#this is not about any one show in particular; it is about a lot of shows

[melioraskz]

Rather be your whore than a noble man’s wife.

A/N : I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately… this wasn’t based on anything in particular and is definitely not historically accurate, this is just another universe LOL!

Warning : brief mention of SA, mentions of whores, homophobia (not by any of the characters, just mentioned in a backstory!), giving head (female receiving), tiny hint of overstimulation, almost caught in the act, probably forgot something lol ! NOT PROOFREAD !!!

(Pirate) Han Jisung x (afab) Reader

Summary : After being captured by a gang of bandits you get saved by a mysterious man called Jisung, what you don’t know is that he is in fact something your parents always warned you for, a pirate.

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“Stay away from me!”

“Wow wow wow little lady, relax. I’m not going to harm you” the man in front of you said with his hands up in the air in surrender despite the small yet devilishly sharp knife still laid between his thumb and index finger.

“Do you want my help or not?” He asked, raising a brow as he looked at you up and down.

“I’ve got everything under control, thank you very much” you spat back, sighing deeply as you try to once again squirm out of the tight robe that was around your body and hands.

Everything was in fact not under control. There you were, bound to the pole, hands tied behind your back and hair stuck to your face with the sweat from your forehead, breathing heavy with your dress half cut up by the bandits who took you capture. Despite their desperate tries you had manage to keep them away from you enough for them to not take it further than some disgusting groping and touched here and there. However despite your deadly looks you shot their way it couldn’t take away the looks of desire they shot in your direction as another one tried to cut off a button of your blouse…

The aggravating man who had jumped on board of the ship all cocky started to whistle as he sat up on the edge of the boat, carelessly taking the knife and removed some dirt under his finger nails. “Just let me know when you need my help, missy” he sung, acting all nonchalantly as if he wasn’t also on a bandit ship, all alone against the 30 men that could show up any second. Not that you had any hope that he would survive one of the men for that matter. They were all buff, scary with scars everywhere, you could tell they were up to no good. This guy? He was skinny, lanky built, curly brown hair and despite his aura feeling like he would be a big man… he was quite a short guy.

“Fine, just get me out of here before they come back” you mutter, the guy looking up at you, stopping mid-through the melody he was whistling. Then he shook his head and his lips left a few of tsk tsk tsk to show his displeasure. “What sort of lady are you? Not even a simple please? I’ve met whores down at the red district with more charm and politeness than you” he stated and rose a brow. That awful awful cockiness would drive you mad but you were desperate.

“Please can you help me out of these fucking ropes? I’m not planning on becoming these bandits slave or sex toy” you state, earning a pleased smirk by the mysterious guy who by ease jumped down from the edge and walked up to you. He then easily cut off the rope using the knife before he put it back into the holder in his belt.

“There we go, now I suggest we leave before those idiots come back” he says, a smug smile on his lips. Within a second you had stepped away from the damn pole, singing deeply as you rubbed your previously tied up wrists with your hands to ease the irritation that the rope had caused. “Thanks” you sigh, walking over to the edge and looked out at the dock, multiple ships stood there and you could hear the muffled sounds of parties and people if you looked out to the town ahead of you… “where even are we?” You sigh, not sure where they had taken you, surely from the accent of the man it was far away from your home…

“Welcome to Incheon city, ma’am! The place filled with dreams, nightmares, whores, pirates and a great amount of cheap alcohol” the man burst out, now somehow standing on the edge walking around as if it wasn’t a 10 meter drop down to the ice cold water below. “Oh fuck! I’m Jisung, by the way, Han Jisung” he added. “It’s nice to meet you, what’s your name?” He asked proudly.

You were about to answer when you heard a voice behind you.

“She has escaped!” A roaring man’s voice yelled as he had climbed up the ladder on the other side. You remembered that man very well, after all he had tried to fuck you at least seven times since your capture a few days ago. Along with him came 4 others, you look back at Jisung with panicked eyes, but you were met by a pair of awfully calm ones. He let out a sigh in displeasure, almost as if he thought the whole ordeal were just bothersome.

“Alright boys, let’s say after me” Jisung started, grabbing one of the robes that the bandits used to climb up to the watch tower. “If you are despite to get a quick fuck, go to a whore house, not kidnap someone” he then continued, cutting the rope off with the knife he had previously used on the ropes that had you tied up. Then before the men could reach you he swung in the rope, using his legs and made 2 of the men fall to the ground in a loud groan. That’s when he grabbed both of the men’s revolvers, tossing one of them to you, which you catch in pure panic. Looking at the man, he easily got all men on the floor, despise them being twice his weight. “Close those pretty eyes for me, pretty lady” Jisung instructed, as if it was an instinct you did exactly like he said and as soon as your eyelids had fallen down so all you saw was darkness the ship echoed with a shot, another another, another and-

“All done, missy” a voice said, opening your eyes you saw the men’s lifeless bodies on the wooden floor, blood painting the deck that poured out of their head. It wasn’t the first time you had ever encountered a dead body before but it was certainly the first time seeing so much blood at the same time, despite being outside you swore you could smell the stench of iron in the red dark liquid ahead of you. Jisung however didn’t give you the luxury to take in the scene for more than a few second, he had other plans. He grabbed the rope he had used before and swung in it, grabbing your waist as you let out a screech, holding onto him with all dear might. You were certain you’d fall straight into the ice cold water below but before you could think twice you felt your feet hit a steady familiar sensation. You open your eyes you had no clue that you even closed in the first place and there you were, still holding onto the man with all your might but standing on the ground below…

“We should leave before more men come back and notice the tiny little mess I caused on their ship” he stated, you realise how damn close he was to your body… your heart beating fast in your chest, perhaps it was the adrenaline of being rescued or seeing the dead bodies that flooded through you, perhaps it was for the fact that this bold man had laid his hands on you and it wasn’t for the wrong intentions, at least that’s what you thought it was?

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The music was loud, people chit chattering even louder, women with dresses that enhances the chest area was practically fucking some men in the corners. But after what you went through? The dodgy bar that Jisung took you to was a luxury hotel from what you had been dealing with capture at that ship…

You get snapped out of your thoughts with about bang, in front of you stood now a large pint of beer, fizzing and foaming up to the edges. Jisung then sat down and took a large chunk of his own pint he still held in his hand. “There we go, don’t worry, the beer is on me. I figured you’d need it after that whole experience. I doubt those shitheads knows how to feed a lady” he stated, chuckling a bit, using the other chair next to him as a stand for his feet as he let out a groan in relief. “Now, what was that name of yours? I didn’t get catch it last time”

“My name?”

“Your name”

“Oh, right. It’s Y/N, Y/L/N Y/N” you whispered. When you said your surname you saw how Jisung choked on his beer, almost spitting it out again in shock. He hit his chest repeatedly until the beer had gone down the right pipe again.

“Fucking hell? As in the Y/L/N-clan? You’re their daughter? You’re a fucking high class noble woman! How the fuck did you end up captured by them then? Isn’t that miles and miles away?” He asked. Looking at you with huge eyes, the foam of the beer had given him a light moustache. You let out a slight giggle from the look on his face, then you take a big chunk of your own beer.

“I ran away, they set you marry me away 4 days ago, that night I couldn’t take it, I hated that old man they set me up with, he was at least three times my age but the wallet weight more than my family’s love for me I suppose. What I didn’t calculate for was that I’d be captured in the middle of the night by those men who had no idea who I was, so they said they’d keep me as their whore, slave or both. I sailed stuck to that pole until this evening, so thank you for saving me, I wish I could repay you but I don’t have anything of worth on me” you whispered, feeling a flood of guilt flush over you, he had saved your life and you couldn’t even repay him?

“I’m not asking for a payment, Y/N. I saved you because I felt like it, not from the goodness of my heart, not from whatever your noble brain can come up with, I saved you because I was bored and saw you on their deck. Alright? No need to pay me” he stated. Crossing his feet over the other on the chair next to him.

“But there must be something-“

“Enough. I don’t need anything I promise, we’re alright” he said quickly. Looking directly into your eyes. You could feel your heart beat faster again… it could possibly not be adrenaline now, right? For sure he is handsome, but is he even your type? Do you even have a type?

“So what will happen with you now? I’d say get a new dress is your first option, you can’t walk around with your tits almost hung out unless you want someone to accuse you for being a whore” Jisung stated, which made your cheeks flush in embarrassment. You quickly tried to gather the material that was left from what the men had cut off, looking down at your ripped and ruined clothings...

“I have no money and nowhere to go, but do not worry about me, I’ll find a way” I say calmly, smiling in a reassuring manner, even if you were terrified. When you had ran away from home you had no plan, you just knew you had to get out of there before it was too late…

“I may have an old dress or two for you to get, neither of my mates will mind, it’s not like they walk around in a skirt ever..”

“Your mates?”

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Your chest was beating faster than ever, you felt like you’d pass out any moment…

“You’re a pirate?”

Your entire life your parents had warned you about the pirates that hunted the seven seas. They took what they wanted, murdered, fucked the women and ran off, your father had always said if you ever had the displease of coming a cross a pirate run away and don’t look back before you call the local sheriff. Perhaps if you had heard about this before he rescued you, you’d agree to your father’s words but now? Especially after spending a couple hours with the man you had come to quite enjoy his company. A sexy man who seemed charming enough with perhaps a bit too big of an ego than you’d like, how could he be such a criminal? Being a pirate is a death sentence if you get caught, you won’t even get a trial? Why would this man choose this path of life?

“What did you expect?” Jisung asked in an amused tone as he practically carried you up the rope to his ship, placing you down on the edge of the ships railing, letting you sit there as he climbed on the other side and then carried you bridal style over to the deck where he sat you down carefully.

“I thought you-“

“Were a man of honour and prosperity? Ma’am you’ve come to the wrong place if you’re looking for a hero or a good man” he stated as he fumbled up a key that was hooked on a piece of string around his neck underneath his shirt. He then unlocked the giant trap door leading to the inside of the ship. You both climb down there, you were met by the stench of rum and seawater which made you make a slight grimace.

“We should have some women’s clothing down here from when we raided this noble family all the way in Busan. Like fuck you should have seen those dumb posh faces when-“ he stopped himself, realising that you may take offence by his harsh words about the upper class since he now knew you were upper class as well. “Sorry..”

“No offence taken. To be quite frank, there is a reason I left that place, no money in the world could make me feel happy in that hell. I may have lived in a mansion but that mansion was a jail impossible to break out of in my eyes” you say, sighing deeply as you start to look around through bits and bobs that was scattered around the room. “To be honest I’m envying you. You’re free, away from responsibilities, marriage, birthing children, preferably sons and don’t even get me started on the dreadful gatherings, all the noble ladies wanted to speak about was money of men. I’m tired of it..” you say, slowly turning to a desk with a bunch of documents and paper on it, on the top of a shelf that stood right above the desk was a picture in a frame of 8 young men next to the very ship they were in right now, you could easily pick out where Jisung were despite the low resolution of the picture, with his arm around one of the other guys with a huge smile on his mouth.

“That’s my crew, you see the one with the hat is our leader, or captain, Chan is his name. It started when him and I met all the way in Australia where we stole this glory out of some poor bastard who used it for the queens guards, we decorated it and then before we could leave Australia we met this poor bloke called Felix who joined us” Jisung explained, then pointing at a guy with long bright hair who was winking with one eye. “He already had a huge penny on his head at home after his father found out he was a homosexual, we took him in, we don’t give a fuck who he sticks his dick inside, he is our brother nonetheless” he stated.

“That’s very beautiful if you ask me. You claim to be a bad person but a bad person wouldn’t do that” you explained slowly, looking at him, realising he stood right behind you, with his head almost hanging over your shoulder so that he also could view the old frame, you slowly chew on the inside of your cheek… he really was handsome for a pirate… Han clear his throat before he continues, slowly feeling a bit unease by her words, why would a lady like her truly find him, a criminal, that good?

“Well we figured as we were going to be pirates we already would have a straight way to the gallons if caught, adding hiding a gay man on the list didn’t seem too bad” Jisung stated, looking at you for a few seconds before his eyes quickly turn to the picture again.

“And that’s Seungmin and Jeongin, we met them finally enough at that raid in Busan, they joined us quickly, they’re young but extremely fun and always tells the best stories when we are up late at night around a campfire” he explains with a slight smile. “Oh and that’s Changbin, Hyunjin and Minho. Minho is second captain after Chan, he is also the head cook, probably the only one of us that can actually cook well. Changbin is also the fastest at climbing ropes you’ll ever see! I swear we have accused him of being a witch at least fourteen times!” He explained, smiling at himself as he thought of his dear friends. “And a little secret, we are fairly sure that Felix has had sex with Hyunjin before, we don’t know when but there is something with the way they act…However, whenever we try to get some information out of them they bulge, what a dumb bunch for thinking we’d judge them” he explained and laughed. “They’re all dumb but… they’re the only family I have left”

“Where are they now then?” You ask, realising you hadn’t even seen a trace of any of the said men since you entered the ship.

“Oh they’re in town, probably getting fucked up with all the alcohol, that was my plan too until… yeah” Jisung admitted. “I’m sorry for ruining your plans, Jisung” you sigh as you quickly turn around, face as close as it could be without touching from each other, his eyes looking almost black in front of you due to the lack of light in there… your heart racing faster and faster, he was dangerously close to you, with one hand resting on the shelf behind you, trapping you between the desk and his body…

“Trust me… I’m glad I had my plans changed, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of meeting you” Jisung whisper, you can feel his breath against your skin, keeping you eyes at him you slowly placed one hand on his chest that was slightly exposed due to the buttons he had unbuttoned. You swore you could see a slight smirk on his lips perk up. You could feel his hand that wasn’t against the shelf behind you travel to your lower back in a firm get gentle grip.

Before you could even think of what you were doing, you kissed him. You didn’t know what went through your head fuck you liked it. You could taste the beer you had previously had in your mouth as the kiss progressed, deepening and becoming more rough as you became familiar with each other. He hadn’t even questioned it as he had kissed you back the moment your lips met his.

The kiss was hot, breathy, yet you felt more relaxed with this man than you had ever done with a man at home. You felt how his hand that was on the shelf met your hip on the opposite side as the other before he easily lift up up and placed your ass on the table behind you. Then for a moment he broke the kiss before his mouth traveled along your mouth down to your neck and collarbone. You let a moan slip through your lips, the only sound echoing through the walls was the sounds of your heavy breaths along with whatever sound the sea could make from the shore.

His mouth leads its way back to yours, unable to stay away from it for too long. You let your tongue run over his bottom lip and he opens his mouth for you. When you feel his tongue meet yours, blistering electricity shocks down your spine in pure lust. You kiss him harder, his tongue mapping out every inch of yours as if he is in search of the lost treasure in there. He pulls your legs apart so he can stand right between them, feeling his body pressed against yours. You let his hands roam your body, then as he grabs some of the poor material that still held your chest in decent coverage and you hear a loud skrratch. That fucker tore it! As if it was barely anything to tore anyways… his hands cupped your breasts, breathing heavy into your mouth. His hands was fucking cold, but oh it felt so good. He then stop kissing you for a moment, looking into your eyes as both tried to desperately catch your breaths. The tension was electrifying.

“Can I fuck you?” He ask out of the blue after a few seconds of being silence.

As the words left his mouth it took you by a surprise, asking that question when your tits was already free for him when you had willingly had him like this. Almost a comedic moment and a rather funny timing on his part. Instead of answering you grabbed his shirt, giving him a wet kiss on the mouth. He took that sentence as a yes.

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You had never met a pirate before, let alone fucked one. But there you were. He had somehow managed to move you from the desk to the floor. His shirt tossed somewhere along the way along with his trousers. Your upper part of the dress torn a long time ago but your long skirt still intact, him? He was under your skirt between your legs, licking long stripes on your pussy, holding his strong hands around your thighs, partly for keeping you from closing them around him, partly because himself needed something to hold on to.

Your moans echoed through the room, your legs trembling as you covered your upper part of the face with your hand, moaning louder. His mouth doing wonders down there as you were slowly feeling like you’ll reach your peak any moment now.

“I’m gonna cum, Jisung” you breathe out, heavy breaths making it almost impossible for you to say a full sentence.

“Then cum for me, darling” he growled from under your skirt, a loud slap echoed as you felt his hand slap ass. That slap was almost like the last thing you needed, you felt the knotting feeling in your lower stomach build up to the point where it overflow. You let out a breath of pleasure as you came, breathing heavy as you tried to catch your breath. You felt how Jisung kept licking up every single drop of you, feeling your legs turn into jelly as you tried to catch your high along with handling the overstimulation happening.

That’s when you heard it…

“Why is it unlocked?”

“I don’t know”

Then you heard a click, they’re loading their revolver…

Jisung knew that voice extremely well, so the panic arose even faster. He quickly got out of your skirt, his lips glossy from your fluids. “Fuck fuck fuck” he whispered, trying to gather his clothes.

“Guys it’s just me” he yelled, hoping if they were faster than him it would lead to at least them not being shot. That’s when he also tossed one of the dresses he promised you your way, quickly trying to put on his trousers. You act fast as well, doing everything in your power to get the damn dress on and you threw the old dress into a pile of hay in the corner. If you had more time to think perhaps it would be more melodramatic, throwing away the last piece of your old life as if it was nothing. But now? You had no time to think.

You signalled to the halfway dressed man to help you with the zipper in the back. Jisung went right into action, rushing over to you, managing with a trembling hand to get the zipper up right in time for…

“Who’s that?” A voice Said, you remembered him from the picture, that’s Chan, the captain.

“Oh!” Jisung said, clearing his throat, quickly wiping his mouth from whatever excess that was left from you. “This is Miss Y/N. I.. I- uh-“ Jisung said in panic, not sure how to explain to his captain what the fuck he had been doing down here. “I-I was lending her one of our dresses, it’s not like we use them right? I accidentally ruined hers by dropping beer on it” he lies, giving the captain a half sided smile. “But now as you can see she is in the dress so I’ll just go ahead and help her off the ship, thanks” he said and practically pushed you up the ladder to the deck of the ship, leaving the confused captain to wonder what the hell he just witnessed.

“D-Do I really have to go?” You ask slowly, looking at him under the moonlight, a light breeze making his hair blow in the wind… you felt a lump in your stomach again, not like last time, this time you knew… you didn’t wanna leave him.

“W-Well we sail at dawn and perhaps you should find a new place to stay and-“

“Can’t I stay with you?”

“Y/N… I can’t ask that of you? You’ll become a criminal, a whore in the eye of law?” He say, his eyes giving such soft look yet so much pain behind them at the idea of you perhaps leaving for good… you slowly walk up to him, placing one hand on his cheek, making him look at you… he had shown you more humanity, more freedom and lust within these few hours you’d known him than anyone else… you knew you had to stay here…

“I rather be your whore than a noble man’s wife” you whisper, looking into his eyes, seeing how the pain in his eyes flood away and replace with happiness as he grabs your waist, lifts you up and spin you two around, letting out a loud laugh of happiness. You let out a screech and held onto his shoulders tightly as he spun you in case he would drop you, not that he ever would… As he sit you down again he remove his hands form your waits and cups your cheeks like you cupped his a moment ago, placing a couple chaste kisses on your mouth.

“Oh this is” kiss “going to be” kiss kiss “fucking great!” Kiss kiss kiss “I’ll show you the world, I’ll show you what real freedom is”

You couldn’t answer before you heard a voice. You look over at the trapdoor where Chans head stuck out, he held up the dress from the haystack between two fingers.

“Uh, guys? I thought you said it had beer on it, not that you ripped it apart..”

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[stormz369]

☕💖 Can I Get Your Number? ☕💖 Ch 28

Jason Todd x (f)Chubby!Reader

written with a female reader in mind, first person pov, no use of Y/N, NSFW, MDNI, let me know if there's anything else I should tag this with!

warnings/labels: brief description of vigilante medical procedures, fluff, smut, oral sex (female receiving), vaguely femdom vibes, Jason has a mommy kink, female orgasm

wc: 3.5k

Chapter Selection

My last day at the diner came and went. I hadn't expected much, but leaving like it was any other day felt so anticlimactic. The manager barely nodded to me on my way out. I dropped my uniform off in the office, headed out, and hopped on the bus.

Jason: Hey doll, what time will you be home?

4:30pm

Me: 20 minutes or so. Why?

4:33pm

Jason: Got a surprise for you, to celebrate!

4:34pm

Me: Aww, babe! :) You didn't have to!

4:35pm

Jason: Course I did! 😚

4:37pm

Me: 😘

4:38pm

I got off the bus at my stop; Steph grinned when she saw me and hopped off the bus bench to hug me. “There you are! Congrats on your last day!”

I laughed, leading the way to my apartment. “Thanks! You know about this surprise then?”

“Of course I do! I'm here to help you get ready.” She beamed, following me into my building.

“Ok … so what kind of surprise is this? Should I eat before we go, or will there be food there?” We trudged up the stairs to my floor, and I opened the door.

“There will be food. You've got time for a quick shower if you want one, and then it's time to get ready!”

I nodded, tossing my purse on the couch. “Great, and I'm assuming you'll want to pick an outfit for me?”

“Yep! Bedroom's through here?” She walked into my room and threw my closet open.

“Make yourself at home I guess.” I chuckled; “I think I will shower. There's some juice in the fridge if you want a drink. Glasses are above the microwave.”

“Thanks!” She called out, going through my clothes while I tucked into the bathroom to shower. “... You don't own enough red!”

I laughed harder at that; “oh I don't, huh? … I take it Jace likes seeing me in his color?”

“Of course he does! It marks his … territory … oohhhh~” she giggled, popping her arm into the bathroom. In her hand was a red and black lace lingerie set I'd bought recently; “is this for a particular occasion, or can I insist you wear it tonight?”

I coughed, trying to sound casual; “I ... I just liked it I guess?”

“Uh-huh … Jay's gonna lose his mind when he sees it~”

I chuckled softly; “Steph, do you really want to talk about this?”

“Why not?”

“... He's your brother?? Isn't that weird for you?”

“Hun, you know we're not really related, right? Besides, I'm an honorary member of the family at best.” She giggled. 

“... Ok.” I shrugged.

 “Yeah. So, … this set; yes to wearing it tonight?”

I slowly nodded; “yeah, that's fine.”

“Excellent. Now shower.” She waved me off, and I closed the door before hopping in the shower.

When I got out, she had selected a red silky top and a pair of black pants for me to wear, and had changed into a nice purple dress of her own. I got dressed, and we did our hair and makeup before heading down to the parking lot where she pulled me along to a black car.

“Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?”

“Nope!” She giggled, turning the radio up; “just sit back and enjoy the ride!”

I shrugged, texting Jason to let him know we were leaving the apartment. He sent back a thumbs up, and Steph drove through the city. We crossed the train tracks, heading into a nicer part of town, and eventually she parked in a shopping district. She led me down a walking path and into a Chinese restaurant, where the hostess took us back to a private room.

I felt my cheeks turning pink when the hostess opened the door; our friends were all around a table, laughing and talking. Stella’s head shot up as the door opened. She beamed, jumping up to pull me into a hug; “there she is! I was starting to think you'd never show up!”

Dick grinned from his seat; “hey! How's your last day in the service industry feelin’?”

“Woah!” I grinned, hugging Stella back. “Hey Stell! It’s a bit unreal, honestly.”

There were several hugs and chattered congratulations until Damian grabbed ahold of my arm and pulled me into the seat between him and Jason. “Let her breathe, everyone.”

His hand lingered on mine for a moment and I gently squeezed it. “Hey kiddo! Did you have a good day?”

He nodded once, squeezing back before releasing me. Jason gently rubbed my back, smiling softly. “Good surprise?”

I smiled brightly, kissing his cheek; “very good surprise! Thank you, Jay~”

Servers began bringing several large family style plates, and everyone started taking what they wanted. We ate and talked, basking in the joy of being together. Stella became fast friends with Steph and Duke; they were almost in their own world on the other side of the table. Once we were mostly done with dinner, Babs wheeled over to offer me a small box.

“Gift time!” She smiled brightly.

“You guys got me gifts too?” I blushed a bit, grinning.

“You’re going into medical school, of course we got you gifts!” Steph grinned.

“Just a few things, to help with school.” Jason smiled softly. I opened the box, grinning.

“That's the newest WayneTech phone - most secure system with the fastest processor on the market!” Babs smiled brightly. Her meaning was clear to me; Bruce had promised me a secured device for everyone to get in contact with me when they needed medical assistance. Clearly Babs had set something up in this new phone.

“Thanks Babs!” I grinned, hugging her.

She hugged back, whispering; “we'll go over everything later.”

Tim and Dick pushed a box into my hands next; a brand new laptop. They assured me it would be perfect for my school needs, and Tim started rambling about its many top of the line selling points. I chuckled, giving them both a quick hug and thanking them. Stella offered me a gift bag next, beaming. She'd bought me a pair of safety toe nurses shoes; comfortable and professional, but still cute! Stephanie and Duke gave me a gorgeous leather messenger bag. Damian and Cass gave me an electronic notebook that would transfer my handwritten notes to a file on my new laptop. Finally, Jason offered me a jewelry box. I kissed him softly before opening it. Inside was a gold necklace with a garnet pendant.

I gasped softly, looking up at him; “Jay, it's beautiful! Thank you~”

Dick chuckled playfully; “oh, I see. The rest of us are told ‘bring practical gifts' all so you can show off with something pretty.”

Jason smirked a bit. “Tim got you jewelry for the gala. It was about time I get you something beautiful too.” I held my hair out of the way while he helped me put the necklace on, kissing my shoulder when he was done.

Stella cooed at that, making me blush a bit. “Awww, that's so cute~”

“Did you ever get that jewelry back, by the way?” Dick frowned a bit. I nodded, admiring the way the pendant sparkled between my breasts.

“Yep. Like … a month later.”

Jason chuckled, stroking my hair gently; “now you've got a necklace to match.”

Tim hesitantly smiled; “so … you're not still mad about that?”

“Don't push your luck.” Jason instantly shot a sharp look in his direction. I shushed him gently, squeezing his hand. I kissed his knuckles, delighting in the pink flush that spread across his cheeks. After a sigh, he leaned against me, smiling softly.

“You all have been so wonderful to me, thank you!” I smiled brightly at the group. Everyone grinned, each assuring me that it was nothing. Dessert and tea was brought out for us, Jason paid the bill when it came, and I got more hugs and congratulations as we all made our way to the parking lot. I saw Stephanie and Stella exchange phone numbers before going their separate ways. I followed Jay to his car, hugging his arm. Damian helped us carry my gifts, giving me a quick hug before running off to hop in the car with Duke and Cass.

“Tonight was wonderful. … You're amazing, baby, you know that?” I grinned, leaning against Jason happily.

He chuckled softly, opening my door for me; “what was it you said at the gala? … 'the bar is on the floor'?”

I chuckled, sliding into my seat. “You gonna fix that for me?”

He smirked softly, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to my lips. He pulled back ever so slightly, whispering; “that’s a promise~”

Jason got in the car, driving back to my apartment. After a while, his hand slid from the steering wheel to my knee.

“I do have two more gift ideas to discuss with you, now that we're alone.”

I chuckled softly; “oh my. What kind of gifts would require a discussion?”

“Well, these are kinda … bigger. But I think it's a good time for them, if you're interested.”

“Ok, I'm listening?” I gently squeezed his hand on my knee. He squeezed back, smiling a bit.

“Well, first I was thinking ‘how are you going to get to GU? It's on the other side of the city.’ And while I would be happy to take you to school every day, something tells me you're going to insist on taking the bus most of the time.”

I nodded. “The bus works just fine; there's no reason for you to spend that much time driving me around after patrolling all night when we have a perfectly good bus system.”

“Right. But I checked - it's an hour ride each way. And you're the primary contact for Damian's school now. His school isn't near a bus stop. What if you need to pick him up? And how are you gonna get to those PTA meetings?”

I frowned. “I know. It's a bit of a walk, but it's not terrible. I'll make it work.”

“Well, if you're interested, I could teach you how to drive. And when you've got your license I'll get you a bike or a car, whatever you prefer. That way you don't have to ‘make it work', you can just do what you need to do.”

I blinked a bit. “... Woah. … Jay, that's … a lot.”

“I know. That's why I didn't bring it up with the others. It's just something for you to consider. You don't have to decide right now.” He squeezed my hand, bringing it to his lips; “I just want you to have the option.”

I nodded, smiling softly. “Thank you, Jason. I'll think about it. … You said there were two gifts we had to discuss?”

He nodded. “Right. The other is a bit more complicated. … I … don't like when I have to go home alone anymore. I like spending the night at your place, or having you at mine. I like waking up with you in my arms, and making breakfast, and watching TV together in the evenings, and knowing you're safe cause you're right there in the room with me…”

I blinked a bit, grinning. “Are you … asking to move in with me?”

“Well, yes and no … if you want to stay where you are, then yes. But Damian also comes over most weekends, and … frankly, I don't love sharing the bed with him all the time. I wanna cuddle my girl, or … you know, other stuff, and I can't cause the fricken demon child is right there…” he frowned a bit, “so, if you're open to it, maybe we could look at new places? Bigger places.”

I grinned, squeezing his hand tighter. “Y- yeah, that sounds nice! … We'd probably need a minimum of three bedrooms…”

He grinned and nodded. “Three?”

“One for us, one for Damian, and one for the clinic. If I have to dig bullets out of someone's body, or set a broken bone, or who knows what else, I’d probably want them spending the night so I can monitor them.”

He nodded. “Good call, so three or four bedrooms, maybe we should be looking at houses? It'll be a lot easier to hide random visitors popping in and out at odd hours in a house rather than try to justify them climbing through an apartment fire escape.”

I nodded, grinning. “Yeah, definitely. Unless someone looks too close, it'll just look like we're college kids constantly having friends over. Plus, having a garage would be nice.”

Jason nodded, parking at my apartment. He cupped my cheek, grinning. “You're really interested?”

I nodded, kissing him gently. “Of course I am, baby~ I don't like sleeping without you next to me anymore either.”

He beamed, kissing back. “Thank god for that…”

I giggled, rubbing the tips of our noses together. “You were worried?”

“Just … it's a big step, and we hadn't discussed anything like this yet.”

I smiled softly, kissing him again. “I choose you, forever. Of course I want to live with you~ If you want, you can stay at mine until we have a place that's ours, or I can come live with you. It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's us.”

Jason grinned, kissing back before getting out of the car. I gathered my presents from the trunk and he scooped me up, carrying me up the stairs to the apartment. I wrapped my arms around his neck, giggling softly. Inside, he let me down in the bedroom, nuzzling my neck.

I set the boxes on my bedside table and turned back to him, kissing him softly; “... Think you can help me out of this?”

He tilted his head, blinking a bit. Nothing about my outfit required assistance to remove, and he definitely knew it, but he slowly nodded anyway. “Um ... Sure?”

His hands slid down my sides to the hem of my shirt, sliding under it to pull the shirt over my head. “Why am I …. Ohhhhh…”

He grinned, cheeks turning bright pink as he stared at my red lace bra. His eyes flickered between mine and my chest, dropping the shirt in an unceremonious heap on the floor. His hands shook as he pulled my hips against his. “... Fuck, ma~ … God, you’re stunning … Red is such a great color on you.”

I grinned, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Glad you approve~ but you're not done, pretty boy~”

“... Huh?” He didn’t seem to be fully aware of anything anymore. He was just staring at my chest, a little grin on his face.

 I giggled softly. Pressing two fingertips to the underside of his chin, I slowly tilted his face up to meet my eyes; “the pants too, please?~”

In an instant they were pooling around my feet, and Jason was on his knees in front of me. He groaned softly, eyes wide as he stared up at me in awe. “... Th- they match…”

I giggled, running my fingers through his hair. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment as he tilted his head against my hand.

“Thank you, sweetie~” I purred, stepping out of my pants and turning toward my dresser. The distraught whine that followed made me giggle more. I turned back, raising an eyebrow as Jason stared up at me. “... Is something wrong, my love?~”

“... Y- you're not gonna cover that up, are ya?” He almost looked like he was gonna pout about it.

I chuckled, sitting on the bed. “Do you not want me to?”

He surged forward grabbing my knees. “No! No I do not!”

“Oh! Well alright then~” I tried to sound surprised, shrugging. “That's all you had to say, darling~”

He groaned softly, kissing my knee. “Fuck … ya can't tease me like this, doll~ … gonna kill me…”

“Well I certainly don't want that … maybe I should put some pj's on…”

“Don't you dare.” An almost feral growl ripped through him as he stared up at me. “You just sit right there, and don't move.”

I shivered, chewing on my lower lip, purring softly; “ah~ o- ok, baby~ whatever you want~”

He grinned, kissing up my thigh. “... you did this on purpose … right? Gettin' me all riled up … can't tease me like this… fuck…”

I giggled, stroking his hair softly. “N- not trying to tease you, Jay~”

“Bullshit.” He smirked up at me, pulling me closer to the edge of the bed; “wearing my colors, looking so damn sexy, having me undress you like a fuckin’ present on Christmas morning, you're being a tease~ you want something from me, don't ya?”

I grinned, biting my lower lip. “... Maybe~ … if you wanna …”

He grinned, wrapping his arms under my legs so they slid onto his shoulders. “Oh, I wanna~”

He pressed gentle kisses to my inner thigh, slowly inching closer and closer to my panties. I groaned softly, laying back on the bed. Finally, he was hovering above my clothed core, looking up at me. He whispered huskily; “... This is ok?” 

I whimpered softly, nodding. “Oh yes~ please, baby~”

He slowly pressed a kiss to my clothed folds. I moaned softly, shivering as he hooked a thumb under my panties, sliding them to the side. “... Fuck, you look incredible~ can … can I have a taste?”

I groaned, nodding quickly. “Dear god, yes! Jay please!”

He leaned forward, slowly sliding his tongue between my folds. My legs tensed around him, instinctually trying to bring him in closer, and I felt him chuckle against me. The tip of his tongue flicked against my clit, making me gasp as he began licking up the slickness that was already coating my folds. He groaned appreciatively, pressing his tongue in deeper.

My hand shot out to grasp his hair, gripping him tight as he explored my entrance. His fingers dug into my thighs, holding my legs firmly in place. I panted and whimpered, clinging to him desperately as he slowly coaxed my orgasm closer and closer. Everything was so hot, and I could barely gasp for breath. My muscles tensed up, silently demanding more, and my core throbbed needily with every groan and moan that Jason poured into me.

“Oh fuck, baby girl~ tastes amazing~” he pulled me closer, pressing his tongue in deep. My back arched as I cried out, gripping the sheets desperately for something to ground myself.

“J- Jay~ s- so close~”

He grinned against me, licking and sucking more, and soon the tightening spring in my stomach gave way to an overwhelming wave of warmth and pleasure. I gasped sharply, letting out a high pitched whine as I collapsed against the mattress, trembling. Jason moaned softly, slowly pulling back.

He licked his lips, grinning up at me; “damn~ that was incredible~”

I giggled breathlessly; “that's my line.”

“You'll have to share it with me then.” He kissed my inner thigh, stroking my hips.

“Mhh~ if you insist, cutie~” I chuckled softly. “Your turn?”

“My turn?” He tilted his head.

I slowly sat up, groaning softly. “Yeah? Do you want me to reciprocate?”

He blinked a bit, blushing. “Uh … d- do you want to?”

“If you're interested.” I grinned, holding out a hand. He leaned against it so my fingers ended up in his hair, and he awkwardly chewed on his lower lip.

“I … I dunno …”

“We don't have to if you don't want.” I stroked his hair, smiling gently. “We never have to do anything.”

He nodded slowly. “... M- maybe next time?”

I nodded. “Maybe next time. What do you want to do right now?”

“... Is it entirely stupid if I say I just want to hold you?” He blushed a bit, kissing my palm.

I giggled and slid off the bed, into his lap. “No, it's not stupid. You can hold me all you want~”

He smiled brightly, shifting so he was leaning against the bed with me in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, snuggling against him happily.

“Love you~”

He kissed my jaw, purring softly; “love you more, lil’ mama~”

I sighed happily, lazily playing with his hair. His hands slowly trailed from my hips to my shoulders and back down my spine. The world melted away, and sweet exhaustion took over my body.

Ding! Jason sighed, fishing his phone out of his pocket; “God, what now-...”

I frowned, looking up at him as he trailed off. His entire body was tense, and he was staring at his phone like it had just turned into a two headed snake. “... Baby?”

He pulled me closer, frowning deeply. “We're not going to the manor for training this week. I'll take you to the gym instead.”

“What? Jace, we've been over this, I -”

“No.” He snapped; “this is important. We're not going anywhere near the manor until I say otherwise. Got it?”

I flinched a bit at his harsh tone, frowning. “... Ok. … Why?”

“... Damian's mother is in town.”

Divider by: @saradika-graphics

Taglist (open):

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[coralchoral]

honestly thinking about the sonadow twitter takeover and how the plummeting to earth thing very much affected Sonic a lot more than it affected Shadow. like in a previous takeover Shadow even made it a positive memory about Sonic trying to save him.

Meanwhile in Prime, Sonic has a moment of saving Shadow from falling into the void that's very reminiscent of that other fall (in the same way Prime has a lot of motivations and references that only make sense from a fandom insider perspective).

Sonic also gets repeatedly tilted, loud and anxious, (which I'm pinning more on RCS's/whatever writer's sense of humor, as is all the voice acting gags) and is coping badly any time Shadow comes out ahead. I think Sonic's insistence on his ability to grow chest fur is as big a Cope as floaties=fashion statement.

But really, Sonic's repeat date suggestions and Shadow's own descriptions of Sonic's behavior (dragging out their races, etc "just to annoy me") reads, whether romantically or platonically, that Sonic just really wants to spend time with Shadow.

He feels he needs to justify it, though, insisting that he and Shadow have something other than occasionally getting in each other's way ("two sides of the same coin") (friendly competition being "why you keep me around-" seemed like odd wording to me).

Needing to make it meaningful, because that's what Shadow wants out of a relationship- Shadow /says/ he dislikes Sonic for being frivolous and inauthentic, that (for instance) his hugs don't mean anything, and that he doesn't want "(Sonic's) kind of hug."

Sonic really wants to spend time with Shadow because he's also intimately aware that that time is limited. Either Shadow's patience (and/or social battery) is limited and he's liable to make a batman exit if he doesn't want to be somewhere (not that we've ever seen Shadow do this in canon, he seems to awkwardly/quietly hang around as if he doesn't realize he can just hit the bricks (or he likes being there and has no idea how to express it re: smiling at Big the Cat) ), Or Sonic and Shadow will get caught up in their own lives again and not see each other until Fate Deigns to Allow Them to Cross Paths Once More.

And Sonic misses him.

(This ties in with my Sonic Frontiers is the Saddest Game Ever posting from a while back, too. Sonic is lonely AF and Needs Other People to Talk To or he'll start talking to the walls and robots, and Shadow will almost always either talk back or groan in exasperation, which is as good a reaction as any.)

All this, plus Sonic's opinion flip-flops (shopping with Amy vs shopping with Shadow, opinion on Orbot) could be either (Sonadow Optimist) Sonic is Down Bad and not even conscious of his mirroring Shadow/trying to appeal to Shadow, or (Sonadow/overall Pessimist) Sonic trying to appeal to the Most Popular Character Right Now and getting increasingly desperate as he is rebuffed.

A few of these Twitter Takeovers have had moments of Sonic in particular getting thrown off and not really able to recover. (which makes me question what the writing is like, if there's any at all and these VA's aren't just riffing on an outline. Considering they don't talk over each other constantly, there must be something like a script, but it also does occasionally feel like a bad roleplay (and I've been a bad roleplayer).) It leads to a Something Is Wrong feeling in the "We're doing this for fun" question-answering joke show. Sonic needs therapy. (We all need therapy.)

Meanwhile, Shadow really is pulling out all the grunts, groans, and whines with Sonic that, if scripted, would be egregious as hell to read or write. He doesn't make these noises in the games (or shows, really?) mostly because there's a sort of efficiency necessary to production that cuts out that interpersonal realism and partly because it's annoying? Shadow, you're the annoying one?

Unrelated, everybody latched on to Sonic's "Go off, King" but nobody even noticed Shadow's "Deal With It."(sunglasses drop) How soon we forget the sacred texts and/or the deep magic, I guess? (It's an old meme, but it checks out!)

[ghostbunnyboy]

I mean I don't speak for the op, so this is my opinion, but I guess you could say that about The Munsters or Monster High, or any horror inspired media that's actually light-hearted. But the thing about Danny Phantom in particular is how it does touch on heavy topics and concepts but never commits to the consequences.

There are plenty of examples, but the most extreme one that I personally think about a lot is the whole of the plot of Kindred Spirits (and by extension D-Stabilized) and just how much that whole situation is NOT handled with the weight it deserves within the show.

I don't know how to explain it exactly, but Danny phantom (the show)'s identity and tone problems make the whole viewing experience kind of uncanny, like it's forever trapped between the two entirely different genres of wacky superhero comedy and serial horror thriller, as if it was both simultaneously two incompatible things at the same time,

[guiltycorp]

Damn i really want to know tf happened in the writing room of arcane s2. Some of the downgrades were inevitable due to the show's corporate limitations (not being able to progress the class war story in a meaningful way, having to tie things back to league of legends in terms of making playable characters more appealing to well, play... rip Mel and Viktor in particular), sure. But i still feel like it's even worse than that? There are so many bad decisions that i couldn't even start listing them all... the characters, plot, pacing, themes, it's just such a mess? Even the dialogue writing, it feels much more mm Marvel at its worst i suppose. What i am most bothered by is probably just the straight up harmful messaging so um... Cycles of violence and abuse can be broken by individual decisions to become a better person! Got nothing to do with systemic oppression, living conditions, mental health issues, you can just conveniently ignore aaall the social context, live laugh love and then things get better automatically yep, oppressors famously stop oppressing you when you show them that you're harmless and won't put up a fight anymore. Literally three out of three suicidal characters dying to redeem themselves? Not even in a tragic/cathartic way but in a bittersweet 'they finally atoned for their mistakes' way? Groundbreaking lmao. Romantic relationship between Vi and Caitlyn including no communication about their biggest fight, just conveniently skipping to sex and getting back together - would have loved that if it was framed as the unhealthy fucked up thing that it is, skipping over Vi's hurt and her background to once again become a cop, her girlfriend's direct underling at that (!) due to her not having any other support systems... But nope that was our cute lesbian romance wrapped up, a good thing all around, not concerning at all. Jayce telling Viktor that what he 'always admired about him' was his disability and his deadly disease (??? from a character who spent the whole s1 and first act of s2 desperately trying to help Viktor find a cure? sure) and that those imperfections don't need fixing, just wtf truly. Magic bullshit was also weird, some implications of 'natural magic is ok, but achieving that power through other means corrupts you into a crazy robot bitch or just wilts your trees i guess', but tbh it was written in such a weird and inconsistent way that we can skip this one... Yeah actually a lot of things were just such a mess that I feel silly pointing to specific moments or lines I didn't like, I mean duh, it barely makes sense as a story at all... I am happy we have s1 which comparatively was a masterpiece, and i also really enjoyed s2 act1, i truly believed it would lead somewhere good at the time, my mind still kind of cuts off the story at that point when i think about it, that WAS the open ending of the show to me (is it possible that there were rewrites? targeting act 2 and 3? idk, wishful thinking perhaps). Despite my extremely negative feelings about this season's conclusion i remain glad that so many people appreciate the show regardless, it is clear that there was STILL a lot of love in the process of its creation (although i'd argue that even some of the visual aspects of the show suffered in quality, once again i have to wonder about behind the scenes mood of it all) and i get very upset when i see creatives online despairing over reception of their projects even when i'm absolutely in the disgruntled crowd hahaha... ...however yeah, this wasn't great In a world that increasingly grows more and more right-wing politically... we really needed something different i think.

[oodlyenough]

alright i started trying to write my s2 thoughts and just this one element already got long as hell and it's maybe my hottest take and most #unpopular opinion based on skimming other reactions so. whatever. i'm quarantining it to its own post god help me.

but

Speaking as someone who loved him the most in s1, to be honest I don't think Viktor's story in s2 was particularly good. I feel like they got into the season, realized they were supposed to vaguely tie into League lore, sort of haphazardly gave him some word salad speeches about evolution and emotion, and called it a day. I thought his cult motivations, the influence (or not) of the hexcore, etc were all pretty underwritten.

But in particular I'm bothered by the speech Jayce gives about Viktor "wanting to cure what [he] thought were weaknesses" and the suggestion that Viktor was doing evil blood magic because he was insecure about his disabilities and felt lesser-than because of them. This is just straight up not true in season 1. He does blood magic in 1.2-1.3 because he is DYING. It's like everyone in the show and the fandom forgot he was terminally ill. Conflating the general feel-good "love your body as it is" messaging around disability with *terminal illness* is just ... What.... in the world...?

In season one we saw *other people* treat him as lesser bc he was disabled, while Viktor's introductory speech is "nobody ever believed in [...] a poor cripple from the undercity, [but] I believed in myself". No one in s2 ever acknowledging that he took risks with the hexcore because he didn't want to die at, like, age 30 OR that by the end of s1 he had done the "morally correct" thing of accepting his mortality only for Jayce (and later Singed lol) to ignore that and plug the hexcore into him against his will... Jayce doesn't even own up to that or apologize for his role in things lmao I mean, #classic Jayce, but what is happening here.

If they wanted Viktor to be the average Spiderman villain messing around with science to cure his disabilities and unleashing eldritch horrors in the process, they could've written that in season 1 very easily. And of course it's great that Jayce loves him as he is -- to be honest season 1 never gave me any reason to think otherwise, but it's nice for Viktor to hear it, sure. But they specifically made him terminally ill only to act like that never happened, or like terminal illness is an "imperfection" you can defeat with body positivity and self-love. It's so tonally weird. I've seen a lot of people who were very moved by Jayce's speech about loving him anyway, and I'm happy people found meaning in it, but I was jaw dropped. Viktor was never "broken", yes, but he was fucking dying, and there is a difference.

[cvrnelians]

blue monday

dark!Bucky Barnes x reader: People make mistakes all the time. As much as he loved you, Bucky knew that you were no exception to the rule, especially after telling him you wanted to cut ties. It was hurtful, sure, but everyone should be allowed a little slip-up every once in a while, right? Sometimes people just needed a little help correcting their mistakes, and help was exactly what he intended to provide. What kind of boyfriend would he be if he wasn’t there for you when you needed him most?

Content warnings: kidnapping, stalking, obsessive behavior. 18+ only.

Deranged.

You had used that word with him a lot these past several months. A lot. And he would never admit it, but for whatever reason, that—out of any and every insult you hurled his way, that one in particular—still stung.

Bucky didn’t understand it. Or rather, you didn’t understand it. It was you. You were the culprit. This was your fault, all of it. To think you had been damaged to the point of calling someone “deranged” for trying to love you, for trying to show you how invaluable you were…it was shameful, really. Didn’t you know how much it killed him to see you like this, so determined to shut yourself off, to deprive yourself of affection, to push all those thoughts and feelings and memories away?

To push him away.

And for what? To wallow in pain? To suffer so needlessly, to punish yourself for how you truly felt?

Stubborn. You were always so fucking stubborn.

But there were no two ways about it. You did, in fact, care about him. You always cared. Knowing you, you probably always would. Why was that such a crime to you all of a sudden? Why did your love for him now equate to some sort of moral failure?

Kindness wasn’t a synonym for weakness. It was startling. He thought you of all people should know that.

You used to.

You made a mistake. It was just a mistake, that’s all. Completely accidental. You hadn’t meant what you said, the day you tried to break up with him. You couldn’t have. You weren’t thinking clearly. Your family, your friends…they were getting into your head. Of course they were. You wouldn’t have ever come up with something like that on your own. He had tried to warn you about them. He really tried.

But again, you chose to be stubborn.

How did that work out for you?

At least once a week, if not more, he found himself saying it:

“You can’t carry all this weight on your shoulders forever, you know.”

All that crying, complaining, those moments where you pretended to hate him. At some point, you were going to have to let it all go. Otherwise, you would inevitably snap under the pressure, and by that point, he didn’t know if he would be able to put you back together again.

Bucky always thought you were a smart girl. His smart girl. But lately, you weren’t acting like it. Lately, you were acting like you didn’t have a clue what was good for you anymore. And so, he had to show you how much he loved you. Eventually, maybe you would start loving yourself just as much as he did.

Probably not, though. No one could ever love you as much as Bucky.

That was why he brought you here. Not because he wanted to exert control over you, or own you, or any of those sickening things you loved to yell at him whenever he tried to get close to you. You didn’t understand it. You didn’t want to understand it. Where was all that forced vitriol even getting you? You were only angry because you felt like you should be, because your family and friends would want you to be.

But how did you really feel? Were you really that disconnected from your own emotions? Were you really that far gone?

“Aren’t you lonely? Aren’t you lonely like that?”

He knew he could convince you to love him. And if he had to hurt you to help you, if he had to keep you here to make you see just how happy you could be, he would do it. He would do anything for you.

Sure, he could indulge you. Play your little game. He could let you try and escape, but that would almost be cruel. Seriously? Where would you even go? You were miles away from anything or anyone. Even if you did manage to stumble upon something, you didn’t know your way around Sokovia.

You probably didn’t even know you weren’t still in Brooklyn.

You’d come around one day. You had no other choice. You loved him, too. You always had. You always would. You promised him, didn’t you? All those years ago. You promised.

You did.

Bucky wasn’t one to break promises. He wasn’t one to go back on his word.

You weren’t, either.

Not on your life.

[quitealotofsodapop]

MK

Something came up on the mountain. Will explain during training.

DO NOT BRING OUR FRIENDS! Especially Jangles! Trust me, you'll understand why when you get here.

MK reread the message for the 100th time, worried over the implications. Not only does Wukong rarely use the phone Mei got him, preferring to simply Astral Project any messages they need to do, but he'd never forbid their friends form joining in on training. Not since they all started training together while fighting against Azure and Wukong had promised to not keep secrets anymore what with the Samhadi Fire debacle. So the fact he's asking to keep it a secret is a big deal. Although, as Mei had pointed out when he showed her the message, the other monkey had never explicitly said to keep it a secret, just that he didn't want anyone except MK on the mountain for some reason, likely related to whatever he was going to tell him during training.

"Weird that he pointed out Tang in particular. Like, what did Tang of all people do to make Wukong not want him near!?"

MK didn't know. But as he flew towards the mountain he resolved to find out. The last thing he expected was to be met by a very familiar face when he landed. Or rather, four familiar faces that looked far too similar yet still different from his family to be a coincidence.

"Eeek! Demon monkey!!" The Great Monk Tripitaka shrieked as he cowards behind Zu Baijie, Ao Lie, and Sha Wujing. All of them with weapons pointed towards him.

"Aye! Knock it off!" Wukong's voice roared out as he appeared in a flash of gold and red, standing between MK and the others, guarding him. "It's just my c- It's just my successor!"

The weapons immediately drop as the Pilgrims, the ACTUAL PILGRIMS from the STORIES, looked at Wukong incredulously. Zu Baije was the one to voice it.

"You!? A TEACHER!?"

"Yeah, I know!" Wukong snorted, as if hardly believing it himself, "But a lot can change in 1300 years and MK is a good kid. He deserves only the best, Piglet!"

"And... that's you?"

"No, but I'm the one he's got." Wukong's voice was flat, prompting MK to turn his attention to him. He yelped as a well placed kick hit his shin. "MK! What the heck!?"

"What have we talking about regarding self deprivation, Monkey King."

"What... I- that was for you!"

"Still applies!" MK folded his arms triumphantly as the audience began snickering at Wukong's flustered expression as he tried to find a comeback. Eventually his master concedes defeat with a chuckle, throwing his arm around MK in a side hug with a wide grin.

"Alright... well, let's do introductions! Master, Ao Lie, Sha Wujing... Piglet. This is Xiaotian, or MK as he prefers, my student and successor. MK, the Lilgrim of the Great Journey."

ah yes

Wukong now has to deal with an interlude of his old companions crashing at his place, whilst also worrying about possible time paradoxes!

At least half of the Pilgrims are convinced MK is Wukong's kid.

Tang is especially told to stay away cus he's not supposed to exist according to Buddhist doctrine. Golden Cicada was supposed to be done with the whole reincarnation thing after Tripitaka.

Macaque is going to laugh himself silly when he finds out about this! XD

[script-a-world]

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How can a world have no major religions but a vast number of small ones. Like no religion accounts for more than 1% of the entire population except maybe atheist for maybe 5% of the population? But what does that say about the distribution of culture/countries?

Tex: Major religions are often major because they are state-backed - i.e., they have lots of money at their disposal, so they become economically and thus culturally relevant. Religion answers, approximately, two major questions: 1) Are we alone in X or Y manner? and 2) I’m scared of X thing that I have difficulty understanding, what is Y solution?

For a place like Earth, the planet that we know the most about, there are no planet-wide confirmations about the physical existence of any deity in particular (as in, shows up in a grocery and says hello to you in an entirely unambiguous manner that all onlookers can agree upon). This means that religions on Earth are predicated on the idea that belief - and, thus, willpower - makes the deity real. Or at least “proves” it. Your mileage may vary.

Because of this, the real-world religions that you can observe and study will have many, many commonalities to the two general questions I stated above. The first question usually contains subjects such as sentience, and the emotional frills of that. The second question usually contains subjects such as death and the process of dying.

In order to have many distinct religions, you would need a lot of unanswered questions for various societies to answer, a severe lack of contact and communication between groups of societies, and most importantly a lack of (or lack of need of) money. The more travel there is, the more people of different backgrounds will talk to each other, and the more ideas will be confronted, shared, and discussed. Trade would correspondingly be low, because of the lack of travel.

Utuabzu: There’s a couple things to consider here. Firstly, how are we defining religion? This isn’t a trick question, it’s a genuine issue. The Abrahamic concept of religion doesn’t really carry over well to other spiritual traditions. Most other belief systems are more local and action-focused (orthoprax, concerned with what one does, rather than what one believes), and often lack any mandatory set of beliefs, or standardised mythology. Religions like Chinese Folk Religion, Shintō, Hinduism*, etc. can have wildly varying pantheons and myths depending on where you are and who you ask. So depending on your definition every tiny village could have its own religion, because it has its own version of the cultural mythos and its own pantheon including some distinctive local gods and dropping some more common cultural ones.

Universal (applicable to everyone regardless of origin or location), proselytising (actively attempting to convert people) religions are rare. There’s only actually a few of them. Most notably, Christianity and Islam. They are both also orthodox religions (concerned with believing the correct things), which means they have a standard mythology and theology (or several competing standards that have historically attempted to resolve their differences via murder). A third, very notable difference they have with most belief systems is that they are exclusive, you can’t (or at least you’re not supposed to) combine them with other belief systems. Most non-Abrahamic belief systems are more or less fine with syncretism (combining belief systems), most clearly seen with the way Buddhism** is practiced concurrently with folk religions across Asia.

So, in answer to the actual question, your best bet here is to just not have an equivalent to Christianity or Islam. I suggest reading up on non-Abrahamic and pre-Christian/Muslim religions and religious practices, as that should give you an idea of what such a world might look like. I’d expect it to be colourful and diverse, with cities filled with temples and shrines to an ever-expanding array of deities and hosting various festivals much of the year. Many people would likely layer a philosophy like Daoism or Stoicism over their day-to-day religious practice, and it would be common and expected for people to show respect to or make  offerings to local deities when traveling. Religion would be a thing you do, not what you believe.

*Hinduism is less a religion and more a family of closely related religions and spiritual traditions that all originate on the Indian subcontinent. Which is why the Indian government considers Jains and Buddhists to be Hindu.

**Buddhism can be described as a religion or as a philosophy, depending on who you ask, what the context is, and whether Mercury is in Gatorade. Western definitions don’t really apply cleanly to non-Western contexts.

[stinkrat-aleks]

Only if you want to! but would love to hear your thoughts about telepaths/psionics bias within the in-universe mutant community. I've always liked seeing Erik's particular dilemma explored in fanworks since in the movies we got to see his relationship with different telepaths, but I always like seeing it explored more generally too. so I guess I was wondering if you'd explored/thought about these bits of canon too, and of course, no worries if not!

Hello!! Sorry it took me so long to reply to this, I was thinking my answer over and all the stuff I wanted to say (/overthinker).

I think a LOT about psionphobia (or whatever the term would be called) in-universe. Especially because to me, mutations are symbolic for disabilities and different neurotypes. The term “neurodivergent” describes people whose brain differences affect how their brain works…and to me, that means all telepaths are inherently neurodivergent.

Now I see Charles as autistic, but even if he WASN'T autistic, that means his psychic powers affect the way he perceives social situations, information, etc.

And so, when I see in-universe characters (like XMFC Raven) tell Charles to stay out of their minds—while I understand the desire for privacy—it feels ableist to me. I'd understand if Raven asked Charles to keep out of her more private thoughts, but to keep out of her mind in general feels almost like asking an autistic person to stop stimming when they're around you.

Like, that's just the way Charles is. He probably overhears people's thoughts and feelings at a surface level at all times, without the intention of delving deeper.

This artist does a REALLY pretty comic depicting this and it's 1000% how I headcanon Charles' telepathy now, please go read and reblog the full thing if you haven't already:

Artist: yancant on tumblr

I also think just because Charles CAN intrude on people's innermost secrets, doesn't mean he necessarily WILL. Like, lots of people drive a car. Anyone could technically plow that car into a crowd of people. But most other people assume they won't. So we don't freak out when we see cars. Ya know.

With that logic it feels unfair to assume Charles is going to do bad things with his telepathy simply because he can. ALL humans are capable of bad things! Why is he being singled out for the way he thinks.

Re:Erik, he is the only one who seems to understand this. Him inviting Charles to be in his head (in fanworks but also XMFC) shows that he is not only tolerating Charles' mutation but EMBRACING it. (We all know he has a telepathy kink but that's something different okay.) To use the neurodivergent metaphor, he's telling Charles it's okay to unmask around him.

Like obviously this scene is very emotional for Erik, and Charles is definitely too caught up in his savior complex to take notice of his own emotions, but imagine!! Feeling that welcomed in someone else's mind for the first time!! And them not pushing you out or getting angry for touching a sensitive memory!

I have no idea any of that makes sense or if I'm grasping for straws but that's my overall take on it.

ANYWAYS…so that's my overall take on it. In terms of the soccer AU I'm currently working on..I have other thoughts and some of it will be addressed in futuer chapters (I'm gonna try to upload today). So we'll see. Sorry if this completely didn't answer your question LMFAO.

[blisteryfingers]

Thoughts about Les Mis Châtelet, in no particular order. Pic dump included.

Things I loved:

- The production design and staging were absolutely breathtaking. Even though it was minimalistic set, they really did some phenomenal job with the projections, lighting, and clever juxtaposition. It really felt you missed nothing from the more elaborate set at all. The official pics really don’t do it justice. You just have to see it in person.

- Eponine was one of the best I’ve seen. I also enjoyed the Thénardiers.

- The costumes were so well-thought out! Apparently there were more than 220 costumes created for 40 characters. Being a Javert girlie (gender neutral), my absolute favourite was Javert. He nailed this look (even with the hands behind his back thing!)

- Javert joined the finale! He even approached Valjean and gave him a handshake.

- Stars was beautiful and magical especially the staging effects. Javert walked up one of the raised sets that was made to look like a balcony. As the song progressed, the lights dimmed, plunging him into darkness, while projections in front and behind him began to glitter. It was a dazzling sight, as though he was floating in space, among the stars. I would want to watch the show again just for that.

Things I didn’t like/on the fence about:

- I’m not too invested in any of the singers, even though on a technical level they were amazing. But apart from Éponine, I wasn’t really feeling as emotional as I expected to from a Les Mis production. To be fair, I was also distracted because my seat had a huge column that blocked a fair part of my line of sight.

- The choice to have both Javert and Valjean be bald…..they frankly looked like twins up there on the stage. Not sure if I like it. I appreciate the whole idea of them being two sides of the same coin, both representing Vidocq, etc…..still. Kinda took me out of it especially in the Confrontation.

- Another side effect of the baldness: it makes Valjean looking approximately the same age throughout the whole story, and it took real strength of willpower to believe this virile looking man was on his deathbed at the end. Also makes Bring Him Home less poignant as well. (ps this was called Comme Un Homme/Like A Man in the French, which I have a lot of thoughts about but…well, it’s the original lyrics so I’ll refrain from commenting)

Then, again, as a Valvert girlie (gender neutral) I just have a very high expectation out of the portrayals of these characters. I do appreciate and like a lot of what they achieved, however!

Fun fact the woman next to me was crying throughout the show, so maybe I would’ve felt more emotional if I was French 😆

Here are a few behind the scenes pictures.

[superbat-lmao]

Alfred takes his first vacation 9 months after Jason comes to stay at the manor. He’s in England for two weeks visiting friends and traveling through his old homeland.

Jason and Bruce are home alone with each other and Jason has really only started to get comfortable. It’s a long two weeks, but they make it through.

When he comes back, he gives Jason a small souvenir he brought back with him and Jason asks him a million and one questions about how it went and who he saw. Alfred laughs and says that for Jason’s spring break the two of them should take a trip there together. They could go see some plays or the royal ballet or even visit some of the castles. Jason is a little stunned at the idea but is very excited. He asks if Alfred ever took Bruce or Dick.

Alfred says that neither of them had a particular interest in some of the things he did, but that they took other trips together. Jason ask if he’ll get to meet some of Alfred’s friends from the service or if he can see where Alfred went to school or any one of a hundred other questions.

Jason’s nervous when it’s finally time to go to England but Alfred tells him Bruce offered to drop them off in the batplane so they wouldn’t have to take public transit. It’s also so Bruce can say goodbye at the absolute last minute. Because it’s only a week, but Jason’s only been with him about a year and been formally adopted less than half that time.

So Alfred shows him as much as he can. They go to the theater and Alfred takes Jason to his favorite play. They go to the ballet together, visit some castles, it’s peaceful in a way Gotham isn’t. And for how used to the city Jason is, Alfred brings him down to a steadier pace.

They have a lot of fun and Jason only ignores directions once on account of not being able to hear him too well when they’re taking the tube in London, which is easily forgiven.

Jason asks Alfred about other holidays he took in Europe, or the other countries he’s traveled to. It’s when Jason himself really begins to open up about his life on the streets or living with Willis or Catherine. Alfred is sharing so many stories with him that Jason slowly starts to reciprocate.

Alfred introduces Jason to two of his old friends, one who owns a pub and tries to let Jason have a sip of beer and the other whose wife runs a shop that Jason picks out souvenirs for Bruce and Dick from.

When it’s time for Bruce to come pick them up, Jason asks if they’ll come back. Not on all of Alfred’s vacations, but on shorter ones together. Alfred says he would be delighted to do so.

[catboybiologist]

on the order of: denying E makes it easier to cry or hrt changing sexuality

I think these two examples in particular may be repeated and accepted so much is because they don't fit nicely with other political arguments.

For the former, E making it easier to laugh and cry would mean, simplistically, that T makes it harder to cry. Or, at least that going from a T dominated system to E dominated makes it easier to express emotion, then going the other way must make it harder. If not thought about carefully, this could easily reinforce the idea that women are emotional and men are emotionally stunted not because of socialization, but because of ~biology woooo~. Whereas if it's a lifting of some kind of emotional fog, well then it could go either way, T and E would both equally make it easier to express one's emotions because they are ~in balance~ or whatever. This is of course also assuming there is a "right" or "predesitined" way to be a certain gender, that trans people were always the gender they identify with now, which is still gender essentialist in a way I think. BUT The narrative that we've had to build, medically and politically, is that we've always been our gender and we're just trying to "correct" it. And to throw this out would also mean losing political ground, possibly.

As for the latter, it's pretty much the exact same I think, a lot of people want to describe hrt changing sexuality as a consequence of change in confidence or self image or anything like that would counter the "born this way" political narrative that has been built up over time where we're just they way we are and there's nothing you can do to change that, so there's an instinct, because I don't think it's even necessarily that people are doing this consciously, to fight anytime someone implies sexuality can be changed.

Anyway, I do very much agree with your stated opinions, just wanted to possibly add something

So you sent a follow up that was like "wait no you already said this don't respond" but you have good points here that I didn't make

Namely, the socialization vs hormones thing. A lot of people view these as in contention- eg, men are solely socialized not to cry, T has no role vs the opposite. Male socialization makes it harder to express any emotion and testosterone makes it harder to cry are coexisting statements, however, and the crushing weight of men having less "visible" shows of emotion combined with the societal expectation that they shouldn't have emotion at all means that it's hard for men to get emotional help.

Vice versa for women being "overemotional", which is generally the more oppressive societal issue. Women's displays of emotion are excused as unserious, or downplayed, because "women are like that". The ability for hormones to cause physical displays of emotion to be different affects how society demands we repress those emotions, either through personal "stoicism" or societal excusal. And we learn habits of how to navigate those systems in turn.

[diamondkat]

Regarding Alastor being redeemed, I have been seeing some posts regarding how it can happen that trigger an instant ick reaction from me. I have taken time to think about why I keep having such a strongly negative reaction to it. The first thing I took into consideration is that I really do not want my current favourite bad boy to become good. I am first and foremost a villain fan and his becoming good has a high chance of ruining the character for me. This means that there is a chance that I would dislike any theory that ends with Alastor redeemed. A lot of time you see people making arguments for why a ship or character should not be liked when the real reason is they personally don't like it and the reasons are merely support. I try to make sure I am aware of my personal bias.

Regardless of my personal bias, I have decided that there is one particular theory regarding how Alastor can be redeemed that I hate from the bottom of my heart. It is the theory where Alastor after being humiliated, degraded and losing everything including his pride has no choice but to accept Charlie's care and change for the better. Sometimes it involves betraying the hotel first, but generally involves him being unable to deal with the challenges that he faces. I am sure how this works in the minds of those who like this theory makes perfect sense. He can no longer rely on himself, he sees that he isn't capable of anything and now has no choice but to become what Charle wants him to be. I hate it so much. I have kept turning it over in my mind and I think I have figured out all the reasons why separate from my bias.

First, suffering doesn't make people better. It just doesn't. The theory seems to require enough suffering to rewrite Alastor's personality and make him Charlie's puppet. It also reminds me of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The story of how the proud woman was broken down to make her obedient. She might be "better" but it also felt to me like she died and became a puppet. He would be "redeemed" but that wouldn't be Alastor. It would just be something that looks like him. I just feel like fans of Alastor who like this theory don't realise that he would lose everything that pulled them to him in the first place if this happened. Some could not deal with him being less energetic in the main show than the pilot due to him being bored. How would they deal with what would essentially be a hollow creature wearing his face trying to become good because there is nothing left in him?

Second, with a proud character you can't brute force them into letting people in. Part of the idea of the theory is that after he is humiliated and suffers in front of them, he will drop his smile and be forced to let others in. That doesn't make sense to me. We have already seen in S1E8, how Alastor deals with things not going his way. He holds onto what little control he has by refusing to drop his smile and holding onto his pride while going through a breakdown. The best way to get someone like Alastor as far as I am concerned is to deal with him the same way you would deal with a wild animal. Slowly lower their guard. I think Charlie is already doing that whether Alastor knows it or not. Besides, pride is an important part of the character. Pride is part of what drew me to the character in the first place. The kind of pride that makes a person think it is okay to say, "If I wanted to hurt anyone here I would have done so already" in front of the Princess of Hell, is part of what drew me to Alastor. If he lost it, the character would likely immediately lose all appeal to me. So, there is some personal bias there.

It would make sense to me if the theory was more about Alastor learning that he can rely on others and doesn't have to depend solely on himself which leads to him opening up and letting others in. However, the theory leans very heavily into suffering as a way to make him a better person and a complete erasure of everything that makes up the character through suffering to make him into someone who wants and is worthy of redemption. That's fine for fanfiction but I hope it never becomes canon.

[artsycooky13]

top 3 fave bbys in the burrito show (bonus SUPER LONG tags on how i feel bout the characters)

[chipistrate]

People really need to give Steel Wool a break sometimes, man- They messed up with Security Breach and now people act like EVERYTHING wrong with modern fnaf is all exclusively their fault when it's really not.