#so i generally catch manipulation pretty quick

[undirectedenergy]

Me, trying to heal, grow, be vulnerable or whatever, directly asking my partner what his ulterior motive is for wanting to be with me

Him "What you mean like other than the joy of connecting deeply with another human being, literally the thing that makes life worth living?"

Me laughing, internally screaming

[chxrryhansen]

౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊ Cherry’s concepts 10/50

Character; Bucky Barnes

Kink; Piss Kink (i couldn’t help myself so i added pet play🙈)

Dialogue; “Look at the mess you made.”

Requested by; Anon (X)

As always, this blog contains 18+ content only, your media consumption is your own responsibility, all dark content will be labled as such. Please read at your own risk.

₊♡₊˚ 🍒・₊✧

your throat flared in distress as your lips began to chap and crack, having been wrapped around bucky's cock for the past 30 minutes, it was fair to say they weren't in the best of shape.

you were knelt between his thick thighs, the hard floor, harsh on your sensitive skin as he worked at his desk above you. bucky had made you drink many glasses of water, more than double your daily amount. when you couldn't drink all of the glasses he had graciously gifted you with, he punished you.

claiming you were being ungrateful, that daddy was just trying to take care of you. you had promised you'd be a good girl for him if it meant getting out of a spanking, your ass still sore from last weeks punishment- one that he'd manipulated you into (as usual).

you squirmed, desperate to find some relief as your mouth warmed buckys cock, your bladder beginning to feel more full as time went on. noticing your discomfort, he slumped back against his chair, pushing his long brown locks behind his ear with one hand, his bicep flexing as he did so.

you whimpered, your tongue massaging the underneath of his length making him hiss with surprise as he growled

"i thought you said you were a good girl for me? i think you lied, pup. cause' im pretty sure if you were a good girl, you'd be warming my cock with no complaints like daddy asked you too, hm?"

he was quick to grab a fistful of your hair, pushing you deeper onto his cock as your thighs pressed together, desperate to make him proud.. and not wanting to embarass yourself by peeing all over his floor.

you looked up at him, your eyes pleading, tears streaming down your cheeks.. begging for even an ounce of sympathy. bucky sighed as he pulled you away from his cock, you were instantly opening and closing your mouth, swinging your jaw in circles as you tried to loosen up your locked jaw.

"go on, what's the problem with you now, puppy? what are those pretty tears for?"

"i really gotta' go daddy." you whispered, ashamed, your cheeks flustered in embarassment.

"go where, puppy?" he asked in return, a slight smirk on his face as he stroked your head gently, already knowing what the issue was.

"the bathroom, p-please daddy?"

"yeah? you gotta' go pee, sweetheart? you sure you can't hold it just a little longer for daddy?"

you shook your head desperately, your bladder already felt like it was about to burst, all of that water bucky had pressured you into drinking finally catching up to you, making you tense up in fear of leaking.

he sighed once more as he tutted in false disappointment "well alright then, go on puppy, go pee."

"oh thankyou, daddy! thankyou so much, i promise it won't happen again!" you gasped excitedly, seeming as your owner had been feeling generous... or so you thought.

you began to push of your knees in an attempt to stand when you felt bucky harshly pull you back down, this time sitting you on his thick thighs, straddling him. you looked up at him in alarm, eyes wide, wondering what you had done wrong.

your bladder suddenly feeling even heavier than before as you tried to prevent yourself from pissing out of fear, your thighs clenching tightly together. which didn’t go unnoticed by bucky as he spread your legs apart with both hands.

"where do you think your going?" he scolded.

"t-the bathroom.. y-you said i could go, daddy?"

"silly girl, puppy's don't use bathrooms now do they?"

you cocked your head, puzzled "i-i don't understand."

"of course you don't, dumb little girl, puppy's don't use the bathroom, if you need to pee so badly then do it, right here on daddys lap." he growled, his intense gaze sending shivers down your spine.

he reaches down, pressing his hand against your tummy, pushing down against your bladder as tears of humiliation roll down your flustered cheeks.

“d-daddy, i can’t hold it, i really gotta’ pee.”you squirm desperately, your pussy throbbing with pain, or maybe, pleasure?

"stupid puppy, you gonna' piss yourself, hm? gonna' piss all over daddys lap? shh, sweetheart. let go for me, let go for daddy."

you let out a loud sob as the ache between your thighs is suddenly relieved, before you can even understand what's happening a heavy flow of liquid gushes out of your pussy, soaking through buckys lap and onto his extremely hard cock- which he had apparently just taken out of his pants.

he groans in pleasure "oh baby.. fuck, that's it, you were just so full, huh? so desperate you just had to piss all over daddys dick, what a filthy little puppy, look at the fuckin' mess you made."

he smirks, thrusting his hips into your own, grinding his cock into your soaked pussy making you sob harder in confusion. your brain having not caught up to what just happened.

bucky is quick to pull up your skirt and push your panties to the side, sliding his thick cock inbetween your thighs and rubbing his swollen tip against your entrance.

he swiftly pulls you down by your hips, his mushroom head only just pushing past your walls making you let out a pathetic moan…before a smooth warmth begins to fill your cunt. at first your confused, knowing bucky never cums that quickly, until you look down and see a steady stream of piss leaking out of you.

“fuck… my dirty fuckin’ piss slut, letting her daddy piss inside her silly, baby cunt. you like that? you like being a disgusting, hot, mess for your daddy? filthy little pup.”

you sob into his shoulder, humiliated yet so turned on as his hot piss floods your pussy, running down your legs and dripping onto the floor.

bucky shushes you as he codles your head, rubbing his hands gently up and down your back, his stream still filling you with his warmth, trying desperately to keep his moans and whimpers to a minimum, so as not to let you know how much he's enjoying himself. your silly, puppy brain is too dumb and confused to notice anyway.

"shh, shh, it's okay puppy, daddy had an accident too, see? no need to cry about it, silly girl.” he consoles you, pushing your head back down into his shoulder when you try to move, not wanting you to notice the shit eating grin plastered across his face.

he has you right where he wants you, dumbed out and dependant on him to make you feel better... just like he always does... and just like you always are.

[johnnyst0rm]

GLADIATOR II

My official review (that absolutely no one asked for):

👑👑👑👑 - I claim this film for the glory of Rome

🗡️🗡️PLEASE NOTE THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. PLEASE DO NOT READ UNDER THE CUT OR THE COMMENTS IF YOU HAVEN’T YET SEEN THE FILM & DO NOT WANT SPOILERS.🗡️🗡️

Words I think best describe what you see: A whirlwind of action packed thrill ride that left me either on the edge of my seat or literally leaping out of it (don’t worry I was in the back row & only my friend to the right of me) whenever you might think this film is going to go, its probably not what you thing. I went in with one idea & while a few things did happen, there were a lot of moments that left me gasping for air, throwing my hands on my hand, leaping out of my seat, & at one point during one particular scene, my heart was beating so fast it reached 136 BPM - don’t worry we’ll get to that.

Denzel Washington & Paul Mescal command attention & they get it.

Denzel’s Macrinus had me despising him not once did I find myself rooting for him & as a LONGTIME Denzel fan this is a first. The fact that he was so quick to manipulate & found it so easy to put everyone especially Caracalla against Geta & even assisted with his murder was CRAZY. I’ve never wanted to punch Denzel Washington in the face before, then he helped slit my boys throat & literally saw his head off. I will be genuinely shocked if he is not nominated for best supporting actor for this role & I will be shocked if he does not win (depending on his competition)

Paul’s Lucius is powerful & breathtaking. You can feel his pain of losing his wife at the hands of his soon to be found out stepfather, remembering who he is, then collectively watching his stepfather & mother murdered in front of him. His mother dying the same way his wife had previously. You not only mourn with him but push for him to fight to avenge the fallen. Paul still an up & comer I think has a great career ahead of him & will now identify myself as a fellow Paul Mescal fan.

Pedro’s Acasius is tired & heart broken of all the wrong he’s had to do and continue to do in his life for the vanity & glory of his emperors. Pedro is Pedro so of course he’s eye catching but his character & portrayal left me wanting more. His action scenes are great. He commands the scenes he’s fighting in but in all other aspects of his character I just wanted more & it felt pretty lack luster. His interactions with Joseph, kissing his hands & talking shit about them had me laughing because no wonder he calls you such a shit head Joseph, your Geta ordered him dead & your boys shot him full of fucking arrows. (I’d hold a grudge too we’re Aries!) I was on the fence about Acasius dying I wasn’t sure if he would die or wouldn’t. I was convinced if he did it would’ve been an act of sacrifice, but I did not expect him to be murdered by a mirage of arrows nor did I expect him to be the first one out. I literally gasped, cupped my hand over my mouth & grabbed my Pedro besties shoulder for about 2 minutes just in utter shock.

Stand outs besides Denzel, Paul, Pedro & Joseph: Fred Hechinger. He needs more recognition, in general as an actor but also for this role.

He played Caracalla so beautifully deranged & sick that near his end I really felt sad for him. The way that the issues in his brain made him so fragile, afraid, & easy manipulated by Macrinus that he was driven to madness to murder & dismember his brother made me sad to think what would have become of him had Macrinus kept him alive.

Fred is one of those people I think is just starting out but someone we can potentially see big things from. I think he’s got a great future ahead of him & hope that this role helps land him some more supporting & even lead roles.

Yeah yeah yeah blah blah blah Burr what did you think about Joseph’s performance: Of course you’re going to say I’d biasedly only praise him because it’s him & im 😍 for’em & maybe you’re right. But if you asked me on a deeper level I’d say I thought he played this role wonderfully well.

He was deliciously devious but I could’ve used a bit more character development (while acknowledging he is NOT A LEAD in this film) I acknowledge why we got what we got. Opposite what you know (or might not know from Roman History) about Geta & Caracalla these two almost seem codependent on each other. They’re constantly with each other every time we see them.

When Caracalla flies into a rage when Acasius’ plan is revealed & he laughs it’s Geta who goes after him to stop him, screams for everyone to get out & talks him down. When Macrinus puts in Caracalla’s head that Geta is the one who is blaming him for the downfall of Rome & what would happen to Dondas, it’s Geta who is begging & pleaded for his brother to return from his madness not to spare his life. I think there’s a bit of a soft spot for Caracalla to make him appear more levelheaded & human than Caracalla.

His death scene; I went into this knowing he was going to die. If they were follow Roman History I was fine with it. I DID NOT THINK HE WAS GOING TO GET THIS THROAT SLIT / HACKED AT & I DID NOT THINK THAT THEY WOULD CUT HIS HEAD OFF!! I LEAPT OUT OF MY SEAT(don’t worry no one was behind me or to my left) MY HEART WAS RACING. SERIOUSLY IT WAS BEATING 136 BEATS PER MINUTE after this. Insane. I do think they also cut away too soon I would’ve liked to have watched him actually die 🥴🫠

Also… that prosthetic head… Ridley ALL that money you spent to make this movie as beautiful as you did, you couldn’t find someone to make that fake head look more like Joseph/Geta? Very disappointed in that.

HERE COMES THE BIAS: Joseph Quinn is just such a treat to watch. I love seeing him in these different roles. Each movie he’s done has been something different from the last. He pours his heart & soul into his characters & it’s reflected on film. He’s a beautiful actor.

Denzel said it best: “what the difference between evil & wicked? They were just awful but they did it with a smile.” Which is why my main tag for Geta is you’re awful I love you. I just love him.

So in conclusion: when you have a chance go check it out & circle back to me & we can scream about it if you want. I think 9/10 problems in this movie could have been solved if:

1. Someone got rid of Macrinus immediately

2. Geta & Caracalla agreed to step down & got adopted by Lucilla & Acasius & got to spend life with Lucius telling them how they were all “big brave strong boys” got hugged a whole lot & went to therapy - they need all these things

3. Everybody kissed each other 🤷🏼‍♀️

10/10 would recommend

I can’t wait to see it again on Saturday

[beanghostprincess]

I just saw a post about Buggy and Galdino being a rare pair despite the chemistry and had the wildest concept ever to formulate in my teeny lil peanut brain.

Buggy and Shanks? Yeah, it's complicated, but the answer to if they're together is neither yes nor no, just dreamy sighs (Shanks) and frantically cursing, blushing and rage (Buggy)

Buggy and Gaimon? Long distance situationship built on mutual respect, growing adoration, relatively chaste, all things considered.

Buggy and Galdino became an incidental ship during the Impel Down fiasco. They both would have eagerly and happily sold one another out for a corn chip, but eventually they build a really solid foundation and Buggy falls first buy Gal falls harder. Alvida is sipping her margarita, watching them sass-flirt each other and making disgusting goo-goo eyes. She's debating locking them in a room for them to either get right with their hearts or at the very least, give her a break.

Cross Guild happens, and Buggy is hurt by Galdino flocking back to Crocodile, yeah, but somehow he isn't surprised (self fulfilling destruction his beloved).

Hawkeye is the first to really look at Buggy - he's had to listen to Shanks wax poetic so often that he is still struggling to reconcile the Buggy-As-Described-By-Shanks with this Buggy before him. The math isn't mathing and he's wondering WHY. In doing so, he eventually starts clocking all these little things - Buggy dropping random, highly insightful and sharp comments that would solve a problem at hand succinctly and easily. Buggy is cautious, perhaps in some ways too much so, but he is also alarmingly good at resolving conflicts without... well, conflict. He's capable of manipulation tactics that most would find impossible without conquerors. Conquerors Haki which the clown most definitely does not have. He may... be understanding of where Shanks is coming from.

Crocodile and Daz, meanwhile, are slower to come around. Daz is stoic, uninterested, he does not care. Crocodile becomes... tolerant of Buggy, finding the idiot to be less of a nuisance than originally accounted for. Okay. Sure. Whatever. Then the boss man Notices some things. Galdino specifically. Mr 3 has always been rather mouthy, though much less to him than to his peers. But something about the ways Gal is interacting with the others speaks of more than idle proximity and general surliness. There's familiarity, a spark there, a thoughtlessness to the ways Galdino turns his back to them, trusting of all things. Then he catches a glimpse of Galdino and Buggy after dark, both tired and closer than most would be in that situation, curled together on a couch while Gal tries to convince Buggy to eat, and "no, baby blue, coffee does not count as food - no, I don't care about how many calories it has, you need something not-liquid, okay, damn-"

Buggy is... quiet when he's tired, Crocodile realizes. He takes away many thoughts and realization from viewing that interaction, but that is something that sticks out to him. The clown is so emotive and bombastic, pun unintended, but he... can be quiet.

He's... pretty, when he's quiet.

He swears he will take that thought to his grave.

Upon realizing though, suddenly it's like either the subtle PDA has skyrocketed or he's just hyperaware of it for what it is now. He sees the way Galdino's hand lingers on Buggy's shoulder; the way Buggy fiddles with his fingers before a wax-formed fidget toy is shuffled into his hands. He sees the smiles Gal shoot to Buggy, the quick flashes the clown shoots back in turn; he sees so much, and it's... not bad? But certainly not good.

Then he sees Mihawk slowly falling into the orbit as well. What? No, seriously, what the fuck?? Of all things, that is what sets his nerves on EDGE.

Daz, attuned to his boss as he always is, always will be, notices. He then turns to the source. Romance is not his thing, he is unapologetic about that. It serves no purpose and he himself is certain he is incapable of such feelings. He can identify it in others, obviously, a skill which he has honed in order to identify threats, allegiances, etc. He can see the veritable solar system this clown has amassed. He too can see how his employer is ferociously resisting the pull of it himself.

Daz doesn't get it, not really.

Daz does however get that the clown can, in fact, be rather cute and funny and witty. He also smells like vanilla, lavender, and the afterimage of the circus he so seems to adore. It shouldn't work. It works.

A blade man and an uncuttable man - truly the things they could get up to would be entertaining at the very least.

Crocodile and Mihawk, upon realizing DAZ HIT THAT BEFORE EITHER OF THEM (Croc's in denial still and Mihawk was going for the wine and dine gentlemanly thing with a strict schedule of expectation to allude to on his end for Optimal Performance), are absolutely FLABBERGASTED. Poor Galdino just has to awkwardly debate between patting their shoulders and trembling at the idea of initiating contact with two upset powerhouses. He settles for awkwardly going, "he... does this, sometimes? But he's insatiable, so really you'd be doing all of us a favor if you wanted to do anything too.... maybe.... pleasedon'tkillme-"

Just. Silly awkward hypersexual clown with his polycule having to trade off and also the sillies of Buggy attracting the most emotionally constipated men in the fucking Seas, nobody is straight or neurotypical, it should NOT work out and yet by the power of carnivals, balloon animals and the audacity of a koala on every drug imaginable, they make it work.

The government is having twelve attacks of a variety of natures with every tip about the clown having a new beau. "is he collecting them??? Making a harem armada????? How does that even work, there's so many - wait I don't wanna know-"

I think this might be the best thing I've ever read because ohmygod- Buggy just pulls literally every possible man. Can you even imagine the gossip nights he has with Alvida? That girl is so done with him and yet they still do these things together because he's the most fun around. Alvida doesn't even know how the hell he does these things. He doesn't even know either. You forgot to mention that he might pull literally everyone but he's the biggest failguy ever and if you ask him about his flirting tactics he won't know what to say.

And I agree completely tbh Buggy and Gal should be more of a popular ship. Despite all the scenes they have together I'm still amazed that they don't have many shippers (me included, I mean, you literally just opened my eyes right now).

This clown has the biggest and some-fucking-how most stable polycule in all seas. Everyone just keeps falling for him when they hated his guts at first and he doesn't even realize until they directly tell him because he just assumes everybody wants to kill him or use him or whatever- But suddenly he has a whole harem and he can't even believe it. You know who can't believe it? Alvida. Biggest Buggy supporter but also the biggest Buggy hater. MLM/WLW solidarity but she won't hesitate to also talk shit about him. How beautiful.

I think the marines have a bet going on tbh. Like a Bingo for Buggy's polycule. They just keep asking themselves who's gonna be next. That's what they do on their breaks.

[qoldenskies]

okay so Donnie discovering the curse early only leads to worse outcomes but what if the boys discover the curse?

like, I know the curse was actively working against everyones "something isn't right, why am I acting like this" sense so they couldn't realise they were cursed or otherwise acting weirdly, but if someone else had told them they were cursed, what would that have done?

like, was the curse so strong that even if you went up to them and said point blank that there was a curse making them hate Donnie, would they even consider it? would they believe you? could they believe you?

if they discovered the curse early, before any of the physical abuse had started, could they have changed something? could they have fixed it?

(love your work, love your fics, thank you so much for writing, I hope you have an amazing day)

mnnnn yeah i think they'd be quick to deny it, especially because they're completely convinced under the curse that their behavior is normal and justifiable. i dont think it has a failsafe for them realizing it fully, but their thought processes are redirected quickly to catch them off guard-- "something is wrong, but i only feel that way around donnie, so it's has to be his fault. it has to be his fault, he's why i'm angry all the time." honestly explaining that makes it make a LOT more sense why they got more and more overtly ableist as well, because the internal logic IS consistent the way with really virulent bigots think lmfao. of course they'd go after "inconvenient" behavior that he cant control because he's disabled,, it was inevitable, unfortunately :')

ANYWHO yeah i dont think they'd believe it, it'd be extremely difficult to convince them. even early on, i dont think there'd be enough signs for them to go and be so presumptuous, they're just having bad moods and etc etc, and later on they would generally just be too far gone, to the point where they'd pretty much throwing ANYTHING at the wall to justify it, including infractions they'd already normally be over (like how raph throws the docks back at him when benching him,, yikes). if donnie tried to tell them they'd lash out at him and say he's making excuses, if april or splinter tried they'd laugh it off. it's just built to make them see it as an unreasonable conclusion to come to, the kind of boiling frog narrative for caged lungs applies to the bros, too.

i cant even really imagine HOW that would go because it manipulates the way that they think so deeply. being away from donnie doesn't stop it, and they would find a way to loop around and still be angry at him, i think. i just cant see it working out narratively. i just kind of didnt write with that hypothetical in mind

[xxcocothekillerxx]

Behind Locked Doors

Pairing: Johnny Slaughter x FemReader

Summary: Y/N recently moved into a somewhat small town, Newt, In Texas with her father. Y/N's father thought this would be a good opportunity for them, since things got rough back in California. Little do they know the trouble that awaited them..

!THIS CHAPTER DOESN'T CONTAIN NSFW!

Warning: This series will contain 18+ content & material! NSFW situations and possibly TRIGGERING topics such as- Depression, stalking, blood & gore, manipulation, mention of kidnapping and small amounts of self-harm, such as scars/cuts.

{{ Please proceed with care if you're sensitive to ANY of these topics }}

Author's Note: This is my first time really writing NSFW stories / stories in general. Tips and tricks on how to improve my writing and overall layout are welcome, though keep it respectful please. Other than that please enjoy! 💋

💋Chapter 1: A new town💋

It's been over a week now since you and your father have moved to this small town. The feeling of warm, hot and heavy, air and slight stench of garbage filled your nose as you were cleaning and fixing up your room.

The house you and your father picked was interesting, to say the least. Its dull, gray and moldy wallpaper lined most of the walls around the house. Holes and cracks littered the corners of the old building, the windows barely holding up against the breeze that hit them from the outside. The rusty door knobs, simply waiting to give a poor unexpecting victim a staph infection, and the doors themselves are ready to fall off their hinges.

Although your father had fixed up the downstairs area pretty well, painting the walls in a faded out, pastel yellow. Re-painting the door to their original bright white, and fixing up the hinges so they wouldn't fall off. He also bought new kitchenWare, the stove and fridge were nearly brand new and he insisted they were 'fresh out of the factory'. A beautiful dark brown wood table, with matching chairs, sat in between the kitchen and the living room. A pot of lavender and pink poppies in a little white vase, with a sage green cloth underneath it, laid in the middle of the table. Family pictures hanging on parts of the walls, leading over to the living room where a shag carpet and old leather couch sat with those old style TVs.

Your room had (color) wallpaper, with old CDs and photos hung on the walls. You had a nice window and strung a spider plant about it, pinning some of its vines to the side with some books and some toys sitting on the window sill. Your bed was a decent size, enough to hold two people comfortably, and had soft and cozy (color) sheets. The wooden floor was covered with a shag rug, and large plants sat by your doorway and against your bookshelf. You were just finishing up cleaning up and lighting a candle when your father knocked on your door, slightly catching you off guard because you had music playing on your old radio, you quickly turned your music off and opened the bedroom door.

Your father stood there, he slightly adjusted his almost cartoonishly large glasses and then gave a gentle smile. "Hey sweetie.. sorry I don't mean to bother ya' , I just wanted to know if you wanted to come shopping with me real quick?" He joyfully explained, his goofy smile nearly going ear to ear as he looked at you.

"Uh…sure why not" a small smile appears on your face and you gently put down your headphones onto your desk, brushing your (color), hair back behind your ears. You really haven't been out much this week, and it could do you some good to get out for awhile. Your father gives an almost triumphant look as he quickly turns to walk down the hallway, his footsteps getting quieter as he gets further away.

You walked over to your dresser picking out a simple outfit, a teal color tie dye T-shirt, tied at the waist to give a crop top feel and bell-bottom jeans with little colorful flowers near the bottom of the legs and on the back pockets. You then put your white shoes on and headed downstairs to meet up with your father, grabbing some hair ties on the way out and putting them on your wrist before shutting the door behind you. Your father was waiting at the table while looking at a newspaper, his large glasses slightly tilted downwards as he read. His gaze lifted as he heard your footsteps, a gentle and warm smile appearing on his face as he got up from the table.

"Ready?" He says, keys in hand as he tilts his head slightly towards the door. You nod in response, walking towards the door as your father opened it for you. Walking down the steps of the porch, a warm and comforting breeze hits your face. The fresh air quickly running up your nose, a sense of relief from being so cooped up all week makes you feel good and refreshed. The bright blue sky and the sun, only covered lightly with scattered puffy clouds and chirping birds. You take in your surroundings for a brief moment. The sounds of the wind and birds filling your ears as your father walks past you towards the car, his bright striped shirt regaining your attention as you walk to catch up to him, making your way to the passenger side door and opening it. Your father started up the old, Cherry red, 1973 Pontiac Astre. The engine rumbles to life as your father rolls his window down to place his arm on the door, he adjusts the radio to his favorite channel and some new station comes on.

A man starts to speak through the light static “The search continues in Muerto County for a missing University of Texas student. The Sheriff’s department says that Maria Flores, a native of Uvalde, was last seen near the town of Newt more than two months ago. Her vehicle was recently discovered abandoned along Country Road 172, with officials reporting no signs of foul play. Authorities are hopeful that the expanded search into the nearby communities of Harlow and Chinatown will unearth new leads. Family and friends are urging anyone with information regarding her disappearance to please come forward.” The man then proceeded to introduce the forecast of the week and then quickly cut to a popular music station playing 'Can't get enough - Bad company'. You and your father give a concerned glance towards each other before your father starts to drive out onto the road. The wind blowing through your hair, the comforting breeze making you close your eyes and enjoy the ride. Aside from a few random roadkill on the road, the music played loudly in your ears as you slightly danced to yourself as your father jammed to the song and you enjoyed the car ride into town.

Soon you and your father enter the town. Your eyes couldn't help but look around, an old gas station and mechanic shop sat on the right side with some small buildings and stores littered behind them, a few apartment buildings and roller rink sat on the left side with a large school and church sat behind them. You took in the view, not many people were walking around except for a group of teenagers and some adults, some with their little ones, you then noticed the missing person posters scattered on the telephone poles. 'Must be that poor girl from the news station they mentioned' you thought, a sense of sadness slightly washed over you as you felt bad for her family and friends. Your eyes soon wandered over to an older gentleman, he was smiling as a few older lady's. He wore a yellow button up with a blue and red plaid coat, a yellow hat covered his brown hair that clearly was receding and was graying. He had a cane in his hand that he was slightly leaning against as he was, somewhat in a creepy way, talking to the two old ladies. His smile reminds you of a beaver as he talks, however you notice his gaze quickly rising to your car as you drive by, his smile quickly disappears as his locked eyes with you. You quickly felt yourself look away and down at your lap, you felt embarrassed for staring and quickly looked over to your father who was simply paying attention to the road while trying to find a parking spot.

As your father parked the car, he looked over and noticed your uneasiness. "Y/N? You alright?.." he opened the card or on his side, yet waited for your response and sat there. "Y-yea.. sorry" you chuckled, trying to push off the fact you stared at a random old man and got creeped out. Your father nodded and got out of the car, quickly meeting you on the other side as you got out yourself. "Well, I need to grab a few things from the general store and then the post office. Why don'tcha you go take a good look around town… I might be while so." Your father explained, and a big smile on his face and he gently patted your shoulder. You simply nodded as your father walked away to the general store, your eyes quickly wandered over to a clothing store and its bright luring colors. You started to walk down the sidewalk, humming to yourself when you take notice of the same old man you saw before, now sitting on a bench reading a newspaper, except you can't help but notice him side eyeing you from behind the newspaper. You felt a knot in your throat as you started to get close to him, he was sitting next to the store you wanted to go in. You have no clue why he was giving you the creeps, however you swallow your fear and give a warm smile towards the old man.

This seemed to slightly catch him off guard however and nearly made him shove his face into the newspaper, starting to grumble things underneath his breath.

"H-hello sir!" You slightly felt your heart race as the man raised an eyebrow and slowly looked towards you, his dark eyes giving a questionable look as if he was wondering why you're trying to talk to him. However he quickly snaps a smile at you and puts his newspaper down on the bench as he reaches his hand out for a shake. "Nice to meetcha lil' lady.. new around here?" His voice semi cracked as he spoke, you could hear a slight lisp too. "Yes I am.. My name is Y/N!, my father is also here with me.. he's just grabbing a few things" you nervously stated, you quickly shake his hand before politely cupping them together in front of you. The old man nodded as if he understood and or cared before standing up and giving that creepy beaver smile towards you. "Names Drayton, Drayton Sawyer.. My family lives in this town. Though most em ain't the social type…except that boy Johnny." He gave an annoyed look as he rambled, quickly stopping before giving an almost serious look towards you. "Welcome to the town.." he said, his eyes almost dark as he spoke. He then tipped his hat before walking away, you watched as he almost waddled away and then disappeared behind some buildings.

You calmed yourself down slightly before walking into the clothing store, a nice old lady behind the counter gave you a warm and welcoming smile. "Hello dear! Welcome.." she said, her gray hair in a bun behind her head, her sun kissed skin covered with wrinkles. She wore a pretty blue blouse with a blue floral skirt that hit her ankles and her dark blue flats, she adjusted her glasses to better see you as you walked in. You nodded as you looked around the shop at all the cute and somewhat old fashioned clothes, soon you hear three girls walk into the store. A red head wearing a pink plaid button that was tied up slightly above the waist and jean shorts, a dark Brunette with tanner skin wearing and baby blue blouse with a white floral pattern on the chest and tan bell-bottoms, and a dark Brunette wearing a red tank-top with a deep v-neck and yellow sunflower on it and blue jean bell-bottoms. The girls were talking and somewhat giggling to themselves as they walked around the store, although they looked like they were also seriously discussing something as well. They kept quietly chatting to each other before they took notice of you, giving small waves and warm smiles as they began to walk over towards you. The ginger girl quickly speaks up and puts out her hand "hello! My name's Connie! Are you new here??" Her smile warmly grew as you took and shook her hand, you gave her a warm smile back. "Yea.. me and my father live slightly out of town but we're practically on the edge." You said nervously, not knowing if they knew what you were talking about. Quickly the girl in the red v-neck tank top spoke up and said, "oh that old house!? I remember when a lil' old couple used to live there! Gosh! They were so sweet..my name's Julie by the way!" She giggled, and she gave a girly wave at you. You couldn't help but look at the middle girl, your brows slightly furrowed in worry at her quietness before Connie spoke up, "oh.. that's Ana, her sister went missing.. I'm sure you've already seen the posters around town by now." Her smile quickly faded while she spoke, Ana gave a quick half smile before turning around to look at the clothes on the wall. Julie gave a slightly worried look back at Ana before looking at Connie then back at you, "yea.. she's been in rough shape ever since. But she's been determined to find her…" Julie explained, before giving a big smile, "you should meet up with us at the roller rink tonight! It's always Nice to have new friends!" She yelled excitedly, jumping excitedly. Connie also seemed to get excited by this and nodded in agreement, her smile nearly blinding you with excitement. You smiled joyfully at the idea and soon nodded and agreed to join them later at the roller rink. You wanted to explore a little bit more before meeting up with your father again to tell him the news.

A few minutes pass and the three girls soon leave the building with you before they split off into a different direction than you, leaving you alone. You look around and decide to walk down towards the post office to meet up with your father, however as you were walking you couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Your eyes darted around and yet you couldn't see anything, you looked behind you and still nothing. You started to walk slightly faster down the street, pushing the feeling off as just being in a new town. Soon enough you make it to the post office as your father is walking out the doors, mail and other papers in his name. He walks slowly as he's ready the envelopes and other pieces of paper, his glasses at the end of his nose and his eyebrows slightly raised as he reads and mumbles to himself. He quickly takes notice of you and fixes his glasses as he opens the car door and puts the mail in the glove compartment, a large smile on his face as you walk over towards the car. "Soooo?!... Anything exciting happens sweetie?" He smiled, his hand on the top of the car door as he leaned against it slightly. You nod and smile, opening your door on the passenger side and getting in. Your father soon follows and sits in the car, closing the door behind him. "Made some new friends!.. they want me to meet up with them later tonight at the roller rink.." you smiled, your father giving you a big hug before laughing triumphantly. "OH! I knew you could do it! Making me so proud.." he smiled before starting up the car and started to drive, you leaned up against the car door and let the wind start to blow through your hair, the feeling of being watched still stayed as you were starting to leave town. Your eyes widened and noticed a figure watching you pass by, an almost sinking feeling as you drove by filled your stomach. Soon the feeling leaves as you drive out of town, the radio blaring music and your father embarrassingly dancing to you. You chuckled to yourself bringing your attention to the sun as it slowly went down, the sky starting to turn pink and shades of purple, A smile slowly appearing on your face as you drove home.

Today was a good day, yet you couldn't shake a weird feeling about that town.

END OF CHAPTER 1

If you got his far, I sincerely hope you enjoyed chapter 1! I know nothing "exciting" happened in this one, however I promise it'll get more interesting as we continue! 💋💋💋

Special Thanks and inspiration - @lil-spider 💋❤️

//CHAPTER 2//

[mysticstarlightduck]

✦ OC DEEP DIVE ✦

Thanks for the tag, @ominous-feychild (here)!

I'm gonna do this tag for Pyerce Ophyria and Tarah Ryllar from Supernova Initiative and Josh Aleta and Gwyn Whitewood from Scrapyard Boys!

What uncommon/common fear do they have?

Pyerce: Fear of being manipulated or being stuck in a situation that is out of his control; fear of making a terrible mistake/failing his kids; fear of clowns.

Tarah: Fear of being kidnapped or drugged (because she saw the same happen to her best friend, Eos); fear of the uncanny valley or things that seem normal but feel off; fear of being a disappointment to herself

Josh: Fear of being trapped (claustrophobia, but also fear of being contained by others); fear of being unredeemably evil (he wasn't exactly The Perfect Cousin - in fact he was quite the... complicated and annoying angsty teen, sometimes toxic but not more than any regular teen - prior to his abduction by the PHANTOM Industries, plus he has what they call an "evil power" because he controls fears/nightmares, so the constant pressure by his captors that "he is inherently evil and needs to be fixed" kind of broke him in a way)

Gwyn: Being unable to protect the ones she loves and herself; fear of being found and recaptured by the PHANTOM Industries; fear of Zander Corelli (the mob boss - and pimp - Adrien works for, who basically haunts his and the twins' lives for most of the duration of the WIP); fear of being trapped in the heat.

Do they have any pet peeves?

Pyerce: Corrupt governments to lie to their affiliates and discard their assets once they're no longer useful to them once that person isn't "useful" to them anymore. Not being fully aware of a situation. He also can't stand people who legitmatelly make excuses to be lazy and who leech off of others instead of trying to be proactive.

Tarah: She doesn't really like loud and repetive noises. Tarah also hates bureaucracy - with a passion - especially when it gets in the way something she has a time crunch on succeeding or when it prevents active change in an environment.

Josh: People who are nosy and try to pry on other's private matters - on another hand, he can't stand people who care too much about what others will think and have that constant "but what will the neighbours think?!" mindset. It gets on his nerves.

Gwyn: Being pressured - especially when there's something time sensitive involved - which usually makes her panic and spiral rather than to figure out what to do faster. On a sadder note, she doesn't like people who get too handsy with others in an uncomfortable way - she's seen Adrien's patrons do that all too often and now she has a "touch (me/my siblings/my friends) and you won't fucking have hands" mentality.

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

Pyerce: Coffee candies, hidden weapons of all kinds (remember he's a retired assassin, and the most dangerous assassin there ever was at that), and probably some messy crayon drawings that Gabi and Morgan made when they were kids (because he's their dad and cherishes the memories)

Tarah: Her best friend's unfinished woven bracelet, protein bars, hooded cloaks and generally oversized hoodies that can help her hide her features when on the run.

Josh: Weights (to stay fit), a radio playing vintage rock music, a nightlight (he's afraid of the dark but doesn't want anyone to know)

Gwyn: Cheesy potato chips, tickets for a comedy show or for the movies, a giraffe plushie she won at a fair

What do they notice first in a person?

Pyerce:... Everything. He's the ultimate secret agent/assassin - so I think he'd pretty much have a clear picture of that person with just a quick once over or a glance. Black Widow/John Wick-style, like a very meticulously detailed analisys of that person.

Tarah: If they look like they're trying to deceive her, catch her or if they're generally a threat to her or her friends. She is also pretty good at reading people's feelings from their facial expressions.

Josh: If he can take them in a fight or if he needs to run. How imposing they are or if that person is trying to intimidate him. Because of his powers, if he tries to, Josh can immediately see/find out what that person's worst nightmare/fear is (his power is Nightmare Manipulation) and choose to do with that information whatever is more relevant.

Gwyn: If they seem nice or friendly. She's bad at navigating social cues because she has spent the past three years locked up in a lab and the years before that in an isolated household, and generally just wants to make friends.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance?

Pyerce:

Emotional: 8, but pretends its a 10

Physical: +11

Tarah:

Emotional: -1 (squishy, kind hearted, anxious baby girl)

Physical: 6

Josh:

Emotional: Before his capture = 5, but didn't let it show too much; After his capture = -4 but pretends its a +10 in really extreme ways

Physical: 9 (before and after), unless some kind of psychological trickery is also tied to it - in that case its a 0

Gwyn:

Emotional: 7, sometimes too oblivious to stuff though tends to overthink

Physical: 8

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? (I'm also including freeze and fawn)

Pyerce: Goes "Scorched Earth" kind of Fight Reflex - especially when it involves protecting his daughters. And because he is the most lethal assassin of his generation, whoever is threatening/pressuring him better run - though that will only stall the inevitable.

Tarah: Usually Flight 100% - she's the embodiment of deer in headlights and will bolt at any sign of danger even if that just a misunderstanding. However, if the danger is too overwhelming or too similar to her past traumas, she tends to freeze.

Josh: Before his capture - his first instinct was Fight. He is and was a very angry and stubborn person, who tends to have fits of rage when scared or frustrated and who often lashed out in ways he later regretted but was too headstrong to apologize for, often in a bully-like way but not fully - much like Billy Hargrove from Stranger Things. After his capture - if the pressure is psychological or triggers him, he tends to go into an "unique" Freeze mode in which he acts as if in a trance - his conscience feels distant and detached, but his powers are lashing out in Fight mode to protect him from whoever is triggering him. If his former captors are specifically involved, he tends to go into a complete Fawn reflex to appease them.

Gwyn: Fight, especially if she has to protect herself and her loved ones, or when she wants revenge. If there's absolutely no other choice she may choose Flight to Fight another day.

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?

Pyerce:

Original Family unknown

After he quit being an assassin, he dedicated his life to raising his two adoptive daughters Gabi (the one he adopted first) and Morgan (the second one he adopted), so I would definetly say he is a family kind of guy, despite his murderous past.

Tarah:

Her father was killed when she was a little girl and though she was saved by her godmother, Tarah ended up having to flee the Junction galaxies all alone with Eos (her godmother's son) after her godmother too was truck down by the Junction.

Tarah is fiercely devoted to those she calls family, especially Eos, who is her best friend and who is like a brother to her.

Josh:

He was orphaned at a young age, and his original parents are a mystery. Currently, before his capture, he used to live with adoptive/foster parents (Erin's uncle and aunt) but they weren't very close at all, and he was kidnapped by the PHANTOM Industries shortly after.

Not really. He used to be very troublesome, rude, brutish and often harsh towards anyone that tried to show kindness to him, because he saw it as a scheme and feared he didn't deserve it. That lead him to have a bully kind of behavior to pretty much everyone for years and to be a certified rule breaker who often made things worse than they needed to be. However, deep down, he was developing some semblance of a friendship with his adoptive cousin Erin, but they still argued a lot and he was kidnapped before he could truly have a sibling bond with her. After escaping, he was so conditioned by the Industries to believe he is evil that he thinks he is unworthy of love and respect and that he is a dnager to anyone who tries to get close to him, so he takes a skittish approach to others now.

Gwyn:

Her mother was a troubled, but kind, young lady who had many boyfriends in her youth and didn't really know how to handle parenthood yet and wanted to find out more about herself first. So Gwyn, her twin - Rhys - and their half-brother Adrien (from their mom's first boyfriend) ended up living most of their childhood with their toxic grandparents. A few years after Adrien was kicked out of home at 15, Rhys and Gwyn developed superpowers after coming into contact with a chemical factory leak, and were sent by their grandparents to the Spectre Academy. After they tried to escape at first, they were sent by the Academy to be lab rats of the PHANTOM Industries.

She is - especially when it comes to her twin brother Rhys and their half-brother Adrien. They're the only family each other has ever had, so they kind of have a "us against the world" kind of mindset, though they still have a lot of getting reacquaintted to do with Adrien since they were apart for so long.

What animal represents them best?

Pyerce: A black wolf

Tarah: Hummingbird

Josh: Either a raccoon or feral cat

Gwyn: Arctic fox

What is a smell that they dislike?

Pyerce: The smell of rotten things - especially rotten blood or flesh (a.k.a he is an assassin who hates the smell of corpses)

Tarah: Scent of alcohol and the smell of a lot/too much of perfume.

Josh: Laboratory smells and also the smell of mold.

Gwyn: She generally hates the smell of sweat and unwashed things.

Have they broken any bones?

Pyerce: Yes, many times in his former career, but not once since he quit it.

Tarah: Not really, just a sprained ankle once when she was a kid

Josh: A couple times, most when he was being experimented on.

Gwyn: Not really, probably.

How would a stranger likely describe them?

Pyerce: A quiet and introvertedly serious man who wants to just live his life and do his own thing, who most people don't know much about but who is a genuine benefactor to many and is also a doting father.

Tarah: That skittish kid with the woven bracelets and the multicolored nail polish who never stays in one place and always feels like she's too scared or too anxious to talk to anyone she doesn't fully know.

Josh: A troublemaking, brutish and angry teenager who is always looking for new ways to cause chaos, who doesn't obey any rules and doesn't give a fuck about anyone, and is also rude to most people he doesn't know and harsh to those he does know. The weird kid that is always causing grownups a headache.

Gwyn: It depends on the stranger. If the stranger is with Zander's mob, they'll probably address her as 'Ametrine's' sister (Adrien's stage name is Ametrine) or if they're keen on being especially rude, they'll probably call her "the stripper's brat" or "that girl who is always walking around with Zander's plaything". Yeah. They're not... kind to them. But most other strangers would describe her as a lively, bright headed, kind young lady with a big heart who wants to have fun and has a sparkling laughter.

Are they a night owl or an early bird?

Pyerce: Probably both?

Tarah: Night owl in an unsettling (looming) way

Josh: Night owl - poor boi has insomnia and night terrors

Gwyn: Morning bird, also in an unsettling (but giddy) way

What is a flavour they hate and a flavour they love?

Pyerce:

Loves: Well cooked, refined meals with rare spices

Hates: Painfully sweet desserts, like the nauseatingly sweet ones

Tarah:

Loves: Spicy fried food

Hates: Alcohol

Josh:

Loves: Comfort food (pizza)

Hates: Bland food or sticky food

Gwyn:

Loves: Ice Cream; Cheesy Potato Chips

Hates: Spicy food

Do they have any hobbies?

Pyerce: Sharpshooting, listening to music, growing poisonous flowers, reading cheap romance books

Tarah: Dancing, rollerskating, helping stray animals, learning new languages, talking about her favorite movies

Josh: Reading comic books, weightlifting, driving around aimlessly on stolen cars, listening to rock, watching rom-coms (hates horror movies)

Gwyn: Going to ice cream shops, watching stand up comedy shows, walking around the city at night, making ice sculptures on the window with her powers,

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises?

Pyerce: Calm happiness and a bit of surprise. After so many years out of the field as an assassin, he's learned to enjoy the joys of regular life, and honestly is always glad to do so.

Tarah: Initial panic but it would then turn into awkward joy as she realizes the situation is harmless. She would probably not know how to properly navigate it and be confused at how to proceed.

Josh: WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS - (almost has a heart attack out of fear, needs three cups of water and a cookie to calm down then is like). Oh, fuck yeah I like this, let's party! Just... don't scare me next time.

Gwyn: "Omg, yay, this is literally so cool guys!!!! I wanna try all the candy, and dance to the music and have fun, oh gosh there are so many gifts this is so cool -!" (rambles on)

Do they like to wear jewelry?

Pyerce: Not really. Likes some nice silver rings though.

Tarah: The woven bracelets she and her best friend made for each other.

Josh: Yeah kinda. Loves rings and necklaces with funny designs of cartoonishly styled ghosts or skulls, and wears some necklaces.

Gwyn: Doesn't really understand the concept of how to style jewelry into a daily outfit but digs it nonetheless

Do they have neat or messy handwriting?

Pyerce: Neat

Tarah: In between, tends towards messy.

Josh: Messy & adds too much pressure to it

Gwyn: In between and scribbles doodles and cute heart shaped designs around it

What are the two emotions they feel the most?

Pyerce: Calmness and The Need To Protect

Tarah: Anxiety and awkward joy

Josh: Anger and Fear/Dread/Panic

Gwyn: Love for her family/friends & giddy happiness of experiencing the real world

Do they have a favourite fabric?

Pyerce: Anything that is stylishly black and also comfortable, practical and probably bulletproof

Tarah: Flannel, cotton, yarn

Josh: Leather, jeans, soft cotton

Gwyn: Light polyester, cotton and fluffy jackets

What kind of accent do they have?

Pyerce: A soft, more neutral version of a "Junction" accent

Tarah: Central Junction accent that has faded away into a mismatched Khosmonian Accent

Josh: Probably some mix of accent Detroit and New York? (The city of this WIP is based on IRL ones but is also very much fictional)

Gwyn: Not sure but probably similar to Josh's (same city) but with a very slight Northern lilt to it? (The city of this WIP is based on IRL ones but is also very much fictional)

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers, @finickyfelix

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid,

@lassiesandiego, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams and OPEN TAG

[carnivorousyandeere]

SFW Alphabet: Mason

CW: alcohol, a little suggestiveness, kidnapping, violence and murder, manipulation

Sorry for taking so long~ Had to spend time studying, blehhh. Also kept getting distracted when writing this and thinking of things that would probably fit better on his other alphabet 🫣

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Mason shows some affection physically, generally keeping a hand against your back or around your waist. He also unintentionally falls into a sort of Sugar Daddy role, buying you pretty much whatever you like (within reason, he’s not super rich lol). In addition, and this might come as a surprise, he’s one of the werewolves most adept with verbal comfort and praise, lowering his head to your ear so nobody else overhears what he has to say 💕

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Just ask Hunter; they watch sports together, drink together, go on walks together, makeout once in a while 🫣

Being the Sheriff, you may have met him while he was on duty. Maybe he got called because somebody was getting rowdy at the diner, and afterwards while checking to make sure everyone was okay, he paid just a little extra attention to you… Gave you his personal number, y’know, in case you ran into more trouble… 😏

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Mason enjoys holding you and just breathing in your scent after a long day at work. His favorite ways to cuddle are having you in his lap, or having you lay with your head on his chest <3

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Like Hunter, I think Mason is already domestic. Of course, he feels a lot of pressure from keeping the group under the radar, and if you want to help relieve that stress he would greatly appreciate it 💖

Mason can clean and cook (especially on the grill– who do you think showed Hana all the tips and tricks for perfect kebabs and meats?), but oftentimes he’s too tired after work. Once he has a day off to sleep in, though, he’ll tidy up around the place that afternoon.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Uhhhh….. I don’t want to be That Person, but as a cop he has a disproportionate amount of power to keep you where he wants you. If you escape, he’s got strings to pull at the D.A. to put out an APB and warrants out for you, so even if you escape the jurisdiction, cops from a neighboring county could catch and bring you back… it draws a lot more attention than he wants, and he feels extremely dirty for it, but he rationalizes it as somehow being “for your safety” 😒

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Mason loves the idea of a beautiful, quiet, rustic wedding with you. He’ll start to think about getting married within a month of knowing you.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Mason is very gentle with you physically (unless you… want him to be tougher on you 😳). Emotionally, however, he can be a bit more manipulative and coaxing than his “open-and-honest, upright lawman” persona is designed to suggest.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Mason likes hugging you; he just melts into you at the end of the day, and it means the world to him if and when you run up to him for hugs <3

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Mason says he loves you for the first time when you spend the night alone together, whispering it against the top of your head as you fall asleep.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Mason really only gets jealous if you form relationships outside the pack. Then he gets his hackles all raised and does his best to intimidate and scare them away from you. It makes him feel really content to see you enjoying yourself and having fun with the pack, even if he doesn’t get the majority of your attention 🥹💕

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Mason likes it when you kiss him on the forehead, and he loves to give you kisses across your back and shoulders. His kisses are soft and slow most of the time. He also tastes like coffee in the morning, and sometimes whiskey or bourbon at night 👉👈

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Mason is incredibly good with kids, especially babies! He would make a good Dad.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Mason will snooze his alarm and snuggle back up to you.. Just five more minutes?

But eventually, he’s gotta go to work. I mean, unless you wanna go with him…? No? Alright, he’ll let you sleep in 💕

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Mason falls asleep pretty early and easily, and he loves to cuddle with you~ He’s not too much for the nightlife or staying up super late anymore, although he’ll make an exception to go out for a few drinks with you and Hunter, or to stay up for a good backyard bonfire date with the whole pack.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Mason’s middle-of-the-road on this. He’s certainly got skeletons in his closet (NOT literal… that would be the worst place to hide human remains… if he had any to hide 🫢), that he doesn’t want to share with you. Other than those bigger secrets, and the lengths he has and will go to to protect you, he’s open about everything else. He’s too old, and concerned with bigger problems, to be too shy about who he is and what he wants.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Mason does his best to be level-headed and patient, but that patience has his limits. Limits that Ace likes to push and prod at for fun. Luckily, he’s so enamored with you that he’ll never get truly mad at you (well, except for if you do something dangerous and he’s worried, and it comes out as frustration). Most of the time he just sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, making an effort to keep his temper in check, but every once in a while he does yell. Again, mostly just at Ace though. And when he found you in the lodge all scraped up after the kidnapping he yelled at Hunter for the first and only time. And Mateo did push just a few too many buttons that other time… Maybe his temper isn’t that well controlled after all 😓

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Mason remembers almost everything~ Sometimes smaller details slip his mind when he’s busy, but he always feels bad when he misses something, and he kisses you on the forehead and promises to make it up to you 💝

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Any little moment that displays your trust in him. When you look up at him with trust and love in your eyes, it really takes his breath away. He also likes it if you cling to him or hide behind him when you get nervous, and when you show him things you’re really excited about. He might not always understand what you’re telling him about, especially if the subjects you’re interested in are more obscure, academic, or artistic, but he loves listening to you talk about them regardless.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Mason is incredibly protective, and he’s very strategic about how he protects you. If he can manipulate or leverage his position as a cop to resolve a situation, he will. The less you know about his efforts behind the scenes, the better. He never wants you to look at him with fear or disgust. If you’re in immediate danger and he has no choice, Mason can kill with no remorse. He will act like he feels worse about it than he does, so you hopefully won’t think of him as a monster…

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Mason puts a lot of effort into dates and anniversaries, but might not always have a great idea of what you’d like. He starts out with stereotypical romantic dinner dates, and if you’re not particularly interested in those, he’ll have a difficult time trying to figure out what it is you’d actually like lol. He could just ask you, but he doesn’t want to admit that he’s lost on what to try. Ace overhears him asking Hunter for advice and roasts him about it endlessly 😭

Okay sorry, got carried away there lol. Everyday tasks get as much effort as he has energy for, being tired much of the time. He likes casually going shopping with you and buying you gifts here and there 💕💕

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

…….his whole career. No offense meant.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He’s old and his back hurts, he doesn’t have the time or energy to care too much about his looks. That said, he does try to keep his beard and hair trimmed, and as long as his clothes are clean and not-too-wrinkled, he’s good to go 🫡

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Mason would be able to go about everyday life and continue to do his job, compartmentalizing to hell and back, but any light he had left inside him is dead. Nothing gets a genuine reaction from him anymore; it’s as close to an automaton as a human– or werewolf– can get.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Mason’s pretty casual about physical affection. In another post I’ve talked about how he’ll keep his hand on your thigh when you’re in the passenger seat and he’s driving. Similarly, when you’re walking, he often holds your hand and absentmindedly strokes his thumb over your hand. Also, every once in a while, when he’s sure nobody else is around to see, he will playfully slap your ass (if you’re okay with it). He’s not easy to embarrass but asking him to do that more often, or in front of other people, is a good way to do it lol.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Mason loves you and can excuse almost anything you do. Even if you’re committing crimes left-and-right, and helping Ace make his life harder, he’ll go easy on you. Ace would be constantly pouting about the blatant favoritism lmao.

The only thing that would really make him sad would be if you rejected his love, and his gifts. It’s not a deal breaker, he’s sure he’ll win you over eventually, it just really hurts to hear you say horrible things to him, or destroy whatever he brings you.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Mason likes to drink a little nightcap before bed, usually a small shot of liquor. It helps him relax and unwind after a long day. One of the werewolves bought him a maternity pillow as a joke about him being a “mom friend” and he still sleeps with it anyway. It helps with his back and knees ☺️💕

[biantianyang]

While reading the blackwater arc I couldn’t help but notice a surprisingly clear allegory between the Venerable of Empty Words and OCD. Whether intentional or not, it was so prominent I wanted to write a (not so) little analysis about it. So let’s get right into it!

First: what is the Venerable of Empty Words? We get a fantastic concise description here:

“The Venerable of Empty Words draws power from fear in people’s hearts. With power, it manipulates its victims to realize its predictions and then makes new ones; the cycle continues until the person is thoroughly broken and their mind is lost to despair. The more unsteady one’s heart, the more disadvantageous their position; the more one has, the more one fears loss.”

To rephrase this in terms of OCD, simply replace “The Venerable of Empty Words” with “OCD.” Purposeful or not, MXTX was describing OCD very well here. If anyone reading doesn’t know what OCD is, considering how misunderstood the disorder often is by people who don’t have it, it’s not just a disorder where you wanna clean a lot. It is when a person may have unwanted thoughts & fears (which are ego dystonic I might add) that disturb the person with OCD. This then results in compulsions which come in different forms that the person may do in response to the obsessions in an attempt to be rid of them. For example, a person might fear they could hurt their family, so they’re unable to handle knives. This is a pretty basic and general definition/example.

OCD is also sometimes known as a doubt disorder. It draws from the doubt/fear in people’s hearts. It manipulates one’s brain into believing their intrusive thoughts. If one point of focus isn’t enough it could establish multiple new types of obsessions. Just reading “the cycle continues until the person is thoroughly broken and their mind is lost to despair” was like… ok holy shit bro that’s just what it feels like. The terror that the thing you fear most is true. Looping over until you can’t take it anymore. This definition of the Venerable of Empty Words also focuses on the heart, and in many ways OCD attacks what people value. “The more one has, the more one fears loss” a sentiment that can be applicable to things like violent intrusive thoughts surrounding one’s loved ones.

We also get to see a few examples of how the Venerable of Empty Words attacks people. In a general sense, it’s described as:

“If someone was happy, in their moment of joy, it would appear to dump a bucket of cold water over their head—a killjoy in the most literal of terms.”

OCD interrupts those who have it’s happy moments in their lives. It feels as if there’s never a moment of peace. OCD is everywhere. The very concept of the Reverend of Empty Words stalking Shi Qingxuan all her life wherever she goes, hiding in the shadows, lurking, matches the persistent fear OCD gives someone. No matter how hard you try, you can never seem to escape.

In a more specific example, the Reverend of Empty Words tells Shi Qingxuan:

“Just wait! Your closest family, your best friend—they’ll all die a disgraceful death because of you!”

Does this not sound like a blatant intrusive thought? There’s no reasoning why, but now you have a new fear that your loved ones are going to die. It isn’t just that her closest family will die either, but that they’ll die because of him. The person with OCD believes the fault lies with themselves. Thus the obsessions over this intense terror.

What follows are the compulsions. When Xie Lian gives an example of when he witnesses the Venerable of Empty Words attack someone he describes:

“The wealthy merchant jumped to his feet in a rage, set on catching the one who would say such a thing, but that person ducked under the table immediately and disappeared into thin air!”

The merchant is quick to get upset at the Venerable of Empty Words’ words. He lashes out trying to stop him, but fails. When you get an intrusive thought you do a compulsion to try to be rid of it, in an almost instinctual way. You want to focus on the horrible thought… how dare my brain say/accuse me of this! Get rid of it! But it still runs free.

This is because the way to get rid of the obsessions and thoughts are the same way you get rid of the Venerable of Empty Words. Xie Lian lists three ways to deal with the Venerable of Empty Words as:

“The first is to not let it open its mouth; cut it off before it can speak. This works in the moment but not in perpetuity, so you need to remain vigilant at all times.”

“Second, if it should speak, don’t let the subject of its curse hear. Anyone would be frightened to hear someone cursing them at the height of their joy, and that creature feeds on fear; it revels in it. The more frightened you are, the happier it becomes.”

These first two are the lesser effective ones. In the first, one can try to shut it up, but they aren’t fully rid of it. Trying to block out an intrusive thought sometimes might work in the moment but they’re bound to come back. An uncomfortable vigilant feeling remains along with it. Second, not allowing someone to hear the words is equivalent to not letting someone get intrusive thoughts, which sounds like just not having OCD to me.

The third solution is the best:

“However, if you pay no mind to however it tries to curse you or rain on your parade, then it can’t do anything to you. So, the most effective method is the third—surround yourself with happy occasions and ignore it completely. Let it choose to speak or remain silent, but forget everything it says. Make yourself stronger and continue down your path according to your own will, and not in accordance with the tragedy it predicted for you. If it can draw no despair from you, it will eventually leave on its own with its tail between its legs… Of course, it could still very well be lying low, waiting for its next chance to strike.”

Part of having OCD is accepting the intrusive thoughts that come to you. The Venerable of Empty Words/thoughts/fears may remain but you must learn to accept and not pay too much attention to them. To truly treat them as “empty words.” An extremely difficult task. And it doesn’t ensure that they won’t come back either. But you cannot wallow in it because that only makes things worse. That’s quite literally the obsessive part.

Xie Lian even goes on to describe the third method as such:

“Although the third method was the most effective, it was also the most difficult to accomplish. After all, who in the world could truly build such a heart of stone and feel not a single ripple of fear?”

Like yes!!! Who!??!! It’s an undeniably difficult thing to do. The reason why OCD is such a terrifying disorder is because humans do not have hearts of stone and do not live without fear. People with OCD are especially susceptible to this. Just as those who are described as “superstitious” in the novel are more vulnerable to the Venerable of Empty Words.

The Shi family tries something different from the three methods, although most similar to the second, by attempting to disguise Shi Qingxuan and be rid of the Reverend of Empty Words. Here we also have a more fantastical element where Shi Wudu can help his sibling escape the grasp of the Reverend of Empty Words by swapping her fate and getting her to the heavens. Unfortunately, people with OCD do not have this opportunity. And regardless, it doesn’t work for Shi Qingxuan at all. You can’t play dress up and run away from a disorder, you have to let the distressing thoughts come and die away.

As a bonus Xie Lian has a very interesting case. He manages the Venerable of Empty Words with his horrible luck.

“Either he experienced no happy occasions and [the Venerable of Empty Words] waited fruitlessly for years, or he had already grown accustomed to all the bad luck and suffered neither fear nor anxiety. His luck was so bad it defied the imagination of the Venerable of Empty Words, so Xie Lian thought nothing of its curses, and in fact treated them as well-wishes or daydreams.”

In some tragically comedic manner, Xie Lian has become OCD-proof. We can take Xie Lian as an example of someone without OCD. The Venerable of Empty Words/intrusive thought comes to him and he finds a way to defeat them by being like ok lol. sounds good to me! These thoughts can come to him and he can accept them and move on. Even though Xie Lian might be a special case where he can do this because things are naturally bad for him, his capability to move on at all is a huge feat for someone with OCD. And in turn the Venerable of Empty Words has no choice but to give up. To literally die of starvation. The intrusive thoughts leave him. He never has to obsess over them or have compulsions in response.

Shi Qingxuan also has a slightly different case considering He Xuan devours the Reverend of Empty Words as a part of his revenge plan which makes things more complex, but without a doubt she exhibits symptoms of OCD in the same ways I described before. She is a target of the Reverend and is aware of her own vulnerability towards it. Although she spends a good amount of time running away, when the blackwater arc crew set out to deal with it, she responds obsessive-compulsively upon hearing the Reverend of Empty Words speak.

Essentially, the Venerable of Empty Words is to its prey as OCD is to those suffering from it. Whether or not MXTX intended for this to be a little allegory to those with OCD I’ll probably never know, but I’ll be damned if the allegory isn’t there.

[charkyzombicorn]

So theses are apparently some of the selkies powers, I’m pretty sure this is just for dnd and is not mythological accurate . But out of these powers which would you choose for your selkie au to be Selkie abilities?

Enhanced agility: Selkies are able to go fro one movement to another effortlessly, allowing them to effectively dodge attacks, do backflips, and numerous other gymnastic, martial, and athletic implements with little to no effort.

Enhanced balance: Selkies have an extremely well-developed sense of balance, the positioning of limbs in space, center of balance. and the physical condition to use these facts.

Enhanced bite: Selkies, due to their fangs, have a powerful bite.

Enhanced dexterity: Selkies are able to control their limbs, muscles, and digits extremely well.

Enhanced endurance: Selkies are able to survive with little to no energy for an extended amount of time.

Enhanced reflexes: Selkies have extremely enhanced reaction speed, allowing them to dodge magical attacks, catch falling objects, and react instantaneously to what would take others more time to react.

Enhanced stamina: Selkies are able to be physically active for longer periods of time than most other beings.

Enhanced strength: Selkies are able to exert a great amount of strength from their muscles.

Night vision: Selkies are able to see perfectly in total darkness.

Speed swimming: Selkies are able to swim at incredible speeds, unhampered by water resistance.

Cold immunity: Selkies, being adapted to the ocean, are completely immune to cold.

Pressure resistance: Selkies, being adapted to the ocean, are completely resistant to water pressure, especially at the bottom of the episode.

Water sense: Selkies are able to perceive the movement of/on a body of water with extreme accuracy, and determine where threats are located in aquatic environments and water sources.

Siren song: Selkies, similar to merfolk and cecaelia, are able to sing a song that is capable of hypnotizing anyone that hears it.

Sonic singing: Selkies, similar to merfolk and cecaelia, are able to sing a highly destructive blast of sound at high amplitude.

Water manipulation: Selkies are able to generate, shape, and manipulate water.

Aquatic life communication: Selkies are able to telepathically communicate with aquatic creatures.

1) 2)

3) Usopp doesn't like the idea of biting people because it makes him feel animal-like and he hates being compared to an animal because He Is Not. Also the nose makes it hard for him to bite people I would imagine. His molars are a little sharper than they maybe should be and he's got pronounced canines but he doesn't have the coral-shaped molars seals (apparently) have. His dad does tho, Buggy too but Buggy shaved his down a bit to hide better in the East Blue

4) yeah he's good at a quick draw but he still trips and stumbles sometimes on land. He's much more graceful in water because there is nothing to trip over

5) About as much as Canon, with is quite a bit.

6) His reflexes are pretty quick because his eyes are better than a human's, it doesn't mean he's perfectly co-ordinated and just because he can see something coming doesn't mean he can dodge without tripping. He gets a bit more graceful post-ts but he grew up without fighting, so he's learning as he goes

7) Yeah he's got more stamina than you would expect, but that's pretty much just canon

8) Stronger than you would think unless you tried picking him up. He can change his appearance but he can't change his weight and seals are 4000 pounds. He's very physically dense, even if he looks like the skinniest 17 year old you've ever seen, so picking up 300 pounds to him is like a normal person picking up 12 pounds he's not athletic pre-ts tho so no picking up twice his body weight or anything. The 1 ton hammer could have been real tho.

9) He does have really good night-vision, he does use his tinted goggles more because seal-eyes are more dilated than humans' and if it's too sunny it hurts his eyes

10) Yep! He can swim just as fast if not faster than most mer-folk

11) 12) He is a bit less resistant to cold and pressure than most selkies because his mother was human. He can stand pressure changes but he needs to take breaks and he can stand cold but can still get hurt when he's frozen.

13) He does have some extra spacial awareness in water, this is just how most selkies naturally pick up observation haki a bit more intuitively

14) Usopp has no idea, he only sings for Luffy but Luffy seems pretty hypnotized so,,,

15) Nope, and Usopp screams a lot

16) No

17) He convinced some of the crew he can, he can't actually

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground episode 17: Sonic Tonic

I’m watching Sonic Underground in search of inspiration to finish a fic I’ve been writing forever. It’s a sad state of affairs. See the recap of the first three episodes here, if you're interested!

The plot (for want of a better word): There’s an incredible serum that gives people the ability to move at speeds even faster than Sonic! Sick of Sonic’s ego, Sonia and Manic take the serum to show their brother he’s nothing special. But the side effects are quick to take hold! Can Sonic rescue his siblings and prove his ego is no match for his heart?

Okay. Okay, right off, I have to point out two things: One, again, it feels like the writers were given a brief and then split in two for this and the last episode. Magic serum, sibling rivalry, go. Two, this is the perfect example of the uneven power dynamics of the triplets on a meta-level. When Sonia or Manic screw up, they get in trouble and need rescuing. When Sonic screws up, Sonia and Manic get in trouble and need rescuing. It MUST have been some kind of Sega mandate, but WOW is so weird in context.

Anyway. It’s a wet drizzly day, I feel less than healthy, I don’t have to work, let’s queue up some episode notes. Let’s go.

Aleena opens talking about the Hanging Gardens of Mobius, and you know how I feel about them… she has not learned anything.

The fabled Velocitree. I admire the pun if nothing else.

Wait… does this mean the show is implying Sonic’s speed comes from some connection to trees? No. No, LeDiz, you’re already a problem, stop… Sonic’s relationship to Gaia and the fact I headcanon Mobius to be full of Anarchy Beryl which warps Chaos energy and my god, woman, just STOP!

So the joke here is that it’s easy to run fast but hard to stop running. Which is not quite the problem with momentum, but I can get it, and I will be VERY generous and say this was seeded in the second episode when Sonic’s training was about stopping.

Meanwhile, the Sonic Underground are actually prepping for a concert, once again reminding us that the whole band thing is something they’re actively doing off-screen. But mostly the scene is to draw attention to the fact that Sonic and his speed are annoying his siblings. Which, don’t get me wrong, his attitude is annoying. The hyperactivity is on a high today, folks, but he does actually help while being obnoxious. But then leaves before they can finish any jobs. So… swings and roundabouts. Better than most obnoxious whiners, you’ve got to give him that.

And another orange device (with eyes!) that is Certainly Not Dingo. But GASP. Dingo is fast enough to keep up with Sonic! Whatever Shall We Do?

They actually do catch Sonic this time, which is pretty impressive. And Robotnik does not screw around – he’s immediately got Sonic in the robotocisor and ready to go.

BUT Sleet finally remembers he’s a bounty hunter (which, given everything he’s seen and done with other people that are mercenary with Robotnik, is actually quite foolish of him) and starts demanding money. This lasts long enough for the Tonic to wear off, which For Reasons causes Dingo’s feet to swell up to cartoonish proportions.

Which, I mean, I can kind of see the medical theory there, with inflammation or whatever, so sure, we’ll roll with it.

But first, the siblings have come to rescue Sonic, which… does nothing, actually. Because Sonic is already getting himself out by manipulating Dingo. Because this was a trait Sonic used to have – he was kind of a smooth talker, but only in situations like this. This (thankfully) got twisted through his Japanese characterisation into more of an ability to know how to say the right thing when it really matters. But it’s still amusing to see what it used to be.

Anyway, the point is, Dingo’s feet grow, Sonic figures everything out, and gets away.

Sonia and Manic see Dingo suffering the side effects, and yet will STILL use the Tonic themselves. Sonia argues that the side effect will only affect Dingo because of his morphing, but it’s still… a dumb call.

I mean… I know they’re annoyed, and Sonic’s being a bit of a jerk this episode with the comments about how slow everyone is, but Sonia complains that he’s acting like he’s the leader which… he actually isn’t being any more of a leader than he normally is, and he’s not saying anything unreasonable. He’s actually coming across more anxious than anything – like he was in the Moby Deep episode. So while this should, in theory, be one of those episodes where Sonic has the jerk-ball, I have to say it’s coming across more like Sonia has picked up the idiot-ball instead.

Manic is just being easily swayed by his sister, which is not that unusual, so I roll with that more easily.

The Song: Fastest Thing Alive, which is Sonia and Manic singing about how they wish they were as fast as Sonic, because that would make them impressive. Which. Okay. Okay, so. I must rant about why I have always loved Sonic for a second here. It is not his speed. What I love, and have always loved about Sonic, is that he is cool. Not in the radical skater attitude, whatever, I mean classically cool. He doesn’t give a damn about what anyone thinks about him, he is going to be who he wants to be, he is going to do what’s right, he’s going to say what he thinks, he is going to help the people he thinks deserve it, he is going to be a good person by his own standards. Even back in the 90s, when he was grumpy and rough around the edges, that was the core of his character: that he was always true to himself, no matter what anyone thinks of him, and still a hero at the same time. The fact those two things could co-exist, and he could still love his friends and the whole world with all his heart? That is why I have always loved Sonic the Hedgehog.

(One day I will espouse on the wonders of Sonic and the Black Knight)

(I will hold off why I love the whole franchise for another day)

Sonic Underground does get this about Sonic’s character. He is all of those things. But the show never really explores it. They think he’s cool and a hero and all these things because he’s fast. And it’s just… it’s not. It really isn’t. Hence why I don’t really care that Tails and Knuckles and basically every character is somewhat fast in the games. I kind of wish that this episode was drawing more attention to that, instead of just kind of… fumbling with Sonic’s arrogance and his siblings’ insecurities.

Anyway. Back to the plot.

While Sonic’s been scouting, Sonia and Manic have not changed the tire, just to prove a point. And Sonic does change it in like a second, but that’s… I mean, there’s a DC parody comic that did the rounds a little while ago about how the Justice League makes Flash do the dishes every time because he’s the fastest. Same deal here, guys.

Also, by this argument, let’s forget the sibling thing and just let Sonic save Mobius on his own. Wait, no, then we wouldn't have a show. Forget that.

Ooh, I’d forgotten that Robotnik had completely destroyed the Hanging Gardens. Which I shouldn’t have, because the fact the Sonic Underground can make it grow back is a minor plot point in my headcanons. But yeah… it’s actually the tonic that makes everything grow again. Kind of maybe combined with the Undergound’s magic. Hm. Eh, the Lost Prince is still fine.

And so we end with Sonia and Sonic apologising to each other, with Sonic immediately complaining about speed for the final joke. It’s so funny.

But yeah. -General handwave-

Come back tomorrow if you're interested!

[paperstorm]

I think most people think all gaslighting is malicious but it doesn't need to be. Gaslighting (especially when it's cultural) can be done unconsciously or unintentionally, or perhaps even intentionally with an awareness of impacting the other person but not realising that the impact is harmful.

For example - when you try to express an unpopular opinion but it's just dismissed or people behave like they can't understand how or why you could possibly think that, even when you try to explain. Imo ppl often react like that because they don't WANT to put in the effort to understand or deal with the discomfort of a new/unusual idea. They probably don't mean to criticise your intellectual capabilities but if it happens for long enough or often enough, it's easy to begin thinking "I must be dumb/stupid, I must have bad taste, etc."

Another example is when you're trying to get your point across but the other person disagrees with you by addressing everything else except the key point you're making. For example, with the Carlos situation, if someone says "I dislike his s4 plotline cz it doesn't fit properly with the earlier seasons", the general response (not including you in this) is "oh but it's totally possible for someone of his background to do what he did". Um yeah, but that wasn't the point? The point was that the show messed up the execution of a perfectly plausible storyline. But the execution is never addressed generally, instead the discussion is repeatedly directed to the motivations of the character. Which leads to the feeling of "am I shouting into the void? can ppl not hear me? am I stupid for thinking this when most others don't even think the problem exists? etc etc"

Sorry to go off on a rant about this in your inbox. But if always drives me up the wall when people get offended about words like "consent" and "gaslighting" being used, just because they don't realise that there's levels to those concepts.

I think that you're right, there certainly are levels. And some of the things you described could fall under the larger umbrella of the term depending on the specific circumstances. I think people get their hackles up pretty quick tho because gaslighting is a very specific term. It describes a method of emotional abuse where someone's sense of reality is repeatedly called into question in order to gain psychological power over them. It is manipulation with the intent of making them completely vulnerable to their abuser because they can't trust their own mind anymore. And The Internet™ (sweeping generalization, I know) seems to have somewhat decided it is actually a catch-all term that applies to things like any time someone said something that doesn't reflect your perspective or whenever someone disagreed with you and didn't immediately acquiesce when you demanded they change their mind. So people are, understandably, going to be pretty instantly offended if you accuse them of intentional emotional abuse when what you really mean is "you're kind of being a dick."

There is all kinds of dickish behaviour that doesn't qualify as gaslighting, like being dismissive or being unnecessarily rude or arguing with a point someone wasn't making (people do this to me all the time on here so I feel you on that one. The whole "I like mozzarella cheese" "oh so you HATE CHEDDAR???" phenomenon. It is endlessly frustrating when someone is putting words into your mouth and getting mad at you for something you didn't say. It is an unkind and lazy and bad faith way to interact with someone. But that doesn't necessarily make it gaslighting.) Things go both ways, too. People are allowed to just straight up disagree with you and not be interested in taking the time to understand your position. Like it would be nice if they were willing to hear you out and be open to a different perspective, but you aren't entitled to demand that they do so and they aren't being abusive if they don't want to, especially over something as ultimately inconsequential as a difference in fictional character interpretation. People can just say 'I don't agree' or 'I don't see it that way' and move on. Idk. I see what you're saying, I honestly do. And I can see how that would be super frustrating and lead to not a very nice fandom experience. But it's just really complicated.

[refried-ghost]

A little oc shit too.

Krysa has a great capacity for violence and will act on it if given a suitable opportunity. She actively weights the pros and cons with a 'how fucked a situation will doing this cause me.' She's a sadist. But she doesn't get off on it sexually. (She's also just a much if not more of a masochist with a particularly warped view of pain. Which honestly drives her into more risky situations and unnecessary fights then the sadistic streak.)

This cruelty doesn't extend to cute things or short people (which mostly manifests as her being softer to irken then usual but that may also be because she met Zim and Skoodge so young and got very attached to Skoodge) cause she has somewhat of an inability to fully separate them from children in her mind and children are sorta sacred to her cause, she feels like her childhood was stolen (basically was). It gives her this weird soft spot for kids. A weird kinda maternal instinct she usually attempts to intentionally ignore. And she doesn't really like kids in general. If you just shove one at her she'd probably make sure they're okay, but it they stir that stupid empathy she'll latch on and need to keep them safe(/straight up adopt them.)

Like she's all sorts of not okay. Being in the bunker so long, how she was forced to grow as child, and the legitimate slaughter she had to orchestrate to get both her and others out of her situation, all stamped what empathy she had into a tiny compartmentalized part of her mind. And enforced deeply rooted trust issues. But like she knows how to work people and to hide that pretty thoroughly. She always was quick to catch onto how people worked and was purposely trained in how to use and get things out of them.

As a kid/teen she had a bit of a snappy temper. It'd take a bit to get there, but she'd definitely just sorta snap. However, like the Tallest, being in Zim's orbit for so much of her development just sort beat a new kinda patience into her. (Not that the Tallest use that patience with most people aside from Zim. They just don't need to. But you probably won't find them yelling in anger. There are exceptions of course.) Which she honestly appreciates later cause a cold calculated anger that people can't necessarily see is far more useful in situations.

She weighs a lot pros and cons. Is this person gonna be useful to me? Is that useful enough to overcome any possible headache they may cause? If I let's them handle things how okay is it be if they fail or decide to fuck me over?

And that rounds back to trust issues. She doesn't really expect anything from people. Ever. She'll delegate and shit but she always thinks about how to handle a catastrophic failure or purposeful backstab. So when she does end up trusting people, she's not fucking okay. At all. Trust is weakness an evil temptation to be avoided at any and all costs. But the people she trusts are already deep in the pool of people she's attached to and she's not gonna backpedal away from them. Instead she's gonna turn all those nasty feelings in on herself and tear herself to shreds. But she knows she's a bad person so she obviously deserves it. And if someone she does trust purposely betrays her in a way that intentional hurts those she's attached to and burns down everything she's built-

Her main motivation is knowledge and creation. Sure she gotta bit of a crush for chaos and destruction, but it sure as shit isn't for her stuff. Put her Membrane labs and she's a kid in a candy store. She glances Zim with tech she's never seen before and the world suddenly opened up. She had a fucking spiritual experience. And she's gotta chase that tech.

Zim labelled her a defect because her clear deviation from what humans 'should be' (both in his eyes and his view of humanity's eyes) when she decides it simply not worth the effort of maintaining her mask, her tendency for manipulation (was very easy to see towards others at first cause she didn't really bother hiding it from him), and the missing leg. And that's all before he realized she got really weird complex about being call human.

But I know human OCs aren't very interesting to people so Imma just gush about her to myself more.

[juno-valentine]

this is a quick run down for the info on the OC this blog is about, Juno valentine!

please be advise none of this is canon to the real DC timeline and this OC is pretty much a Mary Sue character !

Basic info

Full legal name: Juno Orchid Valentine Age: 37 Gender: female Pronouns: she/ her Sexuality: Pansexual Height: 5’7 MBTI: ISTJ-T

Backstory/origin

Okay so let's start at the very beginning, Junos mother, Annabella valentine had a "strange" encounter with a mysterious man in the woods one day, because who wouldn't want to get down and dirty with a 7'3 guy with horns when your in loveless marriage to a preacher? Anyway she ended up getting pregnant and 9 months later out pops a little baby girl, Juno orchid valentine (yeah her mom was SOOO creative with her name guys (I say as if I didn't name her) )). Around 4 years later, Annabella is "mysteriously" drowned in the lake near the community church! Leaving poor little 4 year old juno in the care of her father, Issac Jr valentine. And let's just say… Issac isn't exactly the best father… or a decent one at that. Juno was mainly neglected in her childhood or was beaten if Issac deemed her indeed of a punishment, even if she had done no wrong. And no one believed little Juno, her daddy, the kind hearted preacher of the Arlen Georgia church! She didn't have many friends in her school years either, the kids at her school assumed that she was tattle tail and was stuck up all because she was the preacher's kid, but she didn't mind. She preferred being alone, all she needs is a good book to keep her company (NERD). A little later on in life, around 12, juno met this weird skinny kid at church camp one summer, a tall scraggly boy named Jonathan kenny-crane. They ended up creating a bond with one another over their shared trauma and love for reading. They would start hanging out in secret after that summer, exploring abandoned buildings and going to the library together. ANOTHER TIME SKIP WOW WEE!! At 17 Juno ran away from her home and father, leaving for gotham city. For a while Juno simply worked as a bodyguard,finding she had a strange amount of natural strength. But body guarding didn't pay that well, now did it? Juno was offered a job at the age of 20, kill a rival mafia boss for someone and receive 2 thousands dollar in cold hard cash. This kicked off her career as an assassin for hire. Juno slowly built a name for herself over 8 years in the mercenary community, she was surprisingly good at what she did, at least for an amateur. She ended up catching the attention of Slade Wilson, who offered to train her. She trained under him for a few years before going back to working as an assassin. By that time she was 32.

Job

Juno works as a henchman or gun for hire in gotham when not doing mercenary work. She's worked for a few of the rogues (mostly penguin, the riddler, and joker that one time) and She's actually friends with alot of them. That doesn't mean she'll work for cheap or free for them but still.

Personality

Juno comes off as cold, atthortative, and sometimes robotic for her general lack of emotion sometimes. She's closed off to most but seems to have a small group of “allies” she's close with. To the people she's close with, Juno seems a bit nicer and a little bit more comfortable showing emotions off. Despite this she can still be a bit distrustful of the people around her, even if she's close to them. She's worried constantly that the people she chose to let her walls down around will betray her. Juno bases a lot of her decisions on fact over emotion, she can be a bit brutally honest at times without realizing it. She also has a surprisingly good memory

Random tidbits??

Juno is a meta human, she's half human and half demon. The demon part doesn't really appear physically but it does give her a good amount of abilities such as heightened agility and speed, super strength, superhuman healing factor, slowed/ stopped aging, extreme flexibility, and a little bit of heat manipulation (only to the level of using her thumb like a lighter or being able to boil water by holding it)

Junos has an extremely good shot, and has been trained well on how to hit a target. Her good aim isn't limited to only shooting either, she's an amazing ping pong player.

She bleaches her hair enough that if she wasn't a meta human she would have gone bald by now.

Cliche, I know but she has a soft spot for kids. She tries to go out of her way not to hurt kids when she's trying to get a job done, and has out right refused to take contracts that entailed killing a child.

[oliviap]

Reflection

Overall this course as taught me a lot of skills in all three programs. Coming into this course we were asked to rank our skill level in each app. My original rankings were:

Illustrator: 7

Photoshop: 3

InDesign: 0

If I was asked to reevaluate my skills now I would say my Illustrator has changed from a 7 to a 9.5, Photoshop has changed from a 3 to a 6 and InDesign from a 0 to a 7.

Even at the start of this course, I was already very comfortable with Illustrator as it was the main program I used for design in high school. I was familiar with most of the tools we learnt so that learning was really just developing and mastering them. At the start of the course I bezier lines were frustrating and while I could draw reasonably well with them, I avoided it at all costs. I now really enjoy using the pen tool and bezier lines. I used it in so many of the tasks through out the course and I found every time I got faster and better. One thing I wish I knew in high school was the short cuts for the selection tool (v) and direction selection tool (A). This would have saved me so much time!

I knew very little on Photoshop when we started this course. I had done some drawing and image manipulation in digital technology at high school but that was the extent of my skill. Even now I don't feel I know a huge amount of what Photoshop offers but I'm very comfortable with what I learned in this course. I have used the adjustment tools were learnt outside of class numerous times as it was so simple to understand. I also found selecting and mask images was really fun and easy to pick up. I missed week 5 originally so I had to catch up later so I didn't have the chance to do it before week 6. It was explained to me in class and I found I grasped it pretty easily. I admittedly did forgot some of the stuff I learnt but I was able to refer back to tumblr and it was easy to remember after a quick recap.

Before this course, I had never heard of or used InDesign before. We used InDesign in our graphic design class as well while learning it so this made it way easier to learn as I was using it for around 9 hours a week in classes. I found that InDesign was really easy to use and especially helpful for text layout. The columns tool was really helpful in creating even, balanced layouts in my graphic design class. This also taught me a lot about general text, like a lot of the terminology (e.g. kerning, tracking, leading).

I think the program I found hardest to work with was Photoshop. While I enjoyed fixing the images, I've never had a very good eye for photography so it took me a while to be happy with my results. It was also frustrating how a lot of the commands didn't overlap with Illustrator. In Illustrator you hold down shift to restrict when resizing where as in Photoshop it morphs and manipulates it. This pissed me off quite a lot. But with time this became more natural and I just learnt it and did it without thinking.

If I didn't understand something in class I was able to go back and find the instructions on Moodle or Teams. This really helped me keep up to date and properly process what I was doing. I also used videos on Youtube to help me if I couldn't figure something out. Often they were on older versions of the programs but they were still mostly the same.

I think my favourite task was the two illustrations we had to make in Illustrator. For my first one I decided to make a bike. I used the pen tool as well as pathfinder to do this. Once I was done, I decided I wanted to add to it as I didn't really find it challenging. I decided to add two parrots to the bike because why not? To challenge myself, I didn't trace them from the reference I just tried my best to make the right shapes and then used the direct selection tool later to edit it after. I really loved my second illustration, I got quite carried away and just kept adding and adding to it. I decided to try recreate my original drawing as a challenge and I wanted to see what I could produce when using Illustrator.

Overall I was pleased with my final booklet project. To be honest I don't think it was the best display of my Illustrator and InDesign skills. I decided to procrastinate this booklet a lot as we had a lot of other projects due at the time. I started the booklet on Wednesday night which in reflection was stupid. I really should have chipped away at it over the days prior so I wouldn't have had to do so much work on Thursday night. But for the time period I did it in I'm pleased. I do like the actual book. I really enjoyed researching all about the different meanings behind common nursery rhymes. I decided to make my book a book for adults rather than children. I kept the cartoonish style of nursery rhyme books but added some much more disturbing imagery.

If I was to repeat this I would have liked to make some more vector images so showcase some more skills but I'm pretty happy. I definitely shouldn't have put it off. I really liked my drawing for 'Ring Around a Rosie'. I'll probably end up adding more detail to it once this course is finished.

[cogito-dreams]

SO TRUE you've all made fantastic points!!! I realize I totally should've clarified in the original post, Hong Lu absolutely does a lot of backpedaling and misdirection which is part of what makes him so fun and interesting (and thank you to yall and to those in the notes who've pointed out that he has less lines than anyone else bc that's a good thing to note too!)

the thing that I meant to put emphasis on is the fact that he Hesitated this time, which caught my attention super quickly since iirc he's been pretty quick on his feet in coming up with misdirection or backpedaling!

one of his speech patterns is that he starts a lot of his lines with "oh?" "hm?" (and its variants), little sounds like "aha!" or other quick vocalizations, ellipses, or reaction expressions (like "wow!" or "whoa!"), all of which can be used to buy time to think of what he'll say (if going with a more "master manipulator hong lu whose every word is calculated" kind of theory) Or just things that people normally say in reaction to things. so it was the specific use of the noise "uh" followed by the rest of the line that caught my eye!! generally speaking that's a sound (along with "um") that's more used when someone starts to speak *before* their mind can catch up to their mouth, which doesn't seem to happen with all the other times he's backpedaled.

i originally made this post in kind of a flurry of excitement after seeing this but i went back and did more research this time and the other times we see hong lu say something like "uh" or "um" it's in response to thinks happening around the sinners (like when asking about their new enemies after finding out pilot was kidnapped

(or when getting the sinners back on track with info they're supposed to receive)

it's important to note, he does change the subject back to something related to the mission here, too! the important distinction to me though is that, in the previous examples, he says 'um' and then leads to his point, which gives it a feeling more like he's saying 'um' to call attention to himself before saying what he wants to say, making it a less harsh interruption. but with what he says in 5.5, he has an entire line dedicated just to that hesitation- and even in the next line, he's still got ellipses in the middle of it, like he's still thinking. another distinction is that in the previous two examples, the topic isn't anything that could relate to him. and in previous times (like the examples yall gave previously) it did relate to him even more directly, and he did backpedal, but much more smoothly than he did here!

one more thing that i thought was interesting while going through his lines- most other times, when things could relate to his family, he'll volunteer that information outright even when no one was asking (like talking about how his family uses the same kind of paper that heathcliff's invitation was made from in 5.5, or talking about training his family used to make him do and the family rules stuck on the wall in canto 5). but here, when clearly given a chance to elaborate on rich folks- a topic CLEARLY in his field of expertise, given all the info he's previously given us- he interjects and then changes the subject, in a way that feels much different from the more cheeky vibe he gives off when he changes the subject away from himself like in the hells chicken intervallo.

all in all, i wonder just what this conversation reminded him of that he wanted to change the subject so quickly... and i already know his canto is gonna end me :,,)

so like.

so like. hey. are we gonna talk about the fact that this discussion of 'rich folks with screwed-up perversions' involving human sacrifice is the first time we've ever seen hong lu, known rich boy from fucked up rich family, say "uh" or otherwise show this kind of hesitation and then immediately change the subject. or like are we gonna let this one slip by-