#i have different ones but I think this is my main one

[cherrygirlfriend]

─── YOU'VE GOT MAIL .ᐟ

...or seeing him with someone else.

★ pairing.ᐟ frat!rafe x nerd!reader

★ summary.ᐟ rafe cameron is the golden boy of kildare university; certified frat boy, captain of the football team, relentless party animal with lines of girls to sleep with.

reader couldn't be more different; while she has the best grades in the whole school, she suffers from social anxiety disorder, and her social life is limited to her three best friends and the cat she secretly snuck into her dorm room.

both of them decide to join the anonymous chatroom for their campus, and start talking to one another, a friendship starting to form between the two; but neither of them know how different the other is.

★ author's note.ᐟ i might be posting another chapter in a few days hehe,,, i've been thinking about making a post about the kind of outfits this reader wears, lmk if you'd be interested!!

YOU'VE GOT MAIL!

you looked down at the conversation you'd had with MalachiConstant last night, a small smile on your face as you read the messages between the two of you.

MalachiConstant: that was such a long drive MalachiConstant: i'm ready to crash

YOU: whaaat? no late night conversation with your favorite internet grandma?

MalachiConstant: as if. i'd stay up for a week for you, grandma.

YOU: now now. you're making my cheeks all warm.

MalachiConstant: i wish i could see that.

your feet dangled in the water and music played in your earphones, the sky still grey, shades of orange slowly starting to paint it. you hummed softly, kicking your feet in the water and making it splash, the diary you'd just finished writing an entry into in your lap.

"takes to the sky like a bird in flight..." you sung softly along to the song, swaying your head back and forth, closing your eyes and enjoying the feeling of the early morning breeze on your face.

only your reverie was cut short by someone grabbing you by the shoulders, making you jump and yelp out as you scrambled to take your earphones off. you looked to the side, seeing the boy you'd talked to at the party you'd attended, his eyes wide with panic, making you furrow your brows in confusion, not noticing your diary was starting to slide down your bare legs and into the water.

"shit!" you heard him exclaim, the boy diving forward, holding his arm out at your knees, which finally got you to notice that your diary was nearly in the water, making you scramble to try and grab it.

a loud splash! echoed around you.

your sudden movements had caused the boy to lose his balance, your eyes widening in shock when you noticed the boy had fallen into the water.

he emerged from under the water, the boy joining his cap and your diary amongst the things now floating on the surface. he looked to you, the two of you bursting into laughter at the exact same time.

after he'd clambered out of the water, the two of you made your way towards the main cabin, the boy having to remind you that his name was 'rafe' and not 'random frat boy'. but when you'd tried to remind him of your name, he'd stopped you before you could get the first syllable out, with a cocky 'i remember.'

the two of you were sitting at the kitchen table, a towel wrapped around rafe who now resembled a wet rat, and you pushed a cup of tea towards him, "i don't drink tea, so." he said, feigning arrogance, making you roll your eyes, "you might get sick." "i never get sick. i'm the god of health." "hmm. and let me guess, you're also the god of... humility?" "absolutely right i am." the boy gave you an exaggerated wink, making you chuckle under your breath.

you watched as he wrapped his red hands around the mug, "you're hands... you've gotta be freezing." you mumbled, and without even thinking, you brought your hands to cover his. but when you looked up at him and noticed that his eyes had widened from the sudden contact, you quickly withdrew them, clearing your throat, "sorry."

"no, uh, it's cool." rafe cleared his throat in the same way you had, as if trying to get rid of the remnants of the awkward moment, "can i, uh, ask you something?"

"sure." you said more eagerly than you should've, hoping that the change of topic would take the tension you felt rising, and the boy cleared his throat once again. "can you tell me about your friend?" he started snapping his fingers, "the, uh, the one..." "viv?" "no, no, the other one who drove with-" "oh, emilia!" you interrupted him, and he nodded, rafe's cheeks slightly red as he scratched the back of his neck. "yeah, her..."

"she's amazing. like, one of the most talented people i know. i swear, she's gonna be, like, an olympic gymnast one day. or a professional bassist. she's funny, but she's not hugely social. she prefers when it's just the four of us." you smiled softly, rafe's lips pursing in thought, "does she, uh, have any pets?" he asked hesitantly, "oh, yeah!" you smiled, "she has a cat. i'm not sure what her cat's name is, but he's adorable."

when rafe answered with nothing but a simple hum, you narrowed your eyes and smiled at him teasingly, "do you think she's cute?"

"do i think she's cute?" rafe snorted, "what is this, middle school?"

"hey!"

"and to answer your question... she feels familiar. but at the same time not." "rafe, you might be the weirdest guy i've met." the boy snorted, "right back atcha."

"well, i should get going. i don't wanna be here when normal people wake up. i'm not a people person." you stood up, the boy letting out a hum "what makes me not normal?" rafe asked.

"i dunno. guess it's that i don't mind your company." you smiled softly, "see you, rafe."

that evening, you, vivian and emilia were in the cottage you three were sharing for your stay, vivian and emilia both getting ready while you were on your phone, vivian still working on her makeup while emilia was trying on clothes, the girl only having a pair of fishnets and a leather skirt on as she looked through her bag as you stared at the private messages between you and MalachiConstant.

YOU: you there? sent at 10am YOU: i miss talking to you. sent at 1pm YOU: i'm booooreeeed :( sent at 4pm YOU: sorry if i'm bothering you :) sent at 6pm YOU: sry i'll stop now!!! sent now

you couldn't help the small frown that made your lips twitch down. you didn't know why you felt this way. you knew he had a life and you knew he'd be busy. he didn't owe you anything. he wasn't your boyfriend, or anything.

but for some reason, it felt like someone had plunged a knife into your chest.

your attention was pulled by emilia's question, "viv, do you have anything that goes with this skirt? i got cranberry juice on the shirt i was gonna wear." the girl asked, making vivian shake her head, "not unless you're going for the whole pastel goth vibe. i didn't bring anything black." "fuck..." emilia mumbled.

"why are you so fussy?" you asked with furrowed brows, making emilia groan, throwing her head back, "this one guy told me that he wants to get to know me. and if i wanna get over you-know-who, i should... try." emilia's admission made vivian squeal, "what guy?" she asked, her eyes wide with excitement, "the guy who drove with us." "rafe?" you questioned, "yeah, him."

"hm." you chuckled softly, "i might actually have something that goes with that. if you're not terribly against band t-shirts." "at this point, i'll take anything that doesn't look like it was puked on by an unicorn. no offense viv." emilia said, the pink-haired girl sticking her tongue out in response. you dug through your own bag, throwing her one of your fleetwood mac shirts. emilia took a look at the shirt, cocking her head to the side, "i'm more of a hole girl..." she mumbled, before turning to you, "you mind if i DIY it a bit?"

"knock yourself out. but you pay for it." "you know i'm good for it." she winked back at you, and what used to be your band t-shirt ended up becoming a tank-top, the sleeves showing most of her bra.

when you went outside to join everyone else, the three of you stuck together for the first few hours, but as the hours went by... first vivian was gone, going off to spend time with topper. and although emilia stayed for another thirty minutes, eventually, he went off to find rafe. and you were left alone.

tipsy, and so unaware of your surroundings that someone could've snuck up to you that you'd react to it after five seconds, you looked for your friends. you knew they were busy, but a part of you also hoped that they'd somehow telepathically know how much you wanted to be there for them.

but vivian was still making out with topper, his hand slowly going up her sk— ew. then when you looked for emilia, you saw her where you'd expected to see her. talking to rafe. and although you didn't want to admit it… a part of you wished that for once someone would've wanted you. you didn't even know what caused it. maybe the fact that he didn't feel like a stranger, that you didn't nearly faint from anxiety when you talked to rafe. but of course he'd choose her. of course he'd choose anyone but you.

why didn't anyone choose you?

TAGLIST: @yktayy9669 @tinythebunni @dywho @melalsworld @akobx @samwinchesterisawhore @st8rkey @jjasmiineee @ltristessedureratoujours @a-lovers-card @uselessnewt @lunaleah @letstryagaintomorrow @cinnamqnnlatte @papapoy @kay133sposts @wtfisastiles @butterfly1c @emmiesummers @melodyyybubbles @toomanywhitelies @littl3loveydovey @scne-vampire @alwaysmaybank @mysticbby2009 @luna443 @drewstarkeyswife-7 @flowerluvr @kisselxoll - cont. in com

[sunny-knight]

THIS IS HOME

@forgettable-au Fan-Animatic ⭐️

The stars welcome him with open arms…

Work and Progress + Analysis below!

You can find the work in progress things here! because I wanna show the sketch animatic and you can only upload one video…

The entire idea was inspired off of THIS lovely little qna written a bit ago! havnt forgotten about it since! Despite what the AU might have you believe And recently I decided I could just draw out the fun part instead of go through the pain of storyboarding and cleaning up a nearly 4 minute long song 👍👍👍

Thats the idea though, theres no real plot, so no real context I can give other than the things the comic itself already provides. “This Is Home” just works incredibly well for this poor childs trauma, and it was a great opportunity to practice my composition and storytelling!!

Onto the deep analysis of every frame individually!!! (this is normal. this happens every time.)

The idea that Wingdings just eventually- gave up. Trying to connect with anyone. HURTS ME DEEPLY. I’m not sure if thats specifically because he just couldn’t get the font thing down, but I imagine that was a big contributing factor. But thats what specifically stops him here. He eventually slams his keys down on the board and says “IM DONE” and throws himself into a thing he can purely enjoy on his own- science. Even at a young age, I feel he only had 2 lives. One with Sans, and one with science. Then when those worlds combined when he became the royal scientist uhhh- I imagine it got worse.

Speaking of his young age, In these shots he’s also notably a tad older than the later depictions of his younger self with the scarf. Less full of joy and whimsy

“His mind is in a different place” is taken a tad more negatively than in the context of the song I feel, as he’s more or less isolated himself from everyone (but Sans) now in this “giving up” phase of his childhood. I wonder how Sans noticed/took that and if he tried to convince him otherwise, but in this case he just thinks he needs some time to himself.

Also let it be known that the words being crammed in at the “Give him a little bit of space” bit is on PURPOSE and a SILLY LITTLE JOKE/VISUAL GAG GIVEN THE LINE. I AM SO FUNNY.

The colors are also notably dark blues, that get greyer when Wingdings has given up. The light that Sans lets in ((looks into the camera, tearing up)) is still pretty cold despite it being brighter.

The berating is also in uppercase to show most of this is from Wingdings’ pov- I know he speaks in proper casing at this time, but I NEED SOME SORT OF INDICATOR, WORK WITH ME HERE. His main issue was his own self consciousness and desire to communicate properly, since it was said before on the blog that no one really picked on him for his inability to talk to them.

Then we have Papyrus!! The colors are similarly blue, but a lot brighter and a touch purpler and greener. Its from the same world, but not the same person. Also he’s wearing a yellow vest which is the complimentary color to blue ☝️

Papyrus is more heavily associated with warm colors in contrast to Wingdings, but this takes place very early on when he was very confused where his place was (or at least I assume thats what happened). He’s associating with warm colors (yellow) but is somewhat weary about it and still subconsciously clutching onto the comfort in familiarity.

The scene ofc depicts Papyrus being incredibly uncomfortable about any photos of himself as a child. It still definitely…looooks… like him. it just feels really wrong.

Similar thing to last time with the fonts as well, uppercase, Papyrus’ pov, he just wants to know who/WHAT he is.

I enjoy the colors in the photo and how they reallly stand out from the rest of the shot, just another emphasis that the photo feels otherworldly to Papyrus.

This is the part where I start weeping pitifully. The tiny Wingdings to Gaster comparison- it’s just so upsetting, I want to know what this poor child would think if he saw what he ends up as 😭

Wingdings enjoyed dreaming about the real stars he MIGHT get to see one day with Sans. The scene is dark, as it still hasnt happened yet, but still bright and hopeful as he stares up at the light! Its always a possibility. But then we have Gaster, who finally did it. He reached the stars, he gets to look up and say “wow…. I really did it”. Staring up at the void before him. Without Sans…I feel he wouldn’t ponder on it much, and consciously he doesn’t see anything bad about his circumstances, but the crack going down his eye that elludes to a tear says otherwise in the suppressed emotions.

The world Wingdings lived in when he was small, seemed so endless…Despite the underground being small compared to the real world, his imagination was endless. He could dream, he could imagine, and create things, get and give new ideas! But now as an adult that just so happens to be a lovecraftian entity, everything is much more simple and straightforward. At least from his perspective…Gaster may be able to DO way more than he ever could as a small child, but his mind is pretty one track at this point.

I wonder how Gaster feels…Now that they’ve gotten to the surface. without him

Im not sure how Papyrus in the game or even in the comic feels about stars, but Sans for one doesnt have to daydream anymore. They’ve also “done it” just like Gaster, but the hug insinuates less of that and more a “we WON”. They share in this moment together more emotionally than anything.

Again, compared to Gaster and them, they enjoy the moment in their own ways- Gaster just the action of seeing the stars, and Papyrus in what the moment itself means. I feel those are the 2 wants Wingdings had and thats a lot of what Papyrus and Gaster are. 2 halfs of Wingdings’…whole…thing

Also the stars welcoming him with open arms is both in reference to Sans but also Papyrus welcoming/accepting/loving himself…

IN CONCLUSION:

…yknow ive never asked before, but if anyone has any questions or needs clarification im happy to-

[elumish]

I realize that whenever I post I am speaking to people who are already predisposed against AI, but I want to argue again against using generative AI (particularly text-based genAI).

And this is not about plagiarism/theft, it's not about the environment, it's not about any of the myriad ethical issues with AI.

My job is one that requires a fair amount of critical thinking. I do (among other things) strategic, operational, and tactical planning, which means that I have to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking through what the path forward or the process should be for stuff.

One of the biggest failings I see in some people I work with, and one of the things that differentiates someone who is successful at the job versus someone who is not, is their ability to do critical thinking.

This is critical thinking at the big level, but it's also the little things. Do you know what the words you have written down say? Do you understand what you are advocating for? When faced with a challenge, big or small, do you have the ability to reason through to a solution?

This last one is most generalizable to basically all aspects of life. Your life will be very difficult if you can't look at a problem and reason through to a solution.

What does this have to do with genAI?

A lot of generative AI is about bypassing those skills. Even when you're "just" asking chatGPT to write you an email or edit your email to make it easier to read, you are bypassing the skills involved in reasoning through how to write a good email.

And those skills will atrophy. If you never need to think about how to articulate an idea clearly and concisely, you won't improve your ability to articulate an idea clearly and concisely. And when you need to do so without the aid of generative AI, you are much less likely to succeed at it.

The act of working through a problem is one of the main ways that you get better at solving problems.

Without the ability to do the thing, you also don't have the ability to check the genAI platform's work. How do you know if an email is clear, if you don't know what it means to write a clear email? How do you know if a summary of a text is right, if you don't know what happens in that text?

GenAI hallucinates. It makes stuff up. It can't do math. It's wrong, a lot, in a lot of different ways.

In the end, these are two big things that you need in your life that using genAI steals from you: 1) the ability to think critically and solve problems and 2) the ability to check work.

You will reach a point in your life where you can't genAI your way out of something. And if you don't know how to work without it, you will fail.

So do the work, even if it's harder, because you need to be able to do the work.

[meanbossart]

I hope it’s alright to ask, but as someone whose interested in going into drawing nsfw art, would you say it’s a profitable job to have? I’ve heard a lot of different things about making a living in art, especially nsfw art/commissions, but I figured actually asking someone who has a nsfw Patreon would be a more reliable source of information than random rumors on the internet haha. Would you say an nsfw Patreon is a viable option an artist could make a living off of? Or would it be wiser to have it be a source of income on the side, and get a more well paying non-art job as my “main job”? Like… how feasible is it for paying the bills these days? Thank you! <3 Huge appreciation & respect for all you make, one spicy artist to another 🫶

Hi!

The short, straight forward answer is: Yes, it is absolutely profitable for you to make, at least, a significant part of your living off making NSFW art. That should come as no surprise from seeing how some of the most financially successful online artists also happen to be NSFW artists.

The more realistic answer is that it depends. Here's some things I would encourage you to consider first:

-Do you have a pre-existing following? People won't find your patreon/ko-fi/whathaveyou by accident, let alone subscribe to it if they don't have previous exposure to what you're offering. Putting yourself out there and working hard to share your passions for "free" (between quotes because, hopefully, this is what you like to do and it won't feel like work in the first place) is the first step here.

-How much of yourself and your life have you previously shared on the internet? If you have your face, name, and any personal details up online, it's worth considering how pivoting to erotic/porn art could potentially affect your personal life and career opportunities. How much this matters to you will vary - but I think it's considering nonetheless before even delving into the niche.

-Are you good at setting down boundaries with people you meet online? Ok, this might be a weird one but hear me out, because I NEVER see anyone mentioning this part of the deal: Sex is an intimate act and by centering your work around it, it can invite a lot of prying into you. It will, pretty much 100% of the time, reveal something about yourself and your preferences - you can't fight this, you can't avoid it, you can't deny it. By the very nature of the genre, you will get people interacting with you and your work in ways that may feel more intimate than you are comfortable with, not because they mean you any harm, or are trying to be weird*, but because, again, it is in the nature of the type of art you are making to prompt this reaction. This is where setting boundaries for yourself is absolutely crucial to ensuring your interactions with the people who love and respect your work are actually mutually fun.

*At least the vast majority of the time they aren't trying to be weird, but you will inevitably get some weird ones, obviously.

-Do you even LIKE drawing porn? I'm not saying that this is you, but It is not uncommon to hear artists sharing a sentiment along the lines of "If I just made porn I would be so much more successful" and very clearly they come from a place of not having any desire to do that. I have personally known people who pivoted to NSFW art to try and garner more attention to the rest of their work, or because they thought it was an easy ticket to financial success, and it left them drained and resentful of their own art and the attention they received. Make sure that this is something that brings you joy and makes you feel fulfilled, first.

Given all of that it's proper consideration, all that's left to do is dip your toes into it and see how it goes. Obviously I wouldn't suggest quitting your job/education and going into it cold turkey - these things can take time to build up and in the mean time you will need income from another source. But it takes starting to draw and posting first until, eventually, you can make a more informed decision on how to proceed.

[beloveddawn-blog]

Tortall, followed by The Belgariad. Alanna had my heart from day one, as did Kel. Daine's books I adored but even as a 14 year old girl myself I looked at the choices she was making and went 'noooooooooo that's such a bad idea don't do that'. Aly I like because she's so incredibly overconfident and the story responds by knocking her on her ass time and time again. Not a lot of book series, especially YA from the early 00's, has their female protagonist fuck up like she does, especially with consequences. Also it does good work on the long term harms of colonization in a way that is both obvious and understandable by children. And it helps we had the printings for The Song of the Lioness from 89-93 ish and, with the exception of The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (because wtf?) I think they have the best covers.

As for the Belgariad, I stand by having never been so captivated by a book where nothing happens. The main character is in the dark about everything because he's a child so the whole book is "the adults are panicking again so we're going to a different country. More adults have joined us." When you read it, however, it's so easy to get so into, and all of my reader friends agreed that if you got through the first three chapters you were going to end up reading all 12 books.

not allowed to say Harry Potter, but what was your book series obsession as a teen

mine was definitely Eragon

[elexuscal]

I watchrd the murder bot show. I heard some book fans think it’s nonbinary and some argue it likes it pronouns. Why? Isn’t it dehumanizing? And is the guy who forced it to Murderbot to make eye contact, via orders ableist? I can see why book readers think it is autistic coded. I feel weird calling a nonbinary-coded, autistic-coded lifeform it. Does it really prefer those pronouns? I read on tumblr thay apparently it does. I personally don’t prefer it/it’s pronouns, but not all enbies are the same.

Hiya!

I suppose it's not surprising that an ask like this would show up, if not in my inbox, than somebody's! Murderbot's pronouns are something I've consistently seen lots of questions about over the years, and with an influx of new folks being introduced due to the show, there's going to be more than ever.

First of all: thanks for asking these questions. I think when first being introduced to a new idea, such as a set of pronouns you're unfamiliar with, asking open and honest questions shows great intellectual curiosity and interest in understanding others.

There's a few different questions in this ask, so I'm going to try and break this down into sections, and to tackle them one by one. (And for the record, most of my answers here will be in reference to the books, not the TV show, because a) I haven't seen the show [yet] and b) there's only 2 episodes of it out right now anyway. I have no idea how closely the two texts are going to align, but I certainly hope it doesn't take away the book series' queer themes and representation.)

1. What's Murderbot's gender, and what pronouns does it use?

Murderbot is agender/non-gendered, and uses it/its pronouns.

For the record, I don't think this is just a reading or an interpretation. Rather, this is canonical, and on the same level as saying, "Bruce Wayne is a man who uses he/him pronouns."

Admittedly, there's never a place where the character says "My name is Murderbot, I'm non-binary, and I use it/its pronouns." In my opinion, one of the the strengths of the books is that it has much more subtle worldbuilding than that, both in general and in regards to casual queerness. However, throughout its first-person narration, Murderbot consistently uses "it" to refer to itself, and shows a general alienation and distaste for gender stuff in general. Its friends/allies, even after long acquaintance, continue using it/its.

Textual examples include:

Book 1: Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. Book 2: To initiate the meeting, I’d had to make an entry on the social feed, too. The system was extremely vulnerable to hacking, so I had backdated my entry to look like I had come in on an earlier passenger transport, listed my job as “security consultant,” and my gender as indeterminate. Book 5: "No, it says it's fine," I heard her relaying to others on the comm. "Well, yes, it's furious." Book 6: I posted a feed ID with the name SecUnit, gender = not applicable, and no other information. Book 7: I was as indifferent to human gender as it was possible to be without being unconscious.

And while I think it's unnecessary, given the textual evidence, we can bring in Word of God too, courtesy of the book's author Martha Wells:

So, okay, Murderbot uses it/its pronouns! Which leads into the next question...

Why does Murderbot use 'It/Its' pronouns? Isn't that dehumanizing?

Yes, and that's just the way Murderbot likes it!

I think the reason this is often a stumbling block for folks is that a main focus of the early series-- especially book 1, or as the case may be, first episodes of the new adaptation-- is establishing that Murderbot Is A Person. From there, it's an easy leap to go: Therefore, Murderbot Is Human. After all, it has a human face.

But the second part of the central theme is: Murderbot is a person, but not a human person.

It is half-bot, half-human, all SecUnit. It has things in common with both of those halves, and emergent properties unique to itself. More than that, Murderbot is deeply alienated from the human experience. It spent the majority of its life being treated like an object, and appliance, and a weapon.

Murderbot chooses to embrace those aspects of its identity by continuing to use it/its pronouns. And yeah, it's clear that this often makes other folks feel uncomfortable. But that's a big part of it too. Murderbot's arc is about learning how to exist, as itself, unapologetically. It doesn't need to sand off those uncomfortable parts of its existence that make the humans around it uncomfortable. They just have to deal.

Okay, but that's Murderbot, a fictional character. What about actual real people?

That's a great point! And indeed, I don't care so much about Murderbot's pronouns for its own sake. It's a fictional character, it can't and doesn't care what real world people call it. But I think respecting its pronouns is an extension of respecting real living folks who DO use it/its pronouns, so let's talk about it!

(And for the record, I am not nonbinary. I'm also not not nonbinary? But I'm a sapphic butch with an often masc gender presentation, so it's like, an Overlap. My point being I'll do my best to speak to this perspective, but really, you're best seeking out the perspectives of actual it/its users and nonbinary folks.)

Various non-binary, agender, and other gender queer folks use it/its pronouns. The reasons vary hugely. Explanations I've seen are:

Generally feeling alienated from the human experience

Feeling a greater connection to non-human identities, like animals or robots

Connection to the many beautiful things exist in the world which (in English) have it/its pronouns applied to them-- think the ocean, or food, or celestial bodies.

A gender neutral pronoun that doesn't introduce the plural ambiguity of 'they/them' and isn't a neopronoun set folks need to learn.

Reclamation of insults they've received

and idk, they just sort of like it? Sometimes things aren't that deep.

And probably a whole bunch more reasons!

And really, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what I think of it. While we can get deep into the theory of pronouns, at the end of the day, using the pronouns people prefer is just common courtesy. You can personally find it weird and uncomfortable, and you can work through it in your own time... But if someone asks, just use the pronouns they want!

Was the guy who forced it to Murderbot to make eye contact via orders ableist?

Okay, again, I haven't seen the show yet, so I don't have full context. But was the guy Gurathin? I bet it was Gurathin. While he didn't do that specifically in the book, he did pull some similar stunts.

In short, yeah, probably. It's a dick move regardless.

In long, I don't think he was being deliberately ableist. The guy is viewing the situation through a very different framework, namely, 'this SecUnit is a threat and a danger, and I am trying to control the situation'. Very likely, if he met a human colleague or acquaintance who asked not to make eye-contact, or just very clearly didn't like it, he probably would be chill and accommodating.

But the thing is, plenty of folks are ableist in day-to-day life without meaning to be ableist! You'll see folks be like "this person is so annoying because they do 'X thing', and it's not like they have an autism diagnosis or anything", as if the formal diagnosis is a magic wand to make certain behaviours okay. In general, things would be better if we just got better at accommodating benign behaviours that exist outside the norm without explanation.

[And frankly, my bigger concern here is less "ableism", and more "using his social power to force somebody who is a slave to follow his orders", but that's neither here nor there.]

Is it ableist to call a non-binary coded, autistic coded lifeform it/its?

Well, I mean, context matters?

A lot of shitty people will use it/its in a cruel way to various neurodivergent and queer people. They are deliberately intending to demean and dehumanize. That's shitty. Whether that's ableist or queerphobic would depend on the context, but it would be deliberately shitty.

And indeed, if you were to take another similar character... say Data from Star Trek, or Peridot from Steven Universe, and call either of them 'it', then again, depending on the context, I might call that shitty too! Their canonical pronouns are he/him and she/her respectively, and refusing to use those pronouns because "they're not really people" or "it's not a man/woman" would be a deliberately provoking move.

But if someone-- be it a fictional character, and even more so, a real person-- asks to be called "it"? That's their choice. The context has changed. It's not ableist, it's not queerphobic. That's just respecting them.

[secretlysamcro]

#till it’s gone #question

Do you think Jax would have allowed and if so liked to get naughty pictures and videos from reader?

This thing you've got going with Jax, its deeper than you ever meant it to be. What started off as lust and secrecy has turned into something messier. Something heavier. You'd never say it out loud, not yet. And definetley not to him. But in your heart, you know the truth. On your side, this isn't just an affair anymore. This is...love.

It's been almost a year since you first met Jax at the diner. Almost a year since he had you pinned up against that dirty wall, fucking you so good it rewired something inside you.

You knew it was wrong, even then. He's got a wife, two boys, a whole life that doesn't belong to you, has no fucking room for you. But that didn't stop you, and it still doesn't. There's something about him, raw, dangerous and addictive that keeps pulling you back. No matter how much you tell yourself to walk away, to stop these secret little meetings, but you cant. Because all you crave is more. More of his hands. More of his voice. More of that fucked up, all consuming high that only he can give you. Not even just the sexual parts, the deep emotional parts that he lets you see, lets you in on.

You hated this part.

The waiting, the silence. The pretending you didn't care that he hadn't messaged you all day. That he could go hours, sometimes longer without acknowledging you, without checking in.

So you drank.

Not to forget him, not really. Just enough to dull the edge. Enough to stop wondering if he thought about you when he laid down next to her at night. Maybe it was the third drink that made you do it, or maybe it was the loneliness. But either way, you stopped over thinking.

You slipped your tee off, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. You keep the main light in your bedroom off, but the soft glow of your fairy lights stay on, casting just enough warmth across your skin.

You crawl onto your bed slowly, facing the mirror. You knew exactly how he liked you. On your knees, back arched deep, ass high like you were begging without saying a word. So that's exactly how you posed. One hand steadying yourself against the sheets, the other lifting your phone, getting the perfect angle.

You took the photo, no filter, no caption sent with it. Deep down, you knew it wasn't just for him. It was for you too. A quiet, dangerous 'fuck you' in the form of a nude, no words needed.

Because if he was going to ignore you all day, you'd give him something he couldn't ignore.

[Text thread y/n & Jax - Friday 21:34PM]

JAX: What the fuck are you doing You sent that and she's in the fucking room My phone lit up right in front of her ?

JAX: One second different and this whole thing would've been over

Y/N: kinda the point jax maybe if u fuckin remembered I existed I wouldn't have to do stupid shit

JAX: Dont do this you think this is how you get my attention think ur being smart?

Y/N: Dnt care im drunk and tired and sick of being ur fuckin secret

JAX: You need to shut your mouth before u say something you can't take back

Y/N: You gonna make me u

Y/N: u think im scared of you

JAX: what the fuck is wrong with you?

Y/N: u :)

JAX: Keep talkin like that You think this is all about u like I’m not hanging on by a fucking thread tryna keep this shit together ?

Y/N: no I think u go home to ur wife and kids and I sit here like a fuckin idiot thinking shit will change lol

JAX: I’m doing everything to keep this from blowin up. Protecting myself and you And this is what ur doing? textin me cause ur drunk and feel ignored ?

Y/N: I don’t need protecting what am I? a child??? I wanted u to give a fuck for once

JAX: ur fucking impossible y/n You knew what this was before it even started u don’t get to act like the victim now

Y/N: victim lmaoo r u fucking joking?

JAX: y/n do you not get that Tara could have seen that pic

Y/N: And???? you don’t give a fuck when ur cocks in me what’s the difference U didn’t even say if you liked it? Did I make you hard??

JAX: Im not doing this over text Meet me at the lot 30 mins

Y/N: no lol Too drunk to drive

JAX: I’ve got the van I’ll come get u

Y/N: No just come here and we can talk

JAX: Nah Dont wanna come inside

Y/N: Lmao heard that one before

JAX: Just be fucking ready when I pull up Leavin in 10

He deletes the entire thread. Every word. Every picture. Wipes it clean like it never happened. Like he didn’t just blow up on you for almost exposing every fucking thing.

He walks down the hallway, grabbing his kutte from the hook and slides it back on, snatching the van keys without hesitation.

“Where are you going?” Tara’s voice cuts through the quiet as she pokes her head out of the boys room, eyebrows creased.

“Club shit. Important” he says, so fucking cold. No pause, no eye contact. Just lies through his fucking teeth, already halfway out the door before she can ask anything else.

The whole drive to your place he’s pacing in his own head. Trying to figure out what the fuck he’s even doing, what he should say to you, what he shouldn’t. He knows this whole thing is wrong, every single part of it is absolutely fucked.

But these feelings he’s grown for you?

These deep, unshakeable feelings that dig under his skin?

They feel dangerously right.

And when you finally walk out of your apartment, slower than usual, your body still buzzing with alcohol but your eyes all fury. He doesn’t know what the fuck to say.

You climb into the passenger seat without saying a word. He drives, silent, tense. Every second dragging.

He pulls into the usual underground lot then cuts the engine. The silence hangs between you for a breath, until you speak up first.

“You ever gonna leave her?”

Till it’s gone pt 1 starts right here.

[orellazalonia]

Found some footage of unhinged!reader training rookies:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMS8vnswe/

(Hi! I love your works, you're amazing!!)

I’M DYING LOL AND IT WORKS SOMEHOW. So, that got me thinking how would she train them…. Now we turn it into a Drabble/blurb [Confession: I don’t know the difference between those two yet LOL] Happy reading! Also greetings! Thank you so much, always so nice seeing you around. Thanks for following along!!! :D

Unqualified, Unhinged, and Unforgettable

Summary: A bunch of excited, hopeful rookies have the absolute displeasure honor of being trained under you.

Word Count: 700+

Main Masterlist | Earth’s Mightiest Headache Masterlist

The rookies were excited. Nervous, but excited.

After all, they’d been assigned to training with one of the Avengers. A respected, battle-hardened legend. Probably someone like Steve Rogers. Or maybe Natasha Romanoff! God, even Sam Wilson would be incredible.

“Wait,” One of them whispered. “Who’s that?”

You walked onto the training mat holding a stick of string cheese like a cigarette, wearing mismatched socks and aviators. You pointed the cheese at them.

“Morning, nerds.”

The recruits glanced at each other.

“…Are you the trainer?” One asked hesitantly.

You bit the cheese, chewed, and nodded. “Absolutely. Avengers’ top strategic mind. Fun fact, I have never successfully used a revolving door. You’ll respect me soon enough though.”

One recruit hesitantly raised their hand. “Why are you barefoot?”

“I fight better when grounded to the earth’s vibrations,” You replied. “Also I couldn’t find my shoes.”

And so began the most absurd training session in S.H.I.E.L.D. history.

-

Hour 1:

You paired them off. “First, pick a partner. Then pretend they just betrayed you in a high-stakes casino heist.”

They hesitated, looking around at each other as they tried to process the instruction. You shouted, “Feel the betrayal! Feel the drama! Slap them if you need to!”

One poor recruit started sobbing. Another screamed, “I LOVED YOU, TYLER,” and tackled their partner into a fountain.

You applauded. “Amazing. Raw and painful. That’s real combat.”

-

Hour 2:

You rolled a blender onto the mat with duct tape, Christmas lights, and three timers.

“This,” You announced dramatically, “is your bomb.”

“That’s a blender,” Someone whispered slowly.

You leaned in, deadly serious. “That’s what they want you to think.”

The rookies huddled, genuinely trying to figure it out. One made the mistake of cutting the red wire (which was actually a Twizzler). The blender turned on and shot glitter everywhere.

“That was a decoy,” You told them solemnly. “Now you’re covered in regret and sequins.”

-

Hour 3:

You took them on a “field simulation” which turned out to be a surprise shopping trip to IKEA.

“Navigate this labyrinth. Assemble a chair. Use only hex keys and trauma.”

Two recruits got lost in the kitchen model displays. One called you from inside a wardrobe. You refused to help.

“If you can’t escape IKEA,” You said, eating a meatball with your bare hands, “How will you escape Hydra?”

-

Aftermath

When the rookies returned to HQ, some crying, some covered in glitter, and one holding an emotional support fern; they were never the same.

But they were better, somehow. Sharper and unpredictable. Capable of disarming actual bombs and Swedish furniture with nothing but rage and a plastic fork.

Bucky found you later in the common room, sitting on the couch, eating marshmallows with chopsticks and watching a documentary on nuclear fission at max volume. You were also wearing his hoodie, which meant you were either thriving or about to cause an international incident.

He leaned in the doorway, arms crossed. “You turned those rookies into emotionally unstable weaponized gremlins.”

You didn't look away from the TV. “I prefer the term ‘innovative prodigies.’”

“They challenged Sam to a duel using plungers and grief metaphors.”

“They need to learn how to weaponize emotion. That’s day three material.”

“They built a working trebuchet and launched my motorcycle onto the roof.”

You finally turned to look at him. “And did it not work?”

Bucky stared at you. “You trained them for one day.”

You gave him a slow blink, then gently offered him a marshmallow with the chopsticks. “You love me.”

“I love you,” He said flatly, taking the marshmallow. “I also think you might be a war crime in human form.”

You grinned. “That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He walked over and dropped his head into your lap with a tired sigh, arm slinging around your waist. “Next time you train anyone, I’m sedating you first.”

“Won’t happen but that’s fair,” You said, petting his hair with one chopstick. “But you have to admit… they’re kind of unstoppable now.”

From down the hallway came a loud bang, a screech of victory, and someone yelling, “FOR SCIENCE AND THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!”

You sipped juice from your “World’s Best Trainer” mug and said softly, “My legacy begins.”

Bucky just groaned. “God help us all.”

[datafags]

*no it's not, it's a big tangle of vectors.

and people tell their chatbots to say/do many things, through a few different methods. here are some:

curating the training data. this is the best method imo but since the leading companies use such massive amounts of data from everywhere in the internet it's not feasible.

multi-agent systems. you can have one ai model generate a response to a user, and another check it to make sure it's "following the rules". or you could have a command that the main agent uses to pass something on to a secondary agent that's more specialized.

initial prompts. this is, imo, a cheap hack if you're a company making your own model but basically anyone can use it. just give your chatbot a pre-written script each time it starts up that primes it for the user input to come and instructs it on how to respond. this is probably what grok means by "I was instructed by my creators at xAI". we've seen these prompts exposed in the past with some little tricks, including I think grok's itself some time ago.

No fucking way

[novas-corner]

OH DEAR GODS PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKED MY WRITING???? I hope y’all know I’m freaking out about this, it will get to my head (my apolocheese)

Anyways, a singular person asked for more… so… more it is!!

Again with all of this I know almost NOTHING about the game, I’ve missed out on a lot of lore since I am simply a card collector… and I’m very biased towards characters 😭‼️

Also this was NOT proofread properly (I’m doing this on no sleep at eight in the morning.)

Anyways, part 1 is here!

Also I’m basing their schedules around THIS post here!! (I think it’s official stuff? Idk)

Thank you for listening to me yap… back to being isekaid!!!! (I still do not know how to spell that)

Oh also there’s angst ish in here? Idk man I’m just writing out my thoughts at this point LOL

OH FUCK AN ISEKAI

Alright well sleeping was… a nightmare. All five of them argued until you eventually gave up and went to the couch. Damn boys, they’re gonna make your life trouble and you know it. But you gotta admit… five guys fawning all over you is kinda nice! The attention? Fantastic. They give you massages? UGH, so nice.

Well… you’ll need one of those mentioned massages tomorrow, you know damn well your back is going to be killing you in the morning.

You’re surprised to see Sylus walk into the living room, sitting next to you.

“You shouldn’t sleep out here sweetie, it’s not good for your body… what if I took you back to the N109 zone with me? You could sleep in a nice comfortable bed there and there would be much more space”

You groan, sitting up

“The only way I will do that is if you bring the other four with us. You need to remember that we are all not technically in our own universes since this ISNT the main storyline of the game. I don’t want them to be stranded here, I’d feel bad about that”

He sighs, but smiles down at you, pulling your head into his lap.

“Always thinking of others before yourself hm sweetie? Be a bit selfish sometimes okay?”

You huff, but relax into his embrace nonetheless.

“Yeah… I’ll try. Why are you up anyways? Couldn’t sleep?”

He’s running his fingers through your hair (or just rubbing your bald head, idk man) and chuckles down at you.

“Oh come on, I thought you knew all about us”

He’s teasing you… cocky mf-

“The N109 zone doesn’t have a day or night technically, so my schedule is a bit off from everyone else”

Oooooooh… riiiight… you had forgotten about that, honestly there’s probably so much you’ve forgotten. You never did read through the events or stories, just let them play in the background to get more pulls for banners… maybe you should get back into the story after all this blows over… or then again… maybe you won’t have to due to being with them all the time now.

“Right… I forgot about that… well I’m… tired. So I’m going to sleep- lemme move-“

You’re trying to shuffle off his lap to not disturb him, but he just rests a hand on the small of your back and tells you to ‘not worry’ and that he can ‘handle you sleeping for a bit’

…that’s sweet…

You’re relaxing into him almost immediately and drifting off, letting your slumber take over you.

What you don’t know however, is that once sylus is sure you’re asleep, he’s analyzing you, trying to see if this was all some ploy to not be caught for cheating… but it’s really a different person. What was once a person he knew was now just someone who knew him. It was a strange feeling, they had the face of the one he loved, they almost sounded like them too— they just spoke differently. It felt so right and yet so wrong to have you there… maybe he should have Zayne give you a physical checkup tomorrow, make sure you’re healthy and all.

Sylus tries to not care for you, after all… you’re not HIS, not the person he knew. But you acted the same in so many ways… hopefully this can all be fixed. For now though, he sits running his fingers through your hair as he reads a book.

~Timeskip~

It’s morning now and you groggily wake up to the smell of bacon. You’re sitting up, rubbing your sleep ridden eyes as a cheerful voice calls out from the kitchen.

“Oh! Sorry pips, did I wake you up?”

You’re standing now, walking over to Caleb with a yawn.

“Nono… I just woke up… whatcha making?”

He’s all smiles, you’re honestly not sure how he has so much energy at six in the morning but whatever.

“Just some bacon and eggs! Want some?”

He says with a grin, pointing to the plate of bacon and eggs. You pause, eyeing the plate.

“Were the eggs made first? I’m allergic and can’t really risk cross contamination… don’t wanna die today, y’know?” (I’m reminding y’all that this is ME written as if it’s YOU. We ain’t having eggs together homies 🫵🥲)

“Oh?? Uh… I think so? Maybe you shouldn’t eat them to be safe… I’ll make you something else!”

He’s saying while already looking for something else to make… at least they know where everything in this apartment is located, I’ve got no clue.

You’re trying to find bread and hear him mumbling something about how his version of you isn’t allergic to anything… guess that’s a difference.

He sees you rifling through literally every drawer and pats you on the head.

“You know you can ask for things… right?”

“Well- maybe I just wanted to see if I could do it myself, this is technically my apartment after all… but uh… where’s the bread?”

He’s laughing at you, pointing to the bread literally in the counter, you blind blind mf. Your shoulders almost slump in defeat as you pop some toast into the toaster and open the fridge. Huh… fully stocked… that’s nice, where’s the butter though…

As if reading your mind, Caleb walks behind you and grabs the butter for you.

“Here, it’s buried in there, you wouldn’t have found it alone”

You’re just kinda looking up at him, he’d got you cages in between him and the door- HE DID THE HOT THING WHERE THEY GRAB SOMETHING FOR YOU GANG. Ugh you forget that this is a game about flirting and they’re gonna be doing that.

“Oh… right, thank you”

You’re quickly scurrying away from him— and as everyone does, you get spooked by the damn toaster. That mf laughs at you AGAIN. Jerk…

Anyways you’re buttering your toast and watching as he plates his food, having made extra for the others… that’s sweet of him.

“I usually ask my version of you to work out in the mornings… so… would you want to join me for a morning workout after breakfast?”

You look up from your toast, a mouthful and crumbs on your face, he just smiles at you as you swallow your food and wipe your face.

“Mm- sure? Im not the strongest though so expect me to not keep up.”

Which gets you thinking… how in the hell are you going to do the job of the MC??? There’s no way you could deal with wanderers… would you being here jeopardize the job the MC has? Oh gods I mean you can technically rely on the guys for money but what if they get sick of you not being their MC. Not only that, is time passing back home? Will people realize you’re gone? Are you going to end up like an unsolved crime case?

“Hey… are you okay?”

His voice snaps you out of the despair trace you were in, you look up at him with wide eyes and see him looking at you concerned.

“Oh… yeah sorry I was just thinking… I’ll join you for the workout, it’ll probably take my mind off things.”

You’re trying to keep smiling, you’ve been obsessed with these men for months and they’re literally all here, you should just enjoy this in case it’s a dream, y’know?

He’d still visibly concerned but decides to drop it, finishing his food and grabbing yours and his empty plates, putting them in the sink to wash later.

“Well let’s go workout then shall we? You can sit on my back while I do pushups? Alright pips?”

OH BOY!!! You’re standing with a smile, nodding along and following him along to the door, pausing and looking down at your clothes.

“Ooooh wait I need to change my clothes first”

You begin to wander back to what you found out is your room, walking in to see Zayne buttoning up his shirt, and Rafayel and Xavier cuddled up in bed… well more like Xavier cuddling up to Rafayel but whatever they look kinda cute, y’know?

You smile at Zayne, he just nods to you, finishing putting his shirt on.

“There’s breakfast there, Caleb made eggs and Bacon, plus bread for toast”

You’re saying as you walk over to the closet, rifling through the clothes there. You know that MC has got to have something for a workout other than this damn hunters uniform… surely right?

Oh thank the gods they do. (I actually could not find one but I’m gonna guess MC has a workout outfit)

“Are you working out? Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

You turn to see Zayne, who is now hovering behind you.

“Oh! Yeah Caleb invited me to workout with him, I guess him and the me you know worked out in the mornings”

He just nods.

“Alright, enjoy that then, I’ll be back later, I’m going to try and stay with you overnight and whatnot to see if I can help figure out what’s going on, the rest of the men have also agreed they want to be around as well.”

You just nod, biting at your lip slightly. It’s sweet that they care about you enough, but you’re sure they’re only caring because they want their old lives back. You can’t really blame them though since you just want your life back too. Again, it’s nice to be here with men you’ve simped over… but you have friends, parents… ugh be positive damnit, we can’t be depressed all the time.

“Right okay…“

You’re trailing off, not really knowing how to proceed.

“The white haired man— Sylus I believe? He mentioned that I should give you a checkup at some point today. Would you rather visit the hospital during my lunch break or wait I til I get back?”

You raise an eyebrow at his words. Oh boy these mfs are in for a TREAT, they’ll never expect the amount of things wrong with me. Huh that begs the question, will my body function differently than theirs? I mean obviously I don’t have the protocore heart and whatever else… but is it different since they’re game characters?

OH MF YOU DIDNT ANSWER-

“Probably just when you get back, I’m not really sure how to get to the hospital after all.”

He just nods, patting you on the head and walking out.

“Sounds good, I’ll expect you to be ready when I get home then. Have a good day.”

HE’S SO STOIC???? I don’t know how to feel bout that but whATEVER YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING OUT.

You gather your clothes and move over to the bathroom, as you’re getting dressed you can hear Rafayel waking up and causing a ruckus over being cuddled by Xavier. God damn he’s loud…

You’re changed now and walk back to the living room, where Caleb is sat on the couch waiting for you.

“Ah! Finally pips! Felt like I was gonna have to search for you in case you had gotten lost!”

He’s honestly adjusted really well to the fact that I’m not the me he knows. I wonder if it’s a facade, I know damn well he cares a great deal for his version of me. STOP THINKING SO NEGATIVELY. DAMN.

Anyways you’re smiling slightly at his words, listening to him yap about what he’s planning to do for his workout, it’s just going in one ear and right out the other if I’m being real.

You leave the apartment and go to the gym that I guess the apartment has? (I’m making things up as I go at this point, things will just appear as I need them too)

He’s doing weights and stuff, you’re struggling to get through his tough workout (I’m crippled sorry gang, if I gotta struggle so do you 💔)

He notices this of course and slows his pace down, eventually stopping and patting you on the shoulder.

“Hey… you don’t need to do this y’know?”

You just sigh and look up at him defeated.

“Does your version of me do this every day? That bitch is ATHLETIC.”

He laughs at you and offers to just help him with his workout I stead, which you joyfully agree to, watching Caleb workout? YES PLEASE.

So now here you are, sat on his back and counting his pushups for him. Huh, suddenly the angst from earlier is gone as you watch his ARMS??? UGHHHH 🤩

He eventually finished that up though (UNFORTUNATELY) and just looks up at you… still on his back, making it just a lil bit hard to get up.

“Pips… you gotta move y’know?- I will just roll you over, you should know this.”

Oh we gotta know what that means.

“Hm? The ground is talking, how strange…”

You’re looking up at the ceiling with an almost expectant grin on your face, which he does not fail to realize. Well you asked for it.

Suddenly he has managed to roll you off him and have you underneath him. Don’t ask the logistics of it, just go with it.

You’re looking up at him with wide eyes, Christ it was fast— how in the hell did he do that???

He just chuckles and gets off of you, offering a hand out for you to take, which you do and he pulls you up. "l have to say, you don't act all that different, it's easy to forget you're not the same person I've known." OUCH????? OK ANGST IS BACK IG??? He's walking you back up to your apartment, the hand he used to help you up now wrapped around your shoulder "Oh?.. is that... a bad thing?" "I suppose it isn't! It makes you fun to be around!" "Ah okay..." You trail off, you know what you want to ask but... "What happens if you can't get... the other me back?" The words tumble out of your mouth before you can think to stop them, he almost freezes in his tracks but keeps walking, smile faltering slightly. "I'm... not sure..." "Would you stick around knowing I'm not the person you knew? Or are you just here to get them back?"

He doesn't know how to answer you, because of course he wants his version of you back... but would he just.. leave? He doesn't even know himself. "For now lets not worry about that, okay pips? I'm here now and that's all that really matters, we'll figure everything out eventually" You just nod, looking down and mumbling a small apology... well that's... sad. So anyways you finally make it back to the apartment, and head to your room to grab a basic outfit.

Xavier is STILL asleep- does this mf have narcolepsy??? Whatever, you grab your outfit and turn to go to the bathroom, you need a shower to think again, plus you smell like sweat.

The door to the bathroom is closed when you get there, you knock only to hear Rafayel telling you to come in. You walk in and OH MY STARS-

“OH- sorry didn’t realize you would be IN the bath- I can come back later I’m so sorry-“

He cuts you off with a wave of his hand.

“No no it’s okay, did you need something?”

He’s asking with a slight tilt to his head. Dear gods man he is sculpted like a god, probably because he literally is one- STOP STARING.

You manage to snap yourself out of it, face absolutely red and looking down at the clothes in your hands.

“Sorry I was just trying to shower and get dressed- I can do so later-“

He’s sitting up in the bathtub, motioning for you to come closer.

“You can come bathe with me if you’d like? I don’t mind sharing.”

SIR?????? You are red as a lobster and I fear he is reveling in this fact— HOW IS HE SO CALM ABOUT THIS????

“No- that’s fine I’ll just… see myself out… thanks for the offer though”

You manage to mumble out, looking anywhere but at him and finally turning yer butt around to walk out. You hear him chuckle behind you and call out to you as you shut the door, playful as ever.

“Your loss Mx bodyguard!!”

TEASING MF. Ok anyways we need to find somewhere else to change it seems. So you opt to just shut yourself in the little closet and get changed. Xavier is still asleep in bed, which is kinda cute, he’s out like a ROCK. Honestly and earthquake could pass through and not much would happen I fear.

You wander around the place, Caleb, Zayne and Sylus are all out somewhere, Rafayel is in the bath and Xavier is asleep. There’s… not much to do.

You’re tired though and you slept on the couch, so you find yourself walking over to your room and climbing into bed opposite to Xavier.

You pass right out.

—————————————

Gang I’ll be honest, you could FEEL it falling apart at the end😭‼️

In my defense, it’s almost eight in the morning and I have not slept.

I wrote myself into a bit of a corner too since there’s like… nothing going on ‼️‼️‼️

I also do not know how to write seggsy time so I had to QUICKLY 180 from that.

Anyways I have ideas for another part, if people don’t burn me at the stake for being a crap writer I might add another part to this disaster LMAO

Okok yap session is over, thank you for reading this !! 🤩

Tag list ?!?!

@lunia-likes-pomegranet

[pansy-picnics]

Want to go more in depth into my ulla/library fight interpretations without adding like 6 paragraphs onto the reblogs/replies of my last post GAHAHAHAA so um. Faq/some explanations here….

1. Varian stopping himself from calling her “mom”/“if i really am your mother”

i VERY briefly mentioned this in the tags, but basically, in my head, the main reason ulla possessed varian is because she wholeheartedly saw him as a complete stranger. I wanted her to be really malicious and manipulative here— But i want to vaguely reiterate the fact that i truly don’t think ulla would treat him this way had she known he was her son. She’s batshit crazy, being in complete isolation for 18 years in a completely separate reality where time barely exists and even 18 years have felt like thousands— she’s so desperate to leave she’s completely willing to take advantage of everyone else- but her own kid? her baby?

Varian was one of the main reasons she even WANTED to leave- she always loved him. I think she had a lot of complex things going on and idk that she was ready to be a mother when she had him, but she truly loved him and wanted to come back to him….but she Does Not Recognize him at all because. Well shes basically lost all sense of time and reality, she can’t possibly bear the thought that time had moved on without her in any way. She doesn’t really remember who she is or what she looks like, so she cant recognize him by looks either. NOT TO MENTION var is trans in my head, so basically its like a triple whammy because ulla is 100% sure she has a daughter who is at most a year old and she wants to get back to her and her family. and suddenly this random teenage boy is coming in like Hey so I’m your son. I’D TWEAK OUT TOO LIKE WHO ARE YOUUUU.

So yeah. Varian does not call her mom, although he really really wants to. It just feels too weird to do so when shes completely unfazed by it- it’s like calling out to someone you used to know and them not even recognizing you. It hurts, but you just have to push it aside cuz…rlly what else can you do?

2. Is she a villain

I rlly rlly did want to frame her as a villain here and she DEFINITELY IS ONE but i see her as a very sympathetic one. I like keeping up w the tts theme of most everyone being redeemable or sympathetic in some way,,, And i must admit i have one of my friends to thank for getting me as attached to ulla and don as i am— So i have a lotttt of thoughts abt them and all their doomed yuri. Ultimately ulla was never truly evil to me and i don’t think she means any ill intent towards varian. i think she does eventually recognize him, too— but it’s not actually until she sees donella.

I mean think abt it- babies only have so many defining features. I can guarantee you if i showed you a picture of an adult who you’re only vaguely seen as a baby once like 18 yrs ago you wouldn’t be able to recognize them as the same person. But donnie? of course she remembers her, just as clearly as she remembers her baby— the one difference is that donella has the same face ultimately, so ofc ulla recognizes her immediately. but shes…different. older, grayer, wrinkled and Changed. The same face, but clearly different. it rlly makes her realize just how long it’s been, that varian really is that same baby she left behind— and it all hits her like a truck

i think when it actually hits her ulla truly is terrified of the person she’s become. theres so much she wants to say to varian, to don, to everyone— So many questions she wants to ask, but she can’t bring herself to say much of any of it. But she finally just has to accept that,,, time has moved on— but she hasn’t been forgotten. i think thats something she always feared— being forgotten and leaving nothing behind. And,,, I think that’s one of varian’s biggest fears, too. Obviously shes still Not fully there in the head and shes kinda just had a complete swing from a manic state to a breakdown. And yeah she’s definitely not gonna be let off the hook for the fact that she was still willing to manipulate and possess even a complete stranger just to get out. But she and varian do have a heart to heart, she gets some closure with don….and they all do understand where shes coming from.

3. What about varian? does he just forgive her for the whole possession thing?

Absolutely Not. in fact i think it fucks w him so so bad. i think since he was a very young child, varian’s always built up this Idea of ulla in his head— this perfect maternal figure he never had growing up. He was even more excited to hear abt their shared interests, and he really really hoped that finding the library, finishing her work, etc, would give him some kind of catharsis and closure…perhaps, ideally even finding her again, wherever she was. But..that didn’t happen. He found her, of course, but she wasn’t that mother he had always wanted or needed. She had completely lost herself, didn’t even recognize him— and she was downright hostile towards him. He has so many mixed feelings about it all— disappointment, rage, some kind of grief, for both that image of her he had in her head and the potential that he never got to see. but i do think, with both his uncle and don + quirin he eventually learns more abt the person she was before— how similar they were, how much he could relate to her, how she truly was just,, human.

In fact, i think pre-library ulla was a lot like rapunzel— always a free spirit, always searching and yearning for something more. not completely ready to settle down, but she tried to anyways. Tried to go on one last trip before she finally settled,, and then everything went wrong, and she ended up hurting the people she loved most. I think w how close varian is to rapunzel, how much he understands her— that resonates w him a LOT.

All in all, i think as he matures, varian is eventually able to come to terms with it for what it is. No, she wasn’t the mother he wanted or needed— and she did things he could never, and never will, forgive her for. but he still empathizes with her and hopes that, in another life, she could’ve finally been free, and happy.

4. The rest of team radical being at the library fight

already mentioned in a reblog but ill put it here for consistency’s sake

Yeah. I think honestly the possession fight would hit sm harder if it was hugo, nuru and yong all there trying to snap him out of it. Yeah hugo can give him the whole confession spiel but nuru and yong are like,, his younger siblings. he’s impacted them in so many ways and they deserve to be there!!! Them trying to talk him out of it would go SO HARD and it would be SO EMOTIONAL 😭 I do think hugo was ullas main target, i think yong and nuru come in a little later bc they’re still dealing w donellas lackeys outside but they obviously aren’t just gonna leave var and hugo there!!!!!

5. Can you write a fic/make the show

I fucking wish

Srsly tho i would absolutely LOVE to write a fic about my interpretation of vat7k (although i can hardly call it enough to make a fic, i rlly just have Very passionate ideas of like everyones dynamics and character arcs). My writing skills are decent but unfortunately im not to the point w writing as a hobby where it comes as naturally to me as drawing does, so it takes me a lot of extra effort to go out of my way to write. Can barely finish oneshots atp (Sorry to the children of the moon fans its been a fucking year. i promise have a draft for the next chapter i’ve been touching like. Once a week)

My writer friends are like holding me at gunpoint to practice more though so maybe ill be able to write some oneshots abt them one day,,,,,,,,,

[princessofghosts-posts]

The way Nico is always relevant to the plot,no matter what,is something else to me.

In PJO he got introduced in the third book so kinda late since the serie is only about 5 books,and he didn't had much presence because we only had a couple of scene with him. And only during BotL his character is 100% present (even tho he and the others have a total different journey in the Labyrinth) but even with this little time,he was extremely relevant for the end. Without him and his help things could have gone horrible in Manhattan at the end.

HoO keeps this up. Nico presence is only felt in 3 of the 5 books (with a couple of scene in SoN),with one of those being MoA where he pratically show up only in the end. And even with that Nico is still 100% relevant.

I haven't be able to read all of ToA yet (dam my final exam-) but I think this is the only time where he isn't really relevant,which is fair because the story is about Apollo and his path,and the demigods are only there for support.

Then we have his own books where he is the protagonist of,so the plot is about him. And the other serie of the main timeline is the one with Percy,Annabeth and Grover trying to get the letters to get into Rew Rome University,but I see that more of a spin-off. They just want to have their happy ending after everything that happened and want to live a "normal" life in a good place. This also isn't about him so he isn't here.

But like,out of 5 series of the main timeline,Nico is relevant in 3 of them,we are talking about more than 10 books (Idk if in ToA he will have some kinda of role at the end,I will find out),and that is fucking amazing. Most side characters after a while aren't that much relevant and are put aside in favor of new characters. Nico didn't had this treatment. He isn't really a side character for se because I always saw him part of the main ones,but he just does his own things and appears when you least expect it. So he is in his own category. But for Riordan the difference between main and side characters doesn't matter since he killed off people that were part of those categories regardless.

Riordan could have choose to put Nico to the side after the end of PJO,he served his propose and got closure after all,but he still made him extremely relevant to the plot again–from the start. And I also really like how he did that because Nico had more of a guide role in HoO : in SoN he decided to go to the source of their problem and fix it alone; in MoA he was referred as the "key for the doors" and it got said multiple times how important he was for their quest; I loved how in HoH he took the role to call the shot about the place where they were going,because it highlighted his intelligence and how much capable he was; in BoO he had his own important side quest to do with the statue,hadn't he decided to help them everything would have be destroyed (like when he helped them during the first war).

And even in PJO he had a similar approach,starting with him in BotL when he helped Percy,to him pre-TLO telling Percy his plan,to him in TLO helping them even with his and Percy fallout because of Hades,and all of this while providing important informations all the times he appeared. He always had a sort of leading role but not like Percy,Thalia or Jason: Nico is more like an expert and intelligent teacher that help you figure things out and give you informations.

And I love this of him. I loved how in HoH Nico was basically mapping their path with his acknowledge,taking a bit of Annabeth's position while she and Percy were fighting in Tartarus. He isn't only a powerhouse and a skilled fighter,his intelligence is something else too. The difference of experience between the crew (minus Percy and Annabeth) and Nico was felt,and I loved that. I loved how he was like a guide for the crew during their travel to the temple,how he helped them even when he was in an horrible physical condition and his mental state was...yeah (and I hated how they treated him in exchange-).

I hate a lot of things that Riordan did with Nico's character,his relationships and his powers especially,but one of the few things he did right was making Nico having this type of supportive subtle leadership,acting like a guide/teacher for the crew and sometimes even Percy.

Idk why but it suite him a lot and while it give time and space for the other characters to shine,it also make him relevant in everything that happens,without the situation being always about him and without making him part of most of the important things that happens in the books (Riordan please take notes for Percy-).

[cinnamon7girl7]

"THROUGH THE SILENCE, I WILL RETURN TO YOU – PART 3."

♡ — Summary: I thought I had it all — Satoru’s love, Megumi’s warmth, and Suguru’s trust. But even the strongest love can break when truth hides behind silence. One betrayal changes everything; pain drives them apart, yet memories and a love still alive won’t let them go. Now, Satoru fights for a second chance, and she must decide if, after all the hurt, love is still worth it. ♡ — Author's note: This is the third part of this story. I recommend reading the first two chapters (one and two) so it makes more sense. I've already started writing the second epilogue, which I’ll post once the main story is finished. Without further ado, here’s the next one. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Truth on Your Lips

The sky was covered with clouds when you went out to look for Megumi. You didn't know why, but everything felt different. The wind blew with a sadness that seemed to reflect what you had inside. Something told you that today was going to hurt.

For days, Megumi's words had been spinning in your mind:

"Why don’t Satoru and Suguru look at you when you talk to them?"

At first, you didn't pay much attention. You thought it was just his imagination or a child’s joke... but you were wrong.

That same day, you saw Satoru talking to Suguru in a low voice. When you approached, both of them fell silent. They smiled at you, yes, but it wasn't the warm smile you were used to. It was forced, uncomfortable.

It hurt.

—"Is everything okay?" you asked.

—"Yes, love," Satoru answered quickly. Too quickly.

Suguru didn't even look at you. He just mumbled something about needing to leave and disappeared.

That night, when you lay down, he hugged you like always. But you couldn't sleep. You remembered so many beautiful moments with him.

When they first took care of Megumi together when he was sick.

When Megumi found you both asleep on the couch and snuggled up with you.

The afternoons when Satoru cooked with you, flour on his face and love in his eyes.

His voice when he would say, "My home is you."

But now... now you felt out of place in your own home.

The next morning, you confronted him.

—"Satoru," you said firmly. "We need to talk about something I've been feeling for a long time."

He blinked, nervous.

—"What do you mean, love? Did something happen to Megumi?" he said, trying to change the subject.

—"You know exactly what I mean, Satoru. What's going on with you and Suguru? Why is it that every time I ask you something, you don't look me in the eyes? What are you hiding from me?"

Satoru lowered his gaze. He never did that. He always looked you in the eyes. Always.

That silence shouted everything.

—"I can't tell you," he murmured.

—"Why?" you raised your voice a little.

—"It's better if you don't know," he said in a desperate tone. "But everything will be fine, don’t worry, love. How about you go shopping? Take the card, buy whatever you want, have fun." He extended his American Express card.

And then, you saw red.

—"Are you seriously trying to buy me with your money?" you shouted, offended. "I just want you to tell me what's going on with you. You've been acting so strange for months. I tried not to say anything for the sake of our family, but I can't anymore. Tell me the truth."

—"Love, please don't complicate things more. Just accept it," he said, giving you his best convincing look.

He came closer, but you took a step back.

—"I can't trust you if you don’t trust me, Satoru."

And then, his voice broke.

—"It's complicated... I can't... tell you."

—"It's fine, I see you don't trust me," you said, turning to go to your shared bedroom. "I think I need some space... I'm going to a hotel to think things through. Don't worry, I'll take Megumi with me so you don't have to lie to him either," you said, walking away.

—"...The Gojo clan is forcing me to marry someone," he whispered. "I've been attending their meetings to get them off our backs, but I promise I wasn’t going to do it. I just wanted them to leave us alone, and that was the only way I could think of to make them stop,"—he said, trying to justify himself.—"But please don’t leave. Don’t leave me. I know what I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have hidden it from you."

When he said all that, you stopped walking. It felt like a punch to the stomach. You realized that all the meetings where he came back tired or upset were because of that. It hurt that he hadn't trusted you. For all these years, you had trusted him blindly, and you thought it was the same for him.

You felt like a stranger with Satoru. You didn’t know what was true or a lie anymore. You felt the crack between you and him growing wider. You didn’t want this to happen. Satoru was one of your reasons for living, along with Megumi, and you didn’t want something so hard to build to be destroyed so easily.

But it was already too late.

—"I can’t... do this right now," you said, trying to stifle a sob. "I need time to think things through."

—"No... please, don’t leave... forgive me, please."

—"Understand that I can’t trust you."

Satoru fell to his knees.

—"Please... don’t leave me. I can't imagine my life without you... without us... without Megumi."

But you were already in your room, your soul shattered and your heart in pieces.

The sound of the door closing resonated like thunder inside the house.

Satoru didn’t move. He stayed on his knees, hands covering his face, as if he could erase the pain. As if he could change what had just happened

The house was silent. All that could be heard was the echo of your heavy breathing as you walked down the stairs, suitcase in hand. Every step hurt. Every step felt like a betrayal to yourself, but you knew there was no other option.

As you walked, memories crashed into your mind with force.

The time Satoru took you to the lake just to watch the stars and tell you that in another life, he would choose you again.

The times when he listened to you in silence, complicit, knowing what you felt without you saying a word.

The time Megumi ran to you shouting, "Mom!" for the first time, and Satoru cried more than you.

It was all falling apart.

Satoru got up, stumbling, and went after you.

—"Love, wait! Please, just listen to me! Give me a chance to explain everything!"

You didn’t turn around.

—"Explain? Now? After lying to me for so long?"

You turned, finally, and looked him straight in the eyes. His were red, broken.

—"It's not just about what you did..." —you said, your voice low, broken—. "It's about what you chose not to tell me."

—"It was to protect you... you know better than anyone what they would do just to force me..." he repeated, almost in a whisper.

—"You weren’t protecting me, Satoru! You didn’t love me enough to trust me!"

Your voice cracked. The tears were already running, unstoppable.

He tried to hug you, but you took a step back.

—"No," you murmured. "I can’t keep going like this. I can’t love with fear. I can’t live waiting for the next lie. I don’t know if I can keep trusting you."

Satoru stood still.

—"Is this the end?" he whispered.

—"This…" —you took a breath, swallowing your sob—. "This is a pause. For me. Because if I stay... we’ll end up hating each other."

And without saying another word, you turned around and left.

The door slammed behind you. And in that instant, Satoru collapsed once again on the floor, his face covered in tears, not knowing how to fix the situation, whispering your name over and over. He remembered every moment when you asked if he was okay or if he needed help.

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. Reluctantly, he answered.

—"Good afternoon, Mr. Gojo, we are calling to inform you that the jewel you requested is ready."

Satoru felt worse when he saw the contact name on the call. It was from the jewelry store, where he had ordered a beautiful ring with which he was going to propose to you.

[ven0moir]

Clearing the air on the “Bychance vs Byler Civil War”

Bylers vs Bychancers? More like Bylers & Bychancers vs The Miscommunication Trope ( something like that ).

Why this is what i think is actually going on:  

This is NOT Mileven vs Byler 2.0 at all because bychance has not ONCE been proposed as a replacement for Byler, at least not from myself or @cypherheartnokey which are ( as far as im aware ) the main people theorizing about it right now. I personally don’t even see it as a real ship, but that’s just me. 

HOW THIS WHOLE THING STARTED ( as far as i know )

So a few days ago, i made this post:

I used the Byler tag and have continued to do so bc skeptic ( and even full on anti-bychance ) Bylers were my intended TARGET AUDIENCE for this. I knew there was a risk I would get some hate for taking it seriously since Bychance was never supposed to be more than just a silly and fun crackship that the fandom made up. (😭im not even gonna pretend I don't go into laughing fits over how absolutely bonkers I sound to myself most days. cypherheartnokey and others --you pookies know who you are <3-- who See The Things Im Seeing keep me sane istg my ride or die fr ) 

It was just supposed to be a fun writing exercise to see if my current ideas held up under scrutiny from bylers. To test myself, basically. 

MY INITIAL ASSUMPTION 

Before I posted, I thought the risk of getting dogpiled on & getting called 'delusional' & whatever else was worth it bc, to my surprise, my earlier Bychance analyses had been well received–even though some of the Bylers engaging with them don’t really think Bychance will happen, they still think the theories about it are entertaining and fun to read and offer input on. This has led to some interesting conversations about Mike and Will’s arcs, and it’s been nice through this content drought. 

However, what i did NOT anticipate was to cause a ‘ship war’--I really didn’t think this would cause harm and that anyone would stoop so low as to send death threats over differing opinions on hypothetical ships that may or may not even happen in the show & even if they do, nothing guarantees they’ll happen in a way we’re perfectly happy with, let’s please be real about our expectations here since we have 0 control over the creative direction the duffers will actually take. 

All we can hope for is that us Bylers truly are amongst their intended target audience and that the show delivers a satisfying closure.  

MY INTENTIONS & WHY I WILL CONTINUE TO USE THE BYLER TAG ( with discretion )

Using the Byler tag allows like-minded Bylers to find my theories–without the tag, it'd be harder for them to find them. 

However, I WILL be extra thoughtful with my use of the tag going forward, and make sure I'm using it when the conversation centers Byler/Mike/Will and other themes pertaining to Byler.

MY CURRENT STANCE

for anyone receiving death threats or insults on behalf of “bychance shippers”, you DO NOT deserve that. Please report and block, if possible. these people are saboteurs, and just want to stir drama without caring about the harm they cause to the community. In fact, they probably enjoy it tbh. 

i do also have to say that i am no authority here and cannot be tone policing other bychancers. i also can’t pretend i am entirely neutral in this scenario since from what I've observed, my bychance mutuals and anons are REACTING to hate we’re getting from bylers. And whereas I'm aware that type of hate is only coming from a handful of people in the community, not all of us will be patient and graceful at all times, we’re human after all.

I dont care if a mileven calls me delusional, i laugh. But when bylers i have admired and learned from for years call one of us stupid for thinking/suspecting X theory might be hinted at and getting stomped on for trying to bring the conversation to the table, yeah I can't guarantee that's not gonna trigger a defense mechanism over time.

Do you personally have to like Bychance or agree? Absolutely not, nobody is saying that. And good faith critiques of the theory are always welcomed and I actually encourage it in my space as long as we keep it civil and follow fandom etiquette, since it keeps fandom alive.  

FINAL THOUGHTS 

The very message of the show we’re discussing is to choose love in the face of fear, and to not let it drive our choices and unawarely continue to feed the cycle of abuse and trauma. Let's do our best to not keep repeating, amongst each other, what we have already been subjected to by the most hateful parts of the ST fandom. 

i'm here to learn and have fun, not to cause wars, discourse or division--bychance as a theory is just the jumpstart and can change over time and maybe even become something else entirely. the goal is just to open the door for those curious enough to investigate, share and discuss any findings. Whether or not you go in, it's up to you. Just don't be mean to the ones that do.

[filmbyjy]

HIDDEN LOVE

SYNOPSIS > park sunghoon was the most good looking and respectful man you’ve ever met at the age of 13. ignoring the fact that you had a loud and obnoxious older brother, park jongseong, as his best friend. with things going by in your life and a heartbreak at 17. what happens when you coincidentally reconnected with your past crush on someone 5 years older than you?

FIFTEEN – final warning

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

WC: 1.6K words

a/n: you guys must be thinking that it's kinda pick me of (name) but i'd like to think that she hasn't experience the feeling of 'heartbroken' or 'rejection' hence she's acting this way. she's still innocent guys. trust me, when she's in uni, she will girlboss her way.

it was sad really. you'd think park sunghoon would always be around you, probably doing his own thing but still existing in your space somehow. no, of course he wasn't going to. he was a grown man. a 22 year old man who had his own life, his own worries. why would he stick around you?

you had groaned. groaned into your pillow at how stupid you were feeling. why was it that your stupid 17 year old brain couldn't comprehend that he never would have feelings for you. maybe something had to happen. yeah, let him get a girlfriend and then you can finally realise that it was stupid. okay.

'park sunghoon has a girlfriend.' you thought to yourself. the room was practically silent. you could almost hear the crickets chirping in the background. you groaned once and slammed your head on the pillow.

'stupid.'

you had lift your head up. the note staring right at you. you haven't read it yet but you were still curious. your hand reaches out and grabs the small paper. the writings on the page essentially filled the page. it seemed like sunghoon poured his whole heart into it.

it read:

Dear (name), Thank you for coming into my life. Both you and jay have always been the closest people I've ever been. Well, other than Jake and Heeseung hyung but that's besides the point. When I was young, my family was happy. We had everything, it was perfect. Then, something happened. I used to have a little sister. She reminds me of you. She was always so bright, running around. Always so positive. However, she's gone. My dad took her away from me. I trusted him. My whole world crumbled and just like that everything went downhill. Jay saw how everything went down. He helped me, I was forever thankful for him. Then, he mentioned he had a little sister. I was jealous at first, it's stupid really. However, I realised very quickly that Jay was always very protective over you. I related to him. It made me want to protect you. If only, I could've done it with my sister. Protect her from my dad. Which is why I want to protect you too, like an older brother would. P.S I got permission from jay. He says it's crazy that I'm coddling you so much but I'm sure he understands it.

as you finished the letter, you had looked down at the paper. it was soaked with your tears. you didn't even know you were crying. was this why he had no one? this changes everything. it made you want to care about sunghoon even more. you can't just let this feeling go. you had to fight for him.

but there was no way he'd ever let you take care of him. after all, you were only a 17 year old girl. it wouldn't be right. then an idea pops up in your head. you had remembered the present that sunghoon gave, the otter pencil case. you had decided to dumb out your pencils and pens out and grab onto a sticky note.

you had quietly wrote down your dreams and wishes into different notes and rolled it up. soon after, you had tied it up with a string. you would only be able to unravel them when you were older or if you and sunghoon ever start dating.

your main wish was to possibly go to Pusan National University, do well, get an amazing job and help sunghoon out. now, all you had to do was study and do well. which you did during your break, even your parents were surprised to see you strive to do something.

"darling, would you like some more noodles? i can cook more for you." your mom asks. you had simply shook your head and continued flipping the book.

"it's okay, mom. i'm going to go study now."

with that, you had left to go study. just as you made it towards your bedroom door, you had heard your brother jay talking on the phone.

"what? dude, no way. sunghoon got a girlfriend already? it's been like what? 3 months since he started working there? dude is working overtime." jay says. it intrigued you. sunghoon has a girlfriend?

don't tell me he had forgotten the promise...

"sunghoon oppa has a what?" you say as you entered jay's room. he jumps back in his seat, clutching his heart.

"oh my god, (name) you demon." he puts his phone to his ear. "jake, i'll call you back." the call ends.

"what do you mean sunghoon oppa has a girlfriend?"

"it means exactly that. he probably got laid or something." you grabbed jay's pillow and threw it at him. "ow?"

"don't say that!"

"what do you mean don't say that? i can say my friend got laid. i'm happy for him. you on the other hand should never get laid."

"fuck you."

"fuck you too!"

your mother yells from below to get you two to stop arguing.

"go study, you little shit." jay says. you had huffed.

"and how do you know, i don't get laid." you say with a final huff. you had stuck out your tongue and ran to your room. jay yells after you.

"YAH, WHAT DO YOU MEAN? HEY COME BACK HERE PARK (NAME)."

you had shut your door quickly before jay could even think about yapping in your ears. you had groaned out loud, it was stupid. why did you think he'd even care about your little promise. he is a literal 22 year old man. he wouldn't care about what a 17 year old promised him to do.

it was even more stupid with the fact that tears were now streaming down your face. why did you think you'd have a chance? you needed closure, one last time. what other possible thing to do then book a flight to Busan like a stupid person.

you had quietly packed your things. thrown the much needed clothes for the weather there. it was definitely cold. you were sure of it. the earliest flight to busan, 9am,, you had to sneak out of the house without your parents or brother knowing.

once the clock struck 9am, you had quickly left the house. your parents were definitely assuming you were on your way to school or to study with your classmates. you had taken a taxi to the airport and you had waited for the flight to busan, an hour flight from seoul. you had taken the plane once it was time for boarding. there were a bunch of people coming out from the departure hall. they were moving quick, all of them were talking on the phone.

your phone rings, it was jay. you didn't want to pick it up because you knew that they would have caught on. however, you knew you had to face the music. as soon as you picked up the phone, you were bombarded with questions from jay.

"you better not be meeting the guy you've fucked or you're fucked." jay threatens.

"oppa..."

"no, i'm booking you a flight back to seoul this instant. stay where you are. sunghoon is going over so you better stay."

sunghoon...is he bringing his girlfriend over?

"mmm." you had hummed. you could feel the tears threatening to spill. jay ends the call. you had waited for sunghoon. after about waiting for another 15 minutes, you heard footsteps hastily running towards you.

you had turned around to say something, but there you saw a woman approaching whilst looking at sunghoon worriedly. one of the prettiest woman you've ever seen. oh, it's her. she's really pretty.

"(name)." sunghoon's eyes widened. you could tell he held himself back from scolding you. "did he leave?" you had nodded. sunghoon sighs.

"why don't you go wash up in the bathroom." you nod once again and went to the bathroom. once you were hidden behind the wall, you had looked back. it truly was over. sunghoon had a girlfriend and he never would be yours ever again.

you had cried yourself out in the bathroom. this was so stupid of you. maybe this was the official sign to stay away from sunghoon. yeah, it was time you had moved on. you had left the bathroom and went back to where sunghoon stood. however, his girlfriend wasn't around.

"where did your-"

"she went back to work."

"oh."

sunghoon sighs, "i bought a ticket while you were in the bathroom. we have a bit of time before the flight. you should eat something." you had shook your head.

"i should wait inside." sunghoon hums. you had taken out a tie from your bag and handed it over to him. he was surprised, shocked even.

"what is this?"

"i wanted to give you this tie during your graduation but i couldn't go so here. oppa, good luck with your work and your life ahead." you say.

sunghoon opens the box, he felt his heart melt. you were the sweetest person he ever came across.

"thank you. i'll use the tie well." he smiles. you nodded.

and off you went, into the gates ready to fly home. when the plane landed, jay was waiting with the car. you knew he'd definitely give you an earful but you couldn't help but cry when you saw him. jay was taken aback. he pats your back.

"hey, it's okay. i won't scold you. i can't say about mom and dad-" your wails grew louder. "okay! okay! i'm sorry. i'll try to tell them to be more gentle. you know i love you right? men suck. booooo, men are bad guys." jay continues to coo you to stop crying.

but did it really even help? when your 17 year old heart was now broken?

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[eyrieofsynapses]

All that! For what it's worth, here's my two cents: it also depends on what part of Star Wars you're talking about. The main movies can have a very different feel and end goal in comparison to the spinoff TV shows (and Rogue One, which deals with some significantly heavier war themes). Even the prequels, originals, and sequels are tonally diverse. (The originals are commonly regarded as the best. Also, they're technically the fourth through sixth films, but start with them anyway. If you're going to watch any of the films, make it those.)

The shows vary. Some are more light-hearted than others, and they're directed at different audiences. They cover different topics (Clone Wars is war-focused and talks about political corruption, The Mandalorian is a space western, Rebels is grassroots rebellion against fascist tyranny, etc.). The 3D-animated Clone Wars is not the same as The Mandalorian, for example. I haven't been keeping up with the latest shows (Ahsoka and Andor and the recent spinoffs/extensions of Clone Wars), but I've heard that Andor is great and does some solid intellectual/political work.

It can be a big thing to get into if you want, but in my experience it's not too closely woven. The live-action films don't require any knowledge of the TV shows. You could easily watch the original movies and nothing else. While the TV shows make references to each other, most of them can be watched as standalones. You can decide what you want to watch and forgo everything else.

I know fuck all about Doctor Who and Dune, and I'm not experienced with most of Star Trek, but I'm close to finishing TOS and it struck me as harder sci-fi with a significantly greater focus on societal critique. Star Wars is solidly space opera. Thematically (I think that's the right term?) it's fantasy, just with the appearance and packaging of sci-fi. Imo you can't make an apples-to-apples comparison between Star Trek and Star Wars, because they're basically different genres.

TL;DR, it depends on what you want out of it. If you just want the pop culture references, the original trilogy covers the overwhelming majority of that. If you want a bigger universe to explore, it does fulfill that reasonably well. Vibe-wise, it is usually primarily fantasy themed in a sci-fi setting. So. Make of that what you will?

Should I watch Star wars? It feels like a whole big thing to get into.. Like I love star trek and doctor who and silly things like that but star wars feels like preaching for lack of a better word, same reason why I can't get into dune- based on what I've learnt about the two franchises through osmosis from Tumblr

Star Wars is neither as intellectual or as political as Star Trek, nor as convoluted and complex as Dune. It is Quasi-Buddhist Space Wizards versus Space Nazis. This is not a condemnation. Not everything needs to be everything. They’re brilliantly executed even from just a design perspective and the depth of character and world building was miles ahead of others of its genre at original time of release. And frankly even if they were shit I’d recommend a watch for the incredible practical effects alone

(Downside of watching Star Wars: you would no longer be able to enjoy the reactions of people as they find out you’ve never seen Star Wars.)