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icyg4l · 9 months ago

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PAC: What Do You Need to Know About Your Love Life Right Now?

Hello beautiful people. The topic of today's reading will be about love! This is my first PAC love reading that is features photos of the Queen of Love Songs herself, cause why not? I try to vary in topics so that I can deliver diversity amongst my reading topics. I do offer personal love readings as well as financial, career, education, general and readings about the other relationships in your life. Without further ado, please choose the image of Beyoncé that resonates with you that resonates with you.

Top Left-to-Bottom Right (1-4):

Pile 1: Pile One, you’re down bad, girl! I feel like this pile is in a monogamous relationship right now and you may be scared of what is to come. I feel like this relationship is new. This could be your first serious relationship that you’ve been in. And because of this, you feel afraid to mess anything up. Basically, you have high standards for this and don’t want it to end. There is nothing wrong with feeling this way. It’s common. But you need to be exerting this passionate energy into other things as well. Your relationship will only fail if you stop putting effort into it. So please… relax. Also, please stop letting any other failed attempts of relationships that you’ve had in the past affect your future. I don’t know why you let this happen but you are not the same person you were then. You have different boundaries and a different sense of self so please go easy on yourself, my love! You are not going to fail, boo. Just keep on moving with your boo! And lastly, ease into this whole exclusivity thing. Don’t rush it. You don’t have to expose your relationship to the public just yet. Do everything when your body feels it is right.

Cards Used: Temperance, Ace of Cups, Ace of Discs, 2 of Swords, Princess of Wands, 6 of Discs, 5 of Cups.

extras: dramatic. singer-songwriter. poet. dimples. big curly hair. big heart.

Pile 2: Pile Two, you’re quite the cocky one, aren’t you? I feel like this pile is someone that’s really guarded with their heart. You don’t seem to be easily trusting of others in general. I think you’re really focused on making stuff happen in terms of climbing the social ladder and congratulations to you! I feel like you have been tending to yourself, which is great. I’m sensing the energy of an ex. You let go of this crappy ex and everything has gotten significantly better. I’m getting big air sign energy from this pile, some real brainiacs are here lol. I feel like you should continue to focus on pursuing your personal goals and someone needs to here this: Go get your toes done! You’ve been doing an excellent job of calling the shots and exercising your throat chakra. You are not obligated to stay in anyone’s life in order to help them get their shit together so if someone makes you feel guilty for doing so, then fuck them! Pile Two, you owe yourself loyalty for sure. Please give it to yourself. Be generous towards yourself.

Cards Used: 6 of Wands, The Magician, 5 of Wands, 8 of Cups, 9 of Wands, Ace of Swords, Justice.

extras: megan thee stallion. rapper. un poco loco. ashley tisdale. donuts.

Pile 3: Pile Three, are you ready? I feel like you’ve been holding onto this very specific arrangement of love. You want to experience the magic of it all. However, it’s been a minute since you’ve been on the scene. I am getting some inexperience here. Maybe you’ve never really dated like that to begin with or it’s been a minute since you’ve gotten out there. I feel like there is actually someone on the horizon that you will come across. This could be someone that you work with or someone that you are already acquainted with. I think that this person would want to take you out on dates and do things the old fashioned way. They would be willing to do whatever you’d like but at the same time, they will take the lead. But in order for this, you have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. It’s possible that you could also be divorced/widowed/distrusting of the dating scene (that’s completely understandable). But you need to listen to your gut, Pile Three. You will attract your person by keeping that vision pinned in the back of your mind, and I mean it.

Cards Used: 4 of Discs, The Lovers, The Chariot, 3 of Discs, The Hermit, 9 of DIscs.

extras: fresh prince of bel air. melanie barnett/”med school.” peaches. lint. seamstress.

Pile Four, someone’s getting some good good, but at what cost? Being in a sexual relationship with someone who does not share the same end goal as you is not as fun as you’ve been describing it. It was fun at first, but you know you want something more. So, why deny yourself the love that you want? I feel like you are putting in more energy than this person because you want something serious with them but you are not getting anything in return. Now you just feel drained and that sucks. You need to gather the strength to move past this person and put your sacral energy into something that matters. You will only continue to be disappointed because it is a one-sided connection. That person is stealing your energy whether you want to hear it or not. If you want better/more, then act like it. Know your worth, babe! There’s plenty of fish in the sea and there is plenty of fish that would want to wife you up.

Cards Used: The Devil, 9 of Cups, Princess of Cups, 8 of Wands, King of Wands, 4 of Cups, Strength, 5 of Discs, Prince of Discs.

extras: doormat. bald head. venus in the 12th house. argentina. frankenstein. black and white. southern belle. drones. washington d.c.

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 11 months ago

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You're analysis are always very insightful! Your considerations about Malleus' restricted options in terms of partners made me wonder if Kalim would end up in a similar situation as him. This is of course entirely speculation, since we don't know much about how his parents got together, but to me it makes sense that in the future he might have to deal with something like an arranged marriage. He isn't royalty, but the Asim family still has a great deal of commercial and political sway in the Scalding Sands, so it's difficult for me to believe that they would just let the heir marry whoever he chooses. And despite how carefree he may act, I don't think he would reject an arrangement made by his family. He seems pretty aware of all the obligations that come with being an heir to the Asim. Besides, rejecting a spouse that was chosen for him might put said person under a lot of public scrutiny, and I don't think he would want anyone to go through that

[Referencing this post!]

Oh, hmmm 🤔 I actually never really though about this kind of thing for Kalim so I guess now is as good of a time as any www.

I do think like there would be some selectiveness involved for Kalim too, given the financial power and political influence in the Scalding Sands that the Asims hold (and that's not even mentioning their connections via family, some of which are royalty, and business partners). There's also been several attempts on Kalim's life, so there would probably be an intense screening and background check process for anyone courting Kalim. Who knows if they're actually there to kidnap him or to take his life??? The Asims would have very legitimate concerns, so they have every right to be vigilant and suspicious of those who may try to take advantage of Kalim's kind-heartedness and gullibility.

Mm, I do feel like (overall) Kalim wouldn't be in as much of a tight spot as Malleus?? I get the sense that his parents are way more open-minded and truly care about his happiness (unlike the Briar Valley senators) so they wouldn't exactly force him to marry someone he doesn't actually love. Rather than a "you have no say in this matter" arranged marriage, they might instead present Kalim with a pool of potential candidates that have already been vetted and encourage him to try them out? Like, go on various blind dates and see if he "clicks" with any of them. There would be more trial and error, more exploration allowed (since there isn't as much of a demand for Kalim to have an heir, especially not right away; he has so many other siblings and family members who could help or assume roles in the business). I believe this is similar to how matchmaking is done in some Asian countries (although I'm not too familiar with the concept, I've only learned a little about it through some podcasts). From my understanding, they try to "match" applicants with someone of a similar social ranking as you (so in Kalim's case, he would probably be meeting people who are also mega wealthy) and based on what you (and oftentimes your family) are looking for. If it doesn't work out, then there's less of a chance for backlash since pretty much anyone can use these services and a perfect match isn't a guarantee, especially on the first attempt. Please feel free to correct me if I got any information here wrong!! ^^

#twisted wonderland #twst #Malleus Draconia #Kalim Al-Asim #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #notes from the writing raven

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an-au-blog · 2 days ago

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that holiday zs is coming along WAY too different than the first draft, so imma just post those initial 4k on here bc i just really dont wanna scrap them completely (the intro is kinda the same as the actual fic im posting on ao3 but yk...)

enjoy :))

(this is the actual posted one btw https://archiveofourown.org/works/61647757/chapters/157594045)

The winter months were approaching like a persistent storm, knocking on the doorstep. As vicious as both weather and time, the invites and passive-aggressive messages started again.

It was always "you have to come home for the holidays" and "if you don't come, father will be disappointed," but Sanji hated every family gathering. The fact that he was contractually obligated to go to at least one was disgusting. And even more so that Judge pulled his strings to push him into going to this Christmas party.

Just before he was about to leave his phone, adamant not to answer his sister's texts, her name was displayed again. She was calling him.

Shit... he couldn't ignore her now...

Taking a deep breath, he braced himself. "Hey, Reiju."

"Hello, Sanji." Her greeting sounded as cold as ever.

"I know what you're calling for."

"You do?" Even questions sounded closer to statements out of her lips.

"Yeah, and I'm sure you already know my answer. Did Judge put you up to this?" He never liked getting angry at her, it was not her fault, but he couldn't hide the way he felt.

"Sanji," her voice softened just a tad. "I'm sorry that our father moved the dates for the charity event, there was no way he could have known you wouldn't be in town."

"Don't lie to me. That man planned it, I know him." Sanji was itching for a cigarette. His hands trembled in fury as he opened the box and pulled one out. "He knows I wouldn't be caught dead on more than one Vinsmoke social money-parade! That charity event was the only thing I could stand by willingly and he knew that." He lit his smoke and inhaled the thick scent of it, calming. "And don't call him that, he is no father of mine. I can't recall one time where he acted like one."

"There are two years until the contract is over, please don't do anything to anger him... I don't think he actually wants to see you go."

Sanji couldn't help the sharp and humorless laugh escaping him. "As soon as my restaurant is "payed off" I can promise you, he won't be seeing any of me. It's actually funny to me how his greatest failure is his most qualified employee."

"Sanji..."

"Whatever, I'm going." He put out his cigarette. "Not like I have any choice." The man grumbled.

"Oh, and one more thing." She paused a bit, perhaps waiting for an answer but continued before Sanji did. "It would be wise to bring a date."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She didn't sound teasing or happy. "Just... trust me. And make it convincing."

The line went dead.

Well she never stopped being ominous

Lighting up a second cigarette, Sanji thought on what she said. Perhaps, she was right, if he took someone it could be more tolerable.

But then the problem was, who?

He couldn't take any lady, he wouldn't dare to put a woman through that torture. And it wasn't like he had a lot of friends either. Between helping at the restaurant and slaving away at the Germa company, he didn't have much time to socialize.

He needed someone who would piss off his family and would not be put off by them. He couldn't take any of the cooks... There was Luffy, but Sanji was sure he would try to kill them on sight and as satisfying as that sounded, he couldn't risk anything so close to the finish line.

After an agitatingly long consideration, Sanji took out his phone. Downloading the most popular dating app, he created a profile.

Name:

He furrowed his brows. Considering how this should be approached. Fuck it.

Name: Mr. Prince

Age: 21

Bio: I'm not here to date, I need a fake boyfriend for my annoying Christmas party. If you can hold your own and want a free meal hmu.

He considered not putting a photo, as he wasn't sure if anyone would recognize him from Judge's PR stunts. Sanji opted to taking a picture of his hand holding a cigarette. It might look edgy, it might look suspicious, but he had hit rock bottom a while ago and he was not above pulling out a pickaxe/sledgehammer. //idk which one i should put or do i put smth at all v smsl da e kato "he hit rock bottom but hes ready to go lower"

He scrolled through a couple of profiles, accepting all of them with very little ones he didn't swipe to accept, killing time until it was time yo go to the restaurant.

Not even ten minutes into the shift, Sanji had to turn his phone's sound and vibrations off. The constant buzzing was more irritating than Carne's unstoppable blabbering.

Sanji's smoke break could not have come faster.

With a cigarette in hand, he held his phone in the other. Honestly, he didn't know what to expect... Dick pic, dick pic, a comment about his "slim fingers wrapped around-", alright this was disheartening. He lingered on a profile that looked a bit too suspicious - no photo of the person's face, wasn't in a single frame, just a beautiful orange cat. But reading the bio of the person, Sanji decided to keep on looking, he might be too polite for his family's prodding.

There was another man. He looked, and Sanji was putting this lightly, like a criminal... Or a homeless criminal. Maybe he could give it a shot. He read the man's message.

Gin: I'm down if you're down ;)

Sanji knew better than to be hopeful, but giving it a shot, he typed out and clicked send.

Mr. Prince: down for what?

The ping sounded with the response of the man and it almost made Sanji's cigarette fall on the ground. He had never clicked the block button faster. What a creep.

Checking a few other profiles, he had started to get pissed off. He didn't have much more time left and he was on his third sig, one last profile and he would stop for now. His fingers were going to freeze and he was starting to worry it would snow soon.

Zoro: will there be booze

Sanji clicked his tongue and if he wasn't searching for someone impudent, he would have blocked him just to be petty. But that was probably a good sign. Scrolling though the man's profile told him a few things. Firstly he put his full legal name, so he was either naïve or didn't care much. He hoped it was the ladder. God how he hoped. Zoro, apparently, was well built and even though it said nothing, from the few pictures, Sanji could tell that he did some kind of martial arts. If he was guessing correctly, that would be a safe bet as to where he had gotten all those scars as well, including the one on his face. And that was the other thing: he only had two pictures and both of them were clearly taken by other people. The first one was of him at a bar with two other men, the backs of their heads only visible. It was quite cinematic, enough to make Sanji a bit suspicious if it wasn't just some screenshot from an indie film or something. The second picture was of him in front of a ramen shop, he was laughing at something off screen in a relaxed manner that both exuded confidence and filled Sanji with an ache for the social life he would usually never mourn.

Going back to the chat, he didn't give himself much time to think of a response.

"EGGPLANT! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN HERE!" Zeff's voice echoed.

Typing out a quick response, he pocketed his phone.

"Yeah, yeah, you old geezer! Can the restaurant not burn down every time I look away?" Sanji snapped back.

Zeff laughed. "You've always been funny, little eggplant."

Sanji could hear Patty and Carne snickering. "You- " He could feel his face burning. "Stop calling me that!" Hissing out. "And you two back there better stop laughing, I am the sous-chef, I can fire you!"

"Nah, you won't." Patty smirked.

"You'll always be my little eggplant." Zeff said with a far too fond smile. Damn it old man, how could Sanji stay angry at him?

With a tisk, He rolled up his sleeves again and went back to work.

By the end of his shift, he felt as exhausted as ever. The cook hadn't even noticed when he reached his apartment, or his room for that matter.

He took out his phone to set up another alarm, unsure if he would be able to wake up after his usual two.

Shit. He forgot he texted that guy.

He opened the chat.

Zoro: will there be booze

Mr. Prince: yeah, if you suffer through at least half of it

Zoro: if you dont wanna go so bad just dont

Zoro: also i hope you know ur acc looks like a bot

Zoro: still not sure its not

Damn it, he forgot to answer... At that point it was probably too late for Zoro to answer, but he had to answer now, if he didn't want to leave if for the morning in fear of forgetting again.

Mr Prince: sorry, I just got off work

Zoro: u deff don't sound like a bot atm

Mr Prince: I'm not? a bot??

Zoro: haha even ur responses look like a bot

Zoro: aight, was fun mr botman

Zoro: bye now

Mr Prince: WAIT!!!

Mr Prince: STUPID MARIMO HEAD COME BACK HERE

Mr Prince: FUCK YOUUUU

Mr Prince: GOD YOU RE SUCH A PRICK

Sanji was gripping his phone with anger. He couldn't believe this man was able to annoy him this much with so little words. If his brothers and father had anything in common with him, he would be able to get out of any conversation as long as he stuck with this man. It was a double edged sword, sure, but then again, he wouldn't have to deal with his family. He would chose any stranger over them.

He typed it something, just to delete it again. And again. Again... Damn it, the guy probably already blocked him. Or unmatched him, in any case, it wasn't like anything he wrote from then on would matter. he wouldn't see it.

Mr Prince: sorry

Before Sanji could close his phone, he saw the three dots that indicated the other was typing.

Zoro: damn ur so desperate for me

Sanji could feel his head heat up from anger and... Fuck this guy! What an asshole!

Mr Prince: I take it back.

Mr Prince: Go fuck yourself.

Zoro: no thanks

Zoro: s why i got this app

Mr Prince: ?

Zoro: idc abt relationships but being taken out and getting a good hookup after is easy here

Zoro: whatever tho

Zoro: were u srs abt the alcohol party

Mr Prince: yes

Zoro: cool

Zoro: when and where

Sanji could have gotten whiplash at how fast the conversation switched its tune, but nonetheless, he was too tired to get angrier. Needing this to end, he huffed a sigh and responded.

Mr Prince: It would be best if we meet and talk it out in person

Zoro: k

Mr Prince: Do you know Camie's Cafe? If you are free, we can go this Thursday at around 10.

Zoro: sure

Zoro: damn ur basic

Zoro: coffee date and superslims

Zoro: cant wait to see what ur hipsterass wears

Mr Prince: I am one second away from kicking your face in

Zoro: id like to see u try

Zoro: never been challenged by a failed pinterest collage

Zoro: ig theres a first for everything

The cook knew that answering would only rile him up more and encourage the man, so he ignored him instead. To make sure that he didn't put all his hopes on this overgrown house plant, he went back to looking though his other matches. Pitifully little serious ones. Half asleep he barely managed to go though them before passing out in his work clothes.

Thursday had come far too fast.

The snow was piling up and the little sparkling lights were being hung from traffic lights and leafless trees. Sanji looked at his phone - he was five minutes early.

He fidgeted with his gloves before entering, nervous.

The little bell on the top of the door rung, only making his anxiety spike even more. He scanned the tabled and felt himself able to breathe again when he didn't see the person he needed to meet. Going up to the counter, Sanji flashed a bright smile at the barista.

"Camie, my lovely flower!" He sighed theatrically. "How are you, this fine morning?"

"Oh! Hey, Sanji, I'm doing great. Hopefully, you are too!" The girl behind the counter gave him a friendly smile.

"Ah, well, I'm great! Never been better! Even though I fear that now that I saw you, my day has reached it's peak."

She laughed. "You say the silliest things."

His smile felt a bit less fake. Having to make a pretty lady laugh always made him feel a bit better. t least he could improve someone else's day...

"Hey, Casanova." A rude voice said behind him. "Are you gonna order or just take up the line space?"

Sanji turned around to see some guy. He was muscular and with an ugly scowl hiding behind glasses. The man was still wearing his winter hat but had his jacket unzipped and had nothing but a tank top with a low cut underneath.

"Eyes up here, dartbrow." He snarled.

Sanji looked behind the man, to see that there was no one else waiting. "You can shove your shitty attitude and the rest of the non-existing line up yours, cave man."

"Caveman?" He raised an eyebrow.

Damn, he looked familiar. "Yeah, one who talks big shit and wastes all my time picking fights with random people, like a prick."

"By the time it took you to flirt and throw meaning less blabber at me, you both of us would have gotten our drinks and been out of here."

"Whatever. I don't have time for idiots today." He turned to Camie, who in turn had been using the time of their bickering to make his usual drink. Bless her heart, women really were angels sent from above.

"Thank you, love." He smiled at her, leaving a big tip and the money for his order. Sitting down on a table for two, he took out his phone to text this Zoro guy. He must have been running late, because there was no one in line after the other guy and it was already five past ten.

Mr Prince: Did you arrive?

A familiar ping was heard from next to the counter. Sanji did not look up, as he saw the three dots indicating that Zoro was typing.

Zoro: Yeah

Zoro: ordering something and sitting down

Zoro: some poppas stick figure was holding up the line

Sanji froze on the spot. He was afraid to look up, but not too fond of reading the next message either. Shit... could it be? Did he actually have that much of bad luck?

Zoro: r u here btw

Zoro: ???

With great reluctance, Sanji looked up to the spot at the counter where the man was standing. He was now looking straight at him. Expression blank, just... staring.

He had taken off his glasses and hat, revealing the short green hair that was so prominent in the pictures on his profile. He looked so different when he wasn't smiling and wearing glasses or maybe it was just that Sanji had the talent to make his own life miserable...

The man typed out something on his phone, breaking eye-contact for a mere second, hitting send just to look Sanji in the eye when his phone pinged. A feral grin split his face as he approached Sanji's table.

The cook glanced down to see the notification saying "i think i c u" and cursed himself a bit.

"So what was the plan, exactly..." Zoro crossed his arms, making Sanji's eyes dart to his chest. And now that he was looking, really looking, the man was... handsome to say the least. He had a sharp jaw, he was toned and his chest was wide and muscly, squished like that it almost resembled breasts...

"What, is this a hook up thing or are you actually a scam artist..." Zoro said again, drawing Sanji out of his daze. He was no longer smiling, genuinely pissed off.

The cook's eyes involuntarily darted to the man's chest once more, double, triple take, because damn he was big when he had his arms crossed like that.

"You got a problem with eye-contact there, buddy?" Zoro snarled once more,

If Sanji didn't feel like he had a nosebleed coming along just from looking at him, he would have jumped at the chance to fight him. But bleeding before the fight was far too humiliating. "S- sorry. It's had to- give me a second." He covered his nose and mouth with his hand and looked at anything and everything that wasn't in Zoro's direction. "It's not a "hook up thing", I actually need a fake date..." Sanji kept on looking away.

When he got no response, he dared to look at the man in front of him again. With great displeasure, he found he was giving him the most disbelieving and annoyed look known to man kind.

"Hey!" Sanji shouted. "What the hell is that look for!"

The brute rolled his eye. "This all seems like too much trouble. Why shouldn't I just leave?"

"Because you're here in the first place and if I'm right, your not the type to fo things half-assed."

Zoro smirked.

"And uh..." Sanji looked away. "It's in two days and I don't have time to look for anyone else."

Zoro's smirk disappeared. "Before I give you a yes or no, I need to see your hand."

"What!?" Sanji squeeked. Shrinking into himself as heads started tiring to them.

"Hand." Zoro extended his palm in expectation.

"This is so demeaning." Sanji sighed. He gave his left hand letting the mosshead take it. The cook wasn't sure what he expected but it wasn't to have his hand held with warm hands being turned this way and that. Despite the unhappy look on the man's face, Zoro was... surprisingly gentle.

"No."

"No?" Sanji echoed.

"The other one." He looked at the cook with such determination that it was hard to say anything in response. Speechless, Sanji placed his other hand into thw gentle, rough hands. He watched Zoro look at his hand, running his finger over the knuckle of his thumb. A small smile, barely noticeable to anyone who wasn't staring at Zoro, appeared on his face. It was such a faint thing and yet it softened the man's face, suddenly, the beautiful man in those pictures was in front of Sanji.

"Okay." Zoro hummed. He looked up at the cook again.

He was still holding Sanji's hand.

"Okay, what?" The blond pulled his hand away, regretting the loss of the other's warmth immediately. His face felt hot.

"I'll do it. Your family thing."

"Oh? Great!" Sanji beamed. "I prepared a little... uh... thing." He took out a piece of paper. "Before that, I just want to say we should probably put down some boundaries. Whatever you do is fine if it'll help with the convincing. Please do tour best not to get into any physical altercations..."

"They've said I look aggressive but-"

"No, no. It's... well, my brothers are kind of assholes to put it lightly. I really don't give a fuck how you treat them, but leave my sister out of it."

Despite the fact that Zoro's lack of reaction, Sanji decided to continue.

"I took out a few questions to make this more believable. So if we can memorize a few facts about each other-"

"What?" Zoro shot his eye to the blond.

"What."

"You want me to study for this thing? Why would I want to deal with shitty people and-"

"I'll pay you."

Zoro's eyebrow twitched ever the slightest. But Sanji knew. He was interested. Or at least that was what Sanji hoped it was.

"I can pay you if you survive at least two hours at the party. And if you don't fuck anything up for me and convince them well enough of course."

Zoro hummed. If it was enough to cover his debt to the witch... Damn it. He was going to do it in anyway, but this was a very welcome bonus.

"How much are we talking?" Zoro asked.

"You sound like a loan shark."

The green haired man almost chuckled at the irony.

"I'm kind of in a tight spot, myself... so how does a thousand berry sound?"

"A thousand?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.

The blond looked at him with slight disappointment at himself. "No? How about two thousand?"

Damn... Zoro never considered this guy could be rich. "And the free booze?"

"Of course."

Zoro did a half-nod. He reached over and grabbed the paper from the man's hands. "Okay, let's get this over with." He put on his glasses and squinted for a moment as he was reading. "These are some of the dumbest questions I've- what is this?" He looked up at Curlybrows with a mocking smile. "What is this, some kind of "need to know basis to know my lover" questionnaire?" He cleared his throat and started reading. "Number three - Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? Oh. Or this one -" He pointed at the list as if the other could see what he was showing. "The eighth one: Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common." He laughed. "We just met."

The blond's face became a bright red.

"Oh my God, it is..."

The blond snatched the list out of the green-haired man's hands and stood up. With angry and hurried movements he got dressed and left the building.

Ah. Fuck.

Zoro left his things and ran out after the man. "Hey, wait." He tried but the other seemed to ignore him. He realized he had no idea what the other other person's name was. "Prince!" He yelled, a few meters away.

The snow was starting to pile up, lightly raining and falling on his bare shoulders. It was starting to sting a little, not that it bothered him.

"Prince, wait! Curlybrows, hold on, I'm sorry, okay-" Zoro put a hand on the other's shoulder.

In a flash of movement, unknown how, when or from where, Zoro felt something conecting with his jaw. Painful and unexpected. Zoro stumbled back, if it was him just an year ago, he would have fallen flat on his ass, whatever- whatever hit him-

He looked at the blond man in front of him - leg held in the air and a mean look.

"Fuck off!"

If it weren't all hanging on a thread, Zoro would have tried sparing with the man, but not the place or time... "Curly, look, we're not gonna get to know each other from a morning of twenty-one questions." He dusted himself off, standing up.

The silence he got as an answer was enough to make him continue.

"Clear a day and find a less crowded place and I'll tell you what you want to know." The blond opened his mouth to speakbugot cut off. "What you want to know. Not some pop quiz."

Curlybrows sealed his mouth into a thin line and huffed. "Fine." He shuffled a bit before continuing. "Go back inside before you freez to death."

"I'm fine." Zoro rolled his eye.

"Sure." A sarcastic snarl.

It was almost a year ago.

Zoro was used to going to Luffy's crazy parties, it was a best friend's duty to make sure he didn't break his skull. For some reason, that new year's eve party, Luffy had decided to invite everyone he knows.

It was a mess to say the least.

Zoro lost Luffy in the sea of people within the first hour. He wasn't too worried though, because as far as he heard, he was somewhere with Usopp and that man had as much self-preservation as Luffy had energy. He was at least sure that they weren't going to have to call a hospital this time.

A bit into the night, he remembered a firy ginger-haired girl who bet that she could out-drink him. She introduced herself as Nami, monopolizing the bar area. To her credit - she already seemed a bit buzzed, so when he won, he wasn't too surprised. True, it was her girlfriend, who had called it quits, but it wasn't like she would have lasted much longer anyway.

Zoro had never been a light weight, but the girl had some backbone on her and had him swaying a bit near the end of their drink-off.

He wasn't drunk. No. He could remember almost everything from that night and he had full control of his body. It was just that his brain to mouth filter was even shorter and his reactions seemed slightly slower.

Nonetheless, it was fine.

It was more than fine because that night was about to become the most amazing night in his life.

Umsure of where he was going, Zoro walked around the house, looking for Luffy. There was no sight of him in the past hour or so and it starting to worry the man.

He stood in the midst of one of the larger rooms, looking around. He felt someone bump into him. By the time he had to turn around and see who it was, Zoro barely managed to dodge a knee to his stomach.

There was a blond man in front of him, the most vibrant blue eyes and soft-looking lips, redness in his cheeks and a heaviness in his eyelids - he was clearly drunk. And yet, the blond looked ready to murder him. What a sight.

"Watch where're goin'... " The man slurred his speech.

Zoro didn't have the time to say anything before someone else bumped into them, causing the fall of a plate that Zoro hadn't noticed im the other's hands.

The blond looked down at the fallen food, his eyes quickly becoming red and wet with unshed tears. "Who's gonna eat my cooking now?" He sniffled. " 's all y'ur fault!" He poked at Zoro.

Not minding the comment, Zoro grabbed the plate and knelt down and started collecting the dropped food off the ground. It looked like some kind of pastrie. One of it was stepped on, chocolate spilling from it's side.

When Zoro stood up again, he pretended not to notice that he was being tracked by the bright blue eyes. The blond man reached out to take the plate but stopped when he saw Zoro grabbing a handfull of the pasties and starting to eat them. Not leaving one on the plate, Zoro expected to get scolded for eating dirty food, or maybe the man was drunk enough to get mad for having his food eaten.

But no, he was just watching the other with wide eyes.

"I wanna kiss you..." The blond said, barely above a whisper.

And since his body seemed to move faster than his brain, "You're beautiful" was all Zoro could say in response.

"I'm really tired." After a small pause. "How was it?"

"Delicious. I hate chocolate." Before the blond could comprehend thw comment, Zoro continued. "You made those?"

"Yeah." He nodded. Adorable. " 'm a chef!"

"No wonder you're Luffy's friend." Zoro laughed.

"Imma get my own rest'rant soon!" His eyes sparked. " 's gonna be big an' blue, an' we'll never leave anyone hungry."

Zoro raised an eyebrow, apparently an indication for the other to continue. Small side steps out of the way of one or another person had them somehow on one of the couches. The blond leaning in, enthusiastically talking about cooking with a passion that filled Zoro with warmth he hadn't felt in a while. Even though the drowsiness and fatigue of the night, the man carried on with the intricacies of each dish, product or cooking utensil.

Half-asleep on Zoro's chest, still talking, letting the green-haired man pay with his right hand. Commiting to memory every little cut and mole - like the one on his thumb, or the little calluses on his fingers from holding a knife for hours on end.

When he looked out to see there was snow piling, he couldn't care for it much. He'd never felt warmer.

In the morning, Zoro had gotten up to roam about the house in search of something to drink. One of the things he regretted most. The next thing he knew, he was coming back to an empty couch and Luffy - stuffing his face with eggs that smelled far too amazing to be made by him.

"Luffy, where did the blond cook go?"

Still chewing, Luffy grinned. " 'oro! 'Anji 'e't 'or 'ork."

He left for work?

Zoro had been resigned to the thought of never seeing him again. All until he saw a familiar looking hand on an app he hadn't used in months. But it couldn't be him, right? That would be too good to be true.

#zosan #fake dating au #modern au #zoro x sanji #zoro's kinda an asshole in this one #op #wip fic #unfinished wip

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cjoat-boost · 10 months ago

Text

March 4, 2024 Edit of this still relevant post from February 27, 2024

For those that view any of my online presences (including my blogs)…Um, this is something for you to know.

Please save this post so it doesn’t get buried by queue.

My& Current Health Situation

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I wish to communicate this to y’all now so that…I don’t end up worrying anyone when this happens. It may have been noticeable by some folks that I’m dragging, heavily. I’m not having a good time right now with my body. With this comes with an onion of issues detailing certain aspects of what I’m going through.

I know I have a lot of obligations. Not only as a creative and content creator; but as a friend, a mentor, Guardian or even older peer, and myself. I’ve neglected myself for too long. I have been noticing my vitality decrease; and my CFS and POTS flaring up further.

Social Justice is something I’m always perceiving and sensitive to; and as such, the strain I’ve noticed too late has been worsening. Includes many emotional meltdowns and outbursts from me that I can no longer control or hold back.

Trying to figure out how to exactly sort through the mass tangles of my traumatized emotional and mental state isn’t as simple as I hoped for me. While I’m creatively burned out, I am suffering Autistic burnout. A double whammy of all things.

I’m finding myself getting “stuck,” unable to physically move for hours at a time. I’d move upstairs to eat something but end up being there for what’s normally an half hour task…for nearly 2+ hours. Even so, trying to force movement to do tasks that is considered “everyone can do these” is mentally painful and physically locking. Even if I have to desperately use the bathroom when I’m about to fall asleep, my headmates (AKA alters) have to switch to co-front or “snatch me back” in order to get my body moving. That’s with the sudden rocket spike in heart rate and blood pressure, and loss of balance (at the very least).

I’m already struggling to cope with many things due to the fact that I haven’t been able to draw much at all; or create anything and write anything. Especially trying desperately to fulfill my word on things I had the energy to do, but no longer do. So much of my struggles I can’t properly transmute. It’s so upsetting.

Thus, there’s going to be a sudden and abrupt shift in posting or messaging. I don’t know when. But it is coming.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(Especially since I’ve been feeling mania over the weekend. All weekend, Saturday and Sunday, I manic cleaned large portions of certain areas I occupy as well as my housemate. Today I’m feeling the aching in my joints badly, with my calves swearing hell at me. I’m wearing my wrist brace too, I just…I’m rambling.)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I wish for you to know what’s happening if you don’t see or hear from me, my headmates, or any of my online presences (as depicted here: https://cjoatbysamwise.com/cjoats-links ) No one is being forgotten. I’m not abandoning anyone. I’m not ghosting anyone. What I do know (still coming to terms with it ngl) is I need to stop, fully stop, and recover. It’s looking like my body is going to do that for me by force. It’s going to be abrupt and sudden to the inconvenience of many, including my housemate, unfortunately.

I don’t know how long this will last. But I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep “hustling” like this. Does this sound repetitive? I wanted to communicate before suddenly I’m unable.

Does this sound repetitive? I’ll end it here. I wanted to communicate before suddenly I’m unable.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I’ll end it here with how you can support me while I’m down, only able to and wish to (I’m aware financial situations are a big struggle at the moment, there is no pressure to.)

Provide support by these links:

Thank you for reading until the end; have an awesome week ahead. Please remember to hydrate and eat. 🫶🏽❤️‍🩹

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g0ldgauntlet · 6 months ago

Text

I Messed Up. Here's a Clarification.

At the time of December 26th, 2024, I had decided that it would be better to edit out parts of the original version of this post since it contained harmful misinformation. However, I would like to format everything better to give context moving forward if anyone reads this.

Content warning for (false) grooming allegations, anti-black racism, and mentions of death threats below. (Image description is in alt text)

On November 27th, 2024, I had discovered that allegations made against voice actor Sean Chiplock back in July had been proven false (see here). I had jumped the gun and assumed that they were true, only to realize months later that this was not the case. I had also compared Sean to Elliot Gindi - a known predator - and no matter how I feel about Sean as a person, this was not the right thing to do. As far as this is concerned, I am sorry for what I originally wrote.

That being said, I still don't like Sean, and I don't think that I'm obligated to just because the allegations were false. In the link provided above, Sean himself acknowledges that he acted inappropriately, and despite what happened taking place 11 years ago, I do not believe that his inappropriate behavior online has changed in the present day.

I do not agree with Sean's justification behind making a sexual joke about Sayu from Genshin Impact. No one forced him to say that, and no one is forcing him to create drama with other people on the internet. He did that to himself, and he sounds paranoid for trying to account for one person who supposedly wanted to see him say something weird (Side note: I really doubt that his critics want to see him say stuff like this - If anything, they've consistently mentioned that he talks too much, and that they want him to stop doing that).

I also don't agree with him telling a kid to "send proof of ID" over someone using a gradeschool insult. That type of insult is never weird until the person being insulted makes it weird, which Sean did (and I don't know why people online are suddenly finding that insult uncomfortable when this has been used in school for years).

Sean is, at the time of this update, a 34-year-old man beefing with children on the internet while still saying inappropriate things to them. He should know better by now than to say these things without thinking and checking the person's age, or he could simply just block them rather than entertain an argument.

As I said, it's not right to compare Sean to Elliot Gindi, but during that incident, Sean told people not to associate the new voice actor for Tighnari with Elliot. This is fine, but then he goes on to direct the conversion about teenagers being responsible for any pushback that the new voice actor might get.

I don't think that this was the right time to be making an argument about how teenagers are the root of problems that social media users like himself face. It's also insensitive considering that Elliot used his platform to take advantage of people, some of those people being children, yet Sean felt that it was appropriate to pin the blame on teens for what happens to adults with social media platforms.

Some adults online do not take enough personal responsibility for the things that they say, mainly because they assume that this behavior is okay to say anywhere and children should take on the full burden instead. This is a backwards way of thinking to me.

In my original version of this post, I also mentioned that I believed that the Genshin Impact community had a tendency to make excuses for white/lightskinned creators (such as Sean himself) while dogpiling black and brown creators at the same time. I still stand by what I said.

I've watched the community do things such as:

Harass Ashely Biski over a joke about Alhaitham and Layla, which people pointed out as an example of a double standard that the community had towards her compared to Sean. Sean taunted people who wanted to hold him accountable for the things he's said.

Bully Shara Kirby off of Twitter for defending Joshua David King's opinions about BL content.

Harass and send death threats to ttunaartt - leading her to deactivating her Twitter account - because she explained why she didn't like Ei and Miko (which was also implied to be one of many reasons why she left the fandom).

These are my revised thoughts on the matter, but you do not have to forgive me for the things that I said in my original post. What I should have said from the very beginning is similarly to how I feel about Michaela Laws: Although Sean is not a groomer (very low bar all things considered), I do not respect him as a person, and I don't think that his behavior has or will change all that much.

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jxtina-86 · 2 years ago

Text

The Meet Cute

Roman thumbs through his phone, flicking from emails to social media to some dumb-ass game. He stifles a yawn, his gaze drifting across the airport lounge.

It's late, a handful of flights left to depart and the airport is slowly shutting down around him. His eyes fall back to his phone, his thumb hovering for a second before he taps the app icon.

There's a new message from the woman he'd matched with a few days ago. He ignores it, the chat so far has been dry. He needs to let her down gently, he can't risk just ghosting her, but he hasn't got the right words to tell her right now.

Instead, he starts to flick through the various profiles. He barely pauses on each one before swiping left. Again. Again. Again. He's not sure why he's doing this. He's out of here in less than 30 minutes. What's the point?

His thumb halts as he spots the distance on the next profile. 1 mile. He wonders if - he checks the name - Katherine is as bored as he is. He glances around but all he can see are guys in business casual.

He flicks through her photos - she's got the classics nailed, the hiking photo, a snap with a dog, a group of friends, in a bar holding a cocktail. But the last one, makes him stop. It's a black-and-white professional photo. She's leaning against a wall staring down the lens. Her long hair cascades over one shoulder, her arms crossed in front of her. Hooked on one finger is the arm of a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, dangling delicately.

Roman thumbs her profile - 28, writer.

You'll usually find me lounging in my favorite sweatpants, typing away on my laptop, and sipping on a cup of coffee that's probably gone cold by now. I'm all about keeping things low-key and having a good laugh along the way.

"Flight 968 to Tampa is now boarding at gate 4A."

He shuts the app without swiping either way.

The flight looks pretty empty judging by the minimal activity at the gate. As he hands over his boarding pass, the staff member does a double-take.

"My son's a huge fan," she tells him. "Would you mind...?"

Roman obliges, signing the blank boarding pass she hands him.

She taps on the computer. "Let me upgrade you, business is looking empty and I reckon you'd appreciate the extra leg-room."

"That's very kind of you," he tells her, chuckling as she blushes. "Thank you."

With his new boarding pass in hand, he makes his way down the gangway and onto the plane. Out of the 20 seats in business, only 9 are occupied. He checks his seat number - 4A.

As he steps forward he realises that 4B is occupied, a nest of dark hair just peeking above the seat but as he nears more of the occupant's face appears and he frowns as it seems strangely familiar.

"Sorry," he says he lifts his carry-on into the overhead locker. "I'm in the window-seat."

"No worries." She gathers her stuff - a laptop, notebook, pen - and stands to move into the aisle so he can get past. He catches her eye as he does. He knows her, but from where?

As they both settle back down, he gives her a sideways glance and then looks away so she can't see the look of realisation that suddenly dawns on him.

Shit.

Katherine tugs down the glasses from her hair as she opens her laptop back up. She can feel the stranger next to her looking but when she glances in his direction, he's staring out of the window, his baseball cap pulled down.

She inhales deeply, her mind switching back to her laptop but only briefly. Damn, this guy smells divine. The luxury of whatever he's wearing drifts over her. She's never been this lucky before, usually she's stuck next to an overbearing, sweaty businessman in a suit one size too small. This guy is in black sweats, the only sign of anything business like is his watch that gleams under the harsh cabin lighting.

"Champagne?" A member of cabin crew hovers over her, offering a glass. Katherine accepts.

"And for you, sir?"

Her seat-mate doesn't respond.

"Sir?"

"Hey," Katherine taps his arm softly.

"Huh?" Roman looks up. "Sorry, no. Actually, yeah why not."

He accepts the glass and takes a long drink.

She's pushed the glasses back up on top of her head, he notices. The loose sleeve of her sweatshirt slips back as she raises the champagne flute, revealing a delicate tattoo around her wrist.

She catches his eyes as she drinks and raises her other hand to her face. "Have I got something..."

"No, sorry, ignore me."

"Hard to when you keep staring at me."

"Shit," he exhales. "This is awkward."

"Less awkward than it already is," she replies and he wonders if that was a grimace or a smirk that dashes across her lips.

"I saw your profile. On Tinder."

There's a pause.

"You scroll Tinder in airports?" she raises an eyebrow.

"Clearly you do too, given it said you were less than a mile away."

She has the good grace to blush. "Touche..."

"Roman," he extends his hand.

"Katherine," she replies, letting his fingers curl over hers.

"I know," he chuckles and she rolls her eyes with a grin.

"So did you swipe right or left?"

Roman squirms slightly. "Neither. They called the gate."

"Good save."

"What do you write?"

Katherine's eyes narrow slightly. "You read my profile?"

"The first bit. Like I said, they called the gate."

"How far did you read?"

Roman frowns for a second. "Something about sweatpants, laptop and cold coffee."

"I write books. Novels."

"Anything I would know?"

Katherine laughs. "You don't strike me as someone who reads romance novels."

"Hey, don't judge a book by its cover," he winks. "But no, you're right. I don't."

"What do you read?"

Roman shrugs. "Not much. I don't get the time."

"What do you do?"

"Take a guess. I reckon that romance-novelist brain of yours can concoct a good backstory for me."

A slow smile spreads across Katherine's face. "You know what this is called? In my world that is?"

"Tell me."

"A meet cute."

----

A/N: Taking it back to the start. I'm writing these on the fly. It's almost 1am and I have to be up in 5 hours and I cannot get these two out of my head. If anyone has any requests (first date thoughts, spicy book scenes you want recreating between Katherine and Roman) send them my way. Photos of Roman making suggestive glances are also welcome.

#roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns smut #romanreigns #roman reigns imagine #roman reigns

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albatmobile · 2 years ago

Note

Head empty just Roy and jason being submissive while high with reader ehueheuhe

(Ignore this if you want)

definitely more of this prompt to come in the next chapter!

romance and return policies

next: [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] || ao3

𓅪 Rated: M | TW: weed | 1.7k includes: alternate universe no powers, modern au, eventual polyamory, eventual relationships, eventual smut, gamestop au

𓅪 established roy harper x koriand'r eventual: jason todd x reader, Roy Harper x reader, koriand'r x reader endgame: Jason Todd x reader x Roy Harper x koriand'r

It's not your fault you always want the latest games, exclusives and merch for the fandoms you're in.

In your old town, certain GameStop’s had even banned you from trading due to how much you were in there, something you’d never understand. Other stores sneered at you for always buying up the good shit before the employees even had the chance to stake their claim on it.

Since moving nearly across the country, the new GameStop you’ve started going to definitely seems to be the most chill of the bunch. It's in a small, podunk town in Arizona, which means you never have to beat the lines like you had to in the hustle and bustle of the East Coast cities.

The town's big enough to stay somewhat anonymous but small enough that if you visit a place once a week, by week three, everyone will know your social security number. Needless to say, the GameStop workers know your car by now, as evidenced by the way Roy sees you pull in and attempts to snuff out whatever he’s been smoking.

You don't normally use their back parking lot, but the DMV next door is extra packed today and spilled over into the shared lot. You figure he’s been smoking a cigarette until you step out of your car and smell it.

“I’m telling,” is all you say. The redhead flips you off easily.

Roy has always been overly welcoming and easy to joke with right off the bat, something you sincerely appreciate considering you don’t know anyone here.

“At this point, you may as well fucking work here,” Roy says. “Honestly, your word would mean more than mine.” You laugh, knowing it’s probably the truth. You make gimmie hands, which he goes to oblige easily, then suddenly stops. He regards you silently for a moment before looking around, then up at the security camera that he was just out of view of before finally holding out the joint to you. Fucking paranoid stoners. “Didn’t take you for the smoking type, darlin’.”

“Considering you don’t know me, that seems about right,” you say, causing him to laugh easily at your prickly humor. At this, you sidle up to him in the blind spot of the camera, blushing slightly when your fingers accidentally brush in the hand-off. “My ex was a huge stoner kinda formed a habit that I can’t even maintain.”

“Money?” he winces only after the question comes out, seeming only then to realize it’s a bit of an invasive question for the circumstances.

You’ve been coming to this GameStop at least twice a week, though almost always more, for the past few months since you moved to AZ. Whether it be to browse or trade- Roy, a redhead named Star and some brooding dick with a grey streak always seemed to be there (you’ve never seen him wear a name tag, but he seems to be the manager). Regardless, your relationship hardly seemed to go past customer service ever. That is, until now.

Roy doesn’t seem like the type to have a filter, so you know he means no offense. You can’t lie, though, seeing him all flustered is doing things to you.

You quickly snap yourself from your wandering thoughts.

Roy has always been extra touchy-feely with the beautiful red-headed employee who always offers you kind smiles and excited opinions on your choices. This particular employee has a special affinity for plushies and always seems to push more on you. At this point, you could run a shelter for plushies with the way their cute dead eyes watched you from the growing pile on your bed. After all, who are you to tell this seven-foot-tall goddess no?

“No,” you chuckle lightly as you inhale. “I just never learned how to roll.”

It's a lie.

A total, complete lie, but you know one thing: men love to think they're teaching you something. Plus, if it means someone will roll you free weed, who are you to turn it down?

“Oh, babe. I’ve got you,” Roy’s silky voice stirs arousal within you as he pulls out the decrepit remains of a smartphone. Android or Apple, it’s too far gone to tell, but the screen still brightens when he bangs on the home button, so it can’t technically be considered completely trashed…

“Won’t your girlfriend be mad?” you ask, looking hesitantly at the sharded screen he’s pushing your way.

“Kori?” Roy gestures to the store behind the two of you before waving off your concern. “Nah, she’s chill.”

Kori, huh? She always wears a name tag that says Star, but you should’ve known it was just a nickname.

With all the basement creeps that come in and try to hit on you while you're here, you can’t imagine Kori’s position. Hell, you didn’t want to wear your name tag at the diner half the time if it wasn’t for Pam forcing you to ‘play nice.’

You raise a dubious brow. “I think you misunderstand my question: is Kori single?” you ask cheekily.

He snorts easily, eyes crinkling around the scattered freckles on his face, “Fucking figures that I’d finally get your number and you’re more concerned with the redhead inside.”

“Finally get it?”

The deep voice startles you as the ‘Employee Only’ door whips open to reveal skunkhead.

“Get what?” you ask with a tiny tilt of your head.

Name-tagless dude gestures down to Roy’s cracked screen. “We had a bet going on,” is all he says.

“Yeah, man. I got the number, but she wants the other babe,” Roy laments. The sexy brooding skunk, fuck- you have to learn his actual name- laughs. “Also, stop spying on me during my break, fucking weirdo.”

“I’m your boss,” he says. To prove his point, the raven grabs the joint from your fingers and takes a long drag. Your eyes remain wide while his close into green slits, taking you in with the smoke, closing his eyes with the exhale. “How else would I know you’re corrupting our best customer?”

“Corrupting!” Roy exclaims, gesturing to you as his eyes rip open. You immediately hold your hands up in surrender. “She came up to me! You know how the ladies get with this hair, Jay.”

Your face wrinkles in obvious disgust. “Is it too late to delete my contact?”

Roy huffs and yanks the blunt from ‘Jay’ and shoos him, “Jay, you’re ruining my shot, man.”

“Yeah, me,” Jay says. The tall man rolls his eyes and motions you in before retreating back inside. “What do you want?”

This time, you don’t contain your eye roll as you attempt to catch up to his quick pace. “What happened to the monotonous ‘Welcome to GameStop’ I used to get?”

“You’ve got half of my employees stockpiling the good shit for you. That’s what happened,” he responds. The raven glances at you over his shoulder, his usual emotionless eyes glinting with the slightest bit of amusement.

You don’t bother with a response as you follow him out of the elusive breakroom you’d seen them disappear to in the past.

“Not my fault you only have like four employees,” you say, shrugging with a faux-innocence he sees right through. You’re cute, though, so he’ll let it slide.

“I have three employees and all of them would probably return this overdue shit for you without question,” he says with an unimpressed look as he underlines the ‘return by’ date on your receipt and flips it around for you to see. “Two days, a bit irresponsible, no?” He exhales dramatically as he clicks obnoxiously around on the computer on the counter before shaking his head, “Don’t know if we can help even a loyal customer such as yourself in an incident like this.”

You don’t know Jay well enough to know if he’s joking or not, but before you can even respond, the bell chimes and welcomes in one of the other usual customers.

“You always come in on Tuesdays,” the man says. His greasy mouth quirks into a smirk as he winks at you and starts toward the counter. Before he can get too close, however, Jason shakes his head and points toward the door. “What? I didn’t do anything this time!” the man exclaims.

“Buddy, we’ve already talked about you scaring off my customers.”

“Three strikes doesn’t apply?” the man tries.

Without waiting for Jay’s response, he disappears off between the shelves before coming toward the counter again with a box in hand. Once he’s back in sight, your eyes drop to the counter in front of you, wishing he would just leave you alone.

“Pretty sure you’re at your limit and,” Jason cuts off the man before he can interrupt, “I’m not going to argue with you about my own strike system, so kindly fuck off.” There’s nothing kind about the dark timber of Jay’s voice.

The other man seems to think better of questioning the manager who makes the GameStop uniform look like a stripper outfit through his muscles alone.

“I just came here to get this, man.” With this, he drops the box on the counter and you recognize it as the new, limited-edition final season statue worth over $400. Jason seems to realize this, too and looks at you with a silent apology before quickly checking the man out and personally escorting him to the door after.

“Just because you’re a big spender doesn’t mean you won’t be banned if you don’t start treating her, let alone any other woman, with some fucking respect.” The look Jason gives the man is enough to send him scurrying out without so much as a glance back at you.

“Thanks,” you say quietly in the wake of silence that follows the door’s bell. The tinkling noise echoes around in your ears.

“Don’t thank me for shit like that,” he says, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

You say nothing else as he processes the late return without question.

As soon as he hands you your receipt, Jay walks you out to your car, holding the door open for you, all while making sure the man hasn’t lingered in the parking lot or anything. Luckily, it seems like Jay’s warning has sufficiently warded the creep off. He makes sure you’re completely in your car before shutting your door, then watches you peel out of the lot until your car is a mere fleck in his vision.

A/N: this was a spur of the moment fic i really had a craving for a gamestop au after i was forced to go in there to return some shit and was like o... i know what i need to do now, hence ^

let me know what you think and check out my pinned for my other content!

[next] || ao3 || pinned || ways to support

#reader x jason todd x roy harper #reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper x koriand'r #jason todd x reader #reader x roy harper #reader x koriand'r #answered #albatmobile prompts #my fic: Romance and Return Policies

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clothyume · 7 months ago

Text

Rainbow After the Rain/ Episode 1

Season: Autumn

Characters: Izumi, Shu

Izumi: Hm? That’s… Is that you, Itsuki?

Shu: Oh, if it isn’t Sena? Have you just disembarked as well? Or are you possibly on your way back to Florence now?

Izumi: I just got back from Florence. You say you’ve just returned from France too?

Shu: Exactly. I’m waiting for the transfer bus to arrive

Izumi: Hmm. In that case I’ll wait with you. But honestly, I didn’t expect to bump into you here, Itsuki

Shu: I could say the same for you. Why is it that I feel like I bump into you every time I return to Japan

Izumi: I’m only here because I have work again. Seriously, I just wanted to focus on my carefree life overseas…

Shu: Then pardon me, but why not choose a job and stick to it

Shu: You said that now you understand your own position in the world of modelling

Izumi: I said I haven’t made headway ‘yet’. Anyway, aren’t you in a similar position yourself? Are you looking down on me?

Shu: Forgive me. It’s true that I’m in no position to comment on anyone else

Izumi: Hmph. You’ve become quite well rounded, haven’t you? It’s okay, I’ll forgive you for being so honest

Anyway, have you come back for work too?

Shu: Ah, I’ve got bits and bobs. I’ll be staying for a week and then returning to Paris

Izumi: I guess we’re staying for a similar amount of time, huh. It might be work but it’s stressful being called out so frequently

Shu: I feel the same. I’m currently jet-lagged. It doesn’t matter how often I fly back and forth, my body can’t compensate for the time difference

Naturally, that’s the reason I don’t plan to take on work so carelessly. In fact, the more trips home I take, the more flustered I become about whether or not to buy a souvenir

Izumi: Ah~ Didn’t you say you went into a salon before? Do you mean a souvenir to bring there?

Shu: Yes. Be that as it may, there’s no culture surrounding souvenirs in France. The culture of bringing a souvenir when invited into a friend’s home

I entered a salon in which art-lovers gather. Therefore, the souvenirs I bring to the occasion must have the appropriate taste

Consequently, whenever I return home, I proudly buy and bring back a variety of things, but the hurdle of choosing items is becoming higher

Izumi: I know the feeling. I get the feeling that I need to buy something better than what I brought back before

But, won’t it be better to buy something in Paris rather than feeling the stress of obligation?

I just buy the members of “Knights” souvenirs whenever I feel like it. It’s no fun if it’s like a chore, so recently I’m holding back

Even if I don’t buy them, Leo-kun buys weird stuff out of pure curiosity anyways

Shu: Hm. So it’s not much of a problem for you, but I can’t do something like that.

My Parisian friends are very interested in Japanese culture, and tell me they really look forward to what I’ll bring back next

I can only speak for myself, but I haven’t has much interaction with other people, and I thought I might bring back a souvenir as thanks for expanding my social circle

When I think about it, I just can’t resist bringing souvenirs back. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on something like this

Izumi: Right. I see where you’re coming from but, I never thought you’d break your heart for someone else like this…♪

Shu: What are you simpering at? Stop it or you��ll ruin that lovely face of yours

I might be simpering but my beauty is eternal. Please don’t say stuff like it’s being ruined

If it’s Japanese culture they’re interested in, then wouldn’t something of that calibre be a good idea?

Shu: That’s something surprisingly hard to think of. Every time I go souvenir hunting, I realize that I know very little about Japan

Izumi: Even if it’s your home country’s culture, there’s a lot of things you wouldn’t know unless you studied it all over again. I think it’d be faster to just ask someone who knows a lot about Japanese culture

Shu: Do you happen to know of such a person?

Izumi: H~mm… Actually, maybe Kanzaki, who I co-starred with in ‘Midnight Butlers’, might be a good fit?

I’m sure I heard something after shooting that he used Kabuki techniques in his acting

He always uses strangely old fashioned words, so I’d be surprised if he didn’t know much about Japanese culture

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#ensemble stars #enstars #evening shower's paddle #shu itsuki #izumi sena

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boysplanetrecaps · 10 months ago

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Thoughts on Jonghyun, End of a Day, and Donghyun and Sunyoul's Performance

Hi, fam. In this post, I’m going to talk a bit more about the song End of a Day by Jonghyun, and what it means in the context of Sunyoul and Donghun’s performance on MNET’s Build Up. Along the way I’m going to be hitting some pretty serious topics, so don’t feel obligated to read this one if you’re not able to. It’s pretty sad. TW: suicide, mental health issues

This is Jonghyun.

He loved music from the time he was a child, and was scouted by SM Entertainment when he was only 15. He debuted as a member of SHINee in 2008, when he was 18. He was handsome, charismatic, and talented, with a unique and strong singing voice and great stage presence. He wasn’t just a singer and dancer and leader -- he also wrote songs for SHINee (Juliette), EXO (Playboy), bandmate Taemin (Pretty Boy, Already), and Lee Hi (Breathe). He was a gentle, sweet man, who stood up for social justice issues, including LGBT rights. He also was suffering, as we can tell after the fact, from mental health issues.

A lot of what he was feeling comes through in his songs Breathe and End of a Day.

Here’s a selection of lyrics from Breathe:

Take a deep breath Until both sides of your heart get numb Until it hurts a little Let out your breath even more Until you feel like there’s nothing left inside It’s alright if you run out of breath No one will blame you It’s okay to make mistakes sometimes Because anyone can do so Although comforting by saying it’s alright Are just words

Someone’s breath. That heavy breath How can I see through that? Though I can’t understand your breath It’s alright I’ll hold you You really did a good job

Here’s a selection of lyrics from End of a Day, which people say was inspired by his dog:

Your small shoulders, your small hands Become my cozy blanket at the end of a tiring day You did a good job today, you worked so hard I hope my shoulders and my thick hands Will become cozy comfort For the end of your tiring day as well I want to naturally sync my breathing with yours

Like water in a bathtub that wraps around you With no space left I want to warmly hold you without any space left At the end of my day, filled with awkward mistakes You, my prize, are waiting for me

I can’t cry all I want or even laugh all I want At the end of a tiring day but still, if I’m next to you Like a child, I can whine and then laugh Till I run out of breath I’m not used to seeing myself like this

You did a good job today, you worked so hard You are my pride

This preoccupation with wanting to do a good job, with wanting others to recognize that he did a good job, comes back in the worst possible place.

In December of 2017, Jonghyun lost his life to suicide. It was something he obviously had been planning for a few days at the very least. In his note, he said he was “broken from the inside,” that his depression was “devouring” him. He spoke of wanting someone, anyone, to notice how much pain he was in, or to give him a reason to live, or just meet him where he was and empathize with him. He also spoke of feeling like he was going against the world, and ended the note by saying:

“It wasn‘t my path to become world-famous. That’s why they say it‘s hard to go against the world and to become famous. Why did I choose this path? It’s quite funny now that I think about it. It‘s a miracle that I endured through it all this time. What more can I say. Just tell me “good job.” You did great. Tell me I suffered enough. Even though you can’t laugh right now, just don‘t send me off blaming me. Good job. You suffered a great deal. Good-bye.”

To whom was he speaking, when he said “Good job. You suffered a great deal”? I think he was talking to himself. He was saying to himself what he wished someone would say to him, the same thing he said to himself in the lyrics of the songs he wrote. Good job. You did well. 수고했어 Sugohaesseo.

And that’s why this whole segment with Donghyun and Sunyoul on Build Up completely broke my heart.

We already saw Donghyun’s reaction to being selected as Top Tier in the first round of performances. He almost broke down, saying he’d never been chosen in first place for anything before. His overwhelming desire for praise and recognition made the judges a little uncomfortable. But even when he’s top tier, he and Sunyoul still feel like that. When they have to choose someone to sing to when they’re singing Jonghyun’s song, they need to sing to themselves. They have to tell themselves Good job. You did well. 수고했어 Sugohaesseo.

When they lose the 2 vs 2 rival battle to the other team, after laying all their vulnerabilities on the line, Sunyoul thanks the the judges for the praise, saying he was “hungry” for those words. They told him he did a good job. But Donghyun, who got mixed results from the judges, takes it really, really hard. Sunyoul tries to comfort him by saying the magic words: Good job. You did well. 수고했어 Sugohaesseo. But the words fall into a bottomless pit in Donghyun’s heart. Did he do well? He didn’t do well enough to beat the other team. There is no good enough to fill that pit.

After Jonghyun died, Lee Hi sang a song as a memorial performance at an end of the year award ceremony. She sang Breathe, the song he wrote for her, the song that was a wail of his pain, and she couldn’t quite make it through it, falling silent for almost a whole verse.

I found an article about that, and when I scrolled down a little, the very next article was about netizens attacking f(x)'s Sulli for something she did that they didn’t like. An article about an idol who felt pushed to take his life because he was never good enough for the public, followed by an article about another idol being attacked by the public -- an idol who also lost her life in the same way not too long later.

Where does this end? I don’t know.

Am I feeding this machine, by being a fan of this industry that chews people up and spits them out? Am I being too heartless to the people on this show by pointing out when their singing is pitchy, or nasal, or out of tempo? Should I just say 수고했어 sugohaesseo, you did well? The words that they all want to hear? The words that Jonghyun said in his note that he wanted to hear? The words he wrote to himself to soothe himself at the end -- his last thoughts on this earth?

수고했어.

At the end of Our Page, the song that the surviving members of SHINee wrote to honor Jonghyun, you can hear Onew saying 수고했어 in a soft voice. Did that reach Jonghyun, wherever he is? Does it reach anyone?

Jonghyun, 수고했어. You did well.

Sulli, 수고했어. You did well.

Hara, 수고했어. You did well.

Moonbin, 수고했어. You did well.

And while they’re still here to hear it, I want to say it to everyone on this show, too. Donghyun, 수고했어. Sunyoul, 수고했어.

And you, dear reader. You also. You are doing well. You don’t owe anyone anything. You don’t have to be productive or useful or what other people want you to be. Be kind, be open, be happy. You are doing well. 수고했어.

Click here to go on to the next recap Click here to go back to the Build Up main post

#tw: suicide #tw: depression #mnet build up #jonghyun #sulli #goo hara #moonbin #donghyun #sunyoul

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scorchedthesnake · 8 months ago

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August 13, 2012

This is my most complicated memory from the McKittrick Hotel. I will leave out the key players’ names because it feels far too personal to include them – though I admit the implications here, in conjunction with the previous entries, make extremely clear who was involved. I don’t think my relationship to the place makes full sense without this memory, so I feel I have to do it some justice.

It seemed like we were at the McKittrick Hotel every other day in mid-2012. In late June they threw a Pride Party – Joey Arias headlined, there were drag queens up on the roof. I remember showing up at the Gallow Green elevator for entry where there were two competing lines – McKittrick people, and CockyBoys people. I got squeezed into the elevator with a lot of the CockyBoys, as well as this guy John who had been my first hookup in college. I don’t know what his relationship to the porn people was.

In the course of the evening, I was given news that felt like an devastating punch in the gut. An absolutely wonderful thing was beginning but it had to hurt me. The news came to me as gently as possible, and he knew he had to tell me sooner rather than later, but the constant stream of joy I had long felt in the hotel was now mingled with a complex sadness.

Late in the summer, I began to plan my attendance around the hope of avoiding them - even though they were my favorites in all their roles. The show had never been stronger but it felt like it was taunting me. I watched people’s social plans and bought last minute tickets when it seemed like I might be safe (from the consequences of my own overblown envy and hurt).

So it was that I showed up that day. They had been at the beach all morning, I’d seen all the posts on Instagram. Surely that meant a day off? And yet when I entered, there they were, the Boy Witch glaring at me, tormenting me in every measure as much as the Porter. And my heart broke for both of them, honestly, playing out this tale of unfulfilled, demonic longing when the reality was so much the opposite of that. I watched as he toyed with him, and flung him against the wall. The Porter reached up to embrace him and was repaid with a cruel rejection, cast down to the floor. I had to reach down to help him, and in that moment I felt that I truly knew the Porter’s agony.

He took me back to his room. The only thing I did differently this time was that when I sat down, I rested a hand on the desk. But when he sat down across from me, we were both already crying. He took my hand gently and held it as he began the ritual, never letting go. He guided both my hands as I pulled the wig onto his head, and we both ran our hands through it, looking into the mirror with a deep feeling of pride at the beautiful sight of ourselves, our true selves, revealed at last. And we continued to cry even as we beamed together. Until recognition took us both – this could not be. No, this wasn’t right, it wasn’t where either of us belonged. Then he tore the room apart - every box, every prop overturned, he raged and quaked, and still we both cried. And at last he took hold of me and threw me against the door – loudly and forcefully, until he collapsed onto me and whispered into my neck,

“Thank you.”

He made a vain attempt at restoring some order to the room but there wasn’t time. He composed himself as best he could then I followed him back out toward the lobby. He turned every few steps to look back me, the tears still falling. At last, he left me, he had to, another scene needed him and all of this was in fact obligation.

I retreated to what I considered a relatively private place – the back area of Malcolm’s office, which outside of his scene there is mostly undisturbed – and there I wept, violently.

I have no memory of anything else from that performance. Afterwards I stood at the bar, ordering yet another of the drink with his name on it. He appeared sooner than cast normally do after a show, and hurried toward me. “What was that,” he asked? “What did we do?” I had no answers for him. We hugged and tried to laugh a bit.

For some time, we called it the most intense 1:1 either of us had ever experienced. This led to some interesting rumors as others interpreted what neither of us had been able to name. But it was nothing like that – he would never. It was all very much by the script. At the time, it felt like we were grieving something together – the recognition of an impossibility? The passing of an age? The foreclosure of something that could never be? Over the years as I have thought back on it, I wonder if it was an apology. He had warned me, weeks earlier, not to get attached, because he could tell that I very obviously did feel attached. I am sure he did not enjoy that his bliss necessarily hurt for me, and that it meant our relationship had a different path it would have to take. It did feel like genuine care, and genuine loss, and not just for me.

We’ve talked about the 1:1 itself, but not about what it meant. Maybe we’ll revisit it here at the end, now that we’ve replayed this moment together for the last time, as different, older people, with much growth and change between then and now. This is my most complicated memory from entire run of the show, but also my most cherished. For as much as it all hurt, my heart lived.

#sleep no more #sleepnomore #mckittrick hotel #punchdrunk #sleepnomorenyc #mckittrick

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