#ive been trying to be into it a normal amount and ive given up. its literally all i think about all day

[shakshukagirl]

i am annoyingly and intensely into hockey right now so please feel free to block my tag -> hky if you understandably dont want to see that on your dash

[angeliteeyes]

Hi im the one who asked for the astral express reader x kafka fic xd. Ive come to ask for more its thats fine by you

Imagine like, trying to sneak her up on the express but reader sucks at lying so their just smiling and giggling while trying to make excuses.

But yeah take all the time you need, i really enjoy x reader fics when they put some focus on comedy and i think you really nailed it xd

Thanks in advance if you end up taking this request :D

Hello again, nice to hear from you!!! Aww thank you so much, I tried my best with that one to match the request's vibe lol. Here u go!

Kafka x Astral Express Reader - Sneaking Her Aboard

-> First Kafka x AE Reader fic here

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"Kafkaaaaa, I haven't seen you in so long! I get that we were busy with all the Xianzhou stuff, but still..." Your voice whined into your phone's microphone, earning a soft chuckle from her. After she disappeared on you last time, your poor heart couldn't help but yearn to see her once again. Her warm voice tore you out of your thoughts.

"Darling, if you miss me that much, why don't I come over?"

Your face scrunched a little. "You mean like, come over come over? Not go-on-a-date over, actually getting on the Express?" The idea made your heart feel fuzzy. Sure, you'd been together plenty of times before, but... with the strained relationship between the Stellaron Hunters and the Astral Express, you hadn't dared bring her aboard. At least not until today.

"Sure, as long as you'll help me. You will, won't you?" Even with no visuals, you could still hear her scheming smirk loud and clear; of course, you answered it with one of your own.

"Count me in."

*

Thank the Aeons Pompom was busy cleaning around the opposite end of the vehicle. You'd already managed to bump into an embarrassing amount of corners on your way back into the Express, to the amusement of your stylish stowaway.

"You always this clumsy, dear?" She whispered into your ear from behind, forcing your already rosy cheeks to flush an even deeper hue. Just as you started to shush her, a familiar-sounding set of heels clicking rapidly caught your attention, forcing you to switch gears. Ugh, those have to be Himeko's. Why'd she have to come out now of all times?

"Crap—Kafka, you have to hide. Hurry!" You hissed at her, but... No way. She's laughing. You're about to be strangled to death by Himeko as punishment for sneaking Kafka in, and she's laughing. Wowwwwww.

"You can't be serious right now... Ugh, just go—uh, behind there!" Before she could make any snide comments, you hurriedly shoved her down to the ground behind a booth-style structure. Just in time too, apparently, based on the way Himeko's footsteps grew louder and louder with each passing second. You barely were even given a chance to check whether Kafka was properly hidden or not before heels clicking turned to silence.

"And what exactly are you doing up so late? I already told you that we need to be up and ready to go early tomorrow." As your eyes met Himeko's disapproving glare, a nervous grin swept across your face. In normal circumstances, she wouldn't intimidate you quite this much, but... well, you've seen the way her posture shifts around your partner. Not to mention the bitterness etched into each of their conversations (although, it's nothing compared to the flavor of her infamous coffee).

"Oh uh, heh... sorry about that. I just got um... thirsty?" You rubbed the back of your neck. She continued to stare at you, unamused.

"Right. Which is why your hands are completely empty, even though you're heading back to your room. Care to explain that?" She crossed her arms.

Huh. Maybe you should've sat with that idea a little longer.

"Um... Oh wait, I could've just drank it all back in the kitchen! See, Himeko, you have nothing to worry about." Your grin beamed at her as a surge of pride coursed through you. Good thinking, you.

"Hm, so you're saying you could've. Is that correct?"

Weird question, but you couldn't let your confidence waver now. "Mhm!"

"Which means you didn't actually do that."

A still silence permeated the air as your brain took some time to process the meaning behind her words. Nothing you said seemed wrong to you, but she clearly caught you somehow—

Oh. Oh. Yeah, you messed up for sure. Apparently seeing that your brain had finally caught up to the current situation, Himeko sighed.

"Look, just tell me what you're hiding. It'll make things easier for the both of us." Her eyes seemed to land longingly on a part of the kitchen. If you recall correctly, right where her line of sight is should be her... coffee machine, you think. "Well, what is it?"

Your feet shifted back and forth a little. "It's... Kafka."

"Excuse me?" Himeko turned to you in disbelief, clearly not having been expecting that as your response. Behind you, the sound of fabrics rustling together echoed out, indicating said stowaway's change to a standing position. A wave of tension rushed through the air between them, albeit a rather one-sided version—made clear by Kafka's carefree expression.

"Long time no see, Himeko. Did you miss me?" Her remark earned an eyeroll from the other woman.

"As if." She grimaced while motioning a hand over her forehead, pondering for a few moments. Her gaze moved between the two of you lovebirds back and forth before ultimately settling on you. With a heavy coating of reluctance, she opened her mouth. "I can't believe I'm letting you get away with this. Just... promise me you won't do anything else stupid tonight. And you" — she glared at Kafka — "don't you dare take advantage of this for any of your Stellaron Hunter schemes.

Kafka raised her palms in the air. "You don't have to worry about me. I've already got my hands full with this one right here." She winked at you, as if she hadn't just tried to get you in trouble earlier. Still, you couldn't stay mad for long with how much excitement was fluttering around in your stomach.

The two of you leaned into each other as you watched Himeko saunter off towards the kitchen, leaving you two behind to bask in each other's company. It wasn't long before your body began to sink into her warmth more deeply.

"I'm still annoyed at you for earlier, y'know." She laughed softly, all the while guiding you over to your room with gentle hands.

"Sorry darling, you're just so fun to play around with. I can make it up to you if you want."

You pouted at her. "And how're you planning to do that?"

But you didn't really have to ask. After being together for so long, even without saying a word, it was obvious to both of you what that sentence sparked in your minds. As your hands interlocked, you mused; maybe you could forgive her, just this once.

[kuradex]

I wanna know about your art style. How you draw like that??

i tried putting down considerations as well as a (very) general step by step of what i do; if there's anything more specific you want me to explain lmk i guess?

first off, general (self imposed) constraints / purpose of project -- this informs what i draw & how i draw it

i.e. "kuradex" is pretty different from my normal art (my 5 latest rough illustrations):

or my monster hunter charms:

or my pokemon tcg contest illustrations that im not allowed to show until june (😉):

although i've said its for merch purposes, ive started drawing these because i wanted to practice conveying "liveliness" and noticing key features / nuances of a given design, but i didn't want to spend a large amount of time on each one.

so what i came up with is

i want to draw things on-model in terms of proportions ( + take note of weight / tapering of shapes / etc )

no backgrounds & minimal "props"

experiment with / practice line/texture/color/flow/rhythm/etc

spend <1 hr on each pokemon on average (this is a bit more difficult for me to track, but for example, the cyndaquil line took me less than 42min to color, combined, and means at some point in time instead of focusing on cleaning up the art as much as i can, i stop after cleaning up most of it)

that said, the pose & the rhythm/flow of lines are key in conveying liveliness, and if i have a concept in mind i usually end up going with it, but i may go thru a few if i dont.

i consider pokemon origin / lore or a key point in its design, and if i'm particularly stuck, i try looking up pokemon card illustrations for inspiration. (i noticed the research i do is essentially a truncated version of how Atsushi Furusawa does research before doing an illustration.

(& even despite all this i do get stuck sometimes and don't exactly understand a pokemon and just opt for "as cute or cool as i can make it i guess?", but i think it's part of the process...?) (theoretically things that are A Shape should be really easy to draw but with what i want to practice in perspective i find them difficult...)

this is from my latest paid req but these are my first sketches of chesnaught -- i was thinking of how one of its inspirations is a warrior / tanker from RPGs, so i drew a pose where it's shielding its face.

i do another pass and take note of details.

in general i draw overlapping shapes and erase (it's a bit visible on one of the spikes)

because i opt for quickness i start coloring at this point -- i just use a colored "color burn" sketch layer for the "lineart" & colorpick official art & lay down messy flats & set the color layer to 60%

60% multiply layer for shadows. i tend to use both hard and soft brushes

for bigger projects i would use 2-3 shadow layers to create more "layered" shadows

here i use overlay layer (60%). this is just throwing colors at it and seeing what works and doesn't work. i personally prefer to throw red under the eye and a yellow or blue near the top of the head. this is mostly done with a soft brush

before this point, everything is under the rough lines, but now i start drawing/painting over it

i just color pick the colors that have been laid down from the previous steps and clean up / render textures (making the green on its arms look fuzzy) / fixing anything that i forgot or looks too off (i.e. the spike on its shoulder and the way the tail curves)

I could potentially keep cleaning this up, but this is where i usually stop 🫡

[thestudentfarmer]

2 28 2025

Hello hello,

Been a bit busy round the homestead with the weather change, but being busy seems more common than not being busy lol

The month olds hot moved outside, to make way for the new chicks inside

Given everywheres been sold out consistently and that nature will do as nature does, we'll likely continue hatching out through the summer.

Onwards to the garden,

I uppoted these melons and some zuchinnis so they can get just a lil bit bigger before full transplant. Any extras I'm gonna try to sell this year for garden funds.

Very little growth on the tomato and pepper seeds, I had hoped I'd be lucky with the weather but I guess I'll have to wait on having either and hope the one si left to overwinter start producing soon.

Not much in the new strawberry bed. The peas are producing a decent snack amount now, so I'll need to figure a way to double the size of pea/bean areas.

Did some dye work on some pants. They went from olive green, blue and khaki to as black as I could. Also hemmed them for summer wear.

I used rit dye and idye poly. Currently I would recommend both. Idye poly took a looong time to run clear before I could give them a run in the washer, they 100% covered the thread and buttons the rit dye did not.

Their not dark enough for the wearer yet, so I'm on the hunt for another dye to try. If anyone has suggestion the fabric is cotton and I believe a polyblend of some sort for the thread.

Also we got a composter, as we are pretty certain the city's recycling/green program hasn't been back to normal since the virus closures reopened, and ive seen both barrels picked up by the same truck more than once since. While we can't do much on that (except call up, complain/explain and take action), we decided it was time to learn composting to close and lesson our waste stream more if we can.

On the bonus side, when its done we'll have fresh dirt for our garden which is always a win 🏆. The worst so far has been figuring out a good collection and take out system for the daily bits 😂.

In the kitchen,

Ive been saving every citrus peel i can (using a veggie peeler to make strips) and drying them out. Some ive used for tea, some for dry seasoning flavor (super excellent btw, I cannot believe i ever enjoyed the dusty stuff in the cheapo bottle.) And fresh in sauces. I'm also saving seeds to give a try at sprouting them. Figure why not, it's good practice 🌱

Alright, ive got to get my day started so I'm heading off.

🌱 🥕 Happy Gardening 🥕 🌱

[toothworxx]

i did talk about this a little bit in my writing, and i dont usually tend to go out and speak about precise fandom theories and implications, but i did want to make my own sort of analysis on *what* exactly Returning To Origins (RTO) is in Mairimashita Iruma-kun.

To begin with, we do have the *direct description* given of "RTO is giving into your evil cycle"

but *why* would someone choose to do this if there werent some factor prompting them to, to some degree? i mean, evil cycles are caused by large amounts of stress building up, and nobody would want to feel stressed *all the time*. and ive seen others have theories of RTOs connection to trauma, or even depression, which is true to some degree- however, the case this narrative is trying to make is nowhere near the fact that trauma makes you *bad*, or that it makes you predisposed to doing bad things, all things considered. it is in fact also connected to the importance of *teaching children* in a post war society.

theres ALWAYS been a very large focus on the fact that education can directly impact generations of people- but what is one of the teachings that survived after the war? its actually something that opera teaches to iruma in the beginning of the series.

"turn your fear into excitement"

children are taught very young that in order to survive you can *not feel fear*, and to instead turn that into something that feels *good*.

who would be feeling the most fear of all in a seemingly normal modern society now?? traumatized children. if youre stressed from deep rooted trauma, you fall into your evil cycle more often than others, but if youre *taught* to make it something enjoyable- you give in.

essentially- i do think that RTO has a correlation with trauma, but only because of a deep rooted societal teaching that allows for RTO demons to come to this conclusion. they were taught to. Baal purposely seeks out people who have issues, (kirio with his constant domestic abuse at home, ocho who was indoctrinated into a cult, etcetera. people who are vulnerable) not because he believes their trauma makes them more likely to do evil things, but because he knows *what theyve been taught* and can use that to manipulate them into joining him.

i mean, we see other demons in their evil cycles get VERY close to RTO (hinted at by the symbols in their eyes)

even demons like clara who are *known good characters* (especially considering shes "more innocent than a baby according to raim 😭😭😭) implying that it isnt exactly something people are *predispositioned to* per se- it is something that is *taught*.

because they turn that stress into something they enjoy, they give in, especially if that stress is a long term effect of something they no longer believe will change without action.

- the short version of this is that the foundations of RTO are deeply ingrained into demon society, and that is why in a time of great stress, we see people follow what they were taught. the only way to reverse this process is to educate on and break the cycles of abuse and exploitation of children, as teaching is a vital contributor to the narrative mairuma is trying to tell -

[austinsastrology8991]

* DEGREE THEORY * and more...

this is just a theory, I love all degree theories and this is just my spin on the degree interpretations

Okay so I love the connotations towards Aries being 1°13°25° and that making the planet/point being aggressive and brash, and Taurus 2°14°26° making them more stable and growing into their power as time goes on, and so on with the rest of the signs; it makes good sense and I love reading the interpretations assigned to the signs inherent values. But I got a theory so Ive been connotating these degrees to the Tarot Card meanings, and well let me just go ahead and explain myself: 1° = The Magician - Represents creation, willpower, skills, but also negatively; cunning, vanity, or latent talents. > Now in comparison to the normal aries degrees - to me there are lots of similarities, aries is the starter - alike the magician - and they are both very aggressive in the attainment of their goals, which leads to vanity and well 'latent talents' from the lack of foresight. But on the positive they have plentyful amounts of willpower and are able to create things out of thin air since they have little foresight of potential consequences. 2° = the High Priestess - Represents Intuition, subconscious mind, spirituality, secret knowledge. but negatively; lack of self control, withdrawal, lack of self trust. These once again to me at least coincide with a lot of the taurus qualities > self control, self trust, withdrawal... Now i know you def could say its a lot like Pisces but I have a good counter. Look at the hanged man > Surrender, new perspectives, letting go... this is more in line with Pisces than the high priestess actually. Because the high priestess wants you to connect with YOUR higher power, the hanged man would rather you let go of your ego and connect the dots of the world around. But i digress. Also the connection between Taurus and Pisces is undeniable. Now im gonna switch what im sayin a bit but hear me out. > If you have a Pisces ascendant > aries is in your 2nd house (taurus) and we all know aries is something your constantly pursuing and are aggressive in the pursuit. Now if you have a Taurus ascendant > aries in the 12th house (pisces) you are aggresively trying to understand others because you have such a good understanding of yourself maybe learning from others would teach you even more (not to mention gemini in the 2nd... but i digress) okay so i understand this is a lot of information and maybe a little hard to digest so im not going to make it too long. But i have so many other theories and im just testing this post out to see how it is received. I could have gone on about each of the tarot card meanings, but i dont want to waste my time if it isnt going to be received well. However I do in my own spare time constnatly evaluate certain degrees with the connotated tarot cards... Like for example 8° is scorpio - power, mystery, intrigue, and well thats paired with the strength card... I mean im just saying i truly do believe there to be a strong connection between, tarot, astrology and well numerology also, i just wish we treated all the occults as the same subject - the occult because we are all just trying to discover secrets given from higher powers, so why we gotta act like they all cannot be correlated? also we've gone so backwards with our understanding of the occult > those witches back in the day just imagine what they all knew about the occult. and we are just over here trying to tell each other how sexy we are because we have leo and roar loudly or because you have scorpio you are sexy because you have a stinger.... like honestly sometimes i want yall to grow up.... ANYWAY i jumped around too much to be coherent, but well im just speaking my mind and yeah you let me know if this did something to your brain or if you fell asleep and want to be told that your a sexy demon seductress again...

[sxddekarios]

Invisible String: Ch 2

More therapy babes!

AO3

“Am I supposed to drink blood?” Aspen asked indignantly. She’d been like this – a vampire? – for 2 months. She hadn’t drunk blood once. But she also had regular IV hook ups to keep her electrolytes balanced and pain managed. She ate regularly. So she couldn’t be a vampire, could she?

But then what was she?

Her therapist looked caught off guard for once. That wasn’t a great sign. “Typically, yes. But your case clearly isn’t typical, though that doesn’t come as a surprise to me at this point. We’ve still been giving you small amounts of Astarion’s blood – he’s the one who turned you. He works here, actually,” he added.

Dr. Silverbough ran a hand down his scarred face. “Your appetite has been fine though, and you’ve kept all of your food down. Which is great, it’s just… unprecedented. It’s something we’ll have to continue to monitor, along with your blood intake.”

Aspen blanched in disgust. What was she supposed to drink from? She knew the ‘humane’ thing to do is drink animal blood, but she’d personally rather drink from a consenting human than an animal. Maybe she would need to talk to Astarion about that. Her sire, of sorts, should be more equipped to answer her. She grew anxious at the thought of meeting another man.

She became used to her only contact with a man being within these four walls covered in paintings of nature, the room complete with a worn green couch for her to lounge on while she recounted her trauma. Tissues were sitting in a leafy box on the table next to her.

She cried often during their sessions, which had been mortifying at first. She sobbed so hard that she couldn’t speak for the whole hour – she’d just sit there shaking and blowing her nose. But Dr. Silverbough comforted her through it all. He said it was just as important as the talking part of their therapy. Emotions didn’t only come out through words.

“How do you feel about that?” Dr. Silverbough asked. He respected her struggle with verbalizing her feelings, yet he made sure to give her the space and coaxing she needed to open up.

Aspen sighed and took the chance to re-situate herself. This time, she laid on her back with her legs straight up. It probably looked ridiculous given there was no wall to rest her legs against, but it was comfortable. She blew a strand of dark hair out of her face before answering. “Weird. I guess I’m glad I don’t just have to drink blood… but it’s confusing. And I don’t even know the person who turned me. I’ve been consuming his blood, for Selune’s sake.”

The professor offered her a slight smile, though she was staring up at the ceiling. He had painted a soft blue sky on it to make it more comforting for students. “You can meet him, if you’d like. Whenever you’re ready. He’s a dear friend of mine, and I’m sure you two will get along swimmingly. He’s certainly excited to see you in less dire circumstances.”

Aspen laughed at the thought. “I doubt he’ll even recognize me when I’m not a bloodied pile of bruised tissues trying to hold together broken bones.” Her entire body was still covered in bruises, which was more unsettling now knowing that she had vampire blood coursing through her. It’s known for its healing properties, and here she was with dark purple and red marks taking up the majority of her skin.

Dr. Silverbough was thankfully used to Aspen’s coping mechanisms by now. He let out a small chuckle of his own, mentally conceding to her point. There was no way Astarion could recognize her if he didn’t introduce them.

There was no face to see that night, no features to correlate to the soul he’d brought back to life. He wasn’t going to verbalize this though. The girl across from him already had a pretty damn good idea of how she looked when they met.

He glanced down at his watch to see it was almost 4 PM. Their sessions normally started in the late afternoon, since Aspen needed to spend most of her day sleeping, and lasted until she was talked out for the day. Often times, they would speak again for another hour after dinner, or before she went to sleep. Or tried to, that is. Her insomnia was wickedly cruel to her.

They had been talking for over 2 hours. She needed to eat. He asked, “What are you thinking about for a snack?”

Aspen turned her head to grin at him. “One of your amazing acai bowls,” she replied dreamily. The fruity sweetness was the only thing getting her through most days. She wanted a change though, so she decided to go for it. If he trusted her progress enough to tell her why and how he brought her back, maybe he trusted her enough to go on a little adventure with him.

Dr. Silverbough returned her smile and stood up, grateful that the ceilings in the castle allowed for someone of his height to move around without incurring head injuries. The words, “coming right up,” were just leaving his mouth when he noticed Aspen’s mischievous smirk. He raised an eyebrow as he paused in front of his chair.

“Can I come with you?” Aspen pleaded with wide eyes. “I want some fresh air.” She had to see some of what surrounded her. And she seriously did need to go outside and touch grass. It was good for her, and her therapist knew it.

He hesitated while taking in her hopeful expression. “Are you ready for that? We won’t go far, but I’ll take you outside and around one of the kitchens if you’re up for it.” He didn’t want to push her, didn’t want her to feel panicked by a new space and new people. But the route he was planning on shouldn’t be busy at this time of day, and he’d be there for her in case she needed a moment.

She gave him a tentative smile. “I think so,” she spoke softly as she lowered her legs and sat upright. She winced at the pain in her side from some of her stitches pulling with the movement.

Dr. Silverbough had been holding a hand out for her. “I told you not to do that,” he frowned. Aspen just smiled before finally grabbing his hand to help her up. It was time to get a better look at her new life.

[rainbowgaez]

i saw a comic or something about this the other day but i can't find it now. it was about learning to do makeup and one of the things it goes over is trying to follow a tutorial only for the person following the tutorial to be frustrated when their final product didn't look as good as the final result in the tutorial, and it got me thinking about my own journey with learning makeup and how ive managed to mostly steer clear of that frustration.

learning how to do makeup well is definitely intimidating and a lot harder than it may initially seem (especially if you're like me, a trans woman who didn't approach it until she was 30). in the beginning, it feels kind of humiliating. pretty much no matter what, your first few times are going to end in you looking like you let a toddler do your makeup. that's okay, though. that's completely normal, and you should try to be comfortable with that going into it. and that's part of why i think when you're first learning makeup, you should avoid tutorials for anything outside of the very basics, and try to focus on finding out what you want out of doing makeup instead.

the reason people manage to make things look so good in tutorials is because they're showing you how to do something they've probably done a million times in a row. even if you're given the exact methodology, the same tools and materials, you're probably not going to get it right the first time (and if you do, you won't the second time). and that's really irritating! because you follow everything they do to the best of your ability, and when you compare your results to theirs, it just doesn't match up even though it feels like it should. but i think that end result comparison is what generates a lot of frustration.

i very specifically used the phrasing "looking like you let a toddler do your makeup" earlier because, well, what is a toddler but a very young, inexperienced person? of course it's going to look like that when you're starting out. being an adult may allow you to understand things easier than a child would, but your ability to execute is always going to be hampered by lack of experience, and the only way to get your hands to do it right is by going through the motions enough times until you feel confident—the amount of times being something that will vary from person to person.

the other reason i think avoiding tutorials in the beginning is important is personal angle. what you want out of doing makeup and what someone giving tutorials might have wanted aren't always going to align. i feel like a good majority of people approach makeup like they have to be good at it (as nebulous as that concept is), and while that's a perfectly valid way to go about it if it works for you, i think that can end up making the whole thing feel way more rigid than it actually is.

something that's really common with tutorials for any kind of art form (and that irritates me to no end) is how much people will focus on "DON'T DO THIS THING BECAUSE ITS WRONG," and the reason it annoys me is because, on more than one occasion, The Wrong Thing i've been told to avoid is instilled in my brain as The Law ends up working really well for me actually. this is something i have experienced a LOT as a musician.

so when i started learning makeup, i approached it like i would any other art form—an open landscape of self-expression i can cultivate through uninhibited exploration. instead of following the dots on someone else's map, i charted my own path.

to put it in a less pretentious way: i saw an excuse to figure out how to do cool shit by drawing on my face. specifically, i got really into eye makeup because i could get really colorful and creative with it. if my username doesn't make it obvious enough, i love bright, saturated colors of all kinds, and drawing them on my eyes is a really great way to express that in a way that's inherently unique to me. eventually i learned how to do other stuff, too, but this method of exploring on my own allowed me to pick and choose the things i like to do the most, which made the experience a lot more fun and rewarding.

once i started focusing on that, i felt more comfortable with messing it up. mistakes looked less like fuck ups and more like opportunities to figure out how to make something weird Work. it got easier to justify putting on makeup regardless of whether or not im leaving the house that day (and most of the time i don't end up leaving when i do it lol), and easier to keep it on even when it didn't pan out the way i imagined it. i just approached it like i was drawing a daily picture. and i certainly ended up looking ridiculous on quite a few occasions—ill never forget asking one of my roommates how i look the first time i ever did makeup and her pausing for several seconds before saying "...it's a start."—but because i was doing it for the fun of it, that didn't bother me.

i was lucky enough to have my older sister show me how to do basic things a couple times in the beginning—stuff like what are the basic materials/tools you need, and what's the most efficient order to apply things—but something she always emphasized was that there's no wrong way to do it, and that i should always experiment if i feel inclined. because everyone has different tools, everyone has different materials, and even though a lot of the tools/materials her and i use are the same, there's two fundamental differences: we both have a different canvas, and we both have different ideas of what we want. and so does everyone else.

you might not learn as efficiently as someone else—it might take you months to figure out something that took someone else only a few days to nail—but efficiency shouldn't be your goal. besides, that's going to happen regardless of how you learn it. do it because you want to. or don't do it at all! do what you want lol.

[terraliensvent]

guys i think civ isnt satan (edit: they lied)

EDIT: please see this post, civ played everyone like a fiddle and blatantly lied about having nothing to do with the pet species deletion. keeping this og post up to show how dedicated they were to painting their narrative

so, a few screenshots relating to their bulletin were given to me (you can see my initial thoughts here)

now as with all breaking news there are revisions to be made with new info

(all screens can be found in this imgur gallery, may be out of order because imgur is dummy stupid)

so it turns out, civ and coy actually werent contacted prior to the decision. i do agree this could have been handled differently and there should have been more of a discussion around it, HOWEVER im more inclined to the side of current terra staff. for one, they came to the decision of one adopt every two months for each staff member as compensation for their work on the team. their reasoning for cutting down coy and civ's amounts is to be fair to everyone especially considering coy and civ arent actively working on the species anymore. i dont necessarily agree with the decision to cut customs though, since people have to actively seek them out for that and its more akin to a comm service. i also want to note that i can understand why terra staff wouldnt want to negotiate about the number of adopts with civ and coy, considering that this is how it went last time

you can see in the imgur screens the original terms, notably that civ and coy collectively were allowed to make 12 adopts a month. i can see how it would be seen as unfair to not be able to be compensated as much as the people who left the place to die.

throughout the screens it seems civ is being a lot more reasonable, i think more discussion should have been had with them and after introspecting, it probably wasnt right for them to be banned, however, i dont see why they couldnt just be unbanned. i think that theyre getting lumped in with coy severely here and truthfully that isnt fair to them. i dont know how i would go about the downgrade from 6 to 2, but what i do know is they were being pretty polite about it

coy on the other hand...

throughout the screens they just seem to keep throwing salt into the wound, working through loopholes and being petty just for the sake of it. their behavior i would argue is still deplorable, and their unwillingness to work constructively is probably the reason why they and civ werent included in the discussion. ive gone over coy a million times before, these screens just keep hammering the point home

besides that, there are a couple other things to note:

Tycho's lack of presence

Tycho (furthermore referred to as cal) diverting the discussion to others is something that has happened before, and can be a point of criticism against him, but honestly my personal opinion is that shit happens sometimes. cal has very valid reasons to want to pull away from the discussion, especially with the myo compensation event he seems to be giving his best despite the situation. i am willing to give cal a lot of leeway when it comes to being stressed because we have seen the work that he and his team are putting in. i mean ffs we already have new pet species concepts not even a day after the old ones were removed. hes got a lot on his plate, and coys un-reasonability and demanding things be done NOW would drive anyone crazy even if they werent already dealing with species AND irl responsibilities. you could argue that cal shouldnt be in a place of ownership if he cant take the heat which is a valid criticism, however i think that hes a fine owner, good even, its just that these situations keep popping up one after another and he just cant keep up. these arent things that normal species owners deal with

"disgusting"

so regarding these screens (because i know some civ/coy whiteknights are gonna try and use it to excuse all their actions)

listen, was it the most professional way to respond? no. but also: (assuming it was cal who said these) i would argue this is a totally valid argument. granted, probably not to be directed at civ, but still valid. if i was dealing with the same continued problems from people who arent supposed to even be a part of the project anymore, i would have blown my lid way worse. this comment isnt even that egregious to me, its just that civ and coy have created such an echo chamber that any criticism is seen as sacrilege, and given cal's previously mentioned stressors its completely understandable for him to react harshly when they have to deal with coy drilling up his ass and being petty for no reason

civ's final words

the screens speak for themselves here. i do think there are some things to be criticized relating to civs bulletin (particularly comments painting them as this poor sad puppy dog tossed in the rain) but ultimately they are not as much of a villain in this as coy is. best course of action honestly is to just leave them alone, they were pretty professional in the screens and just seem to want to be done with it

final verdict? coy is an ass. civ kind of isnt. it could have been done differently but i really understand why it wasnt. cal needs a break. new mods are still doing good in my eyes.

and terravent fans eat good tonight

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2023, #35: Banana Fish (anime)

[said while vibrating very quickly and typing out like 20 different bullet points] i like this series a normal amount

okay so. non-spoiler thoughts:

step 1 YOU SHOULD READ/WATCH THIS. it does have content warnings for literally everything you can possibly think of as needing a common content warning (drug abuse, sexual assault, racism, and thats absolutely just the tip of the iceberg) but my fucking god. no wonder it's been such an influential piece of media on literally every jp anime/manga crime story (especially the BL ones) written since

for a series that is literally one of the early genesis points of BL as a genre i was ABSOLUTELY expecting more actual BL than was in this LOL. not that i'm really upset, bc honestly i really like the way that ash and eiji's relationship is written in a shoujo-y "they obviously care about each other a lot but it's not going to be outright romance" kind of way. bc like, honestly? that makes it way more emotionally satisfying (and devastating). i think it would actually make less sense if anything more happened In the story (though more happening in the epilogue wouldnt hurt LOL)

how the FUCK was this published in a shoujo magazine

the time period change to modern day from the mid-80's has both helped and hindered this series bc like. on one hand. much easier to do everything with a phone. also the update to shorter's character design was excellent,10/10 no notes. on the other hand. the Everything About It makes it so obvious that it was written to be a product of its time.

speaking of ^ ash turning from A Guy Who Knows How To Use A Computer into a hacking genius is so. why. i mean you can update it for sure but Why Like This

god i wish this had more room to breathe sometimes bc the exposition goes WILDLY fast sometimes. why did they try and do 19 volumes in 24 episodes. the 39 episodes that the director wanted would have been so nice to have

that said: the emotional moments that i actually give a shit about and that make up the core of the weight of the story are given what they deserve. at least up to volume 5 they are. gestures at ep 9? and 22 with a pained smile

i literally could write an essay about why it works so well as a spin on the american-style gangster story even while it definitely has flaws. and how its influenced so many fucking things. my god.

it has flaws for SURE but the rest is so good that i don't care. which is rare for me (gestures at nirvanai/neo twewy being other examples)

spoiler thoughts under the cut (like full-very-ending-of-series spoilers) but YEAH UH I LIKE THIS THING CAN YOU TELL BY HOW MUCH I WROTE ABOUT IT.

it does kind of annoy me that literally all of the canon-MLM (probably gay but you know) guys are horrible people lol. like wow love how the gay predator stereotype is on full display here. feeeeels baaaaad. i know i know asheiji homoeroticism i am ON THAT TRAIN

however yut-lung being feminine out of a wish to carry on his dead mom's legacy is kind of a slay. ive seen people go "ugh it sucks that one of the villains is a feminine man' but while he is definitely not a good person hes one of the less terrible villains, just like. as a person. hes also a teenager in shitty circumstances just with way more power and sway

here's the part where I admit that I was spoiled on the ending so it didn't hit as hard for me OOPS. however. the anime DOES leave it open-ended and it fucking irritates me that anime-only people are like "boo i hate the ending bc ash dies!!!" when it is LITERALLY AMBIGUOUS. i have heard that the manga is less ambiguous about it but :') oh well. anime-onlys what are you doing

speaking of ^ i actually like the ending. like i think a lot of people who absolutely hate it must not have a lot of familiarity with gangster movies as a genre bc it is a genre convention that the Main Gangster dies in the end. granted this was a hayes code thing which the manga definitely did not have to do LOL but its definitely supposed to feel unfair bc ash's damn LIFE is unfair.

however i'm glad the anime makes the ending ambiguous bc that feels like a more fitting end. like ash's life was always in limbo, considering what he was doing, so making his life in limbo at the end too? Good. Yes. Do That

the fucking. everything with shorter and the sa-yo-na-ra bit. i die. that shit is so emotionally painful

i know this sounds weird but i kind of wish they dragged out the "what the hell does banana fish mean" thing a LIIIITTLE longer but by that i mean like, halfway point of the series. like they could have used a little more time to figure out what it is. also that would have let shorter live a little longer ay lmao that said this criticism also almost definitely applies to the manga soooo. you know

[kneelbeforeclefairy]

HI HI ITS ME HI! I have been diagnosed with both of those! I think I do have both. The sleep doctor said I can't have both but it's possible I have a hybrid of the two? And they gave me the initial diagnosis of non24 but then another doctor said he didn't believe I had that because largely blind people had it but I was like HI I CAN BE THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE it does occur it sighted people.

And boy if it's not apnea they have no idea what to do. I did a sleep study and apparently I had some minor apnea but not even enough to qualify as sleep apnea,but all they wanted to talk about was a CPAP or a night guard and I'm like. Guys. When I'm not hooked up to 1001 machines once I sleep I sleep well. Can you listen to that and focus on my actual sleep issues. Barely. Also I had to fill out a sleep log for two weeks or whatever and thank God it was during covid so it did show some of my "natural sleep" but because it wasn't even every day the doctor didn't think I had non24. Well of course it wasn't and even 2 hours later every day. I FIGHT It. I've learned how to fight it. Also like. I didn't have steady work but I had shit to do so some times I had to get up at a certain time.

And when I tried to get them to focus on the sleep disorder weather it was delayed sleep phase or non24 I got told basically. All you can do is control your light intake. Can I put a light box at my desk? Nope. Don't have a desk also i was an early childhood teacher so I sit in the dark for an hour twice a day while babies nap. Oh that's unfortunate. Try micro dosing melatonin. Honestly haven't given that the old college try because melatonin has such a ??? Effect on me that I have been too scared to give it a shot again because I have to get up for work the next day

I think it's just such a fucking awful way to live. I like having a "name" for it. Nice knowing what's going on. But there's still no answers as to how to help. But between that and ADHD it makes time SO difficult to understand and use effectively. And I'm constantly tired. Constantly. Because even if I get eight hours of sleep the delayed sleep phase means I don't feel rested if it's too early. And even if I fall asleep at a reasonable time and get up early for work the next day and I'm fine, within a day or two or three depending on how good I'm fighting it, I'll start going to be a little later. I think my "day" is 26 hours. I'm programed for about eight hours sleep and 18 hours awake, give or take a little. And that....that doesn't work with the real worlds 24 hour day and work schedules that start the same time every day.

Part of me thinks I'm kind of a mild case because I've learned how to live with it and I can hold down jobs it's just harder. But finishing school? School when first period was at 750 ? It's not THE reason I didn't finish high school but it's one of them. But also I've had this since I was a baby. My mother didn't know much from babies, but Ive worked with them for years now and now I know. No. It is not normal for your five month old to not fall asleep until 11pm-midnignt. I still slept the same AMOUNT of hours. But mom could start putting me to bed when I was eight pm and she'd just be rocking me for four hours and I'd fall asleep at 12 anyway, or just start the routine at 10pm and hope. My entire life was fighting my sleep cycle.

I didn't know there were so many of us.

one of the most enlightening realizations ive had was finding out that non-24 hour circadian rhythm people were a pretty large group and most of us have oddly similar cycles of usually around 28hr internal "days" and this masquerades as "insomnia" but if allowed to sleep and wake naturally we will just advance forward through time an extra 2-4 hours a day at a relatively stable pace. we can't go to school or jobs or even run errands on normal schedules without massive pharmacological and behavioral intervention. most of the people who have been diagnosed or figured it out themselves will report horrific, life-ruining disruption in their professional lives and terrible health from accrued lack of sleep. this disorder is most common in vision-impaired people which seems to suggest it's related to light cues. anyway just thinking about this as extremely loud yard work woke me up at 8am for the second day in a row

[postmoderntongues]

Why are you sexualizing yourself so much as if your only worth is pleasing men with blowjobs. Also are you bragging about being better than their wives. It's disgusting, you're not better than any of those women just because you're a degenerate and would let a man do anything to you while they have normal, reasonable boundaries.

I dont think im better than any of these women, but I've often been playfully challenged to competitions and its kind of sexy and fucked up and like I'm not trying to make them lust over me after their wives I do it as a favor to the wife who wants to challenge me and thinks its this sexy funny thing and shes bringing me home as a gift to her man which is kinda hot in a saphic way to know another girl sees me like that or wants to engage with me in that way its about the girl and the silly sorority girl bullshit ratchetness the guy is just lucky enough to happen to be invited along but I don't try to seduce these men or entertain sexual or romantic attention from them other than hear who has the more skillful techniques and more often than getting up set me and the girl wind up with our fingers in our mouths and I'm explaining the amount of pressure and movements I use to do the trick so well me and my best friend in college used to constantly draft our guy friends into judging head contests we called each other "popsicle sisters" it was more a bonding thing with her than it was about whoever's dick we happened to be using for the purpose.

And I have limits, I'm a masochist and like rough stuff because I've been a cutter since 4th grade and its a socially acceptable replacement to get those same endorphins I don't even let guys nut in my mouth its not about pleasing the man its an escalation to "omg we are really doing this" as a joke between girls because its a little kinky and a little taboo and its fun to feel spicy sometimes but I would NEVER cross the limit to entertaining anything but plutonic attention from any of these guys and if told mine is better I always say something like "but shes so much prettier, isn't she such a goddess, you're such a lucky man" if anything I help facilitate communications about technique preferences between these partners who are often poly to some degree anyway and in the end improving their future sexual experiences between each other I'm a girls girl is never fuck with another woman property id never eat off another woman plate unless shes feeding me of her own will off her own fork but this is usually as much about being the female partner's selected toy to dip her feet into the waters of a homoseual encounter with

and im not "sexualizing myself" as much as I am 30 and single for the first time in my adult life and being with the one man I lost my virginity to forever like a good Christian girl is out of the cards now so I might as will have a little fun and see what there is to see. Im also off antipsychotics for the first time since I was 14 and am experiencing a fully formed adult sex drive for the first time in my life and I've given up on the idea of trading sex for love I'm just trying to pray and have fun and try out some fantasies

Also its not that i "would let a man do anything to me" as some kind of handmaiden act, I'm not submitting to HIS fantasy I'm filling MINE Im a masochist, Ive been a cutter since I was super little but I get sent to the psych ward for 10 days if I have a nice cutting session, its totally socially acceptable to have some casual rough sex and when faced with the novelty of a genuine masochist, not just somebody trying to please men or submit to perversions but somebody who actually has a miswired inappropriate response to pain and violence neurologically most guys especially nice guys who would never even think to suggest that proposition are interested in at least exploring the novelty of combining sex and violence with a partner who not only fully consents to but actively seeks out and enjoys that type of sex and they can indulge in the curiosity/novelty in a moral way when I put it on the table as my preference.

My first memory is a teenage neighbor boy performing oral sex on me at the age of 2 the love of my life was a teen boy I was sexually involved with from the ages of 4-6 me and my childhood best friend who was also molested were sexually active with each other starting in 1st or 2nd grade and almost all my adolescent heterosexual experiences were rape or transactional. I don't have a healthy or normal relation to sex and I don't advise any other women to imitate my actions but Id rather get off than win the political purity contest tbh

[rlljayhon]

12/28/24 - a new type of low

we just exchanged christmas gifts today and it made me really happy to see they enjoyed my gifts, and i really like the gift they got me, but idk i guess everything about the whole holiday season and what not has taken quite a toll on me i guess idk

they posted a bunch of pictures of that guy and they said how much they missed them, like idk while we were talking they went back to texas for a bit they missed me a lot too but i did not get a post like that LMAO and idk its not just that, like they share everything with this guy, when they got the gift they took a picture and sent it to him, and i guess obviously thats where all of my feelings come from

it sucks that im like still working on getting over them because they were like the #1 thing on my mind and now even when we are hanging out they are constantly updating him on whatever and it makes me sad that like idk i just feel like they would rather be talking to them at any given moment

that is totally fair too, they can do what they please, i am just sad bc it felt like as soon as this guy came back into their life they pretty much ended things with me

a lot of things hurt about that situation, it makes me feel so little and insecure because like, what does this guy have or what do they like about him so much that i dont have or like what about me made them move on so easily

i guess its also me reaching my core problems of insecurity bc like i just have so much self doubt in myself and i feel so worthless

i wish i didnt care so much about love

i wish it wasn’t the only thing that truly makes me sad

i wish i didnt always put all my eggs into one basket, but idk it was the cutest and most fun and amazing basket that ever came into my life yknow

more and more i think about seeing a therapist

i think everyone should go to therapy if they have the means to do so, but idk i also think its a bad sign bc i am realizing how poor my mental health is getting

i feel like the life has left my eyes and i am forcing myself to be the happy silly guy everyone thinks of me as

i have no tears to cry, and trust me, ive tried.

i wish i still wasnt so hung up on this

they never showed the same amount of interest as i did so i dont know why im so sad

i think its also bc we didnt continue our relationship because they wanted to explore their queerness, but now they are like super into this guy, which also makes me feel really insecure, it makes me feel like that was just them trying to be nice to let me down easy

yeah i just think the hardest part is having to see them so often, like since we are in the same org i am just bound to see them so often yknow

i mean im definitely a little mad at them, but i am more mad at myself for getting my hopes up

i still see myself being their friend, im still very grateful to have them, im sad that i now have this like lingering thought/longing for them in the back of my mind

if they end up together with that guy i will be happy for them, but i will also be so emotionally devastated because idk it just makes all my insecure thoughts feel valid

idk what my issues is around love, but my dear joma and mao please bless me with a rev gamer girl who loves me for me and please bless me with a partner who feels like home, where i dont have to doubt myself or my partners feelings, someone who can help me grow and make me feel safe

god i long for that so badly, i feel like i have always been the lover/giver, so what do i need to do to be the one to receive

or maybe just someone who sees me for me and loves me for it idk

i wanna be over this and feel normal again

[dandelionbutch]

being a parent at 21

my son is a huge priority. i'm too young to have this much responsibility. i've had my son for over 5 years, he occupies my every waking thought. when i find i haven't been thinking of him, i get really upset, as if he picked up on the fact that he was a background track in my brain while i'm at work. in reality: he's at home sleeping on my blanket, dreaming about us going on adventures, and can't wait for me to get home.

i worry i'm repeating the cycle of what my mom did to me, unto my son. moving every few years, shifting authorities and therefore inconsistent conditioning which in his case is why he's 'broken'. we talked about our experiences raising him and she admitted she would coddle him and not keep up his training. i knew that; i was trying to train him too and he was confused at my attempts. she calls him dumb and cute and a baby. she doesn't believe in his potential.

I don't enjoy drawing the similarities to our parenting styles. For instance; I wouldn't say i was given a choice in raising him. that was implicit, i was told he was bought for me and therefore i assumed i would add him to my load of things i was already taking on. i would have given anything to not go to school and train him all day. he was one of the things i occupied that didn't bring me immense sadness or hopelessness, i became proud of his progress and how his personality showed itself to me.

when she had given him a task or command, she wouldn't demonstrate it properly or laugh or get frustrated and give in. i tried to tell her that he will learn her behavior and apply it to every human interaction. (ive known copius amounts of dog related information for years)

today we saw another dog on the walk. i tried to calm myself so he wouldn't pick up on my energy. the other walkers got to about 7 feet away from us. the owner asked me how the dog park was. i said it was wet but usually fun! then he started his howling scream. he does it everytime we see a dog and i don't let the leash out for him to say hello. I want to, i feel immeasurably guilty about holding him back. at that point they walk away quickly.

all i could think about was saying its okay and watching him try to run around the trash bins to say hello. I kept thinking: this is what parents do. they see the social risks and danger before the child and act accordingly. because this is how my boy has always behaved: he seldom gets social connection. the dogs all get steered away from him because hes loud and big.

I promise he just wants friends he just doesn't know the normal way. I promise hes a good boy, very smart and happy and trying his best. i promise he would love it if you just gave him a chance. it's not his fault he was raised like this. give him love please, i just want him to be happy.

are we still talking about the dog?

[naughtyintrusivethoughties]

lifes honestly been so much better recently. like aside from processing a retarded amount of trauma ive dealt with since i was a kid and even recently (circa 2016-2021), i think ive gotten past a good chunk of it

my dad sucks is really the take away. my mum does too at points but less so than my dad. shes just kinda fucked up from her own bs and thats okay. she tried processing it and going to therapy, and my dad did the opposite

ive kinda just accepted ill never have any kind of relationship wt my sperm donor again, and it feels really good. he put me through so much shit. been telling my mum whats been happening over the years and shes fucking HORRIFIED. she broke down after i told her some of the shit hes done over the years. like a part of me knew it was bad but it was so normalized that i never thought about how fucked up it all was until actually verbalizing it

the bastards been stealing shit from the house too to sell of for drug money. he hasnt lived here for a year but hell still show up when no ones around and take shit. hes stolen shit from me too, thankfully we have cameras everywhere so my mum was able to tell him to give me back my shit and he actually did. but then he stole other shit from the house to sell so it kinda cancelled out lol

he SUUUUUCKS

other than that shit, life been okay. positives being ive been dating my bf for a year now and were pretty happy with eachother. hes talked about marriage and stuff and thats pretty cool. id marry the shit out of him

works been great too. i transferred to another building and its been goin super good. i got promo offers my first week, and months later (ie now) im being told that they wanna promo me to a management position which is fucking fantastic. i like MONEY, and i like that this building actually appreciates the effort im putting in. i had people rooting for me at my last building, but ive been fucked over way too many times at that building to stick around, so its nice to be given some actual direction now

my ex best friend is apparently getting fat and that made me laugh pretty hard. for all the shit she put me through and how insecure she is, enjoy the extra weight queen xoxoxo

ive been really enjoying paddle boarding recently. my bf and i go out on the water and just kinda chill and listen to music and eat n have beer and its really relaxing. im also actually tanning and not staying super pasty white LOL

im a LITTLE tequila fancy rn so im probably gunna log off now, but im gunna try to journal again, and this is the easiest way to do it. gunna try to stick to it

[ctrl-alt-cel]

top ten puppyshipping fics?

so thrilled about this ask...unfortunately i cant give you a list of puppyshipping top 10 without taking like 3 months to reread every joukai fic ive ever loved, but i can give you a handful that ive enjoyed recently!!

Second Chance Christmas by Elexcia (30k)

ex-husbands joey and kaiba are forced to spend the holidays together after 3 years of co-parenting and scrupulously avoiding each other. (atticus and alexis are their kids and its the cutest thing ever!!!!) theres a ton of adorable family shenanigans & how much joey and kaiba work together to ensure atticus and alexis have happy childhoods free from their own personal baggage, mixed with the most heartwrenching late-night conversations between joey and kaiba bc despite everything, they still love each other, but they remember the pain it brought them and don't know if they can endure that again. the emotions and uncertainties are so raw oftentimes i will remember a quote from this fic and my heart will ache all over again its so fcking good!!! its been on my mind ever since i read it!!!

Meeting upon the threshold by Alecto (2.6k)

"kaiba has always been his own worst enemy" -- dsod!kaiba's dimension hopping lands him in an alternate timeline and face-to-face with a version of himself he doesn't recognize. this will always be the quintessential puppyshipping fic to me omg.. the amount of characterization covered in the brief interactions the two kaibas have is spectacular, and its so cool seeing just how different dsod!kaiba's dimension is compared to a dimension where kaiba chooses jounouchi instead. hell yeah

Double Date by thegraeyone (7.2k)

GOD this fic is so funny. kaiba tries so hard to have one normal, business-related work dinner with pegasus, but pegasus is more interested in having a double date between kaiba and his boyfriend joey + pegasus with his boyfriend bandit keith, and like, what else can kaiba do? for the sake of his company, he needs to play along with the most disasterous dinner date of his life if he wants pegasus to sign a damn contract already..!!!! the comedic potential for this specific set of characters makes me lose my mind & theres so many sweet moments within the fic too. i love it so much

Most Thrilling by Alecto (1.8k)

another funny fic! a cute moment with joey visiting his boyfriend kaiba during a lunch break, and silly conversations on how kaiba really does play to win. i love the brand of slight unhinged-ness kaiba has here in regards to jou omg... kaiba is intense when it comes to everything, of course that would include his dating life😭 & i adore how he manages to come across as infuriatingly romantic in his own type of way

The Weight of Water by phant0m (2.2k)

a gentle character piece, jounouchi has just moved out from the apartment he shares with his father, and for all the newfound freedom it should entail, he feels guilty about it more than anything. thankfully his boyfriend kaiba is there to stand by him. it's a kind look into the more somber parts of jou's character and i love the scene it sets :( oh my god jou and kaiba love each other so much..!!! *dies*

Shards by jirluven (2.9k)

more hurt/comfort >:) jounouchi flinches. kaiba isn't supposed to know what it means, its one of the unbroachable topics of their close yet purposely ambiguous relationship, but they both know each other far too well for that. i really enjoy how kaiba's perspective is written, with how he's most comfortable when he's logic-ing things out and surrounded by things he can easily categorize, but hes long given up on trying to categorize jounouchi, and its most evident when pushing himself into the unfamiliar territory of tactfully trying to comfort someone he cares about

Debt to Society by Elexcia (16k)

tech acquisitions lawyer seto kaiba is sentenced to 200 hours of community service after a barfight with rival lawyer & long-time nuisance ziegfried von schroder. to meet those hours, he's assigned to represent children in court as their legal advocate with social worker joey wheeler acting as his supervisor >:) (also featuring judge yugi & the doma arc kids!!) i think this setup is genius omg. with kaiba acting as a protector for underrepresented and vulnerable kids, of course his own personal (and messy) feelings are going to get involved whether he likes it or not!!! plus i love fics where jou and kaiba are colleagues working towards the same goal and moments where kaiba has to trust in and respect joey's skills. and i cant lie. seeing a worldly joey who's good with kids is an absolute treat

Lapse by AndroideQL (4.2k)

blossoming workplace romance!! jou is kaiba's assistant (yes, everyone is surprised about this outcome too) jou & kaiba are undoubtedly attracted to each other, but theres a couple of (important!!) things about it that theyre not entirely on the same page about. the banter and familiarity jou and kaiba have with each other in this fic is sooo charmingly affectionate, and there are several exchanges that make me laugh every single time. its a refreshing and cute fic that has me hopeful knowing that no matter what communication issues they get up to, they'll eventually get their shit straight

Small and Insignificant Things by Lafae (1.6k)

one more for the office romance train >:) joey, kaiba, and the conundrum of getting a good picture for your photo ID. short and sweet boyfriend shennanigans, i love how joey & kaiba play off of each other during these mundane moments between their hectic schedules and i feel like it perfectly captures the excitement of a fresh relationship and fondly discovering the more trivial details about your partner

Working My Way Back to You by SerenaJones (10k)

during an argument between jou and kaiba, jou angrily states that he wishes they never met. kaiba soon finds himself in a universe where they never did, and meets a rougher, more abrasive jounouchi who never quit his gang who just may be the key to his way back. the worldbuilding in this fic is super cool and extensively fleshed out! its so fascinating to experience how different the cast of yugioh and domino city itself would have become if canon had played out differently, and the interactions between kaiba and a jounouchi who isn't his jounouchi but is just charming is so much fun

Orpheus and Eurydice by saiikavon (3.4k)

post-dsod joey dies while chasing kaiba into the afterlife, and by the title, you can probably imagine what kaiba has to do to get him back. very fun kaiba characterization/study here, with how quick and confident he is to challenge death itself and rebuff anything that gets in his way. and! a bit of spoilers but i love when jou gets to be a little mean (lovingly!!!!) to kaiba hehehe