#ignore all the mistakes errors etc etc

[twelvemartha]

i guess that our being together was never meant to be but martha, martha, i love you, can't you see?

[borderlinereminders]

Examples of Irrational Thoughts/Cognitive Distortions:

These are common errors in thinking. And sometimes these distortions can cause us distress or other strong emotions.

Black and White Thinking: This is all or nothing thinking. For example, if you see yourself as failing at one thing, you think it makes you a failure at everything. "I didn't pass my driver's test. I can't ever do anything right."

Overgeneralization: This is where if one thing happens that is bad, you assume all things will be bad. For example, "I woke up late this morning. This day is doomed to be terrible."

Ignoring the Positive: You disqualify any positive and focus on the negative. Maybe you got an A on a test, but are disregarding that because you messed up somewhere else.

Jumping to Conclusions: You ignore facts in favour of your own interpretations. You may assume your friend hates you despite them inviting you to the movies the day before because they gave you a short response.

Mind Reading: This is making a conclusion about how someone else is feeling. "My friend hates me. I can tell."

Possibilities to Cope with Irrational Thoughts / Cognitive Distortions

Check the Facts: Here’s a post I wrote on this.

Challenging Irrational Thoughts: Here’s a post I wrote about this.

Examine the Evidence: Here’s a post on this.

You’ll likely find that most of these possibilities are very similar. One of the more common ways to deal with thoughts like the above is to use evidence and logic because it gives our brain something solid to use. Just telling ourselves that our thoughts aren’t real isn’t often helpful enough whereas evidence can help make it more convincing.

I’m going to include a couple other links I think may be helpful:

Emotional Permanence: Here’s a post on it. This one I think is important to understand because if we lack emotional permanence then it makes it that much easier to forget about anything other than the feelings in the current moment which make reinforce any negative thoughts.

Needing Reassurance: Sometimes our distorted thoughts lead us to second guessing our loved ones. Here’s a post about that, how to cope with it, and how to get reassurance in a healthy way if needed.

Some General Tips:

Learn about the different types of irrational thinking and cognitive distortions. (I don’t have them all listed). Being able to recognize them can be helpful itself. I find when I’m able to realize it’s a cognitive distortion, I’m able to move beyond it easier.

Keep a list of our accomplishments that you add to. This can be helpful in times we need reminders if we often have thoughts about us being a failure anytime we make a mistake.

Keep screenshots of loved ones and/or lists of things they’ve done that make you feel cared for. This can be helpful if we often have doubting thoughts about loved ones as a result of our cognitive distortions.

Think about what you’d tell a friend. If a friend failed a test, would I think they were a failure?

Sit with the discomfort. Sometimes, we know a thought is irrational and all we can do is get through it. Telling myself “it’s an irrational thought. I can sit with it. I don’t need to act on it” can be helpful. Acting on my feelings to irrational thoughts often damages my relationships or has other negative effects. But as uncomfortable as the thoughts are, learning to just sit with them instead of acting on them prevents some negative consequences.

Journaling. You can journal about your thoughts and feelings for a set amount of time a day and then mark the irrational thoughts. This can help us learn to recognize them when we’re having them.

Focus on something else. Sometimes the thoughts are too distressing and the best thing we can do is distract ourselves. You could reach out to a friend, watch a favourite show, enjoy an activity, etc.

[rqbossman]

Rules

Hey everyone, I thought it would be a good idea to establish some ground rules to guide interactions on here so without further ado: 1) I get to change and or ignore my own rules as and when I like. It's my blog so tough. 2) I won't even consider answering an ask unless it meets the following criteria: a) I haven't been asked it before on Tumblr. b) It is worded as a question. c) It does not ask me to rule on canon for content I make. d) It does not ask for takes on real people. e) It has a positive tone (seeking to become positive counts) f) It is not a callout (e.g. why are you so rubbish etc.) g) It is not asking for confidential information on business and/or Intellectual property h) It is not just rephrasing a previous question because people didn't like the answer. i) It's respectful. j) It is not just a veiled story request (e.g. why don't you make these characters kiss etc.) 3) This is not a press conference or an interrogation. If you want to ask serious questions about Rusty Quill and other proper topics send them to mail@rustyquill.com 4) If you DM me I will ignore it on principal. Not because I don't like you but because I am receiving so many that I can't be fair with it and it's just generally unwise anyway. 5) Remember we are all human. That means we can make mistakes, change our minds, be flippant, have a bad day and give bad advice. Please show a little grace rather than trying to catch people out. I do not support dogpiling in any situation. 6) Be kind. The fastest way to get yourself blocked by me is being unkind even if you are in the right. Some of the cruellest and regrettable actions I have ever seen have been fuelled by righteous indignation. 7) Be wise. Internet culture moves fast. Not everyone knows everything you know and not everyone needs to know everything you know. You aren't helping me if you appoint yourself "chief brainbox educator supreme" and try to school people on how things should be. Let's just all keep it chill yeah? 8) Be patient. This is not my job. This is barely even counts as a good idea! I run my social media when I can but I don't have deadlines and I don't have sociability quotas. I might do a flurry of activity when I have time then go quiet for months. Just go ahead and assume if I am not posting it's for a good reason. 9) One question per person. Don't worry it doesn't annoy me, its just I don't know if its fair me using all my social media time budget on a single person and leave others unanswered.

This is hardly a complete or exhaustive list and no doubt I have made some tragic tumblr newb error but it'll have to do for now. I am happy to take constructive feedback on these but don't expect quick turnaround on anything.

[v-anrouge]

Verryyy long ranting under this about vil and how this fandom treats him for absolutely no reason pls excuse any mistakes and feel free to correct me with any accidental misinfo i passed <3

Mentions of racism, fatphobia, eating disorders, elitism & ableism and also SPOILERS for Vil's character story (eng only)

Ever since this game started getting super famous in tiktok and twitter it seems that people just love to butcher literally every character in Twst and sometimes it's genuinely baffling how wrong some of the takes are, it really does make me wonder if some people just don't read the story and just skip every character who isn't their fave, and if they really do that, what makes them think they know enough about the rest of the cast to post in the character's main tag the most rancid read on a character, often accompanied by some accusations of literal crimes of bigotry that really should be taken more seriously instead of being terms thrown around.

I'm gonna be talking about Vil specifically but characters like Leona, Jamil, Sebek and a few others have it exceptionally bad as well (especially Leo and Jamil who's haters can even be quite racist)

I've been playing for a very long time (in eng) i remember being there to watch the Heartslabyul final release and the release of Savanaclaw's chapter and through these years ive seen the most horrific takes on Vil's characters, ranging from the accusations of racism (which have been debunked again and again especially by JP players) to accusations of supporting eds, fatphobia, elitism and ableism. The funny thing is that even with a very quick read of any of Vil's story you'll find out there is no support for any of such claims. They like to use the incident with Epel's accent when for years JP players have pointed out how this was strictly an error of localization since they couldn't find a situation similar to the one that is portrayed in the original game to put in eng twst, they went with the one we have where Vil asks Epel to "hide his accent" (he really doesn't he was talking about the way Epel is rude and disrespectful which would definitely end with him being beat up and then expelled bringing a bad fame to Pomefiore and also making Vil look bad for not properly guiding his dorm students) which is a terrible choice but alas it seems people prefer to ignore facts to stick with their claim that Vil is some sort of monster when this man is literally a teen. He's 18 years old and has to constantly look out for his image in and out of school since he grew up in front of the cameras.

Vil's character is all about beauty and self care and self acceptance yet for some people this seems to translate to "starve yourself if you don't want to be a disgusting fat pig" which is very weird to say the least considering all mentions Vil makes about diets he is talking about keeping a balanced diet to nurture your body and even has a voice line pointing out the importance of eating. Vil himself may be coded to have an ED in his overblot and Lab vignette but he has never and would never encourage one, he literally goes out of his way to annoy students to take care of themselves what makes anyone think he'd encourage them anyways? It's such a weird thing to assume of a character.

A lot of people seem to think that Vil is also the "beauty standart" king which doesn't even make sense considering vil is a gnc man, he already doesn't follow beauty standards and would definitely be against it, Vil's vision of beauty for himself may be twisted due to his traumas and troubles yet his vision of beauty for others is always exclusively on the person being their best version, this includes dressing how they want to and feel comfortable in, using whatever makeup they want (or just not using it at all) etc.

The way Vil speaks is often misunderstood as he tends to be strict and can be read as mean (I've already shared my theory on what may have caused this behavior here before so i won't be getting into too many details) but Vil is a famous and respected housewarden because if you actually stop and think about his advice the end result is always an effort to make the person's desires come true. (a good example is how Vil made Epel clean the windows and although Epel was displeased with the hard labor in the end he notices how the task may help with muscle growth and gets happy)

Vil's way of caring for others is often misunderstood and obviously that's understandable, not everybody may get his "rougher" way of handling advice, but also it's a bit weird how people react to it when in game all of the characters seem to be okay with it, Pomefiore has a lot of students and if they considered Vil to be a bad leader he would've been voted out a long time ago, no? And if i remember correctly wasn't it said in game they had very few transfers? (as in characters moving out of Pomefiore and into other dorms) That wouldn't make sense if Vil was really the cruel leader some people make him out to be. The truth is Vil is a nice caring person and his students recognize that which is why he is respected all across the school and not simply on his dorm (because ive seen people say Vil has brainwashed the Pomefiore students into thinking he is a good housewarden 💀)

Vil surely has issues he needs to work through, after all this game is literally about that, dealing with troubled teenagers and their internal struggles and the importance of asking for help (omg friendship is magic...) but Vil is also a teenager, and he is one of the characters that show the most desire to get better, immediately showing regret and apologizing to Yuu and his classmates for the danger he put them in, that is because Vil genuinely does care for them.

Another accusation people make is ableism, i remember seeing many posts saying Vil wouldn't respect disabled people and/or mentally ill people which is 1- extremely fucking rude to say? 2- absolutely wrong. Again just a quick read on Vil's character will tell you everything you need to know about how he'd feel about disabled people, he'd treat them like everyone else, and would adjust his handling accordingly to their needs, i really don't get where this claim comes from but it's quite ironic because a lot of Vil haters tend to be ableist themselves by claiming that Vil is a bad person mentioning traits that are often caused by mental illness and the effect of traumas, failing to analyze how their treatment of a character that displays common mental illness symptoms may affect people in real life who displays the same symptoms, and often being ableist themselves by judging these actions irredeemable and inherently evil/heartless, once again dehumanizing people with mental illness in real life who deal with the same symptoms.

Another common thing is the constant invalidation of Vil's trauma. A lot of people seem to read book 5 with their eyes closed and take away from the story that the reason Vil "got pissy and almost killed a guy" (wording of a terrible post i saw a few days ago<333) is because he's a "spoiled brat who couldn't handle getting the paper he wanted in a movie boo hoo" which is kind of funny with how terribly wrong it is, i really don't know what your thought process has to be to get his backstory this wrong but sure, let's start; The start of Vil's problems with being cast as a villain starts from when he was very very young, he was just a child when after being cast as a villain for a movie he was almost beat up by a group of boys for being an "evil guy" and by his reaction it wouldn't be impossible that this wasn't his first time dealing with that kind of thing. Vil also tells jack (who scared away the group) that he had trained so he would be able to deal with them on his own which again, could be a hint that this wasn't that uncommon in his life. In Vil's overblot dialogue is all we really need to know to debunk this claim.

What Vil wanted wasn't just to be a hero in a movie, he wanted to be seen, to be heard and cherished, he wanted to be more than a pretty prop they could put on the front to get attention only to be taken out of stage when he was no longer necessary in the next scene, do you get it? He wanted to be able to see his hard work pay off, to see his efforts of years being rewarded, to for once not be exchangeable for someone more favorable. Vil wanted to feel like all his pain was worth it in the end because finally he could shine in the stage, being himself instead of just another persona to attract people. In his overblot it's shown clearer than ever that Vil does not have a stable view of his own image unlike what he has trained himself to show, even calling himself ugly and begging them to not look at him. I don't think Vil is used to be being vulnerable, which would explain why he was so freaked out when the overblot happened, and why he cried when his beauty (the one thing about himself that was always recognized by others and therefore the thing he'd always been the most desperate to nurture) was taken away by aging in book 6 (note; the fact Vil sacrificed it for his classmates also just debunks the people saying he only cares for himself, if he did he wouldn't be who he is.)

I said i wouldn't give my thoughts again but i will, just briefly, i believe an easy explanation to Vil's behavior (the tough love he gives and his strictness) might be because of the industries he grew up in, we can't know for sure how similar twst's version of the movie and modeling industry is when compared to the real life one but considering the way Vil is, my guess it's that it's pretty similar, especially in the regard of their treatment towards children, in Vil's overblot he hears two staff members talking about how he'd never be able to pull off a relatable role because he is too perfect, and sure those may not look like insults, but to Vil who's only dream his entire life was to be seen in good light, those words stuck to him so deeply they'd come back to him during his overblot. (note; i have not seen a jp translation of the overblot scenes so i don't know if they also suffered from localization issues, if anyone has a link to one i could see id really like to see what the staff said to Vil)

The general point of Vil's overblot was how his efforts and hard work were always overlooked and ignored in favor of someone else, this happens with quite a lot of characters and happens as well with another overblot (Leona, who happens to be quite similar to Vil in many ways) and although i don't expect anyone to read it and think of analysing it more deeply even with a shallow vision of his overblot it's still incredibly insensitive to call it a "non-problem" especially considering the fact this is Vil's ENTIRE life, he's been working hard and failing for years again and again and that does get to you. I remember when i posted my first rant on Vil quite a lot of people who reported to be skilled at something (say for example music or dancing) as a child that any failures absolutely destroyed you inside, and that people who haven't passed through the same tend to call them dramatic and say they're overreacting to situations that can be classified as trauma depending on how much it mentally impacted said child. (and in Vil's case it's clear it had a massive one, after all he wouldn't have overblotted if he didn't have issues that had been bottled up until they finally exploded)

Mentioning Leona again, he and Vil share the same sentiment of anguish for being discarded and having their hard work be thrown away, the difference in them is the way they reacted to it, while Leona ended up not seeing any value in attempting to do anything because he assumes the outcome is always going to be the same, Vil overworks himself and forces himself to do things he might hate clinging to the hope that this time it'll work out.

Since we're talking about trauma ill already answer some things that may or may not come with this post (because in my first one i got this response a lot) "Vil's a fictional character it doesn't matter" and sure if you think like that cool, personally, when im talking about a fictional character that tackles real life traumas and issues, i talk about it as if referring to a real person because the character has been written with one (or multiple) in mind.

Twst may have issues but the character writing is undeniably about real life traumas and experiences, and the characters are quite accurate and good representation of the issues they tackle, so when you invalidate them, you are by result invalidating real life issues. Of course this won't stop anyone and i know that a few people will probably scoff at this and brush it off as being too sensitive but personally if you wouldn't dare invalidate say for example Riddle's traumas because you know it's a representation of mommy issues, which is a very real problem, to not go against your own morals you should also respect the issues of all the other characters, even if you personally think some are more "serious" than the other.

[strawberryblue-blog]

Guilty as Sin? —Pablo Gavi.

summary: Your relationship with Gavi as friends with benefits is no longer the same and you have to do something even if it means breaking up with him.

warnings: none. friends with benefits, sad, angst, break up, discomfort, curses, etc.

words count: +2.3k

#SEXYNOTE: As promised, here I leave you this story. I apologize for any errors or spelling mistakes, English is not my first language. Thanks for everything. Pedri imagine 🔜

It was late Friday night when you were still reading your notes and taking notes while the video played on your computer. You were supposed to turn in a paper tomorrow and you had fallen a little behind after so many assignments.

Maybe it was because your head had been a mess the last few days but you tried to ignore it and move on. If you kept putting ideas into your head, you wouldn't end up well and you had suffered enough to go back to square one.

It was probably late and you needed a break but you couldn't afford a nap right now. Your eyes were focused on the video when your phone vibrated in the distance. You ignored it.

But it vibrated again.

You stretched out your hand without waiting for the screen view as you unlock your phone. The notification makes you sigh and you open it wearily. You had at least seven messages from Pablo, asking where you were, what you're doing, who you were with. You rolled your eyes wondering whether to respond but after a few moments you locked your phone again.

As you refocused your head back on your stuff, your doorbell rang, making you jump with fright. Damn. The pounding on your door grew louder as the doorbell continued to ring making you despair. You got up from your chair quickly in a fury, walking to your front door and sighing. You open the door quickly and your eyes take in his figure, you are infuriated and you will let him know it.

"What the fuck, Pablo?" you squeal tiredly.

First your phone, now your doorbell. If you didn't answer it was clearly for a reason, why had he come?

"What are you doing here?" you asked again at his silence. His gaze was somewhat lost.

"I wanted to see you" he says taking a step forward. But you stop him. You don't want him to pass.

"Well you saw me, go away" you mutter angrily.

What did he want anyway? He had ignored you for days, now he appreciates out of nowhere and that made you desperate. Lately he did that with you. Ignoring you and showing up only when he wanted to and not when you needed him.

You used to be closer but these last months Pablo had been quite distant and disinterested on his part. And although you tried to find out what had changed in him or why he was treating you this way, he didn't seem to care at all, so you didn't care either.

"Y/n..." he mumbles, grimacing.

Now you are inside your house and you really fear for your integrity knowing that he already has power over you. Especially with that puppy dog look. His hands wrap around your waist pulling you closer and you whimper.

Great. The only thing missing, him showing up at your house when you're vulnerable. He knew you weren't going to throw him out or anything, he had that effect on you. Couldn't he tell things between you weren't right?

"Pablo, stop" you ask as his face sinks into your neck. Your skin bristles and even though you don't want to push him away, you have to stop him.

"I missed you, baby" he whispers and his lips search for you but your hands are quicker and they rest on his chest pressing against it.

However, he is more agile than you and quickly kisses you. His lips wrap around yours and you sigh loss as you kiss him back. You had missed him too, even more when he had been away these days. His tongue takes place in your mouth and tastes you, Gavi smiles a little as he feels you gasp when his hands go to your waist.

It was clear he had other intentions in coming here but you weren't going to fall for his webs again. Not if you didn't want to leave with a broken heart. You had suffered from his distance these past few months and could barely recover when he came back to you.

Your relationship with Pablo had changed over time, you first started out as friends, you got along well and had fun together like typical friends. You used to just hang out, write to each other, visit each other, do typical things that friends do until one night you slept together and everything changed.

You thought it had been a mistake and that it would never happen again, until you did it again. Again and again when you needed each other.

You started to see each other secretly from your friends, he would come to your house or you would go to his, in secret, no one even imagined it. You saw each other when you felt lonely or bored, sometimes to keep each other company but mostly to fuck and then you pretended to be friends as if nothing had happened between you.

These last weeks you had tried to meet him, you tried to call him and send him messages but he completely ignored you. But sometimes he would show up at your apartment when he wanted to fuck, you would do it and then he would run away from you when you wanted to know about him.

Yet he kept coming back to you again and again.

Just like now.

Your friendship had been damaged, you both knew it, you no longer talked or spent time together, you just fucked and it was killing the only "friendship" left between you. All these years, your secrets, the smiles, your nights awake under the stars, the talks in the wee hours of the morning, nothing made sense anymore.

You had become strangers. Strangers who fucked and nothing more. And that broke your soul. Because you were used to the idea of him being yours when in reality he wasn't. Clearly tonight was proving it. You were nothing. All that had meant nothing.

Of course, you have to admit that you never promised anything. You only saw each other when you wanted to fuck and then he left you with your feelings blooming. You were afraid that he would leave you at some point, which was the normal thing to do because of his situation, but it hurt you more that he didn't even bother to ask you how you felt about everything.

When you feel like that's enough from him, you pull away from his mouth, hearing him growl as he tries to kiss you again and you run your face. Gavi watches you somewhat angrily and confused.

"What's wrong?" he asks without understanding.

"We need to talk" you say putting your hands on your chest.

You feel that if you don't put a stop to this, you will end up consumed by passion and whether you want to or not, this is hurting you more than him.

"We don't have to say anything" he murmurs toying with your waist, his fingers draw you back to him and your body responds.

His hands feel warm on your skin and you recognize his scent quickly. His nose sniffs your skin and you shiver as you feel your belly churn. You swallow saliva holding your breath to maintain your posture and push him away from you again. But he doesn't let go and drags you onto the couch, depositing you on it gently as his lips impact yours.

Inevitably like an action programmed in your head, you reciprocate his kiss but instead of feeling it with passion, you pity him. You want to kiss him, it's clear but not knowing that he will then walk out the door and leave you a mess. How he's done it for months, come, take a piece of your soul and then leave with it.

You don't want to be the one to end it this way but unlike Gavi, you seem to be the only one who has the balls to do something about your little friendship or whatever relationship you have.

But you want to enjoy it one last time. At least you deserve it if you'll finish everything after this. So you try to keep his every move in your head, to remember every trace of his touch on your skin, to file every caress of his lips on yours. Even though your heart aches and you want to push him away from you, you allow yourself to enjoy his touch, his desire, his passion.

"Pablo" you call him panting when he crosses the boundaries.

You feel it's the perfect time to speak. If you don't now, you never will knowing him. His dark eyes look at you in confusion and his attention is drawn to you.

"We need to end this" you say softly. Your hands encircle the back of his neck and his brow furrows in confusion.

"What do you say, Y/n?" he asks doubtfully. His body lifts off of yours and he re-incorporates himself sitting up to look at you seriously.

"I can't do this anymore, Pablo" you admit sighing.

"Do what?" he insists.

You shake your head worriedly. He lets out a grumbling huff.

You don't say anything more. You've just said it all. He looks at you confused and his shoulders tense at your overwhelming silence. He doesn't seem to want to understand the situation and that makes you despair, he really is being selfish.

"Do you want to end this?" he asks tensely.

"Y-yes" you say sincerely and painfully.

"You're overreacting" his arms rest on his thighs and he sighs. "It's just sex" he says again.

Your chest heaves as you feel the pain grow. It's breaking your soul that he's so indifferent to you as if he never cared about your feelings.

Yes, maybe it was just sex. But you can no longer hide as if your feelings for him haven't changed, you're tired of enduring the pain he leaves every time he seeks you out and then leaves you. He gives you signals that you don't know how to take and then disappears like its nothing, it's not fair. Every time you tried to talk this with him, he would ignore you or say it was your ideas.

"We're not the same anymore, we've changed" you insist with your voice cracking.

"We're just friends" he points out lifting his shoulders.

Those words burn in your head. Just friends. Yes, you were but not clearly anymore. You are in a vicious cycle that only leaves you in a loop of the same thing over and over again. Maybe he doesn't see it that way but you are in danger.

"No, we're not friends anymore..." you say with a sigh.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" he questions exhaustedly interrupting you.

His tone of voice surprises you. The words choke in your throat and the air becomes tiny.

"Stop ignoring me, stop acting like a jerk, stop avoiding this conversation, Pablo" you say, a little excited.

You are hurt. You've wanted to talk for so long and keeping these feelings bottled up has hurt you, you won't shut up again. You are tired. You want this to end, for better or worse.

His back tenses as he listens to you, rests his elbows on his thighs and clutches his head in hiding. Just like a coward.

"I'm sick of you ignoring me and then coming after me like you don't give a shit about my feelings" you spit without swinging. "You want to have sex fine! but then don't ignore me for days, answer when I call you or listen to me when i want to talk to you, at least answer my fucking messages!" you shout in exasperation.

Gavi shakes his head denying with a wry laugh.

"You have no right to ask me anything, we are nothing" he mutters harshly and you tremble with fury.

"It's not fair!" you shriek out of your mind. "Do you even wonder how I would feel after you run every time you come back for me?" you ask warily.

He snorts again as if what you say is meaningless to him. Like you weren't important at all. he wasn't going to say anything? He really was an idiot.

"What do you want me to say?" he asks as if he reads your mind.

"I want to be with you but do you want to be with me?" you question confident with your statement.

You can see his neck tense and his muscles react. Still with his head down, he remains silent. He knows very well what your words come to and the meaning of being with you is not just fucking. It goes far beyond that.

"Of course I want to" he says obviously raising his head.

"That's not what I mean, Pablo" you mumble slowly.

His eyes search for you and you bite your lips eagerly.

"Why do you say stupid things?" he asks with a grimace. His nose wrinkles and you feel like you want to cry. "We said nothing was going to happen between us, we were just going to have fun."

Your belly twists in pain. You're completely vulnerable in front of him but you don't care, you just want this to be over with for fuck's sake.

"We never said that, it just happened" you whisper weakly.

"Because we only sleep together when we want to, isn't that what we used to do?" he lifts his arms exhaustedly.

"That's what you want!" you squeal again.

Tears begin to sting in your eyes and pain spreads through every pore of your body. This is hurting too much but more you are hurt by his indifference, his unconcern. Knowing that he doesn't care about you at all.

"I can't go through with this" you admit devastated.

"I don't understand why you're giving it so much thought, it's just sex, there are no feelings in between" he insist getting up from his spot.

"Did you really think this would work?" you question you scornful and disappointed. "You're hurting me!" you spit in reproach.

His attitudes are the straw that broke the camel's back. Ignoring you for days, leaving you alone when you needed him, pretending you were fine, that your relationship as friends was perfect, not caring enough, avoiding conversations. He may not see it this way but he couldn't see what was hurting you either.

"You're the one who ruined it!" he raises his voice pointing at you.

His words stab like daggers into your chest and you swallow a sob. You don't want to make a fuss when it doesn't even make sense, he's just said it all. Yes, you fell in love. But it's not your fault, it's both of yours for letting this happen.

Gavi watches you and you can't stand it. It hurts you to be the one with enough nerve to face the situation and yet he still gets offended. He acts like nothing is going on between you when your whole relationship is in chaos. You are no longer the same as you were months ago, you are not friends, not a couple, not close, not anything.

He clearly just sees you as someone he can fuck and nothing more. He doesn't see you as a friend, he doesn't see you as a lover, he doesn't see you as the person who is in love with him. He doesn't see you at all.

"Go away" you ask sobbing. You cover your chest with your knees and hug yourself, looking for some encouragement.

You want to let it all go. You need to get it off your chest and forget about it. He doesn't say anything, just stares at you in confusion. His silence burns, leaves a trace of emptiness in your heart and makes you despair but there is nothing else to do.

"Let's forget what happened, it's just you and me" he whispers kneeling in front of you and wraps his hands around your legs.

Pablo tries to smile weakly as he caresses your skin. Your chest resonates and you want me to embrace you but you can't. You can't get back into this vicious cycle, which only makes your heart break. You have to cut the streak and try to save yourself because Gavi doesn't seem to want to save you either.

You deny in tears, how can he be so cynical like that? You just said that this is over, that you're hurting each other, that there's no end here with no one coming out healthy.

"Go away" you demand angrily again.

His eyes weaken and he opens his mouth to say something but you don't let him. Not when all that comes out of his mouth is shit towards you.

"Get out of my house now" you shriek on the verge of exploding.

Your shout takes him by surprise and he stands up quickly, startled. He scratches the back of his neck as he searches for your sad look and when he meets it, he knows you're serious.

He nods slightly and moves but stops to look at you again, your head looks away as tears fall endlessly down your cheeks. You won't see him go. You don't want him to leave. But it has to end here.

You hear his soft footsteps walking away and open the door, for a few seconds he stands there. You can see him out of the corner of your eye, his hand is holding the doorknob and he keeps watching you, as if he expects you to ask him not to leave at any moment, but you don't.

You hug yourself tighter over your body and sob as he slams the door of your apartment, walking completely out of it. You collapse into a thousand pieces in that instant, letting out everything that made you ache.

Your head hurts from crying so much but your heart hurts more. You had lost the war against Gavi and you had fallen for him. It was obvious that at some point one of you would feel something for the other but clearly, that had not been Gavi.

You loved him. You were in love with him and you hoped he felt the same but his signals didn't tell you the same and acting now was the only way to save yourself. It should never have started like this, you should have stopped this before it was too late.

You try to hold out hope that in time, you were going to heal and understand his reasons. But for now, you can only live with the burden of having fallen in love with someone who doesn't love you back.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

"Miguel isn't Spider-Man"

[A short essay where I explain why I think this theory doesn't make sense - and why believing it CONTRADICTS ourselves]

The idea that Miguel isn't Spider-man is erroreous in my eyes for one reason: it's hypocritical.

Miguel's biggest error and problem is that he doubts Miles is Spider-Man.

Miguel puts strict limitations on what Spider-Man is and isn't, and because Miles falls out of the definition, he treats him differently. That's a problem.

By questioning if Miguel is Spider-Man, you're doing the exact same thing.

By saying 'Miguel isn't Spider-Man because x,y,z' (he wasn't bitten, he has different powers, he needs shots, etc, etc) YOU are putting strict limitations on what Spider-Man is - and treating him differently for it.

That's why Miguel was chosen as the Society Leader.

In SM2099 Miguel is a geneticist - there's really nothing in his comic books that suggest he could time travel of all things.

The writers chose Miguel as the leader because fundamentally, his story makes him different from all other Spider-people.

That difference invites you to question Miguel's authenticity, effectively tricking you into making the exact same mistake he is.

Miguel is an outsider looking into Miles story, questioning his legitimacy, and trying to determine his personality and destiny based on that.

By questioning Miguel, you BECOME Miguel. You become the outsider looking into Miguel's story, questioning his legitimacy, trying to determine his personality and destiny based on your limited idea of what a Spider-Man is.

The entire point is : ANYONE can be Spider-Man regardless of their story, the way it came about, or the powers they have.

Many people question that if Miguel wasn't bitten never consider the question:

Was MARGO bitten?

Margo, like Miguel, uses technology to acquire most of her powers. Her powers are fundamentally different than most Spider-people. She can teleport and directly interact with technology in a way others can't. We have no idea whether she was bitten or not, but from the looks of it, the answer might be 'no'.

But no one ever questions her legitimacy. Only Miguel's.

Because questioning Miguel confirms their bias against him.

The same way Miguel questioning Miles confirms his bias against him.

Miguel thinks Miles is the universal anamoly, so he begins to pick apart why he's not really Spider-Man. When you theorize that MIGUEL is in fact the anamoly, you begin to pick apart why he's not really Spider-Man - effectively putting you in Miguel's position, turning you into the same thing you were judging him for to begin with.

The whole point of ATSV is that anyone can put on the mask.

PLUS with the inclusion of the trans!Gwen hints throughout the movies - questioning Miguel because he takes shots in order to confirm his identity as Spider-Man becomes even more questionable.

Just because he needs an outside force like shots to confirm his identity, doesn't make him any less of that identity. People who are 'biologically/naturally' Spider-people aren't 'more' of a Spider-person than Miguel. The same way cis guys aren't more 'manly' than trans men who take shots.

But Miguel's story being an allegory for transness is another conversation for another day.

The point of the movies isn't 'Miles is Spider-Man'. The point is 'Anyone can be Spider-Man. No one can decide your story or identity for you.'

By questioning Miguel's identity as Spider-Man you're ignoring the message Miles keeps trying to hammer home.

When you question Miguel, you become Miguel.

In short: Miguel is Spider-Man, Miles is Spider-Man. They're all Spider-Man. There is no one definition of Spider-Man.

MIGUEL IS SPIDER-MAN AHHHHH

I rest my case.

(actual photo of me defending Miguel in court. I am his lawyer.)

This isn't me trying to shit on people who believe this theory, but it's just my personal two cents of why I think it doesn't add up in the general scheme and message of the movies. 💖

ANYWAY here's Miguel

BYE.

[xkaidaxxxx]

Zuko x chubby reader

Mentions: body shaming, foul language, angst,aggression, lying, fluff?!

Simple! :) sorry for errors.

“You look very beautiful y/n.” Katara mentioned "Thanks. I decided it's time for a change." You replied. Katara's complement made you blush. Sokka was surprisingly good at cutting hair. He gave it layers and added braids that held your hair back. “ I agree with Katara” Mai spoke. You instantly felt horrible with the new hairstyle. Mai isn’t the one to express her feelings so that comment made you believe otherwise. Perhaps cutting your hair shouldn't have crossed your mind.

Aang noticed you playing with the charm bracelet you wore. It tells him a lot about how you feel. He noticed you'd touch a certain charm with the emotion you were feeling, such as anger, happiness, sadness, anxiety, etc.“Katara is right y/n. It suits you! Sokka did a great job.” He spoke. He had that nice big smile. “ New hair cut? Looks nice” Zuko said patting your back. You’ve been dating him for 4 months and you’re very thrilled about it. He’s very kind and romantic when alone with you.

The day went on by. Everyone was calm. You can hear the ocean tides and feel the wind blowing. “Tell her. I’m tired of hiding.” Mai said. Zuko rubbed his temples. “It’s not that simple Mai. I can’t dump her out of the blue.” He responded. You heard them. “You don’t even like her. Why did you agree on dating her?” Your tears slipped. You didn’t want to hear his answer. “Because…she’s saved me many times..and I felt bad. It looked like she was going to cry if I said no.That and how many guys do chubby girls date? Almost never. I’m giving her a little hope.” You cried silently. You felt sudden saddens and hate. Running towards the ocean Katara called out to you. “ Y/n we’re making lunch! Wanna come help?” You ignored her walking back and forth. The waves following your movement. You made a fist. Your anger was so out of control you created a storm. “ Hey! Y/n you created a problem here!” Sokka yelled as Aang used his air bending to keep the water from drenching them. “Sorry!” You took a few deep breathes calming away the storm and the crazy waves.

“What’s got you so upset?” Katara asked giving you a tight hug. “ I keep losing my arrows. Haha. I overreacted.” She knew you were lying. She’s your most trusted person. Katara understands your personality, sense of humor, and the way you just are. She whispered. “We can talk about it later.” You smiled and nodded. Lunch was yummy. Everyone’s stomach was content.

Another 3 months went by. All the same apparently Zuko still loves you and wants to spend was much time with you as possible. It was such bullshit. You heard him leave with Mai at midnight. You saw how they treated each other. The little things showed everything.

The ride on the ship was wild. Not because there was a storm or someone was throwing arrows,fire rocks or trying to drown you all. Simply because an argument started.

“ you have no right to be upset. I’ve known him longer. You don’t get it.” Mai said with a straight face. You couldn’t believe what she said. The fire nation is insane however a regular family took you in. You eventually met Zuko. “ Have no right to be upset!? Are you kidding me? Yeah, he was your childhood sweetheart or whatever but who followed behind him when he was exiled !? Me! Which one of us cared to help him emotionally? Me! I’ve given him all my love and support even if it meant I’d be killed on the spot for betraying the fire nation. You did nothing but hide underneath Azula’s shadow and power. Yeah, I have every right to be upset.” You replied tears falling down your cheeks. Everyone was witnessing this mess. You were smarter, stronger, and more reasonable than her. “Zuko out of all the mistakes you’ve made. Cheating on me is the worst one. I know I’m beautiful even if I’m skinny or not. Not many chubby girls get boyfriends you sure were right about that. You should’ve rejected me from the start because I don’t need your pity.” You spoke finally feeling relieved. You said everything you’ve been wanting to say. “You heard us that day? Why didn’t you confront us then?” Zuko asked looking Towards Mai and then at you. “I had hope that along the way you’d realize what you did was wrong and you’d fall in love with me. 3 months later it’s the same. Clearly, I was wrong. I’m done. I’m dumping your ass. I hope you feel guilty for body shaming and lying.” You replied holding onto Katara’s arm. You couldn’t help but do so. She’s your best friend since you’ve met her. “ One day there will be an amazing man who will fall in love with you. He’ll love everything about you.” Katara said. You smiled and hugged her. “ Awe!” Aang and Sokka said in unison.

Pt.2 is posted !!!

[maldaptivedreamer]

From Afar P. 7

With your heart aching and your ego is bruised, can you bring yourself to forgive him? Will you give him the chance to fix what he broke?… Is he worth a second chance?

content: Errors and mistakes, not entirely accurate to alien universe, angst with happy ending, name calling (asshole, darling, etc.)

wc: ~2.9

a/n: I'm not sure about how I feel about the ending, but I did try to make it happy. Didn't wanna draw things out too much, but not sure if it landed. Feels kinda rushed. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Masterlist     

Work had been a shitshow. The lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on your body, and the constant ache in your muscles only worsened throughout the day.

You accidentally dropped your drill, and the loud clanging noise reverberated through the stuffy tunnel. Normally, everyone kept to themselves and ignored the sounds of their coworkers, focused on meeting their quota by the end of their shift. But this time, all eyes were on you. A nearby worker shouted over the deafening noises, “Damn, I feel sorry for that bastard.”

Finishing your shift and returning your drill, you couldn't help but agree with their sentiment. The attendant quickly noticed the damaged drill and tsked disapprovingly before adding more time to your work contract as compensation for the damage.

Ultimately, your shift ended with more time owed than less.

As you near your front door, all you can think about is a long shower and crawling into bed.

Lost in thought, you almost miss the figure sitting on your doorstep until you're only a few doors away. Gnawing on your lip, you sigh and begin to mentally prepare yourself.

Schooling your face into an expression of dry neutrality, you apprehensively approach the door. The figure stands up and brushes himself off, his voice shaking with fake enthusiasm, “Hey, haven’t seen you in a while.”

Bjorn looks almost exactly the same as he did the last time you saw him. Almost.

But you know him better than that. Have come to know him more intimately than, dare you say, anyone else ever had.

His stress is evident in the creases on his clothes, the headband he wears with little concern for its placement, and the fidgety movements of his hands as he twists his ring or wipes them on his jeans. It's also visible in the darker shade of pink on his bottom lip from constant biting.

He stands in front of your door, silently pleading for entry. You say nothing, and he swallows hard at your silence.

With a nod and a downward glance, he shuffles his feet in the dirt and speaks, “You, uh… You changed the code to your door, and I wasn’t really able to catch you…” His voice trails off and you simply watch him.

His chest puffs with a deep, audible breath, “Guess you’ve just been busy… I guess. Would you… may I come in?”

Silently, you gesture towards your door, and he quickly moves aside. Your body shields the keypad as you enter the code and unlock the door. Turning to face him, you tilt your head up to meet his gaze.

Finally speaking, you utter out a simple, “No.” You watch as the hope in his eyes is quickly replaced by desperation.

His voice is rushed as you move to shut the door, “Please! Please… I just want to talk. I want to… to apologize. To say I’m sorry.”

Your neutral expression drops into a frown as you respond with an unforgiving tone, “You just did, why should I let you in? … I’m tired and I’ve had a shit day at work. I’m really, really not in the mood, nor do I have the energy to have this conversation.”

Bjorn forces his anxious eyes to focus on yours as he speaks in a low, watery voice, “You’re right… You’re always right love. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… You’ve given me so many chances. So, so many. And-” His voice becomes choked, “and I fucked every single one of them up… But I’m asking, begging for one more love. Please- just, just to talk.”

You pause before giving him a forced nod, swallowing the lump in your throat. Your voice is blunt, “Okay, but I need to take a quick shower first, so… just go wait in the kitchen or something.”

Without waiting for his response, you swing open the door and retreat to your room.

As you turn on the faucets and gather a change of clothes, you can still feel his pleading eyes piercing into you from two rooms away.

You briefly lean on the counter with both hands and stretch your tense body. With a grimace, you strip off your clothes and step into the warm stream of water.

As the warm water cascades over you, you feel the strain in your muscles begin to relax. You take a deep breath and decide that this shower will, in fact, not be quick – He’d wasted your time before why not return the favor. Trying to disregard your spiteful thoughts, you focus on clearing your mind before what will surely be a draining conversation.

As you dry off and get dressed, your body pulses with adrenaline. The urge to run or fight is intense and your body tenses with restraint.

Making your way into the kitchen, you can see him sit awkwardly on the chair. Deciding to keep your distance, you force your shaking hands to still as you lean against the kitchen counter.

You roll your eyes and tiredly speak, “Go on then.”

There is a tense silence as Bjorn avoids looking at you. His voice is shaky and falters as he speaks, “I’m sorry.”

Another silence follows, and your grip on the counter tightens. Scoffing with disbelief, your voice sharp, “‘I’m sorry.’ That’s it?"

You push yourself off the counter, fists clenched and hissing with frustration. “You can’t even bother to look me in the fucking eye?… What? What did you think this was gonnna be, huh?” you seethe. You pause to let your question hang in the air before continuing.

You stare at him as your brows are furrowed in anger. Scoffing, you begin to pace on the kitchen floor, “Nothing to say? Is it because you thought that you’d come here… say sorry… and then everything would be, okay?”

Your pacing on the kitchen floor intensifies as Bjorn swallows, watching you rub your hands across your face. "No, I-" he begins.

Cutting him off, you continue with a bitter tone, “No? You didn’t come here expecting make up sex? Or better yet, angry sex? … You never really wanted to talk about any of this,” you gesture between you angrily, “That was the problem, but now that I’m done… You want to fix it…”

Your voice falters and you feel treacherous tears cloud your eyes, “You know… It hurt… It fucking hurt when you repeatedly, repeatedly kept putting the conversation off?

Dragging a harsh hand through your hair and chest heaving, you hiss, “Do you know how fucking embarrassing it is to be with someone everyone calls an asshole?”

Your voice turns mocking, “They were joking, sure. But I’m not finding the joke very funny right now… I have been soo patient with you. Why do you think that was?”

Not pausing for him to answer, your voice holds so much sorrow and anger, “Because I fucking liked you Bjorn.”

“Liked?”, he chokes out, pain evident on his face.

Slowly nodding, you give him a sarcastic smile, “Yeah liked… Did you think that I stayed and put up with your shit because of the sex? No," you scoff and laugh bitterly.

Leaning on the counter with your head down, your voice is now quiet, “I stayed because I started to fucking like you. The humiliating thing is I really, really liked you.”

Both of you remain silent as you process the weight of your words. The surge of anger and adrenaline may have given you a temporary boost, but now you feel completely drained. Your body slumps as all the emotions that you had been suppressing finally spill out. The argument has left you with an empty feeling in your chest.

When Bjorn finally speaks, his voice is laced with guilt. He stands up, gesturing with open hands as he apologizes, “I understand… and I am so, so sorry for how much I’ve hurt you, for hurting you. I’m sorry for how much I’ve put you through.” There is a pause as he gathers his thoughts, it gives you a chance to do the same. You allow yourself to slide down to the floor, your limbs feeling exhausted and useless.

His face is open and genuine, with gleaming eyes that never waver from your gaze. The pain in your chest intensifies as he lowers himself to the ground, settling a few feet away from you.

Bjorn lets out a wet laugh as he speaks, “You’re right. I’m an asshole, I can be one, but never to you. I never wanted to be that to you. I…”

He draws in a deep breath and licks his dry lips. His hands ball into fists as he struggles against the urge to reach out and touch yours. A few stray tears slide down his flushed cheeks, “I want a relationship with you. I want to be with you… I want to be your partner if you’ll still have me, and if not… then I would like to be a part of your life. I… care about you. I really, really like you. I don’t exactly know if what we have… had… was love, but it was the closest thing I’ve ever come to it. I’m not sure if you feel, or felt, the same but I am so fuckin’ sorry that I ruined it darling.”

Bringing himself closer to you, his tone soft and vulnerable, “I want to work on this, on me…” He licks his lips again, searching for the right words, “If not with you then for you. I want to be better.”

You sigh and reach out a trembling hand towards him. Bjorn immediately crawls closer and takes your hand in his. You study his face and shake your head, gently brushing his hair away back, “Bjorn, I don’t want you to change for me. I want you to do it for you… This won’t work if you do it for me. I accept your apology, but I don’t forgive you…”

You can see the glimmer of hope in his eyes as he tentatively reaches out to wipe away your tears. You force yourself to shake your head and raise a hand to do it yourself.

As his hand falls away, you steel yourself and speak firmly despite the heaviness in your chest, “We are not picking up where we left off… As much as I would really like to believe you, I don’t. I don’t trust you. We need to take things slow, to be friends. I just, just need time… I can’t be around you right now. I’m still so angry and I don’t want to start a friendship with you still angry.”

Licking your dry lips, your breaths come out in choppy bursts. A frown creases your face.

Bjorn swallows hard and gives you space. His voice is strained - it's hard to tell if it's from hurt or hope or both - when he speaks again, “Thank you lo-”

You quickly interrupt him, “And don’t, don’t call me love. It’s-”, you pause, “Nicknames need to be kept to a minimum, but don’t call me love. Please.”

A small part of you is hopeful, cautiously hopeful. Very cautiously hopeful.

“Easy darling, you’ll end up cuttin’ yourself if you keep on,” Bjorn’s teasing and stupidly annoying voice reaches your ears.

Groaning, you flip him off, “Then fucking help me asshat.”

He throws his head back in a laugh as he uncrosses his arms. Pushing himself from the wall he’d leant on, he makes his way toward you.

"Alright, alright," he chuckles, reaching out to you. Your face scrunches with one final attempt before begrudgingly handing the bottle to him. Sitting by you, his fingers brush yours as they grasp the neck of the bottle. You try to ignore the warmth that spreads through your body at his touch.

Bjorn effortlessly opens the beer, and he hands it to you. You purposefully brush your fingers against his as he speaks.

“There you are darling,” he murmurs, his voice suddenly low and serious. Feeling drawn to his blue eyes, you meet his intense gaze. For a moment, the world seems to stand still.

Shaking yourself out of it, you clear your throat. "Thanks," you mutter.

Sighing, you try to focus on why you asked him here in the first place. Your voice is noticeably worried as you speak, “Tyler and Navarro will be distracting Kay, so I need help setting everything up for her. So, can you help me? There’s a lot I wanna to get done.”

Bjorn grins, the earlier tension dissipating. "Depends. What's in it for me?"

As you focus on his familiar teasing, the stress dissipates. You roll your eyes, fighting back a smile. "The pleasure of my company, obviously."

"Oh, obviously," he drawls. "Because that's such a treat."

Your playful tone reaches his ears as he nudges you, "Oh please, you love my company. You’re always around, practically obsessed with me... Who knows maybe one day I’m gonna find a way to get rid of your annoying ass.”

He stretches out next to you as he speaks, “Come now darling, you’d miss me and my pretty face too much.”

He tilts his head towards you and his voice is suddenly serious, genuine, “Hey lo-.”

Your heart jumps as you hear his slip up, but you ignore it.

Clearing his throat, he continues, “Course I’ll help with everything. And she’s gonna love it. Everything will be perfect. With her bleeding heart, she would’ve loved just the cake you’d made her, she’ll crash when she sees what you’ve got planned.”

His light nudges bring you back to reality, pulling you out of your racing thoughts. The teasing grin is back on his face, “Relax princess, it’s ‘sposed to be a party.”

You try. You roll your shoulders, but the attempt is useless. It will be, until everything is done, possibly even after.

Watching you, he bites his lip briefly before furrowing his brows, “C’mon, we’ll work on fixin’ it til everything looks good, yeah?”

Glancing at him, your eyes hold a genuine appreciation for him. Appreciation for more than just his help with Kay’s party.

Holding air in your cheeks, you nod at him. Bjorn’s smile is enough to slightly lessen the anxiety in your chest.

With his reassurance and comforting presence beside you, you become lost in your thoughts.

It took a considerable amount of time and effort to get where you both are now, but you are grateful that you allowed him back into your life. You thought you had strong feelings for him before, but they have only intensified since then.

Bjorn has changed; you have seen how hard he's worked to improve himself and to be better. Everyone around him has noticed; all of them mentioning that he is significantly more tolerable now, attributing that change to you. You don’t want to take the credit for his hard work to change, but… his relationship with you did play a significant role in motivating him to change.

You pause your thoughts and sneak a glance at him from the corner of your eye.

He gets up to grab another beer and stumbles over the trash on the floor, cursing under his breath. You can't help but release a small, breathless giggle, causing him to turn towards you with a playful glare.

The smile on your face softens as he makes his way back towards you. You both sit in silence before your gentle voice breaks it, “I forgive you Bjorn.”

You shift your gaze from the people around you to his pretty blue eyes, "I forgive you," you say softly. "And maybe not now… but if you wanna start dating, start a relationship together… then I’m ready.”

A wide grin spreads across his face at your words, and he bites his lip to contain it. You can't help but smile in return.

The warm feeling in your chest intensifies as he takes your hand in his. Squeezing your clasped hands, he swallows.

Bjorn's eyes shine with emotion as he gazes at you, he squeezes your hand tighter. "Are you sure?" he asks softly, his voice filled with hope and a hint of disbelief.

You squeeze his hand back, feeling a surge of warmth at his consideration. "I'm sure. We've taken things slow, built a friendship. I trust you again, Bjorn. And I..." You pause, gathering your courage. "I think I'm falling in love with you."

His breath catches and for a moment he's speechless. Then a brilliant smile spreads across his face. "I love you too," he murmurs.

Bjorn lets out a shaky breath, bringing your joined hands to his lips and pressing a gentle kiss to your knuckles. "Thank you," he murmurs against your skin. "I promise I won't let you down this time. I'll do whatever it takes to make this work."

You can't help but smile at the sincerity in his voice. "I know you will. We'll make it work together."

Bjorn leans in slowly, giving you time to pull away if you want. But you don't. Your eyes flutter closed as his lips meet yours in a tender kiss.

Pulling away, you feel the familiar warmth of his forehead against yours. You laugh and caress his cheek with your thumb, teasingly saying, “That’s all you’re getting til you take me out on a date.”

His warm breath tickles your face as he chuckles, "A date, huh?" Bjorn murmurs, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "I think I can manage that.”

He wraps an arm around your shoulder, and you lean into him, both of you lost in comfortable silence. Kissing your forehead, Bjorn's arms feel like home.

[inkyycapp]

| rayman, ramon & raymesis x reader.

| relationship hcs.

personal song of choice: in my room, by insane clown posse.

i've seen so many rayman edits to this song, it now has him written alll over it. fuuuuuuckkkkkkk. do i write smut? (probably). just take this for now.

| tw:: foul language, raymesis/j, my own hcs, self indulgence, (heavy?)angst, they're all struggling, this is not proof read.

[ a/n:: we need more rayman. i'm still new to writing fanfics(aside my horrid watpad {i forgot how to spell it} phase.) forgive my errors and i hopefully plan to write more of him. he haunts my nightmares(lovingly). i'm ill rn, and wrote most of this in a sleep deprived craze for more rayman. first time writing these characters-- forgive me. ]

(soh/game)rayman.

i feel like he'd be the type to randomly pinch you especially when he feels like he's being ignored, or when you're 'busy'.

he always does it when you least expect it. sitting on the couch, scrolling on your phone/reading a book? pinch. getting something to drink? pinch. stargazing? pinch.

loves the little reactions he gets from you. giggles over it. i bet he kicks his feet too.

definitely the type to swipe food from your plate when you're not looking, then gaslight you about it.

you're missing a potato wedge? nuh-uh. you're crazy. how dare you assume that your handsome, loving, amazing boyfriend would ever steal from you. the betrayal...(he did it.)

i like to think he enjoys hand kisses. random thought, but i dunno. i think he'd like to kiss your palms as a source of reassurance, and of course receiving the same affection back would probably give him a heart attack. in a good way of course.

or when you're a bit stressed in public and hold onto the back of his hoodie. like slightly holding onto the fabric where it's almost unnoticeable. probably the cutest thing you could ever do in his eyes. (that or giving him a lil kiss.)

silly things aside, he stuggles a lot. his failures that haunt him day in and out, he's scared to know how long it takes before he fails you too.

simple mistakes can lead to him getting stressed or overwhelmed as he doesn't leave any room for his 'failures', even with something so simple as accidentally knocking something over, breaking stuff, etc... he truly believes that you are one mistake away from leaving him.

he tries to be forgiving of all things with consideration of course, but often times it backfires. he has a naïve view that everyone can, and will change. he wants to believe that they will change for the better, even if the person chooses not to change, or to change for the worse. he blames himself when things go south because of that, he wants to give someone a second chance, but sometimes do they really deserve it? he tells himself he should know better by now, and it was all nothing but wishful thinking. very forgiving for others, but the rules don't apply to himself.

be patient with him, and reassure him whenever you get the chance. he really needs it.

his sleep schedule is the most horrendous schedule you will have ever seen. it's teetering between a full on coma, or staying awake for days on end. he loves taking naps, but sometimes he just can't-- he has work to do. remind him breaks are necessary. force him to sleep when he needs it. for his naps(comas), i don't know. cry? if there's one thing that'll wake him up is the sound of you in distress.

rayman is a sucker for pet names. he will be a puddle of goo in you're hands.

you're in another room, and he's just lounging about. the next moment you're calling for him, needing his help with something? he's right there. like right behind you.

lives for simplicity. babe, baby, sweetheart, honey, hun/hon. consider whatever you need done. he's so whipped for you.

he's also pretty good with pda. again, the pinching. public, private, it doesn't matter. that cute little pout on you're face is something he'd kill for.

personally, i prefer the earlier games personality traits as opposed to (i believe)origins. i do enjoy the childish behavior, however i do believe his immaturity does have a limit. (living for soh!rayman.)

definitely the type to crack the funniest jokes at the worst times imaginable. it's his secret talent.

that, and hitting you with a one liner when you're both faced with a terrible situation. except that one liner is just so good-- you have to at least give him credit for that.

huge soft spot for sentimental gifts. always putting them somehwere safe, and when enough time passes, he likes to go over each and every one. reminiscing about all the little things.

raymesis.

[middle child energy.]

'a hot tempered psycho who's looking to destroy rayman's reputation'. not my words-- it's the wiki's.

with canonical anger issues under his belt(?), he's a bit more brash than the other two. when realizing he may like you, he may turn against you in almost violent ways. but, he hesistates everytime. always missing by a hair.

it takes him a while before he'd able to ever consider that maybe being vulnerable is okay-- just this once.

suprisingly a tad bit cautious of 'being nicer' to you, but he's trying his best.

raymesis is a thing-a-majig with a serious identity crisis.

i like to think that the some of the 4-5 vers. of the evil clones of rayman are just him having multiple 'phases'. it's fun to think of.

on a more serious note: he often feels like he's nothing but a lesser-- a shadow of the heroic rayman. maybe he looks up to him in a way, and finds jealousy in how he can just...keep going. how he's able to be so open, and forgive other so easily despite their past transgressions. he finds it unfair: why is it so difficult for him, but so easy for rayman. he's a clone of him, sure an evil clone, but a clone nonetheless. that's where the deep, dark spiral comes in.

linking to that he struggles to be nice, vulnerable, or open with you. he's supposed to be an evil clone of some heroic figure, and yet he's falling over himself because of you. in his own way, he gets extremely upset-- it pisses him off. he tries to be mean to you, but he can't bring himself to do so. he's supposed to be a 'bad person', but hurting you makes him seem like more of a monster than a villain.

this will all take time for him to process, the best thing you can do is be patient, listen to him rant, and just try and be there for him.

you have definitely mellowed him out, just a bit. he's still an asshole to rayman/j.

they're more like bickering siblings who never get along.

do not expect 'family(?)' dinners to go well.

i feel like mr.dark and the nymphs have serious beef with eachother. wwe smack downs every 'family(?)' dinner. always bet on the nymphs.

wouldn't it be cute for the nymphs to treat raymesis like their son too? just adopting him one day without him knowing? scolding him for lighting that one house down the street on fire?

raymesis doesn't like christmas trees.

there seems to be a reoccurring joke in the descriptions that claim raymesis is 'ugly' despite the fact he's a near clone of rayman. this always leaves him in a puddle of confusion with his confidence always shot. please tell him he's pretty once in a while-- he won't accept the compliment, but he'll think about it for days.

he's not used to praise, and can't take compliments. poor buddy.

he definitely bites. a lot.

of course he's a little more careful with you, he still bites now and again. i feel like he's an agressive lover. wanting to squeeze the life out of things he finds 'cute' without ever admitting it.

he has a purple tongue. that's kinda cool. i like to think he probably has a tongue piercing too? i feel like he's the type.

definitely plenty of pent up feelings that he has a hard time expressing.

but pda? oh yeah. lives for it. his hands always has to be on you in one way or another. get's all agitated, and sulks when you pull you're hand away from his to pick something up, or to rummage through your bag. how dare you-- you owe a huge apology.

pet names; babe/baby, sweetheart, creature, mine, stupid/idiot(lovingly). he's very silly with these.

he has a hard time believing you'd ever choose him compared to the hero, rayman. with time maybe he'll learn you love him, and choose him because he's your first choice.

(superiority complex.)

he may not be the best person, but he's at least willing to learn to be better in his own way.

ramon.

can we all agree on the amount of trust issues this man has right about now? good.

after the betrayal with eden whether you've been in his life for years or not, he finds it hard to put everything out in front. it'll take him some time to rebuild trust after what eden did. and no, him needing to rebuild the trust has nothing to do with you! (i mean that in a good way.) you did nothing wrong(unless you did) in his eyes but, he used to believe eden was his everything. and with that, eden took everything. he worries that with time they'll take you too.

give him reassurance, quality time, the whole mile. remind him you're not going anywhere.

while cuddling in bed(couch, etc) probably the type to refuse to let you go to the bathroom because he doesn't want to let you go.

honestly, very romantic.

he loves fruit, and chocolate covered fruit too.

will buy you some, but steals a few pieces when you're not looking. he's sneaky like that.

also known that he likes sushi, but i feel like he probably has beef with the conveyer belt things. probably a bad experience, or he's mad at it for no reason.

i think he likes habatchi. it's very entertaining.

he's the type to tell the most outrageous stories out of the blue. he's the absolute king of 'i used to know a friend'.

probably kept up with everyone's drama as the news host. stays awake at night thinking about it sometimes.

y'know when someone tells you a joke and you don't get it at first? this is him figuring out what they meant at like 2:30 am.

another terrible sleep schedule. like absolutely horrendous.

he probably has nightmares about his time as a news host. thinking of the lies he used to spread. how much each one impacted someone elses life.

wakes up in a cold sweat. ends up focusing on you're calm breathing, and tries to match it. eventually falls asleep, not before firmly pulling you close to him. even when you wake up, you'll never escape his grasp.

on an alternative route, if you did wake up, he's extremely apologetic. tries to usher you back to sleep. now you're both awake munching on some food watching some shitty trash tv, criticizing why she choose james over percy.

he's not keen on pda. he worries for you're life. it's already a risk for you to be with him-- what if eden sees?

pet names too, but more casual with them behind closed doors. definitely married-couple-core. sweetheart, brat when he's being a pain, or play fighting. hon/hun, baby when he's literally attached to you're hip.

has frequent chronic migraine. enjoys just burying his face into you're stomache and just laying there while you're doing whatever your doing. like a cat.

enjoys the comfortable silence between you two, but small conversation is just as nice.

has guns. you broke a lamp. doesn't let you touch no more./j

he actually prefers you have a gun on your person at all times, even in the comfort of home. you'll never know what could happen when you can't protect yourself.

| the end.

[a/n: sorry it's a little short, but this is my first time writing for these three. addiction is strong, don't do rayman kids.]

[prettieinpink]

hii!! <3

I wanted to ask u if u know how to deal with a bad grade? I always get good grades and am a straight A student, but recently I got a bad grade and it's effecting my self esteem and I keep worrying and stressing about it :((

i'm not sure if u already posted something about this, if so, I'm sorry and u can just ignore this >.<

tysm and no pressure 💞

(btw I love ur blog smm!! it's so helpful! 💗🫶)

DEALING WITH A BAD GRADE

1: SELF CARE 

Dealing with a grade that was unexpected for you, or above your standards can be a huge hit to our academic confidence. So, make sure not to treat yourself harshly because of one grade. 

DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF. I know it may not seem like it now, but receiving one below-average grade is not the end of the world or your academic career, nor does it represent your abilities as a student.

That being said, do not ‘punish’ yourself for a bad grade. I see that it's from a point of wanting to improve, but it’s more harmful to believe that overworking yourself will improve your grade. 

VENT OR RANT. Whether you’re talking to a classmate, friend, or family or doing some way to document your feelings, just let it all out. It can be frustrating or stressful for us if we receive a bad grade, especially if we spend so long studying for it or it has a huge weighting. 

DETACH FROM THE GRADE, just temporarily. I’m not saying forget about it, but just put it on the back of the burner and focus on the present moment. If needed, do some things you enjoy to relax and relieve your stress.      

2: IMPROVING 

Everything that you want to do after having a bad grade, to prevent that in the future and to reconcile your mistakes. Remember that improvement is only there if you commit. 

LOOK FOR ERRORS. Were your study methods effective? Did you have instrumental understanding or rational understanding of the topic? Did you use your class time effectively? 

If you do receive your assessment/assignment back, look for the mistakes you made on it. Write it down and practice those later, even if you aren’t getting assessed on it shortly. It is better to understand now than to be confused later. 

ASK YOUR TEACHER. Ask them for feedback on the assessment, where you went wrong and how you can improve in the future. Listen to them, and apply what they say. 

Or, if you’re someone who doesn’t want to talk to their teacher, ask your peers who have a good understanding of that topic or got a high grade. 

REFLECT. Do you believe that this was the best grade you could’ve got, or were you able to work hard but just didn’t? Were there any externalities that affected your grade? How will you improve for next time?

3: FOR THE FUTURE

To make up for the bad grade, so it doesn’t affect your final one and to implement ways to make studying more effective.

BUILD GOOD STUDY HABITS. Flashcards before you sleep and when you wake, making your environment rid of all distractions and knowing what to do if you do not understand something etc. 

CREATE A STUDY SCHELDULE/ROUTINE. This is so you know what to study, when to study, for how long and how to study for that topic. You do not want to go into study sessions unprepared, as you’re just gonna waste time.

SEEK EXTRA CREDIT. Participating in class and doing extra assignments are ways to recover your final grade from your last one. Ask your teacher about this.

4: MOVE ON. That grade is in the past, and you are in the present. Use that present time wisely, so you can celebrate all of that hard work once you get your success. Do not waste your time dwelling on it and forgive yourself. 

Thank you for your support anonnie, it means so much to me.

[meloarto-me]

Sparring

(I apologize for errors, etc. English is not my native language.)

Zoro x Reader

Word Count: 1,828

Cw: Sex, Dirty talk, Excessive stimulation

Synopsis: Zoro promised to spend Sunday with you for a week. When that day arrives he continues to ignore you. After realizing his mistake, he comes up with something to connect the exercise with you.

Masterlist

Zoro practiced all day and ignored all the surroundings around him. He didn't even listen to what you were saying to him, which irritated you a lot. It was Sunday and he had promised you over the previous days that he would spend it with you. But yet he apparently forgot and didn't give a damn about your presence.

You sighed once again, Zoro glanced at you quickly to then return to doing push-ups, sweat dripping from his body. His muscles were tensing up from the exertion. His whole posture was strangely uplifting.

If it weren't for the fact that he was ignoring you and had forgotten about today you would have been delighted by the sight.

But not now you were observing him angrily, crossed your arms over your chest and sighed louder than before.

Zoro exasperatedly stopped exercising and sat down in a Turkish position looking at you.

-What are you gasping for?-

He growled taking a decent sip of water from the bottle.

You rolled your eyes at him and turned your back to him. Now that he gave you some attention you didn't want it anymore. You snarled at him.

The swordsman was fed up with your behavior, he knew it might be his fault but didn't know why.

-I'm going to Sanji he will surely find a moment for me.-

You said as you stood up adjusted the skirt you were wearing and moved to leave the training room.

Just at that moment a switch flipped in the swordsman's head, he suddenly remembered what he had promised you all week. He knew he hadn't spent enough time with you.

-You mean I didn't keep my promise? You know that I need to practice so that I can be the best.-

You no longer paid attention to him and grabbed the door handle. But before you could press it and get out, you were squeezed by a larger and much stronger figure.

You gasped in surprise.

-You're not going anywhere woman.- He whispered in your ear.

You held your breath, his voice sent shivers through your body. Your body spontaneously began to warm up to his presence behind you.

-I have an idea how we can combine my exercise and spending time with you.-

Said Zoro with a roguish smile, forcibly pushed you away from the door, which he had locked and, to make sure no one would enter, pawned it with a heavy barbell.

He grabbed your hips and lifted you up, as if on cue you wrapped your legs around his thick waist. The swordsman smiled at you and went to the exercise mat.

He put you on the ground, grabbed your jaw not very gently. He ran his thumb over your plump lips.

-Be a good girl to me.-

He whispered into your slightly open mouth from shock. You did not expect such a turn of events. You looked at him in disbelief as he walked away to the other side of the mat. You weren't quite sure what Zoro had in mind.

-What?- You finally asked.

-What, what woman? You don't see you will practice with me. We're going to do the so-called sparring.-

Zoro stated nonchalantly, the glances he was giving you were more than enough for you to know that this was about something more than simple sparring.

You nodded vigorously in yes, if that's how he wanted to play then why not join in this little game.

-Just be gentle.- You asked.

The green-haired man snorted with laughter at this.

You didn't have time to do anything, he threw himself at you at once. He knocked you to the ground, pressing your plump body against the mat. You gasped at this.

Then he kissed you, it was a rough and quick kiss. You blushed.

Before you could react somehow, return the kiss or something, the swordsman pulled away with a smile.

-Zero one for me.- He winked at you.

You smiled seeing where this was going.

You stood up from the ground, Innocently grabbed the sides of your skirt.

-I think I'll take it off to make it easier for me.-

You feigned an innocent tone, and slowly slid the skirt down. Tempting Zoro in the process. Who squeezed his hands at his sides into a fist.

-Hurry up.-

He ordered and his tone was more tense than a minute ago.

She sent him a kiss and leaned over to put her clothes back on the bench. At the same time temptingly buckling up.

The green-haired man gasped at the sight of your ass. He swallowed his saliva nervously.

When you straightened up and were about to return to the ring Zoro grabbed your hips and pulled you with him to the mat. He positioned you underneath him and kissed you again. Before he let you go, however, he bit his lower lip and pulled it as he pulled away.

-I've had enough fun woman.-

He gasped and grabbed your thighs. His large and strong hands squeezed the soft flesh. You groaned at this.

Your eyes widened with excitement. God how long it had been since the two of you had been so close.

The man above you leaned in to kiss and bite the side of your neck. Specially making raspberries where you couldn't hide them.

-We must hurry up, dinner will be served soon and that insufferable cook will come here.-

He growled lifting your blouse so that he had a view of your breasts. He pushed back your bra and kissed one of your nipples.

His left hand held your neck while the other moved your panties aside.

When he succeeded he rubbed his fingers over your bump to excite you. Come on he didn't know you were already very aroused.

He moved to the other breast, this time biting the nipple which made you scream.

Zoro looked at you from his seat, moved his hand from your neck, to your mouth where he pushed two fingers effortlessly into your mouth.

You began to suck them as you saw the swordsman's eyes darken. He bit your nipple again causing you to scream into his fingers.

He smiled, lifted higher and started making raspberries on your chest.

When he found you wet enough he slid the beginnings of his fingers into your needy hole.

Then he slid his whole two fingers into you. This made you arch your back in pleasure.

You moaned, already feeling the beginnings of an orgasm. It had been a very long time since he had touched you, and each touch brought you very close to orgasm.

Zoro slid his fingers out of your mouth with a smacking sound. He slid down and ran his tongue over the sight of your pink excited pussy, which was greedily clenching si ena on his thick fingers.

-Such a needy little slut.- He whispered delightedly.

He spread your legs more with his hand. He moved his legs to be closer to your cunt.

He began to lick the sensitive bump, you moaned his name like a mantra.

But he was not going to stop. In addition to licking and sucking, he joined in moving his fingers, in and out of you. From time to time he would spread his fingers inside you to hear you scream his name.

The crew could hear it, but you didn't give a damn. What mattered now was your pleasure.

Tenderness already like orgasm is on your doorstep. you had to let him know about it

-Fucking Zoro am I coming?!?!?!-

You shouted his name.

The swordsman sucked at the point of the bump and with his fingers abused the G-spot inside you. You grabbed him by his short green hair and started pulling.

He enjoyed feeling your pussy greedily clamping down on his cunt. Trying to milk him.

You slumped tiredly, Zoro pulled his fingers out of you and sucked the rest of your juices from them. He smiled at you when he noticed you were watching him.

-Two zeroes for me.- He said.

He rubbed his bulge in his pants. He gritted his teeth at it to keep from moaning too loudly.

-I hope you're ready for more. Right? Will you be a good girl and let me get dirty? Will you let me fill you to the brim?-

He spoke dirty to you while taking off his pants. He threw them somewhere behind him.

-Yes, yes I will be a good girl. Fill me up please Zoro!-

You shouted spreading your legs and showing him your cock-waiting pussy.

The man smiled at this. He pumped his cock a few times, positioned it at your entrance.

He patted your hole with it a few times. Through which you closed one eye, you continued to be very sensitive.

The swordsman ran his tongue over your lips.

-If you ask for it. I'll dirty you baby.-

And without words he entered you up to the handle, you screamed from the sensation of fulfillment. Zoro groaned, you were squeezing him so tightly and he didn't have that much self-control.

He thrust into you indicatively to then impose an aggressive and fast blunt.

You covered your mouth with your hands trying to drown out the screams and moans.

His cock was so big that it easily touched all the sensitive points inside you, including your G-spot.

She grabbed your thighs and pressed them against your breasts, allowing him to enter you even deeper.

It moaned and gasped over you, while you squealed into his hands.

-Fuck how I love the feel of your pussy around me.-

He leaned over and bit your shoulder. He pounded harder into your warm and small tunnel.

-I can feel you squeezing me harder. You are about to come baby.-

He moaned into your neck. Your little body began to tremble, it was on the verge of orgasm. You knew you were about to come.

Moving your hands away from your mouth, you grabbed Zoro's face and pulled him into a hot kiss.

You screamed into his mouth as the orgasm came hard and strong. Your whole body trembled uncontrollably.

Zoro moaned into your mouth, another moment and he would have come himself.

He kept pounding into you, chasing his own orgasm. It didn't take long for him to come.

The one-eyed man quickly came out of you, grabbed his cock aggressively and squeezed ending up on top of you. The cum stained your belly breasts and a bit of your face. He smiled at you.

-You were a very good girl.-

He praised you.

-You were a very polite slut to me.- He added patting you gently on the face.

He lay down next to you, put his hands behind his head and sighed. You turned to him and snuggled into his side.

He wrapped his arm around you.

-Three zero.- He whispered into your head, kissed the top of it.

Walnelas caged him badly.

[brucewaynehater101]

I'm seeing a lot of asks about this and I want to give my two cents: I'm cool with Bruce being a bad father, but only if DC admits that he is a bad father.

You can't have him doing downright abusive shit only to never address it. The only character that consistently criticizes Bruce parenting is painted as entitled and vindictive. I genuinely think the reason why we can't have a decent Red Hood arc is because if you want Jason to make sense you're gonna have to admit Bruce is a fucked up father or rewrite canon.

Same reason for Tim "never aging", not so much physically but emotionally. Because to have the character establish itself like Nightwing did you would need to address at some point all the bullshit he went through. Even with Dick. Like sometimes it looks like they want to recognize how being raised by Batman fucked him up by they end up settling for "oh it's the pressure". Like that's the most DC will say "Batman puts his kids under a lot of pressure buuuuuut it's justified because they're fighting evil :)".

Not just the kids, I think Batman himself would be so much more interesting if DC was willing to let him confront these things. As a redemption arc or as a fatal flaw that keeps his family at arms length. But they want to have their cake (have Batman be edgy and give the Robins Character Development™ through good old child abuse) and eat it (have Batman be Dad of the year). And that's what doesn't work.

Batfam fandom is great because you have people making content for Good Father Bruce, Bad Dad Bruce (he's trying and it's a bit funny/tragic), Awful Father Bruce (with no intention of changing. Every option is way more interesting than DC's directionless mess. Like, we don't even need them to make Bruce Good™ we just want them to pick a side and stick to it.

Thank you. My gods that sums it up perfectly.

Like, I've got no problem consuming Good Dad Bruce content... if it's not the comics. The animated stuff is usually fine, and fanwork is also great. There's a ton to like about it.

Hell, I'm even chill if Bruce makes mistakes and errors and fucks up with his kids. That's realistic, as long as they address that he did, in fact, do that shit. They need to talk about how his actions have hurt his kids and his relationships with them. He can try to do better, or he can stay distant with his kids because of it (low to no contact). It's truly not that difficult to chat about.

Now, media that addresses all of the horrid stuff he's done and considers realistic reactions/solutions to it? Fantastic. I love that so much. It's so cathartic watching him get his ass handed to him.

It's not necessary, though. I'm chill with good dad Bruce.

Despite that, outright ignoring what he does or brushing it under the rug? That's horrific. That reads like a sickening cycle of abuse, and I can't stand it. It's the exact same shit an abuser pulls by harming their victim (psychologically, mentally, physically, etc.), apologizing (ish), finding a way to pin the blame back on the victim, and then love bombing. Like, my gods. Bruce will beat the shit out of Jason and say it's Jason's fault for killing someone... "I wouldn't harm you/take a machine to permanetly fuck up your brain if you didn't do that. It's not my fault that I decided to hurt you. It's your fault that I did."

I just fucking can't.

I think Tim, with his little statement of "I don't expect you to apologize" after Bruce caused him to have a nervous breakdown post 16th birthday, that's a close approximation to admitting that Bruce is a piece of shit that does tendencies like an abuser. No matter what someone's intentions are, they should still apologize if they've cause unjustified/unintentional harm. Only assholes who don't regret their actions or people who feel their actions are justified won't apologize. There's times when apologizing isn't necessary or desired. That's fine. I won't apologize if Comic!Bruce and I are in a room, and I "accidentally" set him on fire.

Yet, Bruce is out here fucking up his kids. At the very LEAST, they deserve a fucking apology. Maybe a restraining order.

I ranted a bit. My bad. Anyways, have DC acknowledge the shitty actions Bruce does or don't have him do them. It's simple.

[useless-catalanfacts]

No question. Just rant. I love your page. And sorry for chaotic story time vibes, but I don't think I'd realised how crazy this anti-catalan thing really is until I travelled to southern Spain. My Spanish is not great, but I took a course in Catalan in high school (long story on why this was available in my city but it also included a human tower party at the end and it was brilliant even tho I almost died) so when talking to people I casually threw in some Catalan words to help my Spanish. I am Norwegian, and I thought it was kind of like... as if someone was trying to speak Norwegian but casually threw in some Swedish to fill in the gaps. Like we would totally have joked about it, but overall we would just be grateful they really made an effort to be understood. But no. IT WAS NOT THE CASE. My host was literally offended. Like offended offended. I didn't really get it, because it's not like the Catalans have oppressed him and I'm coming here speaking the tongue of the oppressor (its kinda the opposite). But no. My host acted if I was the most ignorant person ever. He basically sat me down and explained that I have to show respect and speak castillian (or english, which was apparently fine, even if he understood about 1% of it), and then I asked if he would speak Catalan if he visited Barcelona and he said he would never visit Barcelona because he didn't like the people there. And then I said that if you hate them so much, why not throw them out of the country, get rid of them, and let them have their own state? It sounds like a win-win. And he looked as if he was gonna hit me.

Ah 😬

I wish things like this surprised me, but I have family from Andalucía and Extremadura and have friends who also have family from Andalucía, and so I've heard this and worse... It also reminded me of a few weeks ago when there was a scandal because a train in Málaga (in Andalucía, southern Spain) gave the announcements in Catalan instead of Spanish (turns out the train had been programmed in Catalonia during the COVID-19 restrictions and later moved to the Málaga train system, but for some mistake this day it was showing COVID-19 precaution in Catalan from 2020 now in 2024). It was such a scandal that it was on the news and politicians were making such a big deal of it, the PP (the most voted party in Málaga and of all Andalucía) also said it was "offensive" and that Malagans were being "laughed at" by the trains. Other errors in public transport that actually mean people can't travel in time don't get reported as much as when one train's screens tell you in Catalan to wear your facemask. 🤷

The last part of what you say, absolutely right. I never understood it either: if they really don't like us, then shouldn't they also be interested in not having anything to do with us? Why not just kick us out? I never really understood it until some years ago when I heard the words of a right-wing Spanish journalist (I think was Federico Jiménez Losantos?) who said something along the lines of "if Catalans want to leave, then leave. But Catalonia is ours." Meaning that Catalan people, individually, we can leave and migrate abroad. But the land is a possession of Spain, our homeland is their property. I think that sums up that view. It's not about being annoyed at having to share a state with a culture you despise, it's about wanting to keep domination.

I'm sorry you had this experience. Your effort to communicate should have been valued, and pulling the words you know from a language from the same linguistic family was a good idea that would have worked great, they wouldn't have found it offensive if the language you knew instead of Catalan was Italian, Portuguese, etc. Thank you very much for sharing your experience, and I hope you could enjoy the rest of your trip (Southern Spain, outside of situations like this, is a beautiful place), and I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the castells party (and didn't die in it)!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

In 2022, Republicans in Michigan made a major mistake: They spent more money on anti-transgender ads than on reinforcing economic messaging. As a result, Democrats won a trifecta in the state for the first time in 40 years. Now, there are signs Republicans may be repeating the same error. A new set of polls in the crucial "blue wall" swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania shows that Harris is matching Trump on the economy. This is happening as Trump spends more money on anti-trans advertising than immigration, housing, and the economy combined. According to the well-respected Marist poll, Harris is nearly tying Trump on the economy in Pennsylvania and Michigan and has come within five points in Wisconsin. She leads Trump in all three states, polling at plus two in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and plus three in Michigan. The numbers were highlighted by James Singer, rapid response advisor to the Harris campaign, who noted that she had closed the gap on the economy, and shifted independent voters by 19 points in the state of Pennsylvania.

“This has been the long story of the Harris paid media campaign — just grinding on this economic message (anti-price gouging, Medicare covering home care, etc) for months as different shiny objects hit the news cycle,” said political analyst David Weigel on Twitter. Harris's late-campaign surge comes as Trump has flooded the airwaves with anti-trans advertisements during major sporting events. Meanwhile, Republican Senate candidates have also received tens of millions of dollars in support from groups like the Senate Leadership Fund, which has blanketed these swing states with ads about transgender bathroom usage, sports, and health care. Spending on transgender issues dwarfs all others; according to national political reporter Marc Caputo, the Trump campaign has spent more money on anti-trans advertisements than on any other issue, surpassing topics like the economy and immigration.

“I will never understand the Trump strategy of spending the entire month of october ignoring the economy and instead running ads exclusively on trans people existing and immigrant caravans,” posted Andrew Lawrence, deputy director of rapid response for Media Matters.

Lawrence has good reason to be stumped; Republicans have attempted this same playbook in Michigan and many other states before. In 2022, Republicans spent $50 million on anti-trans advertising. One of the primary focuses of that spending was Michigan, where they used the ads to target Democrats as well as Issue 3, an abortion rights amendment. This is similar to how Republicans are targeting abortion rights amendments today by saying reproductive freedom will codify "transgender healthcare" into law. These ads failed; Issue 3 passed, and Democrats took the trifecta in the state for the first time in 40 years. They faced similar losses in every other swing state where similar ads were deployed.

[...] The movement towards Harris on the economy is notable and not limited to the recently released Marist poll. A Time Magazine analysis of polls found similar results, and a Fox News poll released on Wednesday found Harris “nearly even” on the economy, down only two points in Michigan, whereas Trump was up 11 earlier in the year.

As Donald Trump continues to push inflammatory anti-trans attacks in his ads, Kamala Harris has been chipping away at Trump’s advantage on the economy in polls, thus putting her roughly neck-and-neck with him on the topic.

[splatoon-countdown]

(While outdated since the DLC is now out, I'm too lazy to make a new pinned)

Hello! I was curious to see just how long we'll have to wait for Side Order, so I looked up the day that Spring 2024 starts (March 19th) and the day it ends (June 20th) for the very least and very most amount of days to wait for it. That's ignoring the possibility of delays, of course. This is how I will be calculating countdowns until we get a firm release date.

UPDATE: We got a firm release date!!! February 22nd, 2024!!

Scheduled countdowns should be posted at Noon; 12:30 PM EST, but may be posted at other times due to various circumstances (me forgetting or something like that.)

In the meantime, I'll reblog various theories, art posts, and news relating to Splatoon, especially Side Order. If you'd only like the see the countdown, I've included a list of tags and what they correspond to under the cut. Also, feel free to send asks talking about Side Order! I love to theorize and discuss all things Splatoon!

Our in-game Splatoon 3 pool is "SideOrderCountdown" ! Come join us!

Tags:

#side order spoilers The big one. Any posts containing spoilers for Side Order will be tagged with this.

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[wolfsbanesparks]

I had a sudden great need to talk about Captain Marvel and his villains with you, bc something about them seemed connected in a grander scheme of things to me and it's late at night right now but I needed to sing about this

Dr. Sivana - (movie version) A man who in his childhood was teleported against his will and essentially temporarily kidnapped to a strange and horrifying place in the middle of the night, forced to be tested for something he had no idea about but continued to be called delusional and insane for when speaking about it to anyone. Driving him mad for being unworthy, feeling like he was rotten despite the circumstances out against him were unfair at the time in his eyes. That moment stayed with him permanently, keeping him locked in that memory forever, never truly growing up, but also losing his heart.

Mr. Mind - In most versions he is an alien or magical creature, but in one version I was told about, apparently he was an abused child who loved to read as an escapism. One day he accidentally ended up in a magical room, where he was transformed into what we now know as Mr. Mind. Human experimentation as a child, possibly. Never having a chance to live as a child and forced to grow up into something he did not want to become, but had to.

Chain Lightning - From what I heard from you, Chain Lightning is a girl with multiple personalities, one (or more) of them being villainous in nature, but one of them being genuine and in love with a boy. Trapped in her own body and mind, a child who has no will of her own to live her life as she wants to.

Lady Blaze/Satanus - Children fathered and abandoned by the wizard. For reasons, I do not know yet, I'm still researching, but this sounds like serious issues that caused them to go mad, vengeful that they were not seen as worth anything in their father's eyes to leave them their "rightful inheritance" after his passing.

Sinclair Batson - A reanimated puppet made by Lady Blaze, a wish by Ebeneezer Batson. A false son. No childhood given, no innocence given, just given a purpose to fo as he is told by people he does not know in a world he does not know.

Black Adam - An ancient and crusty old man, who, in his mortal life, murdered his own nephew for the power he coveted and was not meant to be his. He took the life of the child he was meant to protect and love, and yet when the child protected him instead, he returned the act with malice. The boy was chosen as champion, for the sake of the world, an innocent boy, and the world ripped him apart via his own family.

And then, there's Billy Batson. Orphaned, foster child, homeless (depending on the version), and alone. A child that the world does not see and is also against at the same time somehow. He struggles so hard to find a place in the world for himself, but remains pure of heart during all the bad times. He refuses to become as rotten as the people who see him suffering and ignore him. When he is chosen, it is not by his choice. He did not know what he was in for, and became a superhero with more responsibility and power than he was ready for at his young age. He did not consider himself able to have a childhood before, but WITH the powers he had now?? He couldn't ever think about being a kid ever again.

Just. Them. The theme of lost innocence and being forced to grow up, or the event in childhood ruining them forever and that event being the catalyst for so much more.

At one point in all of those origins for those characters, there were children who needed help, guidance, love, understanding, etc. But they were never given any of that, and look at what happened in the end. Billy seems to be the only one who managed to turn out good, but he could have been so different

Sorry if this is a lot and if there's spelling errors or mistakes, this is just something I wanted to talk about for a long time, and something I'll make my own post about at another time, but I felt like you would have great insight on this

Okay so I've been thinking about this all day because childhood innocence (and the loss of it) have always been a central theme of Captain Marvel’s comics.

This got very long so I'm putting my analysis under the cut.

In captain marvel comics, unlike in other places, innocence isn't equated with naivete or stupidity. Billy is a very innocent character in the grand scheme of things, but he's both very competent and savvy to the issues people faced. This childhood innocence, which is reflected in Captain Marvel’s own behavior even when they are separate people, is about doing the right thing, about not succumbing to things like selfishness and anger even when it's tempting to do so.

And your last point about Billy being the only one to turn out "good" is really important because it's why he was chosen to have these powers in the first place! He was pure of heart not just because he was good and kind, but because he continued to be that way even when he faced hardships that can (and often do) lead people down a darker path.

Now let's talk villains.

The movie versions of Billy and Dr Sivana have very clear and explicit parallels with each other. I think his story is the clearest in terms of how a loss of childhood innocence/trauma can haunt a person throughout their life. His lack of control of those circumstances is definitely one of the biggest factors in why he became obsessed with this one moment, a moment he believes his life was unfairly ruined.

I can't say I'm familiar with the version of Mr Mind you mentioned here, but based on what you've mentioned it's really interesting that his appearance and his powers are from something out of his control. Ironically he is now able to control others, continuing the cycle of abuse.

As for Chain Lightning (Amy is the main alter) is like many characters who canonically have DID in that her alters exist in part to protect her inner child (one of her other alters), to take on any pain or suffering in order to keep their childhood innocence in tact.

Lady Blaze and Satanus take after their mother, a demoness who may or may not have used magic to seduce him. His immediate and continued rejection of them, his assumption that they were evil from birth, certainly had an impact on them and the people they became. They never got to be innocent because Shazam wrote them off as evil from the start. Their insistence that they are owed his power and his place in the Rock of Eternity can be read as them longing for connection to a father that abandoned them and proving they were worthy of wielding his powers despite his rejection. (I'm starting to sense an additional theme of needing to feel worthy in Shazam's eyes but that's another post)

Sinclair exists in an unnatural and not fully autonomous state. He is Ebenezer's child first and foremost even if he isn't actually a child at all. He lost his innocence somewhere between death and resurrection.

And then there's Black Adam. There are a number of different versions of his story but all of them revolve around loss. Whether it's the loss of a child (his nephew or son) or the loss of his wife or brother, he gave into his pain. He have up on childish things like doing what's right and let himself be lost to his own worst impulses.

I think on top of the theme of innocence there's also this parallel theme of autonomy, of wanting male your own choices but having someone or something else taking that control away from you. Which definitely resonates with children who often don't have much control of their circumstances.

This was a lot but the English nerd in me loves talking about themes~