#important tags aside. hi

[l0verb0t]

jason todd × male/masc reader. | soft.

SUMMARY: a simple fic about jason being unable to fall asleep while in his boyfriend's arms. WARNINGs: physical contact, && self depreciation on jason's end. WORD COUNT: 1200+ NOTEs: third person && no plot. chronic pain jason mention. [man, boyfriend && lover, and he/him pronouns used to refer to the insert/reader.]

Bodies are a tool; if your own can't be exploited for your goals, it needs to be purged of everything that's holding it back until all that's left is a blade ready to cut out whatever else gets in the way next.

Anything else, and you're done for. They haven't been anything else to Jason for a long time.

He hasn't thought about that for awhile, through.

No matter how broken it is, he isn't going to waste the years he's spent molding his own back into something he can actually use for nothing. His aim is decent, enough so that he can trust his won't be as easily torn apart as before.

That he can dig his fists until it feels like bone grinding against flesh into anyone who thinks about it.

Since the pit, it's only ever worked against him.

There was a constant ache where ripped skin, long since healed into jagged muscle, would build up to a searing pain just to settle and repeat. The worst of it was over the entirety of his back, running along until his hips. He got used to it, though. He had to.

It's never been enough to knock him out, and instead it's been a constant reminder to stay on edge, forcing him to work off as little as a few hours of rest when days worth were better suited.

It's never gotten better. He doesn't know how it's been so long, and it's still just as painful.

Meds help, but his boyfriend has been trying to find more solutions to dull, distract it, anything.

It's been months, and it's still weird to call him that. Wherever that's been coming from, it's been more worth while to take the good with the bad, even if there's a chance he might never get used to it. Jason loves him too much not to try.

A couple years have wasted away since the initial meeting.

It's nauseating to think about how days went by, mostly spent in the dark of them and around those who's jaws he'd rather blow off than listen to yap, and he doesn't have much to show for it beyond a relationship that could end, ripped away at worst, at any time.

But it's been worth the risk. The days spent wondering if there's anything for him beyond being a reverant dealing out violence for the sake of ridding streets of filth. That he can actually live.

It's been around a week since he's stayed the night, since he's slept a full night, but at the rate he's at, it's going to take a while longer.

A call was all he needed to be convinced, and he tried not to make himself sound stupid whenever his voice dipped into a quieter tone as that conversation went on. He agreed to everything, not a single push back just so he could listen to him longer.

There was a pile of blankets stacked up on a bed he was brought into, not even that far into the night. Some he recognized were once stored away in the apartment.

It was definitely another attempt to get him to sleep better; he knew that. And he made sure to voice his appreciation later in the night between another pair of lips.

Complaints started being thrown around as soon as he began to get dizzy while underneath the heavy fabrics, not even an hour into the night.

He was really only doing it to mess with his boyfriend, voice low in the other man's ear, to keep him up and reap whatever reaction he could draw out from that. It wasn't unbearable, but no protest came when a couple were pushed aside in favor of being pressed better against each other.

Warmth is far from settling back into Gotham. He almost slid back into concrete while on the back.

But he'd rather deal with the cold itself, flooding in through the unfinished seals in the windows, than where he's stuck now. Take every blanket and push them over to the other man so he can breathe. It's hard enough already to keep it at a steady pace with his chest so close to his own.

Instead, one of his arms is in the same position as hours earlier, stuck underneath, wrapped around the back of the man in front of him, his fingers still tracing the spine.

Whatever time it is, his eyes are sore enough that he'd rather rip the lids off than continue to get irritated with every blink. He's been waiting however long, and with every attempt, he's woken back up to absolute darkness.

The sun doesn't seem to be getting any closer. So he waits.

His entire face is tense, most of all around the frown carried over from hours before, when he pretended to be asleep to urge the other man on. He doesn't need someone to dote on him all night.

Often he finds himself blank; every thought that could be a blur that comes with any silence he's left alone in. He wouldn't know how long he'd be staring before every little thing would become overwhelming again.

It would come in to rip him from even peaceful moments, pushing back fond memories in favor of nothing but the shame he'd be left with afterwards.

It'd fogged over whispers like earlier in the night, where they were lying beside each other as his boyfriend rambled on about whatever he was talking about, somewhere along the way, his head resting against Jason's shoulder.

Jason wouldn't say anything about the spacing out for a long time. As soon as question after question came in after brushing it off for all that time, he gave in.

He doesn't know why. Maybe he's just grown soft that the idea of actually working things out together seems plausible despite everything.

It's confusing enough that the other man stayed. Why would anyone be willing to deal with that? With him?

He doesn't want to mess up one of the few good things he has going for him; he can't afford to dump more of his problems onto him, but they're obvious. His love is going to realize he isn't worth the pain, and he's going to be alone again.

It's going to happen one day; it's inevitable. He just wants it to last for as long as it can in the meantime.

It doesn't feel natural to him to be alone in someone's presence without blood dripping between the spaces in his fingers.

Despite who it is and how he might as well have shown every wound to even equate to what he's opened up about, it'll never solely be comforting. Jason was never meant for softer things in life; he knows this.

But that doesn't mean anything in the end; he isn't meant to be breathing at all. He's tired of only getting what he deserves. Why should the scum of the earth be allowed to enjoy what little life they have while he's stuck cleaning up their corpses afterwards?

So instead of spending another night out in a city where the most he'll be rewarded with is a couple more scars, he pushes further into the other man's arms. He takes the arm not currently being squished under the other's weight and trails a hand up from his arm until he's tracing his boyfriend's jaw.

Jason stays where he is, barely allowing himself to breathe.

And then he takes what little space they have to press his lips against his, his thumb trailing under the other man's bottom lip. One of the few things he'll eagerly embrace, despite the shaky breaths taken in through his chapped lips each time.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

See, I think Charles’ annoyance and frustration with the Cat King really was just pure protectiveness and not any kind of jealousy - it’s understandable, because Edwin is not telling him what happened even though something clearly did, which is not typical for them. Edwin doesn’t usually hide things like this! Of course he’s worried!

Charles’ reaction to Monty, on the other hand, is difficult to explain in a way that isn’t jealousy. You could say he’s being protective again, but Charles shows no sign of distrust in Monty, and had no idea of who Monty was or that he might betray them - he was actually very chill with him, except in a select few specific scenes. You could say he just doesn’t like him because he got brushed off during their first meeting, but not only does that not seem like Charles at all, it also doesn’t make sense, since, again, in most instances, Charles is genuinely friendly and is happy when Monty compliments him and seems to have come around to liking him (it completely flies over his head that this is a petty jab at Edwin on Monty’s part but oh well hahaha). You could say it changes up their status quo a bit and that bothers Charles. I do think this bothers him a bit, but I think, unlike Edwin, Charles’ fear and frustration here is directed more at situations (the Cat King whisking him away for several hours, as an example) than others. He’s sociable and likes being able to talk to new people. There’s absolutely no way he’d begrudge Edwin doing the same - and he doesn’t… with Niko. Edwin and Niko hit it off and become very close and that never bothers Charles at all. He’s incredibly endeared to her, just like the rest, and for the most part, he’s chill with Monty too, and smiles pretty knowingly when Edwin confesses to him having awakened some feelings. The only exceptions, where he shows definite annoyance, are when Monty first shows up and gets really in Edwin’s personal space to show him the astrology chart he made, and when Edwin is so sucked into the book Monty gave him that he doesn’t hear that Charles is talking to him, to which he annoyedly says that they seem to have been “spending a lot of time together”.

You could say he’s unused to having anyone get in Edwin’s personal space like that, but, again, Niko. She’s very tactile with him and he doesn’t seem to mind all that much; they spend time together watching things. If it was just someone getting close with Edwin in general, not only would that be weirdly possessive for the character, but it would also mean he would show discomfort with anyone getting close, I think. Does Charles see Monty as more of a potential threat than Niko, seeing as he knows her and her personality and doesn’t know Monty? Well, maybe, but again, Charles shows no sign of distrusting Monty at all.

Monty is a boy. Okay. So something about seeing Edwin so close to a boy that is not him, getting lost in thought over something this boy gave him, really rubs Charles the wrong way. Charles appears to catch on just as quickly as anyone else that there is something (or it looks like something) between Edwin and Monty. He is not surprised when Edwin comes out to him in episode 6, and in fact, seems to have just been waiting for him to verbalize it. He smiles and is not bothered at all by Edwin showing (what he thinks is) a romantic interest in Monty - he just doesn’t like it when Monty clearly shows a romantic interest in Edwin. Um. Well. Well.

Charles is jealous. I really don’t know what else to say.

Look, when I first watched this show, I actually didn’t want them to end up together romantically - I love the idea of one having fallen in love with another who does not reciprocate and the two of them still loving each other just as much. That Edwin’s confession made them closer instead of making things awkward is such a beautiful outcome to this build up and I absolutely love it. However. On my two rewatches, I caught a lot more little details, and I think it would be very strange if the show did not follow up on this. That, plus the deliberate quality of these “jealousy” moments where the camera focuses on him, Charles’ Orpheus coding throughout the show, the fact that Edwin’s arc was far more about realizing his feelings for Charles specifically than just coming to terms with his sexuality, and that even the actors admit that Charles’ response to the confession kind of left things open, it really seems to me like the path leads to a romantic endgame for them, or at the very least, that this possibility will be explored in more depth.

**This is just my reading of it. Please do not use this post as a gotcha for anyone who loves them as a platonic duo or people who really love Crystal and Charles together (because let’s face it, they’re super cute too). I’m just doing my rambles. As per usual.

[spookythesillyfella]

@employee052 's old man fruitifying post deeply moved me . presenting an idea my soul resonated with . i was inspired to make my own rendition

i was in a massive stump for inspiration so maybe drawing my favourite guy in silly clothes was what i needed ^_^

[liquidstar]

Between commissions I finally managed to finish this OC set of parent characters! If the looks aren't enough to show you who their kid is, the background colors match them ^_^ but of course more details below!

Name: Thuban

Name origin: The former pole star, before the north star (Polaris), it's name means "Large snake" and is referred to as the “Dragon's tail”

Pronouns: He/him

Age: N/A

Relation: Raised Polaris, though they're not related by blood and have a somewhat distant relationship, until he suddenly went MIA

Weapon: Spear (Same as Polaris's)

Ethos (Power): N/A

Flaw power is based on: N/A

Notes: Make no phallic jokes about the large snake thing and you'll be rewarded

Name: Ananke

Name origin: A moon of Jupiter, named for the mythological spirit of necessity, inevitably, and compulsion

Pronouns: She/her

Age: -

Relation: Bella's mother, she raised her to be a warrior

Weapon: Bardiche

Ethos (Power): Indomination (The ability to freeze the movement of objects and people, and lock them in place)

Flaw power is based on: Her strict enforcement of obedience through authoritarianism, and a lack of concern for the wishes of others

Notes: She believes in tough love. It's better in the long run to give your kid strength rather than affection.

Name: Rhea

Name origin: A moon of Saturn named after the Titan known as the mother of the gods

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 38

Relation: Saiph's mother, though she gave him up to the guild when he was very young

Weapon: None

Ethos (Power): None

Flaw power is based on: N/A

Notes: Was unable to take care of a baby at the time, and gave Saiph to the guild. She wishes she'd visited beyond that but it's probably too late now...

Name: Arche

Name origin: One of Jupiter's moons, it's name comes from the muse of new beginnings and is associated with springtime

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 7

Relation: Saiph's half-brother. Neither currently knows the other exists

Weapon: None

Ethos (Power): None

Flaw power is based on: N/A

Notes: He's just a little guy. He likes flowers and playing with toys. He wants to be a cool hero like his dad

Name: Poerava

Name origin: A star in Tucana, the Maori word for a black pearl of mystical beauty and perfection

Pronouns: She/her

Age: -

Relation: Al's mom. She mostly raised him on her own while her husband was with the knights.

Weapon: None

Ethos (Power): None

Flaw power is based on: N/A

Notes: Probably the best parent of the bunch if we're being real.

[hellolulu]

The anime made the telepathy arc more about the aliens haha funny anime girls than it did about what the arc represents and I'm still sad about it! I didn't post about it until now because I'm sad! Especially because the animation was quite beautiful!

The point of this small arc is to show that Shigeo has made peace with himself. Both as a person, by genuinely exhausting himself to help the friends he loves - putting all that effort in and continuously choosing to keep going, even when Tome is saying she doesn't want to and everyone is tired. And as an esper, freely using his powers to do something that could be regarded as useless, silly, or maybe even a touch playful; which he hasn't done since he was a child. He has only ever used it when told to, ever since the accident with Ritsu. And remember, during the last season, he was having an extremely hard time being stuck between his esper half, and his human half. It's incredible progress!! Seeing him able to combine both sides of himself in front of others, knowing he's accepted by these people?! That's crazy! I'm so proud of him!! He's grown!!

And this arc is also about him connecting with the other important part of himself (and of all of us), too: the truth of your heart.

Tome disbanding the club, leaving so quietly and dejectedly because she realises that all this time they hadn't taken her seriously. The club members being genuinely upset about it because they love her and didn't realise that she was that serious.

Takenaka being amazed by the truth in Shigeo's heart (a straightforward person who doesn't like to lie or put up false pretenses, which is rarer than you'd think, genuinely wanting to help his friend by doing something crazy like communicating with aliens) and choosing to join them because he had actually wanted to meet others like him, and because he felt like his power could be used for the sake of good for once (as he had used it when he was a child). Because he was moved by Shigeo's honest heart.

Reigen complaining that he has to babysit a bunch of kids, when in reality he knows he's spending time with people he loves and is just a little happy about it. Serizawa being genuinely upset that he can't join Reigen for drinks, worrying about him, until he knows Reigen will be with someone he cares about at the turn of the year (btw this is quite funny to me, because any typical person would go hey I'm sure my classmates wouldn't mind if I invited a friend along to drinks! We're all adults after all! Do you want to join? I can ask :D but he's autism honour bound and doesn't realise he can probably bring anyone, and Reigen's self confidence is too low to invite himself smh)

Tome crying because she was so frustrated that they only started to care when things were about to end, but knowing the truth in her own heart being that she, too, wanted to stay - so she showed up to go with them even though it hurt. Only to learn that even though they hadn't thought she was serious, they put this plan together because they do care. Because the truth is they value their friendship with her as much as she values them, and they want to make an effort to prove that.

Takenaka then putting in even more effort than he had expected to, because he realises he had let his hurt feelings (loneliness) get in the way of the type of friendships Shigeo had formed. The type of friendships he had yearned for all along. He'd even stayed awake that whole night prior, studying and memorising and taking notes, because he wanted things to go well, because these people could be onto something deeper than he'd thought friendships could be. Because the truth is he wanted to take part in something like that, too.

And Shigeo, in this arc, despite pushing himself to exhaustion, is doing it for the sake of love. For his friends. We've seen him exhaust himself before; after big fights and overwhelming moments, he becomes tired and exhausted to the point of collapsing or passing out. But here it's different - he's doing it for the sake of those he cares about. He wants to see Tome happy because she's a very dear friend to him, he wants to enjoy a day out with his group of friends that he just happened to become close to over the year, and he wants to show them how much they mean to him right now; and he wants to see Takenaka open up to others and learn that sometimes friendships are formed out of things that you don't have in common. Out of the things you learn from each other. (The mortifying ordeal of being known, if you will.)

Because what matters is the truth in your heart, that you care about your friends, that you want to be there for them, to push yourself for them, and that you know they'd do the same for you. That maybe they already have. That's the point of the arc. (That's what the point of the arc is.)

The aliens section in the manga touched on it too, in a "we were able to communicate because of a common understanding of each other, despite being unable to verbally communicate, and I was able to return home" and not.. whatever that was in the anime.

[sonknuxadow]

they werent lying that knuckles series barely has knuckles in it

[icewindandboringhorror]

Misc. photos from the past year or so ~

[selchwife]

looked at some of my old vent posts from like early 2022 and holy shit im doing a lot better!

i was way more frequently Deeply upset and a lot more vocally struggling with like, really intense self esteem issues. seeing the stuff i would say about myself and how emet would see me is like, totally foreign to me now. i would never in a million years think that kind of stuff about him or me.

i’m still mentally ill like fucking clearly and life isn’t Perfect but im happy that i kind of overcame at least a large piece of that really really deep and persistent shame. and i no longer like, blame myself or deny myself sympathy for the abuse i underwent through emet. i should be proud of myself for that.

[gloomedhands]

okay i know i said Dak has scars from when he was kept as a prisoner, but like i feel as those i failed to express the amount. they're heavily scattered over the length of his back, across his shoulders, some over his arms and legs. some short, some long, some cross over the other. some of them healed sunken in and the others creating a ridge of scarring. some smoothed to the touch and other rough.

and it's mostly obvious a majority of them were caused by the same tool. as the scars he has from battles and blades have healed with a visibly and physicals different texture.

[stellerssong]

Last Line Challenge

tagged by @two-hands-toward-the-sun to post the last line (or, like, chunk, if we're being indulgent) i added to a wip! for my own part, tagging @eri-223, @sunsorbit, @honeyteacakes, @subjectsix, hi kip, uh...i don't know who else hasn't done this who wants to...so like. if you're seeing this, now is your chance! tell them i twisted your arm! tell them you had no choice!

and god damn, wouldn't you know it, the last wip i was digging around in is for a fandom i know for a certainty no one here is interested in. so we'll make it a twofer, just to keep the people hyped up.

first off, a loose sequel to my extremely normal P6 + P7 au for Control (2019, Remedy Games):

“So here the boy is, crying, sad, because that’s his only knife, and when you’re just a nobody-shepherd good knives don’t come easy, so he’s thinking, ai, what am I gonna do, I can’t just go and buy a new knife, my moneypurse is dead as the stone. And the tears fall down in the river, plash, plash, plash. Salt in the good sweet water and all. And the god of the river tastes them, and—” “The what of the river?” “Jahaa.” Ahti gives Jesse a sly smile, like a fox in a picture book. “Your funny man didn’t teach you that word?” “No. What’s it mean?” “Hmm. It’s like a—big man. Or lady. Or both. Or neither. Who got a big job to do. And all the little people, running around under his feet, they tell the god, hey, now, I need your help with this and with that. And the god, well—sometimes he helps, and sometimes he doesn’t, but the important thing for him, and the thing what makes him what he is, is the big job. Making the winds to blow, and the tides to rise, and the sun to rise in the east and set in the west, and the dark to come in at night.” “Casper says the sun rises and sets because of plan-et-ary ro-tay-shun.” “Plan-et-ary ro-tay-shun, saatana,” Ahti grunts. “Your Casper says a lot of things, eh? Some of them might be true, even. Smart man, smart, smart man. But he wasn’t there when the boy dropped his knife in the river. So you gonna believe him, or Ahti?” “Were you there when the boy dropped his knife in the river?” Ahti fox-smiles, and doesn’t answer.

AND, for your trouble, the next bit of the mansand werewolves au, where Dream is, as always, having some kind of a motherfucking day:

“Is…everything all right?” “Yes.” “Do you need a minute, or—?” “That might be for the best, thank you. Just sorting out a few things.” She squeezes Dream’s right paw, and Dream knows to his bones that she’s just trying to hide the fur and claws there, but the weak little creature deep down inside of him lets out a happy whine at the comfort of her touch. “We won’t be long. And you’re welcome to ask Tiffany to help sort the request items if she can mind the front desk while she does it. We’re a little short-staffed at the moment. Gearing up for finals, you know.” “Right. Yeah, no, of course.” Gwen takes a nervous step back. “I’ll, um—I think I’ll get started on the requests on my own, actually. It’s not that much material. And if I pull Tiffany right now, we’re gonna have masters’ students climbing over the front desk to steal each other’s holds when they think we’re not looking.” “It’s surprising how aggressive they get, sometimes,” Lucienne agrees mildly. “Though I’ve had some dark nights of the soul myself when I couldn’t turn up what I needed on JSTOR, so perhaps it’s not my place to judge.” “Been there, babe.”

[todayisafridaynight]

through the power of delusion and yuri i can make katase taller than aoki's secretary

[ritsukageyamas]

god it is always going to drive me nuts that the moriarty the patriot anime skipped so much stuff and then gave it an ending in which moran isn't missing, MI6 was literally just formed with louis as its leader (plus moneypenny never existed and neither does moran's whole backstory), and sherlock and william somehow didn't stay together after the fall and sherlock had to go to freaking switzerland to find him, so it's like how would they ever continue to adapt the story of the manga even if they wanted to 😭

i watched the anime first, and knew about a number of things that were missing because i'd seen screenshots of them online in the past: mainly the conversation between sherlock and bonde in chapter 19 where he talked about his struggle to make the criminal justice system more equal, and literally all of chapter 31. but there is so so much else i didn't know about, so many entire chapters and important details and huge sections of other chapters!!! i ended up loving the anime but still feeling as though pretty much none of the major characters and relationships got as much development as they needed and that it was overall a bit rushed... and then i read the manga and felt so much better about how fleshed out literally everything was in comparison to the anime.

like. my dad is an anime fan and a sherlock holmes fan so i recommended the series to him, and have been explaining manga details to him that i felt were especially important. but i honestly just might ask him to read the manga if he likes the anime enough, even though he's not normally a manga reader. because during the whitechapel arc, when sherlock refuses to investigate the jack the ripper case and never elaborates on why... he thought sherlock was being an asshole who didn't care about the victims! sherlock holmes, who's supposed to care just as much about equality and justice for the oppressed as william does! but it's understandable because that's how the anime makes it look by cutting out his explanation and statement that he is in fact going to investigate! and i'm worried he's going to think sherlock saving william is rushed as well unless i make him read chapter 31 before he finishes. gahhhh why did this anime not just get an additional season instead of speedrunning to the final problem as fast as they could??

[cryoweaving]

if hyv won't validate xiao's fear of causing harm with his karmic debt, i will. his karmic debt would absolutely harm caiying if she wasn't a vision holder.

[unhingedlesbear]

Honestly shoutout to my year 11 Media studies teacher. Bro was the one who introduced me to the Quarry and he also let me go on unhinged rants about rdr2 bc he was a fan of the game too. Legend, honestly. He doesn't even know that he began my spiral into the depths of Supermassive games.

Anyway my notes kinda turned into a life story so enjoy the lore ig

[maulfucker]

Tagged by @better-call-maul :0

Last song: Vem Morena by Luiz Gonzaga (he is the june in Brazil equivalent of All I Want For Christmas Is You in december, which is to say he's playing everywhere)

Currently reading: I finished Maul: Lockdown last night! And now I might go back to reading The Devil To Pay In The Backlands (Grande Sertão: Veredas), a book I've been sloooowly reading for months now

Currently watching: nothing :3 I don't really watch stuff that often. But I rewatched a few bits of The Clone Wars (some Maul scenes) earlier, if that counts

Current obsession: ... Well I wouldn't call it an obsession but. It's june. I'm brazilian. I have to think about nordestine culture and the gangs of outlaws that terrorized the region around the early 1900s and influenced so much of the popular culture of the region since. I have to remake the silly little ocs I made ages ago to exist in that setting.

Also [points at my icon and url] that guy. He lives rent free in my mind. Every night I go to sleep thinking about the story I'm trying to write that I'll never finish in which a decade or so after the rise of the empire he decides maybe he should lean away from the dark side so he tracks down Obi-Wan to Tatooine to get him to teach him about the light side. And now they're roommates :] I can't wait to see where this goes <- says the guy who controls the story and is NOT writing it

Tagging... no one,, but if you want to do this you can say I tagged you

[cephalofrogart]

quick one of my edgyass frenzied flame tarnished as of the DLC