#nothing unreasonable happens before 10

[monstersliveinthemirror]

Hahahahahahahahaha

[lasirenatarot]

What makes your Future Spouse get jealous and how they express their jealousy?

Pick a picture:

1-2

3-4

Pile 1:

(Cards: 6 chalices; judgement; 4swords; 2swords; 5 of air; 7 of earth; 8 of air; the emperor)

- Honestly, this pile’s Future spouse seems like a very confident person, very sure of themselves, there are not much things that can make them jealous or question their own worth. Because of that, normally they would not even be considered as a person who gets jealous at all. They like giving you your freedom, they don’t seem like an obsessive person, they do have their set of standards when it comes to relationships and loyalty tho.

However, they do have their moments like all of us and you should not be fooled by their detached demeanor or purposely try to make them jealous, because what can happen is that they may simply leave and never come back.

Situations in which they may feel jealousy is if they see you have a deeper emotional connection with someone else, also when you’re blindly defending someone, it can make them think something like « why does my partner defend that person if they really feel nothing for them? » and that would make them suspicious of you..

They may get slightly annoyed if you constantly post pictures of yourself with a person that has a visible crush on you or is maybe too touchy with you (Or someone posts pics with you..), but this is not entirely jealousy, annoyance is the correct word here.

How do they express their jealousy?

- They seem like a mature and confident person so they definitely won’t be throwing tantrums or being childish. This is mostly due to their pride and ego.

They will check every piece of information before they even ask you sth.. they may even go through your phone to check if there is anything they should actually worry about when it comes to you and a certain person they are suspicious of. I feel like they may be the type of person to give you an ultimatum if you’ve crossed some of their boundaries,but regardless of everything I just wrote (which may seem pretty toxic) I don’t think they will be unreasonable when they get jealous.

If someone is getting a bit too « close » to you, they will expect you to draw a line and make it known you’re in a relationship. If your future spouse feels their standards are not met and feels disrespected they may even leave you. They seem pretty cut throat when it comes to loyalty. They won’t loose time arguing with you or asking you multiple times to do something they want you to do, they may have a big ego so they wouldn’t want to feel like a beggar.

Briefly, if they feel jealous, they may check your phone and all the information available and then talk to you once or twice, if something you do is really bothering them, and expect you to keep your distance from people who are interested in you.

Pile 2

(Cards: knight of wands; ace of chalices; queen of wands; the high priestess; 10 of water;the world;the empress;7 of air;the fool)

- Right off the bat, I feel like you would be the more confident, outgoing and successful one of the pair, not your future spouse. Or at least this may be true for a certain period of time during your relationship. You may be more fiery, what I am getting for you is absolutely the embodiment of the « naturally popular girl » when we were in highschool, stereotypically they would be the « nerd » and they may feel intimidated and a bit insecure around you. Your confidence may be the main reason for their jealousy. Since you may be a person who easily attracts people’s attention, your future spouse may feel like you can have pretty much everyone and that they’re easily replacable, whether or not this is actually true..

Do not get me wrong tho, you do not need to dim your light in order for them to be less insecure- this is their own problem to solve. What you can do in this situation, is to give them compliments which can uplift them and try not to give them reasons to be jealous, reassure them that they are the one for you, this may be important to them even if they don’t admit this openly.

How they express their jealousy?

- How they would show you they are jealous is a tricky question to answer honestly. They may not show you or tell you at all, you may need to figure this out on your own. They may start asking you random questions, as well as being almost « too nice » with you and fulfilling all your desires even the ones that may be at their expense, the important thing here is to not walk all over them since they may have a people pleasing tendency when it comes to you, so they can make sure they are so perfect that you wouldn’t leave them. They may become more clingy than usual.

As we all know, perfection is an illusion and it does not exist, so this perfect partner image they try to portray for you may be tiring for them to maintain.

If you notice some of their behaviors I just mentioned, talk to them and be honest with them.

Pile 3

(Cards: tower; 3of pentacles; 8wands; death; 3 of fire; the chariot; the tower; knight of earth; the hanged man)

- You will definitely know if your partner gets jealous, they wouldn’t hide it at all, they may have fire sign energy and easily get angry if someone touches what they deem as « theirs » (you). They may find you to be really physically attractive and that may make them want to keep you to themselves and be a little posessive.

They may get jealous if someone approaches you in front of them or when someone disrespects the fact that you are in a relationship with them and makes moves on you anyways..

Another thing which can make them jealous is if someone who they find to be similar to them (when it comes to qualities and what they can offer, not looks) shows interest in you in front of them.

How they express their jealousy?

- They may be pretty dramatic to be honest. This may be a drastic change from their normal behavior, normally they may be a really calm person, but if they feel someone is a threat to your relationship they may get very defensive and may even start an argument with the person who expresses interest in you in front of them.

In moments like this they get a little « primal » and don’t think things through, they may get more aggressive because when they see a threat they feel hopeless, like there is nothing else to do rather than confront the other person directly, they feel like they have to get rid of the « threat » immediately.

If they do actually have a tendency to cause scenes due to their jealousy, try talking it out with them and making them sure you would make the boundaries known if someone else approaches you.

Pile 4

(Cards: knave of air; queen of air; the magician; the priestess; the sun; 5 of water; 10 of pentacles; 10 of wands; knave of wands; knave of pentacles; 7 of swords)

- In situations where they feel jealous they may feel really hurt, even if they do not show it, it may remind them of past experiences and kind of « open an old wound » they tought they have gotten over.

Just like in one of the previous piles, they may view you as very beautiful and confident and sometimes they may feel as if they are not worthy of being with a person like you. They may be less experienced than you which can also make them paranoid you would leave them for someone more experienced.

How they express their jealousy?

- When they feel jealousy they really feel it. This can make them look a bit closed off and they may get really quiet all of a sudden, that’s how you would know that something is affecting them.

I don’t think this person will cause scenes or throw tantrums when they feel jealous at all. They are much more rational and mature. They may get some time away from you to clear their toughts and only after that they may adress the situation which made them feel jealous with you. Whenever they feel jealous, they may distract themselves with their hobbies, go out with their friends, go clubbing in order not to overthink every bit of what is bothering them. They may also get pro-active with you, give you gifts, pay more attention to you than normal, be more romantic with you..

My only advice to this pile is to be fully honest with them and try not to keep secrets from them, as this may intensify it if they do have trust issues due to their past.

thank you for reading! Hope it resonated, comment if it did.💞 Don’t forget to follow for more.

- La Sirena💋.

Decks used: ‘$£xual magic’ oracle deck by Lo Scarabeo; ‘Manara’ €rotic tarot deck by Milo Manara/ Lo Scarabeo;

[pixeldolly]

The Sacrifice - Part 10

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"The idol's gone, Eliza. I displaced it into Yg's core; if that doesn't melt it, nothing will. Either way, nobody's ever getting their hands on it again."

Yg...the name flashed through Eliza's reeling mind. It was an incalculably old star, a bloated red giant orbited by the lifeless husks of three nameless planets on a plane of existence so remote, fact gave way to rumor and conjecture.

None of that mattered.

Not even her disfigurement mattered, weighed against this new calamity.

Eliza could have struck Fiona dead right then and there, if she hadn't been frozen in utter terror.

The Chkrxgmbvegh, the Nameless One, also felt the shift in the planes.

It felt the inexorable pull of the abyss, as its hold on the material plane began slipping away. Already, it could smell the familiar stench of sulphur and rot and hear the cries of the damned, but the demon was furious.

It had been cheated.

"Witch! Thisss iss your fault! Your sssuffering shall be legendary, even in Hell!"

It did not specify which of the two witches it was speaking to, but Eliza Clare could sense the demon's red-hot ire even as it was pulled into a vortex of lurid un-light. That burning, vengeful anger was aimed at her.

"No, please! It wasn't my fault! SHE's the one, SHE did it!"

"I'll fix it, I swear! I'm begging you, give me another chance!"

Eliza's pleas fell on deaf ears. If the demon was listening, it didn't care; all it cared about was revenge.

She screamed as the fire ignited under her feet, engulfing her with a speed that was unnatural, unstoppable. Eliza thought she knew pain, but she was soon to be disabused of that notion.

She also knew with a certainty that did not originate within herself that this, too, would pale before future torments. Demons did not forgive.

And there was nothing she could do to change it. In a flash of insight dying minds are sometimes granted, Eliza realized that she had been hurtling towards the inferno all along, unable to feel the heat.

Maybe, once, a different outcome had been possible, but the point of no return had come and gone long ago. For the first time in decades, Eliza tasted regret, bitter as a mouthful of poison.

And then, she saw.

A stern father, a Jacoban preacher, trying to "beat the magic out of her."

A resentful mother berating her, knowing she could never, ever be good enough.

Herself as a young woman, vowing she would never be made to feel powerless again, no matter the cost. Sentiment was a weakness to be exploited, which she would cut out of herself as one would an infection.

Her son in her arms, her resolve weakening. It did not break.

Her son...

Then, Eliza saw no more.

"Wh- What happened? Where'd that thing go? Uuughh, I feel like I was hit by a goddamn truck!"

"Banished back to its home dimension. It sounded none too pleased about it, which means a certain blonde witch is being shown the hospitality of the Hellplanes as we speak."

"The fire...shit, are those ashes...?"

"Yep. Didn't leave much behind, did she?"

"Fucking hell - Roman!"

"He's fine. Luckily, the demon only took Eliza."

"Luckily? Sounds like you weren't sure what would happen."

"Well, I wasn't, exactly. I made an educated guess that it would see Eliza as the bigger prize. She'd sold her soul to that thing years ago - Roman was an advance payment on that debt, but it was never going to be enough. The Nameless One was toying with her; it would've demanded more and more, until she could no longer pay."

"Uhuh. And what if it had decided to take both of them?"

"That was a possibility, but I figured it only had enough power left to take one or the other."

"You gamble an awful lot with people's lives, Fiona."

"Considering the alternative was that we all died, I like to think it wasn't unreasonable."

"Fair, I guess. I'm okay too, by the way. Fuck, this bite burns like a motherfucker though! Is demon spit toxic?"

"Jacob...?"

"I'm here. Everything's going to be okay!"

"Where is -"

"It's gone. Fiona banished it; I think. You're safe now."

"And my...mother?"

Jacob pursed his lips; giving that woman the title of "mother" felt like a travesty.

"She's gone too."

"You...How did you know...?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you all the details later, but right now we need to get you to a hospital. How...how are you feeling?"

"Hurts. But - Jacob..."

"Shhhhh."

"Thank you..."

[romanceclub-confessionss]

Okay so I saw the post about Radha, Raj, and Amrita and I want to say something about it but I am afraid to contradict some of the people because they seem a bit unreasonable and would attack you for your opinion. The also are insulting people who agree with it. So I am going to explain why that person said what they did or potentially why. This comes from somebody who is an avid reader I read visual novel games, fanfiction, and books I have 10 plus years of reading with critical thinking of details in stories and understanding of characters.

Okay let’s start with the whole Radha is groomed I am of the opinion that did not happen based on how the Basu family is described. You think Vidya, Doran, or Sara would allow Raj to live if any of them believed he manipulated and used Radha for his gain. Grooming victims are described as being naive easy to manipulate that is not Radha at all she is being taught how to become a leader in time when women in power were looked down upon. You think part of her education from Vidya wasn’t about being able to spot manipulations from men who would want to use her and manipulate her. You think Radha wouldn’t do anything to a man who thought he could use her as an example of why not to mess with her like what Sara did to Rati when Rati insulted Sara. To me to say that Radha is a victim of grooming by Raj is an insult to Radha and her intelligence and her capabilities of being a leader you are saying that when a good looking guy comes into the picture all of Radha’s training disappears. My interpretation of how this relationship started was that it happened when Devi was in Bombay which made Radha 18 when this relationship started I can’t find information on how old Raj is but the oldest I think he is is 30 which is not a great look but from the interaction that we see while they are at the mountain retreat is that Raj is trying to end their relationship because even though BOTH of them have feelings for one another it is not the time for their families bloodlines to unite Radha is the one who says no let’s continue this affair in secret because I am what you want and we should be together. In grooming relationships the groomer has all the power in this relationship it looks like equal partnership with them. Also we know that Sara and Radha believe that men are tools for their entertainment you think a women who think men are like animals for their amusement can be manipulated and controlled by one. You guys don’t think Sara wouldn’t kill Raj if he groomed and used Radha her twin Sara straight up killed someone to protect Radha’s secret which means that Sara knows that BOTH Radha and Raj went into this willingly together. I want everyone to know that in my opinion guys Vidya knows about Raj and Radha. When Vidya tells Raj you are practically like family to me she is saying that she knows Raj is the one who got her daughter pregnant and she is not happy at all. I believe that part of the reason there is tension between the Basus and Doobays is because Vidya knows about the affair and is mad at both Raj and Radha then that anger multiplies when Radha gets pregnant. I also believe the reason that Vidya is not passing the reins to Radha is because she knows about the affair with Raj and believes that Radha needs more training before she becomes leader of the dozen and the Basu family. Vidya loves her daughters and I get the impression that if anyone hurt or used her daughter she would kill them no matter what and I guarantee that Doran would be there to help Vidya.

Let us move on to another topic people who say that Radha owes Amrita nothing. You do remember that Amrita is/was friends with the Basu twins. Which means that Radha slept and had a relationship with a friend’s fiancé. I could never justify doing that to someone who was a friend to me. Also the reason that Amrita is not close to her friends is the fact she is engaged and is learning about her future role along with getting to know her future husband. I also don’t understand how Raj can get to know his fiancé as a person and continue seeing someone else. Raj has hurt Amrita she knows that Raj doesn’t love her and she will be trapped in an loveless marriage, but can you imagine the pain of knowing that someone who was friends with you was sleeping with your fiancé behind your back and your fiancé cares about them more than you. I also love Radha as a character but I can hate and be critical of her choices this is what makes her multi dimensional and a fascinating character making her a victim of grooming makes her more flat and not as interesting of an character. I also believe that everyone missed the point of what the poster of the post was saying Radha and Raj are BOTH to blame for this situation they both knew better but continued it and now there is fallout because of their actions. Radha and Raj both hold blame on this no one forced this relationship they both willingly went along with it. Raj being the older one who also wanted to stop his relationship with Radha should have stuck to his original intentions Raj is older and is already a leader he knew better then to continue the affair, but it doesn’t excuse Radha because when she became older and almost became the the official leader Radha knew better as well then to continue her affair with Raj. Amrita is truly the only one who has no blame in this and everyone loves to hate on her when in reality Amrita is a victim in this and is going to experience unbelievable pain and betrayal from this. Some people missed the point on the post both Radha and Raj deserve equal blame in all of this no one is saying Raj is an angel because he is not but not enough people point that out the fact that Radha is 23 when she gets pregnant she knows better then to continue this affair and face possible repercussions of her affair with Raj. People treat Radha like she was forced against her will to be in this relationship when she wasn’t at all Raj and Radha were equal partners in their relationship. Therefore the both hold equal blame for what happened. Radha is no angel and that is okay because no one is in this story is and that is what makes everything so interesting.

Well that's a big confession 🤯

Sorry but we cannot edit such a big confession, even if we try would be a mess ( fun fact: we did try and turn out to be 5 images 😬)

This is something to have in mind before sending a confession, the length of the confession shouldn't excess 100 words, thanks!

-mod lyn

[skatingbi]

WELCOME TO PART 3 OF MY SANJI WITH HETEROCHROMIA SERIES!!!!

Oh my god. Yall are insane. 700+ Notes for part one of this series alone is crazy (Crazy? I was- *gets shot*). So heres part 3. I'll probably have to publish all this onto AO3 soon bc shits getting outta hand, but I like posting on this silly little site so I'll still be posting on here.

Uhhh this was posted WAY later than I anticipated bc i had a gnarly depressive episode and had to enroll into uni, but there aint no way id abandon this series, its too fun and i love experimenting with my baby writing style as i call it.

Okay thats it, just thank u all sm for enjoying my silly little series :) u guys are so sweet!!

P.S. Constructive criticism is OKAY! I havent written fanfic in like...10 years so since middle school. Im a baby at this and I understand if I may have several errors so pls lemme know if theres grammar mistakes!

Sanji With Heterochromia Series Part 3 below 🔻

Sanji lied. He does like the idiot. More than he's willing to admit. A few days after their conversation, Zoro distances himself. It leaves a nasty feeling in his gut similar to nausea but different from actually wanting to throw up. It feels apprehensive. He's waiting for something, but he doesn't know what yet. Sanji hates it. He hates how confused he is and how much he actually wants Zoro to touch him again. He hates the burning linger of scarred knuckles on his cheekbone that follows him wherever he goes.

He hates these feelings because he never learned how to really process them. He doesn't know if he has to blame himself, his shitty excuse of a father, or Zeff. Well, maybe not Zeff. The old man had enough on his plate while raising him as it was. Sanji decides to blame it on Judge because honestly, the root of most of his issues stems from that shitty old man anyway. Placing the blame on someone does little to actually help, but it's a distraction from his growing realization of how much he cares for Zoro.

He cares for Zoro. No, he holds an unreasonable amount of affection for the scarred swordsman that haunts his thoughts now more than ever. Fuck questioning sexuality when it's undeniable that he's absolutely whipped for the big idiot. Theres no room for denial anymore, not when his touch had become branded across Sanji's skin for the foreseeable future.

Stress cooking does little to soothe him and it's the same with smoking. At least Luffy gets to enjoy snacks to his hearts content. Its the little things, he tries to tell himself. He also reflects on his conversation with Zoro. How he honestly felt afraid of what he felt when the swordsman confronted him. He felt afraid of someone genuinely caring for his emotional wellbeing. He's anxious over what that means, what it would do to him if Zoro truely meant what he said. All the things voiced about him and the implications that he's...handsome in the eyes of Zoro.

Sanji is emotional. It comes with him being sentimental as well. He's the black sheep of his biological family in every way. He loved too hard, and got hurt too fast. He loved even when it ended in betrayal. Secretly, he loves unconditionally. What would happen if he loved Zoro like that, and what if it already happened and he's too late to stop it? Would Zoro hurt him just like everyone else has? Would he be pushed away eventually after the thrill of their theoretical short lived relationship?

It keeps him up at night, that conversation replaying in his head as he stares at Zoro's sleeping silhouette. He falls asleep to his breathing, echoing throughout the room over everyone else's breath and snores. He wakes up every morning before the sun greets him and pretends nothing happened in his dreams where Zoro's gentle touch and admiration lingers softly over his mind.

Zoro knows. Well, not exactly. He's not a mind reader like how Luffy seems to be, but he knows that distancing himself from Sanji is actually doing the opposite of what he thought it would do. At this point, the swordsman isnt sure where to go from here.

Sanji's actions contradict his words. Sanji stares at Zoro. Not so much that it's s uncomfortable but it's enough to be noticeable. Sometimes he swears he can see Sanji's eyes dart across his face and down to his lips before looking away. It's confusing. Didnt Sanji hate Zoro's advances towards him? Because thats what they were in hindsight.

Zoro was unconciously flirting with the cook in his own weird way. And yeah, he's a little stupid for not realizing the implications behind his actions at first, but it all started as genuine curiosity. He didnt mean for it to affect their rivalry. Now, he's not sure where to go from here.

It's driven him between a rock and a hard place and unforfunately for him, Nami decides to intervene again. This time, Nami drags Zoro to her and Robin's shared room on the Sunny for privacy and possibly interrogation. He's certain that this time he wont be able to escape. Unfortunate.

"Okay, so heres how this is gonna go," Zoro and Nami are now seated across from each other, where theres two beds and enough room for decent sized dressers on each side. Zoro sits on what he assums is Robin's bed with his arms crossed, "You will tell me everything- And i mean it! I will know if youre lying -and I will help you. Im sick and tired of you both being miserable and gay! It's giving everyone second hand embaressment." She demands, narrowing her eyes with a challenge for Zoro to protest or say no.

Zoro is smart enough to know what is and isn't a losing battle. This is one of those. Nami can be terrifyingly persistent once she sets her mind on something, and today it seems to be resolving the weird and awkward tension between him and Sanji. The swordsman resigns himself to his fate quickly and prepares himself to be trapped here on Robin's bed for the foreseeable future.

"Fine witch," Zoro sighs, "But if you tell anyone I will not be responsible for my actions." He huffs out in acceptance for his inevitable interrogation.

"Oh please like that'll actually scare me. Plus besties never snitch." Nami rolls her eyes. She gets comfortable on her bed and look at zoro expectantly. He rolls his eyes and relaxes his posture a bit.

Zoro starts talking, beginning with the first instance of his realization of Sanji having dual colored eyes, leaving out a lot of "unimportant" details. He mentions the second, and the third instance, and their conversation from a few days ago and how he tried to respect Sanji's establishment of a boundary and how he's confused now that Sanji stares at him. Nami listens with her chin resting on her fist and nodding along the way, surprisingly not interrupting once. He finishes speaking and he knows his face is red with embaressment, but he feigns nonchalance and waits for Nami's input.

"Zoro," Nami sighs, "Youre the dumbest bitch I know." She says while giving the man a look of sympathy, but not one that actually means it. More like the look of someone who is so incredibly done with your shit that they have no choice but to tell you so.

"What the fuck, Nami!? Im not dumb!" The swordsman retorts loudly.

"Anyways," his best friend ignores his arguing in favor of getting to the task at hand, "Luckily, this is fixable. For making the entire crew feel awkward for two weeks, I'm adding a 200 percent tax increase to your debt." She smiles mischeviously, and thats when Zoro realizes that one, he's never getting out of debt, and two, he's been forced to accept Nami's help in unfucking up his unconcious attempts to flirt with Sanji.

"First order of business is that you have absolutely no game." Nami begins with a shit eating grin to match the absolutely insulting statement. Zoro briefly reconsiders their friendship.

"Shut the fuck up I obviously do." He rolls his eyes. Nami gives him the look. The one where her eyebrows are raised and her chin is tilted down slightly, matching the frown. It's that look she makes when she's trying to say 'Are you sure?' or 'Reconsider what you just said.' and it grates at Zoro's already increasing agitation.

He decides not to entertain her with a reply.

"Anyway," Nami sighs, massaging the space between her eyes with her thumb and forefinger to stave off a growing headache, "Im teaching you how to flirt. No, you cannot work out in front of Sanji- dont give me that look you muscle brained idiot!" She says while looking at Zoro's ever increasing looks of annoyance and audacity, because first of all, no he definitely was not going to do that, and second of all, it could hypothetically work. Probably.

"Fine," He huffs. He'll let the witch do whatever. It's not like theres anyone else he can talk to on the ship about this anyway, "No promises that I'll actually do what you tell me."

"Fucking- oh my god why am I friends with you?!" Nami complains before flopping down on her bed, groaning loudly at Zoro's malicious cooperation. Zoro basks in the momentary power he has in this situation.

For the next few hours, Nami allows Zoro to stay in the womens quarters for the sole purpose of learning how to actually flirt. He's not sure if shes a reliable source, being a lesbian and also having a girlfriend already, but if he voiced this opinion out loud the redhead would probably kick him out. He only restrains himself because this room is the only one so far where he feels the least amount of awkwardness regarding his situation with Sanji.

Robin stops by every now and then and gives him a smile. It doesnt make him feel very comfortable but it's the thought that counts. She doesnt say anything about him being there, anyway. He makes an effort to at least not lay on the bed he's sitting on, though. He may be lazy but he does hold enough respect for the women in the crew to not fuck with their shared safe space.

Suddenly, it's the evening and dinner is around the corner. Nami shoves a barely enlightened mossy swordsman out of the womens bedroom to finally be free of that headache. Also known as a crash course to flirting with your rival/friend/whatever the fuck else they got going on.

Zoro makes his way to the gallery, taking his time to look out and observe the oncoming sunset that bathes the sky in shades of pink, orange, blue, and yellow. It would be a pretty sight to fall asleep to, he thinks, but the cook would kick his ass off the ship if he decides to sleep through dinner again.

Entering the gallery, everyone except Nami is already there. She's right behind him a second later and taking her seat at the kitchen table.

Numerous conversations are heard as food is served. Franky and Usopp are wildly talking about different types of projectiles the sunny could use, Nami and robin are talking amongst each other in low voices, giggling in between sentences. Chopper and luffy are laughing together, and Zoro goes to sit next to luffy like he usually does. Just as he sits down, the cook lands a kick to his mid back, making Zoro scowl.

"The fucks that for!?"

Sanji rolls his eyes while placing plates of food down for the crew, "For being late, dumbass."

"Nami is late too!"

"And? She'd never be late on purpose, Marimo." as Sanji speaks, he dodges the hilt of Zoro's sword to his side instinctively and has the audacity to give a cheeky grin.

Dinner passes by normally. Everyone's loud conversations meld together gradually and soon everyone except Sanji and Zoro leave. Zoro takes his usual spot beside the cook, drying dishes and leaving them on a towel afterwards so they can both put them away.

Zoro has half the mind to bring up Sanji's staring, but decides against it. It leaves the air silent, neither him nor Sanji speaking up as they finish their side work for the night. Even then, Zoro's unable to speak when Sanji immediately leaves afterwards without a word.

The kitchen feels empty without their bickering, and Zoro is determined to bring that life back into it. He just needs to figure out how.

Despite Nami's advice, Zoro has an idea. If the idiot cook doesnt see what he sees (His pretty face first of all, but Zoro thinks of his strength too. How Sanji easiely brushes off conflict like it's nothing despite the injuries that'll heal far faster than his own), then he'll make him see it. Frilly words never were Zoro's style, anyways.

One night before they all go to sleep and Zoro takes night watch, he corners the blond in the bathroom. Nami would probably be kicking his ass because of his timing, but a mirror is needed for his plan to work and the bathroom is the only place with one other than the women's bedroom.

When Zoro enters, Sanji turns to look at him before going back to washing his hair, his back towards Zoro. "Leave me alone, Moss, I'm im not in the fuckin mood," He grumbles to Zoro, who stands there waiting for Sanji to stop talking.

"Nope, I need a mirror for this and for you to listen for five minutes." Zoro replies, and when Sanji turns to argue his protests are gone from his lips when he sees a look of determination. Confused, annoyed, and also curious, Sanji doesn't reply.

Zoro walks up to Sanji until he's standing right behind him. The swordsman moves to kneel so they're relatively at the same height, but the stool makes Sanji slightly taller as he sits there and eyes Zoro warily.

"Whats going on with you, Moss? I'm trying to wash my hair." Sanji says, and Zoro can tell an insult dies on his tongue when he places his hands on Sanji's shoulders.

Zoro turns Sanji in front of the mirrior in the bathroom, the stool Sanji is seated on creaking lightly and scratching against the tile. Sanji remains speechless, still unable to brush off Zoro's palms on his bare shoulders like how he'd usually do.

"Tell me what you see, cook" He says, uncharacteristically soft underneath the edge his voice always seems to have. Sanji flinches when the swordsman's calloused hands tuck his frings behind his ear, displaying his face to them both.

"What the hell is up with you? Did Luffy hit your head too hard?" Sanji furrows his eyebrows at the mirror and looks at Zoro. Zoro huffs and rolls his eyes.

"Just tell me what you see about yourself, shit cook, I'll leave ya alone after or whatever." He grumbles back, the baritone of his voice vibrates against Sanji's back. It reminds him of Zoro's compliment, his face too close to his while they stand on the deck of the Sunny just days ago. He chooses to ignore how it makes him shiver.

He looks at himself in the mirror, and his first instinct is to look away. Zoro, being the perceptive bastard that he is, notices and squeezes his shoulders in a way thats strangely reassuring.

"It doesnt have to be fancy, cook, I know you like to use big words 'n shit so don't make your brain fuckin explode." Sanji bristles a bit at that but bites back a nasty insult so he can entertain Zoro's weird exercise on his own self reflection.

In the mirror he always sees his mom at first, but with both eyes uncovered and his hair pushed back for once, he sees himself. The first thing he sees is his eyebrows and eyes. He decides not to bring up his eyebrows.

"Well, for your information I see my eyes, but you already know that."

Zoro stays silent, and Sanji shuffles in his seat. He's suddenly aware he was literally in the middle of rinsing his hair of shampoo a few minutes ago and the entire situation is both awkward and uncharacteristic of Zoro in multiple ways. It's out of character, and he should have kicked out the moss ball when he had the chance, but now in the too small bathroom of the Sunny he feels like it's only him and Zoro. It leaves a weightless feeling in his chest, settling in with the creeping anxiety of looking at his own reflection. The contrasting feelings make him hesitate before he speaks.

"I see.." He hesitates, not knowing exactly what Zoro is getting from this or what he wants to hear, "My eyebrows, I guess. Wait, you've never seen both at once." Sanji chuckles at that, because his eyebrows are certainly something. The curl points in the same direction, but it's unnoticeable with how he wears his hair.

"Yeah, they're weird as fuck." Zoro mumbles, and the blond has to laugh or else the swordsman's voice would get to his head.

"Okay, I also see freckles. Those are new. Only started showing up when I joined you all." And Sanji now notices how the freckles cluster on the bridge of his nose, his cheekbones, and his shoulders. They're scattered everywhere else on his body.

Sanji starts to realize the point of Zoro's questioning now. He looks at the fogged mirror, just visible enough to notice how his blush not only spreads across his cheeks but also down his neck. Embarrassing. This whole situation is embarrassing not only because of where they are but also because he's realizing that Zoro is trying to make a point that is too close to unearthing his insecurities. He would have expected this from Luffy, but sometimes he forgets how Zoro's intelligence is masked behind his swordsmanship and how much he sleeps during the day.

And he's naked, but honestly thats the least of his problems at the moment.

"I see my hair, I guess?" Sanji tries to only focus on his face. Its not easier, but it also sets up a mental boundary. Zoro hums, looking at Sanji through the mirror. Sanji hesitates before speaking again, "My hair is actually wavy," He thinks about his mom's wavy blonde hair, and how he always thought it looked pretty even before she passed, "Its damaged, though. Straightened to hell and back with one of those hot combs."

Sanji thinks back to the hot combs. They were old as shit, the kind that needed to be heated up with a flame. The memories make him chuckle a bit, and Zoro smiles back. The same smile he wore when they sparred on the deck, with his dimples visible yet again to confirm to Sanji that he does have them.

His smile makes his heart skip a beat, like drums he'd hear in one of those old instrumental CDs he kept in his room as a kid. Before he has the chance to back away, to push Zoro out the door and forget this ever happened, Zoro straightens his back again.

He turns in his stool to look up at Zoro and he's not sure what the swordsman sees right now, but he's afraid to ask as his gaze is soft. So damn soft as he looks at him and his hand reaches again to pull his hair hair back over his eye like it was before. Stringy strands of heat damaged locks fall back into place.

Then he leaves. He just...leaves. The damn idiot just turns around and walks out the door like nothing even happened.

Thats the second time this has happened yet the first where Sanji is the one on the receiving end of it, and it makes him grab his towel to bunch it up in his fists and let out a scream into it as he processes everything. He processes how he was forced to notice how Zoro looked at him, and it was Zoro's own weird fucking way of saying "You're beautiful".

"He's so fucking ridiculous oh my god.." Sanji mumbles into the towel. His hair routine is officially long forgotten.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Hi! I’m currently working on a big, detailed Blackfish rebuttal, which means lots of rabbit holes. I recently started rereading John Hargrove’s book (ugh). He talks about how the original Shamu died of pyometra and septicemia, claiming that it was something that, apparently, would almost never happen in the wild. The obvious implication here is that captivity caused these conditions, and/or that such is common with captive orcas. However, obviously septicemia can be caused by a variety of things, wild or not. As for pyometra, he doesn’t provide other examples of captive orcas suffering pyometra, nor have I been able to find other examples described in peer reviewed literature. It seems that that isn’t particularly common in cetaceans period, whether they’re wild or not, but I’m also not a marine mammal veterinarian. Since you’d know better about cetacean medicine, I was wondering if you knew anything more about this.

Ooh, that'll be interesting! I'd love to read it!

You're correct that Shamu is the only reported case of pyometra in a killer whale, wild or captive. The CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine makes no mention of pyometra in cetaceans, although it does occur in both wild and captive pinnipeds and has been reported in sea otters and sirenians. Pyometra is typically the result of bacteria migrating up the vaginal tract into the uterus, which at certain times is more susceptible to infection due to normal hormonal fluctuations. Theoretically, anything with a uterus can get pyometra, though some species are more commonly affected than others.

I would hedge to bet that pyometra is rare in cetaceans because of their truly unusual reproductive anatomy. Females have a lot of redundant tissue in their vaginal tract, creating "false cervixes" and overall making it a lot more difficult for anything to reach the uterus.

See all those extra recesses around the cervix?

I did find this case report on a necropsy of a wild short-beaked common dolphin. Pyometra was one of many nasty issues afflicting the poor girl, so it can indeed occur in nature. Since this individual was suffering from co-infections of bacteria and cetacean morbillivirus, she was clearly immunocompromised. It's highly likely Shamu was as well.

Overall, pyometra of cetaceans (including orcas) appears to be quite rare in both the wild and managed care. Shamu was the very first orca intentionally captured for public display, nearly 60 years ago, and only survived six years in captivity before her death at approximately age 10. Virtually nothing was known about killer whale husbandry at the time, so it's not at all unreasonable to assume that poor husbandry, nutrition, and stress negatively impacted her immune function to the point she succumbed to pyometra.

However, it's a weak argument on Hargrove's part to compare the SeaWorld of today (with multiple orcas now in their 30s, 40s, and 50s) to the SeaWorld of the 1960s, and their very first whale at that. Especially using a condition that has not been reported in a captive orca since.

[lizpaige]

sunday snippet 📦

i got nothing like cute/juicy this time around. i'm just trying to write more and sometimes that means it all ends up getting cut, but here's a snippet from the declan outsider pov pynch chapter 2!

The Lynch brothers were helping Ronan move into his first apartment in DC. When Adam transferred for the third time to Georgetown and his financial aid and scholarships no longer covered room and board, they agreed to find a place together. Declan offered to help set up some of the apartment tours, but in the end, Adam found this affordable one bedroom on his own. 

It was a secure access building with a doorman and 24 hour security. It was a 10 minute metro ride and 20 minute full commute to Georgetown, a little longer of a commute to his new auto body shop part time job, but not unreasonable. He somehow managed to convince Ronan to compromise and split the rent 50/50 despite Ronan’s barely-touched trust fund. He had two years left of college, two years where even though DC was closer to Singer’s Falls, neither of them could stand the time apart anymore. 

“Why do you have so much stuff?” Matthew whined, hefting a cardboard box onto the desk in the living room. 

“We’re giving you all the lightest boxes,” Declan winced at the loud bang as Ronan let go of his side of the couch. “We’re the ones doing all the work here.”

“And you had way more shit when I helped you move to DC,” Ronan groaned as he stretched his back before knocking off Matthew’s hat and ruffling his curls. “I didn’t complain.”

Matthew swatted him away. “Yes you did!”

“Did not!” 

Declan raised his gaze to the ceiling as his brothers fell into an exhausted half-hearted wrestling match on the couch. He decided to take the time to look around the place. 

Declan trusted Adam’s judgment more than Ronan’s on the affordability, security, and overall fit of the apartment. So when Ronan begrudgingly told them a move-in date, Declan offered to help them move in. Somewhat because Adam seemed hesitant about the extra cost of hiring movers and also because Declan wanted to scope out the place.

The apartment itself was a modest one bedroom, with a large windowless closet marketed as a “den” by the apartment complex “perfect for a home office,” but Declan thought that was a joke. The bathroom was clean, spacious. There was even a washer and dryer in-unit and a dishwasher in the kitchen. The complex itself was pet friendly, although Chainsaw was not with them currently. No doubt she was shredding up Declan’s couch in their Boston apartment with Jordan. 

In the bedroom, in the corner by the window, were three modest boxes and a potted plant on the window sill. These were not boxes that they moved in, so these must belong to Adam.

It was then that Declan really realized most, if not all, of the stuff they moved was Ronan’s. Adam, despite being on his own for years now, never accumulated a lot of stuff. Even when he would visit the Barns or Boston for a week-long holiday, he would only ever have a small duffle bag over one shoulder with just enough room for a change of clothes and whatever textbooks he needed to complete his homework. 

Even the furniture they brought upstairs - the old desk was from Ronan's room, that they basically let collect dust as soon as they were old enough to have their own desks at school. The couch was another Barns hand-me-down, as well as some of the kitchen items. 

It all belonged to Ronan, legally, so Declan didn’t speak to it. Just another observation he kept to himself for fear of starting another argument. Even though they didn’t argue as much anymore, they still happened to fight. That was always going to be inevitable with the eldest Lynch brothers. Declan just knew how to avoid the landmines with a higher survival rate now.

[avengers--assembly]

Appendix

Summary: Peter is feeling sick during movie night and after originally deciding not to tell Tony the information comes out either way. Unfortunately, we're not dealing with the basic stomach flu

Sicktember prompts:

5. Rogue Organ (tonsils, spleen, appendix, gall bladder ect…)

12. “You’re not fine, you’re throwing up/coughing up a lung”

14. Clean Sheets/Fresh Pajamas

Word count: 1609

Warnings: vomiting (not extreme though)

●◇●◇●◇●◇●◇

 There was nothing wrong with him. He was fine. The constant ache that had settled in his stomach was just an inconvenience. A mild discomfort at best. He could handle it and finish movie night with Mr. Stark. Peter just had to sit through another 40 minutes, and he’d have a free pass.

Mr. Stark was already giving him worried glances ever since he’d declined dessert—a rare event. The excuse of being full from dinner was weak, at best. Quoting Mr. Stark, Peter was never not hungry. Except tonight, when his stomach was aching, and he was swallowing the feeling of nausea.

Another bout of it attacked him, distracting him from whatever was happening on screen. He squeezed his eyes shut, exhaling softly. He had to stay quiet. No attracting attention. He could practically feel Mr. Stark’s gaze flicking toward him every few minutes, so Peter straightened up and forced a smile.

But oh, crap. He was going to vomit. All over the stupid fancy couch and the soft grey blanket Mr. Stark had thrown over him earlier when he’d started shivering. He steadied himself with a hand, pulling himself upright.

“Bathroom,” was all he said before leaving Tony behind, walking as casually as he could. Don’t throw up here. Not here. Wait.

The pain wasn’t just a dull throb anymore. It was sharp, searing. It felt like someone was jamming a hot knife into his side, twisting it until all he could think about was the burn. He clenched his fists, swallowing down bile as he reached the bathroom.

The bathroom was lit with a soft white glow as he threw the door shut and dropped to his knees at the toilet bowl. He emptied his stomach until there was nothing left. When he finally felt as if he was running on empty, Peter rested his head against the cold ceramic, his hands protectively wrapped around his stomach.

Ouch. That hurt. Why did it hurt so much? Even the stomach flu he’d had last season hadn’t been this bad. What horrible food poisoning was this? Maybe that hot dog from patrol? Ugh, just thinking about food made his stomach churn again.

“I must inform my boss that you are unwell,” Friday’s voice floated across the room, and Peter froze. He didn’t even want to know how the AI knew he was sick—there weren’t any cameras in the bathroom.

“Please, Fri, I'll tell him as soon as it gets worse.”

“I must inform you against this as you already have a fever over a 100 degrees, but I will stick to your wishes until I find them unreasonable.”

Peter forced a smile at the ceiling. “Thanks, Fri. I owe you one.”

A fever? That wasn’t sounding good at all.

After taking a deep breath to steady himself, Peter made his way back to the living room. He felt the tremble in his legs as he walked, but forced his expression into something neutral, hoping the dim lighting from the TV would hide his pale face.

Mr. Stark twisted to look at him, and Peter prayed his discomfort wasn’t too obvious.

“Kid, I was starting to wonder where you disappeared to. Wanna finish?”

“I, uh… actually, I thought I should go to bed. School day tomorrow and everything, you know?”

Peter leaned against the doorway, trying to look casual, even as he used it to support his weight. The pain was getting worse. He had to get out of there.

“Eh, it’s only like 10. Aren’t you usually up much later with patrol?”

Peter could almost feel the raised eyebrow from across the room.“I’m tired. And an early bedtime is, like, super good.” His voice wavered, panic creeping in. He couldn’t stand here much longer. It hurt.

“Sure you’re okay, kiddo? First, the ice cream, and now an early bedtime? Not turning into a responsible adult, are you?”

Peter forced a smile, trying to play it off. This was good. He was going to pull this off. No problem.

“Mr. Stark, how could you?” Peter shot back, mock-offended. “I’m not eating my vegetables tomorrow, just because.”

But then Mr. Stark stood up, stretching, and Peter realized he was running out of time. If Tony came any closer, he’d notice the fever for sure.

You could just tell him you don’t feel good, a voice in Peter’s head reasoned. You don’t have to suffer. That felt like something Friday would say. He really should tell him. At that moment, his stomach decided for him, and Peter vomited all over his clothes and the floor. His cheeks burned with embarrassment.

"Peter!” Tony yelped, rushing over. It was clear Peter was about to be fussed over. He just knew it.

“I’m fine…”

“You’re not fine. You just threw up. Why didn’t you tell me you were sick? Friday?”

Tony was already ushering him toward his bedroom, keeping a hand hovering inches from Peter’s back, not quite touching him. Which, fair, Peter thought, he was feeling gross and covered in vomit.

The smell of it curled around his senses, almost causing him to gag again. Definitely gross.

Friday’s voice chimed in: “A fever of 101 degrees, sir.”

“Friday!” Peter whined. “I trusted you.”Tony raised an eyebrow. “My AI, my loyalty,” he teased, though there was worry etched into his features. Peter wasn’t too scared about being murdered for not telling him earlier.

“Okay, kid, let’s get you cleaned up and in bed. Sound good?”

“Yeah...” Peter mumbled as they walked into his room. He really didn’t want to shower right now. More like curl into a pathetic ball of patheticness, but he had to clean up.

“I don’t feel very good…”

“Yeah, kid. Vomiting over everything kind of gives that away.”

“Not everything,” Peter muttered, his embarrassment flaring up again. Tony’s expression softened as he ruffled Peter’s hair affectionately.

“I know, bud. I’m just joking.”

With a grumble, Peter wiggled out of his shirt, tossing it onto the floor. Without it and his trousers, he was technically clean. No need for a shower. He could deal with that tomorrow. Probably.

“Pyjamas, kid. I’m getting something to help with the nausea. Guessing you have a stomach bug again?”

Peter only shrugged in response before Tony left him alone. He exhaled sharply, trying to chase away the shitty feeling clinging to him like a second blanket.

Pyjamas. He could get dressed. Easy.

Sure.He stumbled to the dresser, staring unimpressed at the contents. Everything felt irritating—like it would rub his skin the wrong way. After what felt like forever, he finally settled on a pair of bottoms and one of Tony’s MIT hoodies draped over his chair. It was definitely comfortable.

****

A few hours later, Peter’s peaceful rest was shattered by stabbing pains in his stomach. He groaned, curling up tighter in his desired ball, hugging the ache away. He thought he was better after the medicine Tony had given him, but now it hurt even more.

The movement stirred Tony awake. The man had insisted on staying the whole night, for emotional support or something, but Peter hadn’t cared. He could hardly breathe, his breath coming out in ragged pants.

“Pete?” Tony mumbled, half-asleep. Peter wanted to answer, but the words wouldn’t form, and only a whimper slipped out.

"Kid?” Now Tony was awake, switching on the light and flooding the room with brightness. Peter squinted against it, his eyes tearing up from the pain.

“Where does it hurt, baby?” Tony brushed a hand through Peter’s hair, trying to comfort him. Peter panted out, “Stomach.”

“Uncurl for me, kiddo. I want to check something.” Peter moved slowly, each shift making the pain flare. He cried out, but did as asked, uncurling completely, tears welling in his eyes.

Tony’s hands pressed gently on Peter’s stomach, testing different spots. “Does it hurt here?” He pressed a bit above the middle. Peter shook his head. The prodding continued until Tony’s fingers hit the lower right side, and Peter yelped in pain.

“Shit. Kid, I think we need to get you to the medbay. Friday, call Bruce for me. Tell him it’s an emergency.”

“What? No! I’m fine,” Peter tried to argue, even as he lay there, unable to move.

“I think your appendix might disagree with you on that one.” Peter’s eyes widened in panic, groaning again. Would he always have bad luck?

****

Tony leaned his head against the wall, appendicitis. Of course his kid would get it the one week he was staying over at the compound. And of course he would keep it to himself for some time too. 

He would probably have to call Aunt Hottie sometime today. A basic requirement to fill in Peter’s aunt but first he needed some time to chill out.

Gosh. Appendicitis.  

After nearly a decade of struggling, he got Peter to the medbay. The kid wanted to be cooperative, Tony was sure, but walking proved to be a challenge. And keeping body fluids inside oneself. The elevator took the causality of being drenched in vomit this time.

At least Peter was well on his way to recovery, sleeping peacefully in the hospital bed after Brucie helped out and removed certain rogue organs.

Tony breathed out, rubbing a hand across his face. The kid was fine. An organ lighter, sure, but fine. Tony didn’t need to worry about him that much. A few hours under, and he would have his hyper spider kid back, still the anxiety gnawed at his chest.

Loving people come with this. Worrying. Because he really did love the kid. The honesty settled in a part deep inside of him. 

Love. Yeah.

[skykashi]

Interest check because I'm trying to figure out a way for me and my cat to not starve to death.

Rant under the cut

Basically I work as an international advisor in a British company which only handles British customers, they specifically hire people from my country because it's a 3rd world country and would be cheap labor and because they know that we won't find any other or better job because of our county's current economic crisis. My entire part-time salary is from $100 to $135 a month which is like, nothing compared to what the British employees who work in the same company doing much less work than me get. My department which only ppl from my country are assigned to, handles 89 queries while all the other departments that only British and Indian employees are assigned to handle from 10 to 20 queries, when we get any system outages which happens quite often, British and Indian employees don't take calls because they can't work without a system, while they force us to take calls just to tell the customers "sorry, we currently have a system outage" and we would be just like punching bags for the frustrated customers that would be upset when we tell them sorry I can't do anything to help you because I have no system at the moment and then to top it off, they don't remove any negative impact such calls during system outages leaves on our performance so we wouldn't get our target bonus and they would end up paying us even less. Not to mention the sneaky ways they force us to work unpaid overtime without really saying it, as we are required to submit a note after every call stating everything happened on the calls without leaving any small details while not having enough time between the calls to type them as sometimes we would just have 2 minutes between every call and sometimes the calls would be back to back without a single second, and we're not allowed to take any time without calls outside of our scheduled breaks either which forces us to type these notes during our breaks and after our shifts. And all of this is just the short version of things, there are so many more messed up things that I left off to avoid having even a longer post.

Anyway, I used to work a full-time shift in that company but I couldn't take 9 hours a day of such stress especially that our department handles (accounts management + complaints + billing) hence why we handle such a huge amount of queries in comparison to other departments so most of the calls I get would be angry customers just yelling which resulted in a huge decline in my mental health, especially that I already suffer from depression, anxiety and a bunch of other stuff so I decided to switch to part time before I completely lose my mind especially after I used to spend the entire day just crying, having panic attacks in the morning the closer my shift start time approaches sometimes and having nightmares so many nights + the rate of my PTSD flashbacks of some traumatic events of things happened to me in the past increased dramatically so I ended up switching to part time and things were kinda manageable, my part-time salary was barley enough for basic living expenses but it was better than having to live that nightmare 9 hours a day plus the extra time I would have to spend after shifts typing notes. But today, I went to work and I was surprised that they switched me back to a full time shift starting tomorrow, they have been threatening me with it for quite sometime now, basically saying that as a graduate it's unreasonable for me to have a part time shift and that only students are allowed to take part time shifts because they need it for studying and I would always reply by telling them that having a part-time shift is the only thing that keeps me going and that I won't be able to continue working if they switched me back to full time. So allegedly!!.. because last month I didn't achieve the target which was basically due to the company having 3 major system outages that only our department (aka Egyptians) had to take calls during it, I don't deserve to have the exception of having a part time now, even tho almost everyone in our department didn't achieve the target for the same reason so yeah, it's now either I go back to working a full time shift of that nightmare which I'm absolutely sure that I won't be able to survive or I resign because they aren't even giving me any time to think or try to find something eles.

So I'm just trying to figure out how to survive basically if I resigned and this is why I'm posting this interest check, so please only choose "yes" if you think you might be interested in commissioning me if I made a post with more details and prices.

[jpitha]

Just a Little Further 11

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The round struck my shoulder with a noisy spack. I didn't even stagger back. Was it meant to be a warning, or was I just that well armored?

The Aviens clearly expected that to do more than it did too. They looked at me fearfully and fired again. Two more spack noises on my chest. It scratched my glossy deep blue armor - ugh, I'm going to have to polish it again - but nothing more.

All these thoughts happened in slow motion though, I was curiously detached from the attack. What my body actually did while I was thinking about the scratches on my armor was that in the moments between the first and third shots, I reached behind my back, swung my submachine gun out, flipped it to full auto and unloaded back at them.

The sound of the human made submachine gun was deafening in the docking area. "Get inside!" I shouted as screams were heard all around. It had happened so fast that I don't think the team realized that I had been shot, but they took my suppressive fire as an indication that something was wrong.

After maybe three seconds, the weapon was empty. In the smoke of the rounds, I looked out and luckily I think I missed the Aviens. They had ducked down as soon as I started to fire, and I wasn't aiming at anyone, I just wanted them to stop shooting me. I heard screams in the distance and an alarm. I turned and ran into the umbilical, slapping the close button behind me.

Inside FarReach, I closed our airlock door and waited for it to cycle. We didn't expose our environment to theirs just in case. I looked around at everyone. "Are you all right?" I asked.

Captain Q'ari spoke. "Yes, we're fine. They were aiming at you clearly."

"Good thing you have that friggin Space Marine armor Melody" Omar said. "Looks like you only got scratched."

"Ugh, I know. It's going to be a pain to polish out." Omar laughed too hard at the bad joke. He was very worried.

Q'ari looked at the damage. "It really is just a scratch. What did they shoot you with?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. Some kind of small pistol. Once I was shot at, training took over and I just unloaded the sub to give suppressing fire so you could escape. I didn't think to stop and ask them what they were shooting me with."

Fer'resi looked anxious. "Did you... kill them?"

"No, fortunately. They ducked, and I wasn't aiming to kill, I just wanted everyone to keep their heads down while you escaped."

Looking relieved, Fer'resi took out the translator. "At least we have this." He went to put it towards his head "Maybe we can final--"

"Stop!" I shouted.

He froze. "What?"

"They were very interested in having me wear that before we left. Suspiciously so. Don't activate it, don't wear it, don't even look at it until I can run an Information Warfare scan on it. I bet it's infected with something nasty."

Fer'resi jerked his hand back as if he had been shocked. "Um... you should take it then Melody" and gingerly handed the translator to me.

I set it down and started the peel my suit. Ugh, I was unreasonably annoyed that they had scratched it in three places. I caught myself and decided to take it as a good thing, since I wasn't worrying about anyone getting shot or being shot at instead.

Suit off, I took the translator with me and went up to my station on the Command Deck. Under my station I keep a sandboxed copy of my suite - that is, one not connected to FarReach - and I looked around on the translator for some kind of data port. There, on the bottom? Looks like there are two ports. One might be power, one might be data. With a sigh, I get out my probes and start signaling the ports. I might not know what the signal means, but if I get any signal, that's a good sign.

There. The second port. The first looks like it's power only. I take out a label maker and mark the ports for next time. I get out some impression putty and jam it into the port. Pulling it out slowly, now I have a model of what the connection cable should look like. I scan it with my pad and have a 3d model of the port. I touch my wrist and call for Omar. "Hey Omar, got a part I need you to print, you got a minute?"

"Sure, I'll be right up."

Omar comes up and sees me on the Command Deck alone. "What are you doing up here Melody? Captain said to get some rest."

"I'll have you know problem solving is soothing." I laughed. "Here. This is a 3d model of the kind of plug the data port on the translator is expecting. Can you print one up quick, looks like it's also got twenty pins, make sure it has a cable that can accommodate that. Leave my end bare, I'll just use a prototyping board to connect it to my sandbox."

"Sure thing Melody, I'll get that worked up for you in like thirty minutes."

"Thanks Omar."

While I wait, I head down to the kitchenette and get a coffee. Kieran is sitting there reading a book. "Oh hey "Holy One" he said, laughing."

Groan. "Kieran, you know damn well I'm the least Holy thing here."

"Eh, I bet it's a tie between you and Mei'la."

"Regardless, I'm not Holy at all. This is worse than everyone calling me Lieutenant!" I get my coffee and motion to sit. Keiran shrugs, puts a bookmark in his book and shuffles over. As I take a sip of coffee he asks. "So, how is it?"

"How is what?"

"Knowing every language? Fer'resi said that not only do you speak the Gate Builder language, but you just understand every language spoke to you?"

"It's odd. If I concentrate, I can tell that we're not speaking Colonic, but if I'm distracted, or thinking about something else, I don't realize it."

"So you didn't notice that I've been speaking Farsi to you"

I stopped. "No... I didn't. Why do you know Farsi?"

He laughed. "Before we came to Parvati my family was originally from a country called Iran. It's been more than four hundred years since we left Earth, but some of us think it's important to know the old ways. I'm impressed though, you're following along and answering in Colonic like it's no big deal."

"Well... for me it is no big deal. I just hear what people say and reply."

We chat a little longer, in Farsi - Kieran says he could use the practice - and then Captain Q'ari announces we have a meeting to discuss next steps.

I stand. "Come on Kieran. Let's go see what kind of mess I made."

"I'm sure it's not all that bad, but I agree. Let's go see."

As we got to the dining room and sat down, I notice that Fer'resi and Mitchel had set out snacks and coffee and tea. I forgot that we were the only ones who got two lunches, everyone else is probably hungry. Taking another cup of coffee I sit down.

Me, Kieran, Omar, Fer'resi and Captain Q'ari are here already and we wait for everyone else to come in. Snacks are had but the tone is subdued until the Captain stands up.

"Everyone." She looks around. "I do not believe this Starbase -" She looks at me.

"It's called "Reach of the Might of Vzzx" I say.

"Thank you, Melody - is safe. I am ordering nobody leave FarReach unless I give explicit permission. Something is going on here and I don't want us to get in the middle of it. Melody, please tell us what you've learned."

Huh. No Lieutenant again.

I leaned forward and faced everyone. Might as well start with the big one. "Okay, so they think that humans are the builders of the Gates and possibly the Starbases too."

Everyone blinks. Omar cuts in. "Wait, it gets better"

I nod. "Yeah, so the language that I learned how to speak with the nano machines? It's a Holy Tongue" I try to pronounce the proper noun. "It's like I'm talking to them in a religious language. Most everyone knows it, but it's not what they speak day to day, and everyone reacts oddly when I speak to them in it."

"So... Not only do they think Humans built the Warp Gates but they think that because of the language you're speaking to them with they think that you specifically are a builder and are Holy?" That's Ava Williams. She works with Mei'la in the power core and specializes on the other systems like Gravity. The non reactor systems basically.

I nod "As near as I can tell, yes."

"You should see the statue they have out front of their administration building." Omar sounds excited. "it's a dead ringer for a human woman in a pressure suit, and she's making some grand gesture pointing down their promenade."

"Oh, that's the other thing." I say before Omar can go on about the statue. "They say they have a population of ten million. Given that they also practice slavery, I bet it's even more than that if they're not outright lying about numbers."

When I mention the slavery, everyone looks a combination of upset, surprised and sad. Wow, I really am getting better at reading body language!

"Ten Million? Kieran shakes his head. "Impossible. Where would they get their food? From other systems? There's no planet here."

"They can't go into other systems. They all thought the Warp Gates were disabled until we came through. They told us that they have a planetoid left "by the Builders" that was hollowed out and has soil and an artificial sun and they grow food there."

Kieran looks incredulous. "I mean, it's possible sure. But... Call me skeptical. I don't think so."

Selem looks pained. She's getting annoyed at these tangents. Before she says anything I try and bring things back. "The other thing is that there seems to be two different sapient species who are in charge. The Aviens and the Mariens. The Aviens are like this bird looking people- " Fer'resi puts an image up on the screen when I say that. Looks like he was surreptitiously taking photos. "- and the Mariens are like... octopus people?" Fer'resi puts up an image of them. He then adds on images of all the different sapient species we saw. "I don't know if there are any others, but that's all I saw while we were walking to and from the Administration offices." He says, sheepishly.

Captain Q'ari nods "Well done Fer'resi. That was smart work."

I agree. "Thanks Fer'resi. It looks like the Aviens and the Mariens are - if not in outright war - are in a Cold War with each other. Given how they mentioned that the Gates have been closed for "three generations" I'm going to assume that what happened at the other location - which is called Wilds of Besmara by the way - caused the Gates to be locked. Someone locked the Gate on this side to keep something out, or someone locked the Gate on the other side to protect the people here. Either way, we opened the Gate and I don't know if it was locked behind us."

Mitchel - the other chef with Fer'resi - leans back in his chair and looks up at the ceiling. "So they think you're a God, we might have opened up the Gate to something that obliterated a whole system, the people here are squaring up for a fight and they keep slaves?"

"That's the long and short of it, yes." I said.

"Shit. We don't do things by half measures, do we." He said with a sad chuckle. "So, what do we do, Captain?"

Selem ran her hand over her ear absentmindedly. She's under a lot of strain now. "I don't know." She stopped. "No, I do know. The smart thing to do is blow our connection to the umbilical, and leave. Go to the next address, go home, whatever. If we stay, we're going to get even more involved in this..." She gestured. "Mess. But, if we do that we're going to contribute to possibly making a real hard time for the millions of sapients who supposedly live here." She looked out at us. "We're only a small team and one Starjumper kitted out for exploration. What do you think we should do?"

FarReach was first. "I'd like to help them, if we can. Look, if things get hot, I have a hunch we can take them on easily. Melody's pressure suit was scratched when she was shot, that was it. I can print everyone armored pressure suits like hers, if we needed to. It would only take a couple days to get everyones done. I already have your measurements. Based on the weapon she was shot with, I have a hunch that if any of the starships docked around us can fire back, we can destroy them without even going to WEP. We utterly outmatch them. They can't hurt us."

Captain Q'ari sat up a little. "That is a good point FarReach, Thanks for the perspective. If we're working hard to not accidentally massacre them, it's not like they can really cause us harm unless we get complacent or are tricked. But what do we do? Pick a side? That doesn't sound right to me. Defeat them both? Then we're in charge of the lives of millions onboard and as good as we are, I don't think the 12 of us can or want to run a Starbase."

As we sat there deliberating our next step FarReach came over the speakers. "Uh, everyone? There's a group of people at our umbilical."

Selem looks up. "The same people we were talking to before?"

"No. These people look..." FarReach struggled to find words "More... fanatical?"

Oh no.

"Can you show us please?" I ask, dreading the answer.

On our pads and the main screen FarReach shows us. It's a group of all different Sapients. The Aviens, the Mariens, the insect people, the ones we saw in pressure suits and at least two more. They're swaying and moving together. FarReach activates the audio fee and we hear that they're...

"Singing?" Omar says.

FarReach agrees. "Yes, they're singing."

Part 12

[mii-cherry]

The Curse of Ramshackle

I try my best to hold on to the vision to try and find it again in the dark of my dreams but nothing is coming back, Frustration fills my head.

Why? Why do these visions come by with meaning to this world , only for most of them to be so useless!

Why?. . .

Why?. .

Why!

WHY

"WHY SHOW ME SOMETHING I CAN'T UNDERSTAND!?"

"MMMRRAAA WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED!?"

I'm shot up from my sleep, breathing heavily with sweat on my forehead my chest is tight with frustration I come back to seeing my room again and how bright it was through the curtains.

"What was that all about Kuro!? Did something eat our food!?" Grim asked confused from my earlier outburst.

Calming down a bit I answered Grim's question "It's nothing, I just had another one of those dreams again."

"Eh you mean the ones you had about the seven? But didn't you already go through all of em?" Grim asked confused.

"Yeah, I thought so too but this one was about a. . . Sack man and . . . Santa Clause?" I still try to wrap my head around the dream this time around.

" Uhhh what's a Santa Clause?"

Oh, right twst doesn't seem to have a Santa Clause at least that I know of.

"He's a guy that gives presents to behaving kids around winter from my world he's a holiday figure" I try to explain but I'm not gonna bet on Grim getting it right away.

"Well any important info about the dream?" Grim inquiries

"Nothing that is relevant at this moment maybe it will be useful later?." I'm not very confident with this dream it doesn't seem to have any relevancy with the seven and any of the dorms.

"Well, if It's not useful to us I will be getting my morning tuna!" Grim said excitedly hopping off the bed to head downstairs

I sigh letting my last bits of anger go, taking my phone from the night stand I look at the time.

10:34 am

Oh right Ace and Duece are coming over today, I should probably get up too.

I get up to start the morning but the last moment my dream nags at the back of my head it seems more significant more. . . Present? The hole in the wall felt real it felt like I could reach it right there.

_________________________________________

The rest of the morning goes normally and before I knew it there was a knock at the door already.

"I'm gonna get the door."

Opening the front door revealed the two Heartslabyul trouble makers Ace already waiting impatiently.

"Sup, Kuro! Didn't get bored without us did you?" Ace said in his snarky way as always.

"We brought some dessert from Trey-san!" Duece holds up a basket of pastries.

"It was only a day believe me I was fine." I replied back.

I stepped aside with Ace making himself at home right away on the couch, Duece placed the basket on the coffee table taking a seat next to Ace.

"Mra, you guys brought dessert!" Grim appeared already taking a pastry from the basket.

"Oi, don't eat everything I still want some too!" Ace scolded Grim taking one for himself as well.

The rest of the time was spent talking about everyone's week and also mostly Ace complaining about random things

_________________________________________

an hour has passed by now with Ace still going on about Riddles punishment from yesterday.

"I think it's unreasonable to have to do all these dumb rules while I have way more important tasks to do!" Ace complaint

*crack*

"Yeah, busy doing nothing you were just playing games on your phone!" Duece retorts back.

*Crack*

"You guys can't go on an hour without bickering eh" Grim said pasty in his hands

*Crack!*

There is a cracking sound echoing in the distance

Do they not hear it or am I being crazy?

I look at the hallway and the sound seems to be somewhere where the cracking of wood is blurred, I have long tunned out Ace, Duece and Grim my sight is only on the faraway noise.

*CRACK*

Whatever conversation that happened was put to a halt all four of us staring in the hallways direction.

"Uhh, what was that?" Duece asked

"Maybe It was the rats!"

"Rats? No way that was rats, that was super loud!" Ace looked at Grim confused

Getting up from my seat I start to head to the source of the noise

"Wait, Kuro you don't know what made that noise! It could be a super rat for all we know!" Grim came after me scared with Aduece duo coming fast after.

"Really? Super rat is the best you can think of?"

I follow where I think the noise came from, It seems to come from the complete back of Ramshackle the way is blocked by a door at end of the hall walls and floor is allot more dirtier and broken than in front because nobody comes here.

"Wait, wait, wait we're not going to actually go through the door, right?" Duece asked concerned about what could be found.

"What? You scared?" Ace teased

"A-Am not! If anything you'll be scared!"

I open the door, for some reason I feel drawn to the noise.

I need to know

I need to know what that is. . .

Holes and wild spider webs hang along the walls of the room the decay is all over this room, It seems to have been a study of some kind broken book shelf with withering books laying about.

"I don't think we've been here before." I say moving more inside the room to get a better look.

"Be careful guys we don't know what could be hier." Duece said to all of us.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Ace and Grim said I unison.

Duece just rolled his eyes at their antics

I come to the middle of the room at the end of a wall is a giant decorative mirror with a green glowing gem at the top embedded in the mirror there are also big cracks in it, it seems to ooze a black goo.

"Oi, What's that gross looking stuff?" Ace looked curiously from afar at the mirror.

"Eh, it smells pretty tasty!" Grim sniffed the air for more of the scent

"Grim, please don't eat that!" Duece pleaded with him.

Approaching the mirror I watch the goo I take a good look at it and recognize it

"It's. . . Blot." I said worriedly

"You sure Kur-

*SLAM*

The door where we came from slammed itself shut we all immediately rushed toward the door

Ace tries hard to open the door again but to no avail it stays firmly shut

" Ugh! Fuck it won't open!" Frustration comes from Ace.

" Let me try!"Duece yelled determined, he placed this foot against the wall hands tightly to the door knob and pulled as hard as he could but nothing budget.

"C'mon try harder!!!" Grim started to panic

"I'M TRYING!"

*CRACK*

We look back to the mirror and it gained more cracks suddenly the blot oozing out of them more vigorously than before

"Break down the door if you have to!" I yelled toward the others.

"AhahhahAHAHAHA!!!"

A deranged laughter is heard beyond the mirror I look back to see the blot coming together to form something

"FINALY,OUT Of THAT ICKY BLOT HOLE!"

The form is now part of a formed person head and chest out with a single arm reaching out of the mirror.

"I might just split a seam with all this excitement!"

[fandomwe1rd0]

This fanfic was heavily inspired by @starrbitez fic called "Sleep it off" which is based on what happened after Beth chose Summer to leave over Morty with no hesistation, which is what my fic will be about too! Go check them out! They make others good fics and posts as well!

Morty violently thrashed around but it was pointless. He was stuck. Summer was attempting the same thing, but it was hopeless, burning stones were holding their limbs in place. They were unable to talk as well, courtesy of another hot stone in their mouth. The only sounds they could get out were muffled screams. The alien warlord walked over to Beth, his steps slow and sure while Beth was just staring at the scene before her in a thorny chair, her jaw to the floor, and her eyes switching between Morty and Summer. "I'm not an unreasonable man Beth Smith. I know children are everything to a mammal. I will spare one of their lives." Beth's eyes immediately landed on Summer. Everything was going by so fast that Morty barely noticed it. The alien warlord continued "You simply have to choose-" He barely finished his sentence, and without even a second thought Beth yelled "SUMMER!" Morty's eyes widened. No, no, it couldn't of been that. She just blurted out the first name that came to mind, surely she would think about it- Beth continued shortly after "Summer." He saw Summer look at him, her eyes a silent apology. Morty nearly jolted when he heard the familiar sound of a portal opening, providing a quick break from his racing thoughts, Rick shot the alien warlord. "You're not gonna believe this, I went to Phoebe instead of Titan. It's like, 'Hello Saturn! After 10 moons, it's time to stop naming and start numbering!' Y'know?" Everyone was silent. Rick looked around, not used to nobody entertaining his jokes. "What's with you assholes?" Nobody responded. Rick shrugged and released the kids' from their restraints. He opened up a portal and everyone walked through it.

Morty stayed holed up in his room. He heard screaming, the walls not doing much to muffle it. He heard Summer screaming "MOM! YOU COULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND!?" He heard Beth yelling back, her words slurred "You better be- shouldddd be gratefullll! I...I choose you!" Summer groaned "Did you see Morty's face!?" Beth groaned "He....he...he...he'll be fineeeee he's a tough lil'....he's a lil'...he's a solider...he can...he can handle it..." Summer groaned "His mom just chose his sister over him with no hesitation!" He heard Beth gag "Mom's...mommy's not feeling...good..too...too well Summer. Can we...can we...can we talk about this later?" He heard Summer huff "FINE! But this isn't over!" then he heard what he assumed was Summer's footsteps retreating.

He hugged his knees to his chest. What was Morty supposed to think? Sure his mom wasn't perfect, he knew that much, but he hopes that she would've had a little hesitation. But it was just...instant.

His mom was fully willing to let him die for his sister. The favorite.

She was probably Rick's favorite as well, always enabling him. Always stroking his ego. Fucking enabler. Fucking pushover-

He stopped himself. What was wrong with him? Why was he blaming her? It's not like it was her fault. But those were now his only thoughts whenever he looked at Summer. "Favorite. Favorite. Favorite." Fucking little miss perfect. He quickly slapped himself. Stop thinking like this! She's your sister! It's not her fault she's better than you! Get a grip! Why would someone love you more than her?! The voice inside of his head screamed this at him over and over. Until he was a sobbing quivering mess. The worst part? It was right. He was blaming Summer. She literally did nothing! He eventually passed out crying.

He was awoken when he heard Rick's voice, he pressed his ear against the wall to hear it better, since Rick was talking pretty quietly "What happened?" Beth talked, Morty was barely about to decipher her words "Summer...angry.....alien...I chose Summer...Morty angry..." Rick sighed "The alien warlord said you could save Summer or Morty, and you chose Summer with no hesitation." Beth choked on a sob and started crying "Am I....am I....am I a....am I a bad mom?" Rick sighed "It's not really my place to judge other parents, Sweetie." A bit later in the day he heard a knock.

Morty didn't want anyone to come in, but he knew that wouldn't stop whoever was knocking to come in anyway. He let out, in his best fake happy voice, feeling betrayed by the shakiness in his voice, "Come in!" Rick said, "Hey buddy...dinner's ready...you wanna at least try to eat?" Morty shook his head and he heard Rick's footsteps growing closer as he rested a hand on Morty's shoulder "You ok...?" Morty wiped his tears and let out an unconvincing "Mhm..." Rick sighed as he placed a hand on Morty's back "Your mom's a bag of dicks, you shouldn't care about what she thinks." Morty stayed silent, looking at his lap. Not wanting Rick to see the tears brimming in his eyes. After a few moments of awkward silence, Morty's lip started trembling, Rick patted his back and Morty just cried into Rick's chest. Rick gulped, he didn't want to do this, but he also didn't want to see Morty like this "Hey Morty...can you look up here for a second?" Morty shook his head but Rick sighed and let out a begrudging "Please?" Morty looked up, his big wet eyes making Rick wince. He's seen Morty upset before, but never like this. He hated it. He stroked Morty's hair, hoping to both comfort him and distract him as took out his memory gun, removing Morty's memory of that. Morty passed out, Rick freaked out the first time, but this was normal after he had his memory erased. He tucked Morty in, and left the room, silently closing the door behind him, why did he do that? Morty was passed out, not asleep, it's not like he would wake up at a loud noise, but whatever. He put the memory in a purple vial, purple being the family's fault, and placed it in Morty's mindblowers, Rick's archive of Morty's deleted memories.

[bloody-bee-tea]

BeeTober 2023 Day 10 - Agreement

Albedo is in the middle of an experiment when Kaeya comes into the lab. He hasn’t been here often, so of course he immediately has all of Albedo’s attention.

It’s not as if they are friends, really, but they are friendly enough with each other that Albedo doesn’t immediately suspect work as the sole reason for Kaeya to come here. They’ve talked about private things before—hardly unavoidable with both their histories—and they shared lunch once or twice.

They are on a good way to be friends and so Albedo gives Kaeya a smile when he steps more firmly into the room.

Kaeya’s face tells him that this is not a completely friendly visit, though. And Albedo is proven right when Kaeya speaks.

“Can we talk for a moment?” he asks and his eyes dart to Sucrose, who pretends to the best of her abilities to not be there. “In private?”

“Sure,” Albedo says with a frown. “Your office?”

“Perfect,” Kaeya shortly says and walks right back out, not even waiting for Albedo to catch up to him.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” Albedo tells Sucrose, who almost spills the fluid she’s using in her own experiment at being addressed directly.

“Alright,” she whispers out and Albedo knows that she wants to offer to leave, so they can talk here, but that’s hardly necessary, when Kaeya’s office is two doors down and definitely empty.

Kaeya is already waiting for him when Albedo closes the door behind him and he turns towards him with a raised eyebrow.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Listen, this might sound strange but we’ve been getting close, right?” Kaeya asks and Albedo nods, because they have.

They are on their best way to be good friends, Albedo guesses and he likes that thought. He doesn’t have many friends. Or any, really.

“Okay, so—” Kaeya takes a deep breath before he goes on, “You’re not allowed to fall in love with me.”

At that Albedo blinks.

“Excuse me?”

“Like I said, it must sound strange to you, but you’re not allowed to, alright. We can be close-ish and all and we can even be friends, but you cannot fall in love with me. Are we in agreement about that?”

“Where is this coming from?” Albedo asks because not once did he think of Kaeya like that before.

Did he overstep somehow? Human interactions are still sometimes strange to him, so it’s entirely possible but he thought Kaeya would tell him directly if that were the case.

This feels different.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kaeya dismissively says. “Just, agree and we can move on, alright?”

“No, not alright,” Albedo snaps out. “You’re not going to dictate what I can and can’t feel. I’m here to grow and experiencing human emotions in all their entirety is a part of that. I will not allow you to decide who I can fall in love with.”

“Albedo—” Kaeya starts but now Albedo is mad that Kaeya even thought he would agree to this.

“No. What brought this on?” Albedo crosses his arms in front of his chest, and since he’s still positioned close to the door it’s not as if Kaeya could simply leave to avoid the conversation even though that clearly is what he’d like to do.

Albedo thinks that if he wants to leave so badly, he’ll need to jump out of the window. He wouldn’t put it past Kaeya but he still doesn’t move.

“Nothing,” Kaeya quickly says and Albedo gives him an unimpressed look.

“If you make a request that unreasonable you better have a good reason for it,” Albedo tells him and he’s content to wait him out until the truth spills out of Kaeya.

Kaeya might be good at getting information out of people by flirting and lowering their inhibitions but Albedo learned that most people are uncomfortable with prolonged silences and will simply tell him what he wants to know so they can leave.

It might not be the most refined technique but it usually works.

Just like today.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kaeya mutters, much sooner than Albedo expected him to if he’s being honest.

“If you are jumping to conclusions about my feelings and trying to dissuade me from something that hasn’t even happened yet it clearly does. So maybe try again.”

Kaeya lets out a harsh breath before he turns away from Albedo. He moves closer to the window, and Albedo is almost on the move, trying to stop him from throwing himself out of it but Kaeya simply stares out of the window.

“It’s just—” It seems as if Kaeya has some trouble finding the words for this but Albedo is still content to wait him out, let him sort through his thoughts so he can explain this in a way that will make sense to Albedo.

Not that he thinks there is a way to make Kaeya’s unreasonable request reasonable, but it can’t hurt to let Kaeya try. And Albedo has to admit that by now he’s quite curious, too.

“The people I care for, they get hurt or die, one way or another,” Kaeya whispers and Albedo doesn’t know his entire backstory, but he knows enough to understand where he’s coming from. “That shouldn’t happen to you.”

It’s—an odd consideration Kaeya shows him here, that much Albedo will admit, but there’s a fundamental flaw in his logic.

“To be quite frank, that sounds like a you problem, though,” Albedo says, and he does feel a little bad when Kaeya flinches. “You make it sound as if the people you care for suffer that fate, not the other way round. So shouldn’t you promise me that you’re not going to fall in love with me?”

Albedo thinks maybe the words he said were too harsh when he sees how Kaeya’s face falls, when he sees the desperation take over but he doesn’t know how to take them back.

Isn’t even sure if he really wants to, because when they get down to it, when they follow Kaeya’s logic on this, they are still true.

Kaeya doesn’t say anything though and in the end Albedo sighs.

“Listen, Kaeya, I don’t care. Fate is not a thing I put much trust in, so agree to disagree on this, alright? We can forget about this too, if you’d rather have that.”

“You’ll regret this,” Kaeya whispers, still without turning back to him but Albedo simply shrugs.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Only time will tell.”

“How can you be so—nonchalant about something like that?” Kaeya wants to know and he sounds envious though Albedo is sure that he won’t like the answer Albedo has for him.

The only reason he can be this nonchalant about potential doom is because nothing bad happened to him yet; he doesn’t know how much it hurts or how thoroughly something can destroy a life. It’s clear that Kaeya does, though, so of course he’d try anything to avoid going through something similar.

“I don’t know,” Albedo lies to him because he thinks it might be the kinder option. “I’ll go back to my experiment now, if there’s nothing else?”

Kaeya stays stubbornly quiet at that and so Albedo takes his leave for now.

There’s much to think about, but he will make sure to find Kaeya for lunch tomorrow. Albedo is not going to let some potential disaster destroy something he enjoys.

~*~*~

Albedo waits until they made their way to Windrise, Klee running through the water and laughing her adorable, slightly worrying laugh before he turns to Kaeya.

“Can I say something?” Albedo asks, and grins when Kaeya barely spares him a glance, too focused on making sure that Klee is safe.

“Sure,” he distractedly gives back. “Hey, Klee, careful! Stay in our sight, alright?”

“Alright, big brother Kaeya!” she screams back and then prompts disappears behind some hill.

“This girl, honestly,” Kaeya mutters as he gets up. “One moment, okay, I’m just going to make sure she’s alright.”

“Sure,” Albedo gives back, trying to hide his amusement, because this is simply proving the point he’s going to make to Kaeya.

He watches fondly how Kaeya runs after her and then promptly gets roped into some game Klee came up with on the spot. It will be a while until Kaeya comes back, Albedo knows that from experience, so he concentrates on the canvas he has in front of him.

A picture of Kaeya and Klee seems like the only viable option this afternoon and even though he can draw them both from memory, Albedo leans around his canvas from time to time, simply to watch them.

Both Kaeya and Klee are soaked from head to toe and Albedo wonders not for the first time how her bombs still work even when they are wet. He’ll have to ask her about it one day, he decides and then promptly gets distracted when Klee slips and falls into the water, making Kaeya laugh so hard that he falls in right after her.

Children, the both of them, Albedo thinks, with so much love that sometimes he wonders where he stores it all inside himself.

Kaeya only comes back to him when Klee has tired herself out and she’s already half asleep on his hip by the time he makes it to their blanket.

“Sorry,” Kaeya sheepishly says, clearly remembering that Albedo wanted to talk about something but he still takes the time to gently lay her down and cover her with a second blanket they brought, for exactly this case.

It’s not the first time Kaeya tucked her in like that—far from it actually—but Albedo still doesn’t tire of seeing him be so soft and gentle with her.

“Okay, now. What did you want to talk about?” Kaeya finally asks as he gives Albedo his complete attention and it’s a testament to their relationship that Kaeya doesn’t even seem worried.

“Listen, I can’t help but to think,” Albedo starts and knows it was the complete wrong approach when Kaeya gives him a cheeky smile.

“Oh, that’s always dangerous,” he teases him and he looks so radiant in his happiness that Albedo wants to kiss him.

Maybe he’ll even be allowed soon.

“You love Klee,” Albedo says and he doesn’t even phrase it as a question because even a blind man can see how Kaeya adores the little girl.

“I do,” Kaeya says, his face softening as he looks over to her.

“And she loves you, too,” Albedo says, because that, too, is more than obvious.

“It would seem that way, yes.” He looks back at Albedo, now a frown on his face. “Is this what you wanted to talk about?”

“Remember that talk we had, where you told me not to fall in love with you?” Albedo asks him and he can pinpoint the exact moment Kaeya remembers, because his face closes off.

“What about it?”

“I told you then, that it’s a you problem, right? And you already love Klee, so you definitely have to fight fate should it come knocking on your door with some calamity.”

“Klee is not going to get hurt,” Kaeya rushes out as if Albedo could be worried about that.

He knows that Kaeya would rather kill himself than let anything happen to her.

“I know that. You clearly know it, too, because you’re going to protect her.”

“Of course I will.”

“Okay, then,” Albedo says with a nod and now comes the part that has his heart beating faster in his own chest.

He doesn’t think he read all of this wrong, but a last bit of doubt is left nonetheless.

“Then what stops you from loving me, too, if you already have to fight fate for Klee? What’s one more person, right?”

Kaeya stares at him, his mouth slightly open and Albedo goes on.

“I didn’t agree to your stupid proposal back then, if you remember, and these days I find that I’m glad about that.”

“Albedo—”

“Because I did fall in love with you. I’m pretty sure that agreement wouldn’t have stopped me from doing that anyway, but at least like this I don’t have to feel guilty about it.”

“Would you stop talking?” Kaeya finally gets out and Albedo is surprised to see a faint blush on his cheeks.

He didn’t know Kaeya could blush.

“Why? Do you not like what you’re hearing?”

“How can you just say it like that?” Kaeya wants to know, his voice strangled as he buries his face in his hands.

“Why shouldn’t I if it’s true?”

“By the Seven, petal, you’re killing me.”

The nickname is new, and it makes Albedo smile.

“That’s not my intention,” he honestly says, and for some reason that makes Kaeya chuckle.

“I wouldn’t just fight fate for you,” Kaeya finally admits and moves his hands off his face. “I would fight the Seven as well.”

 “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kaeya whispers and reaches out to take Albedo’s hand in his. “I’m in love with you, too, you know?”

“Yeah, thought so,” Albedo cheekily gives back, even though his heart is threatening to beat right out of his chest with happiness and it only gets worse when Kaeya laughs at that.

“You’re insufferable. You were back then, too.”

“Must be a good quality of mine, then, if you still fell for me.”

“One of the ones I like best. Just like all other qualities of yours,” Kaeya immediately replies and he seems so earnest about it that now it’s Albedo’s turn to blush.

“Okay but for real,” he says as he tries to get himself back under control. “You know nothing bad is going to happen to me or Klee just because you love us, right?” he can’t help but to ask because this has bothered him ever since Kaeya came to him with that stupid proposal.

“We’ll see,” Kaeya noncommittally says and Albedo squeezes his hand because he can see the worry in his eye.

“We’re not helpless. We can take care of ourselves and we have you to take care of us, too. We’ll be perfectly safe. I promise. And I still don’t think much of fate, so I doubt we have anything to worry over.”

“Now you’re just tempting fate,” Kaeya moans out and then tugs on Albedo’s hand to pull him close. “Promise me, petal, if you ever think that being with me is hurting you or Klee, you’ll leave.”

Albedo doesn’t like this, because Kaeya still thinks so badly about himself, but it’s something he can agree wholeheartedly to since in his mind, as long as Kaeya is not actively attacking them, there isn’t anything to worry about.

“That is a proposal I can agree to,” Albedo says and presses a kiss to Kaeya’s chin. “Because it will never come to that.”

“Okay,” Kaeya whispers and Albedo knows how much it means that he decides to trust Albedo on this.  “Now, here’s one more proposal,” he then says with a suggestive eyebrow waggle and Albedo blinks at him.

“Kaeya, no!” he rushes out because he cannot mean what Albedo thinks he means. It’s way too early for marriage!

Kaeya bursts into laughter, clearly enjoying the shock on Albedo’s face and he topples them both over on the blanket, arranging Albedo to his liking until they are facing each other.

“A little bit early for that, petal,” Kaeya whispers into the scant space between them. “I was about to propose we go to my place afterwards, so I can make you two dinner.”

“You’re the worst,” Albedo complaints but he scoots closer until he can steal a kiss for himself before he rests their foreheads together. “But I agree.”

“Mh,” Kaeya hums and slings his arms around Albedo. “You better sound more enthusiastic when I propose for real,” he mumbles with his eyes closed as if it’s already a given that that is going to happen one day and Albedo wonders just how much he really believes that he’s going to hurt them if he already thinks this far.

Or maybe, he simply trusts Albedo enough to believe him when he says there’s nothing to worry about.

“I will be,” Albedo promises him and then closes his eyes, too.

It’s an agreement Albedo can get behind and it’s not long before they both fall asleep, a smile on their faces and thoughts of their future in their dreams.

[lonely-cats-blog]

I left school and went to my dad's office, hoping he could drop me off at home real quick before getting back to work. He said we could but we can't leave just yet, so I waited. We then left 2 hours later.

When I got home I was fucking starving cause I haven't eaten since 10:00 am, cause my schools lunch is unreasonably early, and I asked my roommate if I could her leftovers from yesterday. I knew she wasn't gonna eat them and that she'd say yes, so I probably didn't even need to ask but I'm not that much of an asshole.

And then she was like "oh I'm actually still kinda hungry from swimming 🥺👉👈" mind you, she got home an hour ago and was swimming hours ago by this point, and so my dad told her to put in the microwave and she did and then I didn't have anything to eat and I've been wanting that good all day cause it's good and I'm starving.

And then my dad got food out of the fridge and was somewhat trying to help me choose something, but I didn't want anything else, I had been hoping for that for hours all day and it was part of my plan. He kept insisting that we have chicken nuggets but I ate those when I was sick and we don't have any left.

And we got into this like, mini argument going back and forth and he was like "well I asked you if you wanted to go to Walmart and get a snack when we left the office" BUT WE DIDN'T. he asked me to go to no frills and get a lasagna, those are not the same thing and I would've gone to Walmart to get a snack if he offered it, except for the fact I wanted the leftovers and I had a whole plan for them.

And he put his food in the microwave but on his way over he fucking feel through a vent on the floor that broke off and hurt his foot and then I had to try to comfort him and fix it but he was crying and kept yelling at me to leave him alone and I just wanted some fucking chicken that my roommate was now eating.

And I had to clean up the food that spilled, took me like 5 minutes but it was gross and annoying.

If I had just eaten it no one would've stopped me or given a fuck.

Anyways now I'm sitting in bed and I'm still fucking hungry with nothing else to eat and I wanna go to Walmart but that's never gonna happen now.

[mdhwrites]

So, what do you think would have happened to Amphibia if its third season got shortened down to three hour long specials like Owl House did?

So A: this question is flawed. The shortening wasn't told to TOH's crew post S2. They were told WELL in advance. Dana is on record (source) for having said as much. The news came down on episode 7 of S2. Reasonably, this probably meant not a lot of S2A could have been changed due to deadlines but I don't know how all this works that well. For the sake of this, I'm going to mostly assume that something could have started changing starting episode eight and more drastic changes could be done after the mid season hiatus.

B: TOH needed S2B to mostly look identical to setup for going into the human realm, for having the Day of Unity as the finale and for the Collector to be set up as a villain by then. There are maybe two episodes you could change but nothing that is emblematic of the problems of S2B as a whole. Here's an entire blog about that. Btw, I published that blog before the finale came out and my opinion is mostly that that blog is kinder than it should have been.

C: I am not going to say this is a better version of Amphibia. Some might though. A lot of people think S2B and S3 of Amphibia is loaded with what they see as filler. Even I agree that you could probably cut a fair amount and not lose the core of the show. I'm about to demonstrate that. Also, just inherently because of a faster pace, the show would have to be more about the trio, or feel that way at least (again, I'll get into it), which the majority of the Amphibia fandom argues is what the show should have done anyways. So yeah, it's kind of an interesting conundrum.

D: I'll mostly talk about the weaknesses of this rewrite once I'm done. For anyone who needs a refresher though: S2, Episode 7 of Amphibia, the last one before this change, is one after Marcy at the Gates and has the segments "Scavenger Hunt" and "The Plantars Check In." Oh and before I get to the three specials, I'll mostly just be trying to slot in episode segments because that feels the most fair to actually capture a reasonable timeline for the show. Like I'm not coming up with cheats to handwave issues that this change would cause. As such, I'm not going to do something like cut The First Temple in half just for the sake of claiming more time. Once we get to the specials, that will change because those episodes' structures would have inherently changed, kind of like how The Hardest Thing has a different structure due to its extended run time. Until then though? I'll mostly be trying to effectively Mad Libs this off of what we already have despite the fact that the creators would have, at least if they're responsible, made changes to work within their new time frame. I'm going to give myself one unreasonable shift in return for this handicap effectively of not being able to change the core structure of the show or its plot points.

ANYWAYS. With that out of the way:

For the sake of pacing, you probably do Lost in Newtopia and then the Sleepover to End All Sleepovers as episode 8 because we can't literally go straight into leaving Newtopia and one could argue that the sleepover is important foreshadowing. However, the next episode is then a double whammy of A Day at the Aquarium to say farewell to Newtopia and still have that touching confirmation of the found family before then skipping Night Drivers and going straight to Return to Wartwood for the second segment, bringing us up to nine.

Then I would actually move Toad to Redemption into the first slot for episode ten because it is thematically important and a good rallying moment for Wartwood. You could also replace with Ivy on the Run for the sake of Sprivy and just make episode 13 into episode 10 by making After the Rain be the mid season finale. It's dramatic enough to do so and lets:

The First Temple opens S2B and episode 15 of the normal show, New Wartwood and Friend or Frobo stays too in order to help setup Wartwood's relationship with humans besides Anne and to get Frobo in. That brings the count to 12.

Then you do episode 17 as episode 13, Barrel's Warhammer and The Second Temple, because we do still need a bit more time with Sasha to prep for True Colors and The Second Temple is obvious. However, I'd probably swap their positions because then episode 14 is The Third Temple (so you don't have two temples literally back to back, even if the two are different episodes like in the actual show) and The Dinner... With Battle of the Bands being cut. It's Sasha's weakest episode, is just kind of reinforcement of a few elements and some expansion on the three's relationship, though mostly Anne and Sasha. The Dinner is needed though to get Sasha with the other two and heading to Newtopia because...

There is a quarter season finale now with True Colors. It is ABSOLUTELY the most radical choice in this rewrite and you could arguably say that it's not fair because Disney wouldn't have allowed them to have that episode as anything but a season finale. This is the only 'cheat' I'll give myself since I'm not altering episodes drastically or the like to fit in with the new time frame. Plus side: They'd have the compelling pitch that in five episodes, they CAN get back to Amphibia to make that the season finale. Otherwise there isn't really much to change before S3 because so much has to wait on the major turn of Andrias becoming the main villain. That version of this outline though, that S2 doesn't change at ALL, is... A genuine nightmare on a lot of fronts and honestly less reasonable than thinking this would be allowed and I'll get to why after the outline. Oh, there is one change that needs to happen unfortunately: Frobo probably doesn't make it in this version after this. Polly and him unfortunately just aren't important enough to really get the wrap up they do in S3. It does mean that mechanic Polly during the ending probably has an RC robo or the like with her to help explain where her being a mechanic came from.

Anywhos: Episode 16 is The New Normal... Mixed with Anne-sterminator. Anne is honest about the danger they're in from go and instead of the quarantine montage, we get her actually beating the Cloak Bot first try to show how far she's come to her parents and to show off the new powers alongside their cost.

Then you do Fight at the Museum followed by Turning Point for episode 17 to start the ball rolling on getting back as well as get Sasha into place and finish up her arc.

Episode 18 has Temple Frogs because the Plantars DO need to still connect with Earth and Temple Frogs is EASILY the best episode of that as it explores how different Anne is from the start of the show and how that isn't entirely a good thing because of the things she's now ignoring, fits thematically with the show as a whole and is just a lot of fun. The other side meanwhile is Olivia and Yunan. I would almost not advocate for keeping this episode for a lot of reasons but it's kind of necessary in order to set up for:

The Core and the King is in episode 19 because Andrias' backstory is REALLY important to how he is beat and to also understand what the Core is and what the kingdom of Amphibia can do. What the stakes are to all of this. It is also the one segment in the actual show itself that explores the villain so you can't really cut it. The other half of the episode though is If You Give a Frog a Cookie because we need Terry.

Especially because you might have noticed that I didn't include Mr. X. There just isn't room for them for the most part which luckily... Is okay. He's fun but his parts can be mostly replaced either with faceless people or Terry. You can also just go with his first appearance actually being him taking the Plantars in this episode. Maybe there's been foreshadowing at the end of Earth segments of someone watching. Something that only takes a few seconds but builds up to honestly having Escape to Amphibia be mostly the same as it was but with a reduced cast and less familiarity with Mr. X as a villain.

So that covers S2. Now there are 3 45 minute specials on average to cover all of S3B. Or more so there's two specials to cover the seven episodes between Escape to Amphibia and The Hardest Thing because Amphibia's finale already had an extended time slot. As 45 minutes is effectively two episodes each, you need to save on three episodes. Six segments.

That's... easier said than done because the segments are actually incredibly important to Amphibia's storytelling and these specials could technically be split into four segments each but more likely they actually have to tell a through line story per special. You can't jump AS MUCH as you could before.

So Special 1 starts with effectively Commander. The reintroduction to Wartwood and the finalizing of Sasha's new self after her character arc is not something you can really leave out. Plus side is that Commander Anne is a really efficient eleven minutes to introduce what Amphibia is like now and you probably don't do the pampered brat routine with the Plantars which is not a real loss. The theme of this special though is allies so the target of Sasha's mission when Anne gets back changes.

The goal is now to free Mother Olm. This way you can skip the Olms themselves and still get the prophecy and foresight from Mother Olm that sets up the finale. It also allows a smooth transition into meeting with Mother Olm in general. She warns them they'll need allies once they're done and we get a montage of the a lot of what people consider filler in S3 with getting allies, though mostly the Toads, Newts and the Killerpillars probably. You could also do this with people splitting up so that each one gets a truncated version of the full segment to get them. Then the final portion of the special is Sasha and Anne hoping their efforts paid off before Sprig shows Lief's hidden room to get Lief's letter.

Then Special 2 is effectively episodes 16 and 17 of S3. Just consolidating the army, heading out, then protecting Earth after midway through the special everything goes wrong. Not really anything even has to be changed here really except just smoothing out the transitions between segments. Admittedly, the Plantars probably rely more on Domino 2 to replace the loss of Frobo and unfortunately Polly just doesn't have a lot to do in All In.

Then Special 3 is literally just The Hardest Thing. Pretty much no changes I think because the elements for it have still been covered.

And that's it. It's not by any means perfect of course. Elements are rushed and some elements probably feel neglected or abandoned entirely. I already mentioned Polly but this version also means Sprivy is ignored post S1 effectively and just has a nice come back at the end of the finale (which is a good argument for Ivy on the Run over Toad of Redemption for the filler segment in episode 10 of the rewrite). Worse yet... Sprig is kind of ignored and Anne and his friendship is mostly left fallow. I admittedly don't think the show does the best job keeping it burning post S1 but S1 sells it HARD already as part of the stable base of the show so it's not a big problem. It also harms the connection to Amphibia itself so a line like "They aren't Amphibia's greatest treasure" doesn't hit as hard.

It would almost certainly feel actually rushed... Which is a fuckton better than what happened with TOH because TOH doesn't feel rushed. Its three specials are incredibly bloated with plotlines THEY introduce, or S2B introduced, that go nowhere. Or hell, resolutions that mean nothing, like how Luz finishes her character arc THREE. FUCKING. TIMES. Even people who love TOH still will admit the majority of For the Future is filler. That it does nothing to actually move anything forward, wrap much of anything up that couldn't have been left alone (besides Stringbean but that moment is cut off at the knees immediately by the finale's dream sequence) and those are people who won't bring up how Willow had her power problems resolved literally two seasons ago. S3 is so bankrupt on what to do to fill the time that they bring it back anyways, alongside Kikimora who has NO REASON to still be a villain we're dealing with.

That is the HUGE difference here. TOH doesn't actually feel like we're missing out on anything with its S3 besides fluff and maybe a bit of exploration on the whole Grimmwalker thing. The specials just don't feel like they actually know what to do in the first place though. It makes it feel like we're mostly missing out on filler but there's already so much of that in these episodes. Even the elements that could have been expanded, like Belos backstory, the human realm shenanigans and the Collector's redemption are rough because none of these are from before the shortening. Only Hunter's arc is really something stared BEFORE THE SHORTENING. Belos' backstory and the contradictory nature of The Collector, like how he absolutely knows what death is during Hollow Mind and is a complete evil fucker there... Are written in S2B. They were included and written as part of the shortening. Hell, the human realm and the Collector as a whole weren't even planned for S3 supposedly. They were things they wanted to do but didn't have a place for them and so just jammed in these MASSIVE new elements that needed more time than was available with no care for the fact that they had NO TIME. (I don't have a source for this unfortunately.)

Admit you didn't have a plan for your show without admitting you didn't have a plan.

That also brings up an element that I brought up at the top: How much the story might have actually changed. I'm having to work off of the main outline provided by the show but it's entirely possible that The Core might not have been included. That Earth might not have. Changes would have happened to the overall story and it's kind of impossible to reasonably guess how. After all, I wouldn't have guessed that an all powerful child and a trip to the human realm would have been responses to a shortening for The Owl House.

So I did my best and I still stand by that this would still be a fine to good version of the show. That it wouldn't have been impossible to tell a full narrative with the time given. One that is still thematically coherent, has a strong finale that doesn't contradict itself and still has plenty of fun in it to counterbalance the higher focus on the more dramatic elements.

That's still a LOT better than can be said for TOH's finale, let alone its three specials.

======+++++======

I ended up just rewriting the outline as a way to give it more thought instead of copy and pasting the first one I wrote. *whimpers*

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

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[retro-watching]

Twin Peaks S1 Ep1 Pilot

I have never watched Twin Peaks or, in fact, anything by David Lynch before.

I knew enough to know it was a bit odd, that it was about the murder of Laura Palmer and that there was "Damn Fine Coffee"

When the pilot started my first thoughts in order were:

"What the fuck is up with the sawmill in the title sequence?"

"I remember being places that looked like this and also I remember all women having that perm. My mother had that perm in 1990."

"How am I going to judge the acting in this? In any other show the acting would be terrible but it fits the vibes wtf?"

The vibes were immediately different and what would have been hack acting was perfectly in keeping with the tone and camera work and music of the scene.

Everything felt just slightly uncanny and weird and I thought "Oh okay this is what people meant."

Then Agent Dale Cooper showed up.

What the absolute fuck is with this guy?

I love him, but also what the fuck is up with him?

And everyone else got like 20% weirder or more around him.

And what the FUCK was up with that one doctor?

It's also weird seeing this after watching a lets play of Alan Wake 2 because I got unreasonably excited about the Norwegians.

Also as a younger sibling Harriet is a true younger sibling.

"Yes I will cover for you!" *immediately spills all at the lightest pressure*

Saying that I liked it! I like the weirdness and uncanny nature of it all and I am suitably intrigued

Ratings:

Story: 6/10 - dragged a bit because the pilot is really long and the show is not fast paced, at least not in the pilot.

Acting: 7/10 - In any other show the acting on display would have been lower but here it fits and I can't explain why

WTF: 7/10 - I had surreal pencilled in for this category but WTF felt more accurate. It would have been a six but then Agent Cooper arrived. Just on him it would have been higher but I need room for the weirdness to go up

Enjoyment: 6.5/10 - I enjoyed it but it did also drag a bit

Effects: 5/10 - weren't really many effects other then Dead Laura makeup so I'm giving it a score that basically means its fine

Charm: 8/10 - I don't know what's happening, everything is weird and painfully 1990s but I do find a charm in this kind of weirdness

Cringe: 0/0 - no cringe

Aged Like Milk: 0/0 - nothing really stood out. Yes there is domestic violence hinted at and shown and general misogyny from some of the men but you're not supposed to be on board with that. At least in this episode

Overall Ranking:

B Tier