#truly time goes on but i just do not change

[theartofwoompwoomp]

I love your sweet comfort Jazz fic. He just fits that perfectly.

I’m wondering about a moment where he goes protective mode. I love sweet fic where the bots goes switch mode on demeanor. Could be platonic or romantic. Something like they’re out and about being goofy then something happens he goes almost feral in protection mode. Does that frighten or impress?

Im their Guardian.

Jazz x reader

a/n : Thanks im glad you enjoyed the fics, personally im never sure if i get the characters personality well, so im glad ya like it. Also thanks for the ask i loved this idea <3

———————————————————————

Now, Jazz is an amazing guardian. His love for human culture and chill personality definitely made it easier for you to get along with him.

And in all the time you have known him, he’s always been the same. Usually when describing him your go to words were “hard worker” and “cool dude”. 

Never once had you truly seen any serious sides of him, unless he was fighting in the war. 

Which is why your image of him never changed.

But that’s the thing with personalities. They can be so complex to the point certain sides only are seen in special circumstances.

Which is why today shouldn’t have been any different.

Jazz knew how much you wanted to go (an event of something you like). You had gotten dressed up and everything. How could he not take you himself? Especially when you’re so excited about it as well.

Once there, he didn’t mind if he had to wait in a parking lot or be in a garage. You both prepared a bunch of things he could do while being in aft-mode.

And time definitely went a lot faster when you called him and stayed on call the rest of the time. 

He felt as he were there with you. 

Both of you continued talking about the surroundings and stuff you got from giftshops. Even buying a shirt that says “I ❤️ Robots”

The whole time his spark was warm at the smile on your face. He loved seeing you light up as you continued talking with him about your interests, and how you got stuff for him and yourself.

But, his first suspicion of something being wrong was from your movement on the screen. You seemed to have speed up your pace. But when the call got cut off he was long gone from the parking spot.

Speeding towards the entrance hoping to pick you up.

When he arrived he saw you not far ahead, but you were worried… and, scared? 

Getting closer he saw someone older than you following behind. … too closely 

Observing a bit more, he saw they had your phone in hand, and were taking you somewhere and trying to not make it obvious. 

His motor went full power as he rushed in alt-mode. And when you turned around with a tear stained face, all of his sense was lost. 

Revving his engine as he not so subtlety headed straight for the person, he stuck out his arm and pulled you in. Tucking you safely inside him and bumping pretty hard into the person hurting you. 

He was pissed.

No one should dare think they could get away with hurting the person most dear to him.

You are everything he has. And no one was going to take that away. Only calming down when you do.

And you were definitely shaken up by the whole thing.

Honestly, it was a bit of a roller coaster. First, you felt extremely relieved you’re big guy had found you. Next, feeling terrified at the thought he might actually put someone down with the fishies. Finally, calmed down cause he didn’t, and the whole time after he treated you with extra care. 

Still inside him as he drove back to base, you place a small kiss on the dashboard and thank him. Feeling him chuckle as the car vibrates. He’d tell ya to rest and start playing a playlist he created for you.

——————————————————————

Masterlist 

[lucygraysboy]

“so, they’ll come to me even if they don’t know me well ‘cause they’ll somehow sense that i’m not tryin’ to harm ‘em? just like you did?” the cowboy asks, his voice soft and sweet when the significance of the moment finally dawns upon him. she could have ran away. the thought crossed his mind when he first walked into this little hut and realized that she was gone… she ran away from his brother, and yet chooses to stay with him? discreetly wiping his tears away, he never thought that he’d be getting emotional over something like this but it truly means the world to him. “thanks for not makin’ a single parent to a disabled bear cup out of me,” he playfully muses, gently patting reva blue’s back. there’s a silly grin on his lips, but his eyes remain glassy, betraying his true feelings. “are you the kind of person who can never choose just one favorite thing?” he teases, shaking his head but finding this attitude adorable. all flowers are beautiful, he agrees and doesn’t try to change her mind. “i was tryin’ to find some to put in your bath and make it more relaxin’ but i couldn’t find any.” it’s too cold for anything to bloom. “yeah, that’s definitely normal. it will probably keep hurtin’ for a little while. the good thing is… you don’t have a fever and it’s not drippin’ pus. i remember, back when i was a kid, there was this one rebel who got some debris stuck in his thigh and they’d done everything to try and save his leg… but god, the smell in that room was rancid. by the time he finally agreed to have it amputated, he was delirious and feverish and it was too late, the infection and gangrene had spread to his bloodstream and… awful. it was absolutely awful.” he isn’t trying to scare her, but he wants her to know that it’s a serious situation and she has to take care of herself now — prioritize her health. “alright.” he grabs a chair just so that he doesn’t have to squat and places it behind the tub, so that all he sees is the back of her head and her back. eyes trailing over each cut and scratch, realizing just how much she’s suffered. it breaks his heart. and she’s so skinny that he can easily count her ribs and the bumps in her spine… poor thing. “of course.” he’ll do both. gathering a piece of soap and a clean cloth, he dips both in water and rubs them together until there’s foam forming on the soft fabric. other hand carefully scooping lucy gray’s hair up, moving it over her shoulder so he can begin to scrub her back. ever so gentle and careful, he presses the cloth to her shoulder blade, rubbing small circles into her skin. “let’s try to save your pretty curls, alright?” the most important thing is that she doesn’t have fleas or something. it’s badly tangled, he’ll admit that, but… hopefully, it can still be salvaged. “and if we’ll have to cut it… you’ll still look very beautiful, and it’ll grow back. besides, my brother’s after a long-haired girl, right? i guess every cloud has a silver lining, after all. but don’t worry ‘bout it, we’ll try our best to untangle it. see how that goes.”

“of course they will. if they know you’re helpin’ them, they’ll come along right to you.” and birds are intelligent, so they’ll know. “there is no such thing, but…” a tiny laugh sounds from her, glancing down at her water, swirling a finger around at trying to find the words to describe it. but she’s not used to it. “those are wonderful flowers to love. don’t ask me to choose a certain favorite, we’ll be here all day. there is somethin’ admirable about wild flowers though, you’re right.” a smile pulls on her face at his recognizing that. “thank you, tryin’ to be. i realize it’s still hurtin’ some but i guess that’s normal.” she figures, rubbing at her knee before glancing over at him, “oh, it’s alright darlin’. come on right over.” her legs are squished to her chest and while she’s a little shy and awkward about it, she’s not so shamefully shy she can’t grow bravery and accept she doesn’t care if he sees her bare back. “you can do both things if you’d like to.” now that she’s soaked in water, she guesses it’s not too embarrassing now that her hair is wet even if it’s in knots. “i’m just scared i won’t be able to get these knots out and i’ll have to cut it.” reaching back with an unpleasant look on her face, hand feeling the knots and worry spilling over her visage. almost puts tears in her eyes at how bad of shape she’s let her once beautiful hair get in. it reaches all the way down her back, like everyone in the covey, long hair is sacred. and at this point, she’s worrying she’ll lose the last thing that means a lot to her.

[nicoleshifting]

persisting in your assumptions

after finally sitting down and reading more of the power of awareness by neville goddard tonight, one section really stood out to me in terms of being related to shifting.

"if you would change your life, you must begin at the very source with your own basic concept of self. outer change, becoming part of organizations, political bodies, religious bodies, is not enough. the cause goes deeper. the essential change must take place in yourself, in your own concept of self. you must assume that you are what you want to be and continue therin, for the reality of your assumption has its being in complete independence of objective fact, and will clothes itself in flesh if you persist in the feeling of the wish fulfilled. when you know that assumptions, if persisted in, harden into facts, then events which seem to be the uninitiated mere accidents will be understood by you to be the logical and inevitable effects of your assumption.

the important thing to bear in mind is that you have infinite free will in choosing your assumptions, but no power to determine conditions and events. you can create nothing, but your assumption determines what portion of creation you will experience."

let me break this down some to how I interpreted this to relate to shifting. to shift, all you essentially have to do is assume the state of the wish fulfilled, i.e. being fully aware of your dr and in your dr body. but since people, including myself, tend to overcomplicate shifting, we get too caught up in external aspects of shifting. for example, perfecting your script, worrying about how the timelines of events will go, waiting for the 'perfect time' to shift, thinking there needs to be some sort of shifting routine. nothing besides yourself is going to help you shift. drinking tea and taking a bath and having a pretty script and making a viral shifttok video is doing nothing to actually further your shifting journey. it's fun to do, don't get me wrong, but at it's core it is not necessarily helping you shift to your dr. (having fun with shifting, however, is always encouraged by me!!)

"you can create nothing, but your assumption determines what portion of creation you will experience." this!! you didn't create your dr, as we know, these places already existed. your assumption and belief that you are already in your dr, that this place exists and events are happening and you are there doing stuff as you read this, and believing that you will shift there. that is what you need to shift. literally just persist and believe that you are there and you will be there. it is inevitable.

your concept of self determines your reality. if you deep down don't think you are capable of shifting, then you probably won't shift. but if you change your self concept, you change your reality. persist. persist. persist. it may take some inner work and time to change your self concept, but once you realize that's what is holding you back, you are truly capable of doing anything. if you're like me, and you have realized you have been deep down resisting shifting since you found about it, maybe do some soul searching as to why... (I know I am).

[the-sea-called-history02]

How Stray Kids say “I love you” without saying it (maknae line)

Genre: fluff

Warnings: slight cursing

Han Jisung

Adds your favorite songs to his playlists

Music isn’t just this man’s love language. It’s his every language. It’s the oxygen he breaths and the water he drinks. In his mind, your favorite songs are a piece of your soul that he can carry with him no matter where he goes, so he adds your favorite songs to all of his playlists, and will never once hesitate to point that out to anyone in the vicinity. The boys have learned all the words at this point because of how often he plays the songs that remind him of you for them.

Just flat-out says it

Before anyone says that this is a lazy cop-out, just hear me out. Sweet Hannie wouldn’t know subtlety if it walked up to him with a name tag and slapped him upside the face. He wears his whole heart on his sleeve, so I really, truly believe that he wouldn’t be one to let his actions speak louder than his words. Both are equally important in his eyes, so please don’t get annoyed when every other thing out of his mouth is how much he loves you. He’s only a tad obsessed, I promise.

Felix Lee

Cooks with you

Sure, Lix can bake, but have you seen him try to cook? It’s not pretty, but he always has a blast trying, especially when it’s with you. Whether you’re a five star Michelin or burn water, you’re going to create some sort of mess when you two get together. No matter how it turns out, though, Felix will make himself enjoy every bite because it “was made with love.”

Sends you a million TikToks

It could be memes, sad videos, songs he thinks you’ll like, things about your hobbies, prepared to be bombarded with little videos from Felix 24/7. He shares them so you know he’s thinking of you, and it fills him with way too much joy when you find them as entertaining as he does. It just further convinces him that you’re soulmates, and who’s to say he’s wrong?

Kim Seungmin

Writes about you in his journal

His journal is an extension of himself, and is how he processes his insanely hectic life, but he always finds that writing about you feels different. He never has to think about what he’s writing, and the words just flow onto the page. If you manage to catch him in a particularly mushy mood, he might even let you read some of it.

Keeps a nightly routine with you

Ending his day with you is the highlight of it. He can’t wait to take his makeup off while telling you all the dumb shit the boys did that day. On tour, he’ll coordinate a time for you to do it all on FaceTime. Every step, from changing into pajamas to doing face masks, he loves knowing that, no matter how awful his day might have been, he will always be able to bear it because you would be there at the end to make it all worth it.

Yang Jeongin

Coordinates outfits

Listen, to Jeongin, being buck-naked is better than even considering not matching with you. No matter whether you’re even on the same continent, you better bet your best britches that he’ll be checking to make sure you AT LEAST have your couples bracelet on. He also definitely has a Pinterest board of couple outfit ideas.

Compares your hands

No matter how many times he does it, his heart still flutters a bit every time he sees your hands being engulfed by his. Not only is it an excuse to touch his favorite person, but it makes him feel like, in a small way, he can shelter you from the crazy world he lives in, and what kind of monster would you have to be to deny your sweet boy of that?

[zombeebunnie]

Happy New year: Future plans regarding Trembling Essence!

Hello guys, hope you all are having a wholesome happy new year so far! I want to start things fresh so here's what to expect:

Here's a TLDR if you want an easy summary: Game updates might be every two weeks - one month, the script for the game is being updated which includes removing some scrapped content to make sure the overall story gets a better opportunity to shine. I am also working on updating ko-fi/patreon + commissions.

Updates regarding Trembling Essence:

Game development posts: I enjoyed uploading weekly* updates during 2023/2024 but starting this year, I no longer have that much free time anymore. Depending on how everything goes updates might(?) be every two weeks to possibly 1 month(???). In lighter news it'll give myself time to process the script, answer asks, and miscellaneous things to avoid burn-out. :,] Script fixing: When I originally created this in January 2023, I was going for a survival horror-game. The 2023 demo isn't canon and I stopped referencing it since March/April 2023. Now that it has both horror and dating-sim elements I'm going over certain sections/new concepts and slowly adjusting them. The original lore isn't being changed but will be updated over time with my improved writing style and overall story telling. This also includes all the routes/paths that weren't in the [Extended Demo]. Scrapped content: I was extremely new to everything and when genuine interest was shown in what I've been creating, I got very ambitious . ((Those that have been here since the early days probably remember that one post I made about writing over 10+ routes.:,]))Now that I'm getting a better idea of what I truly want for the game, some content moving forward will be cut to make sure the true story gets a better opportunity to shine. :]

Other things that will be updated within the game:

UI/GUI update - I want to give the game a more distinctive theme. :]

CG update - Specifically fixing old art from the [Extended Demo].

Art Gallery - For CG collecting, future easter eggs etc.

Route update - Fixing paths and keeping them balanced.

Ending's update - Fixing endings to line up with new/changed content.

Kofi / Patreon: I talked about wanting to create a Patreon a long time ago and I really would like to create a monthly-tip jar / possible game credit perk for those that would like to support the development of the game, this is still a work in progress though. And speaking of Ko-fi, I had been asked about doing commissions in the past and I wasn't ready to accept any but I hope to take in a few to help out behind the scenes especially since the battery to my computer is still dead and I don't want to risk losing game progress again from it randomly shorting out like before. :,]

Sneak peak into next week's game development post:

I wanted to keep the development post separate from this so it wouldn't make this post super long but here's a vague look into how things being updated behind the scenes! :]

This is all I have to share so far, thank you guys for all of the continued support throughout 2024! I hope 2025 will be just as great if not better! :,D

[magpiemirroring]

I feel like now is a really good time for a Stepford Wives.....not exactly remake.....but like.....reimagining. We won't even call it Stepford Wives.

We've got a lot of influencers preaching very traditional women's roles (while not truly living what they preach a lot of the time) and a lot of grifters preying on very specific ideas of a purer, better kind of Femaleness that you can get in touch with if you just buy into their diet/crystals/tea/supplements/yoga/radical political beliefs.

And certain types of dudes are being very loud and disagreeable about wanting control over women's lives and bodies.

So, instead of "woman moves to Stepford with her husband who joins a Men's Club while she tries to make new friends and retain her identity and watches cool ladies suddenly become weird idealized stereotypes (and also robots)"....Let's start with a woman who is an influencer.

Maybe that's been her goal, maybe it's something she stumbled into with a bit of viral success but friends are encouraging her to network and make it like a Thing. Capitalize on the accidental success. Her particular thing is a little offbeat and quirky and needs all the help she can get to find an audience! So she starts connecting with others and decides to go to a convention or seminar (in stepford maybe, lmao) for influencers and other folks making a career out of an online presence, not only for like advice and networking opportunities but to meet up with some of the folks she's made friends with.

At the same hotel is a convention for developers of next generation AI software. Cue joke about men not even needing women these days because they have their AI girlfriends with their perfect AI generated faces and voices and who can be shaped with prompts into exactly what men want with no real inner lives or needs of their own.

The convention is a little depressing for our MC gal as some of the talks she attends advise leaping on trends and playing it safe to appeal to a wider audience. And like, she doesn't want to be a soft-spoken trad-feminine beauty blogger making "delicious" health food for her family. (She has a cat and maybe she'd prefer a girlfriend.) She just wants to know how to make it easier for people who would like her content to find her.

She goes out for drinks with her pals that night and one of them is acting a little off, different than she did earlier, but she puts that down to the same sort of "authentic identity vs brand" issues she herself is working through.

But when she's back at home struggling with her next update and sees this friend's next post or video, she is shocked to see that her friend has gone very tradwife-y all of a sudden. She reaches out to her friend to be like "oh new direction. kinda a sharp pivot....? you know you don't HAVE to change up what you're doing just because someone at the convention said so, right?" and gets back a chipper note that this friend is just SO HAPPY with her new content. She didn't realize how unhappy....how unconnected to her inner goddess she had been. Plus, like, the stuff she was doing before was hurting her husband's chances at a real political career and she real wants to live in such a way that their lives and values are perfectly aligned, a team!

Okay, a little strange, but this was a new friend and maybe our MC just never really knew the real her. That's a risk with folks you meet online.

But then more and more of her fellow quirkier influencers start shifting their content to the same sort of bland, safe feminine content that reiterates a sort of second-to-your-man (and you DO have a MAN, right?) ideology. Their videos look very polished, but sort of wrong at the same time....and they all have new sponsors.

Desperately digging for info into those sponsorships (she knows how controlling those can be), she discovers they are all linked back to one guy, a venture capitalist whose put a lot of money into shady pyramid scheme type companies and has recently also starting investing in an AI company that sounds familiar. Our MC realizes she saw a lot of their banners at the AI conference sharing the hotel with her influencer conferences and realizes that it's possible someone hacked the hotel's data for the names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit cards of all the women at the influencer conference and has been using that information to target popular women whose content he doesn't like.

He's also been donating a lot to a campaign for a guy going for a house of reps seat on a platform with a lot of Traditional Values dogwhistles.

Digging further, reaching out to more people (neglecting her update schedule!) she's found worrying signs that the women whose content has suddenly changed haven't been seen out and about in person in awhile and she can't get any of them to agree to going out for a coffee or even an in-person collab for their instas! She even finds some Missing Person reports.

The idea that someone has maybe killed these women and replaced them with AI-generated versions that are increasingly unsubtle shills for a trad-femme/anti-feminist ideology (and a bunch of bogus products) is too ridiculous to be true! But also...increasingly too plausible to deny.

Our MC gathers her evidence. She doesn't think she can trust the cops with this. She's not really in the habit of trusting them, though if these women really are missing she'll have to talk to them eventually. But not until she can convince them she's not just some crazy. Not until she's built up some outcry and support for her suspicions. So she sets up her camera and prepares to record a True Crime style video on what she's uncovered.

In the artfully blurred background of her video we see movement. A person dressed in dark clothes. They go off camera while, uneasy, but unaware, the MC continues to narrate her video, gesturing in the air to where she will edit in graphics later. Just as she starts in on her sponsorship bit, a figure in black with surgical-gloved hands steps into the frame and kills her.

Cut to black. Credits roll, interspersed with clips from her new video! Which is a safer, tamer, more male-gaze-y take on whatever she did before. Other clips also play during the credits. Slight glitchy tradfemme videos. A few short reaction video clips to same. Short clip about the politician winning his seat. His wife is so proud of him and would be here by his side if she wasn't recovering from a recent medical procedure. But she'll be back at his side soon! More unsettlingly off clips, ending with a bit from the MC's sponsor moment that just straight up advertises for a perfect AI Assistant who is just like a friend who can help you keep track of all your responsibilities and help you so you have more time for You! (tho "more time for you" is paired with an image of the MC getting a chaste embrace from a handsome man in a soft sweater, as if "you time" is not complete without a man.) We should walk away with the sense that this helpful AI assistant is gonna use a lot of personal info about you to build up a profile of users, ostensibly to personalize your New Friend, but also so it has a base on which to learn and function as a replacement for the female users eventually...

Cottagecore beauty blogger video called "How to get the Stepford Wife aesthetic!" but in between talking about where to find Gunne Saxe dresses online and how to do that 70s mascara look, there's something...off. She keeps jerking and repeating lines, like she's stuck in a loop. By the end of it, she's holding a knife to cut up heirloom tomatoes for a summery afternoon snack, but her hand is twitching and she's turning the tomato into paste with all those slices and even when she's moving on to asking you to like and subscribe she's still making slicing motions on the table.

[gauntletqueen]

I'm known to be honest. To a fault, some would say, but only logically, not emotionally. Without even realising it, I usually put up a front of sorts, appearing perfectly happy and content. It's not so much that I lie about how I feel, it's moreso that I can't get myself to talk about my emotions in the first place. It makes me feel really awful. I'm taking this time to be truly honest about how I feel and who I am.

I'm afraid of a lot of things. That most of my friends secretly don't care about me and only humor me because the alternative is too much of a hassle. That I'll never actually be happy with who I am, no matter how many positive changes I make to myself. That people will realise I'm not anything special, that so many people in my spheres are a better alternative to me, that what little I've managed to accomplish in my continuous car crash of a life amounts to nothing. That my years of professional education, self-taught skills and dreams of becoming an artist really have been wasted. That I'm undeserving and even incapable of real romantic love. That, by being honest about all this, I'll drive people away.

Most of all I'm afraid of the relentless march of time. That all of my bad choices, failures, wasted opportunities, fears and losses are constantly compounding. The terrifying prospect of living in a world that keeps getting worse, that as time goes by, the people in whom I find the most comfort will be taken from me. That my chances to live my life in a way I can be happy with are slipping away.

And I feel ungrateful. I'm told I'm loved, that I matter and that I do have a positive impact on the lives of others. People tell me they love what I do, that they look up to me, feel inspired. They put me on a pedestal, think me unapproachable. It makes me angry how wrong that feels. My self esteem is so bad I can't imagine a world in which these people aren't wrong for this. I know their feelings are valid, I know I should just be happy with their compliments, but it's like I'm an outsider in my own mind, desperately clawing at the windows and screaming to stop being so stubborn, so sad, so self-destructive.

I've often talked about wanting, needing to be a robot. For gender euphoria, of course, and to be rid of the need to eat and sleep, and chronic illness. But it goes deeper. I want to be something other entirely, somewhere else entirely. Something disconnected from this hellish existence where I'm constantly fighting myself in every way. Something not bound by the ticking clock of a biological life, or the crushing fear of a monotonous, unfulfilled everyday existence. Free to just be, without a lifetime of dreams and worries, stretching both back and forward in time. Maybe I want to be nothing at all.

I don't know if this makes sense. I just wrote it down. I'm sorry. Thank you for reading.

[vixenihy]

Dinner for Two

Summary: March 1963, Jack and Jackie sneak away from their secret service men to go out for dinner, but Jackie wants to talk to Jack about something important.

Tags/Notes + Paring: jfk x jackie kennedy, mentions of infidelity, slight cursing, bobby kennedy mentioned.

Word Count: 1.4k words

A/N: I struggled to write this one because obviously being in public without USSS is a huge no. I tried my best and took some inspiration from the walks Jack and Jackie would take without the secret service knowing :)) hope you enjoy !!

Jack sits on the phone leaning back in his rocking chair, messing with the cord before anxiously tapping his fingers against his teeth. He does his best to quickly think of a way to keep his secret service around while also trying to live a normal life. At first, he considers allowing a few men to sit with them, but itll make the night so awkward…Fuck it, why not just sneak away from secret service for once?

“Uh-uh, right, just for two…At nine.” He finally says, downplaying his thick He wishes that he could just make a reservation for a restaurant like any other man, but of course the secret service always has to be right up his ass.

“The name?? Well..” He scrambles, looking around for a moment for something to say until his eyes land on Bobby, who’s outside playing touch football with the rest of his family, and he spits out the first thing that comes to mind.

“Francis!” He chokes, putting a hand to his head and sighing. God dammit…but before he can correct himself, he lets out a sigh of defeat and simply nods at the string of words on the other line before hanging up the phone.

Is he even allowed to do this? It gets so lonely being in such a high office, all he wants is a night with Jackie where he feels like a normal person.

When Jackie comes down the stairs, still in her nightgown from her nap, Jack smiles as she descends and makes her way over to him. He notices a peculiar look on her face, but before she can do anything else, Jack is the one to start the conversation.

“Hey, Kid.” He simply says, standing up slowly and with a grimace of pain.

“Hi, Bunny…Who was that on the phone?” Jackie asks, putting her arms around his neck and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

“I got us a reservation at a restaurant…A nice one! It can be just the two of us…” He continues, noticing his wife’s face flip to a look of horror.

“Jack, we can’t be out in public like that! We’ll be swarmed.” Jackie protests

“I booked it for nine. Come on, don’t you wanna live like a normal person once in a while? It’ll be fine, no one's gonna know.” He teases with a grin she’s come to know and love, brushing just a few strands of hair out of her eyes.

“Listen, if it doesn’t work out. We’ll just come home and…I’ll force Bobby to make us something.” Jack jokes with a wheezy laugh, making Jackie smile slightly.

“Alright then, but you need to find a way to look more inconspicuous.” Jackie teases, turning around and going up the stairs to figure out what to wear.

Jackie can’t help but smile as she goes up to her closet. She’s noticed a change in Jack lately. Ever since the issue involving Cuba and their missiles. She swears she can see a difference in his eyes when he looks at her. Before, his emotions were concealed behind a layer of charisma, even when they were alone. It was as if he’d learned how to hide his emotions, but was terrified of showing them when he needed to. But now she can fully see the love in his eyes that she’d only seen brief glimpses of beforehand when he let that mask slip.

Jackie knows that Jack loves her, even if he’s hurt her with his inability to stay loyal. She isn’t naive; she knows his compulsions and she’s realized in the past few months that he’s trying to get better.

Over the years, Jackie also noticed how complex her husband truly was. Jack isn’t shallow, he feels his emotions much deeper than most men; but he feels the need to hide it at all times and not let it show.

Seeing Jack in private, in the rare moments he’s allowed himself to be vulnerable and his true self, she’s noticed his shyness and his introverted nature. The charisma, the confidence, the need to talk to everyone was just a façade drilled into him by his parents. She could tell he wanted to, but he just didn’t know how. Perhaps tonight is the night where they can be normal people. They had very little opportunities to be able to step out of the spotlight and hide in the shadows. Tonight is their chance…

—

Jack fiddles with the hat on his head in the car mirror, grumbling to himself as he tries to make himself look as inconspicuous as possible. He looks behind him and in front of him…Unable to see any men in the dark of night to give them away. They did it, they snuck out of the house without the secret service tailing their asses. Jack looks at his wife with a mischievous grin on his face.

“It’s the best I can do…I'm not as good at disguising myself as you are.” Jack admits, stepping out of the driver's seat and onto the sidewalk as Jackie joins him by his side. She looks down and gasps silently as Jack interlocks their fingers. No one is watching…They’re safe.

He steps inside of the restaurant and releases their hands, looking around at the few people still left in the restaurant before tilting his head down to whisper to Jackie.

“I think we’re in the clear.” He mutters, chucking slightly as they approach the podium and allowing Jackie to speak for him. He has such a well known voice, he’ll be recognized in an instant if they don’t catch onto his appearance.

“Good evening, sir. My husband and I ordered a table for two? Under the name ‘Francis’” She tells him, her voice flat and strong as opposed to the voice she uses in public.

“Can’t your husband speak?” The reservationist asks, cocking his eyebrow at the couple who seems extremely familiar to him

“Oh, he’s sick. He asked me to speak for him as he’s lost his voice.” Jackie explains, lying to the reservationist and glancing up at her husband.

“And if you don’t mind, could we be seated somewhere in the back? Just somewhere private.” She continues, to which the reservationist simply sighs and leads them back to a small corner table in a dim, mostly empty part of the restaurant so they can finally have their private date.

——

The dinner had gone well and they'd kept a low profile. But Jack noticed Jackie seemed a little distant at times, as if she’d been in thought. Sometimes, she’d look at him as if she wanted to say something, but would go right back to her meal. Surprisingly, Jack had money in his wallet for once and was able to pay the bill once they were done.

“Keeping money in your wallet, Jack Kennedy?” Jackie teases quietly as they exit out the front door.

“Who’s Jack Kennedy?” Jack shoots back as they make their way to the car. But just when they think everything was pulled off, he notices a man with a camera down the street.

Shit, someone must have called and told the press that they were there.

“Damn, looks like we’ve got to go, Kid.” Jack sighs, getting into the car before the man can snap too many pictures.

Jackie doesn’t reply or even acknowledge what he’d said, as if she’s lost in thought again.

“Hey,” Jack mutters to catch her attention, putting a hand on her leg and watching her look into his greenish-gray eyes.

“Penny for your thoughts?” He asks, his head tilting slightly. Jackie sighs and glances away, gently removing his hand from her thigh.

“Jack…I wanted to tell you this for a while.” She starts, biting her lip and smudging what’s left of her lipstick.

“I went to the doctor a few weeks ago…While you were working, and they did some tests…” She explains, dragging it out a bit. She watches her husband's face slowly flow into a sense of realization and excitement, and so she decides to just spit it out.

“Jack, I'm pregnant.” Jackie finally says, gasping as she’s pulled into his arms and holding her in an embrace. Though it was a bit awkward with Jack's stiffness and having to reach across the break in the seat, Jackie holds him just as he holds her. He seems quiet and calm, but she swears she can feel tears of joy running down her shoulder, and that makes her smile ever so slightly.

[arsenicflame]

Bonus round! Do you use a queue tag?

[boyfriendyke]

there r a lot of things about the myth of psyche and eros that makes me a little insane but one of them has always been the tasks from aphrodite and the unfairness of it. they're not intended to be possible. they're so obviously not meant to be possible, and psyche isn't fucking hercules, you know, she's not a demigod or whatever, she's mortal and these aren't mortal tasks!! it's why psyche has to be helped with each one, fucking by like ants and river gods and shit. and so like. idk. i know ppl see psyche and eros as like a story about love and shit which obviously it is but as a kid psyche and eros always felt like a story about being able to accept help

[tenwhiteandalusians]

is episode 8 the domitian arc ? more on this and EVEN MORE narratives i’ve been ignoring that the show said “actually,,,” about in 5

[hauntingblue]

WATER SEVEN BABYYYYY

Look at robin reacting when luffy says he wont give her up.... 🥺🥺

This is a joke right now but its actually a one piece tenet aldjsisjka

Usopp aksbaksjakqk the foreshadow is foreshadowing... Also Robin being happy with the crew after the Aokiji incident... Fuck!!!!

Sanji thinking robin just vanished or flew away and suddenly usopp is soaring thru the skies... imagine

AAAAARGGGGHHHH YOU CAN SEE THE GEARS TURNING

Zoro talking to merry..... only while he is alone of course

Why are nami and sanji matching ajdhakjsk look at the citrus sisters

Carpenter: maybe it was the government

Gov agent: I don't think so, also don't say that they are everywhere

LUFFY SUPPORTS WOMEN'S WRONGS!!!

Don't scream att chopper like that!!! Look at him... So small....

Imu tease???? (No) (Also I've changed websites again bc the translation is kinda off , I can't find a good quality b&w spanish translation and the colors scare me (i want the real manga experience))

GET HIM ICEBURG!!!!

I truly forgor if this is just a lie about her wanting to find the rio poneglyphs or genuine because she wants to die and will do it for them... because in skypiea she says she is not interested in the weapons so maybe if the gov pardons her but considering what she wants is illegal then idk abdjabjs this is such a dumb thing to forget... like thats important girl where did it go (reading this after remembering and it's kinda funny... i will make any sacrifice to kill myself (and keep you safe)... she goes HARD)

Little paulie and mozu and kiwi.... omg hello (the SBS says the twins wanted to be shipwrights too omg)

Franky's backstory is small but it does so much for me like it is so central to the themes... boats and people...

DID SOMEBODY ORDER MORE TRAGIC BROTHERS?

The fact that franky needs to learn this lesson to pass it on to robin.... do you understand how big this is.... also Tom does exactly as he says and takes responsibility for franky and what he has done... because he has done nothing wrong AND THAT'S HIS SON and he just punched spandam bc he wanta him to feel the pain franky feels... Tom is such a man..... proud of having built eater 7 up with the sea train.... goes out with a boom.... should we all kill ourselves....

I am crying again................... franky my god.... and the fucking frog!!! And of course franky can't stop Tom's hope for his island... of course he can't.... he hasnt learnt the lesson yet but this guy isn't over yet!! He has a life of being a pervert cyborg ahead!!! Iceburg following Tom's footsteps but franky not being able to do that bc of his guilt....

This is one of the coolest things chopper has done btw...

NAMII 😭😭😭

Robin damning the world for her crew when all she has ever done is damn her companions for her own sake.... how big is this...

I can't take this...... it's always nami in these positions... it happens AGAIN in Zou with Sanji... there is no way

The love letter gag is too good like damn that's so funny

AND IT'S NAMI GOING THROUGH IT AGAIN!!!! SHE LOVES ROBIN SO MUCH!!!!

[spiritcc]

at this point I don't even know if tag fragmentation in the general russian holmes space is worth addressing. a few years ago I successfully kept the ancient customs intact because I wrote a post so deranged and pretentious it displeased people into doing what I wanted but nowadays what's the point in making a grand return of being terminally online if yall kinda right

[majoringinsarcasm]

This is purely my own headcanon but I truly am a “if NRMT were to be canon and it’s not and I hope it never is bc I don’t trust capcom or like most ppl who I find annoying who also like these two” but Miles confesses first in my as close to canon as possible brain. He went on a year long death journey and his words to Phoenix at the end of JFA about how he helped him and all that shit. COMBINED with the utter and total surprise of Phoenix “I trust him?” Wright. Like yes that was his childhood friend who he wanted to help and he DID but that guy wouldn’t know romantic feelings for Edgeworth unless the man hit him with his car and proposed afterward.

Miles truly is fell first, fell so hard he broke a bone, spends another decade doing his job that I have many feelings about, helps get Phoenix’s badge back, another year of being back in LA. And then confesses.

I love romantic Phoenix as a concept but that man is so. He has very specific ideas of people and the placement of them in his life he probably doesn’t see Miles as a romantic option and just does not open that door. It’s probably there. But it’s all being filtered through strained friendship and he just doesn’t notice what stuff goes into the romantic love door and what goes into the regular friendship door. So when Miles confesses he needs a week to open the door and unpack all the shit he just did not process to even sort out if he feels the same. And then if he does how the fuck does he handle it.

But yeah Miles Confesses First I don’t write you all the time but know you’re the truth in my heart

[risingsunresistance]

damn i kinda dont like it here anymore

[windupaidoneus]

pondering. how hilde felt picking up drk. one of emet's canon classes. did it feel familiar... did he feel some measure of embarrassment when he didn't perform well enough. when fray would get upset with him did he instinctively shut him down because he would expect someone else to nag. someone who he could not even begin to put a name or face on, it just feels like something... innate. this reflex to bite back defensively when he messes up while watched by someone more skilled than him in something. he's not prideful by nature but something within him just pushes him to have some sort of ego when it comes to this in particular

& how he felt when entering ktisis hyperboreia & here emet, "great sorcerer of eld", expected black mage, goes & conjures his weapon of choice for the occasion - a greatsword he's putting to use to protect his party members with the power of the darkness within, though he wouldn't readily admit to it