#vague toxic relationship

[thelegendarypusheen-art]

[grendel-menz]

A navigation of some adult relationships

[captainofthetidesbreath]

I feel like it says a lot about the relationships between the major institutions of the Trust and the Consectorship's place in it that Spahr's role, the role of any Prime Consector, can be summarized as: show pony, attack dog, scapegoat.

[ex0rin]

Understanding | The Boys S02E05: We Gotta Go Now

[the-acid-pear]

Dave and Steven's relationship is so fucking mental literally THE toxicest of yaois 💥

[cedarbranch]

i genuinely think that in a few years i could have a major tma hyperfixation resurgence focused around jonmartin instead of doorkeay this time if i relistened to s5... like i wrote jonmartin a few times but i was never Compelled by them........ before s5 came out. and i was p deep in the doorkeay trenches at that point but i think if i got the chance to lean into the Issues In Their Relationship that s5 brought up they could be SOOO much more interesting to me

[blonde-and-cat-suc]

If Adora and Catra both did crap to hurt each other then why do I never see comics abt Adora feeling like crap and feeling bad for hurting Catra

[stealingyourbones]

Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice 2 are running around in my brain rampant like gerbils on wheels

[glsneeg-enthusiast]

seeing the mutuals engange in different fandoms is so funny

[protector-culture-is]

Protector culture is being endlessly frustrated when the sysmate you’re protecting keeps throwing themselves into the arms of a particularly dangerous sysmate that you can’t do ANYTHING against. They won’t let you harm him, and he won’t let you get anywhere near them. So what the fuck am I supposed to do lmaoaoaoao (frustration laughs) all I can do is be there for them after he’s done doing whatever the fuck he decided he wants to do with them that day/week and comfort them, heal their wounds, you know. But what good of a protector am I if I can’t even protect them against him in the first place?

-🌙🐉 anon

.

[total-drama-brainrot]

do rice krispies alenoah get together? or do they have a battle to beat all battles? uhm thats probably not the best way to describe what im tryna say, but you probably get it?? uh yeah

bold of you to assume that "a battle to beat all battles" isn't them getting together 🙄

anyway noah bites alejandro again and gives him rabies and alejandro fucking dies. that's how the fic ends.

[vodka-and-ocs]

WAIT ALSO the chosen one ......

the hero and her eternal enemy

(the chosen one + the monster)

[fridayyy-13th]

so that aro poem i submitted for class a little bit ago did get some readers who understood it, yeah. but there were enough people interpreting the yellow roses i included (which represent platonic love in floriography) as representative of fear, focusing solely on the yellow part, and came away from the poem thinking it was about pining for one’s best friend, about fear of ruining a friendship with one’s romantic feelings. despite the entire stanza i dedicated to amatonormativity and several references to such throughout. which really irked me, but i tried to brush it off.

…tbh it didn’t really work. so for this next assignment i’m drawing on the feeling of aromantic rage. something so obvious it can’t be construed as anything other than “stop fucking telling me i need to want to be in a romantic relationship, i don’t fucking want that no matter how much you try and make me!”

[aestheticitii]

i like to think the reason volo is so surprised that togepi likes him is that he actually hated togepi at first.

now, i'm assuming it's the same togepi as in PLA and dimensional shenanigans mean that he was pulled in with the wrong version of her.

so, allow me to set the scene, under the cut:

this story takes place almost six years before our protagonist (who is akari, in my heart) arrives in hisui. volo, seemingly a young man, arrives at cogita's place, due to a letter she sent to him.

she reveals to him that the pokemon nearby have been spooked badly by something, or someone. he agrees to take a look, if she'll share a particular book with him.

so, volo sets off and finds an injured hisuian decidueye, who attacks him with impunity. during this fight, he notices and correctly deduces that:

a) this decidueye was injured by someone, and

b) he has something to protect, likely a child

because of the book that's promised to him, and because volo sees value in having such a strong pokemon aid him, volo begins his attempts to "befriend" the decidueye.

the next day, while he's still injured (for which cogita displays motherly concern, which volo dismisses due to his resentment of her), he returns to heal the decidueye—and leaves some berries that not only help heal injuries, but are also good for young pokemon to eat.

this goes on for roughly a month before decidueye decides he can trust volo with the existence of his child—togepi, then a helpless egg. and volo, while he refuses to analyze it, actually enjoys spending time with decidueye. it's the first time he's done so in years, since the passing of the two pokemon who had followed him through his childhood (and died for it).

but good things aren't meant to last. though decidueye heals up nicely, he's still rather weak because of his injuries, which were long left untreated. he lasts for another three months before he entrusts togepi, still an egg, to volo, expending the last of his energy to go find an heirloom he and his deceased mate wanted to leave for their child.

and volo hates togepi for it.

every time he looks at the egg, he considerd smashing it. "if it wasn't for you, decidueye would still be alive." he can't fathom decidueye's actions, nor can he accept it as "selflessness (on decidueye's part)" instead of "selfishness (on togepi's part)".

mind you, togepi is an egg. she can't do shit.

but he always stops himself before he does anything he'll regret, eventually convincing himself that raising a pokemon from the beginning ensures loyalty—at least until togepi finds a better master, or learns that volo could do nothing for her father.

but volo, despite how twisted he is, ends up charmed by how togepi follows him around. even if he's rude and cold at times, though he does the bare minimum, she still looks at him as if he's hung the sun, the stars, the moon—even the clouds in the sky. and volo is weak to that genuineness, despite thinking that togepi has every reason to hate him, even though he internally treats it with revulsion.

[now, for an intermission, things volo has definitely thought about togepi:

(after she presents him with a daisy because she thinks it'll look good against his hair) "i wonder if there's anything in that empty head of yours. silly girl, you should be worrying about yourself."

(when togepi tries to change his towel when he gets a fever) "i know that it's only a matter of time. i know that. but if i close my eyes, i can return to the past and take you with me. so, just for today...i..."

(after someone says that it's amazing how well-behaved togepi is) "that's like remarking on a daughter obedient to her father. in exchange for gems and other finery, she plays a quiet, docile fool, until she has no need of him. that's why...i need to find the rest of those plates soon. so that...we can remain together i will never be betrayed."]

and togepi, despite being young, can understand volo is hurting, but is ultimately a good person. volo is not only the closest thing she has to a dad, but she's also the only one who can worm into his heart now, or so cogita says. so she makes it her life's goal to make volo happy, because she hates it when he's unhappy, even if it means making very questionable decisions and hurting someone else she loves.

[now, another intermission—things togepi has definitely thought about volo:

(after he smiles sadly) "ah...don't smile like that." (smushes his cheeks, causing him to snort and laugh) "please let him always be happy. please let me make him happy.”

(after witnessing a father-daughter pokemon duo in the wild) "a father? the way you're looking at them...it seems like you also don't know what a father is." (after being told what a father is) "ah, that's not true. it seems we're not the same. i have a father...and i'm not old enough to be yours..."

(after being told what volo wants to achieve) "if the world is remade...then will you and i ever meet?" (cuddles in beside volo) "but you said, 'we'll do it together.' so...whatever you need me to do...i'll do it."]

after all, it only makes sense that volo's pokemon are equally crazy, and possibly very devoted to him. that craziness is why n lies to volo—it's not that togepi tells n their plans, it's that she's frighteningly devoted to him, almost in the same way some members of team plasma acted.

[by the way, cogita also gifts him some letters from his deceased mother (who was her niece) that she found while cleaning. that's actually the reason she calls him, because it's his mother's birthday. they end up celebrating it for the first time in a looong time, and cogita thinks she might've raised him right (nope)]

[upsidedog]

a little over a month after max ended things with lucas a girl in her spanish class aproched her and asked if “lucas sinclar” is single. apparently she thinks he’s cute and has seen them hanging out. “no, he isn’t single” is what max wants to say because if she sticks to her plan of mourning their relationship for the rest of high school so should he, even if max was the one who broke it off. but max is a good person so she says “yeah he’s single.” but not that good so she adds “he just got out of a relationship though, and he’s not over her” and since she’s already crossed that first line “i actually wouldn’t even try.”

max only lasts an hour or two before she feels so guilty she tells lucas there’s a girl in her spanish class that he should ask out cause she thinks he’s cute. lucas is a little offended that his ex is trying to play matchmaker on principle but also because he was sort of planning on mourning his and max’s relationship for the rest of high school

[edwardpinestar]

Is it okay if I ask for a request for a print someone once asked you? Where in the Shepherd of Los Muertos AU where a rival God kidnaps Puss? And Death comes in, sickles slashing to find his cat chained up and gagged in the God’s grip?

Ooo, I like the request! I was never planning on writing something like this for SoLM, but now I suppose I shall! Hope you enjoy!

The last thing Puss remembered was being at a party. Well, to call it a party would be overly generous- it was more of a gala, with subdued music, quiet conversation in which was a nightmarish minefield of things that would offend to venture, and people dressed far too elaborately to do anything.

Puss himself had been dressed in a restrictive black gown, with a high neckline that tucked underneath his red fabric collar, a tight, corset bodice, with a silver sickle shaped brooch, encrusted with diamonds over the left breast. The sleeves had puffed out at the shoulder in a leg of mutton shape, and tapered tight to his arm at his elbow down, having three, black fabric covered, decorative buttons on the outside of his wrist on both arms. The gown had had several layers of tull petticoats, all black, and a hoop skirt to add extra volume, with the outer skirt, like the rest, being black silk, and the bottom hem having the repeating pattern of a wolf chasing a cat. He'd had a circlet on as well, a dreadful thing made of black twisting metal with blood red rubies.

He woke up somewhere very different to where he'd last been.

The tabby awoke groaning, his mouth as dry as sandpaper, and a headache pounding behind his stinging eyes. His arms were being uncomfortably forced over his head, and he could feel cold manacles aorund his wrists, while he was kneeling on cold ground, his knees aching in protest.

Puss smacked his lips, blearily blinking, and looking around. He was in a small cell, with metal bars in front of him, a single, burning sconce on the wall past those bars. It's flickery light barely reached Puss, leaving him in mostly darkness. The cat was now nude as well, he realised, though it was hardly as consequential as it could've been, if he were humanoid. All he wore was the red collar with a silver tag, and, he discovered with a flex of his left paw, his wedding and engagement ring. No doubt because those items could not be stripped from him.

He did not recongise the cell he was in- when Death had locked him in a similar situation before, he'd been in the usual room he was put in for punishment, but this room... it did not even feel as though it were in Limbo, the air missing the strange stillness distinctive of that realm. Besides, he generally had some kind of warning for punishments. The last thing he remembered was stepping away from the 'party' for a moment.

Puss had been kidnapped, he came to the conclusion of. Who would dare kidnap him, he did not know, but he could tell he had been.

And as if on cue, he heard the click of either heels, or hooves, on stone. His ears perked up, and for a brief moment Puss debated feigning unconciousness, before a heavy wooden door scrapped open, and he decided he'd rather ask questions.

Out into view, stepped a small, brown rabbit, wearing heeled sandals, a crisp white toga, and a gold, leaf crown atop her head. The Goddess of Spring, Puss recongised. He'd heard her be called Vers once or twice by her husband, the God of Fertility, but by the way she'd glared at him for that, it was probably best to stick with Spring.

Spring startled upon seeing him, her green eyes widening for a moment, before setting into something cold and hard. "Lesser Lord," she cooly greeted him by his title alone.

"Lady Spring," Puss returned, voice cracking part way through. He refused to feel embarrassed for it, however- it was her fault for letting him get so dehydrated. "I must say, I was not expecting you."

She half-shrugged, as though agreeing with him. "I was not expecting to be put in such a situation this became necessary," Spring replied. Puss raised an eyebrow, prompting her to speak. "I'm sure you understand, this is far from personal-"

"You hate me, Spring, let's not kid ourselves," Puss interrupted with a roll of his eyes. Spring glared at him, pulling a pair of golden gloves from a hidden pocket in her toga, and slowly pulling them on, one by one.

Spring sniffed haughtily, before going on to speak as if uninterrupted, "You husband has crossed me for the last time. I am sick of his... his constant agression! He's taken too many of my fairies for me to let be."

Puss sighed, and rolled his eyes. "Okay. And so why am I involved?" he asked, "I do not do any reaping." The tabby scoffed as Spring, under her breath, mumbled an insult about him 'being lazy'.

"I am using you to hurt him. I'm luring him in to them kill you in front of him," she replied firmly.

Puss waited a beat, expecting her to say something more, but when she didn't, he burst into cackling laughter. Spring's face morphed into one of offence, but Puss paid that no mind, much to engrossed in his own morbid mirth.

"What? Why are you laughing?" Spring demanded harshly, putting her paws on her hips and striking a more threatening pose.

"Are you stupid?" Puss asked her, looking at her with bemusment. Spring's offence turned into apocolyptic rage. "You must be."

Spring grabbed the bars, and threw open the previously seamless door so hard it banged against the stone wall. Puss flinched away at the lound sound, metal ringing in his ears. The rabbit strode into the cell, and Puss pulled himself up a bit, opening his mouth to say something biting, before he was cut off by Spring slapping him across the face, and then grabbing his chin roughly.

"How dare you speak to me like that, you impudent little half-mortal!" Spring yelled, snarling in his face as her claws dug into the soft underside of his chin. His face stung hot where she'd slapped him, and he knew he'd have a nasty bruise there for a while.

Not much appreciating that, he hissed, both as a cat does, and with words right after, "You are incredibly stupid if you think Death is going to leave you alive after this." While Puss was not generally one to threaten people with Death, he wasn't above it either. Then again, was it a threat, or a warning?

Spring scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He will not kill me," she told him smugly, "I am far too important. Lady Fate would have his disgusting dog head on a platter."

Puss acquiesced with a slight incline of his head, though Spring did not allow him to move far, and tightened her hold of his chin in response. "Did you forget what he did to Lighning?" Puss asked her in a deceptively light tone. By the widening of her eyes, she had, in fact, forgotten.

Death had cut off both of Lighning's hands, after the lower god had decided it would be funny to pretend to be Death and attempt to sleep with Puss. Puss had immediately cottoned on that something wasn't right, as Death had never been so genuinely sweet to him, but had somewhat played along out of curiousity. Death had walked in on it, after Lighning had convinced Puss to go to another room with him, and upon seeing Lightning holding Puss against the wall with his paw underneath the tabby's skirts, had attacked and nearly killed the other god.

It had, in all, been a surprisingly funny affair, in which Life had had to step in and drag Death off of Lightning, and Puss played the terrified and tricked husband. The bite of claim on his shoulder had burned for weeks after, as Death kept re-biting it, and was the only reason Puss regretted going along with it all.

Quite suddenly, Spring slapped Puss again, on the other side of his face, and shouted, "Shut up!" at him. Her eyes were a bit wild, and as Puss flexed his jaw, both sides of his face now stinging, she conjured a gold, silk piece of fabric.

Just as Puss opened his mouth to speak, Spring suddenly shoved the fabric into his maw, and deftly tied it tight at the nape of his neck. "Mggh?"

A low, long howl echoed through, interuppting their now onesided conversation, and both the half-mortal and god perked up at the sound, both of them with apprehension on their faces. Spring swore under her breath, and looked back down at him, expectantly. Puss just shrugged.

She released his chin, and scuttled away from him, brushing her paws against her toga as she ran to the cell door. Spring stopped in her tracks as the wooden door out of view scrapped open. For a tense moment, nothing came of it, both Spring and Puss watching the door, though Puss only able to see the general area of the door, with trepadation.

Cautiously, Spring took a few steps back.

And as if on cue, a sharp, mournful, dangerous whistle filled the air, echoing through the small cell, bouncing off the walls and drilling its way deep under goosebump covered flesh. Puss' fur stood on end, his eyes thin slits, as Spring stumbled back, making distance between herself and the door as fast as possible.

"L-Lord Death-!" she squeaked, panic clear on her face and in her voice. Puss couldn't help but feel a bit vindicated at her fear, though it was mostly overwhelmed by his own, as he watched the wolf step into view.

Death had his hood pulled fully up, shadowing his face, save for his long muzzle and glowing red eyes. His two sickles were held drawn at his side, and he twirled them as the song he whistle dwindled to a stop. The silence hung heavy and thick in the air, before being broken by the greater god, in a deep, angry, rumbling voice, saying, "You have something that belongs to me."

"Heh, do I?" Spring asked, her nervous panic growing more evident by the way she shifted from foot-to-foot as though about to run. It would be futile to try, however, and would likely just make it worse. Never a good idea to tempt a pursuit predator into chase, after all.

Death growled, pulling his lips back in a vicious snarl as he advanced. "Yes." Spring yelped, then darted to the side, only to scream in pain as Death lashed out with a sickle, slicing against her middle and chest, sending her toppling to the ground.

But Death paid the whimpering rabbit no more mind, swiftly closing the distance between himself and the cat, who shrunk back fearfully in teh face of him. "Oh, mi gatito," Death cooed, a far-cry from the deadly monster he'd been before, "Look at you..."

His paw brushed along Puss' cheek, the tabby wincing at the slight pressure on the bruise. Death looked at him with confusion, for a moment, before understanding, followed by pure rage, filled his eyes, and he whirled around with a snarl towards Spring...

Only to find her not there, a trail of golden blood leading out the door in her place instead. Death took a single step forward, before huffing, and sheathing his sickles at his waist with a flourish, before truning back to Puss. He grabbed the chains where they pegged to the wall, and roughly ripped them out, sending particules of stone down onto Puss' head. The cat flinched, squeezing his eyes shut to try and prevent any rubble from getting into them.

He meowed, the noise muffled by the gag, as he was suddenly picked up by the wolf, and cradled to his chest. "There we go amor~ Death crooned, eyes soft in the disgusting facsimile of love, one that made Puss' stomach turn with nausea as sickenly sweet fear wafted off him, no doubt like a drug to the god. "All safe and sound now~"

Puss would, in all honestly, prefer to going back to taking his chance with Spring over this.