#people using the reasonable part of their brains

[tanddiscord]

I do not actually agree with this.

On some level, sure, but also... I had real trouble understanding social hierarchy, and in fact, where I recognised it, I was fairly obedient to it. It's just that hierarchy is actually really complex. Its not just "person a is above person b, who is above person c" but "Person a and b both have roles and positions of power, and while a generally is considered above b in the hierarchy, in many situations, b will effectively outrank a, (a classic example of this is an article i read once, on norse medieval law, where the wife was generally considered secondary to the husband, but where the wife was the absolute authority for anything to do with the house, and if she told the husband to go sleep in the barn, there was fuck all he could do about it. Now how accurate that article in particular was, is unclear to me, but those sorts of relations are EVERYWHERE, and many authistic people struggle to filter out those neuances, and ends up perceiving it all as noise ("if a is in charge sometimes and b sometimes, then is no one in charge?" is the sort of thinking you end can up with)) I did not understand sarcasm as a kid, at all. It took years of active training to learn it. Now I love it. My father still cannot engage with jokes based on 'lies'. A joke like "what do you call a pile of cats? A meow-tain!" just gets him to go "Actually a group of cats is called a clowder, it comes from the same root as 'clutter' and-", and it can take him for someone to say "dad, its just a joke" for him to go "oh, right, yes, sorry." Not understanding some forms of humour does not mean not having a sense of humour though, my dad loves comedy shows. Some autistic people absolutely are rude. Horribly so. And even those of us that aren't, generally do have vocational moments where, yes, we are. A momentary lack of ability to connect the social dots, leads to rude questions, rude statements, rude observations. This is not a 'actually autistic people are angels who can't lie, you just hate the truth!' thing, its a 'sometimes the brain misfires, and does not realise why something would be rude or hurtful, and they cause emotional harm to others for no good reason' thing. Meltdowns, while never about 'nothing', are not indicators that the people around them are bad people. Are you suggesting that the parents of any autistic child who has a meltdown, due to a problem they are unable to communicate, or overstimulation, or under-stimulation, or any other number of things, are bad people because they did not perfectly handle a person whom it is exceptionally hard to handle? There are people with several doctorates, specialising in this specific part of autism, and even they could not possibly prevent every meltdown if a child in their care had certain problems. There are countless reasons for why someone has a meltdown, and many of them don't make sense, just have to be learned and adapted to, especially with those unable to communicate the problems for themselves. Fuck off with this 'autistic people are perfect actually' bullshit. We're humans. Nothing less, sure, but also nothing MORE, and honestly, insinuating we're more, is MORE infantilising and patronising than the morons that dismiss us for being "retards". "Look, just because Maurice doesn't get your sarcasm jokes doesn't mean he doesn't get humour at all. Try puns, he loves those." is a billion times better a response than. "Maurice is a perfect gem! If he doesn't laugh at your jokes, it's because you suck! Maurice is the god-arbiter of all humour!" Like, what even is that? Come on. If your response to bigorty is just as polarised and factless as the bigotry, and also defines an entire group as being 'this exact way, actually'... guess what, you're also a bigot, you just hide behind "But my bigotry says you're one of the good ones!". Check yourself. Might have ended up a bit harsh here, but also fuck off anyway. I am tired of seeing this sort of stuff all the time.

One of my favourite parts about autistic people is how you can use other peoples' reflections of them like an echolocation bullshit detector. Like they personally do not need to do shit for this to work, they just passively emit their own autistic vibe that bounces off every surface around them, and you can assess another person's level of self-awareness by how they reflect it back.

"Autistic people do not understand social hierarchy" nope, they understand you're supposed to be an authority here, but they won't politely pretend to respect you if they think you're incompetent.

"Autistic people do not understand humour" nope, they just don't politely pretend to laugh to humour you, and you are simply not funny.

"Autistic people are rude" nope, they just don't think it's polite to lie to you, and don't care about trying to tell you what they think you want to hear instead of telling you what they think.

"Autistic people sometimes have emotional meltdowns for absolutely no reason" nope, you're just insufferable to be around and the person with the lowest tolerance of your shit is simply the canary in the coal mine who breaks first.

[sirfrogsworth]

The Price of "Efficiency"

There is a classic story about writing in space. It typically goes something like,

"NASA spent millions of dollars developing an ink pen so they could write in microgravity.

Russia used a pencil."

It became a parable about efficiency and bloated, wasteful budgets and overcomplication.

And without nuance, it feels like a good lesson. It's a simple teaching you can store in your brain and it can help you avoid complication when simplicity will work just as well.

But the parable is a lie.

There is a reason they spent millions of dollars making a space pen. Pencils in space are fucking dangerous. If one splinter or shard or speck gets loose in zero gravity that fucker can float directly into your eyeball.

There is a more modern version of this story. Congress will look over NASA or the military's budget and ask why they need $400 hammers or bolts that cost $50 apiece. They will hold up a bag of bolts and tell the taxpayer they are getting screwed.

But the NASA hammer has the pencil problem. If a shard of steel breaks off that hammer in zero gravity, it's a big problem. It could float into an important electrical system and cause a short. Maybe even a fire.

And those bolts might be for a $50 million fighter jet. They need to be custom manufactured to extreme tolerances. And you'll be glad you paid for those $50 bolts because replacing the fighter jet will end up being much more costly.

This is a concept Elon Musk should understand considering his work at SpaceX. People often deride SpaceX when a rocket blows up. They see it as a giant waste. But that is a normal part of rocket development. If you want to make a better rocket, you cannot avoid blowing a few into smithereens.

Everything needs context.

You have to consider nuance before making huge unilateral decisions about apparent wasteful spending. The folks who run these programs should be allowed to defend their existence. But outside his own interests, Elon can only seem to see space pens when Russian pencils will suffice. He is looking at these programs and making no effort to see the nuance.

They say USAID gives more money to "governance" than they give to "humanitarian aid."

HOW WASTEFUL!

Except a lot of humanitarian aid gets stolen without government infrastructure to secure and deliver said aid.

Waste happens. Fraud happens. I have no doubt.

But figuring out what is *actually* wasteful is a difficult job that takes a lot of research and understanding.

But also, sometimes the fraud and the waste are worth it. Large companies will actually factor theft and fraud into their budget because it would be more costly to try and prevent it. They consider it "the cost of doing business."

But it seems no fraud or waste is acceptable to a conservative when the goal is helping people. 100% efficiency is required. You can't give all kids school lunches because some of those kids have rich parents. You can't give people disability income because some will take advantage.

Apparently if you can help millions of people but you have to absorb 10% of the cost due to fraud... well that is just unacceptable.

It's better to help no one at all.

Oftentimes Republicans will create anti-fraud programs that end up costing more than the actual fraud happening. And all the anti-fraud programs end up doing is making deserving people jump through extra hoops.

Get a lawyer. See an approved doctor. Gather 20 years of evidence that you've been disabled. Whoops, they didn't request the proper records. Start over.

That was basically my disability case. I was already on disability. They had already determined I was disabled 20 years ago. But I had to prove that I was disabled all over again to get the better kind of disability. They couldn't take their own word that I was disabled.

Those hoops were created because catching fraud is more important than helping people.

Not terribly efficient.

And then there is the "not our problem" approach.

Taxpayer money is "wasted" helping people in other countries. "We have homeless veterans! Why are we helping African babies?"

Giving out free condoms is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to stop the spread of disease. Sickness cares very little for imaginary borders. Saving lives in another country also saves lives here. It's mutually beneficial. We probably even prevented some of those homeless vets from getting infected.

No thought is being put into this scorched earth shit show.

As always... get fucked, Elon.

[galacticgrapezz]

Lily Orchard/CD-Call does not understand Adderall (Or ADHD medication for that matter)

Hi! My name is Violet. I'm a part-time college student majoring in biology. Biology majors here require a college and health class that you MUST pass to get your degree. I am also medically diagnosed with ADHD and medicated (not with Adderall hell no).

Lily/CD has said and does currently take (I hope prescribed) Adderall and is heard taking it on her live streams, but today on BlueSky, she asked a question that should 100% be consulted with your doctor.

This goes to show Lily/CD is not educated or has not bothered to educate herself on what Adderall is and what it does to your body.

This post should be an informative piece on why ANYONE (Not just CD) Should ALWAYS research the medication you are being recommended to. So let's discuss Adderall, controlled substances, and addiction.

What is a Controlled Substance?

A controlled substance is typically a drug or chemical regulated by the government through manufacturing, possession, and ingestion. Some examples of controlled substances are: LSD, Oxycodone, Ketamine, and Amphetamine (Remember this one!). All of these are known abused drugs however are also used for medicinal use thanks to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA).

The reason we have these federal laws is to modernize, classify, consolidate, and prevent the abuse of said drugs or chemicals. When someone is prescribed a controlled substance, you are asked if you or your family has had a history of substance misuse, vital organs that may be affected are closely monitored, and you are required to not stop taking it without consulting with your doctor. The reason this definition has to be explained first is that Adderall is classified as a controlled substance by Canada's CDSA.

Let's Talk About Adderall

Adderall is a controlled substance medication prescribed to treat ADHD and Narcolepsy. Adderall (and Mydayis) is the brand name, for the medication, and the generic name for Adderall is Dextroamphetamine-amphetamine. Therefore, Adderall is an amphetamine. Adderall contains multiple amphetamine salts that are closely related to methamphetamine. When taken, Adderall comes into effect within about an hour of use, it triggers neuroreceptors in the central nervous system, increasing the effect of serotonin and dopamine. This helps with ADHD as it gives the brain a stimulant that may have dopamine dysfunctional release, a lack of dopamine.

When Adderall is abused, the brain which was previously given a constant stream of dopamine and serotonin, will stop producing the two on its own. This will result in the user craving more Adderall, making it highly addictive and making the user unable to feel dopamine and serotonin without a stimulant. Hence why Adderall should only be prescribed to people medically diagnosed with ADHD or Narcolepsy. Adderall abuse has also been seen a lot in Millenials, which is the generation Lily/CD is a part of.

Explaining Amphetamines

Amphetamine is a powerful psychostimulant AKA, a synthetic mood-altering drug. Scientists do not currently have a full understanding of how amphetamines work in the brain, but some aspects like what it does chemically are established. When amphetamine is taken, it binds to transporter proteins for monoamines like: dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, where the transporter proteins give them to neurons. Once inside the neuron, it disrupts the storage of monoamines by suppressing a protein called the VMAT2, which transports monoamines into vesicles. This causes the monoamine transporter proteins to work in reverse, which means an increase in the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin monoamines. People with ADHD may need this to release a normal stream of these monoamines, but neurotypicals taking amphetamines will experience a euphoric and heightened effect with the increase of the three monoamines but a consistent taking of amphetamines results in addiction and the withdrawal of the brain not developing monoamines on its own.

Conclusion

Adderall is a controlled substance for a very important reason. Even if you have ADHD you are very able to abuse it. It's also very important to explain Adderall is an instant-release medication, which in short means it should only be taken when needed. Lily/CD is taking it every time she is on stream which most likely means every day and eludes to her abusing amphetamines. Please never ask anyone on social media about your prescribed controlled medication. ALWAYS ASK YOUR DOCTOR. If you read this far thank you for tuning in to my STEM yap session ^_^ have a wonderful day.

[flymetothexmoon]

Hands + Cigarette Smoke

"You wanna smoke?"

"No, thank you."

Silence.

"Did you want to watch me smoke?"

Warnings: Nothing too wild. Mention of Nicotine, Suggestive Sexual Theme without any of the juicy stuff.

~🩵~🩵~🩵~🩵~🩵~

His hands were larger than you anticipated them being.

Your mind began to race your heart as you could feel yourself begin to remember his picture that made you so desperate to meet him in the first place. His hand flashing the peace symbol, and his lips were curved ever so lightly into a faint, tight, toothless smile. You remember the photo well, you remember it so well that you begin to take note in the matter of the pose failing to show case three distinct colored ink splotches that appeared to be on his body forever. You wanted to be permanently on his body forever. Shaking the thought out of your mind, you found yourself doing the one thing as a child you are taught not to do, staring.

One of the tattoos was a thin, black marking that hugged his right middle finger, a silver ring was stacked underneath the tattoo, and you could tell he was the one who put the ring on himself; it was on backwards, the writing on the inside instead of the outside. The second, being a thicker, darker piece that was wrapped around his index finger on the same hand.

Finally, on his opposite hand, your eyes darted to his pinky, which was bare of color, but had a much-neater wrapped ring on the bottom. His middle finger however, a small dark colored circle began underneath his nailbed, and traveled downward his hand, and into a perfectly straight black line. You could only assume the tattoo continued onto his arm somehow, but the velvet blazer he was wearing covering what was underneath. Another silver ring hugged his right index finger and it reminded you how multiple rings on a man's hands meant one thing: power.

Your lips parted slightly, your tongue gently dancing on the roof of your mouth. You found your thoughts racing your heart again, wondering what the markings on his body meant, and if the one on his middle finger meant anything or if it continued further on his body, on places you simply could not wait to explore.

"It spells my name,"

Was he reading your mind?

His statement was quick, confident, like he was use to people being curious about him, like he not-so-secretly loved to hate the attention. Your lips parted more, allowing you to feel the cold air that was scattered around you two. The sharper part of your canine teeth ever so lightly scraped against your bottom lip, and you could taste the lip tint you applied before coming here, your insides shaking slightly with excitement when you could feel the vibration of the plumping aspect of the applied makeup product. You thought about what it would do to him if he could feel it too.

Quickly, your mouth closed, your lips making a slight popping noise in the process.

Thanos heard the popping sound of your lips, and the only reason you could tell was because his body shifted, his left foot was now facing you, almost like he was protecting you, protecting your pretty little mouth.

You could feel the weight of your heel move off the pavement and your brain sending waves to you legs to move as you moved closer to him, nodding your head in agreement to what he had prior said, almost like

you knew what he would say before he did.

Truth be told, you already knew what his tattoo meant, but you did not know everything.

Boy, did you wish you did though...

"What do these mean?" Shifting even closer to him, your head tilted slightly, showing genuine curiousity, as he watched your eyes dart from his hand to his fingers.

You did not notice before, but one of his hands was marked as well, and you could make out certain details, the artwork was fading slightly, possibly indicating that this piece was his first, and probably something he got long long ago; it was a Jester.

Suddenly, he was the one who was laughing, like the artwork came to life in front of you. His laugh was quiet, like he was about to tell you a secret that he only wanted you to know. The secret was that he found comedic relief in almost anything.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you,"

Your eyes widened slightly, bringing your gaze his. You had not even took note in how he had been silently begging you for eye contact this whole time.

Adjusting, but still keeping your gaze on his, you could not help but notice three small ridges underneath his left eyebrow; a scar? The ridges were so small that you could only see them because of the way his eyebrows raised when he answered your questions.

Quickly, like trying to revive a weapon, he shoved his covered hand into his right pocket, his hand moving around looking for something. Just as quick as his hand disappeared, it reappeared, except now it was holding a thin black cartridge, earning a low, earthy, and satisfied sound escape the lips of the man in front of you.

You gasped quietly, watching him, forgetting he could hear your every move, your every sound.

Thanos wrapped his hand tighter around the electronic cigarette, the veins on his hand, his tattoo, buldging at the sensation. Bringing the plastic to his lips, they parted slightly, just enough to wrap his mouth around the tip, his head tilting back in the process, as you could feel the nicotine racing directly to his lungs. His eyes were closed. You watched as his chest moved and up and down at a slow pace, savoring the flavor filling him from

the inside.

His eyes slowly opened.

Without warning, he had stepped closer to you, his eyes meeting yours once more; a small smile wrapped around his lips as he blew smoke directly in your face, causing you to smell the flavor, Menthol.

His face studied yours, desperately trying to get a reaction out of you. He was reading your face so hard that he reminded you of a school boy who knew he was next to read in front of the class, and who was reading his section of the material before being called on in fear of saying, of doing the wrong thing.

"You wanna smoke?"

"No, thank you."

Silence.

"Did you want to watch me smoke?"

Before you had time to answer, your eyes burned into his hand again as it brought the black cartridge back to his lips, inhaling long and sharp again, except this time he knew you were watching him, begging him to get closer.

And he did.

He had moved so close, the space between you two was no more, and you could tell he was holding the smoke in his lungs again, hiding it like another one of his secrets only he wanted you to know.

His head tilted, studying you once again.

The way his neck moved it was hard to miss another marking he had, except this time it started right below his ear, trailing down the side of his neck, and you could only assume it connected to the line you saw prior, the one that spelt his name.

Thanos did not care anymore.

Blowing the built up smoke directly into your face, his lips curved, and his posture straightening, you could feel your eyes blinking rapidly, at least four times in a row. He spoke again, except this time, his words sounding like venom dripping from a snake's mouth...

"You know, you could get a better look at my hands if you let me wrap them around your pretty little neck."

~🩵~🩵~🩵~🩵

Authors Note: I rly have no idea how long this is, sry. Wrote this on my phone so probs not the best grammar. My Ask Box is open if you want to leave sweet nothing's.

enjoy, cuties !!

[ryoko-loves-roses]

Lighten Up

Lee!Sang-Woo + Ler!Gi-Hun/Abdul Ali

A/N: Honestly, I know I haven't posted a fanfic in a while, and I know it isn't as long as what I usually post, but I decided I just needed to post something to feed the hungry piranhas that are... the squid game tk community. thank you, and enjoy reading :) Summary : Quite frankly, Gi-Hun is done having a bestfriend who is so down in the dumps all the time... he decides to use an unconventional way to get the man to lighten up, but when being noticed by Ali and Sae-Beyok, Ali decides to unexpectedly join in-

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Last thing Sang-Woo knew, he was getting bombarded with ticklish sensations - i mean... who the fuck would try to tickle THE graduate of SNU business school?! gi-hun. that's who. - "Fuhuhu- Stoohhohop!" He squealed, which was a delightful sound to Gi-Hun's ears. He grinned with pride, drilling his fingers right underneath the other man's ribcage, not slowing down in the slightest. "Stop? Is that what you said, my friend? You were so prideful and stoic a minute ago... I wonder where that went?" Player 456 taunted. Honestly, it was a treat to get Sang-Woo to smile... but to get him to full-on squeal..? holy shit, that's a whole damn cake right there. cough cough gi-hun's gyatt (jk) "Ihihiii fuhuhuucking - HAhaHAte YOOHOU-!" Sang-Woo shrieked out, his legs kicking frantically underneath him as Gi-Hun straddled his waist. The players that noticed their little.. 'tickle fight' were trying not to look in their direction, feeling a bit awkward to be in the same room as them - damn, the second-hand embarrassment was SURREAL - Gi-Hun let out a low chuckle. “Oh…” Oh god. “You hate me, huh..?” Sang-Woo’s eyes widened at that, “W - Wait, No! I’m SorR-” He was cut off by that ruthless dig RIGHT into his ribcage, which made the man knowingly bark out a hysteric laugh, but before he knew it, he couldn’t stop laughing. “FUHUHUUCk-!” The people that knew Sang-Woo knew damn well he wasn’t a curser, so getting him to curse so freely was definitely a change. Gi-Hun’s sadistic smirk widened as a low chuckle escaped his lips. “Tickle, tickle, tickle..~” He was destroying Sang-Woo’s reputation, and honestly… the smart man’s stoic composure was long gone. Ali, a new friend of both men, noticed this fight, not fully understanding the grasp of it - which was hilarious in some aspect.

“Guys-! Guys! I’m sure we can settle this!” Ali tried to reason, all while Gi-Hun continued to tickle the shit out of his squirming and squealish friend. While Ali looked worried, Sae-Beyok just sighed, taking her place by Ali, also watching this fiasco unfold. “They aren’t fighting, you dork.” She commented, now getting Ali’s attention. “Gi-Hun’s just tickling him. It’s… friendly for the most part. I used to do it with my little brother all the time.” She said, trying to calm atleast some of Ali’s nerves. “Oh.” He replied, glancing back at the two men on the floor. Before he could stop himself, he began to walk forward. “Can I help..?” He asked innocently, in a somewhat shy manner. Gi-Hun just smiled, stopping, and glancing up at Ali. “Be my guest… he really needs it.” He teased, which only earned a scoff from the now breathless Sang-Woo. Gi-Hun quickly got off of Sang-Woo, pinning his arms above his head before he could even think about moving from his position. Sang-Woo began to grow anxious… surely Ali wouldn’t be that merciless.. Right? “Ali, wait -” Though he tried to plead his case, he knew it was pointless. Ali began to smile, walking forward and kneeling beside Sang-Woo who’s arms were currently pinned by Gi-Hun. Ali started off gentle… his well-manicured fingertips skittered over Sang-Woo’s sides and stomach, making him snicker and bite his lip. With some more confidence… Ali began to dig.

You’d think that this adorable, innocent man would act innocent and kind, right? Hell no. Once Ali began to dig, its like a switch was flicked on in Sang-Woo’s brain. Somehow, in someway, he hit all the necessary spots for Sang-Woo to squeal like a child. He threw his head back, cackling like a maniac. That usually smart and analytical mindset was turned to mush in a split second. ”NOHOHOOHOOHO-! FUUHUuhuUUHCk-! GHEheHET OHOHOOHOOFFF!!-” Gi-Hun’s smile turned into a big smirk. “Wohohow… You must be a pro, Ali… he’s losing his mind.” He commented, which Ali just chuckled a bit, continuing with his actions even as Sang-Woo tried to kick him, though he was unable to. “Thank you… I have a bit of experience with my young son at home.” He replied, feeling a bit msichievous now as he continued to make Sang-Woo lose his mind. Sae-Beyok facepalmed, undoubtedly embarrassed just by watching this scene. “I can’t believe i’m acquainted with you all -” She muttered to herself, standing to the side and just wishing that she’d disappear - Sang-Woo was still kicking frantically, trying to pull his arms away from Gi-Hun’s grip, but was unable to given the fact his strength practically vanished from the tickle torment he’s received. He was honestly thinking of begging now - and i know what you’re thinking… begging? Sang-Woo?.. Well.. -

”PLEhEHEASE-!” Gi-Hun paused at that, now signaling for Ali to stop, which he gladly did. “Wow.. - Did you just beg..?” Sang-Woo tried to catch his breath, extremely humiliated by this revelation. “Ihihiii… am going to fucking kihiill you..” He threatened, although both Ali and Gi-Hun knew it was an empty threat (lol no it wasnt #spoiler <3) Ali finally got off his friend, which Gi-Hun only chuckled. “Really? You want round two?” Immediately, Sang-Woo sat up. “No.. -! No no.. I’m good -” Gi-Hun smirked to himself, uncrossing his arms and standing up, helping his ticklish friend up as well. “That’s what I thought. Next time you’re down in the dumps, don’t be surprised if you get tickled out of it!” Despite how irritating Gi-Hun could be… Sang-Woo couldn’t help but find him slightly endearing.. “Yeah, yeah… whatever. You know i’m going to get you back for this, right?” Gi-Hun froze - oh crap. “You wouldn’t. -” He muttered, when he clearly knew that Sang-Woo would. Sang-Woo smirked. “I would.” - What followed next was the worst (or best) fight that the two childhood bestfriends ever had… …and sae-beyok was still wishing that she never befriended these bozos in the first place.

[ktownshizzle]

Nerd & Nerdier | Part 2

✎ ˎˊ˗ Pairing: Min Yoongi x reader, Jeon Wonwoo x reader; endgame? x reader

✎ ˎˊ˗ Genre: Fluff, Attempt At Comedy, Roommates au, Love triangle

✎ ˎˊ˗ Summary: Moving in with two introverts should have been easy. Not when it’s Min Yoongi and Jeon Wonwoo, who decide they both want you. Unhinged, awkward, and nerdy as hell, they proceed to compete for your attention in the most unnecessarily dramatic fashion that culminates into a… rap battle.

✎ ˎˊ˗ Warnings: Wildly gratuitous, You might 100% chance you’ll fall in love with both of them so that’s a problem, no mxm dynamics to be expected

✎ ˎˊ˗ Chapter Warnings: Not betaread! Really horrendous freestyle rapping! Yoongi and Wonwoo are actually quite fond of each other despite being competitive…

✎ ˎˊ˗ Word count: 1.5k

✎ ˎˊ˗ Posting date: February 22, 2025

✎ ˎˊ˗ Notes: Okayyy so I did not expect to find my people, but I am glad I did and we are here because I am really loving writing this story on a deeply delulu level. Publishing this on my way to a concert so sorry if formatting seems off for whatever reason.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Roommate Rule #2: If You Must Compete for Your Roommate’s Attention, Do It In Stealth Mode. - Jeon Wonwoo

It started with a bookstore.

Technically, it started with Wonwoo casually suggesting the bookstore like it was nothing. The very moment Yoongi left to use the bathroom.

“Noona, you said you wanted something new to read,” he said. “There’s this small shop in Sinsadong. I can take you.”

You, bleary-eyed and still half-asleep, had only managed a distracted nod as you shoveled cereal into your mouth. Sure, you thought. A casual bookstore trip. No big deal.

You should have known better.

The bookstore was exactly what you’d expect from a hidden gem: narrow aisles, overstuffed shelves, and the faint smell of old paper. The kind of place that practically whispered stay awhile as you wandered through.

And Wonwoo? Wonwoo fit into the space with unsettling ease.

He moved through the aisles like he’d memorized the layout ahead of time, occasionally pausing to pull out a book and glance at the synopsis before either handing it to you or quietly sliding it back into place.

It was… kind of impressive. In a nerdy, what-the-hell way.

“You’d like this one,” he said at one point, handing you a novel. “It’s got that slow-burn tension you like.”

You narrowed your eyes on him, a teasing smile on your lips. “Since when do you know what kind of tension I like?”

He shrugged like it’s nothing, but his ears are pink. “You mentioned it once. When we watched that terrible drama with the fake arranged marriage plotline.”

That… was over two months ago.

You took the book from his hands without a word, hoping he didn’t notice the heat rising in your cheeks.

When you reached the register, you instinctively reached for your wallet. Wonwoo beat you to it, smoothly sliding his card across the terminal without so much as a glance in your direction.

“Hey!” you protested, as you watched the machine read: payment approved. “I can pay—”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, handing you the bag.

“Wonwoo.”

“Noona.”

“I could have—”

“You can just owe me,” he cut in smoothly.

Your eyes narrowed. “Owe you what?”

He smiled, slow and almost smug. “I’ll let you know.”

You left the shop with a new book under your arm and a weird feeling in your chest that had nothing to do with plot twists or romance tropes.

You were halfway home when it hit you like a brick to the face.

Wait.

Was that a date?

Your steps faltered, and you turned to Wonwoo, who strolled beside you like he hadn’t just shifted the axis of your entire existence.

“Did you just take me on a date?” you asked, mildy accusingly.

Wonwoo’s head tilted slightly, mouth twitching like he was trying not to smile. “No…?”

“Are you sure?”

“Did I call it a date?”

“Well… no.”

“Then it wasn’t.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and glanced at you, eyes glinting. “Unless you want it to be.”

Your brain short-circuited.

You stared, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Wonwoo gave you one last, knowing look before turning into the building.

You stood there for a full ten seconds, processing, before stomping after him.

Yoongi was already in the kitchen when you walked in your apartment, the book from the bookstore still tucked under your arm. He clocked it immediately. His eyes flicked to the bag, then to you, then to Wonwoo then back again. His jaw shifted.

“I had fun, noona…” Wonwoo turned to you, then nodded to Yoongi. “Hyung.” Before he skipped happily to his room.

“Bookstore trip?” Yoongi asked, voice casual.

“Yeah,” you replied, setting the bag down on the counter. “Wonwoo invited me.”

Yoongi hummed. He didn’t look at you as he reached into the fridge. “You said you wanted to try that new ramen place, right?”

“Uh… yeah?”

He straightened, shutting the fridge with a soft thud. “Let’s go tomorrow.”

It wasn’t a question.

The next day, you found yourself sitting across from Yoongi in a nice Japanese restaurant, trying to figure out what the hell you’d just walked into—and why is Yoongi wearing cologne?!

Yoongi, of course, looked completely unfazed. He flipped through the menu with one hand while lazily drumming his fingers on the table with the other. His sleeves were pushed up, exposing his forearms, and your eyes trailed the veins towards his ringed fingers. Oof. This is bad.

After ordering, he was quiet as usual but he keeps giving you these charged gazes. When the food was served, you called him out. “You’re being weird.”

“You always say that,” he replied.

“Because it’s always true.”

He smirked slightly. “Eat your ramen.”

You were halfway through your bowl when Yoongi casually pushed a piece of gyoza towards you with this chopsticks.

“What?” you asked.

“It's good.”

You leaned forward to take a bite. The filling was rich and the skin soft but had a crispy underside, and you hummed in approval.

“Good, right?” Yoongi asked.

“Mmhmm.”

When you glanced up, he was already watching you, his eyes dark and steady. Your eyes dropped to his lips, glazed slightly, plump as ever.

Your stomach flipped for reasons that had nothing to do with the food.

And then—

“Yo.”

Your soul left your body. Because standing at the entrance of the restaurant, glasses fogged slightly from the cold, was none other than Jeon Wonwoo.

Wonwoo bowed to the receptionist quickly as he walked closer. “Wow. What a coincidence.”

Yoongi’s face darkened. “You followed us, didn’t you.”

Wonwoo slid into the chair beside you, completely unfazed. “I was just in the neighborhood.”

He reached for your water glass. Yoongi’s eye twitched.

You groaned, burying your face in your hands.

This was getting out of control.

By the time Saturday rolled around, you were exhausted from the nonstop one-upmanship.

So you made the mistake of suggesting a low-stakes game of Uno. Something chill, you thought. Something easy.

You were an idiot.

What followed was an hour-long exercise in passive-aggressive warfare.

“Draw four,” Yoongi said, slamming the card onto the table.

Wonwoo barely blinked. “Reverse.”

“Draw four,” Yoongi repeated, his eyes glinting.

“Reverse.”

“Draw four, motherfucker.”

“Reverse, asshole.”

Meanwhile, you sat there with seventeen cards fanned out in your hands, questioning every life choice that had led to this moment.

“Guys,” you tried, voice strained. “It’s just Uno.”

“It’s never just Uno,” Yoongi muttered, playing another +4 card.

“This is war,” Wonwoo agreed, eyes narrowing.

You groaned and threw your cards onto the table. “I can’t with you two.”

And then, as if the universe decided to add insult to injury, the Bluetooth speaker shuffled to Epik High’s “Born Hater”.

The opening beats filled the air.

You closed your eyes. “God, no.”

“What?” Yoongi asked, glancing toward the speaker.

“Nothing.” You rubbed your temples. “Just… you two should have a rap battle or something to settle this.”

You laughed. It was a joke.

But when you opened your eyes, they were both staring at you.

Wonwoo adjusted his glasses. “A rap battle?”

Yoongi’s lips curled into a slow, dangerous smirk. “You scared?”

Oh no.

The next minute, your living room has become the site of the most unnecessarily dramatic rap battle in history.

Yoongi stood on one side, cracking his neck like he was preparing to defend his underground rapper title. Wonwoo stood on the other, stretching his wrists like he was prepping for an MMA fight.

You sat on the couch, blanket clutched to your chest, already regretting your life.

“Alright,” Yoongi said, voice low. “You started it. You go first.”

Wonwoo stepped forward, eyes locked on Yoongi.

“Yoongi-hyung, writer, producer, always at the cusp of fame,

The only thing ‘bout your lyrics is they all sound the same,

Stop with the sad boy shit, hyung, betta switch up the game.”

You pressed a palm against your gaping mouth.

Yoongi’s nostrils flared. He exhaled slowly. Then:

“You said game? Wonwoo, you think you got game?

Nah bro, you is kinda lame.

Missin’ shots like a broken-ass joystick,

I’m player one, bitch, you’re just my fuckin’ sidekick.”

The tension spiked.

Wonwoo adjusted his glasses. 

“Oh, that’s real cute. But lemme put you on mute.

Thought that shit's gonna bring me down.

Hey hyung, has she seen your fanfic account?”

“I—THAT WAS PRIVATE!” Yoongi roared.

You collapsed into laughter, wheezing as they devolved into personal attacks:

“You record voice memos like a psycho—“

“You write on your books like a child—“

“You alphabetize the spice rack—”

“You think chopsticks go in the dishwasher—”

“Alright, that’s enough!”* you gasped, leaping to your feet and planting a hand on each of their (surprisingly toned) chests. “Jesus Christ.”

They froze, breathing hard.

“So?” Yoongi asked, wiping sweat from his brow. “Who won?”

You stared at them. Then shook your head. “You both lost.”

You walked toward the kitchen, grabbing your phone. “I’m ordering pizza.”

Behind you, there was a pause.

Then:

“…Fair,” Wonwoo muttered.

“Yeah, okay,” Yoongi agreed.

But as you scrolled through Coupang, you felt it:

Their eyes, both locked on you.

And if you didn’t know better, you’d swear they were both thinking the same thing.

This isn’t over.

A/N: sooo? Team Yoongi? Team Wonwoo? Team K- for writing that stupid rap battle?! Hahaha

Tell me what you think! Thank you for reading ✨💜

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Divider by: @cafekitsune (thank you!)

[leethepiper]

“DON’T YOU GET IT?! COMPATIBILITY TESTING ISNT SOME FUCKING JOKE TO US! It Hollows You Out- Rips Your Mangled Shell Open- And Then Puts Whatever Is Left Of You Back In As If You Could Ever Be The Same.”

Sideswipe panted, he sounded wrecked, like this was something that tore its way out of his voicebox throat instead of being spoken.

“It’s like pouring liquid slag into your engine instead of fuel, and pumping it throughout your body like it’s your damn blood.”

Jazz looks away, quietly muttering something about lead and anthills.

Sideswipe begins to say something else- Hound cuts him off.

“Enough Sideswipe,” not Simon, not Simon anymore, never Simon “they didn’t know and we didn’t tell them. Nothing was meant by it.”

Hound sounded calm (but his hands servos were shaking.)

“Sure, Yeah, just let them Keep Talking About 'Living A Long Life' AS IF WE HAVEN'T ALREADY TOLD THEM WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PILOT!? As If We Haven’t Already Signed Our Death Warrants In Red and Walked To The Guillotine With Our Hands Unbound? As IF WE DIDN’T CHOOSE THIS?”

The room was silent save for Simon’s Sideswipe’s panting.

…

“as if any pilot in this room could live to see another 20 years?”

Prowl flinched.

It wasn't Sideswipe who said it.

"He's right, and it's been driving all of us insane. Having it rubbed in our faces that we're not going to get an after. Pilots have no happily ever after. The closest thing we get is being allowed to die how we want.

What was done to us is irreversible and painful. There are consequences of becoming a pilot. One of them is that we won't live long enough to see the end of this war unless we can carve it out for ourselves."

Jazz spoke softly, but his words weighed more than the judgment of a hundred thousand people.

...

"Fuck it" Hound murmured.

"Blurry vision," because your brain can forget what it's like to have eyes, "disassociation," because the strain sometimes means that your brain needs to step away even if your body doesn't, "memory loss," people can't always handle more input than their bodies give them, mecha are too much, "paralysis," pilots like that weren't accepted even if they were compatible, "altered personality," aggression, mood swings, depression, "brain death," pilot after pilot who went too far into the drift and never came back, "shortened lifespan," most pilots don't live long enough for that to matter, "trauma, PTSD, trouble breathing," nightmares, waking up screaming and unable to draw breath because a mecha doesn't need to breath "part rejection," pilot's bodies being unable to process the difference between mecha and man and losing life and limb(s) over injuries that didn't even touch them, "and more, there's always more."

"Only 0.3% of pilots have ever retired or been retired, 2/3 of them have already chosen to find salvation through the loop of a noose rather than die in bed or end up on shockwave's table."

Hound sat down on one of the chairs in the room.

"There's a reason pilots prefer to die fighting."

...

Sunstreaker stepped onto the soapbox next.

"Sides and I have been pilots for six years. To you, that's nothing. To most pilots? That's a hundred times longer than they expect to live after compatibility testing.

We have more experience than most pilots because most of those who came before us are dead, and most who came after us are also dead."

...

"I did not choose to be a pilot," Breakdown said, "I was conscripted. All the same, I choose to continue, and I choose to fight."

...

I swear to god I am so ready for one of the guys from the Arcturus Mission to lose their temper if one more bot tries to convince them to "think about the future and the life you could enjoy!" And just. Going off like "There IS no future! It's not just about piloting being dangerous, it's that being a pilot is not conducive to LIFE! They've taken out, replaced, and added so many things to us that it is not sustainable! Even if we stopped fighting right now, we would never live to be old! Either or bodies give out from the strain or the mods malfunction and kill us!" I don't know why I felt like sharing this dramatic rant i pictured somebody having. But I thought maybe it'd be enjoyable. I am seriously eating up all the misconceptions the cybertronian's have about the humans. And it just keeps getting worse! Like the humans have already come out and pretty much admitted to being heavily modified. But I can't forgot the scene of Hound admitting to Knockout that he can't read expressions from visors very well either. And maybe that's just how their species is, having different ways of conveying emotions to each other. Except the humans seem pretty well versed in understanding facial expressions, have likely used words specific to describing facial expressions. To the point it might be logical to conclude that humans normally have faces. And yet none of the pilots do. Sorry this started out as me just sharing the dramatic rant I'd imagined, and then I just started sharing more thoughts. Um... Enjoy???

I have to let everyone see this.

I feel like you’re inside my head, this is incredible. Believe me, with irritability being a symptom of overuse that blow up moment is coming. Cause all these guys figured they wouldn’t live very long, they all thought Jazz was dead and now these thousands of year old mechs keep talking about their long lives? It would piss off a totally calm person.

And yeah, I definitely feel like someone would/could be piecing that together for the visors v faces thing. At some point, one of them is just going to erupt on how horrible the compatibility testing is and how much it changed them mentally and physically.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

My jewish community, friends, rabbi, and educators: We are very invested in helping you be jewish. Do you want to help read the haftarah? Here's a chanukiah! You can have it!! Borrow these books! Here's some books! You need more books... Come to pesach! Come to the chanukah party! When are your classes done? We need a minyan for once!

Me and my 50000 IQ: What if I am Secretly Appropriating judaism? What if I am doing a Cultural Appropriation........

[bitchfitch]

I had a shrink appointment today and while I could not see it I knew my doc was going through the five stages of grief while I explained my fool proof strategy for doing my t shots despite a crippling fear of needles: By abusing my vastly more crippling fear of being an inconvenience.

My mother and I play phasmophobia together every week. she usually has a pretty limited time to do this bc she's like. a doctor and a college professor whos always busy. So I asked her to just. hold me to doing them. We don't start playing until the shot is done. so my needle fear doesn't matter because now it's Wasting™ her time and I have to do it quick. Using one neurosis to defeat another.

It's a horrible coping mechanism because it's feeding the inconvenience fear, but it is definitionally a coping mechanism.

[stardustdiiving]

I notice Nahida is portrayed as frustrated or scolding of other characters (usually Wanderer) in fanon often but to be honest I don’t think Nahida really has that much of a temper where she defaults to that sort of thing very much….She can be angry and firm as needed but I really don’t think that’s her first instinct on how to assert herself in a lot of cases.

She instead really strikes me as someone who primarily gets upset when it’s on behalf of other people or someone embodying ideas she finds very devoid of care and compassion for others….but struggles to really be angry on her own behalf. Like, it’s pointed out it’s only until she’s actively being rescued that she finally says she’s angry at the Sages, and while she is openly angry then we see later everyone comments on how they seem to have gotten off days, which I touched on in this post and feel u can infer from that this idea Nahida struggles to be harsh even towards to the people who kept her in a cage for 500 years—which makes when u see how much she rationalizes being treated like this earlier on. She ultimately seems more concerned with the Sages mistreatment of her people vs their mistreatment of Nahida herself.

This feels consistent to why she seems pretty visibly disgusted with Dottore when they have their negotiation. Dottore is more or less an antithesis to everything she believes about wisdom and embodies a lot of malice and cruelty that Nahida would be really disturbed by. I personally like to write her lack of a temper in some areas as something that seems almost troubling — bc on one hand she’s very forgiving and kind despite through being a lot, but on the other this seems like it might be rooted in just genuinely not allowing herself to be angry to protect herself. But yeah overall I think unless you’re really causing an issue Nahida is more likely to give you a kind of frazzled sad puppy look and very politely ask you to be better as opposed to hitting you with a sandal or scolding you for it

In the case of her relationship with Wanderer specifically I’ve like, talked about how I feel people overlook the fact Wanderer makes a genuine effort to cooperate with Nahida and doesn’t really fight with her much…so i don’t think they’re often bickering with each other to the point Nahida has to get really firm with him. She seems to have a pretty interesting amount of patience with him especially post AQ, which again I think is helped by the fact Wanderer is genuinely trying to cooperate and she sees that. We do see her ask Traveler + Scaramouche to stop bickering in Inversion of Genesis but she is in my opinion very polite and at most a bit awkward about it, not scolding or irritated

[lunar-wandering]

laying in bed thinking about how Wukong is a people pleaser and this part of him gets frequently overlooked due to the focus on his hot-headedness/impulsivity

[pidoop]

Honestly still salty about my 22 y/o sister who last night called asking to kiss someone the first time “weird”, “cringe”, and even “millennial”??? And it’s so wild to me for a young woman to have such an anti-consent standpoint.

Like you’ve said you don’t get accosted at bars, and hooray for that. But as someone who’s been groped in what can barely be considered a crowd once or twice, I’m partial to establishing that someone respects and considers me early on.

And Ik you’ve only dated from your friend group (I do not), so you feel more comfortable reading each other, which once again, great. But that doesn’t guarantee safety or that they’ll magically know what you want in the future when you’ve established that it’s cringe to ask and better to guess.

That’s how people get it wrong and cross your boundaries without knowing. And then you’re hurt but feel like you can’t blame them because you didn’t say anything and how would they know? Misunderstandings that can often be avoided by establishing clear and open communication about consent from day one.

Starting off your very first physical and sexual interactions with clear verbal consent is an easy way to set the precedent of asking for consent. Like cool you’ve been going out with this dude for 8 months and never seen a dick. Regardless of your pace, you should be thinking ahead and establishing how you’d like to be treated in sexual scenarios as soon as humanly possible.

I guess I thought society had moved past “it’s just kinda weird and awkward to ask though”, “you don’t have to say anything to know”, “just feel it out”, etc.

It’s also so clear how this prude, sex-negative culture makes it so that you can be comfortable engaging in an act but still feel icky about asking about / for it.

[pollen]

i've been diving a lot deeper into adhd symptoms and comorbidities and misdiagnoses and whenever i tell my boyfriend something i learned that sounds like me he responds with something like

[transannabeth]

hi. for people who saw gatsby: an american myth. do you remember mckee asking nick for lunch. and then gatsby in like the next scene inviting nick for lunch. because i remember.

[tovaicas]

anyways my friends activated my conlang brain and I've made smth insane as usual

red is influences, blue is Elezen-family languages, green is like a mix bc I see the Alliance cities as having a trade language (that critically is limited to them).

I see Duskwight as a separate language from Black Shroud Elezen (but sharing a lot - easy enough to learn for those speakers). Coerthan and all its derivatives are a whole different language under the Elezen umbrella and isn't mutually intelligible with BSE. Because they split so early, they probably don't share much more than root words and etymologies; within the same family so not difficult to learn for other speakers of Elezen languages, but very distinctly different.

(also I'm not listing them but the branches extend to include other diaspora Elezen languages)

[jupiter--dream]

(cw vent, sorry it's just been A Couple Of Days)

Not really having many irl friends comes at the price of feeling so terribly lonely, I feel like I have no one to talk to because I'm not close to enough people, or maybe I am and I just haven't talked to them in a while and I don't want this to be our first conversation qwq

I'm honestly just. Tired, tbh qwq