#if anyone has an idea about the technique used here please let me know

[gothhabiba]

Illustration of an okra plant, showing stem, leaves, flowers, and pod beginning to split. Labelled "Hibiscus Esculentus" and signed "P. Caesare Majoli; L. M. [Majoli] Sc." In Osservazioni fitologiche sopra alcune piante esotiche introdotte in Roma fatte nell'anno 1788, Da gli abati Filippo Luigi Gilii e Gaspare Xuarez. Rome: 1789.

Note the use of the long s (ſ) at the ends of words, but not in the middle of them!

[epickiya722]

You know what, let's talk about it. I have thoughts on 268, specifically the "end" between Yuji and Sukuna.

(Jumping off this post and this one.)

Maybe because I'm a fan of both (with Yuji being overall favorite), but I don't see how anyone can be a Sukuna fan and hate Yuji. Especially after 268.

After everything Sukuna has done to him, Yuji still has empathy for him. He connects with Sukuna while holding him as he (Sukuna) fades away (assumingly, I'll get to that).

The scene does start off like Yuji's final confrontation with Mahito (chapter 132 for reference). Yuji looking down at his enemy in his defeated form, says his name and then "I am you", but in reverse.

To me when Yuji says that "You are me", he's telling Sukuna that they are one in the same, that Sukuna could have been Yuji had he had a different life. He's letting Sukuna to accept that, that he is human just as much as when Yuji told Mahito he is no different from the curse.

With Mahito, Yuji was trying to deny, deny, deny until he accepts that "Yeah, we are the same". That's what he wants Sukuna to do. He wants Sukuna to be the Yuji here.

However, it's to see that Sukuna is human and there's value in living. How you die doesn't matter, it's how you live that does. He wants Sukuna to have that second chance even if Sukuna doesn't deserve it.

Let's be real, out of all the characters it is Yuji who came to understand Sukuna the most, probably even more than Sukuna himself.

And I don't think Yuji just gets that him and Sukuna are one. He also gets that humans and curses are one and as such should the idea of humans and curses coexisting is what he accepts. Yuji is the embodiment of an enlightening.

Visually pleasing, I do like that when Yuji speaks here, he still has his facial injuries, his hair slicked back and even his eyes still have the rings. He looks like his own version of Sukuna here. To me, it brings more meaning to his "You are me" line because the last Sukuna sees isn't just Yuji, but also a different version of himself that he could have been.

And at first, it did seem odd (I'll use that word) that Yuji didn't keep the scars he had from that final fight, but it made sense to me because he does have RCT and most of the Cursed energy he was using did go into his techniques and Domain.

But also, a visual reminder that he is still Yuji.

I think about how some of the fandom sees Yuji as the next Sukuna, but I don't think is ever something the mangaka had planned.

Yes, Yuji Itadori is Ryomen Sukuna and Ryomen Sukuna is Yuji Itadori.

But also, they're not each other.

They're still two different beings, two different individuals. They're opposites just as much as they are alike.

Yuji without his scars that would have made him look like Sukuna is a visual reminder that at the end of the day, he is still him.

He was born with his life already planned for him and now he can live how he wants to because he has value in himself and in living.

Yuji Itadori will always be Yuji Itadori.

Not a cog, not a vessel. But Yuji Itadori.

☆

Rereading the posts I linked above and thinking about how their souls are so intertwined that the other characters had to be careful about their plans around Yuji, I remembered a post I wrote way back when about how "it would be so funny if Yuji was Sukuna reincarnated".

Thinking about all that put together what if Yuji is?

Just hear me out.

Remember when Sukuna said he "doesn't feel anything"? Well, what if Yuji is that "anything"? He's the piece of Sukuna that Sukuna didn't feel, the "humanity and empathy". Sukuna doesn't have to feel, Yuji does it for him.

Yuji is that regret, despair, genuine happiness, concern and other forms of emotions that Sukuna can't bring himself to feel.

Now, I do want to bring up something else. A part of me has a feeling that Sukuna isn't really dead. Technically, with Yuji being him and vice versa, metaphorically he isn't. But also... we didn't actually see him completely disintegrate.

It cuts to Yuji's eyes.

Here, it could be Yuji just watching Sukuna fade away completely in regret. Or could be him being anxious over a decision he may have been about to make and said decision he could have gone through with it.

Maybe he ate what remained of Sukuna just before he was completely gone? Maybe that small piece that was left in his hands?

I know, I know. There's this bit here when Uraume is shattering like an icicle hitting the ground.

But what if that final piece of incarnated piece of Sukuna died when (hypothetically) Yuji ate it?

Just me now! I've said it before plenty of times, but I don't expect anyone to agree with me or even think I'm right about this.

Overall, 268 so far has reminded why Yuji easily is my favorite JJK character. He's compassionate, even when he doesn't have to be. He's a fighter, but not to indulge some enjoyment. It's to help. He will sacrifice physical parts of himself, even his humanity just so he can do his job as a jujutsu sorcerer. He's selfless, a strength and a weakness.

Yuji is just a perfect balance of flaws and strengths that define him that I admire.

[linkspooky]

Hello! Is it alright if I ask for writing help? This idea has been shuffling around my head for a few months now. I really want to solidify this idea but I'm struggling to figure which fandom to place him in. They don't have big motivations, no "I want to save everyone" or "I want to live a meaningful life". They're motivated by day to day things, like "I want to buy that new game" and "I want to have sushi for dinner". However this OC is also a big coward, and refuses to give his life for anyone but himself. Essentially, "I am me, I exist. And I want to keep existing."

I'm tempted to put him in JJK, but given the themes of it I don't think he'd last long. Or even be that powerful, if this isn't your thing please ignore and I'm sorry for bothering you!

So I can't really write your own characters for you, so to try to give you advice, I'll describe the process of how I came to create Michikatsu Gojo, my favorite OC that I've written for my Nobody Dies Au.

The first thing before you even start is you can't afraid to have your character be a part of the world. You especially can't be afraid of having your character interact with canon characters. That is literally the point of fanfiction to put the canon characters in made up scenarios. Your own ocs can be one such device for putting characters into scenarios.

People always say they hate reading ocs in fic, but what they really mean is they hate reading bad ocs. Often I think the problem is people are too afraid to make their ocs plot important, so they turn into nothing burger characters. Why is this character here if they don't add something to the story? Or they intentionally flatten their ocs because they're too afraid of taking attention away from the canon characters.

The best thing to do is just let your ocs interact with canon characters. Let them be plot important. It's alright as long as they contribute something to the original story you're trying to tell. If you want your imaginary little guy to interact with Yuji and Co go for it.

I usually get the feedback of "I don't usually like Ocs, but I like yours." I'm sure there are people who don't like how much I use Ocs in my fanfics, but I assume if it's against their personal taste they just don't read. At some point you just have to accept that either people will like your story choices or they won't.

So that out of the way the first thing is to try to find a place in the story you want to tell, whether it's just a brainfic, or an actual fic you want to write out. With Michi I started out with "I want to do backstory for Gojo Satoru. Gege is never going to tell us anything of substance about the Gojo clan so I'm going to make up my own."

So I created Michikatsu. Gojo's cousin. Someone who grew up in the Gojo clan alongside Gojo. However, while Gojo was blessed and spoiled, Michikatsu because he wasn't born with a good technique was reviled. They are both shaped by the corruption of the Gojo clan albeit in opposite ways. They are connected, and are technically family but in a distant way. Michikatsu is a cousin, he's not a sibling. They did know each other growing up but you couldn't say they were childhood friends or anything. Michiktasu is the foil to Gojo, Gojo is blessed and Michikatsu is curssed, Gojo is strong and Michikatsu is weak.

They also have very different ideologies. Gojo only values strength and only takes an interest in strong people. Michikatsu believes that there's a strength in weak people trying and struggling to live their lives even if they're not strong like Gojo or like Yuji. Gojo is recruiting strong kids to his child army, Michikatsu wants to spare weak children like Junpei, Mimiko and Nanako etc.

So Michikatsu is basically crafted entirely around Gojo to be his shadow and his foil. His main plot purpose is to further characterize Gojo, shed light on his backstory, and inform you of certain things about Gojo by contrasting and comparing to Michi.

The next thing is to try to focus in on the central idea of your character. Characters are just ideas after all. Michi's central theme is motherhood. His central philosophy is that there are no bad children. Therefore there are no bad victims. His goal is to become a teacher like Gojo, but unlike Gojo who wants to teach children sorcery Michi wants to teach them math. Unlike Gojo who wants to reform the sorcery world, Michi wants to take his little family and run away from the sorcery world entirely. Gojo takes in strong students, Michi wants to protect weak children. Gojo can't save bad victims while Michi believes that no children are truly bad so he always saves the bad victims.

I know I'm making it sound like Michi is a better person that Gojo, but like, Michi hung around with Geto and he was fine with Geto murdering people and only drew the line at murdering children. Gojo sacrifices the few to save the many. Michi can only save a few people, and isn't powerful enough to stop the deaths of many people.

Michi also doesn't really care. If a child dies right in front of him he'll care. If a hundred people die, as long as they're not children he wouldn't really care.

So you could really just have a character motivated by only the small things in life. "I want sushi for dinner" is valid. Miwa and Kusakabe both don't have any grander motivations or notions of being a sorcerer it's just a shitty job for both of them. I think your character could be like a person who's like "Well, I can't kill myself because I want to see a new episode of the anime next week." That's as valid a motivation to live as anyone else.

Of course you have to come up with curse technique after that, and remember that curse technique should be a metaphor for personality. Michikatsu's curse technique is mind controlling people and turning corpses into puppets, because Michi has had to learn to become a manipulative person in order to survive. Gojo's technique makes it impossible for anyone to touch him because he believes he's truly above everyone to the point of not being able to interact with the world or being understood by other people.

Character design wise I also wanted Michikatsu to compare and contrast with Gojo. Gojo is albino and pale as possible, Michikatsu is brown skinned, has brown hair, but otherwise similiar face shape and hair to Gojo. They're both unnaturally tall and thin. Gojo is someone who is the ideal of jujutsu Society and fits the mold perfectly, whereas Michi is someone who'd be discriminated against because he's biracial. He's immediately identifiable as different.

I'd also say that I made Michi openly queer, because Gojo is queer too but it's relegated to subtext in the story. Gojo has the most queer relationship with Geto ever but they never say it out loud. Michi is just, he's bigender. He is a woman. He uses He / She pronouns interchangably. He'll show up in suits and dresses. He'll be dressed like a man and be like "Damn, I am a gorgeous woman." He only sleeps with men, but it's okay, if you're a straight man you can still be straight and sleep with him because he's a woman. He will adopt you and be your mommy if you want him too.

When it comes to making a character, what's most important of all is making all the details of that character reinforce that central idea, or at least characterize them further. That's the best advice I can give you.

[xxavengingangelxx]

Behind Blue Eyes 1/1

Summary: What exactly happened to Val between days 6 and 10 after she was captured? Why did she suddenly become so compliant? From Graves’s POV. Because, well because Val doesn’t remember. For the simple reason that Graves doesn’t want her to. Maybe out of kindness (because those days were rough), but maybe because generally, a brainwasher doesn’t want their target to remember being brainwashed. 

Inspired by one of my fave YouTubers, Dark5.

I thought about titling this Your beauty never really scared me, a line from one of my favorite songs, Mary on a Cross by Ghost. Just because reader is gorgeous (yes, all y'all are gorgeous!) and Graves wants her but while her beauty might have intimidated other men, of course it didn't intimidate Graves cuz he's a narcissistic used to getting what he wants ;)

Warnings: Torture (nothing graphic), brainwashing, threats of harm, general mindfuckery, etc. This is sadistic Las Almas Graves, a heartless mercenary, kk? ;)

Tags! @unicorngirly1, @c0d-lvr, @bellgraves. I had a taglist when I was posting more often but I lost it so please let me know if you'd like to be added :)

-

This is connected to my fic Long Way from Home, link to the first part below. It's a fic where Graves captures 141's translator in Mexico thinking she has valuable information. She undergoes torture enhanced interrogation techniques thanks to Graves and Shadow Company. She holds her own much better than Graves thought she would.

-

It took 6 days to finally break Val. She finally let go of information that wouldn’t have harmed anyone anyway. Those homing beacons we got from her were old, and she knew that. She refused to give them up for the simple fact that she was defiant. Shepherd’s happy she broke. But he said he’s still flying down. He said he wants her actively working for us.

He told me I have 4 days. 4 days to bring her to our side. I told him that’s impossible, that it took a lot longer than that to essentially brainwash someone. Yes, she’d broken but not willingly.

He told me I knew what to use to do just that. Brainwash her. I know what he was referring to. But no. I didn’t want to. It might kill her.

“Ten Minutes to Midnight,” Shepherd told me.

He told me to do it or he’d kill her. In front of me.

So I relented and went to a computer with some heavily encrypted files. The kind of computer that had a case designed to live through nuclear war and electromagnetic pulse attacks. I pulled up something I learned from the CIA in my dealings with them.

The file titled 10 Minutes to Midnight: The Brainwasher’s Handbook.

The below might sound brutal but just remember I did it to save her life.

-

Val had no idea where she was. The last 24 hours had been a blur and her life had been turned upside down. Everything had changed…everything. Well, her life had changed since Las Almas, I’m certain. Pretty sure she’s never been held captive before.

She’d broken. And that’s what mattered. She was still sedated, somewhat. I couldn’t tell if she was passed out due to exhaustion or if she was still drugged. Maybe both.

But I only had 4 days so we had to fast track this.

She was dead weight when I picked her up. She was definitely lighter than the last time. She was clearly choosing not to interact with me (full on scowled at me before I picked her up and it was hard not to smack her) so when I got back to my barracks I sat her up on my bed, against the wall.

I told her, “We’re not done yet.” And the terrified look in her darker eyes told me that this just might work. Poor thing was still so tired and weak.

We had to be careful here because we didn’t exactly want to erase her entire identity. We needed Val to keep her identity. But she just had to want to work for us. She had to be more violent. Just not towards us like had been for the last 6 days. Seriously, it was getting annoying and exhausting having to be on edge in case she took a swing at me anytime I was within arm’s reach of her. She knew it would result in her getting her ass beat but she seemed to think it was worth it, saying she liked seeing me bleed (she scratched a lot, too).

I tried, really tried to do things the easy way.

I asked told her to come work with me.

And, well, she said fuck you. So disrespectful.

I walked away. Because I wanted to fucking hit her, push her into the wall. But there was a better way to start things. She wanted water and who was I to tell a lady no? I just added a benzo to it. She was out like a light. It was comforting, just watching her sleep, listening to her breathe.

I moved her to what we call one of our soft interrogation rooms. It wasn’t a cell, it wasn’t a concrete cube like she’d been locked in before, but it certainly wasn’t comforting. Just your basics, nothing else: somewhere somewhat comfortable to sleep and less harsh lighting than the rooms (yes, rooms as in multiple because we’ve been moving her to base after base every day) she’d been in before. With one main difference: have you heard of white torture? Everything in that room was white, everything she was allowed to wear was white. It was a form of sensory deprivation that made people easier to brainwash. I made it clear to my men: Val doesn’t leave this room. This is the only room we’d convince her to work for us in. And after she came around, she was never to see this room again.

Because it might trigger memories of how she used to be.

Anyway.

Brainwashing is easy. And it’s not like I have to spend 24/7 with the target. A few of my men were trained in CIA techniques so they knew where to pick up when I needed a break. Val would be worked on 24/7.

Step 1: Assault on identity          

Telling the target they’re not the person they think they are. I told Val she wasn’t who she thought she was. She thought she was an inseparable part of 141. She saw Price as a father figure and the other boys as older brothers. Well, except for Johnny for the simple fact that she used to fuck him. I’d make sure he stayed extra far away from her. He might be a potential trigger for her.

No, you’re not a part of 141. No, you hadn’t known them for years. No, you could not trust them with your life. They’ll kill you if the catch you. Or help lock you up in a military prison the rest of your life. No, they’re not going to forgive you for betraying them, even if you told them it was under torture.

She put up one hell of a fight against this and it was certainly admirable. She even attempted to escape two hours into the ordeal when one of my boys opened the door to that room. But if the first step doesn’t get accomplished, the nine other steps won’t either. So every time she would deny my statements, I would hurt her. Nothing too bad, of course. I couldn’t leave too many new injuries on her. Just stress positions, pressure points, and keeping her awake. I feel like she’d had enough physical abuse coercion.

After 12 hours of repeated verbalizations and some pain she became noticeably less cocky and sure of herself. Hour 14, she sounded confused for lack of a better term. Granted, she had been kept awake for more than 14 hours but she appeared really confused. I asked her to confirm her identity and she seemed even more confused. She whispered her name, but it sounded as if she was asking a question. But I could tell she was doing it only because she was scared. She wasn’t turned yet but this is only the first step so of course she wasn’t.

Her beliefs and her identity were weakened. Not broken yet but weakened. And so I moved onto the next step.

Step 2: Guilt

This step is generally more violent. It has to be. This is where you convince your target they’re the scum of the earth…a horrible person. I told her that 141 were war criminals and that she had helped them. I had to do this step in full uniform to add to the effect. She always showed more fear when I showed up in uniform. I was the only thing with color in that room so she was dead focused on me. She was desperate to look at anything that wasn’t snow white, even if it was her tormentor me.

Yes, Val, you’d helped war criminals. And you resisted my men and I, who were not anything close to war criminals. That we only killed when we had to. And that we certainly didn’t take advantage of females in our group like Soap had done her.

Predictably, she got violent.

So, unfortunately we had no choice but to respond in kind. Of course, no serious injuries. But she felt pain nonetheless. The more hours that ticked by, however, the more exhausted she became and the less she fought. She wasn’t even trying to cover her ears and scream over us to go the fuck away or to shut the fuck up anymore after about another 12 hours. She stopped just screaming into the dark void of her room. She just listened.

But one thing that she would not stop reacting violently to (as in swinging, scratching, kicking, biting, you name it) was the suggestion that the Scot of 141 had taken advantage of her. That was fine, we could drop one or two items off our list. So we left that one alone.

She still hadn’t slept by the way.

Step 3: Self-Betrayal

I told her to admit that she was bad. I told her over and over amid physical okay and sexual threats. Although she, as always, resisted, under the threat of breaking her arm, she agreed in a desperate tone of voice. Because I promised her she didn’t want to have a serious injury on-base, that it would lead to misery. She agreed that she was a bad person because of her job and the people she worked for.

I forced her to admit that her parents were bad people, clearly, and maybe that had been passed onto her. Genetics and all that shit, right? She admitted, on demand, that she was a bad person.

And after she did that, I let her sleep. Only for a few hours. Just long enough to where she slept deeply enough to where a simple ultrasonic wave caused a concussion without leaving marks or making her any the wiser. But weaking her to the next part.

Step 4: Breaking Point

Psychic driving: Strap a someone (preferably concussed) down, give them paralytic drugs and make them listen to a repeated statement hundreds if not thousands of times. Then, you just break them down with something called depatterning which uses drugs, electric shocks and sensory deprivation. The result? It destroys your target’s personality. Then you get to replace the personality with whatever you want.

The only issue we ran into is that we couldn’t quite erase her entire personality or identity. We still needed Val to be Val. Just anti-141 Val. Maybe a version of Val that was a little more trigger happy. A version of Val where maybe, just maybe, she’d kill for us. The CIA would do that shit to people for days, sometimes weeks, we just did it for 36 hours.

And after about 36 hours of that shit, she was almost totally different. After she had been unstrapped, she seemed numb. She gave me this look, this broken, shocked look and then she just broke down. She started screaming and crying about how she didn’t know where the hell she was, who she was, what she stood for. She actually begged me to tell her who she was. Later that night she was convinced she was back in Las Almas. She got psychotic. She wasn’t there. She had fallen off the brink and it was time to pull her back.

Step 5: Leniency

This is kind of like the Stockholm syndrome building stage. She heard me come into her room and she instantly backed up, retreating against the wall, eyes focused on the floor. So I soothed her, promised I wouldn’t hurt her. I mentioned that because she was making progress in trying to make up for all the bad she had done and that I wouldn’t hurt her. I asked her if she wanted something, anything to eat. She told me she wanted a burger and fries. Simple enough. So I got them for her. It was the first time she’d something other than white rice in days.

But I made sure she knew that the only reason I was doing this was because she was making an active effort to make up for all the bad she had done beforehand. I started showing up in civilian clothes. She agreed to make an effort to right the wrongs she had done in the past. Later that night, She got to sleep in a warm room, a normal room for the first time (i.e. not a white torture room). She got to sleep in a warm bed all because, I kept telling her, she was changing herself for the better.

While it may not seem like much, after days of torture and interrogation followed by now days of brainwashing techniques, these small acts of kindness make her think I saved her life and that she owes me. She even said she felt obliged to me and so clearly there was increased trauma bonding.

Step 6: Compulsion to Confession

Next I told her that she could do something for me after everything I had done for her. I told her she could help herself feel better, too. How? By confessing that her past life had been a mistake full of bad deeds. I told her she could confess to me. And while she resisted at first, a little prodding eventually convinced her.

She confessed that her whole life she had lived a lie, that she had been brainwashed by the military to believe she was doing good, but that in reality, she had done horrible things. Her job had turned her into a horrible person. She confessed all of this.

And the best part? She thanked me.

Step 7: Channeling of guilt

Val started this stage on her own.

“I feel bad,” when I asked her why, she gave me this perfect answer about how she had done bad things with her life. She didn’t know how to fix things, she told me. How could she fix things, she wondered, if she had been doing them for such a long time?

She couldn’t have said it in a better, more perfect way. When I asked for the specifics of what she had done wrong, she had no idea. It’s not uncommon for subjects to be confused as to the specifics of what they’ve done wrong. So I told her that her previous identity and belief system were the source of her agony. What she had believed in were the cause of her pain. And I told her that if she wanted to alleviate her guilt, that she would reverse her identity and her beliefs. She could still be saved, I promised her. I told her she wasn’t a bad person but that her beliefs were bad. Easily fixable, I promised her.

While I didn’t take into account how many hours each stage took, the stages lasted shorter and shorter.

Step 8: Releasing of Guilt

This step involved convincing Val that it wasn’t she that was bad but that her previous beliefs were. She smiled for the first time in days and asked if this meant that she could fix what her past beliefs had made her do. I promised her that’s exactly what it meant. All she needed to do was denounce the people she had worked for and denounce that belief system.

To test her, I handed her her dog tags (we’d taken them from her to prevent a third suicide attempt). She wanted to melt them down because she said it reminded her of her 141 days.

I told her not quite because we might have to work with them again in the future.

This was when she realized that she wasn’t a bad person but that her previous beliefs had made her bad. And that she could make up for it by working with us and for us.

Step 9: Progress and Harmony

The path to ‘good’ was helping my cause, I told her. If she really wanted to make up for the things her past beliefs and dedications had caused her to do, she would follow the instructions I gave her. She agreed and this is where generally, the abuse use of force stops. I don’t need to hurt her anymore because she’s agreeing. She’s so far gone that abuse is unnecessary and might work against me. I gave her the illusion of choice (when in reality I’m not giving her a choice) in that she can choose between going back to her bad, evil ways or that she could choose a better path. I reminded her that her old ways had burdened her with so much guilt that they had led to a mental breakdown.

Remember that breakdown you had a few days ago? I had asked her. She nodded. I told her that her guilt had been so overwhelming that she had broken down and I had saved her. In order to prevent another breakdown, she would choose my way. Needless to say, she made the right choice.

Step 10: Final confession and rebirth

Who are you? Still Val, just a better person (she’d actually forgotten her first name as a result of this and maybe the almost week of torture we dealt her before). She said she was more than willing to work with me.

To make sure, I told her I needed to try something.

Downers and Uppers is what the CIA called it back when they did it.

My medic 10-4 and I got ahold of amphetamines and benzodiazepines. He set up an IV of each on each arm.

I watched as he drugged her with the ‘downer’ until she was almost asleep. Then he injected her with the ‘upper’ which jolted her awake and sent her heart rate skyrocketing.

Round and around it went, up and down. And holy shit did she reveal more information about 141. Some theories of downers and uppers that suggestions made during this interrogation technique seem to…for lack of a better word…stick.

She couldn’t lie during this hellish cycle. Literally could not. When I asked her if she’d work with me, without hesitation, she said yes.

And that’s when I knew we were done.

Well, almost done. The only thing left was to use ultrasound to re-concuss her and erase or bury the memories of the past 4 days deep.

Then I carried her back to my room. 10-4 said she should be able to sleep it off.

-

I told Shepherd it’s done. With a few hours to spare. I got her changed into more comfortable clothes I’d kept with me from one of prior nightly liaisons.

So then I picked her up again, led her back to that cold, sterile, cell. She’d wake up here and remember being tortured but she wouldn’t remember us coaxing her to our side.

She continued sleeping it off until I decided to really test the waters. I knew that because we did a shortened version of Ten Minutes to Midnight (its supposed to take weeks, ideally), there were going to be some kinks.

And that was confirmed when she watched me step into that cell.

“What do you want?” she whispered. At least she wasn’t charging at me or yelling at me.

“How long have you been here?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. You’re using all kinds of sensory deprivation.”

“10 days,”

And she snapped up at that. “No way,” she claimed.

So I pointed out how far along her injuries were healed. “Surprised you don’t remember screaming when we stitched ya up seeing as we didn’t use anesthesia.”

“Val, you were gone,” I paused before adding, “You don’t remember ripping that IV outta your arm and saying you wanted to die?”

She shook her head.

“You’re lying,” she said. She then pulled up her sleeves and saw the numerous IV track marks and the slices into her skin from her suicide attempts (One from a piece of glass, like seriously? And the other from ripping that IV out of her arm).

“You’re lying!” She yelled. And then she shoved me. For a second there I thought I was gonna have to drag her back to the drawing board. So I issued one warning: “Next time you put your hands on me I’m gonna break your arm,” and where before she would have dared me to, swung at me, scratched me, she complied.

I stepped closer towards her and she muttered I not get any closer. “When did you get here?” I asked again. I tossed her my watch. The look on her horrified face almost made me feel sorry for her.

“Havin’ a rough night?” I easily took my watch out of her trembling hands. “Tell you what. Come hang out with me tonight.”

She gave me this scared look. So I promised that as long as she wasn’t violent, I wouldn’t be either. She was also apparently terrified of my boys so I promised they wouldn’t lay a hand on her either.

She full on flinched when she heard me lock the door to my room. So I told her to relax, that we weren’t doing anything she wasn’t comfortable with. She was so confused. She had no idea she’d broken and she had no idea she’d been brainwashed.

So I wasn’t totally taken off guard when she walked up to me and kissed me. And I sure as hell found out that night that she was definitely on our side.

The clock just ticked one minute closer to midnight for you, 141.

-

Learn more! This fic was also inspired by a video from one of my favorite YouTubers, Dark5.

[longlivefeedback]

Commenting 101

Lesson 3: Quote. Or paraphrase

Sorry about going MIA last weekend, but I'm back with Lesson 3 💪 But before we get into it, how are we doing with describing the indescribable and commenting in general?

Alright. So let's talk about quoting bits of the fics and commenting on them in a comment. Personally, it's one of my favourite ways to comment because I find it easier to focus on a specific thing/sentence/paragraph/turn of phrase that I really like and gush about it to an author. By doing this, I can also focus on the bits of the story that I really really liked, and not worry about the parts that I didn't like so much. Win-win for everyone!

The one downside of this particular commenting technique is that it does take a relatively high amount of effort and is not as easy as a keyboard smash or entering a bunch of smileys and a catchphrase into the comment box. But hey. Some fics are worth it :)

So, here are some tips on how to quote while commenting:

Keep 2 tabs open.

Use a third party browser script that gives you a floating review box.

Paraphrase.

1. Keep 2 tabs open

Easier on a computer, but I've done it on mobile before. This is literally having two tabs open to the same chapter/fic as I read. When I get to a sentence or phrase that I really like, I'll copy it from my reading tab and paste it into my second tab which has the comment box open.

Sometimes I'll notate what I am thinking in the moment for that quote, and sometimes I'll leave it for the end and experience all the bits I loved again 😍. My comment at the end usually looks something like this:

"Sentence I really like" ~~ I really love how you described this character!

Everything from "Start of a paragraph/section..." to "...end of paragraph/section" is giving me life!!

"Paragraph I really like" ~~ This was perfection and made me cry 😭

and so on and so forth.

It's nice when I notate as I go, because when I'm done reading, I've got quite the comment already written and I usually just round off the comment with a catchphrase like "This was all wonderful! Thank you for writing and sharing!" and hit post, easy-peasy.

2. Use a third party browser script that gives you a floating review box.

This is not something I personally use, but the people who do have really loved it and I love the concept of it so here it is for you to try and see if it works for you!

There are a couple of scripts:

AO3 Floating Comment Box by ScriptMouse. This is a script to create a floating comment box at the bottom of the page for works on AO3. Box will be closed by default, and can be open/closed using the button in the top left corner of the window. Thanks to @memorizingthedigitsofpi for the link!

AO3 Review + Last Chapter Shortcut + Kudos-sortable Bookmarks Tampermonkey script by @ravenel. Click on the link to take you to the original post describing the tool and here's a follow up tutorial post by @bourbon-ontherocks on how to install the script. Credits to @altschmerzes and @castillon02 for the links!

I think these are only for browser on computers (so no mobile?) but please feel free to correct me in the notes if anyone knows.

3. Paraphrase

Let's be real. While Tips 1 and 2 are really just giving you tools to make commenting easier, when it gets down to it, commenting really requires you to, well, comment on something.

So what to do if you forgot to take notes as you read, didn't feel like doing it as you were reading, or found it just too hard to wrangle on mobile?

Paraphrase.

Just refer back to that one thing that caught your attention ala:

"I really love how you described this character in that part!"

"That part where you wrote about that thing that happened to that character is giving me life!!"

"That part where you that happened was perfection and made me cry 😭"

Yes, this does require you to remember and be able to point out and talk about certain parts of the fic. It can be a lot to remember particularly if it's a long chapter. So, as I've stressed in previous lessons, don't let it paralyze you. Just pick one thing you can remember and have the ability to comment on.

Remember:

Just quoting and commenting on one thing is better than nothing.

When you cannot quote, paraphrase!

And as always, when in doubt, comment your catchphrase.

If you want more help constructing a comment or validation that you're writing good comments, please send in an ask or submit a screenshot!

Lessons masterpost.

[kxmikomrade]

JJK Characters with a Venti!reader

Characters: Itadori Yuji, Fushiguro Megumi, Kugisaki Nobara, Gojo Satoru Genre: FLuff, Crack, Can be read as romantic or platonic (completely platonic on Gojo's) Gn!reader Pronouns: Y/P [Your Pronouns] Type: Headcanon Warnings: I think just a bit of swearing Waiter's Notes: I wanted to try out a new twist, feel free to drop by and order if you like it! ^^ Author's Notes: Back to my jjk phase, and i noticed how there werent much 'character!reader's here and i really enjoy those so i just took it into my own hands. My reqs are always open!

•Oh my Archons

•i cant with you two neither can Megumi tbh

•You're like two kids on a play date or smth

•He mostly doesnt understand your songs/poems so you're gonna have to dumb it down

•Tho he does like the sound of it

•He thinks your curse technique is the coolest thing ever like he has sparkles in his eyes every time you use it

•The way you control wind and make things fly is just so fascinating

•Please use ur anemo shit to make him fly. Bby has been dreaming of flying ever since he could eat weird solid food

•Sukuna would be so annoyed by you, and Yuji uses it to his advantage LMAO

•Though Sukuna prob knows who you are from a thousand years ago and just stays quiet about it because Yuji would definitely also use it against him

•Man, give this guy a break, he already has to deal with Gojo and the one braincell duo

•He would describe you as loud or annoying but he actually tolerates you just because you can be calming sometimes

•He likes listening to your poems or songs, helps him sleep

•You go knocking on his window at 2am in the morning to sing him a song when he cant sleep 💀

•How you know about it? no idea. You just reply with ''The wind told me''

•Yeah he definitely needs sleep

•Same thing with Inumaki, Megumi doesnt sincerely respect you because of your antics. But he does admire you for your skill

•Esp the way you hold the bow and use attacks with no unnecessary movements

•He overall just likes your company if u just keep ur damn mouth shut unless ur gonna sing

•To be quite honest with you, i think that she would think of you as a dumb potato aswell

•But she likes your beauty lets be real

•LIKE- YOU'RE SO GENDER

•SO?? WHY?? WOULDNT?? SHE?? TAKE YOU??? ON SHOPPING SPREES????

•I'd like to think that you both get along well

•ESPECIALLY IF U COMPLIMENT HER

•THEN HER FASHION SENSE

•THEN FOR THE CHERRY ON TOP, WRITE A POEM ABOUT HER

•Shes your aggressive best friend now

•Ready to kick your ass and to kick ass for you.

•Someone insults your hairstyle? No problem, theyre already hammered to the wall

•Gonna perform a song? your makeup is done, go slay it!!

•Oh my Archons part 2

•He was very amused when he found out your cursed technique could manipulate wind

•Listen listen, you're probably his favorite student with how much u side along his pranks and goofiness

•NANAMI, MEGUMI AND IJICHI ARE SO DONE WITH YALL LMFAOO

•u basically took 20 years off their lifespan

•Like during winter, Gojo could dunk cold water on poor Megumi's head and u would send wind in his way 💀💀

•Is he considering murder? yes, definitely

•Gojo isnt even worried about you because you tend to use long ranged attacks and even if it comes down to short range, you're ready to beat your opponent up and summon your badass Black hole and start shooting them with your arrows that they end up being a porcupine

•IMAGINE HOW SICK IT WOULD BE IF YOU COMBINED THE BLACK HOLE WITH GOJO'S HALLOW PURPLE

•He occasionally brings candied apples for you when he comes back from missions

•smh favoritism

•He would get SO smug when u write a song/poem about him

•He brags to everyone and anyone about it 24/7, they first thought it was cute, now its getting so annoying

•IF you're like 1000+ years old like Venti then expect this man to go *insert surprised pikachu* when he finds out

•I honestly have no idea what his reaction would be if he finds out you're a literal god 💀

(626 words)

[creative-kny-fics]

ooo, requests!! could u do lee!tanjiro with ler!sanemi and giyuu? maybe tanjiro is feelin sad and giyuu makes sanemi cheer him up? really show him no mercy. thank u!!:))

Nice!

Warning: This fanfic contains tickles. Also remind them that I don't speak English, so if they find any errors, let me know to correct it. I hope you like it!

Lee: Tanjiro Kamado

Ler: Giyuu Tomioka and Sanemi Shinazugawa

'Well, Giyuu brought you a little surprise' 'GIYUU - SAN!', Giyuu could barely react when Tanjiro and Nezuko ran and pounced on him.

'Oi, take care' 'It's alright Nemi, oh god, I missed you sooooo much' 'We too Giyuu-San! That's why we brought you your favorite dish and Sanemi - San's too'

That was how Tengen, the Kamado brothers and the Sanegiyuu ate.

'It seems like she's still in the habit of sleeping a lot' 'Ohh yes, she must be very tired. She has cooked for everyone hehehe'

'Well, I'll also apply the young Kamado's technique' 'And you, why?' 'Because being extravagant is exhausting, you know?', classic Tengen...

Giyuu and Tanjiro talked, despite the fact that they sent each other letters, they had a lot to talk about, but among those things, there were the lives of the people who died and what he hurt when he became a demon.

'Hey, like this again? Tanjiro, we have repeated it to you, you didn't hurt anyone... And about the others, well, we won't be able to change the past, but... We can choose what to do in the present, do you think they would like to see you sad? No, right? Come on, give me a hug'

They hugged in front of a jealous Sanemi's gaze, but then an idea occurred to him. He leaned closer to him and whispered to him, Giyuu agreed smiling as Sanemi sat down next to him to begin the plan.

'Huh?' 'Relax Tanjiro, relax,' Giyuu whispered, placing Tanjiro's head on his lap and his body on Sanemi's lap, caressing him gently.

'Thank you-! He-Hey!' 'What's up Kamado? weren't you sad? I just heard a giggle', do not have or do not approach Sanemi when he is in his ler mod, you will come out crying and sore from the tickles what will he do to you

'No! Wait!' 'Too late, calm down Tanjiro, you're in good hands', sure, "good hands"

Tanjiro knew that Giyuu might not be so cruel, but Sanemi? He had seen the tickling fights of both of them and he was not gentle, not even with Giyuu who was his couple, what was going to become of him? Also, not to mention that Sanemi knew his worst spots, he was fried.

'GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! NOHOHOHO!!! YOU ARE GOING TO WAKE UP-' 'Let them wake up, that won't stop us from tickling you', Sanemi smiled mischievously, watching Tanjiro kicking hard and squirming.

Sanemi was squeezing his thighs, while Giyuu was only gently brushing his neck, he didn't know how or why, but his body just at that moment became extremely sensitive.

'STOHOHOHOP!! NOHOHOT THE NEHEHECK!! GIHIHIYUU - SAHAHAHAN!!!' 'Hmm?', he mumbled, muttered as if he hasn't gone down to his armpits.

Sanemi applied his techniques, squeezing his thighs with one hand and scratching up his sides with the other, pressing his hips, gently sliding his fingers around his belly, poor Tanjiro

'IT'S TOO MUCH!!! WAHAHAHA!! UHUHUZUI - SAHAHAHAN!! NEHEHEHZUKOOOO!! HEHEHELP!!!!' 'They're asleep idiot, suffer' 'Sanemi, be nice', he rolled his eyes and that's when they changed positions, now Tanjiro was lying on his chest and Giyuu, well he was next to Sanemi

'Ready? Tanjiro Kamado...' 'N-no! Tomioka-san! Please help me!' 'I'm sorry Tanjiro, but is it you or is it me. And believe me, Sanemi is very good at tickling...', Tanjiro's eyes widened when he saw Sanemi's smile, who was approaching his armpits moving his fingers and making him laugh in anticipation

'*yawn* wow.. I fell asleep, onii-chan? Where-?', Nezuko got scared when she heard a scream not far from here, but she recognized who it was, Tanjiro!

Nezuko got up and ran until she saw how Sanemi had Tanjiro imprisoned, digging his fingers into her brother's armpits, who was writhing, kicking, screaming and crying from having laughed so much.

'HEHEHEHELP!!! I CAHAHAHAN'T *hip* NO MORE!!! *snort* I-I!!!', Tanjiro could no longer speak, his laughter remained silent until he felt Sanemi stop, he prayed that he had really stopped and was not pretending to attack him unawares

When Tanjiro looked up, he found Sanemi covering his mouth while Nezuko vigorously clenched his hips. 'Set my brother free!' 'Da-damn!'

'Hey Nezuko, do you need help? It looks like the torturer will become the victim', Giyuu smiled, walking with Tanjiro towards them. Well, it looks like Sanemi went from ler to lee.

[ekkurea]

SERIOUSLY YOUR RENDERING IS TOP TIER!! SHARE TIPS PLEASE 😭😭😭🫶🫶🫶🫶

Hello! Thank you very much!

I'll take this opportunity to talk about AI.

I'll take this opportunity to talk about artificial intelligence. In fact, the topic of AI is very exciting for me. And if I have decided for myself that I will perceive it as a new tool for studying and creating art, then I want to know your opinion and tell you how it works for me. If you want a short, clear answer about rendering that works for me, then I'm learning a lot about artificial intelligence right now.

This is a new territory in the art world. Of course, it won't draw an order for me. It's not as simple as many people might imagine. It doesn't work in a way that it fulfills my requirements and draws for me. Ha-ha, no. At least now it's not possible or I just don't know it. I do everything: base, outline, colors, light and shadow, etc. I see how it processes the image and some part of the rendered result may be useful and I will use it for myself.

But! Without the necessary artistic knowledge, none of this will work. I know the basics of art, I work hard on each illustration and practice a lot and keep improving my knowledge without stopping. Artificial intelligence will not be able to realize a specific idea, let alone do it well. And if anyone knows how this is possible, please share this knowledge with me. And even then, I will move on and look for ways to use it to advantage.

Now the problem with artificial intelligence is that it uses the work of authors without their permission. Is it terrible? Yes. Is there a solution? Of course there is. That's why some developers are already buying permissions to use drawings. The world is taking a step forward and this cannot be changed. This does not devalue art. It does not destroy traditional drawing methods or original styles of authors. It covers a slightly different area.

What did this short "collaboration" with AI give me? I worked a lot with my weakness - color, I got more opportunities to analyze and improved my skills in drawing fabrics, shapes, soft contours... I'm no longer afraid to play with the contour. And I already have some ideas of how I would like to try to draw it differently. I feel freer. I am developing and trying to improve my drawings so that you can get better results.

Although I keep thinking that someday I will go back to a simpler drawing style. Manga/manhwa occupy a huge part of my heart and maybe someday I will decide to work in this direction too. And drawing with traditional materials, as well as teaching it to others, has been and will remain my own therapy. I will never give it up. And I am already interested to see how digital has influenced my technique even here.

Please share your opinion, it is very important to me! And I'm ready for conversations and discussions. Thank you for your question and sorry if you were expecting something else! But I'd be happy if you try it and see something new for yourself. Whether you like it or not, it's a new practice! I wish you success and good mood!

[ohanny]

hidden agenda episode 2

"basil chicken without the basil, please"

- i love how this episode starts off strong with zo on a date with joke, not that zo has any idea this is what's happening - "my tongue is always getting me in trouble" ¬‿¬ - you think in five episodes we will get zo thinking this "we can just stay as classmates" was his last chance to run and avoid a life of homosexual bliss? - i love zo's absolute tunnel vision when it comes to this idea of joke helping him get nita and joke is literally looking anywhere else, just asking zo out to eat, "my treat" like dumb dumb, that's a date! - why is it peak zo to be like "basil chicken but no basil, please" - but look at joke widening his horizons! he's totally like "first i will feed you spring rolls, next it will be my dick"

reasons to join the debate team: 1. [NEW]: so p'wave can step on me 2. [⬇] the dumpster fire that is joke-zo-nita 3. [=] actually developing valuable skills

- but for real, i would also be down bad for nita, girl call me - i love the debate team debating about the pros and cons of letting joke join their crew and it basically being girl: well, he is really hot boy: but has anyone ever heard him talk, let alone debate? - zo is such a dedicated good boy, i can't with him, but he gets so shifty when joke is brought up :D honey, you are being sus as fuck

- HOW does zo not realize he is being flirted with by a man who is so gone on him, he thinks helping the dummy to woo his ex girlfriend is a great idea??? the agenda is not hidden at all

- i do love a man motivated by a shiny cup - the way zo is like "one day i shall be the debate champion" and joke is basically putting together a mental pinterest board of their wedding. your honour, the man is a simp

- the episode is not even halfway through and this is the second time joke has conned zo to have a date dinner - if it wasn't 2AM and i wasn't having espresso twitches, i could go on a rant about the significance of joke getting zo - a person clearly stuck in his ways and reluctant to branch out - to try new things

- oh my dear lord he is practicing his debate stuff and being so cute about it, do not make fun of the poor baby - also what is this place? does he live in a mcmansion? - the random seniors in this show are all unfairly attractive - "look at this guy drinking a soda. in a bar" - someone who knows what's up

- "is he wave's mentee? be careful of those guys." EXCUSE ME? what is going on here? what is with the ominous music? is the debate club some weird junior branch of the mafia? - i am getting vibes. i am officially shipping this bar owner with p'wave, it is done. new hyper fixation. the head canons are canoning. like i need to know who got their dick sucked and heart broken. - joke and his dedication to get zo to eat new things vol. 3942 - ksjkdfakjf JOONG. i see a shadow of stubble and i am on the floor. - zo: remember how i taught you the gazing technique? use it. joke, a man physically unable to tear his eyes off zo: ... - they are holding hands and joke is freaking out because oh god, he is just a shy bean, isn't he? like he masks his social awkwardness by being big and grumpy and now he is being coached by a man in a 2012 bieber haircut - "i don't think anyone realizes how fast my heart is racing right now" BITCH PLEASE I AM UNDER THE FLOOR OH GOD

- how is zo and literally everyone else in the bar not in love with this man by now? - he is not singing "choose me, choose me, i'll take good care of you" adlaflkdjf fucking hell (ಥ﹏ಥ)

- yes, zo, go off responsible king! don't drink and drive! give this man a ride instead, he has earned it - joke went from mildly annoyed over being babied to absolutely smitten because zo was worried about him to oh fuck shit nita in a matter of seconds - "are you sulking?" YES HE IS! you broke his tender heart yet again you fucking piece of bieber - i don't know how necessary taking zo's glasses off was for placing the helmet on his head but it was very necessary for my well being - "why were you talking about having a crush?" BECAUSE HE HAS ONE ON YOU

- zo is such a happy lil hamster driving the bike and joke is probably feeling like a roasted marshmallow at this point. like he 10/10 sniffed the back of zo's neck and downright confessed already but of course the dumb-dumb didn't hear it... the tropes are troping so hard MY HEART - what the fuck they mentioned finland?!?! TORILLA TAVATAAN! - joke is walking like a man on a mission and it is very sexy - the hair curl is swirled, the denim is hugging those thighs, the sleeves are rolled... - they made this so dramatic for no reason like how p'wave is all "he is two seconds late and literally no one else is here yet OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" (like seriously, is this a debate mafia?!) and joke definitely could have squeezed his way into that elevator, none of those girls would have minded one bit like pls - lmfao even nita is like "what's up with you? why are you here?" - oooh, p'wave is definitely up something like he is plotting and that just made him at least 45% hotter in my eyes. older man: ✓ face sculpted to the gods: ✓ possibly evil: 🚩🚩🚩 zo, a person who begged a girl's ex to help him woo her with inside knowledge: hidden agendas are wrong because there should be no secrets when you start a relationship joke, sweating: ... - also joke: spanks that button so hard damn

joke: but what if i fart a lot zo: this hardly counts as a hidden agenda joke: then what is it? zo: your talk of flatulence has rendered me speechless everyone: all hail joke, our new debate king - nooo HE GOT BUDDY ZONED - oh, good job gay gravity, we had the swoon and we got a man down on his knees like that's a double whammy!

WAIT WE ARE GETTING A HOT GIRL MAKEOVER MONTAGE NEXT EPISODE oh god those were my favorite bits of america's next top model although i think we all know who's gonna be on top here

[random-cryptid]

ok so, i made a lil dolly of ms frizzle and now all i can think about is making lil dollies of winnie, mary, and sarah and i am going nuts over it

i think the three of them would love the fact that i wanna make lil dolls of them, especially winnie. like, theyve never had anyone do that to them, so the thought of me trying out something ive never done before just so i can always have them with me would make all three of them melt faster than honey in hot tea

i'd have to ask mary and winnie how the fuck they do their hair like that cuz idk how to draw it, let alone recreate it with yarn shhdhdj. oh! and i'd have to ask sarah if she has any tips for making the clothes cuz i dont really know how to make clothes in general, let alone doll clothes

ik the dolls are gonna look really skrunkly and messy, but i think they'd be super proud of me for trying something new, and over the moon that i chose the three of them to be my muses for it.

YEAH I SAW YOUR LIL MS FRIZZLE DOLL SHE'S SO CUTE 😭😭😭 ALSO PLEASE DO!!!

I think Mary would be climbing walls (metaphorically) too ngl. I believe she's an arts and crafts girly (not as much as Sarah though but definitely does some clothes and such too!) so she would find it especially cute.

I believe I can help with the hair and clothes!!!

Winifred's hair is pretty much the same as Queen Elizabeth I, and this tutorial is pretty easy to follow! Definitely not historically accurate in the techniques but it's the same shape lol. Basically her hair is just two big buns!

Mary's hair however... I can't by the life of myself figure out how her hair works (my hypothesis is that her hair is twisted into shape... Kind of.) apart from her having one tiny braid going along the whole hat shape of her hair.

All the tutorials I've seen for her hair have in common using wires and some sort of cilinder to shape her hair tho!!! This is one of the easiest ones I've seen. (Btw it's crazy to me how this lady has her exact vibe)

Now for the clothes you can check Salvador Perez's Instagram account! (He's the costume designer from the second movie) But if you don't want to scroll too much it's okay I gotcha! Here you have:

• Sarah's sleeves (they're sewn in on the corset!)

• Sarah's corset (you don't have to embroider anything, I think it's better if you use markers instead)

• Winnie's top gown + accessories (basically her full gown is two pieces: the top one, which is the deeper green one, and the under one, which is the one with purple and a lighter green)

• Mary's full outfit + details (this one's just a general idea)

• Mary's corset + sparkles (once again, more of a general idea)

• The Sister's shoes + thighs + undergarments (looove love Winnie's boots ngl)

Making sewing patterns is basically like making puzzle pieces and putting them together, so getting the shapes shouldn't be too complicated! In any case, if you need help with that I can help you out! (Unfortunately I'm no taylor but I'll do my best). You can also look up tutorials for specific things like skirts! (They're actually one of the easiest things to make!)

[chaosdisorganized]

Since you wanted asks, here's a Vent (tw: RAMCOA/TBMC)

/

/

/

/

It feels like my brain is ripping in half trying to come to terms with the memories that say my abuser got paid to let his buddies rape me and participate in programming sessions.

I can't even say it out loud, and I have to beat around the bush typing it out to people I know in person. Feels weird to write it out like this, too frank. I feel insane not having any idea about this even being a part in the progged sidesystem. I can't imagine telling an ANP about any of this.

Any advice? I thought it was just my abuser and someone else once early in life that had raped me but another alter is showing me our "body count" (ha. Gotta laugh or you'll cry, right?) includes family friends, his hunting buddy, and several campus police from his job 🙃

I'm honestly at a loss. Tied between wanting to hurt myself or worse, throw up, and go on a bender. Fml.

(advice wanted! Anyone who's experienced similar even is welcome to reply)

First I want to say I'm so sorry you had to go through that and it wasn't your fault.

We are also struggling with coming to terms with some new trauma we've recently discovered and it's so hard, just know that I understand and you're not alone.

My suggestions, while these things are coming up, is to tread very carefully while exploring these new discoveries and take it very very slowly. Don't rush, don't dig, take these memories as they come and feel your feelings. I would be extra extra careful, considering programming is involved. Make sure to take care of yourself to the best of your ability, utilize healthy coping skills, use grounding techniques, and stay safe.

I wish I had more advice but we're struggling with similar things atm and were not coping in the best ways either. I'm struggling to answer this better because of some stuff I can't talk about either.

Please stay safe and br careful and take care of yourself. I know its really hard rn but you will get through this, I believe in you. You are so strong and brave and you survived everything you've ever been through, you'll survive this too. Sometimes you kinda just gotta ride it out and do your best.

If anyone has anything better they can add please feel free!

[bobbiestakes]

MASSAGE THERAPY IS NOT A SEXUAL WORKER

A few days ago, my group received a post of an interview from Inside Edition stating a Massuer had his license revoked.

I have a few words to say about this report, I am furious on a multitude of levels but calling a therapist a masseuse or masseur is now considered a dirty word and calls this profession sex trafficking and prostitution or some nefarious goings-on behind closed doors.

I call a big-fat, and ladies and gents, forgive my boldness here, call it fat bullshit.

For one, they must not know enough about this profession to make that judgment. Massage has been around for over 5000 years. It has always been a noble profession. Those of us that have gone to school and learned the craft and finished with our certifications and then went on to become licensed Therapists, are medical professionals and are staunch defenders of this sister/brotherhood. We are not and it bears repeating NOT SEX WORKERS. PERIOD!!!! Get it - got it- Good.

These reporters and teh general public have no idea the work we put into and have to learn about the body. Well, let me enlighten you.

650 hours from a school.

At least 100 hours of Anatomy and Physiology with a breakdown of hours in :

Myology: 35 hours

Osteology: 15 hours

Circulatory system: 10 hours

Nervous system: 10 hours

Pathology at least 40 hours.

The massage therapy study is to comprise 250 hours. Included in this content area is a minimum of 50 hours of supervised practice. Contradistinctions, contraindications, and related touch modalities are to receive coverage.

An additional 50 hours should cover miscellaneous Board requirements. Among them are a business, professional ethics, CPR, first aid, and hydrotherapy.

Electives can account for 210 of the required hours.

And after passing, you take about a 3-hour Board test.

Note: Some states require more than 650 hours of schooling.

Listen up- there is a reason you do an intake form before you get a massage. All those questions about your health and the medicines you take. It's my/our job to know as some medications are contra-indicated and with a massage. If you have taken pain meds, and heart meds, have you had recent surgeries, or any rashes/skin irritations, are you being treated now or in the recent past for cancer. All of these are not sexual questions, these are needs to know for your health.

Relaxing massage such as the Swedish technique can lower your blood pressure. All the techniques we learn and perform on the body have a purpose, depending on the person's needs. If there is a lot of build-up of lactic acid in the muscles, deep tissue is usually needed. (For those of you that do not know- that is called a knot).

We work hard and it breaks us (physically) down more than you know. Our profession is about 10 to 15 years, if we are lucky. So, to suggest that anyone you see wants to lock you behind a door and grope you and try you on for sex, it is ridiculous for one and for another those that do - either do not have a license from that state to be a real therapist or they come in with a license under a name that should be looked into. it is the public's responsibility to know who you are going to.

If the therapist does not ask and tell you what is going to happen if this is your first visit. then you need to start questioning. However, if you feel comfortable, I will step out of the room for a moment, you undress and underNEATH the covers, please. You can leave undies on or off, again however you feel comfortable. Tell them how you start a massage and this is how you do it and if there is anything you need to ask or have me stop as in -We stop and ask the pressure level- if it is too hard or we need to go deeper. We ask certain questions of working on legs, stip buttocks if we feel it can help ease lower back pain(this is another subject to tackle) We always ask the clients/ patient for their comfort level and keep them draped within the boundaries of the rules and regulations or our state. This is not any level of sexual impropriety folks.

And for those in the peanut gallery that wants to make a big deal and report a therapist, for a specific touch or your feelings, take notice. There is also a taboo subject called arousal during a session. YEP, I said it, so sit down and learn something. IT IS HUMAN NATURE for some to experience arousal., men and women. We are trained to ignore it. It happens. Again, it's nothing sexual.

This profession has been attacked, demeaned, and put under scrutiny for far too long. It is time it ended. There is a need for a Massage Therapist, as we are medical professionals whether it's just relaxation from a stressful day/week or to move out the lactic acid causing our muscles to tighten and causing more issues. I am tired of hearing WE are the cause of this and that and the public needs protection against us- BULLPUCKEY. Where is our protection? We are subject to the whims of anyone behind those closed doors.

Sorry, for the rant

[jupiterstarzdemonslayer]

Demon Slayer: A World Full of Demons and Slayers

In a world full of demons, it could be hard being human. Fubuki knew this more than anyone. She's spent countless years of her life fighting these horrid creatures - all in hope of finding an end to this never-ending war.

She held so much hatred in her frigid heart and for a long time, that was the only thing keep her going. She would bring an end to demon kind, even if it cost her life.

Hello fellow demon slayers!

So, I've had this idea for a modern demon slayer au for sometime now. I've been writing fanfictions and other literal for years now - all for my own fun as I explore different characters and push my writing to its limits.

Coincidentally, I've been watching anime for nearly as long as I've been writing haha. I am a huge fan of character development and design and when I first read the demon slayer manga (I read it before the I watched the anime) I completely fell in love with just about every character. Especially Sanemi Shinazugawa. This whole, massive idea of an AU started as little snippets of writings as I put my own twist on Sanemi's character and before I knew it, I had a whole idea for a multi-chapter fanfiction.

One thing I've always loved to do is create my OCs for fanfictions and drop them in the world of whatever I am currently obsessed with. That's how Eris Fubuki came into creation. "Eris" was a based character that's I've been designing since I was in middle school (I'm in my early twenties now for a reference) and she ended up in the story for two main reasons: I had to give Sanemi a tsuguko (I mean, how could I not, can you imagine lol) and I really wanted to create my own take on Wind Breathing (probably my favorite breathing technique)

Soooo...why did I create a tumblr? Because I wanted to share this brain rot of an idea lmao. I'll mostly use the blog here to post my own head-cannons and sneak peeks of my story (the first chapter should be up on Ao3 soonish) and of course, I would love to interact with other demon slayer fans and bounce ideas around with them!

I'm a completely noob when it comes to tumblr - I haven't really been on since I was like 15 or some other random age - and I have no idea how tagging or posting really works. I would love to cross post my story here as well, but the first chapter has already clocked out at - breathe with me - 30ish pages...I like writing okay...so I don't know if there is a limit to how how long a post can be on here. (someone please let me know!)

Anyhoodles, if any one is interested in checking out my story and ideas, stay tuned because there is more to come!

Don't forget to hunt some demons everyone!

[earlgreyhui]

hi! i just want to let you know that your writings inspire me to scribble down some of my thoughts, even though I'm not much of a writer myself... i like how it's written in a sense that the words bring so much color and depth to life!! i have been meaning to ask if you have any advice for someone like me who would like to try writing...do you have any recommended books about writing? thank you so much for reading, and i hope you are having a nice day! 💌

hey! thank you so much for your message, i'm so excited for you to write!!!

when it comes to writing, i'm an amateur myself, so i can only tell you about my personal experience. i'll tell you about my starting point, which is probably the same as pretty much everyone here. basically, it's this: if you like reading, you will be able to write. i read a lot of novels, i also used to read an equal if not greater amount of fanfiction, and for around ten years i wrote short and unoriginal things (almost 100% fanfic lol) that went nowhere, all under a thousand words, with very few exceptions.

so, writing at the earliest stage should be light and without pressure. be as cringe as you want. there's no secret to writing, and there is zero prerequisite knowledge aside from a basic communication ability in the language. by basic, i mean if you can carry on a conversation, you're fine. i don't believe in formulae or classes. i believe in tackling it in the most personal way you can. even now, unlike other skills like drawing and playing a musical instrument, i don't know about any basic skills or advanced techniques for writing, i just know about what i've seen before.

but if you wanted something implementable, not this wishy washy 'anyone can do it' stuff, the thing that i put into practice right now is that i read as much as possible and highlight passages that stand out to me. then read it slowly, read it out loud, pick it apart to the word level, keep what you need. it's a practice that only really has meaning once you can relate it to other writers' work, and remember it when you want to draw on a similar feeling. reading is like refuelling! art doesn't exist in a vacuum. you almost always need other people's ideas to stimulate your own. all together, human art is a fabulously elaborate network of interactions, a chain of responses that the people responded to may never see, which is surprising and moving. but don't get stuck doing this, always reading and preparing. please write at least one sentence ASAP. this is a psa to myself as well...

finally, books about writing. i've only read one, which i wouldn't necessarily recommend since it didn't do much for me, but it was Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. i shouldn't rec stuff i haven't personally read but you could try The Writing Life by Annie Dillard. it's a set of essays about writing which are beautifully done, of course, Annie Dillard is a maestro, though i can't speak to how helpful the essays might or might not actually be. Ursula K. Le Guin also has one or two books on writing—a very famous speculative/science fiction writer whom i am ashamed to admit i have not read... if anyone else has recommendations re: books about writing feel free to leave them under the post.

best of luck anon! if you ever feel comfortable, it would be my honour to read a piece of your writing, however near or far in the future :)

[rubywithin]

Scrolls of Mudorius

(???) "HYAAAAAH" okay I will fake him out with a high strike then switch to a low! -Clang-.....-bump- no way he just pushed me back before I could even use the switch. (???) "Master Suyuri you could at least let me attempt to land a blow on you". (Suyuri) "Torami in battle an opponent won't let you just hit them, well ones who aren't arrogant fool's won't!". Ugh I guess he was right.....despite being the most skilled warrior in the village he never brags. Also he never goes overboard with his attacks, (Torami) "How about we fight again but this time I use Ernishu?" (Suyuri) "No, if I allow you to only rely on your family's blade you won't bother improving on basic technique!". Ugh what a pain, I inherit a legendary sword and I am not even allowed to use it. I spent a few more hours practicing but still wasn't able to impress Suyuri, I decided to go back home to relax after today's training.

On my way back I bumped into someone, (Torami) "Oh hey Umbrell, are you off on another mission?". (Umbrell) "Yeah unlike you I actually contribute to this village's legacy!". Ugh what a pain....I know I wasn't as skilled with the sword as my father but there is no need to rub it in. (Torami) "Yeah well when I start using Ernishu you won't stand a chance against me!". (Umbrell) -Humph- "A sword like that is wasted on you!" he then walked off....one day I will earn his respect. When I got home I sat down and looked over at my father's sword, I felt tempted to take it. I just want to become a well known warrior but I just lack the skill for some reason. -knock knock- Huh weird I don't get visitors that often!

(Suyuri) "Sorry to disturb you Torami but I have a personal request for you, please take this scroll". (Torami) "Um okay master, what do I do with it?" he had a very serious look on his face! (Suyuri) "Go to the neighboring village and pick up some supplies for us, I will pay you for this of course!". Hmm he never seemed to ask me to go buy food for us, (Tormai) "What do I do with the scroll?" (Suyuri) "Just hold on to it and don't look at it's contents. The only time you may see what's inside is if a man known as Rook gives permission!". Ugh this felt off to me but I agreed since master has always supported me and I want to repay him. But why would he tell me the only time I would be allowed to look at the scroll? There wasn't anyone in the village known as Rook....he wasn't sending me out on a mission to find this guy, forget it I will just focus on getting the supplies!

I made it to the nearby village after a few hours, luckily I had a decent idea of what we usually buy from here since master didn't give me a list! I decided to rent a room for the night as the walk here was exhausting, it felt weird not sleeping in my room. Guess this was a chance to experience travelling even though it was just a nearby village. The next day I made my way back to the village.....n....no way what happened? The place was in ruin, I rushed over to master's home but he didn't answer no matter how many times I knocked. I then wen't back to my place.....it was also messed up but why? I looked over at father's sword and picked it up out of instinct. Outside it looked like there were some tracks, I decided to follow them later but first I wanted to get some training in. I had a suspicion this was the work of bandits....yet they shouldn't of stood a chance...

[paleparearchive]

Realist's Unrealistic Halloween

Courbet's Halloween 4★ story (3/3) ( 1 - 2 - 3 )

Location: Courbet & Millet's room ; Halloween parade | Characters: Courbet, Monet, Raffaello, Sisley, Watteau, Millet, Mucha

Millet: Ah, welcome back, Courbet. I baked some pumpkin cookies, would you like one?

Courbet: Yeah… Pumpkin would be perfectly fine in cookies and pies. So why would anyone make something like Jack-O-Lantern, a monster that doesn't exist…

Millet: Hahaha… I've got some tea in the fridge, so drink some of it and relax.

Courbet: Ah, thanks.

But still... No, no way. No... But if Mucha says so…

Millet: Huh, what's wrong? Did something else happen?

Courbet: No… Don't mind me. Just a thought.

Millet: Tomorrow is rehearsal, so you must have a lot to think about. I'm looking forward to it, good luck.

Courbet: Yeah, right. … Hope you enjoy it.

—

Monet: Finally, tomorrow's the big day! This'll be our last rehearsal, so let's do it right!

Watteau: Aight, then let's get fired up!

Monet: Courbet, it's rehearsal time, so get into the groove!

Courbet: Y-Yeah…

(Are you sure about this, Mucha…!?)

~~~

Mucha: Then I have a good idea.

Courbet: A good idea…!? Really!?

Mucha: Yes. Please let me take care of it.

Courbet: Can I not have to wear this costume!?

Mucha: No, the opposite. It is a way for you to stop hating this costume.

Courbet: What are you talking about? That's impossible.

Mucha: Not really. I will work my magic on you.

Look me in the eyes. I will now count to three. And then��� You can try your best to wear your werewolf costume from rehearsal to the end of the Halloween parade.

Courbet: What are you getting at... Maybe it's some kind of sleep technique or something, but I'm not falling for it.

Mucha: Then that is fine. Here we go. 3, 2, 1.

Courbet: … Hey. I'm not one of those kids who–

*magic sound effect* (tl note: I don't know what's going on anymore)

Mucha: Fufu, I'm done. The rest of us will naturally do our best in those costumes. Because this magic is "Halloween only".

~~~

Courbet: … That's strange. No way, it can't be…

Monet: Courbet, what's wrong? Don't tell me you're not feelin' well too!?

Courbet: No, it's not that… I'm starting to realize that tomorrow is the big day…

Hey, Monet. What do werewolves do?

Monet: Uuh…? Ya didn't wanna do this… Is there anythin' really wrong?

Courbet: I said it's nothing. We're running out of time, so tell me what it's all about, quickly.

Monet: O-Ok…! Glad you're motivated! Let's see, ya do this, and then ya can get your claws up… Like this!

Raffaello: Somehow, I feel that he is a little different from the usual Courbet-kun.

Sisley: Indeed. Does this mean that Courbet-san has also embraced the werewolf?

Mucha: … Fufu.

Raffaello: Oh. Mucha-kun… Did you do something to Courbet-kun?

Mucha: Oh, what are you thinking? I just gave him a nudge.

Courbet: Got it. This is how werewolves gesture…

–Is this right? Should I raise my arm more...? Or should I step forward? I've been trying to get this far, and it's surprisingly quite deep…

Monet: Oh! Right, right! Lookin' good!!

Watteau: Great, great! The heck, even Courbet's finally gettin' serious!?

Courbet: It's not like that… I kind of feel like I'm going to enjoy this more than before.

Monet, I've asked you to teach me this pose. If there are other poses, let's do them.