#zero respect or dignity for the people around them

[exmeowstic]

good lord

[beta-therapy]

How to Deal with Sadness/Frustration from Rejection

We’ve all been there. We’ve all had a crush on a beautiful woman and wanted to give her the world, only to find out she has no sexual interest in us. Maybe she puts you in the friendzone; or maybe she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with you at all. It’s normal to feel frustrated in these situations, knowing that she probably has a vibrant sex life with other men, yet doesn’t have any sexual interest toward you.

When this happens over and over again, it can make us question our own self-worth: how come so many women have decided that sex is an activity which is off-limits to me? Do my sexual needs not matter? How come a woman can be salivating with excitement as she begs certain men to engage her in the most personal of ways—whereas with me, so much as asking if she’s single gets me permanently labelled as a creep?

As society becomes more and more accepting of personal freedoms, (especially regarding women) like allowing people to dress how they want, freely express themselves, do what they want in their own bedroom, etc., there indeed looms an increasing mental health crisis among those men who don’t get included in all the sexual fun. They can feel inferior and isolated. In this blog, I’ll discuss how to handle these emotions.

Although it might bring you feelings of shame, insecurity, and jealousy to find out that women consider you unsuitable for sex, it is important to understand that these feelings are rooted in misogyny. It is an outdated, oppressive idea that the goal of a man’s life is to acquire dominance, status, power, and wealth; and use this prestige to seduce beautiful women. This idea is so evil because it views women as beauty objects rather than equal human beings. Women are not trophies.

Women are full human beings with no less intelligence, leadership abilities, creativity, and dignity than the men who forced them to be quiet and submissive for all human history. A lot of men still refuse to acknowledge this today. They want to keep seeing women as less intelligent, less capable, submissive homemakers whose value comes from their sexual beauty.

That sexy woman you know probably does have a passionate sex life, but you should strive to admire her as a person: smart, strong, kind, witty, dignified. She can still have all these great qualities to her even if she has zero sexual interest in you. Considering her a “sexy woman” is—in and of itself—toxic masculinity at work. Why is “sexy” the first trait that comes to your mind when it’s clear that her sex life is off-limits to you? Maybe she is sexually submissive in her bedroom, but why should that concern you? She’s allowed to explore the “feminine” part of her existence in her private life without it subtracting from her value as an interesting, fascinating person in her public life.

You can still be a happy, nice, and fulfilled person even if all the women around you would prefer not to have sex with you. Just because the female community around you doesn’t want you as a sexual/romantic person, doesn’t mean you have been rejected as a person entirely. Sexuality is just one component of the human experience, and it’s very common throughout history for people to be deprived of it.

We have evolved for survival and reproduction, not necessarily to have good morals and be happy. For example, racism is part of our DNA. In prehistoric times, racism helped us stay away from warring tribes, so it was positively selected-for with respect to evolution. But in modern times, we can recognize that racism is a huge problem if we want an inclusive, happy society, and so we must actively denounce this artifact of our DNA.

Our sexuality is much the same way. Throughout history, the evil, abusive, tyrant was always better able to protect his children due to his status and wealth, in comparison to the poor, harmless, gentle, and caring man. That doesn’t mean the evil tyrant was a better person, but it does unfortunately mean that women would evolve a sexual attraction toward higher status, dominant men even if it meant overlooking their moral evil.

As a result, the things women are sexually attracted to are not necessarily the things that are good. You can take solace in this fact. Being sexually undesired by women does not mean there’s something wrong with you, it just means they see you as more harmless and submissive rather than powerful and dangerous.

[orchidbreezefc]

i wanna talk about haymitch abernathy.

well, first i wanna talk about the treatment of chemical addiction in the hunger games trilogy. because it's good. a lot of characters, including katniss, struggle with it. it gets explored in considerable depth, and not once is any character looked down on for it (well, aside from some eye-rolling with haymitch and perhaps pity for the 'morphlings' in book 2).

no one is infantilized, dehumanized, or considered weak for their dependency, even when they're incoherent from inebriation or withrawal. addicts are treated with dignity,  and there is only ever respect, understanding, and sympathy for their struggle and for the trauma that led them to this position. the story has no interest in scrutinizing how they got there or whether their behavior is sufficiently justified, only in meeting them where they are.

everyone has suffered at the hands of the capitol, and some people have resorted to substances to cope--even and especially smart, competent people. it's unfortunate and painful for them (and the focus is always on the addict's suffering, not anyone else's) but it's always understood as doing what they had to do. survival is a crucial theme in these books, and this is just another form of it.

this understanding extends to the point that katniss and peeta independently hoard liquor in case haymitch runs out. he's fucking annoying and rude and at that point they have no reason to believe they stand to gain anything from helping him, but they do it anyway because abandoning him would be cruel. it's not ever a question of enabling an alcoholic, it's a question of not letting a man fucking die of withdrawal.

see, rough around the edges is an insufficient description for haymitch; he's rough all the way to the middle. he is a messy, sloppy drunk. he is rude, obnoxious, and venomously cynical. he is also the smartest character in a series full of extremely smart characters.

in the first book all that is said about haymitch's victory is speculation from katniss and peeta. they note that he isnt a standout physical talent and doesnt have any specialized abilities, and deduce that he must have won by outsmarting the others. this is innocuous enough and supported by the shrewdness of haymitch's sponsor gifts and his coaching outside the games.

the recontextualization comes in book 2 when we learn haymitch was the victor of the 50th hunger games, the last quarter quell--which had twice as many tributes as usual. haymitch didn't outsmart 23 other people, up to a third of them having trained for this exact purpose until age 17. haymitch outsmarted 47.

haymitch abernathy? is a big fucking deal. that man waltzed in from The underdog district, unmentored and presumably earning approximately zero sponsor gifts with his winning personality, and won the hardest hunger games there has ever been. haymitch is the most impressive bitch in panem. between this and our increasing insight into how the victors are treated, the alcoholism gets recontextualized too.

imagine how frothingly fucking pissed the capitol is that haymitch is impossible to leverage for any PR purpose whatsoever. like, this is The victor, but what are they gonna do? show off the victor of the hardest hunger games of all time and he's fucking haymitch?

he shows up to every public appearance fall-down drunk and pukes on someone's shoes. every time he's on screen he embarrasses everyone. he makes the hunger games look like a joke and undermines the whole premise. he's supposed to be the capitol's biggest asset and he's pissed all over it. he's useless to them. the best thing they can do is leave him alone.

that's when you think, wait. that's kind of a rebellion in itself, huh? he defies the capitol's efforts to use him as 'a piece in their game' better than anyone else outside district 13, maybe them too, when he should be their favored pawn. he's about as free of their influence as anyone can be. that seems... smart. haymitch-typical smart.

haymitch's alcoholism is real and no doubt a legitimate result of his trauma, but it's also a weapon. he probably plays it up. gets extra trashed for every public appearance, the earlier in the day the better. asks himself what he could do that would horrify effie trinket the most and then does that.

at the same time, haymitch seems to get it together more as the series goes on. from the sound of it he was content to drink himself to death and blow off every tribute in his district before katniss and peeta came along and he recognized in them the potential for revolutionaries and, more importantly, the potential for victors. for the first time he had a real chance to achieve a goal, and the real necessity to be sharp for it.

my guess is that haymitch started making actual efforts to manage his alcoholism from then on. getting sober is pretty much impossible to do on your own, and indeed he has a relapse for every time he improves. but haymitch would have known he'd need any scrap of competence he could snatch. and i think, away from our heroine's perspective, he did. you can play drunk for a camera; you can't play sober for a planning session.

the one thing that really helps with addiction is a support network, and that's the one thing haymitch can never have. it is made blisteringly clear that your loved ones are so much ammunition for the capitol to use against you, and they desperately need some for haymitch. he says his loved ones are all dead, but one wonders if there were more that he made damn sure were no longer loved ones before that happened. maybe haymitch saved some lives by driving people as far away as he could, and doomed himself to succumb to the alcoholism in the process.

on a sillier note, i imagine during katniss and peeta's games haymitch would have needed someone to manage his intake and keep him sober enough to strategize the sponsorships without sending him into withdrawal. and i like to think it was effie trinket.

she'd disapprove at first but dosages and scheduling would be her JAM. plus haymitch would always cave in to her sanctimonious lectures before she caved in to his demands for more. it would be really motivating, actually--"i can endure this. anything's better than hearing one more fucking word from effie goddamn trinket about my health." truly the dream team.

tl;dr i fucking love haymitch abernathy. he's one of the characters of all time. thank you, suzanne collins, for this smart, competent, callous, mean, complex alcoholic who is vital to the revolution. thank you for writing addicts and addiction with the depth, seriousness, complexity, and respect they deserve as human beings.

[feederheart]

CW: extreme humiliation, bdsm, and weight gain.

Death of Dignity: PART 2

From then on, whenever I would escort The Queen around the palace, she would be as jovial as ever as if the collar on her neck was the finest piece of jewelry mankind had ever seen. It was as if she thought that the stares she got were from those envious of her beauty and the collar’s enormous worth. I would sometimes give the leash a tug if she looked too happy but it didn’t seem to bother her; she rather enjoyed it. Sometimes when I had her chained at the bottom of my throne, she would grind against my shin in front of the entire court. She even began wearing a much shorter sarong that barely covered her at all, only her vagina and about a small part of her massive ass. And the cherry on top was that she was ballooning at an incredible rate.

Soon enough she began to develop love handles and rolls on her sides. Her thighs rubbed together as she walked, meaning the servants had to lotion them every day. Her belly began to hang over her waist and develop stretch marks. Her breasts grew larger, reaching further down her massive gut; she was always topless so everyone could get a view. Everything from her face to her feet began to pile on the fat. Her ass was getting huge as well, taking up more space than the two servants feeding her put together. Her meals became larger and larger over time, causing her to pack on even more pounds. Soon enough she was eating enough for a family of ten with ease. 

One day, a little over a year after the coup, I was sitting on my throne with The Queen at my feet eating from a large bowl of fruit when a loyalist woman evaded the guards and threw herself before The Queen begging her to stop eating and take back what was rightfully hers.

“Are you kidding?” she dismissed coldly. “Why would I ever do that?”

“M-m-my Quee-”

“As The Queen, I have all of the food I can eat and I don’t have to lift a finger ever again,” she answered. “So why should I care about my weight? Why shouldn’t I eat whatever I want?”

“Y-your lineage!” she pleaded. “You are supposed to rule over us and lead us to a golden future! Your bloodline was chosen by the gods!”

“Sorry, but, the gods are fake,” she scoffed rudely with the ice-cold cruelty of a father snapping at an unwanted child. “The pantheon of the true gods is the official pantheon of The Kingdom. Anyone caught worshiping the false gods will have their harvest confiscated by me to eat.”

Nobody could believe their ears, especially not me; I would have never thought that those words would come out of her mouth. I was speechless, shocked, and slightly turned on for some reason.

As the poor woman, also stunned in disbelief was dragged away, the rest of the court murmured to themselves as if they needed each other's advice on how to process The Queen's words. It was clear that those who leaned loyalist were disgusted by her and had lost what little bit of hope they had for the old regime. My brethren amongst the court officials could hardly contain their laughter. Regardless of who supported what, the respect for The Queen was now dwindling to zero. In my stupor, I thought I saw her hips rocking as if she was getting off to this.

That ridiculous idea was enough to snap me out of it.

“SHUT UP!” I snapped. “ALL OF YOU, QUIET. THROW HER OUT OF MY SIGHT.”

The guards escorted the lady out and silence was restored.

After that incident, the loyalist spirit had been extinguished as rumors of what had become of The Queen spread. I made a point of walking her around the city on her leash, sometimes on all fours. I’d let people watch as I made her beg for more food in front of them and let her gorge like a pig. Dinners with foreign powers would always start awkwardly as The Queen greedily gorged herself at the dinner table as soon as the food was put in front of us; I even had to yank the collar a few times because I thought she risked choking if she didn’t slow down. I would always swoop in and save the meetings, reminding them that I hold the reigns, not her, and that she was just a fat lazy pig disinterested in ruling. She continued to eat and humiliate herself while maintaining her toplofty persona of a queen, seemingly oblivious to how sloppy she looked.

Most importantly, she enacted every reform I wanted and signed every decree I wrote for her. That was until one day, she decreed that we would be getting married and I would rise to the throne. I was so infuriated that I dragged her leash before she could get on her feet all of the way into my bedroom.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I demanded.

“Aside from sealing the deal and making you the father of a new dynasty?” she replied sarcastically; she seemed completely unfazed by the dragging.

“You don’t decree anything unless I tell you,” I snarled. “Everyone already knows I hold the chains.”

“Well I had to do something,” she said in defence of herself. “My time as this kingdom’s ruler, even if it was in name only, is over. I’m too tired of even the formalities.”

“You don’t get to be tired, you don’t have any free will,” I reminded her pointing my finger in her face. “You’re my puppet and I need you to dance for the loyalists.”

“Do you think they still want me on the throne?” she asked me incredulously; she stood up and began to step toward me, once again swaying her wide hips and massive ass seductively. “To them, I’m nothing more than a fat, hedonistic, pig whore content to be reduced to a pet as long as she gets to eat. My belly hangs when I walk, my legs now jiggle with every step, I’m getting winded from walking across more than one room, none of the clothing will fit me, you’ve refused to get me any that fit, and all of it is constantly on display for the entire kingdom to see. And I’m LOVING every second of it.”

“What?” I responded, baffled by her claim of loving my humiliation. “Love it?”

“Yes,” she crooned as she stood face-to-face with me. “And I think you love it too.”

I couldn’t tell if it was anger or simply blushing, but my face suddenly grew hot. As she stepped even closer and tried to grab my crotch, I stepped away, unwilling to fall for the ploy.

“You love this?” I asked dishonestly. “How about I double your meals again? I bet you would love that too.”

“How about you triple it and feed it to me yourself?” she cajoled seductively, licking her lips and rubbing her belly with both hands.

For a moment, I found myself choking on my words; I was speechless. I opted to stay silent, leave the room, and lock her inside. I hurriedly made my way to the kitchens to give her what she wanted since she “loved” it so much. Could this nonchalance, laziness, greed, and general lack of care about anything be genuine? Is she just slowly turning into a caricature of the fat, greedy pigs that we took this kingdom from? 

I demanded the chefs prepare triple the food this time. Meats, bread, butter, fish, cream, ale, vegetables, fruit pies, cakes, and an entire bottle of the appetite enhancement potion brewed by the palace alchemist made their way into the lounge. I waited patiently for them to finish and I grabbed the food and brought it to The Queen.

“You have until sunrise before you get thrown in the dungeon if you don’t eat all of it,” I threatened.

“Oh no,” she said, unimpressed by my threat. “Maybe you should chain me up too and make the loyalists watch me stuff myself like the fat greedy hog I am.”

I opened my mouth to say something, however, she ignored me and began tearing into her meal like a starving dog, hardly chewing at all. She would stuff her fat face hand over hand finishing plate after plate. She would wash everything down with cream and butter before rubbing and patting her taut tummy.

“You really are a fat greedy hog, aren't you?” I asked her, impressed by her commitment.

She beamed at me and opened her mouth to answer, but I didn't let her. I grabbed her leash and yanked her off her seat and onto the floor. I then dropped one of the pies onto the ground in front of her face.

“If you’re a hog, then eat like one,” I demanded.

“Your wish is my command,” she said and she got to work, eating the pie while leashed on her hands and knees.

I watched with shock and awe as she went at it, gobbling every last bite and making a colossal mess on her face in the process. Bright red fruit preserves covered her cheeks and nose; it didn’t seem to bother the greedy hog, she didn’t seem to notice what a mess she was making at all.

The hours progressed and The Queen ate more and more, on pace to eat every last bite with time to spare. She gorged away, gulping down ale, tearing apart the meat, swallowing all of the calorie-rich grain, and licking the frosting off of the serving trays before finally moving on to the next thing. 

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. I had never seen anyone completely give themselves to hedonism like this. She genuinely did not have a single ounce of shame. It was mesmerizing and somewhat arousing too; perhaps it is arousing because I used to hate her so much and now I can see that she had been reduced to a fat and lazy hog sitting at my feet. 

Speaking of arousing, she seemed to be getting off to her own humiliation. I could see the inside of her soft, juicy thighs darkened by excess rubbing and she was dripping wet. After seeing that, there was no going back. If there were any argument in my brain between my libido and my seething hatred for her and her family, it didn’t last long. I needed to fuck this fat hog and make her my whore.

“Get up,” I snapped. “Stop eating and get up.”

“But I’m not finished,” she whined.

“I SAID GET UP!” I shouted and I yanked her leash upward until she was standing.

I dragged her to the palace lounge with the balcony that provided an amazing view of the entire capital. I grabbed her and pushed her against the railing as I removed my tunic and trousers.

“Oh god yes,” she gasped as she realized what was coming. “Do you think they can all see me about to get railed?”

“You’re a fucking whore,” I whispered in her ear playfully.

“I’m your whore, My King,” she moaned as I slipped inside her.

Hearing “My King” drove me wild and I laid into her, pounding her massive ass with such a ruckus that I could see people down below looking around in search of the noise. The Queen released a deep and echoing moan loud enough to draw their eyes up to where we were. Some pointed, others watched with their jaws dropped, and some were offended by what they saw and walked a little faster. 

“OOOH CHOKE ME WITH THE LEASH!” she moaned loud enough for everyone to hear.

I happily obliged, sliding in and out of her sopping wet pussy and sending waves of jiggling fat moving across her body with each thrust. My eyes wandered upward and my focus slipped into admiring The Kingdom’s distant horizon; everything from here to there was being rebuilt into something far superior to The Kingdom of yesteryear. The fat, sloppy whore I was currently fucking was a part of that kingdom and I am standing in the palace that her father used to rule; if only he could see what’s become of The Kingdom and what his daughter has turned into. I’ve never felt more victorious than in this moment, nor have I ever been as rock hard; it felt like the skin on my dick was stretching beyond its limits.

“I’ve waited so long for this, My King,” moaned The Queen. “Do you like your kingdom, My King? Isn’t it beautiful?”

“I do like it,” I grunted as I continued to fuck her. “The Kingdom has never been more prosperous. Overthrowing their greedy pig of a queen and humiliating her was the best thing to ever happen here.”

“Oooooh, yeees, My King,” she moaned as I mocked her mercilessly. “I want you to take everything.”

“Look at how embarrassed they are down there,” I teased as I pointed at the onlookers below. “You’re not a queen, you’re a fat, flabby fucktoy and I’m going to parade you wherever I please and do whatever I want to you.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” she repeated, half sobbing and half moaning.

Suddenly I felt myself grow hot with anger as I remembered how much I despised her and her family. I began to thrust and pull the leash harder, hatefucking her with all of the strength I could muster. Her moans grew louder until they became ear-piercing screams of either pain or pleasure (I did not care which). Her soft, supple skin on her ass grew bright red as I smacked her as hard as I could.

“THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING A GREEDY PIG WHILE WE STARVED!” I bellowed as I continued to spank her ass.

Her screams grew louder and her pussy seemed to somehow get even wetter; I was gliding in and out of her effortlessly, pounding her jiggling flesh as if it stole from me. She kept trying to say something but I had no idea what it was, she was completely unable to form a coherent word. Her mouth hung open stupidly as I had my way with her pillowy pussy. I tugged on her leash as hard as I could, trying my hardest to cut off her airways. Her screams of pain or pleasure turned to choking and sputtering as she tried to breathe but that made me pull harder. I grabbed both of her fat hands with my available hand; her fat fingers were unable to break free of my grip for it was the same hand that held my sword in battle. 

“You like that you hedonistic whore?” I snarled as I kept pounding as if I were trying to shatter her pelvis. “You like this view? This view of The Kingdom that you let slip right into my hands? If it weren’t for your stupidity, you would still be a dignified princess of a kingdom built over the bony corpses of those you rule over. Now you’re a fat greedy hog getting rammed from behind in front of your people. You sold off everything including your dignity for copious amounts of food and to become a chained-bound concubine.”

The Queen seemed to be choking in agreement, trying desperately to say “Yes, My King” despite the pressure of the leash.

I watched as more people gathered to see The Queen getting fucked violently over the palace balcony. Some still thoroughly enjoyed her making an embarrassment of herself; they showed no signs of being fatigued by her constant stream of ignominious behavior. Others just shook their heads, looked away, or even cried in second-hand embarrassment.

“You’re nothing now,” I taunted. “You were always a puppet for me to dominate and control but your loyalists were devoted. Their resolve was as solid as that of the true gods but nonetheless, you managed to convince even them that you were a stupid, fat hog who only cared for her own pleasure. You say you always wanted to help and make The Kingdom a better land but you failed until I came along. I need to do everything for you, don’t I?”

The Queen choked in agreement; I could feel her pussy tighten and leak like a burst aqueduct.

“YOU BETTER BE HAPPY NOW YOU FAT WHORE!” I shouted, now tapping into every last bit of strength I had to violently pulverize her pelvis. “I SAVED EVERYONE FROM YOU AND NOW YOU HAVE TO REPENT!”

“Take- me-” she grunted, still choking on the leash. “I’m- yours-. Please- take me-.”

I released every last bit of rage I had from every sacrifice I made to throw my life away and do what needed to be done. I ignored every metaphorical callous on my hand from my climb to power and fucked her as hard as I could. I could feel myself ready to release my load into her undeserving cunt; I didn’t want to disgrace myself by letting that happen, but for some reason, I struggled to pull myself away. Instead, I opted to stake my claim inside of The Queen. I pounded her as hard as I could as I felt my dick erupt like a volcano, filling The Queen with my seed. I thrust into her soft behind a few more times before finally stopping. After I let go, The Queen collapsed on the ground covered in sweat, cum, drool, and food from her earlier feast.

“I bet you liked every second of that,” I taunted her.

The Queen did not respond; she remained on the ground, shivering. Strangely enough, I felt as if I had orgasmed all of my hate for her inside of that pillowy pussy. I used to be able to stave off any feeling of sympathy or pity as I force-fed her by remembering the crimes of her despotic family, but now, it was as if my reserves of hatred had been emptied. I just couldn’t hate such a soft, pathetic creature, how could I be so cruel?

“My Queen?” I called out, concerned for her well-being for the first time ever.

Suddenly, she began to move again. She began to whimper in pain as she slowly got up to her hands and knees. She crawled over to my feet and without saying anything, began to lick the drops of cum on my feet that fell when I came inside of her. She then used her tongue to clean the stone floor of the balcony, seemingly desperate to find more cum to lick up.

Thus ended any ounce of animosity I had toward her. How could I hate such a weak, pathetic fat pig anyway?

After that, I dragged her back into the lounge so that I could force-feed her the rest of the food. I was ready to cram it all down her throat but for the first time ever, decided to show mercy.

“How about I get My Queen cleaned up and take you to my bed?” I offered her.

“I’d love that so much, My King,” she answered cheerfully.

So I helped her get bathed, I escorted her to my room, and the two of us slept together in the same bed for the first time, her soft, jiggling body wrapped around mine.

Soon enough, news of our upcoming wedding spread. The people were just finally happy to have a real monarch, having given up on her bloodline the way it was. The Queen continued to get fatter, lazier, and even more despised but eventually the decline in her approval plateaued; it eventually became common knowledge that The Queen was a useless greedy fat whore and that the entire kingdom should be grateful for the new king and everything he did for them to ensure their future.

Our wedding was a spectacular affair and celebration, but unlike other weddings that celebrate new friendships between families or the union of two lovers, this wedding celebrated the solidifying of my dominance over the royal family. The Queen did not even get to wear a dress, but rather her leash, some fine jewelry, makeup, and metal cuffs on her wrists and ankles. I forced her to be walked on all fours on a leash to the temple of the true gods to have our wedding consummated and she obliged happily.

Any idea of returning to the old family was now lost. The fear that her family’s name struck into the hearts of mankind had disappeared, never to return again. Their memory faded and my legacy grew, just as her fat, greedy body did with every feeding.

And now, here I was in the modern day; experiencing a golden age never seen before and a gorgeous, fat queen to share it with.

I pushed open the door of the lounge and made eye contact with an armored guard standing just outside.

“Go down to the kitchen and have them send up another round,” I ordered.

“As you wish, Brother,” he answered.

I closed the door and turned around, taking in the size of my gargantuan hog of a wife, slowly losing her mobility. I walked up to her and waved away the servants rubbing her down, feeling rather sadistic. I poked her real hard right in her tight, taut belly and she squealed like a pathetic pig. I poked her again and again watching her fat body struggle as she was to fat and weak to do anything about it. I then checked between her thighs and lo and behold, he was leaking like she usually does when I do that.

“You four, get out,” I demanded.

The servants immediately ran to the door and left.

I licked my lips and removed my clothes as I mounted my mountain of a wife. I reached down and pulled her massive legs apart, revealing where her pussy was buried in fat. I lifted up her gargantuan belly to get access to that fat pussy and slowly entered inside her. It was like laying atop a bed made of bread dough and sticking my dick inside. I only felt mounds of soft jiggling fat spilling everywhere as I thrust into her pathetic hole. I could hardly tell what was her thigh, her belly, her back, her arms, or anything for that matter. The Queen moaned and whimpered as I fucked her pathetic, ocean-like body that moved like tidal waves when I thrust.

Her soft, sexy body was too much for me and I found myself ready to cum inside of her again. I released my load and painted her insides white, much to her ecstatic pleasure. I stepped back and admired my corpulent cum-soaked queen who helped me get this kingdom. I remembered everything she did by throwing away her dignity, but more importantly, I remember how happy she was to do it and how much she enjoyed watching her reputation dissolve. Being a fat laughingstock not only aroused her, but it was what I needed to get The Kingdom to this point. She truly was the greatest Queen that I could ask to rule beside.

“My King, I’m hungry,” she whined.

“I know, My Queen,” I cooed, rubbing her enormous, shiny belly. “They’ll be back soon.”

[chocobothis]

How comfortable is your OC around those who are politically or socially powerful? Do they make a point of being especially deferent? Are they interested (or particularly capable) in playing the social game by being obsequious to their "betters"?

Resident Evil

Nico Bright: Honestly, Nico hates having to deal with politicians or well-to-do benefactors. Almost all of them are snakes in the grass ready to fuck over people and TerraSave if they don't do the right song and dance. The idea that some people get to have that much power because of their bank accounts or who they know sickens her. Starting out, she acted a bit deferent because she didn't have any real power to her name. Once she had some stories and awards that changed. Now, she ruffles feathers when the fights are worth it. Due to her own skills and connections she's got, or can get, dirt on a bunch of people on Capitol Hill. Otherwise, she knows her rights to the letter and the spirit and will make senatorial lives nightmares. They may have set up the pieces but she'll show them how to really play the game.

Javi Reyes: He does everything in his power to avoid being near that sort. Even with his family’s status (doctor father, who did Doctors Without Borders, and LPN Mother) they made certain all of their children understood no one was better than anyone else. You treat the janitor with the same dignity and respect you would treat a CEO. He’s very charming so he tends to get by on that rather than deferring to others. But, if push comes to shove then he can blow smoke up someone’s ass to make the interaction pass faster. He absolutely makes fun of them after the fact though.

Atanasija Kralj: No one in their right mind lets her near the socially and/or politically powerful. She will fucking maul them. Being the orphaned daughter of rebels who were straight up assassinated (they believed in a Free, Self-Governing Edonia) makes her unfond of this sort. The fact her older, half-sister is full of reworded classism and some eugenic-y ideas doubles down on the loathing. She ultimately sucks at the delicacies of the social game because she’s not delicate about it. Talk shit, get hit. Funnily enough she does use proper titles during all of this.

-

FFXV

Vren Avitus: She has the unique perspective of having been on both sides of the equation. Starting out, she’s a little Galahdian immigrant to Insomnia. Everyone born there expects her to understand she’s utterly beneath them for being Not Lucian. (She repeatedly points out Galahd only joined the Kingdom of Lucis about 500 years ago by force; so she’s technically Lucian too.) When she becomes engaged to a future count, things sort of kick off the ass-kissing. It also kicks off her being reminded that they’re her betters. Marrying Noctis and becoming Queen suddenly has everyone trying to kiss her ass, which she hates. Saying pretty lies doesn’t make her forget what they were like when they perceived her as powerless. She’s very, very good at the social game but less in only doing it by deferring to others. Her preference is playing stupid so people stop holding their tongues around her.

Fe Cataegis: No part of Fe was ever meant to kiss Insomnian ass. She has zero problems with verbally putting someone in their place. They can play backhanded compliments all they want (because she’s smoking hot and knows it) but it doesn’t work. Fuck them and the chocobo they rode in. She’s aware of her worth and it’s not getting increased by playing less than. The fact she’s the head medic of the Kingsglaive gives her room to be an “ice cold bitch” with very minimal repercussions. Yeah, they can kick her out but guess who also heals up a bunch of the Crownsguard regularly? It’s her. If absolutely pressed she can play the social game. She tends to lean toward being intimidatingly beautiful and cold to make people want to appeal to her.  

my very suited to my own personal tastes OC ask meme

[juszar2]

Like Joshua and David... Instead It was Actual Satan and Trashier than the worst stories. Judas.

A man is much like these biblical stories. I think I know a few possible. Evidence is showing me that indignity is against their religions. This toilet I look at is certainly the very opposite and is like Satan and slithers is parasitic for life with zero dignity. Every aspect of his life checks the box of a statistic. Common trash no dignity and do not trust this gross. You could get anything over on him just blow smoke in his ass. And me... Well I do not want to present my flaws because God knows what they are. One thing that I can say is that I have no problem with boundaries and erecting and preserving them. You can dislike that, but likely that means and is because you don't respect boundaries and indeed have the capacity to do some slime and are untrustworthy and prone to scorn or resentment unwarranted. My boundaries are exactly for you such a person. Anyway, I marvel at how jealousy and envy has been woven all throughout the tapestry of my life and started so early. Certainly it made me so grounded. I could detail in the chapters, exactly what these fixated would do. So odd that it came to roost in a big way as I am an adult. What I know is Rot, no matter how you assist them, they will always see my spirit and my boundaries and will resent both, because they are do anything in life Rot. Keeping boundaries will only force them to use weak toilets and those manipulatable around your life. Like Satan, the sadistic Rot will use those people and because they are so stupid or just indifferent to their useful lowliness and treachery as a response in resentment of your boundaries and guardedness, they will participate in ways I have seen and can detail in chapters. But they are not new to me, it is a particular brand of detrimental low character that I'd seen before. Judas in smaller portions because those were not that integral to begin with, although I did allow them a role of sorts and they showed me. But it is common and I can't say fully misunderstood. I can literally see how possible. This toilet was the biggest Judas and slime revealed because I cannot understand how you'd urge and implore someone to create such a serious situation that most take very lightly, if you do not plan to do the best job. This toilet proved so common and low and detrimental and uncommonly outrageously Weak! He could not understand protection and the relationship to dignity or class if it were taught in a class curriculum. Shock. He is a run of the mill low life and opportunist only worse. A coward for actual life but would collude with enemies of his family. He is an ass kiss low and tragically trashy like I have seen but am not used to in life. The opposite of me in every way and the biggest Fraud. I do not trust a single word not one, and the hump in his back grew because of how seedy and treacherous he is. It seems now to announce his lowliness like Satan put it there. Turn your back and see what this toilet will do, they could shit all day in him and you'll smell it. Look at his sneaky face. Pretending in anger decency and is a crawl under the cabinet plant coward with not one principle to offer. He lived up to what he was when I met him and it began to seep out. He pulled it together for decades and because he is a follower he was decent and even tried to erase the writing on his skin. Wanted to clean up. He sounded and looked like light, now looks like low. Dark and trashy is his aura. Being slimy was his core and no dignity was instilled in his life so he'd do anything and does not mind being used. A lesson to prioritize seeing the trashiness. It will come to roost. It is his life and who he is. Making excuses for it will show you how detrimental it can be in your life and the lives you assist to bloom. He is a detriment. And without a doubt planted by Satan. Fascinating to watch his lowliness. Details in chapter that will make religion so relevant to actual life

[builder051]

Just a pondering… Why were there zero trigger warnings for books we were assigned to read in middle school and high school?

I mean, now we have a way deeper understanding and respect for people’s dignity and mental health. I’m glad the population’s been woke. I don’t believe in censorship, but I do think a little preparation would be courteous?

It’s still happening, though. Seriously, 7th grade advanced English reading Romeo and Juliet? That’s a bunch of twelve-year-olds who may or may not have experienced sex ed. And their teachers (and Shakespeare) are telling them… your random crush is your soulmate, once know each other for like a week it’s ok to jump in bed together (hey, even with an age difference, it’s not illegal if Romeo’s under 18), then make a promise to run away together and/or a suicide pact. And, btw, somebody else gets stabbed to death for being your friend.

No wonder folks squabble and sleep around and ingest questionable substances and ruminate on death. They’re not societal failures. They’re kids who did their fucking homework.

[ayejayque]

The Reasons to Avoid Conflict at Work

Variances in curiosity, thought processes, insensitivities as well as intolerance lead to conflict. When people do not approve of each other’s views, a conflict gets up. A conflict can happen at any place be it administrations, assemblages, and even at our residences. Let us first go through the following specimen. Sally was heading the operations section of a foremost company. Harry was reporting to Sally and one way or another both never accepted each other’s philosophies and thought progressions. Harry was allocated a venture which was to be submitted by the end of the week. Sally and Harry disagreed at each and every juncture and there were severe skirmishes between them. They could not arrive at a conclusion and as a consequence, the venture could never be finished within the specified time. What was the result of their conflict? The result was essentially a big zero as neither Sally nor Harry added anything out of the fight. Conflicts must be evaded at any cost and especially at work. Our workplaces are our first homes as we spend the maximum time at offices only. One has to admire his organization to get admiration in return. Learn to keep control of your sentiments at work. Never fight at the office. It spoils the dignity of the workplace. You might not agree with the other individual but that doesn’t mean you start arguing and be aggressive with him. Sit with him and look for a solution, Conflicts spoil the atmosphere of workplaces and also lead to pessimism all around. Always respect the other person’s opinions. There is no winner in a conflict and nothing creative originates out of it. When two people fight with each other, they are essentially wasting their valuable time. Avoid hostility at the office as it leads to the consumption of valuable time which could have been otherwise capitalized in some productive work. Recollect, your workplace pays you for your effort and not for fighting with others. Workers tend to lose their attentiveness and concentration at work if they are involved in conflicts. People lose concentration in their jobs, leading to nil output. They devote all their energies to being hostile with each other and as a result, the goals of the organization are at no time met. No organization can continue if the goals are not accomplished. Never yell at your work, always lower your speech and try to implement a middle path approach instead of arguing. Fights also lead to disrespect and needless stiffness in organizations. People talk ill about others and spoil the atmosphere. You might be an exceptional performer and a hard-working worker, but if you keep on being aggressive with your fellow workers, you would undeniably earn a bad tag. You will be in the attention but for all the incorrect reasons. It is always intelligent to do your work honestly, pack your bags, go home, and come renewed the next day. Nobody loves to carry pointless pressures, so it is always recommended not to fight at offices. It is not always that you will approve of what the other individual has to say, but aggression will not deliver you any answer, instead, it would add to your pressure. Learn to cooperate and deliberate with your team. Listen carefully to what the other individual has to say and do correct him in a well-mannered way if he is mistaken. Avoid finding faults pointlessly and disapproving of your colleague. Remember, everyone at the workplace is a slice of one big family occupied together towards a shared goal. Fights at work must be evaded and employees must think about accomplishing their goals. Give your best in each and everything you attempt. Enter your workplace with a tranquil and collected mind and never be frenzied or react to anyone’s statements. Always contemplate before you speak. Assume a professional line at work and try to sort out your alterations with your corresponding workers. Respect everyone at the office and remember fighting is never the answer.   Read the full article

[nanami-says]

Part V (2/3): chapters 58~60

Chapter 58

[About Sukuna’s fingers resonating with one another]

"The ones that possess an immense presence. The ones that are hiding. The ones that are already taken in by cursed spirits."

⇒ "1) The ones with too big presences. 2) The ones holding their breath. 3) The ones already absorbed by cursed spirits."

I added the numbers for explanation purposes, see below. 

"One of Sukuna's fingers was hidden by a cursed spirit. When Itadori consumed the finger in June, it released its cursed energy"

⇒ "The Sukuna fingers that had been absorbed were holding back their power [while] inside cursed spirits. Then they unleashed their cursed energy with Itadori's incarnation [of Sukuna] in June serving as a trigger."

Whelp. On top of extremely simplifying the explanation, they mixed up the kind of Sukuna finger involved here - it was very explicitly stated in the text that it was number 3) "absorbed" (assimilated) fingers, and not 2) "hiding" fingers. 

I guess saying that Itadori consumed the finger isn't wrong plot wise but it's actually referred to (here and many times more in the manga) as "incarnation"! The same word also gets used for the death painting brothers.

[Megumi remembering a conversation with Gojou] 

"I was surprised you asked me to train you"

⇒ "It's rare for you to ask me for a practice, Megumi"

"To train you" wasn't wrong but Gojou saying "it's rare" here points to it either happening occasionally or having happened in the past and I'm not sure "I was surprised" quite conveys that. 

"Are you feeling pressure because of Yuji's growth?"

⇒ "Did you get impatient after getting surpassed by Yuuji?"

Gojou actually says that Yuuji has surpassed Megumi here! Quite a different nuance from just "Yuji's growth".

"Megumi, your skill and potential are probably higher than Yuji's. All that’s left is the mental aspect"

⇒ “You know, Megumi, I think that both your real ability and potential are in no way inferior to Yuuji's. (...)"

Emphasis mine because pray tell, how does one reach the conclusion that "don't lose out to"/"aren't inferior to" equals to "are probably higher". “Skill” was fine btw but I’d probably go with “mindset” for the last line, personally.

[Gojou explaining why he thinks Megumi doesn’t know how to make a serious effort giving the baseball game as an example]

“Why did you bunt? You sacrificed yourself so that Nobara could advance. Well, good for you"

⇒ "Why did you make a sacrifice bunt? Did you want to advance Nobara to the next base even if it meant you'd be out yourself? That's commendable"

The nuance for the last line was just different - the word used there usually is just used as praise, either genuine or ironic but imo “good for you” has a different meaning. Also he says “out”  but it’s written as “death” (although that is sometimes the case in baseball as well.)

“But no matter how many allies you have around you, you'll always die alone"

⇒ “(...) when you die, you’re alone”

I tried to phrase it a bit closer to the original because I feel like the nuance may just be different for this line but can’t quite put a finger on the how.

[Gojou to Megumi]

"To die and then win, and dying victoriously are two completely different things, Megumi"

⇒ "To win by dying and to win even if you die are completely different, Megumi"

Emphasis by Gege. Ngl, I had no clue what the English was trying to say here… This is most likely what the line actually meant.

[Megumi regaining his consciousness after he blacked out from getting hit] 

 "How long was I out? Was my divine dog destroyed? No, my technique's finished"

Actually "my technique got undone". Putting it as "has finished" is imo both unclear and misleading. Similar situation as in ch. 1 (refer to part I).

[Lead-up to Megumi using a domain expansion for the first time]

"A jujutsu sorcerer's growth never comes easy"

⇒ "The growth curve of a sorcerer isn’t always gentle"

Mostly, the line was more intricate in the original but also the grammatical construction used here that they mistranslated as "never" actually means "not always [necessarily]” instead.

"Here we go!!"

Not really incorrect but it's kinda generic and I guess something like "I'm gonna do it!" is closer nuance wise. 

"With a firm base, skill and imagination, a person can change thanks to the slightest of events"

⇒ "A firm foundation, a handful of sense, and imagination. Then, [even] with a most insignificant opportunity, a person will change"

A pity they simplified "a handful of sense" into just "skill" here. Overall not really incorrect but I wanted to propose something that imo better conveys the original wording and vibe.

“Area expansion”

…”area”? What? Obviously this is actually “domain expansion”. I just don’t have words.

“Think bigger! My technique’s interpretation!”

First sentence actually referred to the second one, so it’s actually something like “Expand it!! The technique’s interpretation!!”

[Megumi to the cursed spirit after his shikigami deals it a finishing blow]

"Divine dog's claws even hurt it...You were no match!"

"(...) So something like piercing through you when you're not even paying attention was easy"

Less excitement, more dismissiveness, I’d say? Also, for the divine dog it’s actually specified that it’s “divine dog (totality)” and not just simply “divine dog”. The term appeared before in ch. 47.

Chapter 59

[Megumi talking about what he considers the basic rule for human interactions in a flashback to his middle school years]

"Basically, you shouldn't cross any line that violates another person's dignity. You should acknowledge each other's mutual existence. That's the rule. You ignored it and fed your stupid ego"

⇒ "In short, it's drawing a line in order not to jeopardise one another's dignity; [it’s] a process through which both parties can coexist. That's what the "rule" is”. You broke it, throwing your weight around and forcing everyone to walk on eggshells around you”

For the first sentence, Megumi says “it’s drawing a line”, so the nuance here was probably closer to “creating boundaries” rather than “crossing boundaries” like in the official English release. For the second sentence, the original literally says “the process through which one another’s existence is achieved”, so rather than acknowledging each other’s existence the sentiment is probably closer to live and let live? For the last sentence, they once again simplified it to the barest bones.

"I'll definitely tell Ikezawa and everyone today that we're not their lapdogs"

“You got this, Aida!”

"But we might be the next punching bags, so don't go overboard!"

Should be “Ikezawa and others'' and definitely “that I’m not their errand boy” for the smallest boy’s first line. If all of them were already being treated as errand boys like the way using the plural form here implies, the other student’s reply wouldn’t make sense.

[After Tsumiki sees Megumi has beaten up delinquents once again]

“You said you wouldn’t pick fights anymore”

“You’re not my mom”

⇒ (...) “Don’t act like you’re my guardian”

Imo the distinction is significant because there’s a possibility that Tsumiki as the older of the two probably did feel responsible for Megumi to an extent and acted accordingly, as if she was his guardian. 

Also, he doesn’t actually say “mom” - this is not the first time where the official English release opts for a gendered phrase where the original uses a neutral form. (Like making Yuuji say his grandpa was like a dad to him when he actually said parent all the way back in ch. 2.) 

[Megumi’s thoughts from back in the middle school]

"I hate bad guys with no brains and zero emotional capability. Walking around feeling proud. Disgusting."

⇒ "I hate bad people. The way they act like they’re superior, with their complete lack of imagination or sensitivity. Disgusting”

I guess I really dislike the way they worded it here, especially the “no brains” part since Megumi wasn’t really talking about intellect or smarts here but about imagination (and sensitivity), which he literally describes as being akin to "vacant lot", "empty lot", "raw land”, which is much more evocative.

"I hate goody-goodies forgiving bad people, justifying mercy. Makes me wanna puke"

⇒ "I hate good people. The way they forgive such bad people and perceive that act of forgiveness as something noble. They make me sick"

Mhm, way to just simplify the heck out of the whole line. I’m extra bothered by their use of “goody-goodies” here since this is yet another appearance of a rather formal word for “good person” (善人/zennin) in the original and which I’ve observed to be a very important part of the world-building in jjk. I discuss it at length in various previous installments, with notable examples including: ch. 9 (Megumi about Yuuji and about the kind of people he wants to save - part I), ch. 31 (Nanami and Yuuji’s conversation in the aftermath of the Junpei incident - part III 2/2), ch. 36 (Panda about Yuuji - part IV 2/5).

“Tsumiki, you’re a perfect example of a good person.”

See, the word he uses here to describe Tsumiki is the same as in the line above (善人) but because back then it got translated as “goody-goodies”, you’d never guess it since the vibes are just that different.

[Megumi reminiscing about meeting Gojou for the first time]

"In the first grade, my dad and Tsumiki's mom got married and separated just as quickly"

⇒ "When I was in the first grade of elementary school my father and Tsumiki’s mother, our respective single parents, got together and disappeared into thin air"

The original doesn’t mention marriage OR separation. Heck, especially for the second one, it doesn’t even come close to mentioning it?? I have no clue where they got this from. 

What I put as “got together” can also be translated as “to have a liaison with (a man or a woman)” (among others). Since Tsumiki’s surname is also “Fushiguro” in middle school, it’s possible that they were actually married and many Japanese fans seem to think that as well but it’s not explicitly stated, at least not here, so those are most likely speculations. 

As for mysterious “separation”, the word used here actually means "disappearance (of people intentionally concealing their whereabouts); unexplained disappearance", so imo the whole section means their parents got together and at some point both disappeared. As we learn at one point in the manga Touji first and Tsumiki’s mum sometime later. 

(Btw, one fan scanlation used “evaporation” here instead and while this is another possible translation of the word in question, imo from the context it’s clear that the intended meaning was the “unexplained disappearance” instead.)

Lastly, Megumi uses kind of formal expressions when referring to both his own dad and Tsumiki’s mum, which imo is indicative of the emotional distance.

[Tiny Megumi about teenager Gojou]

"A weirdo with white hair said"

⇒ "A suspicious man with white hair"

Needless to say, he doesn't actually call Gojou a weirdo.

[Gojou about Touji] 

"But he's a loser that just works for me. He left the family and had you."

⇒ "He's enough of a good-for-nothing to take aback even me. Basically, he left home and then had you."

Emphasis mine. Again, I literally have no clue where they got the translation they went with for this. “Works for me” - just what?? (Btw, one of the fan scans available for this had the latter part of this line mistakenly imply that Gojou had Megumi leave his house. The bit definitely referred to Touji leaving the Zen’in family.)

"You're something your dad used against the Zen'in family. His trump card"

⇒ “You’re something your father kept as his strongest card against the Zen’in family”

A bit of a different nuance than “your dad used” suggests.

"The divorce money makes sense now. I was sold to this Zen'in family"

⇒ "The mystery behind the funds for their disappearance got solved. Apparently, I was sold to this Zen’in family or something"

Again, the word for “divorce” doesn’t make an appearance ANYWHERE in this chapter, least of all this page. ...How. 

Once again - fan scans had this as money that also evaporated but neither it nor the official English release make sense, considering the line is followed up by “I was sold” as the explanation. So yeah, imo the first sentence definitely referred to the money Megumi considered necessary for Touji (and co’s) disappearance.

[Gojou referring to Touji basically selling Megumi off]

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it's annoying. Especially your attitude."

⇒ “It pisses you off, doesn’t it”

“Yeah, it does piss me off. Especially that lack of delicacy of yours”

I mentioned it multiple times but imo repetition in the original text tends to be done on purpose and as a device and imo this was another example where this was the case. Megumi borrows Gojou’s words here. (Which mean “to be irritated, “to be angry” and not “it sucks”.)

[Megumi continuing about Gojou]

"But that annoying guy wrote off the situation with the Zen'in family. He made a promise that we would work as sorcerers in the future. We would be collateral and receive financial support from Jujutsu High in exchange."

⇒"This man pisses me off, but it was him who cancelled the deal with the Zen'in family, and made it so we would receive financial support from the technical college with me working as a sorcerer in the future [serving] as collateral for it”

I don’t know why they’d translate it as “we would work” here since who the “we” would be supposed to even entail other than Megumi himself? Surely not Tsumiki. Or Gojou. Also, putting the next bit as “we would be collateral” makes it sound kind of dehumanising to me, ngl, whereas Megumi was talking about his labour here.

Also, the same phrase for “pisses off” as above got used once again, which makes it three times in a row, so imo that was definitely a deliberate stylistic choice on Gege’s part.

“Jujutsu sorcerers. How stupid.

⇒ "Sorcerers, what even. How nonsensical"

Just proposing an alternate wording.

[Megumi about the curse Tsumiki got hit by]

"All we knew was that we didn't know anything. Tsumiki still sleeps."

The word used to describe Tsumiki’s state literally means “became bedridden”, which imo heavily implies she fell into a coma. “Still sleeps” is most likely a misunderstanding on the translator’s part since the word sounds like it’d mean that (but it doesn’t.)

[Megumi about Tsumiki]

"Always smiling and saying nice things"

⇒ “Always smiling and spouting lip service”

Another case where the translator seems to have translated the word based on the way it’s written as opposed to checking the actual meaning. (The “nice things” phrase.)

"It's not a bad thing to not forgive people. Megumi, that's your way of showing kindness."

⇒ “Not being able to forgive people isn’t a bad thing. That’s your kindness, Megumi”

It wasn’t just “not to forgive” but “not being able to forgive”! Which imo would imply the next line’s nuance was something similar to Tsumiki considering Megumi’s inability to forgive people to be something that stems from his kindness (e.g. because he can’t stand seeing injustice).

"Even spinning my short-comings in a positive light."

⇒ “She would affirm even my nature"

Imo this line was more of Tsumiki accepting Megumi as he is or at least that’s what the line says - makes sense with what I proposed for the line above too. Translating it the way they did in the official release kind of feels like overinterpreting.

"But even she would get upset when I hurt somebody. I was annoyed by the hypocrisy"

⇒ "But even such Tsumiki would get genuinely angry (...). I would get annoyed thinking she was a stickler to the rules and a hypocrite"

Emphasis mine. The phrase that the translators seem to have skipped here and I translated as "stickler to the rules" literally means "to play it safe", "to avoid trouble at all cost". 

"Yeah, I know. I was immature. I'm sorry so please wake up already"

“I’m sorry, I was a brat. I’ll apologise so just wake up already, stupid older sister”

Just a different nuance and tone for the whole line.

"All I did was get rid of the Yasohachi bridge curse. My sister's sleeping curse is a separate matter."

⇒ "This Yasohachi bridge curse was probably only overlapping with it, and the curse that caused Tsumiki to fall into a coma probably hasn't been lifted"

The official English release makes it sound like sleeping (or more correctly, the coma) was the nature of the curse that Tsumiki was put under, whereas imo the original indicates it just as its effect, which is an important distinction.

“As for the finger and Itadori…”

⇒ “What should I tell Itadori about the finger...”

The “tell”, “say” is only implied here but it’s pretty clear from the context that was the meaning. Also, he explicitly says “to Itadori” here.

[After the Yasohachi bridge curse got defeated by Megumi who then retrieved the Sukuna finger from it] 

"All of sudden I feel a presence. Did the finger get out of the barrier? Whoever took out the finger bearer is quite formidable."

⇒ “The huge presence that appeared all of sudden... Did Sukuna's finger get out of the barrier? If it was a sorcerer that exorcised the finger's host, they must be quite good......."

Emphasis mine on bits that got cut out in the official release. Because Esou was facing off Nobara, he probably assumed it’s likely there may be other sorcerers present and imo that’s what this line also suggests.

"Even so... The finger... Even if they fought against a special-grade and won, They more than likely didn't come out of it unscathed. I hope they're okay."

Just to clarify that the word used for “they” in the original indicates the speaker knows the people in question, so those were Nobara’s thoughts here.

 Chapter 60

[Esou to Yuuji and Nobara after he activates his wing king technique]

“Start running and turn your backs to me”

“Run. With your backs turned to me” would fit better nuance and mood wise. (Esou didn’t want to show his back to anyone so now he’s’ forcing them to show theirs.)

[Nobara to Yuuji after he scooped her up because she couldn’t run as fast as he could]

“I got your back”

“Okay”

“Okay” isn’t incorrect per se but the word has the nuance of “I’m counting on you”.

[Nobara to Yuuji after he speeded through the forest while carrying her, allowing them to escape from Esou's technique]

"Well done, you deserve some praise"

“Yeah, yeah”

“Just kidding. Thanks!”

⇒ "You have my praise." (...)

Actually a set phrase! Spoken from a rather elevated/superior POV, which is why Nobara later reiterates that she’s genuinely thankful. Also, I probably would just go with a period for “Thanks”, imo nuance wise it didn’t require an exclamation mark and it’s not there in the original either.

[Esou after Yuuji gets splashed with Kechizu’s blood]

"There's no need to worry. My younger brother's blood isn't the same quality as mine"

Actually "doesn't have the same properties like mine”.

"You wouldn't even die from mine unless you were drowned in it."

Much closer to something like "unless you were to bathe your whole body in it".

"But it does hurt like hell"

⇒ "But it does hurt to death"

Not really wrong meaning wise but in the original it was “to death” instead of “like hell”, which combined with a previous line was probably a wordplay. "You won't die but it does hurt to death"

[Esou explaining how his and Kechizu’s shared technique works]

"If you take in one of our brother's blood and if one brother activates a technique"

Idk if it's clear here but it most likely doesn't matter which brother does which (could even be the same one). Also, definitely should’ve been “the” or “this” for technique, since Esou has just stated on the same page he’s now going to start laying out how a specific technique of he and his brother’s functions.  

[Esou replying to Yuuji]

"Yes, the result is essentially poison. Our technique is 'decomposition'"

Should be “but what our technique is, is actually ‘decomposition’” nuance wise.

"It's activated now. In reality they'll be dead faster than that”

⇒ “Done with technique disclosure, so in reality (...)”

Emphasis mine. You know, the rule in jujutsu where if you explain your technique to your opponent, it gets a buff? “Activation” is just wrong here. 

While it’s not phrased as such, the phenomenon is first explained in ch. 20 during Nanami’s explanation to Yuuji (refer to part II 2/2). It also gets mentioned by name later in the manga but oftentimes the official release would either skip it or word it completely differently so it’s hard to tell, like in ch. 51, when Hanami realises Toudou has lied to him (part IV 5/5). 

[The history of how cursed wombs came to be]

"[In the beginning of the Meiji era] there was a girl with special genetic makeup who bore a cursed-spirit child"

Actually “with an idiosyncrasy that allowed her to get pregnant with the child of a cursed spirit”! Imo an important distinction since it’s not certain whether her first child that gets discussed here was born prematurely or not and the following pregnancies were all aborted.

"A child born of mixed blood - both cursed spirit and human.”

Skipped “grotesque child” at the end.

“It was a mysterious pregnancy. She would be ostracized by family and friends.”

⇒ "Starting from a pregnancy she had no recollection of, [followed by] the oppression from her kith and kin, it made her go insane"

This latter part of this section is filled to the brim with complicated language so I’m not entirely sure but I think this might’ve been the intended meaning of the line. The official translators were probably struggling with the vocabulary too, so they cut out some stuff entirely, to be precise - the go insane part. It’s the bit I’m not certain about myself but I scoured Japanese dictionaries and that’s the meaning that seemed to be the best fit among the options.  

Anyway, to reiterate - the bit about the pregnancy actually says that the girl herself didn’t even know (couldn’t remember) how it came to be. The part about the relatives doesn’t mention friends, it’s actually a set phrase that means “one's relatives by blood and marriage (in blood and law); one's kith and kin” - I went here with the latter since it’s shorter and fits the overall vibe of the line.

“She would hold the corpse of the child and flee to a temple in the mountains. The temple was run by jujutsu sorcerers. However, her luck had run out."

⇒ “(...) However, this was when her luck run out”

Other than the nuance in the last line, this isn’t mistranslated but the whole section just flowed differently in the original and felt less disjointed.

Also! One of the scanlations I’ve seen had it misspelled as “Noshitori” but the evil sorcerer’s name is actually “Kamo Noritoshi” (and yes, it’s the same as the young Kamo but the “toshi” is written with different characters).

"The child born from a cursed spirit and human would become a prisoner of intellectual curiosity"

⇒ "His [Kamo Noritoshi's] intellectual curiosity would be taken captive by children born between a cursed spirit and a human"

Very much the other way around. It's very clear in the original that the subject of the sentence was Kamo's intellectual curiosity and not the child.

"Death painting wombs: numbers 1-3. Cursed objects worthy of special grade."

Closer to "cursed objects powerful enough to be classified as special grade"

"Did cursed energy originate from a mother's hatred? No..."

It's specified here as "did their cursed energy" instead (emphasis mine), and the question is actually left unanswered......................................................... So yeah, congrats on getting rid of this very intended ambiguity. It's something like "or was it maybe--"

[About cursed wombs]

"For 150 years, with only the notion of one another's existence, they would survive, sealed away"

⇒ "For 150 years, they endured the seal, relying only on one another's existence"

"The notion" just doesn't capture the sentiment of the line at all, which imo is most likely the follow-up to the narrator's musings about the origin of the death painting's immense cursed energy. (See above.)

"We're siding with that cursed spirit."

Actually "siding with them", read as "them" but written as "the cursed spirits" - probably plural as the original literally says "the side of the cursed spirits", so it possibly means cursed spirits as a whole as well, aside of Mahito and co specifically. Remember, the brothers are actually half-humans too. I explain in depth the “written as but read as” device in part IV 4/5 (ch. 48, Toudou’s “my friend” phenomenon).

"The future that the cursed spirits have painted is more suited for us. But that's it. Forget about what we owe for our freedom"

Not incorrect per se but Chousou actually says “forget the debt we owe them of our incarnation”, which would make it yet another instance where the official English release has cut out the term entirely. (Emphasis mine.)

[Nobara after stating that a technique that assures a win as long as it hits an opponent is indeed powerful]

"I'm a bad match for you!!"

Actually “the worst match [possible]” - more confidence in the line! 

[Nobara to the death painting brothers after using Resonance on herself thus redirecting their attack back at them]

"Let's play a game of chicken, shall we?"

The actual wording is “contest of endurance”, I’m not entirely sure if the two have the same connotation.

[part v (3/3)]

[ooops-i-arted]

I honestly have too much this whole mess with Cara and Carano, but I saw your post about them and I really want to share my thoughts.

I absolutely love Cara the character, still do and always will. She’s a strong independent woman with a firing heart and burning soul, and as a character she’s beyond what I personally defined as a perfect heroic star. I have not been loving any female characters from any media types as much as Cara, and for me she’s not just a character in the Mandalorian but an element that helps making that world complete, and I’m sure at this point we can all tell how much it breaks my soul to see that we might never see her again on the screen.

As for Gina, I’m just really, extremely disappointed. Of course we know there are always people who think differently from us, whether be it right or wrong in society’s standards, and there’s nothing “wrong” for thinking in different ways because obviously we can’t control how one thinks about the world. Of course the rest of us knows the undeniable flaws and cruelties in her ways of thinking, but can you really blame one for having a certain point of view, no matter how twisted it is? What is truly “wrong”, for me, is how she completely ignores the other half of the world, who thinks differently than her, and demands that half of the population to tolerates her. When she cannot treat others with respect and dignity, she demands to be understood and uphold.

Especially as a public figure, she let her selfishness took over her logic, and mindlessly spread what deemed to be intolerable to the majority of the world, yet refuse to take the criticism and consequences resulted from her actions. I’m very much certain that not every public figures, or even everyone around us in daily life, share the same ideologies which we deem “tolerable”, yet while the others learn to stay silent and listen, and understand, maybe to even change, she chose to ignore the rest of the world like a selfish child.

I love Carano for bringing Cara to life like the perfect character she is, and every time I think of Cara Dune I will forever associate her face with her. But I hate her for being such a selfish human being who chose destruction over salvation, and slander over tolerance, and for letting herself ruining what so many of us love so much by the name of Cara Dune.

Whether Lucasfilm decides to recast Cara or to erase Cara, this first Cara Dune is burned too deep into my mind, and I know for a fact that I’ll never love another Cara as much as this one. Regardless of what Gina Carano have done, her actions have nothing to do with Cara Dune, and I will keep it that way no matter what

I pretty much agree with you.  I know not everyone has the mindset, but I generally separate actress and character and I definitely want to in this case.  I love Cara, she’s a fascinating character with a cool backstory and a great character design - how awesome is it to get a female character in appropriate clothes and with musculature for her character?  Like I said, before I found this stuff out, I was impressed with the physicality Gina brought to the role, her stunt work, and what she said in the Gallery show about how important she felt it was to bring a non-waifish female character to the screen.  Also ngl, those arms and that hair?  She pretty.  I personally have zero qualms about continuing to steal her face for Cara - but only for Cara.  And I totally recognize that not everyone feels that way or compartmentalizes things the same way I do.

Cuz regardless of someone’s personal beliefs, it costs zero dollars to not be a dick.  For example, if Gina didn’t want to put pronouns on her profile all she had to do was say “No thanks, I prefer not to” and leave it at that.  She didn’t have to mock trans people; she could’ve chosen to instead learn about why displayed pronouns are important to that community.  There’s a lot to be said about radicalization right now that I don’t want to get into since I prefer to use fandom as a break from irl shit, but at the end of the day she’s an adult, she should know better, and she’s capable of making her own choices.

As an educator I like to believe people can change and leave ignorance behind, so I hope once things cool off she takes the opportunity to better herself as a person.  Right now though, I’m ready to leave all this behind and just enjoy the character without the mess behind her.

[tennessoui]

OOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the prompts - childhood best friend au bc i’m a sucker for them

- tealbluemagic

ah yikes i had thought and scripted like....two more scenes of them actually growing up (16/20 and 22/26) in my head dialogue and all but suddenly this was 2.3k because once again i was worldbuilding my cares away RIP!! palpatine was supposed to be the evil adviser it was gonna be great sad days.

2. Childhood best friends AU (medieval, fantasy, royalty AU--whichever term conveys the absolute zero amount of fact-checking that I have done)

They meet when Anakin is seven and Obi-Wan eleven.

Anakin’s tutor wants him to write lines. Again. According to the man, his letters do not look kingly enough.

Thank the gods that he set him to work and then left to flirt with the chambermaid. Otherwise, he probably would have had something very mean to say about the lack of kingliness that is required to climb out the window and down the ivy creeping up the castle.

Anakin lands on his feet and looks up in time to see his tutor’s red face in the window. “Prince Anakin!” The man yells, but no one is around to grab at him and he’s a very fast runner, even at the age of seven. He takes off to the gardens, laughing in joy at the freedom of it all.

Through the gardens and at the edge of the grounds are the stables. He’s not allowed to go there yet, because he is so small and the horses so big. It’ll be the last place they’ll check for him.

Anakin bursts through the doors and runs headlong into another boy, knocking him clean off his feet and into a pile of straw.

“Hey!” The boy shouts, shoving Anakin harshly off of him, face turning almost as red as his hair. Anakin blinks stupidly up at him as he rises and puts his hands on hips. “Who do you think you are?”

“I come seeking shelter and refuge as the prince of the kingdom of Tatooine,” Anakin blurts out the phrase he’s been taught to say should he ever find himself in danger in a new land.

Both of the boy’s eyebrows go up, and he looks scared for a second, which Anakin doesn’t understand. He’s much bigger than Anakin is and he’s still standing all angry over him. If anything, Anakin should be the one scared.

“Uh. Okay. Yeah, you can stay,” the boy says, backing away and crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “Just please don’t tell anyone I shoved you, your um highness. I need this job.”

Anakin lifts his hand so the boy can help him up, but the other boy doesn’t do anything but stare at it with a furrowed brow. “You may help me stand,” Anakin prompts him.

“Shouldn’t be touching no prince,” the boy mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “People can get killed for less.”

“Well, I want you to help me,” Anakin says, glaring at the boy who’s being very stubborn and silly right now. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

The boy looks skeptical, but takes his hand in his.

“What’s your name?” He asks him as he brushes off his fine clothes.

Now the boy just looks reluctant, but he must know better than to disobey a command from his sovereign, even when the sovereign in question is a child, because he crosses his arms over his chest and mumbles out, “Obi-Wan, milord.”

“I’m Anakin,” Anakin says, even though the boy probably knows this. It’s still only polite and his mother has always told him that being polite is one of the best things a prince can be.

“Yeah,” the boy says. Maybe his mother had never given him the same lesson. “I have to get back to work now, milord,” he turns before Anakin dismisses him, which is quite unheard of. Maybe Obi-Wan’s never been to court. Judging by the state of his clothes and the dirt on his face and beneath his nails, Anakin decides that’s probably true.

“What are you doing?” Anakin asks curiously, following behind the boy. It’s just he doesn’t meet a lot of boys his age and sure, this boy seems a bit mean and certainly at least a little uncivilized, but he still let Anakin stay.

“Shoveling horse shit,” Obi-Wan says. “Would you like to help?”

Anakin wrinkles his nose. “What’s up there?” he asks, pointing to a ladder as they pass it.

“That’s where we keep the hay. And it’s where I sleep.”

“You sleep here?”

Obi-Wan doesn’t respond, but his cheeks grow a dull sort of red.

Tactfully, Anakin changes the subject. “What else do you do?”

“Feed the horses, brush them, put them out to pasture, call them in, brush them again,” Obi-Wan lists. “When a nobleman wants to ride, I tack up their steed for them.”

A horse blows out a breath, right near Anakin’s face and he flinches, clinging onto the back of Obi-Wan’s shirt automatically. “And they let you?” he asks, trying to sound like he isn’t frightened.

“They don’t have much choice,” Obi-Wan says, smiling a bit as if something is funny. “Bit of a luxury around here, choice is.”

“What happens if they don’t?” Anakin asks, deciding to not let go of Obi-Wan’s shirt. Any proper gentleman or lady would have offered to let him hold their hand by now, but Obi-Wan is rough around the edges. Anakin finds that he doesn’t mind much.

Obi-Wan casts a look at him from the corner of his eye that Anakin doesn’t know how to interpret. “They get whipped.”

Anakin gasps in shock. “That’s so barbaric!”

The other boy snorts and shakes his head, as if Anakin is just too dumb to understand. “What are you doing here, little Prince?” Obi-Wan asks as he finishes dumping a pail of water into a horse’s bucket. “Why're you running?”

“My tutor was being absolutely awful,” Anakin replies with a pout. Obi-Wan hums, grabbing a shovel from where it’s leaned against a wooden door and carrying it to an empty stall. He follows him, wanting a proper response from the other boy. All that writing had been hurting his hand! The tutor is so unfair and mean and evil, and Anakin deserved to be treated with dignity and respect!

He tells all of this to Obi-Wan as he paces in the tight space of the stall, the other boy occasionally making noises to show he’s listening as he goes about his work.

“I don’t know what sort of problem he has with my letters! I know all of them now! Isn’t that enough?” Anakin asks angrily, crossing his arms. He’s tired and wants to sit down, but it smells poorly here. Maybe he can convince Obi-Wan to go to the ponds with him?

But Obi-Wan pauses, leaning against the handle of his shovel to look at Anakin. “You shouldn’t be complainin’ about getting to learn to read and write,” Obi-Wan says and then hastily tacks on, “milord.”

“But I don’t like it, and I shouldn’t have to do things I don’t like,” Anakin protests.

Obi-Wan smiles in a funny way. “You think I like shoveling shit, do you? But someone has to do it.”

“Are you saying that someone has to read and w--”

Obi-Wan interrupts him loudly. No one’s ever really done that before.

“I’m sayin’ that reading and writing is a...a privilege, milord.” He says the word privilege like he hasn’t ever said it before, like someone had said it around him and he’d memorized the sound and played it back in his head every night.

Anakin pouts, and Obi-Wan must see the look on his face because he softens his voice when he speaks again. “There’re...people who would kill for a teacher and they got none. If I was you, I wouldn’t ever leave my lessons early.”

Anakin crosses his arms. “But you’re not me. And I get to do whatever I want.”

It’s like a wall comes up between them. “That’s a luxury too, milord,” Obi-Wan says, turning away. “Excuse me. I need to work.”

The way he says this makes it clear that he doesn’t want Anakin around him anymore. “Fine!” Anakin snaps, face pulled up into a scowl. He pushes past Obi-Wan as hard as he can, hoping he can make the boy fall again, and leaves the way he’s come.

How dare the little stable boy try to correct Anakin’s behavior, when he’s the one with dirt all over his face!

He storms back to the castle and is in a horrifically terrible mood the entire rest of the night, right up until he goes to bed. Obi-Wan doesn’t know anything about anything, Anakin tries to reassure himself. He should have never met him.

He flips onto his side in bed, scowling even harder when his eyes alight onto the practice papers his tutor had left for him.

In his mind, Obi-Wan’s words repeat even louder. If I was you, I wouldn’t ever leave my lessons early.

Anakin rolls away until he can stare up at the ceiling.

He’d wanted a friend, but Obi-Wan clearly hadn’t wanted Anakin there at all. He wouldn’t have made a good friend at all. Anakin should just forget him.

But he can’t. He wants Obi-Wan to like him, although he can’t understand why or how to proceed.

He flips back to face the room again, too restless for sleep.

Inspiration strikes quite suddenly, making him sit up in his bed.

There’s one thing he could do that would make Obi-Wan like him. But there’s no time to waste.

He hastily dresses in his discarded clothes from yesterday and grabs two of the books on his desk. There’s a leather satchel hanging from his wardrobe that he’s never used before, but it’s the perfect size now. He slings it over his little shoulders and leaves as quietly as he can.

It’s a dangerous but relatively short journey back to the stables. The gardens look much scarier at night, but Anakin is being so brave about it. He’s on a quest. He clutches his satchel to his chest at every jumping shadow, but he makes it to the stable door and then through it.

The ladder he had pointed out earlier is a few steps into the barn, past two stalls. The horses look much scarier now that he’s here alone; their eyes seem to glow in the dark. He scuttles past them and grabs at the first wooden beam. Obi-Wan. He’s doing this for Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan, who is asleep among the hay, just at the top of the ladder. He’s curled up beneath a couple of blankets. He looks angry even in his sleep.

Anakin crawls forward and shakes him awake.

“Wha--” Obi-Wan jerks up.

Anakin clutches his package to his chest and sits cross-legged in front of him. “It’s me!”

“What?” The other boy asks, rubbing at his eyes. Anakin pouts. Has Obi-Wan really forgotten him in such a short period of time? That’s hardly fair, considering the fact that Anakin has not stopped thinking of him at all.

“It’s Anakin,” he says. “I came back.”

“Why?” Obi-Wan asks, squinting at him in the light of the moon that filters through the single window.

Anakin pouts harder. “I brought my stuff,” he says. It had seemed like such a brilliant idea, not even an hour ago, but in the face of Obi-Wan’s incredulity, Anakin only feels stupid. He pulls out the books anyway. “I thought. Well. That maybe I could teach you.”

Obi-Wan sits up all the way at this and bends forward to study the covers, although Anakin is sure he doesn’t understand the letters written on them. .

“Teach me?” Obi-Wan asks.

Anakin huffs. This is going to become quite a tedious conversation if all Obi-Wan does is repeat fragments of what Anakin says. “To read and to write.”

“Why?” he asks, but different than he had asked before.

He doesn’t think because I want you to like me would satisfy Obi-Wan now, and even Anakin knows it’s a rather weak explanation.

“Because...you want to know,” Anakin settles on saying, “and my mother always says that a king should do what he can to satisfy the desires of the kingdom.”

“Oh well,” Obi-Wan scoffs. “If the Queen says so.”

Anakin withdraws, stung at the other boy’s standoffish attitude. “Never mind,” he mumbles, reaching for the satchel to put away the books. “It was stupid.”

Obi-Wan’s hand flashes out to stop him. “No,” he says. “No, I’m sorry. I. Thank you, milord for this. You don’t know what you’re offering.”

“I’m offering you some lessons,” Anakin responds slowly. Maybe Obi-Wan had missed that part?

In the moonlight, Obi-Wan’s smile breaks across his face like a sunrise. “Of course, milord.”

“Call me Anakin,” Anakin demands. He wants a friend, not someone who will bow to his title or shy away from his crown. He wants an equal, a familiar. He wants Obi-Wan to treat him as if they carried the same amount of dirt and grime on their skin.

“Of course, Anakin,” Obi-Wan whispers, like he’s breaking a rule and afraid he’ll get caught. “But….”

“But what?” Anakin asks, scooting closer now that he knows he probably won’t be kicked off the loft to be fed to the horses in the morning.

“Did you bring a light to read by?” Obi-Wan asks, looking around his bare accommodations.

Anakin bites his lip and looks too, but the search is fruitless. “Well,” he says. “No.” The truth is that in the castle there’s always light when he needs light. There are always servants, ready to bustle in and solve his slightest inconvenience. He had never thought of light as a--what had Obi-Wan said earlier? A luxury.

“Oh,” Obi-Wan whispers, tracing the cover of the book with something like longing.

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” Anakin finds himself promising. “I’ll bring a candle or something. I will. Tomorrow night.”

“Really?” The other boy’s voice seems to get caught in his throat because it comes out sounding much weaker and higher than it ever has.

Anakin nods. He would. He’d come back every night for the rest of his life if it meant Obi-Wan would like him, if it meant they could be friends. “I promise,” he says, reaching out with his smallest finger.

Obi-Wan looks at it for a second before linking their fingers together. “Okay, milord,” he says. “I believe you.”

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hey slug! I was wondering about your opinion on whether you think its possible for jakurai and ramuda to ever reconcile fully. i feel like you're really close to the source material and you understand the characters, so if you have the time, i would be interested to hear what you think

Hmm, this is a very good question that I’ve definitely thought a lot about because I’m a fool. Some spoilers for last four drama tracks under cut.

I do think a reconciliation is possible, and that’s probably where the plot is eventually going. The Party of Words is the current major antagonist of the series, and as one of their main goals is to sow dissent in order to prevent rebellion, the series will likely have characters setting aside their differences in order to work together.

Like the Ichirou/Samatoki divide, the Ramuda/Jakurai divide is only partially based around Ramuda and Jakurai’s actions. Should Ramuda have ordered the hit on Yotsutsuji? Absolutely not, and Jakurai has every right to be furious about that. Did he have many other good options? Not really. Likewise, should Jakurai have violated Ramuda’s trust and purposefully called him something he knew Ramuda was insecure about? No, and Ramuda is justified in feeling hurt and betrayed that Jakurai did so. Do Jakurai’s actions make sense from his perspective? Absolutely. The issue is that it’s not really about them; it’s about the Party of Words unfairly targeting Jakurai and forcing Ramuda into scenarios where he feels he can’t trust anyone and can’t make decisions for himself. The first step in their reconciliation would need to be both of them recognizing that.

Fortunately, that seems possible and potentially not too far off in canon. Even as angry and bewildered as Jakurai is, he doesn’t hate Ramuda enough to treat him as less then a person. A clone of Ramuda dies in front of Jakurai in the Chaser from the Past drama track, and Jakurai reacts in alarm and tries to save the clone’s life until Otome tells him that it’s not the Ramuda that Jakurai knows. Jakurai also displays concern in FP/M 11 and FP/M 13 when Ramuda is visibly uncomfortable due to the True Hypnosis Mic incident. He also respects Ramuda’s privacy in FP/M 8, even when it’s Jakurai’s friends that are asking the questions about Ramuda. Jakurai tries to treat everyone with a certain level of dignity and care, and even considering what Ramuda did and what Ramuda physically is, Jakurai, outside of the heat of the moment instance in TDD, apparently does not believe that Ramuda is undeserving of this. Furthermore, Doppo urges him to actually talk to Ramuda and ask what happened in Chaser from the Past, and Jakurai seems receptive to that. This is a good sign of a positive future development towards their relationship.

There are several promising signs from Ramuda’s end as well. The TDD situation largely came about because Ramuda had zero idea or inclination of relying on other people or asking for help to get out of his current situation, yet present day Ramuda has already broken the rules and is in the process of relying on other people for the first time. Gentarou and Dice have so far been nothing but supportive, which is absolutely essential for Ramuda to overwrite the negative associations he has with other people knowing about his clone status. He also recently began making choices on his own, telling the truth about himself to other people, and relying on people for help. It’s the start of a very long road to recovery from the overwhelmingly traumatic situation he has lived in since birth, and while it isn’t much, it’s a huge improvement over where he was during TDD and before. Additionally, he currently needs medical attention, and judging by the way Yotsutsuji was able to discover that Ramuda is not an organic human from examining a chewed lollipop stick, there must be something about his biology that isn’t strictly human and that can be discovered under examination. Therefore he would almost certainly not want a doctor to be examining him and find out his secret for a whole host of reasons. Fortunately, there happens to be a very talented doctor already fully aware of his nature as a clone right nearby. Convenient, that.

So I think the reconciliation is going to happen, but there are a couple key things that need to be addressed. First, they need to actually talk to each other, and Ramuda needs to tell the full truth. Based on Jakurai’s strong sense of justice, I have a hard time seeing him being much of anything but appalled at the mistreatment of Ramuda. Second, they (and others) need to fully remove Ramuda from harm’s way so he will no longer repeat the same actions that led them into this fight in the first place. Third, they need to find a solution for Yotsutsuji, because Jakurai is, and rightfully so, still hung up on Yotsutsuji and is easily manipulable until that hole in his armor is fixed. If Ramuda willingly becomes a part of the solution, all the better. Last, they need to seriously apologize to one another. They each hurt the other quite badly, and they need to acknowledge that and show remorse. Doing so validates Ramuda’s feelings, which according to TDD 9 and TDD 13 is something Ramuda desperately values, and answers Jakurai’s demands from TDD 14 2 for Ramuda to at least feel guilty about it. (The irony here is that, if TDD 13 is any indicator, Ramuda has felt guilt about it the whole time. However, this guilt is not necessarily for Yotsutsuji’s involvement, and that’s more of what Jakurai’s looking for and what needs to be addressed here.)

At this point, they can then choose where they’d like to go from there. In real life when two people hurt one another badly, sometimes the happiest ending for both of them is to leave and to never see each other again. I think both characters could have good lives and fulfilling character arcs if their relationship ended here and they went their separate ways, with one chapter of their lives ended and another beginning. However, I do think they have the potential to become friends again, although not in the same way that they did before. Their previous friendship was built at least partially on Ramuda’s deceit and Jakurai’s curiosity at the mystery that is Ramuda, but that can’t last in a new friendship for both of their sakes. Ramuda needs to be honest for it to work, and Jakurai needs to make good on his line from TDD 9 and be happy with the real Ramuda. I think it would take a while, as there is a lot of distrust on both sides, but there are also many positive memories of good times spent together as well. But it could work. It would be different, but that’s a good thing. They can’t return to the past, but they can write a better future for themselves with honesty, affection on no false pretenses, and healthier friendships with other people in addition to this. That, too, could be their happy ending.

[hihatsofftoyou]

“The problem is that "coverage" in true crime cases in many cases isn't a position of privilege, it's dehumanizing and a facet of misogyny.

The reason why "Missing White Women" (or "Missing/Murdered White Girls") hold such a deep fascination culturally is that it reinforces the sexist view that society already has on women. This has nothing to do with the women themselves and it fundamentally doesn't help them. There's just a pornographic obsession with the "ideal woman" (who is pretty, young, white and not poor) and her being violated.

This doesn't help the women or girls in question whatsoever. From Maddie McCain to JonBenet Ramsey to Nicole Brown Simpson, being the center of a whole media sensation - with round the clock coverage in its heyday and books movies and TV shows - doesn't do jackshit. Other people make money off it, but you're still dead. Criminal justice (thankfully) doesn't work on media assumptions.

So what you get is having online discussion boards dedicated to discussing your sex life or your mental health or people who decide - without any actionable evidence - that they just know your family members killed you and harass them and you have bogus scammers running around claiming they got visions about what happened to you. But none of that matters to you because you're dead.

There's just no point in talking about Missing White Woman Syndrome without acknowledging that it's a deeply sexist phenomenon that gives zero shit about the woman supposedly at the center of it.

I'm copying here from another comment I made in the other threat but sexism never worked like "women are bad and therefore it's okay to do harm against them", it was always "women are so inherently fragile/irresponsible/irrational/etc that harm coming to them is a natural occurrence that they can only ward off by obeying the strong/responsible/rational/whatever men." That's why select forms of harm against women become this mythologized spectacle in a sexist society (it also has a racist history - look at how often supposed violence against white women was used as an excuse to murder men of color. This wasn't because the white male dominated society suddenly decided that women didn't deserve sexual assault - they all kept hurting the women in their vicinity, it was because the transgression was committed against "their women" when a basic tenet of sexism is that it's men's right to control "their women" and that another man infringing on that is an insult against men).

In the patriarchy you only get to be a Whore or a Madonna. You get to be The Perfect Victim or the Bitch Who Had It Coming. You get to have every aspect of your life discussed by obsessive strangers who will leak your autopsy report and make podcasts analysing your body language in a brief out of context clip they've seen of you (drawing conclusions about your whole life and mental health). Or you get to be ignored completely.

This obviously needs to be divorced from wanting actual police work done (which should happen and it's good to advocate for that), but MWWS fundamentally isn't about that. MWWS doesn't wait for the boring details of actual police work, it wants ALL THE TEA. RIGHT NOW. It wants a pretty woman we can sexually obsess over or form a parasocial relationship with or harass other people who we consider the villains over and who, most importantly of all, be stand-in for the tragic fate that Woman naturally has in the patriarchy, which is to be violated. Cautionary tale for all the girls out there.

But don't confuse that with actually treating the woman in question with dignity and respect.

Also it's not that easy to identify a person just from their voice (and that isn't unusual, it happened with the Delphi murders too).”

[jenniferisacommonname]

Bonus Level Unlocked

This week marks the release of Jason Schreier’s Press Reset, an incredibly well-researched book on catastrophic business failure in the gaming industry. Jason’s a good dude, and there’s an excerpt here if you want to check it out. Sadly, game companies going belly-up is such a common occurrence that he couldn’t possibly include them all, and one of the stories left out due to space constraints is one that I happen to be personally familiar with. So, I figured I’d tell it here.

I began working at Acclaim Studios Austin as a sound designer in January of 2000. It was a tumultuous period for the company, including a recent rebranding from their former studio name, “Iguana Entertainment,” and a related, ongoing lawsuit from the ex-founder of Iguana. There were a fair number of ghosts hanging around—the creative director’s license plate read IGUANA, which he never changed, and one of the meeting rooms held a large, empty terrarium—but the studio had actually been owned on paper by Acclaim since 1995, and I didn’t notice any conflicting loyalties. Everyone acted as if we always had been, and always would be, Acclaim employees.

Over the next few years I worked on a respectable array of triple-A titles, including Quarterback Club 2002, Turok: Evolution, and All-Star Baseball 2002 through 2005. (Should it be “All-Stars Baseball,” like attorneys general? Or perhaps a term of venery, like “a zodiac of All-Star Baseball.”) At any rate, it was a fun place to work, and a platformer of hijinks ensued.

But let’s skip to the cutscene. The truth is that none of us in the trenches suspected the end was near until it was absolutely imminent. Yes, Turok: Evolution and Vexx had underperformed, especially when stacked against the cost of development, but games flop in the retail market all the time. And, yes, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling had been hustled out the door before it was ready for reasons no one would explain, and the New York studio’s release of a BMX game featuring unlockable live-action stripper footage had been an incredibly weird marketing ploy for what should have been a straightforward racing title. (Other desperate gimmicks around this time included a £6,000 prize for UK parents who would name their baby “Turok,” an offer to pay off speeding tickets to promote Burnout 2 that quickly proved illegal, and an attempt to buy advertising space on actual tombstones for a Shadow Man sequel.)

But the baseball franchise was an annual moneymaker, and our studio had teams well into development on two major new licenses, 100 Bullets and The Red Star. Enthusiasm was on the upswing. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention when voice actors started calling me to complain that they hadn’t been paid, but at the time it seemed more like a bureaucratic failure than an actual money shortage—and frankly, it was a little naïve of them to expect net-30 in the first place. Industry standard was, like, net-90 at best. So I was told.

Then one Friday afternoon, a few department managers got word that we’d kind of maybe been skipping out on the building lease for let’s-not-admit-how-many months. By Monday morning, everyone’s key cards had been deactivated.

It's a little odd to arrive at work and find a hundred-plus people milling around outside—even odder, I suppose, if your company is not the one being evicted. Acclaim folks mostly just rolled their eyes and debated whether to cut our losses and head to lunch now, while employees of other companies would look dumbfounded and fearful before being encouraged to push their way through the crowd and demonstrate their still-valid key card to the security guard. Finally, the General Manager (hired only a few months earlier, and with a hefty relocation bonus to accommodate his houseboat) announced that we should go home for the day and await news. Several of our coworkers were veterans of the layoff process—like I said, game companies go under a lot—and one of them had already created a Yahoo group to communicate with each other on the assumption that we’d lose access to our work email. A whisper of “get on the VPN and download while you can” rippled through the crowd.

But the real shift in tone came after someone asked about a quick trip inside for personal items, and the answer was a hard, universal “no.” We may have been too busy or ignorant to glance up at any wall-writing, but the building management had not been: they were anticipating a full bankruptcy of the entire company. In that situation, all creditors have equal standing to divide up a company's assets in lengthy court battles, and most get a fraction of what they’re owed. But if the landlords had seized our office contents in lieu of rent before the bankruptcy was declared, they reasoned, then a judge might rule that they had gotten to the treasure chest first, and could lay claim to everything inside as separate from the upcoming asset liquidation.

Ultimately, their gambit failed, but the ruling took a month to settle. In the meantime, knick knacks gathered dust, delivered packages piled up, food rotted on desks, and fish tanks became graveyards. Despite raucous protest from every angle—the office pets alone generated numerous threats of animal cruelty charges—only one employee managed to get in during this time, and only under police escort. He was a British citizen on a work visa, and his paperwork happened to be sitting on his desk, due to expire. Without it, he was facing literal deportation. Fortunately, a uniformed officer took his side (or perhaps just pre-responded to what was clearly a misdemeanor assault in ovo,) and after some tense discussion, the building manager relented, on the condition that the employee touch absolutely nothing beyond the paperwork in question. The forms could go, but the photos of his children would remain.

It’s also a little odd, by the way, to arrive at the unemployment office and find every plastic chair occupied by someone you know. Even odder, I suppose, if you’re actually a former employee of Acclaim Studios Salt Lake, which had shut down only a month or two earlier, and you just uprooted your wife and kids to a whole new city on the assurance that you were one of the lucky ones who got to stay employed. Some of them hadn’t even finished unpacking.

Eventually, we were allowed to enter the old office building one at a time and box up our things under the watchful eye of a court appointee, but by then our list of grievances made the landlords’ ploy seem almost quaint by comparison (except for the animals, which remains un-fucking-forgivable.) We had learned, for example, that in the weeks prior to the bankruptcy, our primary lender had made an offer of $15 million—enough to keep us solvent through our next batch of releases, two of which had already exited playtesting and were ready to be burned and shipped. The only catch was that the head of the board, company founder Greg Fischbach, would have to step down. This was apparently too much of an insult for him to stomach, and he decided that he'd rather see everything burn to the ground. The loan was refused.

Other “way worse than we thought” details included gratuitous self-dealing to vendors owned by board members, the disappearance of expensive art from the New York offices just before closure, and the theft of our last two paychecks. For UK employees, it was even more appalling: Acclaim had, for who knows how long, been withdrawing money from UK paychecks for their government-required pension funds, but never actually putting the money into the retirement accounts. They had stolen tens of thousands of dollars directly from each worker.

Though I generally reside somewhere between mellow and complete doormat on the emotional spectrum, I did get riled enough to send out one bitter email—not to anyone in corporate, but to the creators of a popular webcomic called Penny Arcade, who, in the wake of Acclaim’s bankruptcy announcement, published a milquetoast jibe about Midway’s upcoming Area 51. I told Jerry (a.k.a. “Tycho”) that I was frankly disappointed in their lack of cruelty, and aired as much dirty laundry as I was privy to at the time.

“Surely you can find a comedic gem hidden somewhere in all of this!” I wrote. “Our inevitable mocking on PA has been a small light at the end of a very dark, very long tunnel. Please at least allow us the dignity of having a smile on our faces while we wait in line for food stamps.”

Two days later, a suitably grim comic did appear, implying the existence of a new release from Acclaim whose objective was to run your game company into the ground. In the accompanying news post, Tycho wrote:

“We couldn’t let the Acclaim bankruptcy go without comment, though we initially let it slide thinking about the ordinary gamers who lost their jobs there. They don’t have anything to do with Acclaim’s malevolent Public Relations mongrels, and it wasn’t they who hatched the Titty Bike genre either. Then, we remembered that we have absolutely zero social conscience and love to say mean things.”

Another odd experience, by the way, is digging up a 16-year-old complaint to a webcomic creator for nostalgic reference when you offer that same creator a promotional copy of the gaming memoir you just co-wrote with Sid Meier. Even odder, I suppose, to realize that the original non-Acclaim comic had been about Area 51, which you actually were hired to work on yourself soon after the Acclaim debacle.*

As is often the case in complex bankruptcies, the asset liquidation took another six years to fully stagger its way through court—but in 2010, we did, surprisingly, get the ancient paychecks we were owed, plus an extra $1,700-ish for the company’s apparent violation of the WARN Act. By then, I had two kids and a very different life, for which the money was admittedly helpful. Sadly, Acclaim’s implosion probably isn’t even the most egregious one on record. Our sins were, to my knowledge, all money-related, and at least no one was ever sexually assaulted in our office building. Again, to my knowledge. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure we remain the only historical incident of corporate pet murder. The iguana got out just in time.

*Area 51’s main character was voiced by David Duchovny, and he actually got paid—which was lucky for him, because three years later, Midway also declared bankruptcy.

[yoonjinkooked]

Kitchen Confidential | Jin (2)

banner: @casuallyimagining​

PART 2

PART 1 

Pairing: Seokjin / Reader

Rating: 18+

Genre: Enemies to lovers, chef AU

Warnings: slow burn with explicit sex later, cursing 

Word Count: 5k+ (Part 1 - 5k+) Summary: After years of annoying the life out of you, your rival, Kim Seokjin, pushes you a step too far and he knows it. As angry and resentful as you are, you don’t realize that something has been brewing under the surface for years. This weekend, that will change.

Last night was not nearly as bad as you had thought it would be. The drive to the lake was long, but you were carpooling with Jungkook, so it wasn’t dull for a single moment. Getting there in the late afternoon, all you’ve had time for was dinner and drinks. A dinner which you did not make, for a change. With every single staff member of both respective restaurants, it was very easy to avoid Seokjin – not like he was looking for you either. Drinking wine and reminiscing your school days with Jungkook, Taehyung and Yoongi took the bigger part of your night and made time fly. For a few hours, you thought this weekend teambuilding getaway might not be so bad after all.

That changed this morning at ass crack of dawn, when Namjoon knocked on your door to wake you up and give you a schedule for today. As you read through all the activities listed, your eyes still sleep crusted, you have realized that today was going to be torturous.

“You have got to be shitting me.”

You have tried, you truly did. Kept an open mind and all of that, ready to put your best foot forward and do what is best for your team. But 10 minutes into the group meditation, you’ve had enough.

“Shush,” Mina hisses at you from your left side, her eyes closed. “You’re making me lose focus.”

“Don’t you think you’re losing focus because there are 15 other people in the room pretending not to hear each other breathe? This is ridiculous,” you sigh, but still keep your voice fairly low when talking because you don’t want to make anyone else lose focus. Meditation requires peace and doing it with a bunch of people kind of kills the point.

“Come on Y/N,” Jimin chuckles from your right. “Don’t you want to become one with your team?”

“You will become one with my fist if you don’t shut it,” you whisper back.

“I will sauté both of your asses if you don’t zip it,” Jeongguk warns from in front of you, obviously annoyed by your bickering. “The sooner you shut up, the sooner this shit will be over and we can go outside and grab a damn beer.”

“Please remain quiet!”

You lower your head in shame – as ridiculous as it is, you did not want to piss of the instructor or whatever the hell she is. Judging by the glare directed towards you, you did just that. So, you close your eyes and shut up and let your mind wander over nothing and everything all at once.

With fall around the corner, you’re going to have to update your menu. Seasonal menus are a joy to work on, giving you an option to rebrand everything every couple of months. With all the fresh fall produce you’re going to have at your disposal, the next few weeks are going to be a lot of fun.

Your tricked worked – you were still on the appetizers by the time meditation was over.

“Remind me to never listen to him again,” Yoongi cracks open a beer as he sits down on the grass between you and Jeongguk, with Jimin and Hoseok following him. He has been complaining about Namjoon ever since you guys left the hall where the group meditation took place. “I’m all for teamwork and shit but how the hell is group meditation going to help with that?”

“You know how these things work,” Hoseok shrugs. “Someone makes a plan, sells it as an experience that will unify your team and most people don’t ask questions. Meditation is good, but it has zero to do with teamwork.”

“Paintball makes more sense,” Yoongi mumbles, pausing to sip his beer. “Sure, it’s an unusual choice but if we work in teams, which we obviously will, at least we get to exercise teamwork.”

“Or violence,” Jeongguk chuckles. “If I were Seokjin, I wouldn’t want to be around Y/N with a gun.”

“Easy there, you moron,” you hit him over the shoulder. “Just because I am angry doesn’t mean I’ll turn to violence.”

“What, you’re going to spare him?” Jimin laughs and your eyes narrow at him, remembering that he is on the opposite team. Sure, you don’t know how you’re going to be divided in the actual game but he is one of Seokjin’s best friends. The same way Jeongguk would come running to you with information, you can imagine Jimin doing the same for Seokjin.

“Oh, if he’s on the opposite team, he’s going down,” you sound sure of yourself, which may or may not be a result of having a best friend who is an adrenaline junkie. Despite it not being your thing as much as it his, you’ve accompanied Jeongguk on many paintball, bungee jumping and zip line adventures.

“Here’s to Seokjin’s balls and whatever will be left of them later,” Yoongi raises his can of beer.

“Here, here!”

It is a disaster, a complete and total disaster and the only reason why it’s like this is because Namjoon refused to listen. Taehyung and Jeongguk, who were chosen as team leaders, both tried to explain to him that it would be best if we go restaurant against restaurant but the man did not listen.

And that ended in pure and utter betrayal left and right.

Hoseok, who was on Taehyung’s team, straight up shot Catnip’s waiter, who was on the same team as he was. Jimin, who was supposedly on your side, ended up chasing you for god knows how long before Jeongguk shot him, sacrificing his own team member for your sake. Poor Mina didn’t even bother trying as she stood behind Namjoon, who was standing in the middle of an empty field and yelling at you all to at least try to be loyal to your temporary teams. Someone shot him in the shoulder, and although you have no proof of this, you have a feeling that it was Yoongi.

And you? You were out for blood, specifically Kim Seokjin’s blood. Once Jeongguk got Jimin of your back and the two of them started yelling at each other, you were free to run and chase after that all, wide-shouldered son of a bitch.

You could see him from a mile away – it was tunnel vision, with you blatantly ignoring both your team members and your opponents as you run through the woods, hoping to catch up with him. None of it made sense anymore anyways, with no one even being sure which team they are actually on, despite the blue and red vests that were supposed to differentiate you.

You were not even close to him when the inevitable happens – with your eyesight solely on him, barely registering your surroundings, you trip and fall into a ditch – an actual ditch, meant to be a hideout. And it was, to one of the commis chefs who was on your team by vest, on Seokjin’s team in reality. You ended up rolling into the ditch and falling on top of the poor guy, hurting your ankle in the process.

It hurt, it really did – the only reason you did not wail is because you didn’t want that bastard to hear you. You found the little dignity you had left and you grab a hold of your injured ankle with all the strength you have.

“Are you okay?” the guy asks you once he finally managed to move around and free himself from the weight of your entire body.

“No,” you shake your head. “Are you?”

“I’ll live,” he sighs. “Let’s get you some help.”

Bless him, he truly is a sweetheart. Even though you obviously didn’t fall on him on purpose, he still could have gotten pissed. He did not hold it against you – in fact, he helped you get up and once he realized your right ankle is the source of your troubles, he let you lean on him as he struggled to get the both of you out of the ditch. One minute that felt like an eternity had passed with the two of you still struggling to get up before someone in a blue vest showed up.

Of course. It just had to be him. Out of all the people around you, it had to be him.

“Are you okay?” he asks and before either one of you could answer, he was diving down, offering you a hand. The last thing you wanted to do was to accept his offer but with the way you and the boy have been struggling for the past few minutes, you knew that you did not have much of an option.

You don’t answer his question but you do take his hand and you let him drag you up from the ditch, with his commis chef pushing you from behind. The moment you stood up, you realize that you can’t do that – your right ankle cannot handle the pressure of your body weight. You flinch and crouch down, with Seokjin trying to keep a hold of you – it doesn’t work but it does annoy you. With how close he is, you can smell the cologne he uses.

It’s ridiculous. How can one smell good after running in protective gear for half an hour? How?!

“What happened here?” he asks you as you give up on everything and simply sit on the ground, bending your leg so that you can try and take your shoe off to see if there is any visible damage.

“What the hell does it look like – I fell!” you snap at him in annoyance, taking a deep breath while you remind yourself that even though he’s an ass, he’s not the one to blame for this. “Thanks for your help, you can leave now.”

“Do you need me to carry you back or-?”

“Go away before I shoot you,” you are tempted to throw your shoe at him but you hold back the urge. “The game is still going on, I have a gun and I’m pretty sure that a paintball shot at close range will hurt like hell. Just leave.”

You can see the annoyance on his face as he gives up on you completely. He walks away, leaving you with a very confused guy who by now must be feeling very uncomfortable. “I’m going to go get some help,” he tells you and you nod – his help you are ready to accept.

“Fucking hell,” you examine your ankle for the hundredth time, shocked by how bloated it has gotten. The hotel doctor has assured you that there is no fracture but he also promised that you will be in pain for the next few days. Being bedridden for the rest of the trip didn’t seem like a bad idea but come Monday, you’ll have to be in the kitchen again and you don’t know if you’ll even be able to stand.

“Does it hurt?” Mina asks, looking slightly appalled at the sight of your swollen leg.

“Yeah,” you nod. “I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to work next week.”

“I’m going to get you more ice,” Jeongguk sighs, looking at you in worry. “You’re going to rest that leg as much as possible. I’ll keep you company and we can watch a movie or something, but you’re not leaving this room,” he orders. Not that you needed someone to tell you that. It’s a perfect excuse to avoid Namjoon and his hippy movement, as well as Seokjin and his stupid face.

“I’ll be here,” Mina reassures him and with one final look of worry, Jeongguk leaves the room. Two seconds of silence later, Mina snaps back to life and turns to you. “Y/N, I need to ask you something.”

“Huh?”

“I need you to do me a favor,” she tells you, looking back to the door, as if she is expecting someone to burst through it in the middle of her telling you some state secret. “Can you please make Jeongguk join us tonight? Like… tell him to not stay with you? If you’re okay with being alone, of course,” she backtracks almost immediately as she realizes that you might actually need someone to keep you company. “Ugh, just forget I said anything,” she shakes her head.

“Mina, chill,” you chuckle. “I hurt my leg, I’m not dying. I can be alone. But… why?”

You can guess, but you still want to hear it from her. It’s pretty common knowledge that Mina has a crush on Jeongguk, and after all this time, you are pretty sure that Jeongguk has noticed it too. He’s not always the brightest cookie in the box, especially not when it comes to women and their subtle flirtation tricks, but Mina has been getting more and more obvious lately.

“I just want to talk to him one on one,” she sighs, looking at you like a kicked puppy. “He’s not going to figure out anything on his own, he’s dumb. I have to draw it and explain it and if that’s what it takes, that’s what I want to do. I’ll never have a better chance than tonight.”

“Not a problem,” you smile at her, willing to help. “I’ll just tell him to join you guys because I want to get some sleep. He’ll listen to me. But hun, it wouldn’t be fair of me to not warn you. Jeongguk is not a passive guy. He can be dumb but if he’s into someone, he won’t hesitate to make a move. If he hasn’t made a move yet, it’s likely that he doesn’t see you that way.”

You feel horrible, but you have to warn her. Jeongguk is a go getter by nature and you’ve seen him not hesitating with women ever since you could remember. Yeah, he’s dumb but he’s not that dumb. You don’t want to see Mina get her hopes up and then have them crashing down because he’s not into her.

“I know,” she sighs. “I also know he’s still a bit hung up on his ex,” you shiver, annoyed at the very mention of that bitch. Mina would have been a much better choice than any of his exes, if you’re being honest. “But I need it over and done with, one way or another. I will tell him I’m into him and he’ll either reciprocate or he won’t. By the end of the night, I’ll either write a new chapter or close the book.”

“Then go for it,” you encourage her. “Get your closure. I’ll kick him out as soon as I can.”

“Thank you,” you let her hug you, even though she leaned on your injured leg a bit too much.

  Kicking Jeongguk out was more of a challenge than you had originally expected. Being an amazing friend that he is, he just didn’t want to leave you alone and miserable, not to mention unable to walk. You had to insist multiple times that you want to be alone, that you will not move around unless it was absolutely necessary and that you will call him if you need his help.

Once alone, you were left with a bad selection of movies and thoughts about the telenovela going on downstairs. Mina and Jeongguk would truly make a good couple, you think. But Jeongguk… he is hard to predict. You can only hope that whatever happens, it doesn’t end in tears.

Halfway through a pathetic Lifetime Christmas movie and two steps away from sleep, a knock on your door rouses you from your daze. “Come in,” you call.

You expected Jeongguk, maybe Mina, coming to inform you of what had happened. Maybe Namjoon, who would be worried sick about whether or not you’ll be able to do your job in the days to come. Hoseok even, coming to check on his friend. The last person you had expected to see was Kim Seokjin.

“What are you doing here?” you’re too surprised to sound defensive.

“Hi,” he lifts his hand up in an awkward wave. “I just… I wanted to check and see how you were doing. And bring you some food,” it’s only then that you notice that he does have a plate of food in his hands.

“Is it poisoned?” you ask, and although you were joking, it wouldn’t be the first time that Kim Seokjin added a bit extra into your food. Before, he’d go overboard on spices and serve the food to you with an angelic smile. After the events of the past few days, you wouldn’t be surprised if he raised the stakes.

“I did not poison your food, Y/N,” he tells you and you notice that there is no humor in his words. Normally, when you accuse him of doing something you definitely won’t like, he teases and pretends you’re right, whether or not he actually did it. Now, he is as serious as you are. Another instance of him showing you that he knows he took it too far. “It’s atrocious, though. I hate hotel food.”

“Ugh,” you scrunch your nose in disgust, almost tasting the overcooked scrambled eggs that you’ve had this morning. Last night’s dinner was passable but this is not a fine dining location, that’s for sure. “What did you bring? Does it have any-“

“Peanuts? No, I checked,” he pipes up. You are left dumbfounded for a moment, wondering how his memory is good enough to remember your allergy. “How do you go about being an executive chef if you can’t eat a certain kind of food though?” he asks as he approaches your bed, handing you the plate of food. Steak, asparagus and mashed potatoes. One look at the steak is enough for you to know it’s most certainly going to be too well done. Seokjin moves away from you, choosing to lean on the wall as he waits for your answer. Well, it looks like you’re on talking terms now.

“It’s not that bad,” you tell him as you start cutting the food. “Worst reaction I ever had was a strong rash. I carry an epipen with me at all times and if something that has peanuts in it needs tasting, Jeongguk gets a go at it.”

“You trust him a lot, don’t you?” he asks, making you stop mid-chew.

“Of course I do,” you mumble with your mouth full. “He’s my best friend and my sous chef. He’s been my second in command for years, I’d trust him with my life. Don’t you feel the same about Jimin?” you ask, wondering if the friendship between them doesn’t run as deep as yours with Jeongguk, because you weren’t kidding – the dude has his moments, but you would trust him with your life.

“Of course I do,” he frowns at you. “It’s just that you and Jeongguk look like… two piece of a whole.”

“We are, we’re Dumb and Dumber,” you laugh, turning back to the food – at least the asparagus was grilled nicely.

“Are the two of you like… a thing?”

If your mouth was full, you would have chocked, without a doubt. Looking up at Seokjin, you find him looking away from you, almost bashfully. First he brings you food. Then he starts a civil conversation. And now he’s questioning your relationship with Jeongguk?!

“No, we’re not. Never were. Well, other than two days sophomore year, that is. But we realized quickly one of us would be murdered in cold blood if we upgrade from the friendship level,” you rant, wondering how it’s possible that you’ve actually forgot about having Jeongguk’s dick inside of you, once upon a time. In your mind, it just goes to show how your friendship truly is superior. “Wait, why are you even asking me that?”

“I’m just… trying to be friendly.”

“I’m sorry, but you being talkative and friendly is making me uneasy,” you tell him the truth. The last time the two of you have had a civil conversation… it was so long ago, you don’t even remember it. Was it freshman or sophomore year? And even back then, you never went past casual chit chat. With everything that has been happening recently, Seokjin being friendly is a huge red flag.

Whether it was malicious or not, it has become second nature for you to expect the worst from him. And in a very strange way, that is actually quite sad. A person who could have been a great friend or even just a colleague you enjoy working with, ended up being someone who annoyed you. Yes, at the beginning, it was funny, charming in a weird way too. It didn’t take long for it to turn sour and with the events from last week hanging above you, as much as you want to see the good side of your longtime rival, you just… can’t.

“I understand that you don’t want to be friends or anything like that,” he shakes his head and looks down at the ground, almost as if he’s frustrated with you but is too kind to show it. That has nothing to do with kindness because in your eyes, he’s holding back because he know he has messed up, big time. If you ever did something to him that could be considered mean, which you did not, it simply pales in comparison to him flat out stealing your recipe. “If I apologize as Seokjin to Y/N, you won’t listen,” it feels as if he’s talking to himself as he continues to avoid looking your way. “The only option I have is to apologize as a chef to another chef. You have every right to be angry with me. The recipe was not different enough for it to be considered my own creation. Had I known it would end up in the review, I never would have done it. But even if it did not, I shouldn’t have done it. And whether you can accept it or not, I truly am sorry.”

You don’t know him well enough to be certain whether his words are true or not, but he looks as if he is truly sorry. And while that definitely counts for something, it’s not enough, not really.

“I forgive you,” you sigh, choosing to move one lone asparagus around your plate instead of looking his way. “As long as it never happens again, I am willing to put it behind us. But that doesn’t change the humiliation I felt when I read that review,” finally, you muster the courage to look up at him, just in time to catch him swallowing a lump. “I can accept that you had no ill intent, but I have never felt more humiliated than I did the day that I read about someone else making my dish better than I did. And that’s not your fault. You’re a brilliant chef. That’s entirely on me.”

“Y/N, you know you’re an amazing chef, you know that…”

“I know,” you interrupt him, not exactly wanting to listen to him praising you. “I know I’m good. I don’t need your reassurance to be aware of that, but thank you anyways. I accept your apology and I’m willing to be cordial to you, if you can do the same thing. That being said… we’re not friends, Seokjin. We never were, you’ve made sure of that a long time ago.”

He looks dejected, and for a second, you feel like a bitch. You feel bad for not picking your words carefully, you feel bad that you’re the cause of the sad smile he offers you. The guilt doesn’t stay long, because as soon as you feel it, you remember the way you felt when you read that review. As much as you can forgive, your ego and self-respect will not let you forget.

“That’s okay,” he tells you, despite actually looking sad. It leaves you baffled because you can’t recall, not for the life of you, a time where he ever offered a friendly word or a helping hand. You know there were moments, you’re sure of it, but no matter how hard to try, none of them comes to mind. “I’m fine with it being a truce and not a friendship.”

“Okay,” you nod, wondering if you’ve ever felt this awkward in your entire life. There’s a fine line between being cold and plain rude and you feel as if you’ve walked very close to the wrong side of it. “Thank you for the food, that was very nice of you,” you add, wanting to at least appreciate the gesture.

“Don’t mention it. Have a good night, Y/N,” he says, giving you one final, small smile before turning around and heading towards the door. His hand is already on the doorknob when you speak up.

“Hey, I have a question,” it’s almost as if you had no control over the words that left your mouth. It’s too late to take them back now, because he turned around and is looking at you curiously. “Why?” you ask, feeling a complete idiot with asking him something so damn vague.

“Why did I make that dish?” he asks in confusion.

“No,” you shake your head, making an effort to sit up straighter, knowing you’ll be able to see him better from this angle, seeing as he’s still standing in the hallway. “You made the dish because it’s a damn good dish,” you say through a chuckle, feeling a little bit better about yourself when you see him grin and shake his head at your comment. “I’m just wondering how it got to this level of animosity between us. I can’t pinpoint when it started but at some point you took the regular teasing and jokes and just made it… too much. And I don’t really understand why.”

You normally didn’t think about it. You have a life, a job, a whole load of problems and your friends’ problems to take care of. You don’t spend your days wondering why Kim Seokjin could be such an ass sometimes. Now you are. Now, when you’re stuck here on the bed, unable to move because of your damn leg, you have more than enough time to wonder about his behavior. And with him being in your company, it’s easy to ask.

You’ve never seen Seokjin act this humble, shy even. Never before in your life, not even during the peaceful period between the two of you. You watch in amazement as his ears go red, him looking away from you and acting ashamed about you calling him out like this. You’re honestly baffled.

“I guess I just wanted to make you laugh.”

You’re too surprised to even come up with an adequate response. The middle school level pranks that turned into a full blow rivalry and competitiveness during your final years of school only to fully develop to straight up animosity in recent months? Because he wanted to make you laugh?

“Are you serious?” you ask, unsure if you should be angry or just stay confused. It makes zero sense.

“Sadly, I am,” he lets out a humorless chuckle. “I gotta get going. Enjoy your dinner, Y/N. Hope you recover fast,” he tells you and leaves without giving you a chance to say goodbye, although you’re not sure you’d been able to even say a single word. Staring at the wall in front of you, you are lost in thought when your door snaps open. Startled, you jump up, only to sigh in relief when you see it is Jeongguk.

“Did I hallucinate the whole thing or did Seokjin leave your room like a moment ago?”

“Nah, you didn’t,” you answer, still confused about the whole ordeal. “He brought me dinner.”

“You serious?” Jeongguk laughs as he plops down on the other side of your king size bed. “Your leg good?” he asks and you just nod, focusing back on moving around the sad little asparagus on your plate. “I guess tonight is just full of surprises. First Mina corners me to tell me she likes me, now Seokjin’s being nice… I swear there’s something in the water here.”

“Mina told you she likes you?” you ask, taking an opportunity to change the topic to something that isn’t about you. He nods, moving in to steal a piece of meat you’d cut up earlier. “What’d you say?”

“That I’m flattered but not interested,” he responds. Well, damn it. You can only hope Mina sticks to the mindset she had earlier: it doesn’t matter what the answer is, as long as her dilemma is over. “Don’t worry, I was very kind. She’s a friend for crying out loud, I’d never hurt her,” he adds, noticing the look of worry on your face.

“No, I know that,” you sigh, finally giving up on the food completely and leaning over to place the plate on your bedside table. “Why’d you say no? She’s a great girl. Smart, pretty, nice and hot. Full package.”

“She’s also a coworker,” he raises an eyebrow at you. “Don’t shit where you eat. I’ll never have anything with someone I work with, I promise you that. Plus, I don’t feel that way. I adore the girl but not like that.”

“No, I get it,” you nod. “It’s better that you were honest with her. It’ll hurt like a bitch, seeing as she’s been hung up on you for a while. But it’s way better than dragging her along.”

“You knew?” he gasps at you.

“Of course I knew,” you roll your eyes, deciding to kick him in the shin with your healthy leg. He whined, even though you didn’t kick him hard at all. “I think everyone knew except you. She was heart eyes around you, 24/7.”

“Well, damn,” he sighs. “If I had known I would have said something to her, to stop her for wasting time on me… I guess it is what it is… So, what did Seokjin want, other than to feed you?”

“Feed me?” you snort. “At least someone remembered to bring me food, thank you very much”

“I was gonna,” he pouts at you.

“Sure you were,” you ignore his whines. “He wanted to apologize for the recipe theft. And I did forgive him for it. I’m still pissed and I’ll probably be pissed for a long while but it’s not going to change anything, is it? I’ll just drown in negativity and that review will still be there.”

“True. But it’s nice of him to apologize. Maybe even too nice,” he adds, suddenly frowning in suspicion.

“Oh god, you’re not going to believe what he told me,” you laugh, going back to the end of your awkward conversation with Seokjin. “I asked him why he did the things he did over the past years and his response was that he wanted to make me laugh.”

“To make you laugh?” Jeongguk asks with his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah. I mean, I did laugh at the beginning, it was funny at first. Then it just… spiraled.”

“He wants to fuck you.”

“No,” you snort out, but the moment you see your best friend with his eyebrows raised, giving you a knowing look, you frown. “You think this was his version of ‘I like you so I’ll pull on your pigtails’?”

“I didn’t before but now I do,” he tells you with a shrug. “Honestly, that explains half the shit he did. If he’s not lying about doing it to make you laugh, he definitely has the hots for you. At least he did, back in school. That would also explain why Jimin teases him about you even when you can hear him.”

“You do have a point,” you mumble, remembering every damn time Jimin suggested that the two of you should fuck to solve your problems. Jimin is one of his closest friends, it’s not a stretch to think he knows something you don’t. “It sounds incredibly immature but also very Seokjin.”

“I know,” Jeongguk laughs. “You could recognize Mina’s behavior, I can recognize his. I’m honestly amazed that I did not figure it out sooner… I knew that it was an option but he never really gave me solid proof that my hunch isn’t wrong.”

“But it’s weird, isn’t it?” you ask, frowning at the thought. “Seokjin liking me? The two of us together?”

“Why would it be weird?” Jeongguk shrugs, as carefree as always. “He’s hot, you’re hot. You got along well before he pulled out his immature flirting tactics. Jimin might be onto something, with the two of you. Maybe you do need to fuck it out of your system,” he repeats the same words Jimin had used only a few days ago. Back then, it pissed you off. Now, they just confuse you.

“The guys hot, but his personality is shit,” you shake your head. “Not to mention that he failed to put two and two together when he did not make me laugh with the shit he pulled. Maybe he wanted something then but it’s too late for entertaining that option now.”

“If you say so,” your best friend laughs. “But if he’s suddenly acting this nice, maybe he wants to show you a side of him you might actually want to see.”

“You watch way too many romcoms.”

“And you don’t watch them enough,” he counters. “As smart as you are for some shit, you sometimes truly don’t see beyond what’s already in front of you. You’ll see it tomorrow. Now that it’s directly in front of you, you’ll start to realize that the dude just didn’t know how to flirt. Anyways, are you gonna eat your dinner or can I dig in?” he asks, looking at the plate of already cold food.

The man is an endless pit. “Knock yourself out,” you mumble, too last in your own thoughts.

Is this all your imagination or did Jeongguk have a point? If all he wanted was to try and flirt with you, Kim Seokjin is… dumb as fuck.

A/N: Hope you like it! Currently writing Part 3! Let me know what you guys think! 

[millennialzadr]

Zim and Dib being companionable/doing things normally only friends would do in Enter The Florpus

alright y’all listen... YES, for the majority of the movie, Zim is a bastard and basically goes feral and Dib has every reason to be deathly pissed at him, BUT, as a soft gay fandom old with a bleeding heart that has been scrounging for any scrap of friendship or family dynamics in the IZ universe since 2008, the movie had some of the sweetest, friendliest moments (in comparison to their usual interactions) I have EVER seen between Zim and Dib, and I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate them.

so HERE, is a highlight reel of Enter The Florpus: ZADF Edition

Small but substantial, Dib sounds genuinely hurt that Zim didn’t recognize him. Like genuinely hurt. “Y-y-- We know each other,” in the tiniest, most timid voice Dib has ever used. If he really had zero respect or regard for Zim he certainly would have brushed this off or just been agitated, but instead his tone suggests he’s disheartened that he’d be unimportant enough to Zim to be forgettable.

ZIM GIVES DIB ZERO PERSONAL SPACE WHEN THEY REUNITE. Even though Dib apparently smells bad enough to have flies buzzing around him and Zim has a notorious history of complaining about ‘smells,’ Zim goes out of his way get in Dib’s face over minuscule points, stand unnecessarily close to show him a video on his phone while playfully nudging him with his elbow, and even smoosh his cheek up against Dib’s while trying to intimidate him. He has never ever been SO touchy before. Maybe, subconsciously, he missed Dib, and this is his acceptable alternative to a greeting hug.

DIB SYMPATHIZING WITH ZIM AND OPENING UP TO HIM!!! When Zim explains his situation and breaks down as a result, Dib gets uncomfortable instead of laughing or taking advantage of him while he’s clearly such a mess, and even goes so far as to say that he feels the same way Zim does. Could he just be talking to himself? Sure, but the interaction reads so much like Dib is saying ‘hey man, don’t be sad, I understand how you feel.’ They’re familiar and comfortable enough to be openly sharing their feelings with each other, which for ‘enemies’ is incredibly meaningful.

DIB ACTUALLY RESPECTING ZIM WHEN CREATING HIS PLAN! He did NOT have to take the handcuffs off Zim OR give him ANY equal standing, Zim had given up!! But instead of hauling Zim’s ass off by the antennae he OFFERS A HANDSHAKE and gives Zim the dignity of asking him to agree to Dib’s deal. Zim may be apathetic, but Dib doesn’t force him against his will, which is more respect than Dib had ever treated him with in the past.

A GENUINE COMPLIMENT. DID Y’ALL READ THE POOP COLA COMIC? BEFORE NOW COMPLIMENTING ZIM WAS VISCERALLY REPULSIVE FOR DIB. NOT TO MENTION HE WAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT CRUEL AND BELLIGERENT TOWARDS ZIM IN THE SHOW. NOW HE LETS HIMSELF FREELY ADMIRE ZIM’S WORK AND GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE AND I HAD PERSONALLY ACCEPTED THAT IT NEVER WOULD. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS??? GROWTH. RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT. THEIR HISTORY TOGETHER ONLY GETS LONGER, AND THEY JUST GET MORE AND MORE FAMILIAR AS THE YEARS GO BY.

IN CONCLUSION, IF ZIM AND DIB’S GOALS WEREN’T DIRECTLY CONFLICTING, THEY’D BE ABLE TO SEE HOW MUCH THEY RELATE TO EACH OTHER AND BE GREAT FRIENDS. THE MOVIE GAVE US A GLIMPSE OF THAT, AND I’M EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK.

MORE SMALLER (BUT JUST AS CUTE) MOMENTS UNDER THE CUT!!

“Hi Dib!” (a casual friendly greeting with no sarcasm or name calling)

“That thing you love so much!” (they know or think they know each other’s favorite things)

“I liked you better when--!!” (just the WORDS “I liked you” have never come out of their mouths before, aside from “I’m not here because I like you, Dib”)

Zim being unnecessarily touchy some more (why he do that? there’s no need. he needs a hug.)

Zim busting into/hovering around Dib’s house seeking attention (his need for Dib to acknowledge him is staggering)

And lastly, other people STILL thinking Zim and Dib are friends (wonderful, hilarious, pls never stop this running joke jhonen)