#lowkey concerned

[heartmaddie]

ISAGI YOICHI was already enamoured from just the soft pink blush which glazed your cheeks, fingers wrapped around a small plastic bag as he looked down at you in surprise. Not once in his sixteen years of living had he ever received something on this somewhat momentous day, besides from a few mindless sweets from a classmate. So he was quite surprised when the person he had been secretly plotting on was standing right in front of him, heart bared to him and all.

His eyes flickered between your nervous expression and the high-quality handmade chocolates which were enveloped between your shaking fingers. A small smile found its way onto his lips, eyes crinkled endearingly as he let out a small chuckle, catching your attention. 

He took the pink plastic bag into his own hands, admiring the sprinkle ridden sweets which it cased. He had already seen the candy which you had given to your classmates, a mere comparison to the ones he withheld now. It was cute - how every detail was perfected, down to the placement of a pearl-like sprinkle. 

“Isagi, I-” You stop yourself. Lips stuttered open and close, blush only deepening once his lips pulled into a smirk. 

He let his head cock to the side, watching you with a curious eye as you fumbled over your words, over his name, unable to compose the jumble of thoughts running through your head. He took a step forward as your eyes trailed down to the floor again, fingers fiddling with the sleeves of your white uniform.

Honestly, he wanted to hear your confession fall from pink lips more than he’d like to imagine, which is why he found himself tugging you a bit closer, leaning into your ear to whisper,

“You were saying?”

He could almost feel the fire which seeped from your cheeks, finding seclusion pressed against his chest. Your face, flushed a pretty shade of burgundy, looked up at him curiously, somewhat surprised at the almost intimate arm he wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer. 

Isagi had decided that, if you weren’t going to say it, then he would.

“Do you like me too?” He mumbled softly, fingers brushing against your shirt-clothed arm as he tugged you closer. You nodded, and he pressed his lip together tightly, suppressing a sweet sound which threatened to bubble out of his throat. He was so captivated by everything about you, how you melted so perfectly against him.

Maybe that’s why he found himself the next month, spending tireless hours tempering his own rich, delicate bonbons with a perfectly arranged bouquet of your favourite florals, sitting opulent, on the counter nearby.

©heartmaddie all rights reserved. please do not repost my work.

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link to join taglists

[iwannabeacowboylikeme]

people of tumblr dot com my twin brother has started watching house what do I do

[yningz]

Tumblr shouldn't limit tags what am I gonna do when I get 45 wifes

STOP LITERALLY ME 😠

[rooniearts]

Sooo besides espilver (and I'm assuming sonucks), what sonic ships do you like?

I'm not that big of a shipper, tbh! But you're right, I find sonknux very fun in a "theyre both so stupid" kinda way. I have some doodles about them loaded up in my drafts, so you'll be seein' that sometime soon!

Other than that, I've been REALLY loving sonighty lately. Something about the childhood friends that reconnect years later trope ruins be every time i see it. They have such an underrated dynamic imo :')

[turtledotjpeg]

bloody requiem x hopeful requiem

[kacievvbbbb]

No but actually I've been really thinking about it and Mihawk just doesn't do shit by halves does he? he's so obsessive.

He doesn't just like red wine it's literally his favorite food

He doesn't just like swords, his is practically his soul made physical. Yoru is so coded in his dna that they literally had to make a replica for his clone.

he isn't just into swordsmanship he literally became the world's best and strongest swordsman

He doesn't just like to duel he's overdone it so much that no one can hold his interest anymore

He didn't just kill marines he was the literal marine hunter.

He doesn't just wait for Zoro at the top he collects every single bounty poster obsessively tracking his rise

He doesn't just let the kids live with him he adopts them, and teaches them how to be stronger. Doesn't let Perona go until he knowns that he can no longer properly guarantee her safety.

He can't just have a garden he has to go full on farmer strawhat and all.

He doesn't just like Shanks he wants to consume him whole he let's the memory of their duel haunt him and even 12 years later he can't fully forgive them. This might be the single most important relationship in his life.

There isn't a moderate bone in his body. He's either making decisions just because or letting them consume him whole.

I bet it's all the Catholicism.

[starcurtain]

Hey! I apologize if this question has been asked before since it seems like a pretty obvious one, but where do you think the idea of Aventurine being a sex slave came from? Other than the obvious factor of it being something fun for the fandom to mess around with, I mean.

It's something I kind of took for granted as being true before playing his quest, but after finishing it I realized there wasn't really any indication. The only thing I can really think of is his master's comments about him having a good body. Is there anything in his behavior you can think of that would lead to this conclusion if it wasn't a popular fan interpretation already/kind of just an easy conclusion to reach with a slave character?

(also kind of related but what do you think of the idea that he sleeps around/with his clients to make deals? he's obviously willing to sexualize himself with the boob window, but that doesn't necessarily mean he goes further.)

As far as I can tell, the idea that Aventurine was involved in sexual slavery comes from three (maybe four) places:

First, the comment from the master about Aventurine's appearance. People were holding this comment up as refutable proof that Aventurine was used in sexual slavery on top of being tossed into the Hunger Games; however, the response from other players on this interpretation, especially the Chinese side of the fandom, was very mixed, with a lot of people pointing out that the context in the game probably meant the slave master was talking about Aventurine's ability to attract attention from fans watching the literal Sigonian Hunger Games, rather than having a direct sexual-slavery connotation.

Second, the comment from Sparkle about stripping naked and getting on his knees for Sunday. This one has way more implication in English than I think it might for an Eastern audience, actually. In English, this pretty much sounds like Sparkle saying Aventurine trades sexual favors for success in his gambles. However, I suspect the original intention in Chinese was more about humiliation. Western audiences don't have as much history with honor-based prostration, i.e. accepting corporal humiliation as a form of reconciliation that Eastern audiences might be more familiar with. And in any case, Sparkle is Sparkle. She probably just went for the lowest blow she could think of here.

Third, the general assumption that if Sigonian slaves were being chained, branded, beaten, sent to death matches, etc., it seems logical that they would also be taken advantage of in other ways. I honestly think this is probably the fairest take--many, many real slaves around the world faced (and still face!) sexual abuse, so if slaves from Sigonia were treated so poorly you could make them fight to the death for entertainment, it stands to reason they were probably also not safe from other forms of assault. We also have no idea what happened to Kakavasha in any of the years between his being a tiny child fleeing the massacre and then being purchased as a slave as a late-teens-early-twenties person. That's a very long time for a child to have to survive on their own on an extremely hostile planet and not face risks of all kinds or end up needing to do unspeakable things to survive. So I think this is at least not that far-fetched, although it's important to say there's nothing in the game that directly confirms this.

And fourth: I read a tweet semi-recently that stated that one of the Chinese (or maybe it was Japanese) names for a quest Aventurine was involved in was actually a reference to a book about a teenage sexual assault survivor. However, when I tried to verify this myself, I couldn't find any quest Aventurine was in that was based on a book about sexual assault in either English, Chinese, or Japanese. It's possible I just missed something, but I'm taking this one with a bit of a grain of salt currently, since I can't confirm it personally.

Regarding your other question, about whether I think Aventurine sleeps around to make deals...

I definitely think he does not, for one major reason.

First, I will admit that Aventurine is definitely willing to use his appearance to his advantage. This is pretty obvious. He wears incredibly flashy clothes, baths himself in cologne, overloads on glittering golden jewels, and absolutely calls attention to his appearance when working with clients.

We see him actively doing this in his Moment Among the Stars video, where he is clearly using his looks as an equal tool (to his wealth), to daze his target.

It's not an accident that he says things like "Use me as you wish," with all the explicit connotations preserved. The implication is there. However, unless he was absolutely backed into a corner, I think that implication is all it will ever be.

The reason I think this is that the devs go out of their way to give Aventurine three fairly noticeable physical behaviors in his in-game scenes:

For one, he has some of the most closed off body language of any character in the game.

Aventurine's default conversation pose is arms crossed directly and tightly in front of himself. This is like "Defensive Body Language 101." By crossing your arms, you put a symbolic barrier between yourself and the person you're speaking to, and also ensure that your hands are up and available in case you actually need to physically defend yourself.

Virtually all of Aventurine's conversations take place from this stance, no matter who he is speaking to (from the Trailblazer all the way to Topaz). He deliberately closes his pose off and tightens up his silhouette, which just sends a glaring "Don't touch me" message.

This closing off is also blatantly apparent when you compare it to the deliberately open poses he strikes while trying to make himself seem accessible to others (like tempting clients) or seem powerful (to intimidate):

Complementing this habit of closing himself off is a second noticeable aspect of his body language: He frequently avoids eye contact to the point that he even holds conversations while entirely facing away from the person he's speaking to.

I might be a bit lenient and say maybe he's doing this to on purpose to be mysterious, whoo~~ But... in all honestly, he just does this with everyone, even with Ratio while trying to talk about an actual important issue (wanting to look into Acheron's real identity). Hell, even the fake Aventurine does it to himself!

We can even say that wearing the rose-tinted glasses in the first place is another intentional barrier, one Aventurine deliberately removes in specific moments to give people the (false) impression that he's "letting them in" to his circle:

Now, this might be a bit more complicated in Aventurine's case, because eye contact has a whole extra meaning when eyes are the defining trait of your species and come with particularly challenging racial stereotypes. So it may be that Aventurine is simply used to conducting conversation while looking away to minimize racial prejudice against his eyes' unique appearance.

However, I'd also argue that the devs deliberately turned his entire model away in cutscene after cutscene to create a clear sense of being inaccessible, unapproachable, and unwilling to engage in the physical intimacy of standing closely, directly facing, and staring at his conversation partners.

While he faces away, he controls both the figurative and the literal direction of conversation, forcing people to keep their eyes on him while he is free to move as he pleases. Over and over again, it just says "I want to be the one in control. I'm not afraid to show my back to you, but you are not welcome to come near me."

And, in fact, that's a third aspect of his character's body language that I am sure the devs did not include accidentally: More so than other characters, many of Aventurine's conversations are conducted from weirdly far distances. Like, half the time he's talking, he's standing all the way on the opposite side of the room!

This habit of speaking from a-larger-than-normal distance is apparent in the first scene with Himeko...

And then in just about every other conversation too:

The bubble is twenty feet in every direction.

Like yes, he does approach and have conversations like a normal person... sometimes... But it is significantly more noticeable with Aventurine than with other characters that he often conducts whole conversations--even with his allies--from a distance. Just genuinely weirdly far apart.

Leaving space for Gaiathra, I guess.

And it's because these significant decisions were made with Aventurine's in-game body language that, when he deliberately alters his own behavior, it is instantaneously noticeable.

In 2.0, he closes the distance, the glasses come off, and he gets directly up in the Trailblazer's face.

It's uncomfortable not just because the player is suddenly being loomed over, but because this behavior has already been subconsciously established for the player as out of character for Aventurine.

The barriers the character himself was putting up are deliberately stripped away so that he can use physicality and demanding eye contact to intimidate his target. He has to reverse his own normal body language in order to come across as domineering (and, I guess if you're into that, appealing in a domineering manner).

And ummmm, just a tiny aside here because I can't resist:

This does mean that when the game goes out of its way to demonstrate Aventurine altering his own normal habit of distant and defensive body language, it is absolutely intentional.

Yes, this is a Ratiorine post in disguise. There literally isn't any other character in the game that Aventurine is shown being comfortable standing so close to and interacting with in this manner. This doesn't occur in every one of their scenes, but Ratio is the only character that this happens with repeatedly. It's not an accident that the devs literally added "They were walking side-by-side" as flavor text.

But look, I'll be fair: There's a great example of this in Aventurine's scene with Acheron too, where he closes the distance and attempts to make eye contact with her--seeking her guidance and closeness--and she is actually the one stepping away, speaking with her back turned, demonstrating her power and control (and issues with connection!) in that scene.

Anyway, this was a whole longggg tangent into analyzing Aventurine's body language, but my point is that, overall, the devs deliberately adjusted his model's actions in-game to give the impression of a person who clearly wants to be in control of every interaction he has with other people, who insists on distance over intimacy, and whose stances and habits suggest that he is significantly less accessible and open than his "Use me as you wish" motto might suggest.

Long story longer, I think that there is almost zero chance Aventurine is willingly ceding control over himself or the actions expected of him to anyone he isn't 100% comfortable with, and I think that using physical intimacy of any kind would be an absolute last resort for him. Frankly, he comes across as more likely to shoot himself in the foot than let someone he doesn't trust lay hands on him.

To me, he reads very much as "You may look, but you may not touch."

[lifemod17]

Hozier singing a cover of 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl

Saturday Night Live || 12/21/2024

[applepie-enthusiast]

Imagine an AU where Sabito suddenly wakes up , he notices his body has grown as if he had been alive since the Final Selection (21) and finds Urokodaki (ouch, please imagine Urokodaki having doubts and even testing that Sabito is not a shapeshifting demon, but when he confirms for real that IT IS Sabito, Urokodaki hugs him and cries, his other adoptive son is back.) and soon, Sabito learns that Giyuu is now the Water Pillar.

To say Giyuu is beyond shocked, him standing frozen as Sabito smiles at him and calls at him,

"Giyuu..."

Oh god, Giyuu missed his voice so much, but this can't be. Sabito seemed like he aged with him as well.

Sabito was dead.

Whatever demon plays this game is just tricking him, this is a cruel trick. Giyuu had learned from Tanjirou about that demon who gave dreams that victims wanted to see.

Except Giyuu is very much awake, and this is daytime.

There is no way that this is a Blood Demon Art.

"I know it's hard to believe, and you might never accept that is all happening, but I just want to say I'm proud of you." Sabito kept that fond look on his face, and finally, Sabito smiles at him gently.

Oh, how Giyuu's heart skipped a beat as he felt so many emotions all at once.

"I'm sorry for dying that time, and for not being able to say goodbye to you. But I'm back, Giyuu. I'm home."

It took a lot from Giyuu to not react and turn his back away, this is no way happening.

Tanjirou was also shocked to see Sabito but is otherwise overjoyed. It was not until Giyuu received a letter from Urokodaki that it is indeed Sabito, that Giyuu finally faced Sabito himself, and Giyuu hugged him tightly, and cried.

It was a silent cry, but his tears never stopped as he hugged Sabito tighter and tighter, as if letting go would equate to losing him the second time.

They reconnect, and Sabito caught up to everything. He even met the other Pillars and Oyakata-sama, suffice to say it took a lot of convincing from the Pillars to believe Sabito's existence.

However, Giyuu visibly changed bit by bit. He is still a tiny bit distant but is slowly opening up to others in general.

Sabito trained more and more with Giyuu, and after quite a time, he was also promoted as a Water Pillar.

While Giyuu was out, with Sabito walking outside, he met Sanemi, who walked up to him.

"Hey, are you for real?"

"What?" Sabito replies, and he observed how Sanemi was weirdly calmer than usual yet carried a certain air towards him at the moment.

"How long will you be here?"

"Pardon?" Sabito was starting to realize Sanemi didn't come here for a friendly chat.

"If you're just going to disappear again—"

Sabito cuts him off, "Our jobs are risky, but that doesn't mean I won't fight to stay alive."

Sanemi replied that he was starting to lose his temper. "You know that's not what I mean. Tomioka—"

Sabito winced, "What about Giyuu? What do you want?"

"First name basis?"

"Yeah, we're childhood friends, for now."

"If you really care about him, don't fuck around and—"

"Listen," Sabito paused, his tone just as threatening. "Whatever Giyuu and I have is none of your business."

[numberonetribble]

When your love for each other is so great and it becomes something bigger than either of you, oh that's family baby!

[adashulaz]

Soren and Claudia swap places but Soren doesn't remind Aaravos of Leola and instead makes him wonder if this is all worth it.

Soren: What if we make an illusion of Thunder and just fuck with Zubeias head?

Aaravos: Excuse me?

Soren: They were mates, right? So if we just make an illusion of him and make him be angry at her for whatever reason, it'll distract her and you can get your revenge without worrying about her trying to bite you.

Aaravos: And what of the other Archdragons?

Soren: They'll probably realize that it's not the real Thunder and try to attack him but Zubeia won't let them because she misses her mate. They'll be busy with trying to get her to see through the illusion so you'll be good to go.

Aaravos: And the human mage, Callum?

Soren: Illusion of his dead mom.

Aaravos:...

Soren: Her death anniversary is coming up so it'll definitely mess with his head

Aaravos:...

Soren: Is something wrong?

Aaravos: What is wrong with you?

Soren: Viren would do stuff like this all the time? It works like a charm.

Aaravos:...that explains it then.

Aaravos: Let's go do your incredibly cruel plan.

Soren: Yay :)

[mrmeepsmadmind]

starscream has normal reactions

no starscream shall escape being haunted by bumblebee and vice versa. primus said thou shalt be married !!!

[lebowskismoney]

yuu is EXTREMELY undocumented immigrant coded

For starters, they’re not just similar to undocumented immigrants. They’re best comparable to undocumented immigrant children. When their parents bring them across the border, there’s usually an unknown possibility of returning. They don’t have a say in whether they come along, that decision is made for them without their knowledge. All they know is “this is for their greater good”.

Now compare that to Yuu’s entry to twst. They literally don’t remember anything other than entering the world via horse-drawn hearse. They wake up in a coffin, symbolizing the death of their previous life and the start of a new one in TWST. They weren’t even aware of their transmigration until the deed was done. Upon transmigrating, they were told to make a choice and stick to it for everyone’s sake, not being given an out.

They’ve been transmigrated with literally nothing of use. They don’t have a valid ID nor currency. Their world is inaccessible. They are told “it is up to you to find a way back.�� And the job they’re given to support themselves while they search for a way home? Custodian, one of the occupations most often associated with immigrant workers.

People are anchored to their new countries in different ways. That tends to be via each other. If someone marries a citizen, they have a pathway to obtaining citizenship, and someone has an anchor if they have a child during their stay. In Yuu’s situation, they’re anchored by Grim. Grim and Yuu both attend NRC as one student. They don’t have the means to attend individually, and Yuu has the risk of being cast out onto the streets if they don’t cooperate.

Speaking of cooperating, Yuu has more obligations than “attend NRC” and “find your way back” (supposed to be Crowley’s task but yk what he does). They are often tasked with things that are not their responsibility. Things like investigating/dismantling attempts at sport event sabotage, blackmail, overblots, that’s not supposed to be their priority. But if they don’t do that, they risk going without room and board, literal homelessness and no chance of finding a way back.

This is similar to another experience migrant children go through: having to support their families in order to remain afloat. Often times this includes translating documents with elementary levels of the language they're learning or working alongside their parents to bring food to the table. They have no other choice, these are things that must be done in order to survive.

Imma go into another tangent that is a bit of theory crafting but honestly really worth delving into:

There’s also the problem of whether they can even go back home. Asylum-seeking immigrants and those with similar situations don’t always have a place to go back to in their home country. Their countries are not safe anymore; they wouldn’t have left if they had the ability to form a safe and stable life in their homeland. However, children aren’t always aware of that. They are taken to the destination country without the possibility of return. How does Yuu know they’ll be able to go back to their world? They’re in the same situation: they made the journey, but their return is unknown. It could’ve been a one-way ticket to TWST, leaving them stranded and with a new objective: establish an actual identity or find a way to become a citizen from square one.

On a final note, this is another reason why I love their friendship with Ace and Deuce, especially after book four. Those two received ONE ping from their friend indicating they were in danger and dropped EVERYTHING to help them. They know better than everyone how hard Yuu has it and went out of their way to make sure they were safe and sound. They look after Yuu time after time just as Yuu gets them out of dicey situations.

[kindahoping4forever]

Luke for Love Want magazine

📸: Bartolomeo Celestino

[golden-coven]

I made the different ✨Belos flavors✨ on the South Park character maker

[panboba]

Funny scenario I thought

After both bots escape from the antagonists

Tfp Starscream: I think we're safe

Tfa Sentinel Prime: How the scrap do they find us????

Tfp Starscream: Not sure but I figu- *His abdominal is bleeding*

Tfa Sentinel Prime looking in horror: Y-you're b-bleeding-

Tfp Starscream: FRAGGING SCRAP!!! Ugh great, just what I need it, Primus this is annoying.

Tfa Sentinel Prime: A-annoying???? YOU'RE BLEEDING!!!! DON’T YOU GET IT???? YOU COULD OFFLINE!!!!

Tfp Starscream covering his audials: TONE DOWN YOUR IRRITATING VOICE!!! Yes I'm bleeding, big deal! I been through worse

Tfa Sentinel Prime makes a horrified expression: WORSE????? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WORSE????

Tfp Starscream: Look let's just find somewhere to rest for the night, so let's start walking

Sentinel sees Starscream almost casually walking while having a serious injury. He's very confused how Starscream can just get up from horrible injuries like it's nothing

Later that night:

Tfp Starscream: Did I ever told you that my Megatron tried to crush my face and chest with his very big pede. It really hurt to move around. I remember having let out a few tears because of the pain. Maybe that's why I don't feel major pain right now. I'm just used to it, like my frame has adapted. Guess all those beatings made me stronger right? *Gives a small chuckle*

Tfa Sentinel Prime: