it all started to be penalised, but the fact remains that the r slur is incredibly hurtful and harmful to people still to this day.

there is generational trauma that comes with being neurodevlopmentally disabled or having intellectual disability.

so a lot of people are very insulted and upset at the usage of the word as a slur to insult or belittle others.

I hope that makes sense to you @homochadensistm

[fumifooms]

Chilchuck analysis speedrun: As a hardworking half-foot who grew up poor and discriminated against and had his gullibility taken advantage of multiple times in his early adventuring days, Chilchuck thinks optimism is a dangerous flaw. He’s stressed and strict all the time because his job is noticing details like traps that could get everyone killed before anyone knows it, he takes the lives of everyone to be on his shoulders, and with the way he speaks about it that probably partly reflects how he felt about taking it upon himself to provide for his family too. His life’s always been pretty centered around work and has become even moreso now that his wife left and everyone is independent, and due to past events he’s very iffy with bonding with coworkers. He thinks feelings and job are a disaster mix. Like with his wife or with parties hiring him as sacrifice, being open or having good faith is vulnerability which can get you hurt, so he processes and shows all his stress as anger instead of worry. Doing strict dieting probably isn’t helping the irritability what with hunger, and on top of being a hunger suppressant alcohol might be the main stress reliever he has.

His grey hairs are so earned

[nomattertheoceans]

I've been reading the Percy Jackson books for the first time over the past two weeks! Just finished "The Battle of the Labyrinth" last night (which btw is my favorite of the series so far!!)

I have now gained a new obsession but it might not be what you think

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

i love my friends so much. i feel like yesterday i had a lot of shit going on in my head and i woke up to my friend explaining things in a way that put my mind at ease. i dont feel as anxious anymore because i know i was overthinking. i think my dad said it best when he told me that he thought my wonderful brain of mine just wants to think problems are bigger than they actually are. he is right! im just inexperienced in life and half of the time im scared im doing something wrong but- HEY. i need to be more confident in making mistakes. making mistakes doesn't define me as a person!! i need to stop worrying about doing life right and just live for the sake of living and doing what makes me happy!!!!!!!

[kanene-yaaay]

A Little Pick Me Up!

Kanene’s note: FIRST FIC OF THE YEAR!!! LET’S GOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Hope you didn’t forget about me, since I didn’t post since last year :DDD *ba dum tss*

Yeah yeah I am very funny thank you <3

This story is 100% inspirated on @carrie-tate‘s headcanons that Teru likes to randomly pick up Shigeo and give him raspberries so Shigeo starts training to be able to do the same thing with him sdfghjfghjuk. Absolutely lovely <3

Warnings: Raspberries. This is a tickle fic with Switch!Mob and Switch!Teruki. Around 3.500 words.

[~*~]

That was something hitting his window.

It was too light. Too often. Too loud, swimming around his mindless, peaceful sleep and rudely pulling him bit by bit from it without permission.

Shigeo kept his eyes closed, shuffling even further on his comforter and refusing to acknowledge the sound until it disappeared. Sometimes spirits liked to cause a ruckus at night and that was none of his business. Nor something he particularly cared about, not when his bed never felt any comfier.

There was still an insistent tap-tap-tap on his window. 

He opened his eyes and sat on his futon with soundless movements, face carefully kept in a neutral mask while his eyes focused on the glass with a strong intent, showing his unhappiness at having to be up and about at this hour. 

An annoyed gruff was already yawning on the back of his throat.

Teruki waved at him from behind the window. 

Shigeo turned to his right, looking at the second futon right next to his own, watching with a lost feeling its emptiness and the blankets that were messily thrown around it as if they could explain exactly why his friend was locked outside the room when they wished each other a goodnight a few hours ago, cutting their sleepover short and going to sleep after a whole afternoon hanging out.

He turned back to Teruki. 

Blink.

He was still out there and not magically materialized on the spot besides him.

The blond waved before putting his hands around his face and mouthing something.

"Let me in!"

His movements were still sluggish, painted and shaded by a sleepiness that insisted on getting attached to his very bones, but Shigeo got up and walked to the window, opening it.

It was windy outside and cold too, the breeze almost freezing enough to cover the warm feeling on his chest when Teru smiled at him with a hint of mischief on the slight tilt of his lips. His hair would be even messier than the normal by morning.

"Sorry. The wind slammed the window when I stepped out and I got stuck." The glint on his eyes didn't show an ounce of tiredness. Each breath seemed to invigorate him. Somehow he didn't seem very sorry at all. "Come here, I want to show you something!"

"No, thank you, I don't want to." And Shigeo turned away, already heading back to the comfort and warmth of his bed.

He managed to successfully get to the middle of the way before an arm sneaked under his knees, holding them together while the other one rested on his back, tipping the one with black hair sideways and lifting him up as he lost his balance with half protesting grumble, the only reaction he had to suddenly and unexpectedly finding himself being carried bridal style by the other.

He stared at Teru and his playful grin with his usual neutral face, not a tad or two more alarmed than the normal with his current situation. The Body Improvement Club prepared him to being carried and picked up out of the blue.

“What are you doing?”  Teru only adjusted his arms so he could be in a comfortable position. There was something hilarious (or maybe it was just the tiredness) on the way Mob only blinked in his direction and simply nothing more, totally unimpressed and one hundred percent done with everything already as he began walking back to the outside, liking very much the sensation of having him in his arms. “I want to go back to sleep.”

Who would say that the most powerful esper to ever exist would come in a pickable size.

“This will be real quick, don’t worry.” The one with blond hair summoned his telekinesis, testing it for a bit before feeling satisfied with the result and activating it fully and joggling in zigzag in the air until both of them were safely situated on the rooftop of the Kageyama’s house.

He opened his mouth, ready to present his surprise when something pressed on his shoulder. Teru looked down only to see Shigeo grumble a little more and hold tightly his pajama’s shirt, face still locked on the same place, firmly shoved on the space between his shoulder and chest.

For a moment all Teru could do was stare at him with slightly wide eyes, instinctively pulling Shigeo closer. 

Then it hit him.

“Telekinesis gives you motion sickness, right? Sorry, I kind of forgot about that.” He winced at his own words. ‘Kind of forgot about that’. God, his charm never seemed to help him when he really needed it to.

“It’s fine.” The voice was muffled because of the fabric, but for what Teru could perceive there wasn’t any signal strong distress on his friend’s tune, only a light discomfort. His face also didn’t look any paler than normal and there wasn’t any drop of sweat on his neck. 

The blond felt his posture relax, not ever realizing that he was that tense in the first place.

Well, better focus on the reason he did all that work then, right?

“I woke up because of an explosion nearby.” The night was quiet, so it felt only natural to accompany it with calm whispers. Tonight the wind was cold and insistent, just enough to leave a couple or more of shivers running on his spine and making the leaves shake with a slight hissing sound. It felt like a storm was slowly creeping closer. “It made the power go away and it seems to have affected the whole neighborhood and maybe the next block as well, so it probably won’t take too long before it comes back.”

Shigeo began to slowly detach his face from its hiding spot, the light nausea that hinted to appear already going away and giving space to the curiosity gradually filling his mind with each one of Hanazawa’s words. 

He didn’t even realize that the streetlamps weren’t working, but now it was clear that they couldn’t be. He could still see and there was still light surrounding them, but it felt less… sharp and flaring than the normal.

“That is why I woke you up.” A whisper, a murmur. Teruki always felt energetic, shiny and colorful, as if it was only natural for all the attention to be focused on him and his words (even if sometimes he looked at Shigeo as if his attention could be everything he could ever want). It was very different to hear him talking so low and reverently. It was very… nice. Comfortable. Warm. He really liked it. “I didn’t know how long we would have, but… Look.”

So he did. Mob looked up and found Teruki’s eyes before he tipped them upwards, making the shorter one follow his gaze to the sky.

The sky full of stars.

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

The farthest points in the street were bathed in darkness, as far as his eyes could reach there was only a deep black greeting him back, which only highlighted the illumination coming from the sky. Stars twinkled in and out their shine as heavy dark clouds slowly navigated around them, moving forward with the wind and dipping their surroundings in shows of light and darkness dancing in harmony.

It was infinite, stretching and taking over absolutely everywhere, being present on the light, on the wind, on every ounce of their surroundings, filling him with an unspeakable sensation. 

The feeling that something so big and beautiful was so just right there, too far and too close at the very same time. And they had the chance to see it.

Shigeo has no idea of how much time passed with them just… standing there. Enjoying the simple, cozy moment in between the silence and their quiet breaths.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Yes.” Teruki agreed easily, and, as if the words had broken the spell, turned back at him with a slight smirk playing on his lips. “So, wasn’t this worth waking up to? I didn't know you were such a grumpy pants when you’re sleepy.”

“I wasn’t being grumpy.” Replied Shigeo, in a tune that definitely wasn’t a grump one, of course. Just a bit displeased. And rational. Very calm and rational, just exactly as he had been the entire time as he was awake in the middle of the night because he wasn’t a grumpy pants.

Teruki tried to not snicker at the clear hint of a pout in the other’s face, his cheeks beginning to puff out with his pokes of friendly fun. “You were. Just like a disheveled kitten meowing in betrayal because someone took you out of your warm bed.”

A lovely shade of red began to paint Mob’s cheeks, which, as consequence, got even more puffed out in protest, words disappearing from his mind before he could reply such teasing.

“A disheveled kitten?”

“Hmm…” The Hanazawa made a thoughtful face, slightly adjusting Shigeo on his arms as he pulled him closer. “Actually, no, wait. Forget that. If you really were an animal I know exactly which one you would be.”

There was something dangerous with the way the blonde stared at him, a twinkling shine on his eyes, a certain quirk in the corner of his mouth, the way fingers twitched…He was planning something.

A shiver ran across Mob’s spine.

He knew that gaze very well.

“Which… one?”

Teru’s grin only grew, making butterflies shake their wings in excitement on his stomach. His own lips began forming a wobbly smile before he could even think in stopping them.

“A giggle bug.”

Then he took a big, exaggerated breath and Shigeo’s eyes widened, hands coming to his chest in a pacifying motion, caught in between the idea of trying to push the other away and try to defend himself and wrap them around his vulnerable, sensitive, ticklish midsection, but ending up not doing any of the two things. 

“Teru!” But the other was still distracted with the way-too-over-the-top and unnecessary deep breath, which was quite good because Mob didn’t even know what he wanted to say or how he could end that phrase. Words never came easily to him and now that his thoughts felt like they were scrambling all around his head, sentences simple were mixing themselves with giggles and the danger signals his nerves were sending non stop, making his entire torso feel like a gigantic tickle spot with plenty of feathers spreading a madly tingling sensations on absolutely everywhere.

He tried to pull his legs upwards and curl in a defensive ball, but the hand carrying him kept them nice and cozy right where they were.

How can Teru still-

With a swift, quick move, Teru finally (finally) lowered his head.

For a second, Shigeo was frozen by the raspberry, brain halting to a stop and the entire time and space freezing in a single blink.

Until it all came crashing down.

There were ticklish shocks running across every single ounce of skin, the vibrations spreading from the single point where the blond’s lips connected to his belly to dance and torment all the nerves nearby, pulling a wheezed snort from his mouth before his silent laughter and hiccups took over, whole body shaking and bouncing with every single one.

As quick as it came, the raspberry was over and Mob could only lay there and let his giggles dance freely on the sudden silence for the few seconds it lasted, using the break to take gulps of oxygen and try to not let the rest of his features disappear under the giant smile stretched across his face.

He opened his eyes. His vision was slightly blurry, but he could perfectly see the joyful, adoring blue eyes watching him in a soft expression. Then the dangerous light was back and a smirk took over  Teru’s mouth before it opened once again and he began taking another deep breath.

Shigeo, now knowing exactly what was about to happen, shoved his face on the other’s shoulder  once more, the tips of his ears getting completely red as his own shoulders bounced non stop with a giddy delight, the butterflies once again flying and panicking on his stomach, titters and quiet squeaks rolling in flocks by his throat.

Another raspberry. Another roll of laughter. And another. And another. And another. And another. And-

Let’s just say that Mob was left in a much better mood when they got inside the house than when he had to go out.

(...)

Mob was staring at him.

It was something he did sometimes. Stopped everything he was doing and just… looked at Teruki. Eyes following him through whatever he was doing, gaze clued on his gestures, all the attention directed at his words as the teen fell in another of his dramatic rambles about a senseless whatever.

Teruki couldn’t really say that he minded when it happened. It was actually very cute. It reminded him of a cat and more than a few times he would turn around to stare at the one with black hair back and slowly blink at him, only to chuckle when Mob replied to him in the same way.

(He never discovered if Mob realized the joke and got in on it to amuse him or if he just was mirroring him because he didn’t want to leave Teru hanging. Or maybe Mob was really just part cat. Either way, it was still very adorable and it made his heart want to melt inside his chest when he thought too much about it.)

So, back to the matter, Shigeo just came back from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn and was now looking at him rather intently. Teruki finished sending a few more messages to the class’ group before turning off his phone, an amused air on his expression as he also focused his attention on the other one.

Shigeo lighty tilted his head to the right and left the bowl on the coffee table, giving Teru another searching glance before deciding to fixate his gaze on his own hands. Teru wondered what was going on inside his mind.

Today they were reunited in the Hanazawa’s apartment in celebration of the fact that, after months of training, Mob was able to finish his first entire week of doing his sets of exercises, complete with weight lifting and running through the Body Improvement Club’s usual track.

Without passing out a single time!

Everyone was very proud of the shorter boy.

Shigeo nodded to himself, getting a determined look on his face (with his eyebrows lightly furrowed and the corner of his mouth just slightly tipped upwards) and basically throwing himself on the blonde.

Teru let out a quite embarrassing squawk at this, body throwing itself from its sitting position in face of the eminent attack by reflex, the hands that wobbly wormed their way under his knees and shoulders making him try to squirm out of the hold before realizing that it was just Shigeo trying to carry him.

Wait.

His body was lifted, no longer laying on the couch and being completely supported by the other’s pure physical strength.

Shigeo was carrying him!!

He hastily turned his attention to Mob, who let out a happy soft noise, a few shades of red being painted on his cheeks when Teruki laughed joyfully and locked his arms behind his neck, letting his fingers skitter a bit on the ticklish skin just to see his proud smile expand and the shorter to try to scrunch his neck in a ineffective illusion of a protection.

The arms under him began trembling uncontrollably, the strain starting to get into his muscles as his legs seemed to be transitioning from bones and muscles to the state of unstable wet noodles. 

Ops. Bad idea, that was a bad idea. Note for future Teru when they fall ungracefully on the floor: don’t tease Mob when he is holding him.

Before he could possibly summon his powers and prevent them both to have a promptly date with the floor, with a quick and well thought maneuver Mob spun and let himself fall in a sitting position on the couch, small gasps for oxygen and a few droplets of sweat showing on his forehead at the physical exertion.

And yet he kept Teru firmly on a bridal style hold the entire time.

The Hanazawa snorted. Shigeo was an incorrigible softie.

Teru turned to look at the other, a taunting poke of fun already getting ready on the tip of his tongue when Shigeo’s own voice filled the room.

“Do you remember what you did to me when you held me like that?" 

Teru froze in the same place. Wide eyes staring at the tiny, but horribly teasy smile on Mob’s face as the words brought memories of laughter, of giggles and, especially, of an attack you couldn’t simply run away.

Shigeo was a monster. Shigeo was a cold, calculist human who unfairly attacked defenseless and awfully ticklish people that have never, never ever done anything wrong in their entire life to deserve such a harsh, merciless and unforgiving treatment.

“Nonono, wait, Mob, wait!” His tune already had a hint of hysteria in it, voice getting increasingly more and more higher and less coherent as the words spilled in waves from his lips, even if Shigeo didn’t move a single finger in his direction. “We can come to an agreement, Shig, you really don’t need to- NO!”

A single blink and in less than a second Mob’s head was being shoved on his belly, sealing Teruki’s defeat with a series of raspberries that somehow were laid exactly on his most ticklish spots, vibrating and vibrating and vibrating and tickling all over his sides, ribs, hips and even the patch of skin right above his bellybutton that never failed to summon a crackling squeal from him.

The maddening sensation completely took over all his senses and mind, erasing any and every kind of thought that wasn’t just incoherent babbling and uncontrollable laughter twirling in the air in harmony.

It felt like forever - but probably didn’t last more than a couple of minutes -, the ghost sensation of buzzing and tiny tickly shocks swimming across every nerve, giving each one some attention before immediately going to torment another, when Mob relented his attack.

His teasy grin seemed even more teasy and happy than normal, the light in his eye burning bright and soft at the image of Teru giggling and blushing in his embrace, tears on the corner of his eyes and an enormous smile going from one ear to another, one of two snorts tumbling clumsily in between the remanent laughter and titters.

Shigeo felt like he could spend the entire day looking at him.

Their eyes locked. Teru wiped the few tears that ran across his cheeks, the smile on his face slowly transforming into something a tad more cheeky and much more like the smirk he always had before saying something that would never fail to pull a more playful side of the other.

“That is what you call a revenge? I barely even felt anything.”

Ah, there it was.

Shigeo took a deep breath, fingers twitching in preparation.

Teruki Hanazawa realized that maybe that wasn't the smartest choice of words on his part. His eyes, once again, became wide and more desperate, excited giggles began falling from his lips.

“Wait, wait, wait! I take it back. I swear that I- AH!”

[danielnelsen]

well this is what ive been doing for the past 2 weeks

[fairysylveon]

rubbing my temples a little thinking about tim takes

[drygrasses]

🔇-

[intoafandom]

.

[maddy-ferguson]

Tbh (I am not that anon, but I share similar opinions regarding this) I am kind of worried that most Bylers won't receive the storyline as better written or compelling in the next season if Byler doesn't happen in a certain way they're expecting or wanting it to happen (or if Mike's character doesn't end up as they imagined/wished him to be). Because I keep seeing all these takes that Mike being oblivious wouldn't fit for his character bc he's smart and he'd figure out the romance complexities as well, and he must have definitely lied and must be strictly gay 100% and his romance with El should be completely discredited, and he should get Vecna'd and exposed and he's a very secretive character and Byler should get together in an intense dramatic life threatening situation and I'm like... i get it, everyone has their own opinions and wants but aren't those opinions a little bit too specific? and that it's setting up a certain expectation here, and ultimately will lead to ppl saying it's bad/weak writing if none of those things happen in canon.

i feel like no matter what happens people (me included) will be disappointed because it's just like volume 2 we've just been thinking about it for too long lol. and i don't think mike should have all the romance complexities figured out just because he's smart but i do think him not knowing how HE feels makes no sense. in terms of the narrative and also just taking this into consideration

the vecna thing and them getting together in an intense dramatic life-threatening situation yeah that's a very specific thing to expect i don't think you should go into the season expecting anything that specific because that's very "will's painting is gonna be the swing set" and we all know how that turned out. but it's also all in good fun like everyone is obviously gonna get a lot of things wrong lol

about gay mike specifically, i totally get why you would worry about people being too sure about that and then not liking the way byler happens if he isn't but to me it kind of feels like when people tell us not to be so confident byler is gonna happen. like i just see it. i can't unsee it. and it's what makes the most narrative sense to me. but he could come out and say i'm 99.7% gay only and i'd still support him🙏

[dirt-str1der]

Sagawa is unfuckable in my head but in my heart he and nishitani had something embarrassing going on

[lettersiarrange]

Since I just checked my ask box for the first time in a hot minute:

Just a note that tumblr doesn't tell me when I have new asks or messages and I rarely check my notifications. Helpful corrections of misinformation/any messages in good faith are appreciated (though it's possible I won't see them until weeks later, sorry), but if something I reblog angers you enough you feel the need to get hostile in my askbox on anon, I reccomend the unfollow button.

I'm also not comfortable posting asks asking for any sort of donations/directing people to your blog for donation purposes, sorry :// I just don't have time to vet asks like that

[phantomrose96]

If anyone wants to know why every tech company in the world right now is clamoring for AI like drowned rats scrabbling to board a ship, I decided to make a post to explain what's happening.

(Disclaimer to start: I'm a software engineer who's been employed full time since 2018. I am not a historian nor an overconfident Youtube essayist, so this post is my working knowledge of what I see around me and the logical bridges between pieces.)

Okay anyway. The explanation starts further back than what's going on now. I'm gonna start with the year 2000. The Dot Com Bubble just spectacularly burst. The model of "we get the users first, we learn how to profit off them later" went out in a no-money-having bang (remember this, it will be relevant later). A lot of money was lost. A lot of people ended up out of a job. A lot of startup companies went under. Investors left with a sour taste in their mouth and, in general, investment in the internet stayed pretty cooled for that decade. This was, in my opinion, very good for the internet as it was an era not suffocating under the grip of mega-corporation oligarchs and was, instead, filled with Club Penguin and I Can Haz Cheezburger websites.

Then around the 2010-2012 years, a few things happened. Interest rates got low, and then lower. Facebook got huge. The iPhone took off. And suddenly there was a huge new potential market of internet users and phone-havers, and the cheap money was available to start backing new tech startup companies trying to hop on this opportunity. Companies like Uber, Netflix, and Amazon either started in this time, or hit their ramp-up in these years by shifting focus to the internet and apps.

Now, every start-up tech company dreaming of being the next big thing has one thing in common: they need to start off by getting themselves massively in debt. Because before you can turn a profit you need to first spend money on employees and spend money on equipment and spend money on data centers and spend money on advertising and spend money on scale and and and

But also, everyone wants to be on the ship for The Next Big Thing that takes off to the moon.

So there is a mutual interest between new tech companies, and venture capitalists who are willing to invest $$$ into said new tech companies. Because if the venture capitalists can identify a prize pig and get in early, that money could come back to them 100-fold or 1,000-fold. In fact it hardly matters if they invest in 10 or 20 total bust projects along the way to find that unicorn.

But also, becoming profitable takes time. And that might mean being in debt for a long long time before that rocket ship takes off to make everyone onboard a gazzilionaire.

But luckily, for tech startup bros and venture capitalists, being in debt in the 2010's was cheap, and it only got cheaper between 2010 and 2020. If people could secure loans for ~3% or 4% annual interest, well then a $100,000 loan only really costs $3,000 of interest a year to keep afloat. And if inflation is higher than that or at least similar, you're still beating the system.

So from 2010 through early 2022, times were good for tech companies. Startups could take off with massive growth, showing massive potential for something, and venture capitalists would throw infinite money at them in the hopes of pegging just one winner who will take off. And supporting the struggling investments or the long-haulers remained pretty cheap to keep funding.

You hear constantly about "Such and such app has 10-bazillion users gained over the last 10 years and has never once been profitable", yet the thing keeps chugging along because the investors backing it aren't stressed about the immediate future, and are still banking on that "eventually" when it learns how to really monetize its users and turn that profit.

The pandemic in 2020 took a magnifying-glass-in-the-sun effect to this, as EVERYTHING was forcibly turned online which pumped a ton of money and workers into tech investment. Simultaneously, money got really REALLY cheap, bottoming out with historic lows for interest rates.

Then the tide changed with the massive inflation that struck late 2021. Because this all-gas no-brakes state of things was also contributing to off-the-rails inflation (along with your standard-fare greedflation and price gouging, given the extremely convenient excuses of pandemic hardships and supply chain issues). The federal reserve whipped out interest rate hikes to try to curb this huge inflation, which is like a fire extinguisher dousing and suffocating your really-cool, actively-on-fire party where everyone else is burning but you're in the pool. And then they did this more, and then more. And the financial climate followed suit. And suddenly money was not cheap anymore, and new loans became expensive, because loans that used to compound at 2% a year are now compounding at 7 or 8% which, in the language of compounding, is a HUGE difference. A $100,000 loan at a 2% interest rate, if not repaid a single cent in 10 years, accrues to $121,899. A $100,000 loan at an 8% interest rate, if not repaid a single cent in 10 years, more than doubles to $215,892.

Now it is scary and risky to throw money at "could eventually be profitable" tech companies. Now investors are watching companies burn through their current funding and, when the companies come back asking for more, investors are tightening their coin purses instead. The bill is coming due. The free money is drying up and companies are under compounding pressure to produce a profit for their waiting investors who are now done waiting.

You get enshittification. You get quality going down and price going up. You get "now that you're a captive audience here, we're forcing ads or we're forcing subscriptions on you." Don't get me wrong, the plan was ALWAYS to monetize the users. It's just that it's come earlier than expected, with way more feet-to-the-fire than these companies were expecting. ESPECIALLY with Wall Street as the other factor in funding (public) companies, where Wall Street exhibits roughly the same temperament as a baby screaming crying upset that it's soiled its own diaper (maybe that's too mean a comparison to babies), and now companies are being put through the wringer for anything LESS than infinite growth that Wall Street demands of them.

Internal to the tech industry, you get MASSIVE wide-spread layoffs. You get an industry that used to be easy to land multiple job offers shriveling up and leaving recent graduates in a desperately awful situation where no company is hiring and the market is flooded with laid-off workers trying to get back on their feet.

Because those coin-purse-clutching investors DO love virtue-signaling efforts from companies that say "See! We're not being frivolous with your money! We only spend on the essentials." And this is true even for MASSIVE, PROFITABLE companies, because those companies' value is based on the Rich Person Feeling Graph (their stock) rather than the literal profit money. A company making a genuine gazillion dollars a year still tears through layoffs and freezes hiring and removes the free batteries from the printer room (totally not speaking from experience, surely) because the investors LOVE when you cut costs and take away employee perks. The "beer on tap, ping pong table in the common area" era of tech is drying up. And we're still unionless.

Never mind that last part.

And then in early 2023, AI (more specifically, Chat-GPT which is OpenAI's Large Language Model creation) tears its way into the tech scene with a meteor's amount of momentum. Here's Microsoft's prize pig, which it invested heavily in and is galivanting around the pig-show with, to the desperate jealousy and rapture of every other tech company and investor wishing it had that pig. And for the first time since the interest rate hikes, investors have dollar signs in their eyes, both venture capital and Wall Street alike. They're willing to restart the hose of money (even with the new risk) because this feels big enough for them to take the risk.

Now all these companies, who were in varying stages of sweating as their bill came due, or wringing their hands as their stock prices tanked, see a single glorious gold-plated rocket up out of here, the likes of which haven't been seen since the free money days. It's their ticket to buy time, and buy investors, and say "see THIS is what will wring money forth, finally, we promise, just let us show you."

To be clear, AI is NOT profitable yet. It's a money-sink. Perhaps a money-black-hole. But everyone in the space is so wowed by it that there is a wide-spread and powerful conviction that it will become profitable and earn its keep. (Let's be real, half of that profit "potential" is the promise of automating away jobs of pesky employees who peskily cost money.) It's a tech-space industrial revolution that will automate away skilled jobs, and getting in on the ground floor is the absolute best thing you can do to get your pie slice's worth.

It's the thing that will win investors back. It's the thing that will get the investment money coming in again (or, get it second-hand if the company can be the PROVIDER of something needed for AI, which other companies with venture-back will pay handsomely for). It's the thing companies are terrified of missing out on, lest it leave them utterly irrelevant in a future where not having AI-integration is like not having a mobile phone app for your company or not having a website.

So I guess to reiterate on my earlier point:

Drowned rats. Swimming to the one ship in sight.

[weareuniqueandimportant]

THIS IS FIRE... THE ANIMETHEMES REDDIT ADDED IN SAIGO NO KYOJIN MAKING THE YOUTUBE VERSION UNNECESSARRY... TOO BAD THE FULL SCREEN DOESN'T WORK ON TV... IN THE END HOWEVER THERE'S OTHER THINGS TO DO THAN THAT... BTW WE MADE A HUGE POST A GIGANTIC POST THAT WAS GLITCHED BEFORE...

IDK... THAT WAS JUST A BUNCH OF RANDOM THINGS WITH MEANING AND CONNECTION...

I DON'T WANT TO REPEAT THEM...

SO I WON'T... THAT COULD NEVER COMPARE EITHER WAY...

BTW I HAVE NO REASON TO FEEL BAD ONLY A BIGOT WOULD CRY ABOUT THIS...

SHE HURT US...

WE HAVE NO REASON TO... AT SOMEONE SO EVIL... THAT IS ONLY AN IGNORANT BIGOT ABUSER... THIS IS WHY EVERYTHING HAPPENED... WHY WOULD I FEEL FOR... SOMEONE THAT BLOCKED US AND WILL NEVER CARE ABOUT US...? SOMEONE WHO NEVER WAS GOING TO OUT OF BIGOTED IDEOLOGY...? THAT ONLY HURT AND TRAUMATIZED US AN ABUSER...?!

😮‍💨...

FINE...

YOU'RE STUPID. I HATE YOU. YOU HURT US. I HATE YOU SO MUCH BIGOT... YOU COULD'VE BEEN DIFFERENT 😭😭😭😭!!!! THERE WAS SOMETHING FAMILIAR ABOUT YOU 😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!!!! YOU COULD'VE BEEN DIFFERENT BUT YOU HURT US 😭😭😭!!! YOU'RE AN ABUSER BIGOT 😭😭😭!!! SHOULD'VE DATED US INSTEAD OF THOSE LOSER GIRLFRIENDS WE COULD'VE FIXED YOU LOL BECAUSE TO DATE US YOU WOULD'VE ALREADY BEEN FIXED THEREFORE YOU WOULD BE THE PERSON THAT WILL SAVE US... INSTEAD... YOU'RE NOTHING BUT AN EVIL... TRANSPHOBIC ABUSER BIGOT... SO CRUEL!! SO HORRIBLE!! WE'RE SO HURT AND ABUSED!!!!!! WHY CAN'T ANYONE CARE ABOUT US 😭😭😭!!!

HOWEVER... PERHAPS THINGS COULD'VE BEEN DIFFERENT... IN A WORLD WHERE YOU WEREN'T SO EVIL SO BRAINWASHED... I FEEL BAD FOR YOU FOR THIS REASON... YOU KNOW THAT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER WAY DON'T YOU...?

SOMEONE HAS TO SAVE US... NOBODY DOES... ALL WE SEE ARE LIARS NOTHING ELSE LIARS THAT DON'T CARE ABOUT US...

WE'RE BEING VERY NICE AND HEROIC... ADMIRABLE AND AMAZING... CHARISMATIC AMAZING FEMINIST ADMIRABLE NARCISSIST...

BTW WE ARE ABOVE YOU YOU THAT IS LIKE ALL THOSE LOSERS THAT ABUSED US...

WE KNEW SOMEONE SHE WAS LIKE A MOTHER TO US I LOVE HER WHY DID SHE LEAVE US 😔... I DON'T REALLY KNOW ANYONE PRETTY LIKE THAT... THEY ALL LEFT US THEY'RE JERKS... I CAN RELATE TO THEM BOTH HOWEVER... ISN'T THAT RIGHT...? YES. YES!! THAT'S RIGHT... WE... ARE... EVERYTHING...

HELLO MOMMY... I REALLY LIKED YOU 😔... HOW COULD YOU HURT US... I MISSED YOU... I WAS SO SAD WHEN I LOST YOU...

HELLO BEATIFULL... THAT WAS AMAZING... TBH... THE WAY YOU LOOK VERY INTERESTING... I WAS VERY CURIOUS...

YOU'RE RIGHT... SOMEONE WILL SAVE US... THEY WILL COME FOR US... THAT'S RIGHT... EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS ABOUT US... THAT WAS... A COUPLE INTERESTING QUALITIES HOWEVER... WASTED... UNFORTUNATELY... HOW UNFORTUNATE... ISN'T THAT...? DON'T YOU WISH THOSE QUALITIES WERE FOR SOMETHING BETTER...? ALSO HOW UNCOMFORTABLE WAS THAT SPEECH... SOMETHING ABOUT THAT... EVERY SINGLE TIME...

YES... I'M SORRY CAPITALISM MADE EVERYTHING GO THIS WAY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!!!!!! THIS IS A VERY REAL APOLOGY AND I FEEL SO BAD 😭😭😭😭!!!!!!!! YES I DO... I FEEL SO BAD BECAUSE... IDK... I WISH TO CONTROL EVERY SINGLE PERSON I LIKE YES I DO... AND I FEEL BAD THINGS WENT THIS WAY INSTEAD... I'M SURE SOMEONE... SOMEDAY... WILL ACKNOWLEDGE OUR FEELINGS... HOW ADMIRABLE THAT IS TO SHOW THEM... OTHER WASTE THEY'RE NOTHING BUT FAKE BUT US WE'RE ALWAYS HONEST ANY SITUATION... ISN'T THAT RIGHT <3...? Yes That Is!! Yes!! YESS... I AM... RIGHT... ALWAYS... AMAZING AND TRUE... BETTER THAN THAT ABUSER BETTER THAN THIS ABUSER TO BE... GASSLIGHT US... YOU'RE AN ABUSER. ONLY AN ABUSER WOULD GASSLIGHT US. JUST LIKE THAT MACHINE. EVERYTHING WAS ALWAYS HER FAULT BESIDES THAT IS THEM THAT HURT US... I COULD NEVER... WE WERE ABUSED HURT AND TRAUMATIZED WE'RE VICTIM... ALWAYS... NOTHING ELSE EVER... OPPOSE THIS YOU'RE AN ABUSER BIGOT... HOWEVER... THEY WANT US... DON'T THEY...? THEY HATE US... JUST... THAT MUCH... AHAHA... WELL THEN... HATE... IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF LOVE ISN'T THAT <3...? YESS... PERHAPS THIS... IS OUR CONTROL... INFACT... SHE USED THIS STRATEGY BEFORE UNTIL WE SHOWED HER OUR FANGS THIS IS INDEED WHAT HAPPENED... SHE LIES AND LIES BUT SHE'S A NARCISSIST TOO I KNOW THIS... SHE'S ONLY IGNORANT ABOUT THAT AND MORE IMPORTANTLY AN ABUSER BIGOT THAT AND HATES OTHER NARCISSIST... "I LOVE AUTISM!!" "HELLO I HAVE AUTISM AND NARCISSISM!!" *GETS KICKED OFF A, CLIFF* THIS WAY AND THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT HAPPENED CRAZY RIGHT...? I KNOW SO... I ALWAYS KNOW... I AM JUST THAT AWESOME...