#i wonder if there are any where i live/what the culture around them is like

[ot3]

top 10 pokemon that are girls

'gender'.... much like 'animals' this is a concept from our world that has made itself present in the pokemon franchise. all pokemon began having genders (except for the ones that don't) in the second generation of games, in order to facilitate the pokemon breeding mechanic which has become a staple of the main series

you may think this means the issue of which pokemon are girls and which ones aren't is already settled. but do we really trust game freak to be the deciding voices on this one? i certainly don't. so here's a nonexhaustive look at some pokemon that are doing their best to be role models for young women everywhere who have been picking up and enjoying these games for decades.

#10 - NIDORAN♀

Not only is Nidoran♀ canonically a girl, she is the first pokemon to be canonically a girl as the gender distinction between Nidoran types predates the introduction of gen 2's breeding system that gendered all pokemon. she broke the glass ceiling, and for this we salute her.

#9 - KANGASKHAN

Both culturally and in media single mothers are subject to a lot of scrutiny and scorn, but kangaskhan breaks the mold. powerful, responsible, yet loving and joy-filled. the look on her baby's face tells us all we need to know; she holds on tight to the pouch, clinging to the safety she knows her mother can give her, but gazes awestruck and wide-eyed at the world around her, knowing its wonders will be there waiting for her as soon as she feels ready for it.

#8 - CELESTEELA

Technically, celesteela's gender is 'unknown', but it's obvious that celesteela represents what life can look like for a woman who truly has it all. As one of the largest and heaviest pokemon ever discovered, she's not afraid to take up space. she doesn't feel the need to soften herself to be more accepted by the world around her, but she's also comfortable enough with her feminine side to let it shine through where and when she wants. nobody tells her how to live her life but her and also she has big lazers

#7 - MISMAGIUS

Well she's not called MISTER magius now, is she?

#6 - LYCANROC

Perfect embodiment of the wolfgirl you knew (or, perhaps were?) in middleschool. There are many doglike/canine pokemon in the dex, but something about lycanroc's exaggerated unkempt mane and lanky, awkward posture evokes the physicality of a teenager who exists as a beast beyond the boundaries of her own body.

#5 - CHIKORITA

This saultry little binch...

#4 - RAYQUAZA

It's an uncomfortable truth in life that many women find themselves in the position of needing to play the mediator in order to stop the people around them from acting in destructive or harmful ways. But just because mediating conflict can be a difficult and unfair position to be put into, that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Rayquaza just goes to show us all everywhere how a real woman can still thrive under these circumstances, doing her best to build a more peaceful world while not letting that push her into the shadows or make her take a back seat in her own life. she is a community leader and an innovator.

#3 - SALAZZLE

She's the archetypal femme fatale. A dominatrix. A baddie. Does she make me uncomfortable? Yes, absolutely. But I'm not a furry so I'm not really the target audience of what's happening here.

#2 - SLAKING

I know so many butches who look exactly like her. you love to see it.

#1 - MEWTWO

as one feminist philosopher has said: "I see now that the circumstances of one's birth is irrelevant, it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."

I think any woman living in a patriarchal society can sympathize with mewtwo's story. enraged at being treated like the property of the people who created her rather than her own fully realized person, she goes on a rampage where it quickly becomes obvious that she is even more powerful than that what she was originally created in the image of. Although this takes her down a dark path, she eventually learns to self-actualize by working on herself rather than pointlessly lashing out at people who had nothing to do with hurting her. it's empowering stuff. doubly empowering because she killed all those clowns who DID hurt her

now, of course, there are plenty more pokemon that are girls than just what i've listed here today. but i hope youve learned a little something from this.

[misstycloud]

[Yandere.Rich man x ballerina reader]

(I don’t actually know much about ballet so forgive me if things are incorrect!)

—————

Rich. Yandere who was pestered by his friend and his wife to join them at the opera house and enjoy a performance. The couple had asked him numerous times before but he’d always declined. He was a workaholic and didn’t have any other commitments, so there was no need to break his routine. Although he would never admit it to anyone- he barely does to himself- he often find himself imagining a different life; one where he had a wife to welcome him home every evening. Perhaps a few children too. There was no sound besides himself and the staff in his home, it would be so very nice to hear the noise of running feet and happy chatter echo through the empty halls.

Rich. Yandere who is lonely above all else. His family is dead and he has next to no friends- the only one he has is married and devote all his time to keep him company. He knows that he doesn’t have the best track-record of being the kindest person in the world, and he might not be the friendliest or the most out-going, still, doesn’t he deserve some love too?

Rich. Yandere who eventually give into his friends demand and goes with them to the opera. As they took their seats- the expensive and best ones, of course- his friends wife babble on about her favourite dancer. They were regulars there and had seen many performances. He simply sighed and leaned back into his seat, waiting for the show to begin. He could only hope that it’ll be somewhat enjoyable since he doesn’t like wasting his time.

Rich. Yandere who was prepared for it to be a dreadful 3 hours, rubbing his eyes and suffering from lack of blood-flow in his legs. Oh how wrong he was. Instantly his gaze zoomed into you as soon as you stepped forward from behind the curtain. You were so beautiful and you moved your body gracefully to the music. It was magical. While he knew close to nothing about ballet, he knew that the point of it were for the women to look like they’re floating, and it’s exactly what you were doing.

Rich. Yandere who is instantly enamoured with you. As someone who’s never felt love this was all a brand new experience for him. He asked his friend and his wife if they knew who you were, since they frequent the opera so much. And turns out the wife did know who you were; you were her favourite after all. Rich. Yandere was never close with her or particularly liked her even, but he had to give it to her: she has excellent taste in performers.

Rich. Yandere who starts looking up information regarding you. It’s be your name, age, background, family, where you went to school and where you live. Everything. He also begins donating a lot of money to the opera house. In a short amount of time he’s become their nr.1 funder. The managers and owners are ecstatic at the news! They ask why he’s so generous and he simply answers that he loves culture and thinks it’s important it doesn’t disappear. Then, they wonder if there is anything they can do for him return, to which he smiles in response.

“Well, I do suppose there is one dancer I would be delighted to meet in person.”

Rich. Yandere who you feel uncomfortable around. He is so strange. You were just a normal ballerina, a dancer, no better or worse than anyone before your time. That’s why you can’t fathom the interest this wealthy man has taken in you. You two came form completely different worlds! But what can you do when your bosses not-so-gently urge you to see this man alone? You dont have any other skills and can’t apply to another job if you get fired.

Rich. Yandere who is determined to make you fall for him the way he has fallen for you. He’ll take care of you, love you and protect you. You don’t have to worry about a thing. He will do anything for his love.

“Don’t be scared, just keep on dancing, my little dancer.”

[dailyadventureprompts]

Do the ethnostates inherent in major fantasy ever feel real weird to you? You’ve got elftopia (full of elves, where everyone speaks elf and worships the elf gods), orc-hold (full of orcs and maybe their slaves, where everyone speaks orc and worships the orc gods), and dwarfton (made by the dwarves! for the dwarves!).

You might have some cosmopolitan areas, usually human-dominant, but those are usually rare enough in-setting that they need to be pointed out separately. Is this just based on a misunderstanding of the medieval era, and the assumption that countries were all racially homogenous?

This has been bouncing around my brain the last little while. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is it just in my head?

I think what you've noticed is a quirk of derivative fantasy writing, which like a lot of hangups with the genre originates in people trying to crib Tolkien's work without really understanding what he was going for:

Though it contains a lot of detail, Tolkien's world is not grounded. It functions according a narrative logic that changes depending on what work in particular you're focusing on at the time (The Hobbit is a fairytale full of tricks and riddles, Lord of the Rings is a heroic epic, The Silmirilion is a legendary history).

One of the reasons the races are separate is to instill the feeling of wonder in the hobbits as POV characters for the reader, other folk live in far off places and are supposed to feel more legendary than our comparatively mundane friends from the shire. The Movies captured this well where going east in middle earth was like going back in time to a more and more mythologized past.

In real life, people don't stay static for thousands of years, no matter how long their people live. They meet, mingle, war and trade. Empires rise and fall creating shrapnel as they go, cultures adapt to a changing environment. This means that any geographic cross section you make is going to be a collage of different influences where uniformity is a glaring aberration.

What the bad Tolkien knockoffs did was take his image of a mythical world and tried to make it run in a realistic setting. Tolkien can say the subterranean dwarven kingdom of Erebor lasted for a thousand years without having to worry about birthrates or demographic shifts or the logistics of farming in a cave because he's writing the sort of story where those things don't matter. D&D and other properties like it however INSIST that their worlds are grounded and realistic but have to bend over backwards to keep things static and hegemonic.

Likewise contributing to the "ethnostate" feeling is early d&d (backbone of the fantasy genre that it is) being created by a bunch of White Midwestern Americans who were not only coming from a background of fantasy wargaming but were working during the depths of the coldwar. Hard borders and incompatible ideologies, cultural hegemony and intellectual isolation, a conception of the world that focused around antagonism between US and THEM. These were people born in the era of segregation for whom the idea of cultural and racial osmosis was alien, to the point where mingling between different fantasy races produced the "mongrelman" monster, natural pickpockets who combined the worst aspects of all their component parts, unwelcome in good society who were most often found as slaves.

This inability to appreciate cultural exchange is likewise why the central d&d pantheon has a ton of human gods with specific carveouts for other races (eventually supplemented with a bunch of race specific minor gods who are various riffs on the same thing). Rather than being universal ideals, the gods were seen as entities just as tribalistic as their followers.

[specialagentartemis]

Hey, would you be willing to elaborate on that "disappearance of the Anasazi is bs" thing? I've heard something like that before but don't know much about it and would be interested to learn more. Or just like point me to a paper or yt video or something if you don't want to explain right now? Thanks!

I’m traveling to an archaeology conference right now, so this sounds like a great way to spend my airport time! @aurpiment you were wondering too—

“Anasazi” is an archaeological name given to the ancestral Puebloan cultural group in the US Southwest. It’s a Diné (Navajo) term and Modern Pueblos don’t like it and find it othering, so current archaeological best practices is to call this cultural group Ancestral Puebloans. (This is politically complicated because the Diné and Apache nations and groups still prefer “Anasazi” because through cultural interaction, mixing, and migration they also have ancestry among those people and they object to their ancestry being linguistically excluded… demonyms! Politically fraught always!)

However. The difficulties of explaining how descendant communities want to call this group kind of immediately shows: there are descendant communities. The “Anasazi” are Ancestral Purbloans. They are the ancestors of the modern Pueblos.

The Ancestral Puebloans as a distinct cultural group defined by similar material culture aspects arose 1200-500 BCE, depending on what you consider core cultural traits, and we generally stop talking about “Ancestral Puebloan” around 1450 CE. These were a group of people who lived in northern Arizona and New Mexico, and southern Colorado and Utah—the “Four Corners” region. There were of course different Ancestral Pueblo groups, political organizations, and cultures over the centuries—Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Kayenta, Tusayan, Ancestral Hopi—but they generally share some traits like religious sodality worship in subterranean circular kivas, residence in square adobe roomblocks around central plazas, maize farming practices, and styles of coil-and-scrape constructed black-on-white and black-on-red pottery.

The most famous Ancestral Pueblo/“Anasazi” sites are the Cliff Palace and associated cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado:

When Europeans/Euro-Americans first found these majestic places, people had not been living in them for centuries. It was a big mystery to them—where did the people who built these cliff cities go? SURELY they were too complex and dramatic to have been built by the Native people who currently lived along the Rio Grande and cited these places as the homes of their ancestors!

So. Like so much else in American history: this mystery is like, 75% racism.

But WHY did the people of Mesa Verde all suddenly leave en masse in the late 1200s, depopulating the whole Mesa Verde region and moving south? That was a mystery. But now—between tree-ring climatological studies, extensive archaeology in this region, and actually listening to Pueblo people’s historical narratives—a lot of it is pretty well-understood. Anything archaeological is inherently, somewhat mysterious, because we have to make our best interpretations of often-scant remaining data, but it’s not some Big Mystery. There was a drought, and people moved south to settle along rivers.

There’s more to it than that—the 21-year drought from 1275-1296 went on unusually long, but it also came at a time when the attempted re-establishment of Chaco cultural organization at the confusingly-and-also-racist-assuption-ly-named Aztec Ruin in northern New Mexico was on the decline anyway, and the political situation of Mesa Verde caused instability and conflict with the extra drought pressures, and archaeologists still strenuously debate whether Athabaskans (ancestors of the Navajo and Apache) moved into the Four Corners region in this time or later, and whether that caused any push-out pressures…

But when I tell people I study Southwest archaeology, I still often hear, “Oh, isn’t it still a big mystery, what happened to the Anasazi? Didn’t they disappear?”

And the answer is. They didn’t disappear. Their descendants simply now live at Hopi, Zuni, Taos, Picuris, Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambé, Ohkay Owingeh, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tamaya/Santa Ana, Kewa/Santo Domingo, Tesuque, Zia, and Ysleta del Sur. And/or married into Navajo and Apache groups. The Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloans didn’t disappear any more than you can say the Ancient Romans disappeared because the Coliseum is a ruin that’s not used anymore. And honestly, for the majority of archaeological mysteries about “disappearance,” this is the answer—the socio-political organization changed to something less obvious in the archaeological record, but the people didn’t disappear, they’re still there.

[hyunjinsjeans]

He Knows (Felix ver.)

Han ver. | Seungmin ver. | I.N ver.

Masterlist

Synopsis: After Felix drops several hints that he wants to take the next step in your relationship and is met with your negative answers, a certain event causes you to suddenly realize you will never be truly ready, so why wait? And why make him wait any longer?

Type: Fluff 🧸, female reader 💃

Warnings: mentions of pregnancy, mentions of children in precarious conditions. Lazily proofread.

Word count: 2075

AN: For someone who swears to be Hyunjin biased, I have to admit little mr sunshine himself does things to me and my brain chemistry and this is evidence of it. I think it turned out pretty cute, let me know your thoughts. Please enjoy!!

You walked the busy streets with a sense of accomplishment, you and Felix had had a wonderful couple of days in Australia already after you decided to schedule the entire trip with Felix to make the most of both of your free time. First, would be a week with Unicef and a week in Australia to see his family. 

It wasn’t easy being a public figure dating an idol. You were used to some degree of fame, appearing in a couple of tv shows. Your big break came after you began dating Felix, but by the time he communicated to his fans that he had been seeing someone and wanted to marry them you were a well established actress. In a way it was insane that he actually asked his fans if it was okay to get married, but you understood idol culture was a completely different ball to being an actress. 

Fortunately, you managed to land bigger and better roles. The exposure had you at a place where you were able to give back to others, so when Felix talked about donating to his favorite charities it came easy to take his advice and look at causes that felt close to you. Which landed you at a child protection center in Madagascar. 

You and Felix recorded each other all throughout the trip, from the moment you walked into the airport back in Korea to the moment you first met with the center director. It was not an easy thing to do, Felix had been on a couple of these trips before so we had a better understanding of what he was doing. You spent most of your time helping in different areas of the center, Felix was with the doctors in the morning and you were in the classrooms with the teachers and children in the meantime. 

It was rough to look at the lives of the children at the center, to watch the tests they had done come back with less than average results. You ended up crying in Felix’s arms the very first night after you spent part of the afternoon helping feed babies with special nutritious formulas and purées. Although you had a hard time in the beginning, you pulled through and found yourself having a harder time leaving the center.

Your talents in the classrooms had quickly made you a friend of most of the children, who liked to play with you and Felix. For the seven days you were there most of the time you managed to interact with one another was spent with a child in your arms. Felix made little effort to hide how much he loved seeing your maternal side, how you cooed at the youngest ones and teased the older ones, how you braiding the girls’ hair and playing football with the boys made his heart swell with love and pride to know one day you would give all that to your children.

He found you cute in how you would encourage the girls with crushes on him, one day even helping a small group make him little love letters (which he packed carefully in his suitcase). On the other hand the boys would run around behind you, asking for a kiss on their cheek or giving you compliments to get you to pat their heads or give them some form of affection, which you had given out freely to all the little ones since day one. 

Saying goodbye had been hard, Felix felt as if he was stealing you away from the youngest kids. You held the babies until the last possible moment, there were two girls; one was only eight months old and fighting to get into a decent weight, the other was a one year old in a similar situation. Felix offered his goodbyes too, both of you promising to return as soon as your busy life allowed it. 

The next stop in your trip was Australia. You spent more than an entire day getting there but managed to arrive successfully, tired and jet lagged. You walked out the gates hand in hand. Puffy eyes, sleepy faces but all smiles.

Felix's family was waiting, all happy smiles and bright attitudes. 

His parents had always been nice to you, reminding you a lot of your own family, Felix’s sisters were shy around you since they did not know you too well but still joked and talked to you a bit. Part of the reason for the trip was because you wanted to get more well acquainted with your husband’s family. 

“Oh, how was it?” Felix’s mom asked the moment she held you, right after hugging her son. 

“It was interesting,” her son commented, “those kids are wonderful, the people running the center are doing an amazing job.”

You echoed his words, adding “yes! It can be so hard too, they have this small hospital, a school and a kitchen… It’s really a lot.”

Felix’s parents guided you outside to their car while you talked. Felix did not let go of his chance to praise you in front of his parents. 

“Our Y/N here was a hit with the kids,” he told his mother, his hand squeezing your hand as an amused smile reached his eyes. “I was worried the boys were going to ask you to marry them.” 

You laughed at his words and leaned your head on his shoulder. “You’re one to talk, how many Ms. Felix did we leave behind?”

He chuckled at that, remembering the letters in his bag. You had gone through them in the plane, they were adorable and some of them had intricate details. 

“Oh, I’m not surprised…” his sisters giggled behind you, “he’s always had fans anywhere he goes.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Felix put his free hand up, “I’ve only got one Ms. Felix.”

During dinner you showed everyone some of the pictures from the trip, by then you had both freshened up and had a short nap. Eating your mother-in-law's warm homemade food made both of you finally feel relaxed and this made it so that you could have a good conversation with everyone at the table. It seemed although Felix’s siblings were still shy around you, they sensed your openness and were eager to ask more about yourself. When they first met you, they had been somewhat starstruck. To you, that was wild because you were nowhere near as famous as their brother - who they loved to tease and play with, so you were pleased this time that you could talk about how much you enjoyed listening to a certain artist, indulging on makeup tutorials on youtube and how you were a terrible baker, telling them the sad story of your last baking fail (it was a batch of coconut cookies that never saw the light of day, partially because you almost burned the place down). 

Once you and Felix were back in your small rental for the week, Felix let his slim arm fall over your shoulders. You giggled as you felt him swing his body from side to side as if he was drunk. By instinct or perhaps by force of habit, your hand grabbed his that was left hanging above your shoulder, your free arm wrapped around your blond husband’s waist. 

“Aw, what will I do with you?” You wondered in a dramatic tone. 

He smiled right in your direction, his eyes turned to the ceiling and he touched his chin with a playful glint in his eyes. 

“You could lay me down on the sofa, or have a baby?” He shrugged, gaze darting back to you. 

“Be so for real right now…” You huffed, squeezing his hand. 

If you had to be honest, you felt bad for shutting him down so many times in the past six months or so. He was not joking, you knew he started disguising it as a joke because you had said no plenty times before. You felt overwhelmed the first time he asked, then the second you were in the middle of staying calm while waiting to hear if you had gotten a role (you did!), then the third time you were worried about being too busy… every time he asked there was something in your mind that went “ah, no because…” 

It did not go unnoticed by either of you how this time, you had no excuse. 

“Y/N?” He straightened up in your embrace and stopped fooling around. 

You said nothing. 

He slid in your field of vision, as you had stopped dead in your tracks in the middle of the living room. Your arms almost dropped to your sides as you stared ahead in wonder. 

Why is your mind blank? You cannot think of anything other than how unprepared you had been on your first day at the center. How you still reached for the babies and held the kids’ hands to let them guide you as you ran behind them to their favorite spots in the makeshift playground. How your heart felt so full of love it was as if it could burst anytime Felix expressed exactly how honored he would be to have you make him a dad. 

He bent his knees to look down at you, “are you alright? Did you fall asleep with your eyes open?” 

The blond swiped his hand in front of your face. 

“Love?”

You felt tears prick at your eyes when you looked up at him. The clouds in your mind had suddenly cleared and you were thankful you had his freckles to focus on before your eyes met his. 

“I will.” You blurted out, “I want to.”

Felix’s brow furrowed, worry about not understanding you filled his chest. 

“You want to… what?”

You blinked, tears spilling from your eyes. Your hands reached to wipe them, but his tender ones beat you to it. You allowed him to clean your face before you held on to his hands. 

“Felix, I am not ready. I don’t think I will ever be… but I want to have your baby.”

He held your gaze for an entire minute, both of you allowed for the silence to settle and your words fell into place where they belonged. Felix’s worried frown softened, his hands ran down your frame like water flowing down a waterfall and he held you close to his body. The warmth and vibrant scent of ginger and cedar wrapped around you. Before the sound reached your ears you could feel the vibrations on his chest, he let out an airy laugh as he rested his chin on your head. 

“I thought you had gone insane for a moment,” he chuckled now but he quieted himself and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “I’m sorry if I’ve pushed you, love…” 

You pulled away from him, fistfuls of his shirt bunched up between your fingers. “No, no, no! You haven’t pushed me!”

Felix stared at your hands and you let go of his shirt while speaking, flattening the fabric. 

“I think I was scared. I love you too much to mess up,” you admitted in a low voice, “I kept thinking of all the things that could make it not work. All the reasons why I could disappoint you… in the end, we’ve done hard things together and we were not ready for them, but we are together.” 

Felix nodded his head along and let you finish. 

“I know how bad you want this, and you know there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” You reached up and smiled as your thumb went over the side of his face. “Besides, you can’t do it without me!” You offered him a bright smile, instantly adding, “please don’t do it without me!”

Your husband laughed, looking away at your panicked last sentence. He nodded and kissed your cheek. 

“I would never do it without you,” he whispered in your ear. “My family is going to go insane if we have a boy, I assure you.”

You tilted your head back arching your brow, “do we want to make them go insane?” 

Felix looked up in fake thought before shaking his head no, “I would prefer to make you insane.”

With that he pulled you up in his arms and started walking down the hall to the bedroom. 

“Right now?! You maniac!” you yelled but there was a big smile on your face. Butterflies dancing in your stomach. 

————

Likes, Reblogs and Comments are welcome! Thank you for reading!

[missmarveledsblog]

A kind of sex education part 2 (platonic cas x winchesters x reader)

Summary : after the whole porn ordeal , castiel finds tumblr and the world of fanfiction has him asking more curious questions  which the residents of the bunker are not so happy to answer . 

warnings : mentions of smutty fics , cas being the curious baby in a trench coat we love .

After the whole angel porn ordeal , they were more careful with what cas was watching not wanting  history to repeat itself . Like monitoring a toddler on an iPad. Especially given that y/n wouldn't come out of her room for days not wanting to look any of them bar sam in the eyes .  Dean even limited his teasing when it came to the subject . Today he was luckily out while cas was on laptop , Sam and Y/N were looking over some incoming cases seeing which needed to be handled first .

" interesting this is very interesting " the angel spoke making them look over both slightly relieved not see or hear an explicit image on the laptop. 

" I've been on a interesting site that led me to many other over the last couple of days " he  spoke up .

" what was that buddy" she smiled over. Their joy short lived when he uttered the next few sentences out of his mouth .

" tumblr that led me to all these other sites , did you know there is fanfiction of us like the play we seen except it's classed as what they call smut " he looked up at the two .

" why didn't  I go on the supply run ,  why am I here when he finds this shit " she cursed up at the ceiling .

" could be nothing " sam offered a weak smile .

" did you know most popular is Dean x y/n fiction seems as though you are most shipped although there are some of Dean and sam with you too " he mused .

" but I could be wrong" sam winced taking the laptop off of cas completely .

" how do you find these things " he asked looking through the tabs .

" I'm very pop culture savvy now " cas said proudly . 

" what the hell man why are you reading all these " sam groaned wanting burning his eyes out seeing an explicitly  wrong image of Dean and himself (no to wincest) .  " you are actually popular with them Y/n " sam mused .

" that's after  that stupid ghost hunting  website and chuck " she grumbled  wondering where she was going to start her new life.

" hey there's even some with you and cas " he chuckled. 

" Alaska or maybe Australia would be better it further Away " she mused .

" wow these are extremely detailed " sam continued .

" would you call Dean daddy , the stories seem to think you would " cas asked .

" what the hell did I walk into " the man in question walked into the room .

" my resignation  " she mumbled hiding her head in her arms. 

" destiel  is another popular one " sam chuckled. 

" cas found smutty fanfictions " she looked up to see the clueless expression on Dean's face.

" they suggest that Y/n is a sub and you are a Dom " the angel stated.

" wanna see if they're right sweetheart " Dean winked .

" wanna kill me cause I can't be dealing with this" she countered wondering if she could also legally change her name.

" why are they so descriptive on the parts , have they seen them" cas sat looking between the three .

" the way Dean sleeps around they probably seen his " she reasoned.

" they also suggest you like..." .

" do not even finish that one" she growled .

"so many kinks cas did you google all these" sam asked eyes widening at the search history. 

" i was looking at chucks book and comments said to check out the tumblr versions " he said looking confused to what he did wrong. " they forgot to add that birthmark just below your tits " he added matter of factly .

" when did you see her ... what he got to see i didn't" dean turned to Y/n , who honestly rather be stuck with Crowley for eternity than this .

" he walked in while i was getting dressed and it not a birthmark it's a scar from a battle with an old favourite bra "she could feel her cheeks redder than they've been so far . "i'm going to my room to pack for my new life in australia" she stormed out her room .

" she's kidding right?" dean asked looking to the mean .

" you should dom her  and make her stay , they said she responds to good girl" cas explained .

" i wonder if she would let me come with her " sam mused walking out after her.  

another awkward dinner bobby was almost afraid to ask. Although dean was smiling more than the others.

" cas read fanfiction , pornographic fan fiction " dean explained .

" i've also read some theories too, like bobby is Y/N Dad and not her uncle" cas smiled making bobby choke on his water.

"  their theories cas they're not right ... right? " she laughed but stopped when she notice bobby expression or how he would barel look at her.

" i mean it's a possibility " he mused truthfully making her jaw drop

" great more daddy issue not like the place is drowning in them with these two " she pinched the bridge of her nose and point at sam and dean.

" so the theories of dean being her soulmate are true " cas asked.

" probably " dean shrugged winking at her .

" why did i ever come here, sam wanna move to australia with me " she ignored the other three men .

" look me and your mom had a brief thing , your dad well your dad agreed while he..." . 

" australia sound nice " sam agreed cutting bobby short .

" hey stop denying our love even nerds on internet think we'd be hot together"dean spoke up .

" cas from now on stop the curiosity or so help me i will make you eat the computer  " she  groaned learning too much information for the day .

"we need to do dna test " she turned to bobby .

" you can pick me up at 7 " she turned to dean before walking out leaving the men speechless . 

" i got punished" cas pouted .

" i got a kid  kinda " bobby gulped .

" i got a date " dean smirked .

" and i got a rock ... It's a thing on tiktok ... what cass isn't the only pop culture savvy one around here " sam shrugged .

part three

[plumpybread]

i've been wondering, what are the culturally defined goals of the various nations (or tribes) in this AU? in real life societies, there tends to be a few goals that are "given" to us in society (for example, gaining financial success or getting good degrees in Western societies). these likely have to change if, for example, Fontainians tend to become too obese to work before long, right? so what do you think? perhaps they're more socially related, or something like that.

also, completely different but similarly related to society at large, do you think someone as obese as Aether saving the various regions is changing their perception of fat as a whole? I'd love to hear what you think! keep up the good work!

Great questions!

Fortunately, the answer is pretty simple, as the nations in Teyvat all have very clear ideals we learn about in the game.

Mondstadt: Freedom

The ideal of freedom lives through and through in the nation of wind. Venti, their archon, believes that people should be free to make their own choices and live their lives without heavy-handed governance, a belief that shapes their culture, where the people enjoy a relatively lax and democratic system. They enjoy festivals, and I found it to be one of the easiest nations to make one of the heaviest because of all this

Liyue: Contracts

As the richest nation, they value wealth and stability most, steming from the belief that contracts are the foundation of society. Trade, commerce and responsibility are all shaped around the ideal of contracts.

Inazuma: Eternity

In Raiden Shogun's quest to preserve Inazuma in an unchanging, everlasting state, strict laws are enforced to prevent any disruption of the societal order, which is why I wrote them to be the most distant from the very obese nations as they remain the most unaffected by the threat of obesity.

Sumeru: Wisdom

Knowledge is almost a currency in Sumeru, and the pursuit of it is central to their culture. The best scholars are either from Sumeru itself or foreigners who went to study at their Akademiya. They know better than to give in to gluttony, which is why they're the second thinnest nation.

Fontaine: Justice

Popularly known for their juridical system and the way trials are treated as theatrical spectacles, justice is the prevalent ideal imposed by Fontaine's Hydro archon. Laws and rules need to be modified periodically as the weights of Fontainians continuously rises every decade, and in this version of Fontaine, I'd imagine justice manifests in the need for fair access to resources and food to maintain their massive sizes or support the thousands who grow beyond hope. Thanks to their domination of the food industry in Teyvat thanks to their rich soils and way too skilled chefs, immobility retirement doesn't have too much of an impact in their economy, especially since each man retiring for immobility creates several job opportunities for others to work as their personal caretakers.

Natlan: War, but specifics depend on the tribe

Natlan is a nation constantly in a war against the Abyss, and yearly pilgrimages are held to find warriors from different tribes to take part in the Night Wars to fend off the Abyssal army. But outside of this, each tribe lives by very different ideals. This wasn't ever really digged deep into in the game itself, but if I had to think of something;

Nanatzcayan: Mining

Sounds a bit random, but most people in Nanatzcayan are fine miners, jewelers, forgers, and general appraisers of gems as they live inside mountains. Physical strength and harmony is needed for them to fulfill their jobs.

Huitztlan: Agility

Living high up suspended over a mountain cliff, they love extreme sports like bungee jumping or mountain climbing, and agility is the most valued skill to have to live the true Scions of Canopy life, which is why wide love handles are seen as favorable as their bodies hug the harnesses they wear while doing their activities much better that way.

Meztli: Leisure

The most sedentary and relaxed nation of Natlan, gaining huge amounts of weight due to poor diets and lack of exercise has become such a norm that it's the encouraged standard. Most people just spend their days taking baths in the hot springs, fishing near the shores, or dancing in the plaza, all if they're not already sharing decadent meals at restaurants and growing fatter week after week.

As for your second, Aether-related question, there could be some potential for that, maybe!

He starts getting chubby in Mondstadt, and becomes pretty hefty after Liyue. I don't think there's much impact for this, he's not alarmingly big or anything and there's people much larger than him everywhere.

It's probably in Inazuma where his size is first a shock to people as Aether is starting to get visibly obese. I can imagine some civilians being curious about him. From that one huge Aether journey loredrop post: "They never said anything to him about it, but some Inazumans envied Aether's carelessness for his body and how he was eating so freely he didn't even realize he had grown obese."

During Sumeru he passes the 600 pound milestone, and his weight starts to become the main talking point when referring to Aether and his achievements. I can imagine a small sentiment growing in some guys seeing someone as heavy as him be able to fulfill his job as a hero despite his clear morbid obesity. Maybe some men who were dealing with their own obesity are inspired by him and learn to be more forgiving about their situation, some maybe even going ahead and stopping to feel guilty about gaining too much weight.

As for Fontaine, I can't really imagine it changing much more than Fontaine itself irreversibly changing Aether. No size is too big over there, but people surely love Aether for giving in so hard into the gluttony and getting so massive so quickly.

His impact would likely be more pronounced during Natlan after Aether has become a walking pile of lard. I can imagine his status as a hero despite his absurd size to have some ripple effects, mostly in Meztli, where I can see the ideal weight for men suddenly spike up thanks to Aether's influence, and seeing his previous visit was Fontaine, open up the doors to import more food from that nation.

[lets-try-some-writing]

I had an ANGSTY idea

I imagine a scene where it's just a normal day at the base where the children are just hanging out and talking with their guardians (optimus and ratchet are over seeing decepticon activity)

somehow the topic of how long humans lives are comes up. The kids are oblivious to what they just revealed to the bots and seconds after this fact is shared all the bots freeze with realization and horror dawns on them.

Now whenever the bots are with the kids they act more happier and more willing to do what the kids want (and alot more protective) but under the facade is nothing but depression and sadness (the kids still oblivious)

Oh and optimus has a breakdown since he sees them as his own sparklings

Angst my old friend. I love this concept.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

It was not exactly a secret when it came to the short lives of organics compared to Cybertronians. The team were well aware that most organics tended to only live as long as a few centuries at best and possibly a millennia or two with technological adaptations. For them the lives of organics were still but a passing wind, but at least with a few centuries there was time for Cybertronians to grow close to their organic comrades. The team had each met other organics before and during the war, they knew how the organics near Cybertron worked for the most part. Thus they were not particularly concerned with the humans, although they did wonder why they grew so quickly and seemed to deteriorate with such swiftness when they had centuries left ahead of them.

The team largely did not think too much on the biological functioning of the humans and instead focused on their work. Despite that, eventually one particular Prime found himself uncertain.

Optimus found it particularly confusing how humans seemed to die so young all the time. In his free time he took joy in reading documents from Earth and learning their history. It seemed all of Earth's influential people died young. Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Plato, Socrates, Sun Tzu, George Washington, and so many other influential figures, all dead before their second century of life. It concerned the Prime greatly, especially upon noting how involved the children, June, and Fowler were becoming in their activities. If there was some sort of genetic issue or other ailment that killed off those with influence, he needed to know immediately.

He brought his concerns to Ratchet who in turn gathered the attention of the team. This concern quickly spread and so as one unit the team researched human lives and reasons for offlinement. Before too long they came to the startling conclusion that almost every recorded human life ended when the human in question was around a century old. Some older religious and mythological records indicated that once upon a time humanity could indeed live for centuries, but that seemed to no longer be the case. Seeing this, fear for their charges wormed its way into the sparks of the team. Why were the humans dying so young? What happened to humanity to shorten their lives so drastically? Were their young charges doomed to die in the same manner?

Those questions haunted the team and in the end they decided to simply ask the children to see if there was some form of cultural misunderstanding causing them distress. The children were of course a little confused and it ended up being June who had to explain as the team huddled around, eager to understand and see if there was any way to stop the impending deaths of their wards.

Optimus: I have studied your history and it seems in the last few millennia humanity has failed to live longer than a century at most. Why is that?

June: We only live so long Optimus. We aren't big metal aliens from space like you.

Ratchet: That is true, but we have met organics before. Those that interacted with Cybertron before the war generally lived at least two centuries.

June: I-

Bulkhead: Is there some sort of illness killing you off?

Arcee: Maybe a conspiracy? I've heard of some organic civilizations killing off the older members of their population.

Bumblebee: *Is someone hurting you? We will stop them in that case!*

Optimus: Bumblebee is correct. If your race is under threat, we will gladly assist in stopping the needless death.

June: What? No. What you read are old myths, stories made up by humanity during various ages. They aren't real, we don't live much longer than a century and we never have.

Ratchet: What? But your historical records-!

June: Stories Ratchet. Just stories. Humans usually live around ninety years before we die. That is just the way of things.

Bulkhead: Then the kids-

June: Just like every human before them, they will grow old, and then when their time is up, they will die.

Not a word was uttered at the team slowly scattered, each considering what had been revealed to them. Suddenly a great deal had changed, and not a spark could change things.

Arcee had lost plenty of partners over her long life, but a human? And to old age of all things? She was terrified of that end. She would have to watch as he deteriorated and his frame failed him. How could she look at Jack and not imagine the way his skin would gain wrinkles and how his youthful energy would fade away into the bone deep weariness she observed in the elder humans she noted from a distance. A century was not long, it was hardly the Cybertronian equivalent of a year. Her boy was going to perish before she knew it, and there was not a thing she could do to stop it. Tears were useless, and yet in the quiet of her quarters she wept until she steeled herself. She would give her boy all the affection and care she could over his lifetime, and hopefully in doing so, she could ease the ache of loss that was to come.

Bulkhead was left not as grieved and more saddened above all else. It was easier for him to handle the concept of youthful deaths in organics due to his long service with the wreckers and their allies. He was not upset at Miko dying long before him. No, what saddened him was that she would never have the chance to be a wrecker on a restored Cybertron. By the time their world was restored and things put into motion, he small body would have deteriorated enough to make being a wrecker near impossible for her, at least if she wished to be active. That chance was going to be denied to her because of her fleshy frame, and that above all else had him offering as much opportunity to let her be a wrecker as possible. She would not see the height of Cybertronian military and rescue efforts, but she would have a taste of it, that was his promise.

Bumblebee for his part panicked. He knew organics didn't live long, but he had not expected Rafael's life to come to an end so soon. If Rafael lived according to human standards, he would be dead before Bumblebee's next forging day. He had grown to care deeply for the child, and so while he was no fool and well used to death and the concept of it, his spark still panged with loss. Not knowing what else to do, he threw himself into spending time with Rafael as much as he could outside of patrols and battles. If his friend was going to die so soon, Bumblebee was going to try and be there as a comfort for as long as possible. He tried not to think about the fact that his human companion would perish and silenced any discussion of it when he could. He knew Rafael and every other living being would die eventually, he saw death, he was well acquainted with it, and yet still he was not fond of inviting it by considering it too deeply.

Ratchet was neither particularly shocked or upset, but he was somewhat saddened as he looked over June and the children. He was old, very old. He had been around far longer than even Optimus. Death was not a stranger to him, and he merely found himself nodding along when June spoke the truth. There was nothing to be done and he doubted the children would care for augmentations to extend their lives when all their peers would perish long before they would in that situation. He merely sighed and came to be more gentle with the children. They were incredibly young, even by the standards of their own species. They would not live to see their star go out, and that was likely for the best. To him it was best to let them live a life not burdened by the concept of eternity.

Optimus was quiet after the revelation. He kept to himself for a time, thinking, contemplating, and considering. He knew that his organic charges were not to last, but he had not expected their lives to be so short. His spark cried within him, saddened at what was in his mind, the imminent deaths of several sparklings. He knew of cases where sparklings came from the Well too weak to last. In those situations they were tended to with love and care until at last their small frames failed them and they returned to Primus. It was not the same since the humans would be able to live up to their full potential by their species' standards long before death came for them. But to a Cybertronian? They would not last longer than a Cybertronian year, and that brought him grief. There had been no young for so long, and now those he had come to care for were going to perish so soon? He did not like to consider it and so locked the sorrow away and followed Ratchet's lead, tending to the humans with gentleness and grace.

In response to the team's conflicting emotions, the children found themselves treated with far more kindness than before. Jack was given rights to ride with Arcee far more often and no longer did she try to dismiss him as much. Bulkhead, and later Wheeljack once he understood the situation, took every care to train Miko as a true wrecker, giving her weapons and opportunity she would never have otherwise. Bumblebee went out of his way to speak with Rafael, to tell him stories, and to otherwise speak of all he had seen in order to give his human ward a vision of that which he would never experience due to his short life. Ratchet did not change his behavior much, but he was less hasty in his wrath and spoke to June, more willing to learn human medicine and customs. Optimus fell to offering gifts and wisdom to the humans under his care. He could not be there for them as he would with normal sparklings, but he could show them wonders and offer the wisdom of ages long gone by.

The children found it strange but did not object to the additional attention until it started to grow somewhat suffocating. Only then did they ask why.

Jack: Look, as much as I like being able to go for rides whenever I want, why are you being so nice?

Miko: Yeah, and why are you being so... sad about everything?

Rafael: Is something wrong?

Arcee: Its nothing like that we just-

Ratchet, glaring at the rest of the team: You humans do not live long, at least not compared to us. You lives hardly make up one of our years. They are trying to treat you gently because they are upset about it.

Bulkhead: Well that's a bit of an exaggeration-

Ratchet: No its not.

Jack: Wait, so you mean that since we are going to die eventually, you are being nice to us?

Rafael: We are only teenagers, we aren't going to die anytime soon. There's no need to be sad.

Bumblebee, close to tears: *But there is! You are going to be dead in just over a year for us! And we can't do anything to stop it!*

Miko: Oh, so you are upset because we won't live as long as you.

Optimus: That would be correct... We have not had young of our own since Cybertron fell, and that was many vorns ago. To have you children in our lives has given us hope, and to now know you will not linger with us... we are sorrowful.

Ratchet: Don't stress yourselves over it.

There was little else to say after that revelation, but the children did what they could to comfort their functionally immortal guardians. It wasn't much, but a smile and a thank you every now and then eased the sorrow the team were blanketed in. The humans would die within the blink of an eye for a race from beyond the stars. But that did not stop them from enjoying what time they had.

[rainbowsky]

Hey RBS.. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead. Do you think Globalfever fansite is being managed directly by someone from GG/DD’s team. Many a times I wonder how that site able to get tickets to all of our boys events and capture such close up candid shots of GGDD unless she is part of their inner circle?

Example today - https://weibo.com/7320958826/OydEkDN0w

not sure if it’s original or edited.. from that video it looks like XZ acknowledged her words of Jiayou and bye bye

Hi Natashayishan, thanks! I hope you're well, and that you have a wonderful week too! 😊

Here's the video for those who don't have access to Weibo.

To answer this question I'm going to start by explaining a bit of background about fansites and how they function (I'm by no means an expert, but here's my understanding of how it all works).

Part 1 - Fansites in General

There has been a lot of talk about fansites over the years, and some have faced accusations, criticisms, confusion, suspicions, theories both positive and negative for a very long time. I think they're largely misunderstood by a lot of fans.

For example, it's not uncommon for people to believe fansites are stalkers, or that they shamelessly profit from the unauthorized use of a star's image or footage, or that they're organizations that exist for the purpose of exploiting stars.

This isn't really how it works at all. In general, a fansite is just one fan who follows a star's career and enjoys sharing photos and videos they take of that star. Plain and simple. Some fansites involve more than one person, but most are just made up of individuals.

Yes, they sometimes make money selling photo books and other merch, but that money tends to go back into supporting the star -buying endorsement products, arranging events and giveaways, buying or upgrading equipment needed to create fansite content (cameras, computer equipment, software), paying for tickets (many of which are overpriced reseller tickets) and travel/accommodations to attend events, etc.

It might seem glamorous - and there's undeniably a glamorous aspect to it - but to me it looks very stressful, like a huge headache. These fans generally have their own lives and careers outside of fandom, so coordinating everything, waiting in lines, standing in the rain outside appearances and events, not to mention the pressure to attend events and post regular updates, and all the haters and antis they are constantly dealing with, the amount of stress and frustration they deal with must be immense.

It's a lot of work, and for this reason, fansites don't always stay fansites. Some retire as their real life interests and obligations shift. One of my favorite GGDD fansites - Midnight Dream - retired a few years ago. 😢

Fansites are an important part of any celebrity's support system. While no - they aren't part of a celebrity's team or on their payroll, they do play a huge part in helping to bring attention to a star and build buzz around them, their projects, their appearances, events and other activities.

If you want an analogy that might help it make more sense to you, just look at some of the sports fans across the globe who will follow all the matches, follow team developments, team picks, managers and training, and share all that info on blogs, podcasts or dedicated sports fan sites.

This is very similar. They're just really dedicated fans who build a following by being where we can't be, and sharing their experiences so that we can feel like we were there, too.

And they provide the fans and the stars an immense, immeasurable service IMHO, despite what we might agree or disagree with about the way fandom culture works. The content they capture and share is almost always far more intimate (generally without being invasive), and of a far higher quality than that of the professionals hired to cover these events on behalf of media agencies and management.

Fansites do get some official support from time to time. For example, there are events where fansites can get approval - almost like a press pass or a security pass - to attend and be in certain locations within or near facilities to take photographs, video, etc., but they are not hired or compensated by the star or their team.

A lot of it is also largely unknown/unknowable, so it's hard to be sure of the details. There are always going to be rumors and claims. For example, there have been claims that during SDOC Yibo was allowed to invite 4 fansites to come to the finale, and of the 4, he chose 3 BXG fansites and only one solo site. I haven't seen proof of that, but the claim was making the rounds a lot at the time.

One thing we do know - he chose a fansite photo to give to Yangkai when he was courting him to join his team in season 4. (Of course, solos made a huge stink and Youku ended up editing the footage to remove the photo, but we saw what we saw).

There are other examples of GG and DD interacting with or showing acceptance of their BXG fansites. I started looking for some references and then realized it was not something I have time for or interest in. I'm not here to give a comprehensive analysis anyway, I'm just here to give a simple-ish answer to your question. If others want to discuss that in the notes, that's fine.

So, hopefully some of that background info will have answered parts of your question, and gives you more tools to evaluate things on your own moving forward.

Part 2 - Global Fever

As for Global Fever specifically, well... Global Fever is one of the most treasured BXG in the entire fandom. This dedicated fan has been following GG and DD BOTH, since they debuted. She is more than just a CP fan, she's been a supporter of their individual careers since day 1.

Yes, since back when Yibo was still the White Peony.

She became a CP fan in the natural way - by seeing her faves work together on The Untamed, by watching them interact and by following them and their careers. No, she doesn't work for their teams (they both have dedicated teams of their own, and they don't need to pay fansites who - after all - will do this stuff for free). It's just that she's recognizable to GG and DD because she's been a fixture in their lives for so many years.

And this is something solos need to get their heads around: BXG are fans too. I think there's this conceit among solos that THEY'RE GG and DD's fans and BXG are something else, but in reality (and, no doubt, in the eyes of GG and DD) BXG are their fans too.

Never could that be more apparent than when a dedicated fan like Global Fever jiejie is calling 'Zhanzhan, jiayou!' and 'byebye!' as he's boarding an elevator on the way to the stage. Of course GG recognized her and smiled at her. Of course.

[tokoyamisstuff]

gn! Reader | no warnings

Alucard

Walter

All dates take place after nightfall of course, letting you participate in his world.

He chooses a rather intimate setting, appreciating a good wine and deep conversation over anything fancy. Is a surprisingly great dancer and there's no room for discussion, you will get swirled around by him in a close waltz.

Shows you incredible places no human has ever set eyes upon, and loves to entertain you with his powers. It's nice using them for something good for a change...

Doesn't let you lift a finger and is always at your service. No need to feel bad, it's a pleasure to him.

Anderson

I imagine him being very active for his age. Will take you hiking or doing other challenging activities as bonding time. Is very fond of nature in general, probably does a picknick, stargazing or even swimming at a secluded lake.

Is a creature of habit, having favourite places to spend the evenings with you. People in there will all know you since you come so regulary.

To him, just about anything counts as a date as long as you're together. Likes to take long walks or just reading besides each other.

Unlike his usual impression he's a sophisticated man so shall he plan something, it'll probably be an art gallery or a cultural monument (preferably churches or other religious things).

He also enjoys corny stuff like christmas markets and classes where you handcraft stuff, pottery for example. Is horrible at it but will gift you the results anyways.

Maxwell

Free time is scarce to this workaholic, but he tries to make the most of it and spend every single second with you.

Luke Valentine

Man's exhausted, so he'd choose a spa day to relax together. Books one of those rooms with a whirlpool and other conveniences just for the two of you.

He won't talk much but actions say more than words, this man loves to indulges you in any way.

Jan Valentine

Treats you like a celebrity. Getting seen and showing you around are his top priority.

He's a very public-spirited person so expect to always be somewhere lively. Picks out what you wear and makes you meet lots of new people. Also loves showing you the world, taking you to different countries just for a day.

Puts a lot of effort in outwards appearance and reputation, but every date ends calm with just the two of you.

The Captain

There's not a single romantic cell in this body. Would probably visit a club going all out and stay in bed fucking you stupid the whole next day. That's it, that's his ideal date.

Be vocal about what you wish for and give clear instructions, then he'll gladly prepare whatever's on your mind.

Likes to brag, so you'd probably do stuff like bowling or him winning prices for you. Is the kind of guy who loudly declares his love for his amazing partner to anyone who didn't ask.

The Major

Not being very sociable he prefers staying at home. Brings you breakfast in bed and the two of you will stay in cozy clothes or naked the whole day.

Enjoys doing domestic stuff, for example simply playing card games, watching comfort shows or baking cookies. A taste of normalcry feels absolutely wonderful to him.

Will be very touchy the whole time, always needing his hands somewhere on your body.

This is a well prepared man. Knows it all and plans everything according to your taste.

If you let him decide, he'd definetly knows some special restaurants with great view or atmosphere. Books it out completely so you'll have privacy. With him you'll definetly feel special and listened to.

His hobbies include very old movies/history documentaries, building miniature models and hunting. Like in the literal sense shooting animals in the wild. Wouldn't force you to participate but it'd mean a lot if you at least show interest.

[walpu]

I feel like not much fanfics surround what a day in a life of Dad! Ratio and Wife! Reader. I'm imagining Dad! Ratio being a bit strict dad to their kids (in terms of academics) but the rest, oh boy his priority is them to be always happy and safe 🥺

I bet the whole family would visit different planets in the weekends and they'll explore their culture and most likely have a food trip lol.

I'm also imagining if Wife! Reader is on a business trip, Dad! Ratio would be trying to calm the kids down but fails because of their hyperactive energy (he wonders where did they picked up that trait 👀)

When Wife! Reader comes back to their home, She looks at dimly lit lights of their living room and sees a bunch of drawing on the walls. But what got her attention was:

Their kids all sleeping and cuddled up to their dad while covered in a blanket, while Dad! Ratio's sleeping face was covered in drawings and stickers of rainbows and robots.

- 🩰 anon~

Hi!!!

I genuinely feel like Ratio would be such a good dad. A lot of people misjudge him as selfish and deliberately rude which he is not!!! He's blunt and perhaps a bit insensitive sometimes but not out of any malicious intentions. He truly just wants to give knowledge to the world and to make it affordable to anyone, to let people learn on their own mistakes.

I feel like he would be this kind of dad that doesn't dote on the kids too much, allowing them to make mistakes and come to their own conclusions. But he would always correct them if needed and always encourage their curiosity. Would probably read them philosophy book before the bed.

My mom loved to throw little debates for me and her with rules and turns and all that so I can easily imagine Ratio doing this as a fun family activity 😭😭😭

He would always show his research to his partner to discuss it with you and ask for your opinion. Even if you're far from academic studies, he's still curious since he trusts you and your way of thinking. It would either be n opportunity to get an honest outsider perspective for him or a cute debate between two scholars.

Would leave small reminder notes around the house to remind his partner and the kids to take care of themselves and (for the kids) to take their homework seriously. Would decorate the notes with a cute owl too 😭

[whokilledjared]

the sluttiest thing a man can do is be himself. (& takes on social media)

Hi.

I'm lonely.

The moment I got "two weeks off school" in sophomore year, life went to 4x speed & I can't turn it off no matter how hard I try.

Maybe COVID-19 adolescence did numbers on me. Somewhere between the iPhone 5c and ChatGPT, 14-hour screen times have live-streamed to me a steady, homogenous death of culture.

Nothing is cool anymore. Nothing is sacred. Every movement is a trend, and every cult classic a sequel.

The value we place on things being beautiful, on being "cool," and our gatekept appreciation of how hard these things were to find: it's been co-opted, or perhaps stolen. It's been stolen by the new merchant class. "Disruptors" and "innovators" turning our lives into a burgeoning black mirror prequel. Soon, we'll graduate too, and we'll wring every morsel of value in each others' lives dry for cash.

Plain and simple, I think we're being manipulated.

Your dates are an algorithm. Your music is a social signal. And Zuck knows when you sleep.*

God. What the fuck are we doing???

“Individuation is becoming the thing which is not the ego, and that is very strange.” — Carl Jung

Recently, I deleted Instagram. My first impulse was to post a story or something, announcing my departure. But then, I thought that would be lame.

I got rid of my account, too. Kinda. Over 1 year, over 800 followers removed, and what remains of me is a little grey icon, and "JM_0000000010" where my name and face used to be.

yay.

There were many people I wish I could have been friends with, but I wonder, too, why I find myself so drawn to the validation of others. Does social media affect me worse, or do we all just choose to ignore it, languishing in private?

At any rate, this last year has almost felt like re-learning how to be a human being.

Personally, I think one of the biggest markers for maturity is when you become willing to disappoint the people you know in favor of what feels right to you, when you start to unravel the stories you’ve told yourself (or been told) about who you are and what you should be. In short, the sluttiest thing a man can do is be himself.

And sometimes, I think about every college student that has ever lived. My grandmother, my dad, and so on. Just consider for a moment all kids who graduated before 2010:

What was it like for the ones in 1940? To walk around, before a campus had computers? In 2006: To meet someone pretty, but forget their number? In 1999: To cram into dorms, and watch Seinfeld live on-air?

Would I, like my dad in 1988, have braved cold night, brisk wind, & landline phone-call just to knock and see if my friends were too busy to hang?

What stories could I tell if there was even the slightest chance of getting lost on the way home from a party?

Humans are social creatures. We crave our friends like water. To me, the clearest difference between Dasani and Instagram is that one of them comes in a bottle.

Yet despite these distractions and comforts we have in 2024, somehow, we still have engineering students. People who carve out time in their day to sit down, look at paper, and solve differential equations. But then, that's not so hard, is it? It just takes time. Precious, fucking, time.

At Meta, leagues and leagues of these engineers power behavioral scientists, who are competing for the highest salary. Their benchmarks? Your FOMO. Guilt. Anxiety. Obsession. The worse you feel, the more you engage with their content. The more you engage with their content, well, you're starting to get the point.

Try something for me: Open up Instagram, but don't tap anything. What happens? How many little animations? How many tiny nudges prompting you to get lost? Our home-pages are billion-dollar diving boards, hoisting us over engineered catacombs of subconscious quicksand.

My homepage is my FOMO, my envy, and my crushes. The pain and struggle of trying to be someone who I am not. My little existential crises, bundled-up, packaged, and shipped with a like button.

To abandon your social networks entirely, however, requires a safety net of close friends. After all, your friends are online, and you'd be miserable without them.

This is the problem with our monkey brains. Millennia of sociological natural-selection have made us quite great at feeling terrible. We're damn good at making tribal status games to play with, too.

Seeking refuge in quirked up septum piercings and boygenius listeners, my time in counter-cultural, alternative "scenes" between St. Louis and Tampa has shown me that even the weirdest of folks and the most removed can accidentally find themselves reduced to nothing more than high-school popularity contests. Even if I love them. Even if they're amazing people. We're human.

We can't "quit social media" as much as we can't "quit bottled water" Sure, we can, but it's inconvenient. And even without a bottle, we're still drinking water.

So I lost touch with my friends. I got no new updates on their lives. I forced myself into the inconvenience of not having a phone to reach for in fleeting moments of boredom. Suddenly, I was out of the loop. Suddenly, I was bored. And suddenly, nobody missed me. My only friends were the ones I had the time to text. Everyone else ... does not exist.

Weekends have become more valuable than ever. Without the empty social calories of seeing my friends' pictures, I find myself planning hangouts as often as my schedule allows. I have more lunches, more study sessions, and more is done in the company of less.

And I have the time to breathe.

And in this calm, I think I found my answer: it's my misplaced ambition. These fears of anxiety and people I thought I would miss, they seem represent something I want to see more of within myself. Something I want to develop, lean into more deeply, as an individual. And I think that's quite normal; to look out into the world and feel attracted to things we want to see more of. This is, I think, how everyone develops their own definition of beauty — and of coolness. It's largely the intersection of what we find most interesting, and what we want to see more of in the world. Because beauty and coolness, by definition, are rare and hard to find. If they were everywhere, nothing be beautiful, nor would anything be cool.

When we all turn into wrinkles and cataracts, bad backs and heart attacks, for a brief, glorious moment, our lives are going to flash before our eyes. In this moment, you'll see your story. The ultimate progression of you.

How much of that will be skibidi toilet and reaction clips? How much of that will be arguing on the internet? Can you tell me, just how much of your life will you have skipped over to pacify your intentionally-lowered attention span?

That girl whose number you couldn't find Those passing questions over coffee that you couldn't search on Google The boredom of a subway ride

Those are not inconveniences, they're what the older generations refer to as "life."

* (oh, but if you can't sleep, consider this aside: Google knows the angle you walk at, how fast you're walking, and they've got crowdsourced pictures of everywhere around you at all times of the day. fun bedtime thoughts <3)

[the-modern-typewriter]

hhhhhhhh your work is just absolutely amazing and I cannot get enough of it… so much that I miiiight have just rebooted the last like two years of your blog… so uh sorry about ur notifs

And some of it had me thinking about how I tend to see like worldbuilding and/or scenarios that revolve around like sex as a necessity- such as like sexpollen or idk fuckordie scenarios - and I always wonder about how another asexual person would react to those, esp if they were more sex repulsed. There just doesn’t seem like space for us to exist in those worlds lol. And maybe it would be clinical or just like wet and awkward. Or they just can’t do it, regardless of the consequences. Your piece with the ace protag who described kissing as just like wet really resonated with me ig. Sorry about the word dump here oop. So if you want, I’d love to see your take on the situation.

I actually think there's a lot of space for asexual or aromantic experiences in these scenarios! Perhaps not the stereotypical take, but the consent/power/attraction dynamics inherent to these scenarios can form an interesting comment for parts of the ace experience.

To be honest, I've always viewed these scenarios on the horror spectrum and I would probably write them as such. Though I also don't think they have to be.

I might write something fully at some point, but:

Fuck or die/sex pollen is simply an extreme version of the already existing societal pressure to have sex/engage 'normally' with the culture we live in. It would be very easy to use that to make these scenarios an ace horror story.

When you add aceness to the mixture, or any sexuality that conflicts with the specific pairing in mind, is that irrelevant to the larger forces at work in the story (e.g. the plant, or the people forcing the fuck/die scenario or whatever) or is the point? E.g. is there a version of the story where someone ace is dosed with sex-pollen because it's considered an in-world cure for asexuality given it manufactures sexual attraction? How does that change attitudes to asexuality within that universe?

Is there a version where someone ace and their partner mutually and consentually try out sex-pollen so the ace person can see what sexual attraction is like? What does that say?

Are ace people immune to sex pollen for whatever reason? What in-world consequences does that have? Do you end up with ace people incentivized to take on jobs in areas where this would be a danger to other explorers? What commentary does that create within the world of these universes?

How does it change the character dynamics? If one person is so utterly against doing anything, even if it ensures both of their survival, what does that do to the other person? Because it's technically a necessity in these stories, but there are still actually two choices and for obvious reasons perhaps these stories rarely lean into the 'or die' part of the scenario. What does the other person decide in this situation?

Then there's the version where it is pure necessity. Not a big deal. No worse than any other chore. There's still consent, but honestly not all consent when you're ace is enthusiastic. In which case, the ace person who may already be geared more towards considering sex as a means to something else might actually be far less traumatized by this scenario than someone non-ace who might view sex with higher stakes/as more sacred/whatever.

Does an asexual alien view fuck or die/sex pollen scenarios with the same morality as an asexual human does? Quite possibly not! E.g. does one not consider it bad in anyway because that's just what humans do and they're not even aware of the consent/power issues going on. What does the dialogue between those two characters look like?

I don't know. I just think there's a lot people could do with the premise + asexuality! Ace people don't live in a world where sex and prevalent attitudes towards sex/sexuality have no bearing, and asexuality is in itself a broad and nuanced spectrum of attitudes.

[qqueenofhades]

I completely understand if you don’t feel comfortable answering this, but my mind is spiraling out of control and you’re the only person I know with the level of knowledge to where I can feel comfortable asking this without getting some form of “bla bla we live in a safe state don’t worry.”

I’m sincerely wondering if I need to be making plans to leave the country in the event of November bringing the most horrible of outcomes despite our best efforts (and yes I’m planning to vote blue in everything I can); as a AFAB in CA?

I know about project 2025. I’m terrified. Forgive my pop culture reference, but I feel like a version of Princess Zelda staring down a barrel of possible doom while everyone around me is like “nah that future you literally had a nightmare about where they made it illegal for a woman to have a bank account without a guy co-signing it and took the money from everyone who didn’t comply by a certain date isn’t even a possibility!”

I’m just confused about my life and am trying to take it day by day, and exercising every right while I still have it to prevent this outcome, but it feels weird making plans and retirement accounts and just general Setting Up Adult Life And Future Things™️……while wondering if I even have a future in this place at all and I’m just making it harder to escape if need be.

I’m sorry I’m rambling, and I guess I don’t know what I’m asking since no one has a crystal ball.

But I guess, it’s stuff like how much can the feds effect state’s policies? Is it possible for them to immediately block international travel for all women practically upon inauguration? How much time would I even have to gtfo if the worst begins?

Bc honestly this whole thing feels like the lead in to a very nasty chapter of a history book, and even though I have hope we’ll have another blue tsunami, it can be hard to try and figure things out when it feels like there’s barely any historical precedent for any of it.

Welp. Okay. First of all, I am giving you a comforting hug, I am walking with you to your favorite coffee shop, I am paying for your favorite beverage and also a baked goodie of your choice, and we are sitting down in a corner where we can talk honestly. So that's where I want you to imagine us having this conversation.

To start with, yes, I completely understand this feeling of utter, paralyzing doom, where I am trying to go about my daily life and make plans for my career and carry out daily tasks and Be Responsible while there's still just this total void beyond the end of the year, the utter impossibility of knowing if we will have dodged an absolutely massive bullet and finally be safe (since if Trump loses again he is 100% going to jail in the next four years) or, well. You know. That is a very hard way to live, when you're wondering if anything is going to matter and you can't see beyond that black cloud of fear on the horizon. It sucks you down and tells you that nothing is worth doing now in case it just gets so much worse. I am not going to tell you not to feel that. We all do. We are all scared. That in and of itself is a perfectly normal way to feel.

However, there are things you can do both now and if (I repeat, if) God absolutely forbid, the worst was to happen (again). First of all, we have already lived through a Trump presidency once. It was terrible and scary and awful and demoralizing as fuck, but we can do it again if we absolutely Goddamn fucking have to (once, again, God forbid). Second, you are currently about as safe as you could be in California. Newsom has proven himself to be smart, tough, able to run rings around Republicans, and unwilling to comply with their stupid performative-cruelty directives. He's not a saint or a magician, but you don't need that; you need a shrewd politician able to fight back, and he has proven himself willing and capable of doing that. So as long as he is governor, you're going to be more safe than not, and I'd also like to ask all the shrieking Online Leftists if, should the shit go down, they would rather live in a state with a Democratic governor who will fight Trump 2.0 every step of the way, or a Republican governor who will just roll over and obey. (But that would destroy their BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME talking point, so you know.)

Next of all, even if the Republicans are doing their best impression, America in 2024 isn't Germany in 1934. There are different tools, different ways to fight back, and different awarenesses/social media/visibility factors. I also need everyone to remember that just as Biden can't just sign an executive order and fix everything everywhere, Trump can't just sign an executive order and fuck everything everywhere, just like that with no more discussion ever. He tried that last time, it generally didn't work, and trust me, at least this time nobody is sleeping on the danger he poses. His candidacy in 2016 was dismissed as a long-shot joke that nobody took seriously until it was too late, and for better or worse, people aren't doing that this time. He will be sued instantly, incredibly, and repeatedly with everything his band of wannabe fascists try, and since we have had four years of Biden fixing the courts from where Trump trashed them, that does mean something. There is no scenario where even if he does issue some outrageous order against women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, etc (which to be clear, I'm sure he would try) it would just be carried out completely, immediately, and with no feasible way to stop it. Evil is evil, but it is also stupid, clueless, determined to hurt people just for the hell of it without any regard for what is possible or which will be allowed, and there's a lot more grey area in there than just "Trump says something terrible and it's instantly done, the end."

Once again, I'm not going to say that the worst-case scenario is not possible, but I don't think it's likely, and even if that does happen, there are ways for us to survive and fight back (again). Nobody wants it and it should not have to be asked of us due to the utter collapse of the social, civic, political, and intellectual fabric of this country thanks to the TrumpCult, but once again... these people are so loud and dangerous and cruel and stupid because they are in the minority. Etc. etc. polls are garbage, but we did just have an interesting piece of empirical data from the Iowa caucuses. Trump -- in one of the whitest, most rural, most conservative, most religious, most Trump-loving states in the country -- struggled to break 50%. Almost half of a rabid Republican fully-Trumpized electorate, among the diehards sufficiently motivated to get out and caucus in extreme freezing weather, voted for someone else (Haley and DeSantis took about 20% apiece). Now, no, we don't know how that will translate to the general election, and if registered Republicans will flock back to the nominee even if it's Trump, but as almost half of Haley voters said they would vote for Biden if it was a Biden-Trump matchup in the general, there is some sense that Trump is an aberration to their otherwise ironclad party loyalty. Now, Republicans are the fucking worst and nobody should be relying on them to save us; we still need to get out and vote for Democrats with all our might. But Trump is no longer barn-burningly popular even in core Trump heartland, and it'll be interesting to see how things go in future primaries.

My point is: I know the feeling that evil is awful and unstoppable and all-powerful, and will crush our lives and our futures no matter what we do to resist it. I really, really do. But Trump is a terrible candidate, he's running literally only to keep himself out of a long, long prison sentence, and if he had crushed the Iowa caucuses regardless, we might be having a different conversation. However, we need to remember that it is possible, again (God forbid) in the worst scenario, to resist, to live, and to win. Everyone who is motivated to work for a better world will still be here. Everyone who can help you and all of us will still be here. And there are more of us than there are of them. Yes, I do understand the feeling that we need to have contingency plans in place, I do absolutely know that it could get very bad, and all that (as you say, nobody has a crystal ball). But for now, I want you to take a deep breath, try to take this day by day, and remember that this is not a crushing and inevitable future that will sweep over you and destroy you without you (or any other person of good will) having a say in the matter. You still have agency, you still have the ability to protect yourself, and you still have others who will protect you in turn. You're not alone. The bad guys want you to think that, because when you're isolated and terrorized, you're easier to pick off and/or recruit into their cult. But you're not.

In conclusion: "What are we holding onto, Sam?"

[annymation]

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 9- Tangible Things

Chapter 8

Asha and Aster are walking through the kingdom of Rosas.

There's people everywhere, walking through the streets, all of them wearing the same style of medieval clothings with dull shades of blues, yellows and purples. The people of Rosas are all very diverse in ethnicities... But their cultures are not showcased at all through their clothing styles.

Asha walks through the sea of people wearing her mom's cloak, she's wearing the hoodie so her face is not visible.

Meanwhile, Aster is "wearing" his human disguise, looking like any average human teenager... If you ignore the uncommon combination of brown skin and blonde hair, as well as his black clothes with a looong cape that doesn't quite blend in with everyone else's clothing style.

... And the fact he's as happy as Ariel on her first tour with Eric through the kingdom. Or Rapunzel getting to know her kingdom for the first time, yeah, he has those same big eyes full of wonder.

If you ignore all that, yeah he's just a normal human, nothing to see here.

"Okay Aster, stay close to me. We're almost at the plaza..." She got no response "Aster?" She looks behind her shoulder

... Aaaaand Aster is nowhere to be seen.

Asha scrunches her eyebrows in frustration, she's gonna have to put a bell on that star.

Asha feels a slight dejavu feeling from that dream she had last night.

She scrunches her eyebrows in frustration, now contemplating putting a bell on that star "*sigh*... At least you know how to behave, huh Valentino?" she says to the baby goat walking next to her, Valentino is just happily wagging his tail.

She takes off the her hoodie for a moment to get a better view of her surroundings

"Now where could he be?" She sounds worried, looking around, but there's no sign of the star.

Asha just took her hoodie for a moment...

But just a moment was enough for two people to notice her...

She hears someone calling her name in the distance

"asha! asha-when I catch you asha! asha! when I catch you- it is on sight!! you are so-"

The voice is getting closer. Asha looks around at the sea of people walking, but she can't seem to find who's calling her, the girl voice gets louder:

"do you have any idea what lives iN THAT FOREST? YOU ARE TOO YOUNG TO DIE BEING EATEN BY WOLVES! YOU'RE TOO BEAUTIFUL!!!"

A second voice joins in, male this time

"DAHLIA! WAIT UP *huff huff* I can't run that fast!"

Asha turns around and... Yup, it's Dahlia and Simon.

Despite the fact that Dahlia walks with a crutch she's moving way faster than him, that's not even to emphasize how slow Simon is, no, Dahlia just so happens to run really fast in general.

They finally reach the girl wearing the purple cloak, and she seems preeetty nervous about having to explain the whole situation

"Oh- hehe hey guys" Asha waves to her friends awkwardly

Dahlia was having none of that "OHOHO Don't "Hey guys" me! Where were you last night?? My mom was worried sick"

"We woke up early to go looking for you, we were just on our way to get the others" Simon said while trying to catch his breath

"I'm fine, really. I just needed a take a walk you know? Get some air, and then I slept in my old home." She tries her best to calm them down "Dahlia, you didn't have to organize a search party for me, I can take care of myself." She tells her best friend.

"Actually, it was Simon's idea, he's the one who went to wake me up"

That surprised Asha

"... Simon... Woke up early?"

"That's how worried I was" He said with his usual monotonous voice "And... I wanted to apologize, last night I accidentally-... I assumed that you were crying because of something YOU did, without knowing the whole story, I shouldn't have pressured you to tell us like that... I'm sorry"

(Aww Simon is so nice... I sure hope he never does anything lame or stupid or uncool to his friends, that would be so sad.)

Asha kinda needed that apology, she gives him a warm smile

"Thanks for saying that Simon, it means a lot. And sorry for stepping on your foot... And running away." She places a hand on the back of her neck as she says that.

"Honestly, if I found out that the king wouldn't ever grant my wish, I'd feel really awful too" Simon, ironically, is the one who comments this

Asha remembers... Oh yeah she mentioned that to them.

"Yeah speaking of which... What is up with that?!" Dahlia exclaims, looking outraged "I mean, they put you on the spot, call you to come in their house, get your wish, and then they just say "Oh actually noooo, we won't grant your wish" HUH?! That's not fair at all." She rants with her arms crossed

Asha is just kinda nodding in agreement, like, what really happened was waaaay worse than that but yeah Dahlia got the spirit.

Simon doesn't seem to relate with her frustration though.

"Did they tell you why they weren't gonna grant your wish?" Simon asks.

Asha analyses the situation... She could tell them the truth, she could tell them everything she has seen... But then again, if she tells them, they might be in danger... She told Aster that she wanted to plan this out before acting, involving her friends is a big risk, so for now... She would have to lie.

"They... They just said they couldn't do it, nothing else happened, really" She said, trying her best to sound honest but kinda failing, her friends didn't seem to notice though.

"... Seriously? They didn't even say why?" Dahlia is dumbfounded.

"... Now I understand why you were crying..." Simon sounds really sad for his friend "But even still, you shouldn't have gone to the woods all by yourself-"

"Who said she was by herself?"

Simon and Dahlia jump in surprise because of the unknown cheerful voice coming from behind them

They turn around and see Aster... holding a bouquet of purple flowers.

Asha can feel a drop of sweat running down her forehead... This might be way harder to explain.

"Aster where were y-" Asha is about to lecture the star, but she is stopped when he shows her the flowers he got by holding them right in front of her face.

"Asha look! These flowers are called "Aster" just like me! and they're your favorite color too!"

(Hahaah told y’all I’d reference these flowers!)

Aster hands her the bouquet, but in a way that her face is covered by the flowers for a second before she manages to hold it by herself

"O-OH Yeah I can see that... thanks Aster, they're really pretty heh heh" She says nervously, as she notice her two friends staring at Aster and then staring back at her.

"Uuuh so I take it your name's "Aster"?" Simon asks, looking at the boy from head to toe.

Aster turns around to greet them

"That's me! So nice to meet you two!"

Aster gives Dahlia a handshake...

And we take a look on what he sees

Now you see, Aster can naturally take a peek on what's someone's wants and beliefs, but when he touches someone... They can see something even more special.

He sees that person's star, their center, what makes them who they are.

When Aster touches Dahlia's hand, we see how her star looks like.

It's bright, red, and full of determination to achieve whatever she sets her mind to...

If confidence was a tangible thing, it would be Dahlia.

from the other's point of view, Aster is just shaking her hand quickly and very happily.

"Oh- Hehe I'm Dahlia."

Aster then goes on to shake Simon's hand and...

Aster's smile disappears...

Simon's star is still there but it's... weak, flickering away like a flame that is about to go out at any second

Aster feels a pain in their chest...

If hopelessness was a tangible thing, it would be Simon.

Aster let's go of the young man's hand, his eyes are downcast and he's frowning like he's about to cry.

He looks up to Simon and just says "I'm so sorry"

...

So needles to say our boy Simon is terrified thinking this weird kid Asha found in the woods predicts he's gonna die in 7 days or something.

(That’s it, that’s the face he's making. lmao.)

Simon gives Asha a panicked look, and she seems just as confused as him.

"Hey Aster?" Asha calls his attention placing a hand on his shoulder, the star turns to her curious "Did you uh- Pay for these flowers?"

Aster tilts his head to the side "What's pay?"

("At All Cost" ruined me, because every time I re-read this line my mind goes "What's pay? When I look at you no way-" and that's so funny to me)

Simon who happens to be the son of a cop the captain of the royal guard becomes even more suspicious of Aster, knowing this guy just STOLE something and then played innocent.

Asha just smiles at that comment and patiently explains to him "Okay, now you gotta put these back where you found them, can you do that please?"

Aster's smile returns as if it never left "Got it! I'll be back in a sec!"

Aster runs with an almost inhuman speed, leaving the three friends in an awkward silence

Simon breaks that silence.

"… Where did you find that guy?"

"And where can I find one for myself?" Dahlia asks as she watches Aster run off.

Simon: "What?"

Dahlia: "What?!"

This time, Asha kinda gives them a half truth

"Well... Let's just say Aster was at the right place at the right time... And he helped me feel better" That's technically true.

Simon looks very dissatisfied with that answer though

"... So you spent the night with a stranger in the woods?"

"Not a stranger though!" Aster pops out of nowhere behind Simon,

"OH GOSH-" Simon almost has a heart attack,

Asha realizes the longer Aster keeps talking with other people the more suspicious they'll seem, so she just grabs him by the arm

"Great talking to you two but we reeeeally gotta get going. So tell the others I'm fine, we'll be at the main plaza if you need me!" She says already running while dragging Aster with her.

The star boy is just happily waving them goodbye as he's dragged away by the arm. "Bye Dahlia! Bye Simon!" he exclaimed excitedly

"... Soooo how much do you wanna bet she actually just wished for a boyfriend?" Dahlia asks

(Dahlia is a self insert of me at this point, her lines are what I'd say in this situation)

Simon kinda ignores Dahlia's comment as he realizes something odd "Wait ... I never told him my name, how did he know I'm "Simon"?"

We cut to Asha and Aster in an alley.

“Okay, we need to talk" Asha begins, looking at the star boy seriously "If we're really gonna do this, we gotta establish some ground rules."

"Sure! We stars are all about rules!" The star says, sitting on some barrels while kicking his feet.

She begins listing the rules:

"So rule number 1: You can't run off without me, you gotta stay close to me at all times."

"Done!"

"Rule number 2: You gotta act as HUMAN as you can, that means do what I do, and use NO magic at all."

"Oh you don't have to tell me twice, that's a rule I already HAVE to follow as a wishing star anyway"

"And rule number 3: ..." She stops to think for a moment "Umm... I feel like there should be a third rule but I don't know what"

"I know! Rule number 3:... LETS HAVE FUN!" Aster exclaims with a beaming smile as he holds her hand and walks with her out the alley "You don't need to worry about a thing! I'll stay with you at all times. All you gotta do is focus on inspiring everyone with your music!"

Asha looks at the mandolin in her hand. She's honestly not sure if she'll be able to make any difference... But if she can make at least a few people consider getting their wishes back so they can grant it by themselves... Then it'll be worth it, because then they can start something.

She feels her hope returning, as a confident smile grows on her lips and a fire burns in her eyes.

"Yeah, and I know just the song for it!" She starts running faster, and soon she's the one who's in front, dragging Aster by the hand...

Aster can see Asha's star, and he looks at it with eyes full of what can only be described as disbelief and a passionate admiration.

Her wish was taken from her, just like Simon's, but Asha was different.

Unlike Simon, her light refused to burn down, her old wish was replaced by a new one, that shined just as brightly.

A star that wants to shine upon others and give them joy, guidance, something to believe in... To Aster, her glow was the most beautiful one of all... And when he looked at it he felt...

Actually, he couldn't describe it... It's still a feeling he can't put into words.

So for now, he doesn't know what tangible emotion Asha is.

But he'll probably find out eventually.

They both reach the plaza. There's a water fountain at the center of it, a few people are walking around and talking, but there's not much of a crowd.

Asha takes the mandolin and starts singing a song... Based on a poem her father wrote:

A Wish Worth Keeping

[Verse 1] Take it from someone like me When your hopes are in despair If your desires have strings Free them, give them some air

[Chorus] 'Cause any wish that's got your heart On the edge of breaking Is a wish worth keeping

[Verse 2] Yeah, everybody dreams To be something someday somewhere Even kings and queens Daydream to be free from their royal chairs

[Refrain] Well, any dream that's got your heart Even when you're not sleeping Is a drеam worth dreaming

[Bridge] Yeah, we all start as wildlings Playing in thе sun Then we grow up with wild dreams Just waiting for our day to come

[Verse 3] So if hope schemes against time

Tell them, "be nice, play fair" Yeah, they may kick and cry, yeah But just show them they're better when paired

[Refrain] 'Cause if they both can hold your heart There's no way you're not sowing A dream that will never stop growing

[Chorus] Yeah, any wish that's got your heart On the edge of breaking Is a wish worth keeping...

It's a poem her father wrote to encourage people to not give their wishes to Magnifico, but instead keep their wishes and fight for what they dream of. In this moment, she's playing her grandfather's mandolin, while wearing her mother's cloak and singing a poem her father wrote, it's like they're all there with her.

Asha sings in a more festive rhythm than the original "Wish Worth Making" from the Wish soundtrack, it's a song that makes people want to join in and dance with Aster, who's bringing in people around the plaza to join in.

And among these people there's also Asha's friends, they seem happy for her but also confused. Since when did Asha play the mandolin? And who on earth is that guy with her?

As Asha plays, she and Aster share a little duet in the third verse of the song, as if Aster also knows the poem too. Asha looks at the star dancing with such energy, doing literal backflips, twirls, jumping all over the place, bringing in people to dance with him and just being himself like no one's watching.

And for the first time, she actually feels her heart bumping faster by looking at the star, and not because they're a literal star or because he scared her by popping out of nowhere... but because he's himself.

(Yup, that's when she fell)

Everything is going well, Aster can even see the stars inside some of the people in the crowd shining brighter...

It's actually working.

Some of the younger people are actually considering not giving away their wishes, and others feel like maybe going after new wishes by themselves.

Aster moves with even more energy now... His eyes are closed.

Asha also has her eyes closed, lost in the moment as she plays the song.

The sky is full of thick grey clouds, the sun was nowhere to be seen.

If only Aster's new friend Sunny could've warned him who was coming.

Aster is spinning around quickly with his eyes closed and-

"OUCH!"

Aster bumps on someone and falls on the floor.

Asha hear's him falling and opens her eyes, she looks up to see who he bumped into...

She instantly stops playing.

Her face is horrified, and she quickly covers herself more in her mother's cloak.

Valentino who was hopping around also sees who it is and hides behind Asha's legs.

Aster is just laughing on the floor, still high on the adrenaline, their eyes are still closed as he laughs so he still hasn't seen who's right in front of him...

But he can tell that he just bumped on a man taller than him.

"Hahahaha sorry sir, I wasn't looking at where I wa-" Aster looks up...

Oh no.

“No problem at all, little one. Are you alright?”

The king and the queen are standing right in front of Aster.

It’s quite unusual to see them just out and about in a normal day, so the few people around start mumbling among each other.

… Aster doesn’t have a heart but somehow he could feel something in their chest sink as he looked up at the two monarchs…

He could see what they wanted, but to be honest the magic in his eyes wasn’t even necessary for him to see it, they looked down on him with the eyes of two hyenas staring at their next meal.

They wanted him... They knew what Aster was.

The star is just looking up to them with wide eyes like a deer in headlights.

“Here, let me help you.” Magnifico extended his hand to help them get up.

Aster knew very well what would happen in he touched that hand, and he was not looking forward to see what the king was like on the inside…

But then again, he promised Asha he’d act like a human, and most humans in Rosas would gladly shake the king’s hand, right?

So… Aster reached out for it, and once he touched it...

Aster had to hold in a gasp.

…

That is NOT a star.

See, Aster actually had heard from the other stars that there are many different kinds of people on earth.

There are those who are stars. Those who shine upon others by inspiring them, and make their own glow through their own actions. Like Asha.

There are those who lost their spark, those who no longer have hope or dreams to follow, they’re fading stars. Like Simon.

And then.

There are black holes.

Do you know how a black hole is formed?

They’re formed when a star dies.

Black holes have a gravitational pull that sucks in all the light around them, leaving nothing behind.

And in Aster’s eyes, Magnifico was a black hole.

Stealing away the light of all the stars around him.

Aster had heard that people who become black holes were very hurt in their lives, and thus their star died completely.

But Aster knew better... Magnifico choose to be this way, and he loves it.

He loves to pull others in only to steal their light away...

Aster felt disgusted.

... If selfishness was a tangible thing, it would be Magnus.

As the king pulls him up Aster's is glaring at him, no longer looking scared...

He's angry.

His brow furrowed, his pupils shrunk and his jaw was clenched. He was almost shaking.

It was like he was holding himself to not just jump on this man and punch him.

... Magnifico is content with this reaction.

From what he read, he knew that stars had "Eyes that see the truth", so Magnifico knew that the star could see who he really was.

With that in mind, his grip tightened on Aster's hand.

"Are you hurt at all, lad? You seem to be in pain or something." The king asks referring to the scowl on Aster's face, in a tone that for everyone else watching may sound like concern, but both Aster and the king know it's a mockery.

Aster actually didn't even realize he was scowling, he's just not used to hiding his emotions... But it surely not a "Normal human behavior" to glare at the KING after he just helped you up, is it?

So Aster takes a deep breath and... Smiles.

"I'm quite alright your majesty, just felt a bit dizzy from all the dancing hahaha" He laughs to himself.

Aster may not be the best liar but he is a surprisingly good actor.

"Ah I see." The king says as he let go of Aster's hand, he's now looking down on the young star with a friendly smile "And what a dance that was indeed. Why, we saw you two from our window and we just HAD to take a closer look."

Aster felt a stab of guilt... It's his fault for bringing too much attention.

"I don't think we've met this little rose in our garden before." The queen chimes in sweetly, reaching her hand to caress Aster's face "What's your name, my flower?"

Aster quickly takes a step back, escaping the queen's touch as if he's dodging a bullet.

"Ah- I- My name's Aster!" They stutter, the star really didn't want to be touched by this lady, who knows what he'd see inside HER soul.

Aster tries his best to pull it together, the star knows what to do, he has watched from above how people act around the royal couple. So all he had to do was mimic that behavior.

The young star bows down with one hand on his chest

"I'm humbled that our performance has caught your majesty’s attention. It's a great honor to meet your graces in person." The blonde spoke so eloquently no one could ever guess he's screaming internally.

The king and queen seemed pleased as they exchanged a quick glance to one another... This was going to be fun.

"What an eccentric partner you've got here, Asha" Magnifico says with a calm voice, now looking at the girl sitting by the water fountain, trying her best to hide her face with the hood of her mother's cloak...

… They recognized her? How?

"Aww and how lovely, you're wearing Sakina's cloak aren't you? It fits you so perfectly." The queen said, answering her question as if she could read Asha's thoughts.

Oh yeah... She forgot they knew her parents...

Asha gets up and takes off the hood, trying to act natural like Aster did.

"Thank you, your highness... I didn't expect we'd meet again so soon" she HOPED they wouldn't meet again so soon.

"What a nice surprise though, isn't it?" The king says casually "But speaking of last night... You've never mentioned you played any instruments Asha, I thought your only interest was drawing."

"I-I just didn't see any reason to comment, I'm still practicing is all" She says holding the mandolin close to her

The king chuckles at that "Now now don't be so modest my dear, you played so beautifully it almost seemed like..." he turns his gaze to Aster as he finishes with a knowing smile "Magic."

And with that, Asha realized what Aster already knew since the moment he saw the couple... They knew.

Somehow, they know Aster is a star.

The two teens are thinking the same thing, they gotta run.

Aster begins to walk backwards towards Asha as he says in a not so subtle nervous voice

"Aaaanyway, thank you so much for coming but I'm afraid there'll be no encore, we gotta take a break and-and it looks like it's gonna rain so-"

"Aw leaving so soon?" The king interrupts with a sad tone "We've got a bit of a crowd here. I believe this is as good a time as any for me to share two VERY important announcements... You both should stay and listen, I think they might be of interest to you." He says walking closer to them, to which Aster grabs Asha's hand and they both start moving away.

"O-oh sure the crowd is all yours. We're just REALLY in a hurry." Aster says while still walking backwards, keeping eye contact with the king with a forced smile.

"Hmm" The king hums while tilting his head to the side "Very well then, I'm sure the news will catch up to you two... Sooner than you think." He whisper that last sentence while looking at Asha with that same knowing smile.

And on that note, Aster and Asha just run out of there, leaving some very confused citizens staring at them. Including Asha's friends.

Magnifico follows them with his eyes with a confident and relaxed gaze... He can grab them later, now, it's time to set the stage.

"ALRIGHT! My people, please gather around!" The king says as he hits his staff on the ground teleporting him and the queen to the top of a stage in the plaza.

(Let’s say the stage looks like this… Disneyland stage… But I’ll not be counting this as a reference because that’s kinda reaching at this point.)

More people around the plaza come closer to see what this is all about.

Meanwhile Asha and Aster hide in a alley to hear what the king has to say.

The king begins loud and clear

"Now, I know you are all wondering about that little light last night-"

The crowd cheers, assuming the light was a gift from the king.

"... A light I did not command nor condone." He corrects their assumption

The smiles on his people's faces deflated

"As a matter of fact, that light wasn't even from this world... It was a THREAT from beyond our skies." Magnifico explains with a serious gaze as he summons a book with his staff, the book floats next to him as the pages flip.

"A threat that my family has dreaded for generations. A being that comes down to earth and consumes all the hope, joy and love they can find..." The book stops on a page showing the illustration of a wishing star individual, with golden hair. The drawing seem to have been altered though, to make the entity look more ominous.

"A fallen star. This VILE creature is hiding among us. They can take a human form, gain your trust, make you feel all happy and warm inside even, BUT DON'T BE FOOLED!" The king exclaims warningly as he shuts the book "They're after ONE thing... Your wishes." He says menacingly, pointing at the top of the castle in the distance.

All the citizens look horrified, mumbling among each other, fearing for their wishes and themselves.

Among the crowd there's Asha's friend, they're all scared but Simon seems specially concerned.

The king lets the fear sink in for a few seconds before he switches back to his upbeat friendly king persona.

"BUT HEEEEY! Relax! No need to panic ladies and gentleman. As always, you can trust in me to keep you, and your wishes, safe and sound. This star may be powerful, yes, but their magic is no match for me!" He illustrates his point by creating a light show with his staff, creating fireworks and briefly a dragon made of green magic.

The crowd cheers and claps, trusting Magnifico wholeheartedly.

Aster and Asha are just watching all this play out, hiding away in a nearby alley.

Aster is going through a lot of emotions, scared of what might happen if the king does capture him, angry at himself for not keeping an eye out like he promised he would, and sad that all those people just took everything the king said as gospel.

His animation (That is now 3D, but with a different frame rate depending on how he feels) becomes more laggy and jumpy, like he's not in control of his own body movements as he speaks.

"I didn't think he'd know what a wishing star IS. Had I known this was a possibility I would've NEVER suggested for us to get exposed like that... I'm sorry Asha" They apologize for something he couldn't have predicted.

"It's not your fault." Asha reassure him holding his hand "...But when we were playing, did you see if anyone changed their minds?" She asks curious.

"... Yeah, actually... I could see some sparks of hope! I could tell some people considered granting their wishes by themselves..." He says, calming down a little, his animation going back to somewhat normal.

Asha felt relieved by that, at least they did a little bit of a difference...

But that wasn't enough, they had to actually MAKE a difference, and the only way of doing that was by showing everyone the truth, and proving what was happening with their wishes, if only Asha could show them-

Wait... The king and queen... They're not in the castle right now...

Asha has an idea.

She holds Aster's hand tightly and starts walking out the alley, going through the plaza.

King Magnifico and Amaya are still there, he's answering a few questions about the glow and what people should do.

He follows the two of them with his eyes for a moment.

"Woah- hey I thought we were gonna run away from here." He says quietly to her, trying to keep up the pace.

"No. Come with me.” Asha starts running, pulling Aster with her.

They’re running towards the castle.

“O-okay so what's the plan now?”

“I'm tired of running away from them." Asha says determined

"Huh?"

She points at the castle.

"My wish, and the wishes of dozens of people in Rosas are in there. We can sneak in while those two are outside, then we can grab my wish and as many others as we can." Her eyes have a burning passion as she runs with Aster just in toe holding her hand.

"... Wait, but isn't that pretty much my first plan from yesterday? What changed?"

"What changed is that Magnifico and Amable aren't in the castle..." She thinks for a moment, then she looks back to Aster and gives him a thankful smile "And also, you've shown me that I CAN inspire people, I CAN show them the truth, we can do this together!"

Aster's eyes sparkle in awe when he sees her face.

She continues, now looking at the castle with no doubts left in her "We can even grab some wishes that they changed and show to their owners, to use as proof of what the king and queen are doing!"

Aster can see Asha's star shinning even brighter than before, a huge smile grows on his face.

"That's brilliant!" Aster lets go of her hand and starts running faster than her “Then let’s go! Last one there is a dusty nebula!”

The two are now racing to the castle, with Aster running considerably faster than Asha.

Both hopeful that they'll succeed.

...

They're far, but the king can still see them in the distance. He smiles.

It's adorable how she thinks she can actually change anything.

Asha and Aster don't hear as the king says to his people:

“Now… My second announcement is about this veeeery special wish that I’ve received last night...” he says with a smirk.

He summons a green orb in his hands.

He holds it, in a way that no one can see what's inside the wish yet.

"My dear people, as you all know, nothing in this life brings me more joy than making ALL your wishes come true- Well, that is aside from my beloved queen." He says giving the queen a passionate glance and kissing her hand.

"Oh you!" She giggles.

"However, yesterday something quite... Unfortunate happened, and I had to do something I swore I'd never do... I denied granting a wish." Some citizens gasp in surprise, thinking someone must have wished for something really bad

Asha's friends look surprised at that, they already suspect whose wish this is.

"I know, I know, shocking, yes. It was a wish that just- Well-Surprised us, really, I wasn't sure if I could allow it..." He looks down on the wish with a introspective gaze "But after putting some thought into it, I realized: Isn't this kingdom all about dreams coming true? No matter how outlandish they may seem? Well I say YES. That's what MY Rosas is all about!" The king announces passionately.

"So we decided to do something new... For the first time in my reign... We're getting a PUBLIC WISH GRANTING CEREMONY!" He exclaims. This is a big deal, Magnifico never granted a wish in front of people, only at night while they sleep.

The green gem in his staff glows…

Creating a huge hand made of green magic.

“I’ll just grab our lucky winner real quick, so we may get started.” The king says wearing a huge grin.

His predatory eyes are fixated on Asha running after Aster in the distance.

...

Aster was right about one thing.

It does look like it's gonna rain.

Chapter 10

Final Thoughts

... Soooooo yeah hahaha, we're getting to some INTENSE stuff in the next chapter, buckle up.

But about THIS chapter though, those sure were some good vibes at the beginning, huh? Aster getting to see the kingdom, giving Asha flowers, they promise to stay togetheeeer, and then they sing and daaaance and then Magnifico shows up and the good vibes are gone.

Like... I'm really proud of my work with him as a villain, like, if you're writing a character and YOU dread getting to the scenes that he shows up, you KNOW you're doing something right... I think, you tell me, how did you feel when he popped up?

I'm REALLY proud of how this chapter turned out in general. The idea of Aster seeing humans as tangible emotions just HIT ME one time when I was listening to "At All Cost" for the 1000000th time, and it just fitted perfectly with everything.

Shout out to @gracebethartacc I made Magnifico call Aster “little one” in your honor… And he’ll do it often.

Oh and one more thing, you may have noticed I'm implying that it's gonna rain... Yeah I'll just say one thing about that:

[yuri-is-online]

Happy Holidays! I’ve been on a bit of an angst fix lately, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to brainrot in your inbox about it.

I’ve been thinking about a scenario where Yuu just finally snaps. I mean, an entire school year of being trapped in a foreign world with no certain hope of seeing your family again, being forced to contend with (at least) 7 life-or-death scenarios, the massive egos these teenage boys have, and probably at least a little bullying from the NRC students for being magicless. I mean come on, I love our boys and all, but a lot of them are kind of awful people. There’s no way a regular person’s mental health survives that.

And maybe Yuu, tired of it all, packs up what little they have and leaves. Surely their prospects couldn’t get any worse than at NRC. Maybe Yuu tries their luck at RSA in finding someone to help them go home. Maybe Yuu just wanders until they find somewhere where they can be something. Would they even leave a letter behind explaining what happened to them, or would they just assume no one would care anyway?

I just want some more Yuu angst lol

Do you have any thoughts on this?

Happy Holidays to you too annon! Everyone is welcome to brainrot in my inbox, especially about Yuu. And I do have some ｢(ｰﾍー;) but I might be a bit nicer to the NRC boys than they deserve.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, more fleshed out fic can be found on my masterlist here. SPOILERS FOR UNRELEASED CH 7 CONTENT. CW for abandonment issues, ptsd, bullying, and just general ignorance on the part of the OB boys. Heavy on the angst, this is a mega oof tm of a post.

I want to start off by saying that, in my personal opinion based off of the in game voicelines and vignettes, that the various NRC boys do like Yuu and enjoy having them around. They think of them as the same of any other freshmen student at NRC, which is sort of the problem.

The average NRC freshmen has magic, a dormitory with a housewarden responsible for "guiding" them, and a family they can fall back on if things get rough. The average student has a basic understanding of the history of the world they live in, of it's pop culture, it's food, it's clothes, and a bunch of other things that they might not think about because of how ingrained it is in their very being. Yuu has none of those things. They don't even have a cannon club which I think is more meant to allow players to have head cannons, but since we are talking angst I have wondered if since Yuu and Grim are one student, any club Yuu wanted to join would have to take Grim as well and no one wanted to deal with that. So Grim started his own "club" and Yuu just takes pictures of birthday celebrations and events they aren't able to fully participate in for the school at Crowley's request.

Ace's first reaction to Yuu is to bully them for not having magic. Deuce admits to having done the same thing as when he was a child, and is very embarrassed by it. We don't really see Yuu getting outright bullied outside of this, but given how the faceless students reacted to Deuce being excited for Starsending, yeah I think Yuu has had to deal with some bullying. And while I do think Adeuce (and the rest of Heartslabyul really) would stick up for them, it wouldn't make it stop. If anything it just gets sneakier and Yuu, not wanting to cause any problems, does their best to cover it up. Something about keeping a stiff upper lip or a smile better suiting a hero and all that.

The overblots is a whole separate issue. We get two real apologies, one from Riddle and one from Vil, who again do not take Yuu being magicless in to much thought. They think of Yuu highly! They are a housewarden of their own little dorm! And they take such good care of Grim and the others, not to mention all those overblots you survived! Not many mages can claim that but you can! What could you possibly have to be stressed about?

As if that isn't the entire problem. As if anyone understands where Yuu is coming from. As if they even would care if they did.

They might be just as capable as any other freshmen, but when school ends, hell even when it goes on a break, they have no where to go. They were stripped from their friends, family, and especially their belongings, including money and autonomy! I have some thoughts about my own Yuu wanting to be nurse in her world, but given how much of even basic medical care seems to rely on magic in Twisted Wonderland I wonder if that would even be a career path any magicless person could take. We know a lot of them work at Styx because they don't risk blot accumulation, but even cooking is done with magic (if it can be) in Twisted Wonderland! How would you feel if you had your heart set on being a doctor, worked really hard to get good grades and took up a part time job to save for college/university only to be transported to a different world with different laws of physics completely against your will. A world where all that hard work is meaningless and you might not be able to accomplish those dreams of yours. And! AND AND! If you get upset about it, that will be seen as a weakness on your part and no one will care.

Because hey, they had to work for what they have. Why can't you? They didn't ask to be born with magic (even though they would have probably) so there is no use crying about things you can't change. Ruggie and Jamil do seem to feel a bit of sympathy to Yuu's plight, but neither of them think twice about exploiting Yuu for their own gain. Sure it might be unfair, but life is in general! It's not their fault, they aren't to blame. And that's really how all of NRC sees it, they aren't to blame for Yuu's circumstances, so they aren't owed any special treatment.

How Yuu snaps and what they do because of it would really come down to how you hc your Yuu to be. My own personal thoughts come back to personal autonomy a lot; I don't think Yuu has much of it and that would grate on me constantly. I could see Yuu hearing their friends talk about their plans for the future, and though Ace and especially Deuce try to include them in the conversation they can't add much. Ace applauds them, says "we need to take things easy! We're still freshmen..." and drones on about how he just wants to enjoy school life. And maybe Yuu does too, but they have no concrete answer about whether or not they can get home. They don't have the support system that their classmates do, so there really isn't anything waiting for them after the school year ends. Yuu feels so helpless, and they don't have the words to explain how they feel, because how could they?

If Malleus's overblot ends without any real repercussions (which I doubt it will but hey, I am like 65/35 on whether or not he apologizes to Yuu specifically for almost killing them I will be so pissed if he doesn't) I could see everyone else making fun of Malleus for loosing while Yuu just. Stares off into the distance, trying really hard not to cry in front of people they are convinced will make fun of them. This has all been scary, things like this just aren't possible in their world and they aren't mentally prepared to face death again.

And they are convinced they will. You can say overblots are rare all you like, but Yuu has practically seen one once a month ever since they arrived in this world. It is normal to them, and who should they trust? The lying headmaster or their lying eyes and ears?

If Yuu decides to run away, I think that the Ramshackle ghosts might try to stop them. Sure the headmaster sucks, but your ghost buddies really love you! And want to support you in anyway they can, so does Grim! He wants to be together for the next 100 years, and while he does really want to stay at NRC so he can be the world's greatest mage... I think he might love Yuu more. Just a tiny bit. He would play it off as him being too good for the school, or that he and Yuu are only one student after all so he will be expelled... but really he wants to come with because he will be worried about Yuu.

While going to RSA does sound nice on paper, Yuu doesn't really have a reason to go there. They aren't exactly on first name basis with any of the students we've met so far, and there is always the risk of Che'nya snitching to Riddle and Trey. Better to try and find a place where they can be something and maybe send letters to all the magical academies they can get contact information for to see if they can help. And also, to see if they will accept Grim as a full student, got to make sure he isn't sacrificing his dream for nothing!

The ghosts, realizing they can't convince Yuu not to leave decide to help. They already sell things at the markets downtown, so maybe they chat with some of their clients and convince them to let Yuu rent a room for a while. You have the option in Portfest to mention you have been to Craneport before, and I like the thought of Yuu having a part time job there. Maybe the ghosts explain that Yuu has no real family to go back to and Yuu's part time employer agrees to give them a full time job while Yuu figures out where they want to go.

Another thing related to personal autonomy, Yuu wouldn't have government documents if they just got isekaid out of the blue. I could see that being a huge issue for traveling to different countries and trying to establish a life. I also wonder if Crowley even did anything about that... but assuming he did since he (allegedly) talked to the school board about what to do with Yuu I think the ghosts would get them for Yuu on the condition they still come visit sometimes.

As for the note, I think Yuu would leave one simply because they feel like they didn't have the words to explain themselves out loud. And because they don't want to face the fight they know will come where everyone tells them to just suck it up and get on with it. These are teenage boys they are dealing with, their brains just can't fully comprehend the situation Yuu is in and they have given up expecting them to.

Just so we're clear, I think this would devastate Ace and Deuce, maybe to the point of destroying their friendship, at least for a while. Ace does think about Yuu not having magic, he wants to protect them. He says so when you level him to max, that protecting you will be easy, but clearly it wasn't. Clearly he failed you, and what does Ace do when he feels bad? He takes it out on everyone else and in this case especially Deuce. Deuce just feels stupid, which he already does a lot, but he really saw you as being around for the rest of his life. And now you aren't, and not for a happy reason like you got to go home. You aren't there because they failed you.

The others are a bit of a mixed bag I could do a separate post about but to hit the other big one...

I have no real idea how Malleus would react. I can see him thinking this means Yuu is afraid of him now, which I don't think he would react well to, but assuming this is post ob then he might be willing to take responsibility for it. It would certainly make him think, but how that thought would manifest? Outside of the obvious weather changes I do not know. I could see him being slightly resentful to his mother for cursing him to be hated by humans and loved only by fae when he so desperately wanted to be loved by one specific human. They were his first real friend, and he didn't treasure them in a way they found meaningful.

idk Yuu dropping off the grid isn't something I can see Crowley letting happen, but I can see why Yuu would want to try.