#(Though everyone's opinions defer when liking something.)

[jaymadii]

CHANGE OF HEART [O!Bakugo Katsuki x A!Male Reader]

You and Bakugo had a complicated history to say the least; in the romantic sense. Back in your UA days you had attempted to court him. You two had been doing this sort of dance around each other for a while; he’d ask to to scent things for him like blankets and pillows for his nest — something about having a familiar alpha’s aroma helped a mateless omega’s heats be more bearable. In return, you occasionally asked Bakugo to scent a hoodie or one of your shirts for you to defer away unwanted attention from some of the more pushy omegas (mostly Hatsume).

You had gotten your wires mixed and mistaken Bakugous comfortability with you as attraction. You had spend hours picking out the perfect courting gift for Bakugou, even going as far to ask Izuku’s opinion on the matter. You had settled on a expensive cashmere blanket — sunset orange. It was the kind of blanket that was advertised as peak nesting material. You scented the blanket and sealed it up in a plain box with a ribbon wrapped around it. Simple, like Bakugou would like it.

The humiliation lives with you to this day when you remember Katsuki’s horrified expression when you presented him with the gift, yelling at you and slamming the door in your face, but not before dropping the gift at your feet.

Your relationship was never quite the same after that. You trashed the blanket in the closest bin from his dorm to yours, washed all the clothes that still lingered of Bakugou’s scent, and avoided him for weeks on end. Izuku was kind enough to scent some of your shirts to ward off other omegas, and to let you lay your head in his lap while stroke your hair for a little after you explained why you couldn’t just have Bakugou do it. He would make a good mate for someone one day.

Time heals all wounds though, because as you grew up, and focused more on your hero work, yours and Bakugou’s relationship repaired on at least a professional level. You were one of the few alpha pro-hero’s that didn’t care if they were teamed up with a omega in the battlefield, which ended up with you and Bakugou being partners more often than not. The last alpha they tried to make Bakugo team up with made a snide comment about what was the superior secondary gender, then ended up in the hospital with a broken arm and pretty nasty gash on his head.

That leads you to where you are now: sitting in a bar with all your co-workers/high school friends for a after patrol drink. You were exhausted to say the least, after a day of crime fighting and a not so well night of sleep, you didn’t really feel in a partying mood. But it was rare for all of your schedules to line up for a get together like you used to have, so you put a smile on your face and order two fingers of whiskey. The group had already been here a hour and a half, you had just payed all the tabs and were getting ready to leave. You leaned your head against the back of the booth and closed your eyes— just for a minute to rest them, blissfully unaware of the way Bakugou was side glancing you. Kaminari was going on about a bank robbery he busted a couple of days ago and did you think he was embellishing some of these details? Yes. But it kept the rest of the group in a trance so you were gonna keep your mouth shut about it. Everyone had been drinking pretty heavily, everyone but you.

You open your eyes back up. The bar was loud and smelt like a locker room of different scents. You were tired and grouchy and miserable today. It was times like these to you think about how nice it would be to have some…ahem…stress relief. Your eyes scan the bar area for a minute, zeroing in on the waitress you had earlier. She was a petite brunette with blue eyes and a short skirt. She smelt like a beta, but you could see scent patches on her neck— definitely a omega; a alpha would wear a stronger brand. She must have felt your gaze because the next thing your know she’s looking over her shoulder and batting her eyes at you in a almost seductive way.

You suddenly feel a petite hand on your face following a big shove, “Hey!” You protested, ushering Uraraka’s limbs away from you as she giggled, definitely a little drunk. All eyes on the table turned to the two of you as you struggled to get the wiggle worm to calm down.

“Someone’s making sex eyes at you” she teased in a sing song voice, definitely too loud for any sort of subtlety. The whole group irrupted into “Ohhh” and “Ahhh” and you suddenly wanted the ground to open up and swallow you whole. Everyone started their teasing, everyone but Katsuki who was being uncharacteristically quite. You groaned and buried your head in arms, a blush covered your face that was so pink it looked like you were sunburned. Everyone at the table quite down almost instantly, and you allow your eyes to peak just above your arms to access the situation.

“Ahem,” you looked over to your right. The pretty waitress was staring back at you. She had her check book clutched to her chest in a nervous manner and her eyes seemed to look anywhere but at yours. Thanks for being so loud, Uraraka. “Your receipt.” She said, placing the paper on the table and sliding it to you. You nodded, a small smile of gratitude gracing your lips before she turned around and walked away. Your friends broke out into whispers and Kaminari started annoyingly nudging you in the side as you all stood up to leave. You wave him off.

With the receipt still in your hand, you all spit off in your different directions when you exit the bar. You and Bakugou head toward the direction of your car, since you work together it’s not uncommon for you to carpool to or from work, and since you had shared plans with your friends tonight it was decided by him that you would take the both of you. You haven’t heard a peep from the blonde since he yelled at Kirishima for double dipping in the salsa earlier. He had only spoke when spoken to tonight but you brushed that off as him being as tired as you were right now.

“She gave you her number.” He said emotionless, gesturing to the receipt in your hand. You flipped the piece of paper around and well, she did. Written in pretty girlish handwriting was her name, number, and ‘call me’ on the back of the receipt. So that’s why she gave it to you. Your face flushed again at the thought of a pretty omega taking interest in you. Sure there had been omega in the past that had took a shining to you, but most of them you shrugged off in favor of focusing on work or well, when your head was too fuzzy with the thoughts of maybe being with Bakugou. You wanted to know what she smelled like, without blockers on, would your scents be compatible? Of course, it could be a one night stand sort of deal, which would mean compatibility is basically a moot point because it wouldn’t be going anywhere serious. “Are you going to call her?” Bakugo pressed, which wasn’t like him at all. The two of you didn’t talk about your romantic lives ever. It was the one unspoken rule you shared since that dumb night in the dorms.

You knitted your eyebrows together, unsure of what answer he was probably expecting. “I think I will.” You answered honestly, feeling the burning gaze Bakugou had on your hand as you stuffed the receipt into your coat pocket and took your car keys out.

“You don’t even know her.” He argued, his pace slowing as he trailed behind you. There was something in his tone that you didn’t care to decipher, because you stopped trying to understand Bakugo on a personal level years ago. “I didn’t take you for the kind of alpha that sleeps around.” That was a low blow. You turn around, a hand on the drivers side door, and look at him. His eyes were unfocused, and stance was wobbly. How much did he have to drink again?

“Let’s get you home, Bakugo. We have to work in the morning.” You’re gonna brush off his words as after affects of too much alcohol. You were suspecting this to happen, it’s why your only had a sip of your drink the whole evening. Someone needed to drive home. Bakugou’s eyes narrowed in almost a menacing way and he didn’t take anymore steps towards your car.

“No!” He shouted, and suddenly you remember just how public this parking lot is as a passerby send a look your way. “Tell me your not gonna call her! You’re not that kind of alpha!” Your silent for a second, accessing your choices. You could have a loud verbal argument with your co-worker in the middle of the street, or you could put him over your shoulder like a child and take him to the car. You quickly rush over, all but throwing the blonde in the passenger seat of your car as he fight you in a very ungraceful way. “You wouldn’t do that to me.” That made you pause, halfway into bucking Bakugo’s seatbelt you turn to look at him. He had tears in the brims of his eyes and he looked like he was about to have a breakdown. He was a very emotional drunk.

“Bakugo, calm down.” You whispered, you don’t want him to cry. You’ve never seen him cry. You reach out and gently rub his cheek with your thumb, ignoring how your heart dropped to your stomach when he leaned into your touch.

You shut the passengers door on him and got in the drivers seat, Bakugo’s was struggling against the seatbelt. Tears were free falling down his cheeks and his breathing was getting short and rapid. It broke your heart to see the omega in distress over something stupid and meaningless like a phone number. He needed to calm down. You needed to calm him down. You quickly peeled off your scent blockers on your neck, allowing a calming scent to overtake the car. Bakugou found the click release of his seatbelt and launched himself into your lap, straddling your hips, rubbing his face on the sides of your neck, leaving a trail of tears in his wake.

The car was filled with a gentle humming sound. Purring.

_____

It was a surprise you didn’t get pulled over driving home. Bakugo refused to leave your lap, he refused to get out of the car without you when you drove to his place. You climbed up the stairs of your apartment complex to at a time, Bakugo was still in your arms and you had a feeling he wouldn’t let go of you anytime soon. Thank god you only lived on the second floor. As soon as you opened your front door Bakugo lifted his head from your neck, accessing your surroundings as you walked him further inside. He had never been to your place before — your den.

“Alright,” You said as you walked him into your bedroom, you manhandled the blonde on to your bed, met with a whole new wave of purring as you did so. Bakugo looked up at you with hooded eyes, rolling his back on your comforter, coating himself in your scent from the it. You were suddenly met with the scent of a very horny omega. Great. When did he take his scent patches off without you noticing. “You sleep here, I’ll sleep out there.” You ordered, before pointing out the door and to the couch in the living area. You had to be the one to keep a cool head in this situation, no matter how much his scent is making you want to bend his knees to his shoulders and rail into him until morning. He’s probably flexible enough to do it too. You made a move to leave.

Bakugo stared at you for a minute, then his hands had iron grips on your forearm, forcing you back on top of him and caging himself under you — you were dominating him. You could see the outline of his dick in his pants, and you could smell the slick gushing out of him. He was making it very hard to be a gentleman right now.

“I haven’t smelt your scent since high school” he whispered, hands began to stroke your shoulders and neck, a gesture he was hoping would invite you in, closer to him. It was the first thing he said since you had got out of the car. It was true, during high school you wore your scent blockers religiously after Bakugo had rejected you. You had to be with such close quarters with each other that you figured you’d be doing him a favor. You wore them during work for professionalism. The only time you didn’t wear your scent blockers now were when you were at home by yourself. “I’m sorry,”He whispered again, like someone else was gonna hear him. His hand slipped up from your shoulder to your neck, caressing your cheeks with his thumbs, just like you did to him in the car. “I’m sorry I didn’t accept your gift then.”

You swallowed, you didn’t want to talk about it. You went five years without bringing it up, why was he bringing it up. “It’s okay.” You whispered back, then tried to untangle yourself from his limbs. You had to get out of here.

Bakugo didn’t let you go, as you tried to get him to release one of his hands he grabbed you with his other, and his legs around your waist, then flipped you over so you were trapped between the bed and him. He buried his head in your neck and inhaled deeply. He missed your scent, he missed you. And he didn’t want you to move on with another omega because of a mistake he made when he was seventeen. He wanted your pups, your mark, a bond. He never seen you take any interest in a omega that wasn’t him. Being here — in your apartment, surround by the scent he missed so much — was overwhelming. Had you ever brought anyone else here?

“It’s not okay.” He said, pining your hands to your side so you couldn’t lift him off of you. “I was miserable without you, you didn’t look at me for months, you asked fucking Deku to scent your shirts for you.”

“You didn’t want to be with me.”

“I’ll always want you.” Your faces were too close, you could feel his breath with every word. “I should’ve realized it then.” Bakugou kissed you, in a sweet and loving manner, it was slow and coordinated. It wasn’t aggressive and forceful like you always thought his kisses would be like. You tasted to alcohol on his tongue and suddenly remember just how much Bakugo had to drink tonight.

“You need to sleep, your gonna have a hangover in the morning.” You mumbled against his lips.

“Not if you don’t stay with me.”

“Just for tonight.”

_____

A/N: I’ll edit and proofread this later, I had a sudden burst of energy to write.

Edited and proofread 7/6/22

#bakugou katuski x reader #bakugo x male reader #bnha x male reader #kirishima x male reader #denki kaminari x male reader #todoroki x male reader #izuku x male reader #bakugou angst #bakugou imagine #mha x male reader #male reader #alpha x omega #alpha genetics #omegaverse #alpha beta omega

[myobsessionsspace]

Hello!!!

It's great that you're open to Jikook questions 😊

There's something that's been hunting me since I first saw it.

What's your interpretation of Jimin's reaction during the Vminkook live in Dec 2021- I'm referring specifically to Jimin's reaction after V said he was going to release a song with Jungkook? His reaction was super interesting, and so was Jungkook's.

We now know that V was playing around, and his statement wasn't true. Nevertheless, I think it caught Jimin by surprise, and my take is that he was a tiny bit jealous 😅 bless Jungkook, I think he was in a little bit of trouble there 🫣

Youtube link here:

https://youtu.be/5ufxVvjNbL4?si=UCbXNJxUfkz0c7i6

The moment I'm talking about starts around minute 45:00.

Thanks 💜

Hi Lovely!

This is a great ask, it’s something I’ve had convos with my friends about before! I’ve always found it highly entertaining when any variation of vminkook are together and get into skit mode or when Tae & Jungkook tease Jimin just to get him to go into super cute mode!

It’s what they do and have been doing for years.

This live was so chaotic VMinKook style from the jump. If anyone hasn’t watched it please do **everyone please watch original content**

It was chaotic because it was initially Tae’s solo live but he said how nervous he felt doing it alone and asked for staff to get Jungkook to join him.

NB: all image are gifs unless stated otherwise, please watch as they are there to support statements made. Original links to lives are at the end 💜

Jimin then came as he heard Tae needed company and Jimin had been with Jungkook. Jungkook eventually joined later.

Due to nerves on Tae’s part and it being an unplanned live that Jimin & Jungkook didn’t intend to be having there were many times where they didn’t know what to do or the purpose of the live and would defer to Tae for direction. Tae had a running skit with Jimin about being the host of a show (the vlive) and Jimin and later Jungkook being his guests.

Not a gif. Still picture

They also had funny moments where Tae would name drop different brands (this was funny as the group had contractual obligations with brands and they know in their profession they can’t name drop brands without consequence).

TMIs, games and more skits.

credit: onlyluvkpop. Some of the fun and teasing they were having

As I said the live was fun, chaotic but also at times stilted due to its unplanned nature of it becoming a trio live and nerves.

There was a point where Tae whilst trying to engage Jungkook tried (in my opinion) to run a joke with JK on army? I’m thinking he was hoping Jungkook and Jimin would catch onto it with him?

But cutie Minie Jagi was losssstttt 😭

Jimin’s face in the live side by side with confused Jimin face from post Hobipalooza live

VMinkook love their role playing and teasing and even if Jimin hadn’t caught on, I do think nothing was done to intentionally exclude any of the three. All three tease each other in different combinations

So no, not jealousy in my opinion, Jimin has absolutely nothing to be jealous about. But confused and slightly lost, as to if it was another skit or really work related that he didn’t know about.

Maybe a tad annoyed with it being live and no hints that he was catching on to, to work with, giving a look to Jungkook like ‘are you guys serious? Why aren’t you giving me a hint on the joke’ or ‘why am I hearing about a song for the first time in a live? You guys aren’t making sense’ and Jungkook’s kinda like ‘I’m as lost as you are’ or ‘what did I do? I’m just going along too!’

Maybe he was probably also thinking to himself when did Jungkook have a chance in between eating chicken together, working out together, Jungkook coming to his room all the time?? 😂

Not a gif. Still picture

Also Tae literally talked about a Christmas song earlier on in the live when it was just Jimin and Tae

Normally though, when V & JK are teasing Jimin, he knows it, and loves it 😂

But Minie was lost that time and he told us so

Tae & JK sometimes find a lost Jiminie, to be a cute Jiminie

Original Source: Weverse

Ultimately (in my opinion) Tae was mixing some facts together, which had JK quicker to the draw in playing along, but JK too was also confused at the beginning of their skit. When Jungkook caught on, he too teased Tae a bit and tried to get an expensive gift promise from Tae

Reached my media limit so ss the transcript instead, but like always, please watch the original lives for yourself

I’m assuming that the two had been vibing together and having fun making little play songs and singing, which is why JK said “what is it?” And “How can we release that?”

Tae did have a Christmas song in the works, just not with JK.

But for anyone that wanted a Christmas song from Jungkook, that’s ok, don't worry, him and Jimin have already done one together!

Not a gif. Still picture from Dynamite Christmas remix MV

Original source: BANGTANTV

I really appreciate your ask @irmi3454, I had fun!

💜

Original Weverse Links for Live

Live Part 1

Live Part 2

Live Part 3

#Jikook #Anonymous Asks #V #Jimin #Jungkook #Weverse Live #VMinKook

[celticcrossanon]

I have given up hope that King Charles will do anything to stop the relentless overt and nonovert attacks from the Californication Duo. He likes, in my opinion, to hide behind the kindly father figure act instead of being a strong, decisive monarch. For quite some time, lady Colin Campbell has hinted that something is on the horizon. Something that would take the duo down definitively. She has moved the date many times upward and it never seems to happen. She recently said that Charles had a decision to make, and if he didn’t make it, it could be taken out of his hands. Do you believe this, do you think anything is on the horizon that could truly take them down? In contrast to what everyone else says, I personally believe that Harry is happy. it doesn’t appear to me that he wants to leave her. I think it’s been wishful thinking on my part at least. Just curious to see what you really think. I am almost at my end of watching this train wreck. It’s probably time for me to take a break, even though I really hope there is some kind of ending to all of this madness.

Hi Nonny,

The situation with Lady C reminds me of the verse from Proverbs, that hope deferred makes the heart sick. I do believe that she was told that something was going to happen, but it has been put off and deferred for so long now that when it does happen, I think the reaction will be more of a 'so what' than anything else (unless it is a really big event).

I think the Harkles have been declining in relevance since they left the BRF, and they decline more with every day that passes, with the bonus that more and more people are a) sick of them and b) seeing them for what they truly are. It is a long, drawn out, slow demise and I understand people getting sick of it and leaving. I also think that what upsets people the most is that the evil the Harkles do either never seems to be punished, or appears to be punished in only the mildest of ways, and that does not satisfy our innate sense of justice.

If the delay in revealing a bombshell about the Harkles is King Charles, then I want that to be made clear when the bombshell drops.

As to Harry leaving Meghan, it seems to be a yes-no-yes-no energy. He gets upset at her and wants to leave, and then something good happens or his pride can't stand admitting his family was right and he decides to stay, then something else happens and he wants to leave, and so on. I do think that they lead separate lives and put on a show of 'happy families' for the camera. Whether that will lead to a separation or whether they will stay at this stage forever is beyond me.

I think taking a break is a good idea. If something big happens then it should make the news and you will hear about it, and in the meantime you can have a rest from all the toxic energy that the Harkles emit.

[loiswasadevil]

Hi Lois, I wanted to share extra information regarding the co-creators of South Park. I have a very grey but not neutral opinion on the show, so I won't try to tell you what to think about this. Also this is quite long and rambly, so if you'd rather not read it, that's okay!

Matt Stone is Jewish, but his parents didn't really "raise him Jewish" (for lack of a better term) if i remember corrrectly, as they are both atheists (Stone is as well). He is still ethnically Jewish of course, and someone can correct me but he didn't know this until he was 16. He said he did read an awful lot about Judaism and Jewish people, and I don't think their portrayal of the Broflovski family is completely negative. In some respects the firmness by which Kyle defends his identity and family can be nice to see on TV. I digress.

Matt Stone has written a few episodes (or co-written), and he voice acts in almost every episode, but his role overall is largely ideation and helping his co-creator stay on task and see the episode through. He does the important business side of things, and often the ideas that go into the shows are taken from him or are whatever made himself and Trey Parker laugh.

Trey is his co-creator and is not Jewish. He is the one responsible for a lot of the writing past the ideation stage and beyond making sure the plot tracks/things make sense. I feel like it just isn't 100% accurate to say Matt largely spearheaded the show, when the show is moreso about his dynamic with Trey, where Trey is the one with basically full creative control, only (or mostly) answering to Matt's second opinion. Matt defers to Comedy Central in Trey's stead as well, which is still a lot of work but mostly to keep Trey's work in tact.

Since I did go over what is known about Matt's experience being Jewish, I can cover (what I know regarding) Trey's experiences regarding Judaism. He grew up in a largely white, largely Catholic (or just Christian) town. He talked about how there was only one Jewish family in his choir or something? And how bad he felt for the 1 Jewish girl who had to go up and sing Hannukah songs after everyone was done singing Christmas carols. This might seem inconsequential but he chose to say this, though it must have been a bit ago when he was in his 20s so the memory was fresher. As far as I know, he hasn't said a lot else about it.

I think it might have been actually Matt who said this, but either way, one of them also had witnessed physical assault on Jewish peers at their school (I'm leaning toward Matt being the one who said this just because I think Trey just talked about hwo he felt sympathy for the girl in choir being the odd one out).

I will also say in terms of their partnership, Matt is viewed more as the one who has a dark sense of humor while Trey is considered to be the one with "heart." A lot of South Park overall is just the two of them making them laugh, and sometimes especially recently Trey will play off of "whatever Matt is pissed about today" for episode plots, and sometimes episodes feel like the A plot is Trey's idea while the B plot is Matt's, or vice versa... but regardless, Matt isn't the one writing the episodes (and he only co-wrote beforehand). That isn't to say either of them are genuinely anti-semitic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic... but that isn't to say they aren't actually those things either.

I don't know what they currently think and i can't fully know what they were thinking when they said those things in interviews and whatever else. But we can still look at what is in the show and how people respond to its content, because REGARDLESS of Stone's involvement, if he does more or less in the development process, the show still had an effect on people that many would consider to be negative. I guess the question is how much do Jewish people need to be involved in a creative work for it to be "okay"? Does Matt Stone's involvement absolve South Park of being anti-Semitic or perpetuating anti-Semitism at all?

Anyway Lois, sorry for the long ask! Feel free to delete, I just used to be obsessed with South Park for years so I wanted to share what I knew. Let me know what you think!! I love your blog 🩷

Sorry I dont care about South Park so I didn't read this

[trillscienceofficer]

idk if you’ve seen this post but it very much made me think of b’elanna and a lot of the conversations we’ve been having about her recently: www(.)tumblr(.)com/weltenwellen/614081842448056320/lindsay-c-gibson-adult-children-of-emotionally

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, this quote is SURE relevant to B'Elanna (here in plain text):

Not Trusting Your Instincts Emotionally immature parents don't know how to validate their child's feelings and instincts. Without this validation, children learn to give in to what others seem sure about. As adults, they may deny their instincts to the point where they acquiesce to relationships they don't really want. They may then believe it's up to them to make the relationship work. They may rationalize why they have to try so hard in the relationship, as though it were normal to struggle daily to get along with your mate. While effort is needed to maintain communication and connection in a relationship, it shouldn't feel like constant, unrewarding work. The truth is, if both partners fit each other, understand each other's feelings, and are positive and supportive, relationships are primarily pleasurable, not arduous. It isn't asking too much to generally feel happy when you see your partner or look forward to time together. When people say, "You can't have everything," they're really saying they don't have what they need.

As a human being, you can trust yourself to l know when you're emotionally satisfied. You know I when you've been given full measure. You aren't a bottomless pits of ceaseless demands. You can trust the inner prompts that tell you when something is missing. But if you've been trained to discount your feelings, you'll feel guilty for complaining if everything looks okay on the outside. If you have a place to live, a regular paycheck, enough food, and a partner or friends, conventional wisdom says, "How bad can it be?" Many people can readily enumerate all the reasons why they should be satisfied and be shy about admitting that they aren't. They blame themselves for not having the "right" feelings.

— Lindsay C. Gibson, “Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents”

You're right, this is B'Elanna in a nutshell. The constant racial stereotyping she was subjected to and the fact that her own father bought into it really did a number on B'Elanna's self-esteem. So many of her childhood memories revolve around people goading her into a reaction then berate her for her anger once she finally snapped. It's like she was gaslighted into believing that every single one of her feelings was unreasonable, and therefore now she doesn't trust herself when it comes to evaluating how she fits within any social structure, deferring to the opinion of others.

This is most obvious in her relationship with Tom (honestly, this quote describes their relationship so well it's kind of uncanny) but I'd argue that B'Elanna trying to get into Starfleet only to quit the Academy is a twisted symptom of this as well—she didn't trust herself enough to know whether she could actually graduate, so she believed the people who told her she would never make it (and never mind the fact that in reality the Starfleet instructors were impressed with her—rattling cages doesn't work with everyone and was clearly NOT what B'Elanna needed).

And in “Drive” we see this coming back with a vengeance, she doesn't trust herself enough to call it quits with Tom and when he eventually proposes she just... goes along with it, mixed feelings suddenly irrelevant in the face of someone else's (apparent) convictions. I think Tom has similar issue as well so this is truly a 'but who's driving the car??' situation, they're both thinking that the other wants it more than they do and that they don't actually deserve any better!

(ETA: frankly their entire relationship started this way too, like... with all the alien crap making a latent attraction actually become overt in a way they wouldn't have chosen otherwise, B'Elanna and Tom practically pulled each other into a relationship)

I also think this is why B'Elanna seems to latch onto authority figures (like Chakotay and Janeway) so readily, though she would never admit it. It's a way for her to figure out what's the 'correct' way to interface with other people, so she can orient her feelings towards fitting into any expectation they might have. Of course that never really works out as well as she'd like because she is an actual person, and one with many feelings and opinions, even if she's spent so many years running away from them. And running away from feelings is sure another one of B'Elanna's traits (it's the entire plot of “Extreme Risk”).

The part of that quote about parents not validating their children's feelings makes me now wonder about what would've happened if B'Elanna had had parents who consistently and explicitly supported her, and made sure she understood that she was not overreacting when she was being bullied. Mostly if she'd had a father who didn't suck so bad; I think Miral tried in her own way to support her daughter as best as she could, although she was completely isolated and probably dealing with a lot of self-doubt of her own in the middle of a crumbling relationship. I'm not so naive to believe that better parenting would've solved every single one of B'Elanna's issues (you can't just wish away the impact that racism has on children, unfortunately), but she would probably be better equipped to trust herself and her own emotions than she is on the show, at least.

#thinking about B'Elanna be like.........aaauuuughhhh #b'elanna torres #voy #askbox

[incorrect-house-of-nine]

One of the earliest signs of Harrowhark Nonagesimus yearning for something softer, yearning to be known rather than feared or despised (by Gideon at least) , a crack in her bony armour if you will, is when she's chewing out Gideon about the ridiculous nicknames she's coming up with. Harrow literally signals to Gideon what she'd like to be called. "You ought to stop with this Twilight Princess nonsense or I might grow to like it." Gideon has never called her anything so soft. Her sobriquets for the Ninth House scion have always been slightly derogatory, as a way to rail against the expectation that Gideon show her deference by calling her "My Lady" like a cavalier is supposed to. Its my humble opinion that Harrow secretly wants to be called Twilight Princess. It must be something she's thought about with how swiftly she claps back with it. Its like when she gets awkward and blushes when Pal tells Harrow "I would trust the Lady Harrowhark Nonagesimus." (paraphrasing) She wants people to see that she is honorable, that she's trustworthy, that she's so much more. Her actions speak so much louder than her words. She's almost taken aback that the Sixth are naturally so kind, that they are reaching across all that mystery, ignoring the bigoted rumors, not giving a shit about what everyone has been told the ninth are (even though Gideon and Harrow are walking cliches and dramatic as all hell, but then again Pal has a flair for the dramatic too) Id say that if Harrow heard Pal's speech to Not Dulcinea about her sheer brilliance, the awe and respect he grants her, she would have melted into a puddle of bone and robes on the floor. The fact she would never leave her cavalier or her house, even if it meant imminent death, to fight alone. She'd be on the front lines with them, bleeding with them, ready to burn with them. God damn, Harrowhark Nonagesimus squirts fealty and loyalty out of every orifice. I think about that alot. (Sorry, im having some Harrow feels this morning.)

#tlt #the locked tomb #harrow nonagesimus #gideon nav

[kyluxtrashpit]

Sooo, I’m not sure if this will make you feel any better about the whole poll drama disappointment, but I thought I’d let you know where I think some of this may have originated from and why I think the bots rumor started rather than there actually being bots (though I will get to that too).

(as a disclaimer: I’m speaking only from what I’ve seen from my neck of the (kylux) fandom woods; there could absolutely be other people involved that I’ve simply seen nothing from)

A person, who happens to ship kylux but has promoted to all fandoms with that character, has been having fun with the ‘hottest SW man poll’. They’ve been reblogging links to it along with entertaining little edits to promote their favorite character with the hope of getting people to take part in the vote. Now obviously they’re voting for that character themself, but anyone who happens to see the post are no more obligated than anyone else who reblogs/sees the poll to vote for that person’s preference. (I’m a kyluxer too, and I love both of them, but despite the promotions I still didn’t vote for him because that’s not my opinion for ‘hottest SW man’) And I don’t know about you, but I’m sure there have been many people, myself included, who have voted in a poll someone they follow reblogged for something that person liked and, despite not having a stake in it personally, cast said vote in deference to them. I’m sure that happened in some cases with this situation, however I’m also sure part of what happened is that fans who’d have otherwise never seen the poll were able to cast their vote (I’m in this category as I don’t follow these sorts of blogs at all), as well as – because it was put out in a fun, silly way – led them to vote when they might not have cared to bother otherwise.

Now, I do agree it’s kinda stretching the general spirit of these polls, however what they’ve been doing is only really different in that they’ve been adding character edits along with multiple reblogs in an attempt to make it a silly little attention-grabbing promotion thing rather than merely a reblog or two of the poll. Again, I do think it’s been a bit much, but I will say I can appreciate the enthusiasm of someone who thought they were having fun in their fandom with a simple ‘for fun’ fandom related poll. Another consideration to make is that this person might be new to these things (and/or tumblr in general), which could be a reason for it as well. Plus, different people are going to react to and participate in things in different ways, and sometimes those ways differ from the norm enough to cause a stir despite no ill will or actual ‘rule breaking’ meant.

Nevertheless, that isn’t botting. I can see why people might feel it’s a little unfair even if it’s only exaggerating behavior people already naturally have with polls. I can also certainly understand why it could lead to some people getting rubbed the wrong way and then feeling upset, thus further leading to a sense of drama and subsequent botting rumors (and the origin person being a kylux shipper leading to the kylux fandom as a whole being scapegoated). But still, that’s not the same as botting. In the end, neither you nor anyone else are obligated to no longer be upset simply because of this explanation. That’s your right and you don’t have to like this any more than genuine botting, I just wanted to clarify a potential source.

However, if there IS real botting, that’s indeed an absurd thing for someone to be doing for a simple poll. Perhaps someone got out of hand because of the above person’s promoting; perhaps it’s just a rumor started because some people simply weren’t expecting the character to receive enough votes to persist in the poll – and hey, everyone’s got their own preferences and opinions on ‘hotness’, but the fact a character some don’t think should be lingering over others has endured so long doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a conspiracy. Of course, I’m sure there are people who also have their own opinions on what might constitute ‘botting’ and have considered what I described to be in that category. Which is totally fine too. I personally disagree, but that’s merely my opinion and no one else has to accept it. For the most part, I merely believe this was a situation that got a little out of hand and led to a bit of drama that’s now negatively painting people who meant no harm – because it IS just a fun little fandom poll.

As for the numbers bumping in seemingly large chunks upon refreshing (I don’t even know how you could see individual numbers for an individual character???), I can only guess at how these polls bring in the numbers in order to calculate percentages, both continuous and final. Is it in delayed chunks? Is it really one by one by one exactness??? Perhaps a combination of both, somehow??? While on your end it might appear to be an immediate change after your vote (so a one by one idea), upon a refresh it might ACTUALLY be registering assorted votes in collected chunks, altering the newly refreshed percentage in a way that might seem huge based on what it was before/after your vote, but actually isn’t due to a collected recalculation of ALL new votes. And by individual character numbers, I’m not talking about that character's percentage, which is a percentage of a whole being recalculated upon that refresh. A whole which shifts percentages up and down throughout as the vote total increases regardless of minutes or hours. For a long-term example: he could be at a 13% high at one point because a number of that character’s voters voted around that time, heightening his numbers amongst the pool of votes, then a few hours later is at a 5% low because even more overall votes have come in since and his were few to none, and then later up to 9% as another batch of his voter’s participated. These ‘batches’ ostensibly have more to do with time zones/people online seeing the poll post and not botting. And in the short term you can apply this concept but with the ‘batches’ being overall votes that happen to have some chunks for that character mixed in.

Honestly, I don’t know if any of that is fully true or not; I’m just going off general observation of the polls and vaguely educated(?) guesswork. I could be totally wrong and that stupidly long paragraph is nonsense. Really this whole seemingly suspicious numbers thing is something I’d not seen or heard about at all until your post, so...I’ve no idea there. If botting is happening, and someone did get out of hand with this, I think it’s likely piggybacking off this above person’s attempt at fun engagement, thus tainting and casting blame on said person and, in particular, their ship fandom (which is quite unfair as not all his fans come from kylux, or even from pairings to begin with). And if there isn’t botting and it’s all a misunderstanding, then it’s still doing that to this person and the kylux fandom because of people’s upset and blame shifting onto the biggest pairing he’s in. Either way, it’s just a really unfortunate turn of events. (of course, I’m still merely speaking from my neck of the woods, there could be other stuff going on outside it that I don’t know anything about.)

In short, I suppose I just wanted to say: hey, it’s sad to see you (and others) feeling upset or disheartened by potential botting in a simple SW fandom poll with the potential origin being a kyluxer, and maybe this could help at least give you a different viewpoint and understanding of what might be going on behind the scenes. Still, yet again, neither you nor anyone else has to care about or agree with anything I’ve said, I simply felt a desire to do so as a follower of you, awareness of this poll, and a kyluxer myself.

So first off, I do appreciate your thoughtful response! And I'll clarify a bit on what I was talking about and why I made the statement. Now I will admit that I do not have 100% concrete proof of anything, what I have is my own observations, those observations confirmed by others, plus some information that is admittedly rumour, but is from people I trust who aren't the type to start shit and wouldn't say anything unless it was something they'd personally seen or had no reason to doubt

And I don't think recruiting friends outside the fandom to vote is botting or any other kind of cheating - it's not, everyone does that, I don't think that's an issue at all and is within fairness. What I'm talking about is actual botting, using fake accounts to vote. Which, if you have either the programming know how or a bit of money to pay for a bot that's pre-made, is a lot easier than people think it is. I know how one could do it manually, but I do not know enough about programming to automate it (and I won't explain how, because then it might give more people ideas lmao). I don't think this is widespread either, like one single person with the know how can 100% make hundreds accounts and have them vote within a few minutes. And, if they've ever botted a poll before, it's even faster because the accounts may have already been made

So it started with me watching the poll near the end (I voted within the first couple hours of it being posted, but I was curious how it would turn out). I refreshed with 45-60 minutes left and saw 'oh Hux is gonna lose, okay, too bad but it is what it is' because he was at ~8% and the next lowest was Anakin, who was just under 12%. As the time ticked down, I refreshed again and saw a sudden shift, which surprised me. At that point, I started refreshing every minute or so because it kept going, every refresh was a big jump even at that frequency. Within less than 10 minutes (I don't recall the exact timeframe, but it was very fast, too fast), the total vote count had increased by about 300 or so and I watched it surge with every refresh. The vast majority of these votes, if not all of them, were for Hux as his percentage was the only one that increased significantly (the rest increased by less than a full percentage point, if they didn't decrease)

So while you can't see how many votes went for each person, polls do have the total vote count at the bottom and you can see the percentages, so you can tell if there's a sudden increase in overall votes and if those affect on particular vote choice more than any other. Which is why I found this suspicious because that many votes, that quickly, overwhelmingly for one option, it's highly unlikely it was done by real humans. Plus, we've all seen what happens with big polls both here and on twitter - people have literally paid like $200 to bot polls before and it seems sadly to just be becoming something people do

After I saw that jump, I went and talked to some friends in a private discord we use for chatting and some of them, too, had been watching the poll and having similar suspicions to myself. A more tech-savvy one said this is the kind of increases that are consistent with the use of bots. A couple of people also mentioned they had heard people talking about botting, but weren't sure if that was a joke or not (and it may have been, even if there was botting, it may not have been these people). I can't reveal much more without compromising the identities of my friends, who didn't want to speak out about their suspicions because they don't want to get targeted or anything. I am far beyond caring about that lmao, so I chose to say something about it because idk this kind of thing just really irritates me and as a kyluxer for a very long time, I feel like it's the duty of people in a fandom to call out bad behaviour of our fellows in a rational, non-harassing way

Now, again, I admit none of this is concrete proof. And if I'm wrong and everything was above board and someone did manage to conjure a few hundred people all at the same time at the last minute, well, that's genuinely miraculous like unbelievably so lmao, so good for them. If so, I'll rescind the post, apologize, and go back to having fun. But from the pov of statistics, what I saw myself, what my friends saw, and the added rumours, like. I have to say that actual botting seems far more likely to me. You're welcome to disagree, or think this isn't enough evidence to say it for sure happened, but I wanted to say something regardless because if someone is botting, or even just thinking about it, maybe pointing it out will shame them into stopping so we can go back to having fun

I hope you're right and it wasn't happening, and hell, it may not have even been a kyluxer if it was (there are non-kylux Hux fans out there), but I just find it hard to believe it wasn't happening at this point between what I saw, what others saw, and what I heard. And I think it's better to point out fandom bad behaviour than let it continue unchecked. I refuse to let that kinda shit happen if I can do something about it

#I hope this makes sense #like yes it's rumour but it's also based on my own and others' observations too #and I think occam's razor is sadly pointing to botting rather than the alternative #but I'm just presenting the information I have - if it's wrong I will always admit that #I do appreciate the discussion though #ask tag #anon #text #long post

[dadumtss]

Slenderman Headcanons: Jobs 2

What is it like working for the Slender Brothers in the AU?

Slenderman

Most people that work under him are terrified of him. But really only because of his reputation and demeanor. While he certainly demands respect and some level of deference, most under him are rarely in any actual danger of him. Unless you anger him on a personal level or do something incomprehensibly incompetent or truly malicious, he’s not going to do any more harm than fire you. He’s curt, stand-offish and doesn’t care about interacting with you on anything other than a professional level, but he isn’t unreasonable or cruel. 

He does think the worst of others, but that ends up working in your favor since he expects that there’s going to be some level of mistakes made and incompetence displayed. Therefore, he isn’t angered when it happens and will offer guidance on getting things back on track. 

He’s sometimes hard to reach because he’s off being a diplomat all over the world and is often locked in his office when he’s around, but he always seems to have an idea of what’s going on. 

The pay and benefits are the best and requests for leave are almost always granted. He’ll listen to your opinions on relevant work topics and doesn’t impose weird office rules or brutal working hours (though sometimes staying late is expected when there’s a crisis). 

All in all, a perfectly reasonable boss.  

Offenderman

Working at his Clubs

Offender is a very absentee boss. He’s extremely hard to reach since he’s always off on some crazy adventure but thankfully he has managers and the like that ensure everything can run smoothly without him there. But then one day after a long absence he’ll burst through the doors and start talking happily about ideas he has and things he wants changed and events he wants to put on and you’re expected to get all of them done.  

It’s frustrating for sure but he’s fun to work with. He’s extremely entertaining, fun to talk to and brings a lot of energy to the workplace. While most of the managers hate dealing with the logistics of all his crazy ideas and impulsive decisions, everyone tends to enjoy having him around. He remembers names, faces and makes an effort to get to know you on a personal level (even if it is just a ploy to get you in bed). 

The pay is higher than any other club and while things like benefits, leave and work hours usually fall to the managers, if you can catch Offender and ask he’ll enthusiastically give you whatever you ask for and more without much thought. 

There’s no sanction on relationships (with him) in the workplace and he’s probably slept with most, if not all, of the workforce. 

He’ll sometimes jump in on the jobs he considers fun. He’ll join the bouncer in throwing people out and breaking up fights, he’ll help out behind the bar and make a show of making flashy drinks and he’ll even get up on stage and put on a show.  

Working at his Investment ‘Business’

Offender is much more involved with his investment business. He listens to the pitches himself and does most of the leg work in getting those that impress him whatever they need. 

However, if you’re one of the, like, two people at his ‘general’ office you have one hell of a job ahead of you. Your job is to answer his mail, keep his accounts orderly and his books clean, inform him of anyone looking for an ‘investment’ and ensure that all the businesses he ‘invested in’ are paying their dues.

Basically, you do all the paperwork since he considers it ‘boring’ and wants no part of it. 

The pay is undeniably great but putting up with Offender’s uncaring attitude towards your job makes it just barely worth it. 

He rarely comes into the general office but when he does he’s just as flirtatious and friendly as he is with his employees at the clubs. He tries to get to know you on a personal level but so much of your time has to be dedicated to your job due to the workload that he finds hearing about your life boring.      

Trenderman

A menace. 

Everyone who works for him is terrified and its for good reason. He does not tolerate failure or mistakes and he can and will make it impossible for you to get another job in design after you’re fired if you piss him off enough. 

Not to mention it’s known around the office that he turns people into mannequins. 

He runs his business with an iron fist. All his employees’ work has to be approved by him and he won’t hold back on any negative opinions. Even if he likes what you’ve done you won’t hear much more than “hmm” as he signs off on it.

All of his employees are experts at reading even his smallest micro expressions so they can avoid his wrath. 

He rarely yells but his quiet anger and scathing remarks are just as effective in breaking down his employees. 

It goes without saying that you are expected to dress well if you want to work for him. It doesn’t matter if you’re a secretary, interior designer or photographer, if he pays your salary you better look good when he sees you.

The elevator is his. If he’s on it you do not get on. If you’re on it and he gets on, you get out. 

The pay? The best in the business. You get amazing benefits and leave but you’re expected to always be ‘on call’ if needed.  

Splendorman

An amazing boss. 

The pay is way more than a comparable job anywhere else, the benefits amazing and your requests for leave are always granted. 

He’s kind, amicable, approachable and very forgiving of most mistakes. 

He brings treats to work for all his employees to enjoy.

He makes friends with everyone, remembers all his employees faces and names and always takes your opinion into consideration. 

He remembers details about his employees like birthdays and favorite foods that he uses to make sure he’s doing right by them. Expect gifts on your birthday and the treats at office parties catered to everyone’s taste.  

He’s very easy to reach and is very involved with his business (though not to the level of micromanaging). 

He has a propensity for taking on too much work himself since he always wants to help out his employees any way he can.  

He does ask his managers to fire anyone that absolutely has to be. He just doesn’t have the will to do it himself. 

#slenderman #slenderman headcanons #slenderman headcanon #offenderman #offenderman headcanon #offenderman headcanons #trenderman #trenderman headcanon #trenderman headcanons #splendorman #splendorman headcanons #splendorman headcanon #slenderverse #slenderverse au #creepypasta #creepypasta au #creepypasta headcanon #creepypasta headcanons #slender brothers #slender family

[noemitenshi]

"Send me a ship"

For whatever ship your feeling 💚

There's only one ship my mind's been thinking about these past... several years XD (yes they are monopolizing me): Troy x Lee (Crazy Dog) x Ri

Who was the one to propose: Depends on the universe, personally I love the versions where at least two of them are planning to propose around the same time hihi. That's always cute and fun.

Who stressed more over wedding planning: This also kinda depends (haha that's what I get for having a million different stories for this ship). I feel like it's a toss up between Troy and Ri. Maybe in (post-)apocalypse versions it's more Ri and in AU versions it definitely feels like Troy. Lee is way too laid back to worry too much (he just wants to spend the day celebrating them and it doesn't matter a lot to him if things dont work out like they planned or anything like that. It just matters that they are together. I mean also good food, I feel like he'd want the food to be especially nice hihi - also, he did this once before so he knows things might go wrong and that that's ok too).

Who decorated the house: Mostly Ri, she's the one that has an eye for making things beautiful. Troy is too practical about things haha he'd never stop to consider the prettiness of things, just whether he needs them or no. And even though he may tease Ri over it or like bitch a little haha at getting 'unnecessary' things, in the end he has to admit (only to himself of course XD) that the house *does* look nicer with Ri's additions. Also he likes seeing her presence there like this. Lee, on the other hand, very much appreciates Ri's sense of beauty from the very first moment. He loves all beautiful things after all... and maybe feels like he doesn't have as good of an eye as Ri. But once she starts with decorating, he tries, too. They have fun choosing things together, he likes her telling him her opinion about what he chooses and also telling him whether it'llf it or no.

Who does the cooking: Ri and Troy. Mostly together hihi. Ri is the better cook but it's a close call. Lee absolutely can't cook. I mean he won't die of starvation of course, he knows the basics, but he doesn't know what makes things taste yummy (which is a tragedy since he so loves good food. I think if he'd be on his own for a bit, without the other two, he may grow depressed from how his food is so bland hahahah)

Who is more organized: Troy is, even though Ri is pretty organized, too. Lee absolutely is the least organized (which is difficult for Troy to watch haha, mostly he's annoyed about it but sometimes it also amuses him. Also he likes to tease Lee about it when the mood strikes. Which Lee doesn't mind one bit, he knows his weaknesses after all)

Who initiates bedroom fun: Well I'd say it's pretty evenly split. In the beginning Troy is always a bit more hesitant but honestly never for long. He's greedy like that. For Lee, bedroom fun (haha) is a very important expression of his love, so once he does fall in love he's pretty horny XD And Ri isn't shy either.

Who suggested kids first: So, in most stories, the first one is kinda an accident hahaha. But the second one, Troy suggests almost always first (except in the one version where Ri didn't even really want the first one, there, she is the one who suggests it). Lee does already have a kid, but he doesn't know is he is alive or dead so it's a bit of a touchy subject with him...

Who’s more dominant: Inside the bedroom, Lee, hands down hahaha. Outside, it depends. Everyone has their area of expertise and the others do defer to it (not always of course, there has to be potential for clashes hihi). I feel like though if Lee really wanted to, he is most capable of stopping the other two with a word or phrase, even if they don't feel like stopping. Though mostly he's the mediator (uhm. more or less. because when there's a fight between ri and troy, both go "lee! do something, s/he's being a meanie!"

Who’s the cuddler: Lee, absolutely. Though they are all very physical. Always touching one another (casual or otherwise) and hugging, even when they're not yet romantically involved.

What’s their favorite non-sexual activity: Basically everything they can do together hahah. No honestly, they enjoy spending time with one another and then it doesn't even matter that much what it is. Coooking, working in the garden or at the house, killing zombies (probably troy's favorite haha), cuddling on the couch, reading together, playing board games. All of it

Who comes home drunk at 3am: Ri. That's not even a debate. Troy doesn't drink and for Lee it would take quite a lot for him to stay out so late to get drunk.

Who kills the spiders: Troy or Lee, though mostly Troy is faster

Who falls asleep first: Lee, he just loves being all cuddled up to his lovers and it doesn't take long for him to fall asleep. The other two call him 'old man' (lovingly. most times) for a reason

Their relationship summed up in a gif:

Thank you so so much for sending this in, this was very fun 🧡🧡🧡

Also, credit for the answers goes also to my co-author rebelbravado (with whom I can't stop creating universes for those three) 💖💖💖 especially the 'who is more organized' and 'who kills the spider' one (though honestly, we came up with this ship so in every answer there's bits of both of us 🥰🥰)

#troy otto #ask #crazy dog #troy otto x crazy dog x ri #ask game

[apphiarothowrites]

Nothing but the truth

Nobody notices anything is wrong with Marco for a full two days after the fact. He doesn't blame them-it's not a habit or instinct of his to lie. Hell, he hadn't known anything was wrong with himself until dinner when Thatch shoved a plate of pie into his hands and despite his attempt to be polite about it, he somehow said "Oh, I'm not going to be able to eat this" instead of "Thanks."

Thatch barely batted an eye at the time, waving him off with a "Then give it to Ace!", already engrossed in passing dessert out to some puppy-eyed deckhands from the Second Division. Still, the fact that he couldn't pass off his dislike of this particular pie-chocolate mousse-like normal is what tipped him off.

He tests it throughout the next day. First with his first officer, Mala, during paperwork after breakfast. He opens a conversation about paint colors for a theoretical redecoration of his quarters, Mala asks his opinion about the color orange, and he tries his absolute damnedest to say he hates it with every fiber of his being. Instead what comes out is, "I love orange. Reminds me of Ace-yoi."

And while his attraction to Ace hasn't exactly been a secret in his own Division, Mala's eyebrows rise above the rims of their glasses regardless. He's usually much more subtle about it, quieter. He's never said much about it out loud, let alone so directly.

Later in the day, in deference to how close he got to just blurting something out that he isn't exactly keen on being known, he changes tactics. After a near disaster during lunch--Namur lamenting his shore leave will be cut short to supervise a supply pick-up for his Division that Marco nearly volunteers himself for--he switches to nonverbal answers.

Nods, shakes of the head, shrugging of the shoulders, a hand wavering in the air "so-so". He keeps his opinions honest, but practical and gentle. "You should tell your First Officer this." "That's the responsibility of your Quartermaster, ask him." "This isn't something my Division covers, take this to the Fifth."

He also delegates. On deck, he keeps himself reserved and quieter than normal. He relies on the deck bosses to be vigilant, allows senior members of the crew to throw their weight around to keep the younger or less experienced sailors in line, and generally stays close to the helmsman in the topmost deck. Ace is on the same deck shift as he is and he lets the younger man do most of the work. It isn't strictly out of character for him-he runs "tests" like these often enough that most aren't surprised by his shift in attitude. The only mild oddness is that he didn't warn anyone he was doing so-his usual routine is to give a heads up a week or so beforehand to the deck bosses and Division Commanders about such a thing. Thankfully, everyone takes it in stride-especially Ace who practically shines with how well he takes over the flow of the ship while he's in charge.

He even tells Ace so when the deck shift changes, patting the younger man on the back and praising him on the way indoors. Ace flushes, still unused to compliments, but gives him an odd look when they enter the mess for dinner. It's a close call, but Marco thinks he's in the clear once Ace starts wolfing down his multiple plates like normal.

In the end, though, it's Pops who figures him out. Pops appears in the mess halfway through dinner and things almost immediately go off the rails. The cheery atmosphere boils right over into riotous joy-songs, drinking contests, money changing hands, and food everywhere. Marco, already slightly on edge from the strangeness affecting him, finds his nerves wearing thin after the first hour. But moments like these have been getting rarer, where Pops' health is on the upswing and he's got enough energy at the end of the day to sit around and shoot the shit with the crew.

Pops notices, because of course he does. There's a lull, about two hours in, around him and he leans over on one elbow to nudge Marco's back gently where he sits on the arm of Pops' chair. "You're frowning there, son."

"Sorry-yoi." He says automatically. And he is, he hates when his worries and mood deprive Pops-or anyone-a chance at a good time.

"What's on your mind?" His father asks quietly-which, for a man his size, is still a dull roar but in the din of the cafeteria Marco knows barely anyone heard him.

"That guy from the fight two days ago did something to me." He says, not a single thought going to the preservation of his dignity. There had been a minor scuffle during a supply run, and a man had shoved Marco into a wall while accusing him of lying about his loyalty to the crew. "I can't lie and I'm having trouble holding back impulsive honesty or gestures-yoi."

Pops eyes him, one eyebrow raised, and takes a sip out of his massive tankard. "What's to be done about it?"

Marco shrugs. "Fuck if I know-yoi."

Then he blinks, the abruptness of his own honesty surprising himself. "I...I don't know. I'm going to piss somebody off though, or tell someone something I shouldn't-yoi."

Pops rests a massive hand against his back, warm and steady. Marco leans back into it, feeling strangely comforted and mildly embarrassed (like he's 18 again, freaked out by a nightmare and too prideful to say so). "Come see me in the morning, we'll discuss what we should do next. Until then, try to enjoy yourself son!"

He shoves Marco off the arm of the chair, directly into Ace's passing side, and laughs loud enough to make his ears ring.

#AR writes #nothing but the truth #y'know when people are cursed to speak only the truth/they can't tell lies #yeah I'm going there

[imagine-loki]

🚨 CAUTION/TRIGGER WARNING: Name-Calling; Verbal Abuse

Imagine walking hand-in-hand with Loki when the two of you overhear Odin berating Frigga as a “nagging shrew.”

You ache for her, naturally, unable to imagine what it must be like to endure such a thing from one’s own husband.

Loki is visibly furious. He remembers hearing all this back when he was little. He remembers Frigga blinking back her tears and putting on a brave, happy smile for her boys.

He remembers how much worse it was for everyone whenever he or Thor tried to speak up for their mother.

Odin finishes his diatribe, and Frigga leaves. As she walks past you both, you notice an undeniable pink tinge just below her eyes.

She reaches out for Loki’s free hand and gives a squeeze. “Control yourself,” she says softly.

With that, she leaves.

Loki holds you close. “Don’t fret, love.” He kisses your temple. “I would never.”

You know he means it.

The day comes that Loki is crowned king. He looks at you, as if he’s even happier about you becoming queen.

A part of you doesn’t quite grasp the concept of being queen, though.

Decisions are made and diplomacy meetings are conducted with mostly Loki’s input. Not that he doesn’t listen to you. He certainly would if you said anything.

But you don’t.

Loki tries another tactic. Maybe he can force you to speak. “Well, before we finalize anything, we should hear from the Queen of Asgard.”

You gulp, wide-eyed.

“(Name)? Darling? What do you think?”

“I-I… I think your idea is marvelous, dear.”

He frowns. Not what he was wanting, but at least you’ve spoken.

That night, as you ready yourselves for bed, your husband confronts you on the matter.

“I know you have opinions. So why don’t you voice them?”

You shrug.

Loki sighs. “It’s not a crime to have your own thoughts, you know.”

“I know, I know… It’s just… You’re my husband, and - on top of that - you’re King of Asgard.”

“So?”

You flop your face against his sternum with a tired groan. “So, I should defer to you. I have to set a good example for the other Asgardian wives, Loki. What would they think if I disagreed with you?”

“What if I agreed with you instead?”

“Excuse me?”

It’s such a neat little system. You voice your thoughts to Loki ahead of time, he presents it to the diplomats by saying something about how “The King and Queen of Asgard feel it would be in everyone’s best interests if…” Insert negotiation here.

There’s an important caucus coming up, and this time, the two of you can’t quite see eye to eye. In fact, he won’t even carry out the charade of pretending you both have the same idea.

When you disagree at the meeting, things get tense fast. Not a word is spoken besides the two of you debating.

A nobleman soon has to adjourn the assembly before you start screaming at each other.

“What was that?!” Loki demands once you’re in private.

“I know you’re not asking me that! What about that nonsense you were spouting, hm? If we have to agree on a decision, it should at least be an intelligent decision!”

“Are you calling me stupid?!”

“Oh, nooo! Just your ideas!”

“Why, you…”

Time seems to freeze in that moment.

Loki’s jaw slowly closes on his own tongue as reason takes over and begs him to silence the words before he regrets them.

“Say it, Loki. Nagging shrew.”

#submission #Imagine #Loki #Lover #Others #God of Mischief #Angst #taniismean #verbal abuse #trigger warning

[robininthelabyrinth]

:3 <3 :3 (1/2) Ok hear me out. Sect leader Yao has very little political skill. He blusters without saying anything original and latches on when the tide is clearly turning, loudly praising or throwing under the bus as neccesary. He hasn't grown his sect to be particularly wealthy or notable, despite having presumably been in power longer. What I'm saying is, Sect Leader Yao was not raised to rule.

(2/2) :3 <3 :3 It's not just that Sect Leader Yao was a second son, he's from a minor branch clan where the best strategy was deference to the main family and go-along-to-get-along. He was so far down the chain that his current behaviours made sense as a survivial strategy. Therefore the only way he came to be in charge was if everyone above him was gone and he was suddenly out of his depth, with no mentors, a heap of bereavement to process, and his only life skills are now actively maladaptive.

Useless - ao3

Summary: "Though now I’m curious – who were you thinking of to be Chief Cultivator instead of me, anyway? With all your ‘exemplar traits’..?”

Nie Huaisang’s smile suddenly broadened into a look of genuine amusement.

“A desire for justice and the ability to keep abreast of popular opinion, didn’t you say? An exemplar?” He chuckled, seemingly having thought of a joke. “In terms of what I’ve heard, I think the only person who would be fitting such a noble description would be someone like – oh – Sect Leader Yao.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Thank you all for coming to this meeting ahead of the official start of the discussion conference tomorrow,” Jin Ling said with his most formal voice, which might have worked better if he wasn’t also at the age where it tended to occasionally crack. “As we are all the leaders of Great Sects, it is incumbent on us to make sure things run smoothly in the cultivation world after all the disorder that we – uh, that we recently experienced."

He cleared his throat.

"That’s why I called you here today. It is our goal to minimize the potential for further disorder by aligning the four Great Sects on critical matters, particularly…uh…that is, in particular, you have all undoubtedly received, as I have received, numerous queries regarding the now-open position of Chief Cultivator, and I thought we might want to have a discussion to day to try to align ourselves –”

“You said align twice in a single sentence,” Nie Huaisang interrupted, voice pleasant as he fanned himself with yet another one of his countless accoutrements. “That’s poor composition – even I know that! Anyway, why are you being so circumspect? It’s only us Great Sect leaders here today. We’re all friends, aren’t we, whether it’s Hanguang-jun here, standing in for his brother, or your jiujiu, or me. So you might as well just be blunt and say what you mean outright…namely that all three of you would like to try to find a way to stop me from taking the job.”

No one said anything.

Probably because there was little point in denying it.

“Well?” Nie Huaisang prompted. He continued fanning himself, though he didn’t bother to use it to cover his face – there evidently wasn’t anything in his expression at the moment, too bored to even pretend to be offended, that he wanted to hide. “I’m curious to hear your reasoning. I mean, I’m assuming you came up with something, given that you’re too young, Hanguang-jun has no experience in running a sect and is too busy being newlywed to learn, and Jiang-xiong here may in fact be the only person in the cultivation world with a worse reputation than me…albeit more in the ‘too terrifying to approach’ rather than the ‘too useless to bother with’ vein.”

Jiang Cheng scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, but didn’t deny it.

Jin Ling swallowed and said, in a slightly squeaky voice, “Well, we thought…maybe someone from one of the smaller sects.”

“One of the smaller sects?” Nie Huaisang laughed, artless and casual. “That seems like an unfair burden to stick someone with, don’t you think? You know how conservative the cultivation world can be. Once a Chief Cultivator is elected, they won’t want to change it so quickly – not for at least a decade or two, until they’ve forgotten all the trouble involved with having an open position, all that jockeying and politicking and awkwardness…Though I suppose that’s part of the appeal for you lot, isn’t it? If someone else gets there first, the only way I’d ever be able to get the job is if the one who holds it before me voluntarily resigns.”

“At least you’re self-aware,” Jiang Cheng said coldly.

“We thought it might be better if it was someone with different qualities,” Jin Ling tried, clearly intent on following their original plan to be diplomatic even if his uncle was willing to give it up in favor of an outright fight. His other uncle’s influence, perhaps, or else the fact that they were all gathered together in Lanling and it was his sect’s battered reputation (due to the said other uncle, the last Chief Cultivator) that he was seeking to protect. “Someone – uh – someone approachable, but respectable. Someone that has no issues with their reputation, with a sense for the popular opinion, a desire to pursue justice…”

Nie Huaisang’s hand, which had been lazily wielding his fan, paused. “Why, Sect Leader Jin,” he said, and his voice was suddenly very soft. “Are you saying you think I lack the desire to pursue justice?”

“Everyone here knows to what extent Sect Leader Nie seeks justice,” Lan Wangji said neutrally even as Jin Ling flinched. “I believe the young Sect Leader Jin was merely listing exemplar traits.”

“Oh, well, that’s all right then,” Nie Huaisang said, abruptly cheerful, and resumed fanning himself, looking relaxed once more. “Anyway, it’s not like I’m actually going to fight about it with you.”

Jin Ling blinked. “You’re…not?”

“Well, it’d be a tall order, wouldn’t it?” Nie Huaisang shrugged. “I’ve done a few things well here and there since we last met, but I’m still best known as being the good-for-nothing Headshaker. If I’m opposed by the other three Great Sects, it’d be absolutely impossible for me to get the position simply on the strength of my own reputation. So why fight it? Though now I’m curious – who were you thinking of to be Chief Cultivator instead of me, anyway? With all your ‘exemplar traits’..?”

Nie Huaisang’s smile suddenly broadened into a look of genuine amusement.

“A desire for justice and the ability to keep abreast of popular opinion, didn’t you say? An exemplar?” He chuckled, seemingly having thought of a joke. “In terms of what I’ve heard, I think the only person who would be fitting such a noble description would be someone like – oh – Sect Leader Yao.”

Jiang Cheng barked out a laugh, and even Lan Wangji briefly raised his eyes to the ceiling.

After all, everyone had ‘heard’ about Sect Leader Yao’s desire for justice…to hear the man himself tell it, anyway.

Jin Ling glanced at the three others, then gritted his teeth and said, tentatively, “I mean…that’s not such a bad idea, is it? I mean, if the goal is to let most people continue their lives unaffected…”

“Really? Sect Leader Yao?” Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I don’t know, we could certainly do worse than Sect Leader Yao,” Jiang Cheng said, with a sidelong and very pointed look at Nie Huaisang. “Who knows? Maybe having a big important job would get him to shut up about how important he thinks he already is.”

“One cannot deny that Sect Leader Yao is generally quite well-informed regarding what people are saying on any given subject,” Lan Wangji said, and his habitual deadpan couldn’t conceal his slightly scathing tone, probably a result of all the rumors Sect Leader Yao had passed along about Wei Wuxian in his day. “One might even say that he is at the forefront of such knowledge.”

“He’s the biggest gossip-hound in the cultivation world, you mean!” Jiang Cheng scoffed, unable to resist. “Add in a thirst for glory and a tendency to exaggerate his own contributions in any circumstance – why are you Lan always so damn polite about everything? I don’t know why you can never come out and just say these things –”

“You can’t deny he was at least at most of the important events of the past few years,” Jin Ling pointed out, at this point clutching at his sword hilt with white-knuckled fingers in a way not wholly dissimilar to a child clutching onto a stuffed animal for support. “Including both the Sunshot Campaign and its – er – recent revival. Anyway, you’re not wrong that everyone’s heard about him and his supposed exploits, so it doesn’t really matter how much truth there is or isn’t there, does it? If anything the exaggeration will be useful in making him seem appropriate for the role! Listen, I’m not saying I like him or anything, but if the whole point is to fill the seat with someone who won’t do any harm, then why not him?”

“Must it be him specifically,” Lan Wangji asked in that not-asking sort of way he had. He already sounded resigned.

“I don’t care who it is,” Jin Ling said, exasperated. “But if it’s him, it would give us unanimity in proposing a new candidate, and that’s not nothing, right?”

“If you’re talking about me when you say ‘unanimity’, I haven’t said I’d agree to it,” Nie Huaisang pointed out.

“You don’t have to, you suggested him, that’s the same as supporting it,” Jin Ling said self-righteously, and Nie Huaisang looked somewhere between offended and approving. “Anyway, I mean, putting aside how annoying he can be, have any of you ever seen Sect Leader Yao himself do anything? I’m not talking anything bad, I mean – anything?Anything serious? Or even anything at all?”

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji both looked thoughtful.

“You can’t actually be serious,” Nie Huaisang said, glancing at both of them. “I mean…Sect Leader Yao? That blustery old puff of wind? Really? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have me instead?”

They would not.

“All right, then,” Nie Huaisang finally said after much convincing, rolling his eyes and slouching back in his seat. “Have it your way, then. Sect Leader Yao it is.”

-

“That could have gone much worse,” Nie Huaisang said, sweeping into the room without ceremony.

Yao Zhibin jumped, having not expected him –

No, that wasn’t quite true, was it? He had been expecting him, only perhaps…not so soon.

Maybe that had just been wistful thinking.

Probably.

It usually was.

“That’s good, Sect Leader Nie. I’m glad to hear it,” he said cautiously. He wished he knew why Nie Huaisang had asked to meet with him a day before the discussion conference opened – or at least he wished that he’d given him more of a heads up on the subject. If he’d only known in advance, he could have asked someone else to give him their opinion on how he ought to handle it, only his wife was still busy elsewhere and his friends weren’t in the know, so there really wasn’t anyone he could ask, unfortunately. He wasn’t very good at forming an opinion entirely on his own, he never had been, though it hadn’t ever been much of a problem in the past.

On the contrary, his general uselessness was – probably his only talent.

You really can’t do anything, can you? had been the very first thing his wife had said to Yao Zhibin back when they’d first met. Her tone had been stunned, as if she’d never even conceived of someone so incompetent as him, and just a little amused, as if she’d thought he’d done it just to entertain her. He’d been young, back then, and his lack of any serious skills had been something that affected no one – if anything, it’d been seen as a good thing, encouraged.

Something that made his family smile.

After all, Yao Zhibin wasn’t supposed to be good at things. He was only one of the Yao sect’s many countryside cousins, part and parcel of a trade made two generations back when the head of the Yao clan sent his youngest son to marry the orphaned daughter of a very rich farmer and settle out in the middle of nowhere in order to grow the food that the rest of them needed to live on, with some left over to sell to pay for the clan’s expenses. But Pingyang Yao was a small clan, not big enough to have what the Great Sects called branch families despite their conviction that the only way to get big was to act as if they were already big, and that meant that all the boys from that family, Yao Zhibin included, got sent back to be raised in the main household, still considered to be possible rightful heirs if only they were worthy enough.

Which meant, of course, that they couldn’t be worthy.

Maybe if Pingyang Yao had been big enough that Yao Zhibin and his brothers could have known to one and all as mere ‘branch members’, they would have been allowed to develop as they pleased. A branch cousin could be seen as a skillful retainer that would help strengthen your sect in the future, rather than a rival that needed to be disposed of here and now – but they weren’t a branch, not really. And so Yao Zhibin’s father, a shrinking violet of a man, more farmer like his maternal grandfather than cultivator, cowardly in an amiable sort of way but one who loved his children dearly, had been very clear with his sons that he wouldn’t be able to provide them with any sort of protection from their cousins with their powerful mothers from other cultivation clans, and that meant that they either had to be talented enough to fight against the current and win themselves a position through their own merit, or else they had to give up and go with the flow the way he always had.

Yao Zhibin figured out pretty quickly that he wasn’t going to do the former.

So he’d accepted his lot in life – a possible substitute that was never meant to have a chance to get used – and he’d developed a different set of skills: the skill of saying a lot without saying anything of meaning, the skill of knowing which way the wind was blowing before there’d even been a light breeze, the skill of being part of a crowd instead of standing out; it was safe in a crowd, where everyone had to be blamed if they were going to be blamed at all. He wasn’t strong enough to resist pressure, but others often were, and hiding in their shadows was the best way to take advantage of their strength.

(A fox borrowing a tiger’s power, his wife later liked to tease him. You may not ever be the first one out there, but no one can say that you’re not always the first among the seconds!)

It was a way to live, though not necessarily a good one. Somewhere along the line, Yao Zhibin had gotten so good at flattering those more powerful than him – a nice, safe activity, unlike critiquing them – that he forgot how to do anything else, even when he wanted to. The inability to ever let out his true feelings annoyed him, digging in under his skin, and there was nothing he could do about that, except maybe to complain to his friends, all of them second sons or cousins like him, or else the heirs of sect so tiny that they were shunned by all the other better-born boys, like poor little Ouyang Huiyu who was always tagging along with him like a duckling following its mother.

Yao Zhibin got pretty good at complaining, actually.

He didn’t mind that. He expected that it would be all he’d ever get the chance to do.

After all, who was Yao Zhibin, really? He wasn’t half-bad at cultivation, but he was no cultivation genius that could make his way alone, without his family’s support, and he wasn’t particularly notable for anything else. He was of average height and slender build, with not especially notable features, he was not particularly good at the craftswork that were Pingyang Yao’s specialization beyond the sword, and while he wasn’t as stupid as he sometimes presented himself to be, he wasn’t much smarter, either, tending to be quite gullible in a given moment, believing whatever he saw in front of him and the rumors his friends passed onto him without knowing how to pause long enough to question what he’d heard. It really wasn’t hard to trick him. He certainly wasn’t going to be tricking anyone else, anyway.

So, in sum: no power, no looks, no skills, no smarts. He couldn’t be called especially lucky, either.

No, by the time he was crowned as an adult, it was quite plain to everyone, Yao Zhibin included, that he wasn’t going to make anything of himself in this life. He’d be considered lucky if the head of his family decided to use him as a pawn in a marriage exchange, as a place to dump some other sect’s unwanted daughter – and probably one who needed to be made a wife sooner rather than later, leaving him unwillingly raising children not his own – and he might even find himself married off to somewhere else as some recruited son-in-law, his children not even bearing his own surname and having no right to anything from his family, a symbol of his utter uselessness that would haunt him to the rest of his days. If he was unlucky, they wouldn’t even bother to do that much, leaving him to spend the rest of his days growing old alone in the family home, a clownish uncle to entertain his cousins’ sons or an extra body for night-hunts to win the Yao sect some glory, and maybe, maybe,if he survived long enough, he could have some vague hope of eventually growing into a not-very-respected greybeard elder of the Yao sect.

Yao Zhibin hadn’t liked any of that, of course. Who would? But, on the other hand, what could he do about it? Without talent, without family backing, without luck or an opportunity…what other choice did he have, other than to give in once again and accept his lot in life?

And then, just at the moment his despair had starting to shade into resignation, he’d met his wife.

It had changed everything.

“You can’t do anything, can you?” Nie Huaisang asked with a sigh, and his eyes when he smiled in amusement were just like hers. “I just said it could have gone worse, not that it’d gone well!”

He snapped his fan shut and threw himself down artlessly on the couch right next to Yao Zhibin, who tensed up for a moment before relaxing, realizing that they must really be alone if Nie Huaisang were acting like that. Or at least, acting like that around him.

“How many times have I told you not to call me Sect Leader Nie all formal like that?” the little brat complained, wrapping his arms around Yao Zhibin’s arm and leaning his head against his shoulder, an insolent little smirk on his face. “I liked much better what you were saying before – what was it again – ‘whoever he is, he’s a man of justice who’s definitely standing on our side’..?”

Yao Zhibin could feel heat in his cheeks. “You told me to make it sound good.”

Nie Huaisang sniggered. “I did, I did. No one’s better at moving a crowd than you, Uncle! Anyway, you owed it to me after that stunt you pulled with Wei Wuxian all those years back.”

“I didn’t realize you were actually friends with him! Anyway, we needed the help, back then, and I didn’t know what else to do, and he made it seem like it was such a small thing, a stupid little favor…ah, Sect Leader Jin, I mean – er, the last one, that is, or rather the one before last –”

“Jin Guangshan. You certainly don’t have to save an honorific for him.”

That was probably the case, assuming all those rumors about how he’d died (and lived) were true.

Admittedly, Yao Zhibin had gotten a little wary of rumors as of late…

“You should’ve come to us for help, not accepted the Jin sect’s offer,” Nie Huaisang said, pouting. “Fight or no fight, you know we would have helped.”

“She said not to!” Yao Zhibin said helplessly. “And I couldn’t – not without asking – she would have been so angry!”

Nie Huaisang giggled. “Well, you’re right about that. Auntie doesn’t play around!”

That she didn’t.

Nie Huaisang’s generation of the main line Nie clan had consisted only of himself and his elder brother, the (frankly) terrifying Nie Mingjue, and in just the same fashion its previous generation had consisted of two siblings as well: the former Sect Leader, a terrifyingly powerful man that had been almost universally known as Lao Nie, and his considerably younger sister, Nie Xiao, just as universally called Xiaoxiao for reasons long lost to the sands of time.

Normally, a Great Sect with a daughter to marry off would be much in demand, with everyone in the cultivation world eyeing a chance to net themselves a Great Sect leader as father- and brother-in-law, but in Nie Xiaoxiao’s case, both father and brother alike had proclaimed that they would be respecting their family’s precious treasure’s choice in the matter of her marriage, no matter how unlucky such a thing was said to be. The rumor in the cultivation world at the time had been that Nie Xiaoxiao had personally won the right to determine her own marital affairs through her terrifying prowess with her saber, displayed in a series of duels against all the Nie sect’s finest warriors.

Whether or not that was true, Yao Zhibin had no idea – Nie Xiaoxiao had laughed every time he’d asked, which wasn’t actually an answer – but what was undeniably true was that no one in their right mind wanted to go up against Nie Xiaoxiao. Possibly in defiance of her name, she’d opted for what seemed to Yao Zhibin to be the largest saber the Nie sect had, a zhanmadao capable of slaughtering cavalry, both horse and rider, in a single swing, and she was like all of her sect highly enthusiastic in demonstrating its use in night-hunts.

In fact, it had only taken a few such ‘demonstrations’ involving the bisection of an enemy yao until the number of suitors petitioning for her hand had dropped down to only the most powerful, the most ambitious, or the most desperate. Despite that, none were successful, and she’d remained unmarried long past the usual age; by the time Yao Zhibin met her, it was widely believed that she intended to remain unmarried for good.

You really can’t do anything, can you? Nie Xiaoxiao had said, bemused, when Yao Zhibin had tripped and fallen flat on his face in front of her, kneeling down to help him up out of the mud. Come on, up you go. You can’t fall behind in a night-hunt like this.

It’s all right, he’d said back, equally bemused as to why this terrifyingly powerful woman was taking the time to bother with him. I’m only here to make up the numbers anyway.

I didn’t mean in terms of winning glory, she said, rolling her eyes up to the heavens. I meant it more literally: we’re hunting yao that were originally pack animals, which means that their instinct is to target the weak ones in the herd. If you fall behind in a night-hunt like this, you’ll die.

…oh. Huh. Ah…yes, I think I’d like to avoid that, all things considered, thank you.

She’d giggled. It had been a remarkably silly sound, wholly unexpected from a woman like her – Nie Xiaoxiao had the pointed Nie chin and an aquiline nose that lent her features a sense of harshness and ferocity, even some beauty in a fierce sort of way, but nothing about her suggested the sort of vacant-headed femininity that many of her female cultivator counterparts deliberately cultivated in themselves.

Tell me, then, she said mischievously, linking her hand through his as if they were on a moonlit stroll through a garden in Jinlin Tower rather than in some dark, gloomy forest where the gnarled branches blocked out almost all the light from the stars above. If you’d rather not die, then why are you alive?

At any other time, Yao Zhibin would have remembered himself well enough to say something politic, something fashionable, perhaps a joke, something harmless and distracting…but his cousins had been particularly intolerable that day, and none of his usual friends had been around to distract him from gloomy thoughts about his future, so he’d ended up blurting out the truth as he saw it: …mostly to complain, I think.

Nie Xiaoxiao had burst out laughing.

That’s good, she said, eyes glinting with the shadow of other arguments. No one in my family ever complains about anything. We just throw ourselves against our problems until our bodies wear out and there’s nothing left of us…your cousins told me you were useless, you know.

Yao Zhibin winced. He was all too well aware of what his cousins thought of him.

Well, in my opinion, there’s room out there for the useless. She’d squeezed his arm. I’ve been useful my whole life long, and I find that I’ve grown sick of it. When we get out of here, why don’t you show me something else?

He’d thought she was only joking, but she wasn’t.

They were married by summer.

(Even as late as the dawn of his wedding day, one of his cousins had told him, sounding deeply confused, that he’d wracked his brains for months and he still had no idea how Yao Zhibin managed to snag himself such a fine bride. After all, it didn’t matter that she was older than he was, or that she wasn’t a traditional beauty, not when she had a family so powerful that the only possible response to their suggestion that the Yao clan really ought to find a willing matchmaker and propose already had to be a resounding yes and some very hasty internal reshuffling to return Yao Zhibin to the official roster of possible heirs from which he’d very nearly been officially dropped, even moving him up a few steps. Yao Zhibin hadn’t taken offense at the comment – it wasn’t like he had any idea, either.)

Yao Zhibin hadn’t really expected to get married, and he certainly hadn’t expected to be happy, either, but he was. With Nie Xiaoxiao at his side, doing her best to pretend to be demure and mostly failing – it wasn’t as if his aunt would dare be harsh or demanding to such a powerful daughter-in-law, and his mother even less so, but Nie Xiaoxiao got the strangest enjoyment out of play-acting her (somewhat strange) idea of what a good subservient wife ought to act like when they were in public – Yao Zhibin’s family couldn’t bother him any longer even if he didn’t suck up to them, though he generally still did out of habit, and his company was suddenly considered respectable enough to join in the circles from which he’d previously been excluded.

Even better, his rising tide lifted all the boats in his wake, and he was able to bring his friends with him, finding them good wives and better arrangements than they might have otherwise hoped for. Even excitable little Ouyang Huiyu, who refused a proper marriage option like the reckless romantic that he was and eventually ended up marrying some wild rogue cultivator woman he’d found that he cheerfully and bull-headedly insisted was probably some sort of bird yao (she wasn’t, as she herself confirmed), ended up profiting considerably, with his tiny little sect becoming the beneficiary of multiple valuable trade agreements with both the Nie sect and the Jiang sect, mostly due to the latter’s concern that the former was trying to steal one of their subsidiary sects out from under them, and growing accordingly in importance.  

They were happy.

Even after Nie Xiaoxiao had some sort of terrible fight with Nie Mingjue following the death of his father, her brother, and promptly refused to have any sort of interaction with him ever again – Yao Zhibin didn’t ask, but he suspected that each of them had made some sort of terrible self-sacrificing offer to each other, that Nie Mingjue had gotten his way in being the one to sacrifice himself, and that Nie Xiaoxiao would never forgive him for it – it had been all right. Nie Mingjue’s vengeance was focused on the Wen sect, and anyway the fight was very scrupulously one-sided; he routinely sent New Year’s gifts and regular updates on Nie Huaisang that Nie Xiaoxiao devoured avidly before burning.

They’d been happy.

And then – and then –

The Cloud Recesses had burned.

News of the attack hit the cultivation like a bolt of lightning from the blue, wholly unexpected. No one understood what had driven Wen Ruohan to take such a shocking action, no one had known what it meant, what he would do next. The clan head had asked Yao Zhibin to send his wife to the Nie sect to glean whatever insights a Great Sect might have on the subject, despite their ongoing quarrel, and it was a measure of the seriousness of the situation that she had consented to go. Yao Zhibin, still thinking to himself that this whole thing was probably some sort of horrible misunderstanding, seized the opportunity to ask her to take their young children with her so that they could meet their maternal family – fight or no fight, it was still a connection that the Nie sect honored, and that meant forming a relationship would be a benefit to their children in the future – and she’d rolled her eyes good-naturedly and agreed, kissing him good-bye and gracelessly loading them all onto her zhanmadao like sacks of rice.

Yao Zhibin waved goodbye, smiling.

Three days later, word came of another sect that had fallen before the Wen sect army – this one a smaller one, their size, not too far away. Two days after that, another one, and by now they were all very nervous, preparing letters to everyone they knew, trying to find out what people knew, trying to figure out where the Wen sect might head next, what the risk was that they’d come their way. Yao Zhibin had done his part in drafting some to his own acquaintances, though he thoroughly doubted that his small circle could do anything that the main clan couldn’t.

In the end, it didn’t matter. The letters never even had a chance to get sent.

Yao Zhibin was never sure, later, if during the attack on his home he had conducted himself with honor or covered himself with shame – in fact, he lacked any memory whatsoever of what had happened, retaining only brief flashes of sensation: an overall sensation of cold and lack of feeling in his limbs, a feeling of resistance as his sword entered someone’s body, the burning sensation of his throat hoarse from too much yelling, the seemingly impossibly heavy weight of a child in his arms as he tried to carry them from somewhere to somewhere else. Had he stayed and fought to defend his home? Had he tried to run and defended only his retreat?

He didn’t know.

It didn’t matter.

You have to be a hero, one of his uncle’s wives said when it was all done, wiping her eyes. You have to have been a hero. If the Yao clan is to survive, we need to have conducted ourselves so well that no one will doubt our strength, or else we won’t have any chance of getting one of the Great Sects to accept us.

A Great Sect? But the Yao sect isn’t a subsidiary sect, Yao Zhibin protested, more out of instinct than anything else. We’ve always been independent.

Even the Cloud Recesses burned! You saw how easily the Wen sect destroyed us, taking our sons hostage, our daughters driven to suicide…even if the Nie refuse to accept us on account of their grudge with your wife, the Jiang will take us.

The Jiang? We’re not going to the Jiang!

Listen here –

Stop arguing with him, Auntie, one of his cousins said, clinging onto her child. If he’s going to be sect leader, he needs to make the decisions.

Yao Zhibin staggered back. Me? Sect Leader? he’d cried out. Impossible? Why me?

You’re the next one in succession, they told him, and he’d found to his horror that it was true – anyone else who might have taken the job was either dead, crippled, or captured by the Wen sect, which was as good as the first. Even accounting for the fact that he’d been artificially bumped up a few spots in order to make his marriage to Nie Xiaoxiao less embarrassing, there was simply no one else for the job.

He’d ultimately refused to let them join the Jiang – ultimately a good decision, given what ended up happening to them, even if the actual reason he’d decided against it was more on the basis of how long the trek to the Lotus Pier would take them if they brought along all the women and children they had – and they had instead gone into hiding before ultimately joining independently with the forces of the Sunshot Campaign. It would be over a year until he had a chance to see his wife again, Nie Xiaoxiao having joined the war on the Nie sect’s side as soon as she’d heard about the devastation of the Yao sect and received the one hastily-written letter he’d managed to get sent out to her asking her to prioritize getting the children somewhere safe.

Safe turned out to be the rebuild Cloud Recesses, where Nie Huaisang was staying. Yao Zhibin had burst into tears the first time Nie Huaisang had greeted him as casually as if he were still that five-year-old child Yao Zhibin had once spent an afternoon talking about birds with, throwing his arms around him and calling him Uncle. He’d kept crying the entire time he’d been introduced to his youngest daughter – he hadn’t even realized Nie Xiaoxiao had been pregnant again when she’d left, neither of them had – had been sobbing unashamedly, taking breaks only to blow his nose, and somewhere along the way something in Nie Huaisang’s breezy carefree smile seemed to soften into something more genuine.

Ah, he’d said, eyes curving. I see why Auntie likes you.

Yao Zhibin didn’t. They’d been married a decade, and he still had no idea why his wife took such delight in him – he was useless. Every skill he’d ever spent time honing had been meant to help him avoid being noticed, to go along with the flow, to defer to and to borrow the power of others, and now he was suddenly a sect leader, responsible for being a hero and being notable and standing out, for winning glory on behalf of his family name. He couldn’t fade into the background anymore, couldn’t put safety and wanting to be with his family over valor – he had to have achievements.

Nonsense, Nie Huaisang had said gaily when Yao Zhibin had confided his fears in him, lacking as he did anyone else to talk to about it. You don’t have to actually have achievements, as long as people say you did. All those skills of yours can still serve some useful purpose! Just listen to your dear darling nephew, and I’ll explain it all to you.

At the end of the war, Yao Zhibin had become Sect Leader Yao to the point that he no longer flinched upon hearing himself referred to in that way. His wife was lying unconscious at home, comatose and deemed unlikely to ever reawaken, having been crushed in an onrushing tide of the enemy on the front lines – it hadn’t had anything to do with the Yiling Patriarch, purely her own valiant heroism in the face of overwhelming numbers, but it was still easy to get caught up in the tide that turned against Wei Wuxian back then, especially with Jin Guangshan spilling largesse and rumors from the same hand. Yao Zhibin’s clan had needed the largesse, desperately, and he’d always been good at spreading rumors, something Jin Guangshan had identified at once. He’d made Yao Zhibin an offer that sounded too good to be true and was, but at the time he hadn’t thought so; it had been like getting coal in the middle of winter, unexpected aid just when he needed it most, because he really did need the help desperately, feeling that he couldn’t go to the Nie sect, since his wife hadn’t wanted him to and wasn’t awake to change her mind.

It hadn’t seemed like such a big deal, either. It had been easy enough to pass along word to Jiang Cheng that Wei Wuxian was being disrespectful – that was mostly even true – and easy enough stand up against the Yiling Patriarch and proclaim that he was there purely on behalf of justice, rather than a personal vendetta, providing cover for anyone else who might want to join in. Easy enough to encourage others to stand up against him as well. Easy enough…

His wife had nearly eviscerated him for it when she’d finally woken up.

He really should have just gone to the Nie sect.

After all, in the end the Jin sect’s largesse, however much of a lifeline it had been at the time, disappeared without a trace, while the Nie sect remained…remained, yes, but damaged, and it was Yao Zhibin’s own stupidity in helping weaken the Jiang sect and strengthen the Jin sect that had let Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao feel comfortable turning their eye upon Nie Mingjue himself as the final obstacle in their path.

His fault. His to remedy.

Yao Zhibin had been a good little songbird for Nie Huaisang ever since.

Whether it was to publicly doubt Wei Wuxian’s sincerity so that his later about-face would be seen as a signal for the rest of them that it was also all right to change their previously held positions, to loudly proclaim his belief in the stories told by Sisi and Bicao which after all weren’t anything but words with no evidence, to suggest vile motives for Jin Rusong’s murder rather than let people think about excuses, or even to lay the groundwork for Nie Huaisang’s actions, should they be discovered, to be praised by all as virtuous and clever rather than diabolical…

Truly, he supposed, it was as Nie Huaisang had said all those years ago: his skills might not be the most suitable for being a sect leader, but they weren’t actually useless.

“So what was the result?” he asked Nie Huaisang now. “If it went – not as bad as it could have been?”

“As I expected, they don’t want me as Chief Cultivator right now, and there’s no convincing them otherwise,” Nie Huaisang said with an airy shrug. “It’s perfectly understandable. Emotions are still so raw, after all! Jiang-xiong is angry at me for having made his nephew cry, A-Ling is a child who keeps going back and forth between thinking that I’m useless and thinking that I’m dangerous – as if I can’t be both! – and Lan Zhan might be my friend but he’s so far up his new husband’s ass at the moment that he wouldn’t dare come out and support me for fear that it would make Wei-xiong feel momentarily uneasy…of course, clever little brat that he is, he also didn’t oppose me, either. He remembers that you’re my auntie’s husband, your children my cousins, even if Jiang Cheng forgot and Jin Ling never bothered learning.”

Yao Zhibin had a distinct sinking feeling sensation in his stomach.

“Why is that relevant?” he asked hesitantly.

Nie Huaisang’s smile had a dagger hidden behind his teeth. It always did, these days, now that he’d stopped pretending to be totally useless – he was still mostly useless, that was just the way he’d always been, careless and carefree, but he’d already started rearranging the entire cultivation world to his liking just the way he’d once arranged the Nie sect under his indulgent brother to his liking, and he wasn’t going to stop any time soon.

“It’s not, of course,” he said, and he snapped open his fan once more. “Except in the sense that I can trust that you’ll step down when the time is right for me to step up.”

The sinking feeling became even more profound. It’d gone all the way down to his boots by now.

“Step…down…?”

“He’s gone and made you Chief Cultivator,” Nie Xiaoxiao said, shoving the door open with a grunt and wheeling herself in. She must have gotten back from whatever she’d been doing and started listening from the other room, and Nie Huaisang must have known she was there – he didn’t look surprised in the slightest, just twisting and giving her a jaunty wave. “And you’re going to accept it, too.”

Yao Zhibin turned to look at her, horrified by the thought. “Me? Chief Cultivator?”

“Only temporarily,” Nie Huaisang said soothingly.

“And he’ll make all the important decisions,” Nie Xiaoxiao added, making Nie Huaisang’s smooth expression crinkled up into an expression of disgust. “And take a fair share of the paperwork.”

“Auntie!”

“Don’t ‘Auntie’ me. You want to make my poor useless husband be useful for your own purposes, you’re going to have to be useful yourself.” She tapped the arm of her wheelchair, a gesture she’d picked up in the years since she’d started using it – her back had been broken during that final battle in the Sunshot Campaign, robbing her permanently of the use of both her legs for any significant length of time, but she’d gotten quite used to getting around in her chair by now. She’d even come up with a way to continue training her saber, and was somehow still as terrifying as she’d ever been. “Don’t think you’ve gotten so high and mighty that I can’t still put over my knee and spank you, Huaisang.”

“I surrender!” Nie Huaisang said at once, because he really was quite clever under all his ridiculousness. “I’ll make the big decisions, and I’ll – ah – well, I’ll delegate the paperwork.”

Nie Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. “That’ll do, I suppose.”

“Do I have to?” Yao Zhibin asked plaintively. He could already see how tomorrow was going to go – the new Sect Leader Jin would nominate him with the claim that Nie Huaisang had suggested him, his uncle Jiang Cheng would second the motion, as expected, and then attention would go to Lan Wangji, who would nod in asset, and to Nie Huasiang, who would slouch and grumble and nod as well. After that, he would have to get up and stammer some words of surprise, an attempt to refuse the honor that wasn’t really a refusal, and then someone would need to jump up spontaneously to support him…

Nie Huaisang probably had someone in mind, but Yao Zhibin could probably convince him that Ouyang Huiyu would do the job just fine, and believably, too, and that would give him an excuse to be a little more partial to the Ouyang sect than others in the future. Nie Huaisang’s chosen agent could then lend his voice in additional support, the small independent sects all excited by the notion of getting one of their own above the Great Sects for once, and that would be that.

He wouldn’t be able to refuse.

“Yes,” Nie Huaisang said, patting him on the arm comfortingly. “Yes, you do. I need the influence of the Chief Cultivator position to ensure that my sect has breathing room to rebuild appropriately after the depredations of the past decade, and of course we should continue to build on and expand the good things san-ge put in place – whatever his reasoning might have been, the Watchtowers are a genuinely good idea, and now that a representative of the small sects is the one advocating for them, we might even be able to finally expand them to those areas that were too suspicious of the Jin sect’s motives to accept them before. Anyway, you’ll be winning all sorts of glory for your sect for the rest of time, pleasing your ancestors and benefiting your children; isn’t that reason enough?”

Nie Xiaoxiao was rolling her eyes again, but Yao Zhibin, gullible fool that he’d always been, still managed to feel comforted by Nie Huaisang’s words even when he knew they were meant just for that purpose.

After all, it was rather nice to think of being respected by everyone – not just him, but his children as well, making sure that they would never need to know the social isolation and ostracism that had so pained him in his childhood. His eldest children were already nearly adults, and the younger set he and Nie Xiaoxiao had had after the war were only a few years younger than Jin Ling, so serving as Chief Cultivator would at least mean that he’d be in a position to be able to find them good marriages that suited them and made them happy.

Because that was what mattered, really, wasn’t it? Being happy.

“And you will let me retire eventually?” he asked, just in case. “I don’t want to be useful forever.”

“See? He can be taught,” Nie Xiaoxiao said happily, and Nie Huaisang just laughed.

-

“That’s amazing!” Ouyang Huiyu said, practically bouncing up and down in his shoes – in some ways he was still that excitable little boy Yao Zhibin had met all those years ago, even though he had a beard and a wife and an equally excitable son that he treasured more than life itself. “I can’t believe it, almost, it’s just…you’re Chief Cultivator! Of course it’s well deserved, don’t take me as saying anything otherwise, you know how much I’ve always admired you, Yao-xiong. You’ve got some fame under your belt, and justly so after all these years, it’s just…one of our small sects, the Chief Cultivator! It’s amazing!”

“Truly amazing,” Yao Zhibin agreed, and stuck a smile on his face when Jiang Cheng, looking marginally content for once, came over to congratulate him as well. It was a rare sight, Jiang Cheng content, and Yao Zhibin was really looking forward to being as far away from him as humanly possible when he finally reintroduced his wife to the crowd at a later event and Jiang Cheng realized what had actually happened. “I truly appreciate being recognized by my peers like this…and really, I must say, even for someone as farsighted as me, it came as a complete surprise!”

#mdzs #sect leader yao #nie huaisang #jin ling #jiang cheng #lan wangji #original characters #my fic #my fics #useless #yes this is a serious version of the chief cultivator yao fic

[elliepassmore]

Sheine Lende review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: urban fantasy, mystery, Indigenous storytelling, historical fantasy

Elatsoe review

Big thanks to Netgalley, Levine Querido, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed Elatsoe so I was super excited to see there was going to be a prequel about her grandmother! This book ends with the suggestion that there's more stories from this world to come, so I'm hoping we get something from four/six-great-grandmother (more from Sheine Lende or Elatsoe would also be good, I'm not picky)

Much like with Ellie, Shane's story centers around a mystery, though this one is a missing person's case and not a murder. Shane's mother, Lorenza, utilizes her dogs and ghost dog to find people who are missing. More recently Shane has begun helping her and the two make a good ghost-calling, person-finding duo. I liked reading about how they tracked people down and how their work got spread around by word-of-mouth.

I was a little confused on when this story occurred, so I found the author's note saying it was the 1970s to be helpful. In this world at this point in time, fairy rings are still being implemented and they're a relatively new technology still. It was interesting to see how people talked about them and the various opinions and worries people had, especially considering they're so present in Ellie's time. The missing person's case is tied up closely with fairy rings, though in a somewhat unusual way, so there was some light dealings with the Fair Folk and, more interestingly, with an ex-academic who specialized in them.

When her mother disappears, Shane takes over both the investigation for the missing kid(s) and the investigation for her mother's disappearance. She actually finds the older girl pretty quickly, and by complete accident, and they have a chance to spend some time together and bond before they make it back to everyone else. I liked that Shane and Donnie became fast friends and were eager to help one another out. I also appreciated that Donnie's grandparents were more than willing to travel with the girls and Shane's younger brother, Marco, to various places in order to find Donnie's younger brother (the missing boy) and Shane's mom.

Despite having a few family members remaining, Shane has a good support system, from her friend Amelia, to their elderly neighbor, to her newfound friendship with Donnie and the help of Donnie's grandparents. Ellie has that too in her book, but she starts that way, Shane starts by feeling alone and I feel for this type of YA adventure, having a large support system of mixed teenagers and adults really breaks the mold. I also liked that the adults, particularly the newer ones, were willing to defer ton Shane's expertise and research and didn't just insist they were right.

Shane is confident in herself, though not to the point of ego, and is able to draw on her knowledge, what her mother taught her, and her own investigative skills to connect dots and come up with next steps. She's overall friendly but knows when to put her foot down and is more than capable of being firm and even intimidating when necessary. She's still coming into her ghost-raising power, so I also liked seeing her knowledge and experimentation in that area.

Beyond the mystery element, this book also deals with trauma, family, and the effects of colonialism. Shane, Marcos, and Lorenza definitely had a hard time for a while, are technically still having a hard time, and it's a direct result of historical and modern colonialist greed. The family also suffered some major losses when Shane was younger, resulting in there being only a few family members and the dispersal of their home community. Shane and Marcos both still have a lot of emotions about that, albeit different ones since Marcos was in utero when this was going on and only knows the aftermath. Shane also struggles with not knowing or misremembering traditional Lipan stories and has several moments when she deeply wishes there were community members around she could engage with. It was definitely heartbreaking to read about those aspects, but I did enjoy seeing Shane begin to set them to rights. I also think the loss of their original support system and the growth of a different one help mirror each other and the path of healing in the story.

Overall I liked this story and think it stands well both on its own and as an addition to the world of Elatsoe. Shane definitely has an interesting story, and I would say this book serves as both a mystery and a healing journey. I'm looking forward to whatever Little Badger writes next!

#book #book review #books #book recommendations #fantasy #bookstagram #booklr #bookblr #bookaholic #bookish #ya fantasy books #ya fantasy #indigenous authors #indigenous character #elatsoe #sheine lende #ghost stories #ya urban fantasy #urban fantasy #historical fantasy #mystery #ownvoice #darcie little badger

[mod-doodles]

I have a question about power dynamics. Is Carmy Sydney boss? I think this is why I definitely did not want a romantic relationship in season 1 and frankly preferred her and Marcus. You may disagree but I think she has romantic interest in him in their dinner scene. But then the writers seemed to flip the power dynamic. Carmy is literally asking her at the end of s1 how their restaurant should look. Further she obviously getting sweat equity so she has ownership of the bear( the alternative is exploitation in my opinion). I think the bear is established/registered as a partnership (not a Corporation) with four partners Nat, Carmy, Uncle Jimmy and Sydney. Jimmy is up to some sketchy tax thing because he giving a loan not an investment but they do call him a partner and fits with the character. Nat is called COO but I guess you can do that with a partnership too? Otherwise the constant use of ‘partner’ is poor writing and illogical. Marcus becomes Syd employee and you see Syd in my opinion rightly so pull back (plus she is focused on the business). Marcus and Syd already had dinner together but when he asks her in season 2 she shuts it down because it is inappropriate now. He would have to quit again to make it work. It seems however to me the evolution of Syd Carmy relationship sets up a possible romance where it was once inappropriate. What do you think is he her boss? What is the set up of the bear is it a general partnership? Is Syd personally liable for business debts and should she trust her partners (looking at sketchy Jimmy)?

Cicero’s mysterious wealth is mostly used as a plot device, currently its not something to place too much emphasis on outside of the confines of ‘The Beef/Bear’. In s01 its the motivating factor for Carmy taking on Sydney COGs, also its situational in forcing Carmy to meet up with the friends and family he’s been avoiding and more importantly helping Richie to have a moment of clarity and reassess his trajectory. It's more entertaining and comical that it comes from a gangster than the bank; as it heightens the stakes and helps tie upon loose end where necessary (the business certificates).

The ownership setup I think we’ll have to hold off until the next season to have it addressed, it was mentioned a couple times with red alerts so it might be a point of contention. I predict that everyone that was in the room during the business meeting has some stake; including Richie because he always appears in frame in some capacity whenever business affairs are discussed. 

The power dynamics with Syd and Carmy were intentionally blurred I think to adjust for the relationship. She’s currently the CDC and he’s the Executive Chef/Owner with Nat, and they defer to Carmy for final decisions so even though she’s treated as an equal she technically isn’t. My assumption is that they are considering the optics and adjusting accordingly. She’s not liable for any debts but the sweat equity she’s invested is invaluable and that shouldn’t be taken for granted, emotional investments can break you just as bad as financial - not you but people on reddit have this conversation when they try to devalue Syd. Stress can manifest itself through your health. 

Carmy asking her what the restaurant should look like had more to do with them collaborating and sweetening the deal because at that point the last thing Syd said to him was ‘so shove it up your ass’, he’s essentially begging her to come back.

I don’t necessarily disagree that she doesn’t have romantic interest in Marcus its more so they had romantic potential, obviously I’m biased so I saw the dinner more like work friends trauma bonding and then Sydney moping about Carmy. That being said if they turned up the romance for both during s02 I’d have supported but they made it one sided and awkward by having Syd curve Marcus at every attempt. I also don’t think her rejecting him had anything to do with the work hierarchy and everything to do with her seeing him as a friend.

#let's hope my ramblings make sense lol #sydcarmy #the bear #the bear meta #sydney adamu #carmen berzatto

[sethan-obsession]

one thing that doesn't come up very often when anything about Neco-Arc comes up is the characters' position in the actual games they're in

while Melty Blood isn't something that a lot of people are very versed in (especially amongst people that like the little =3 cat, myself included), outside of meme culture and story mode funnies within the series, the characters are almost entirely a nonsequitur

Neco-Arc and Neco-Arc Chaos (the latter abbreviated to NAC and the former abbreviated to usually "Neco", for later reference) typically occupy the bottom 2 position in whatever game they're in, approximately, between their 3 moons. moons are a "groove" system in melty blood similar to that found in CVS2, or otherwise it's similar to the differences between Shadow and Normal characters in Persona, essentially mixing around your characters' set of universal mechanics and general moveset, though especially strongly associated signature attacks are usually kept between all moons.

some specific characters are considered worse on their "bad moon(s)" than the Necos on their "good moons", but generally those characters' "good versions" outshine most anything any variant of the necos can do.

their general pros between them are "annoying" and "small and difficult to hit or combo, conditionally". they typically attempt to play a zoney, pixie-esque air focused game, but the common theme between much of the necos' kits are that they seldom function, and are a traditional hardcore style "joke character" like street fighter Alpha Dan.

i want to generally focus on NAC for this because i find them more interesting (and they look cute & unique, design and personality wise), the character generally deferred to as bottom 1 with the worst moon in the game amongst popular opinion.

on Mizuumi (for those unaware, a "poverty" FG wiki equivalent to sites like Supercombo and Dustloop), NAC's strongest moon in Crescent (shorthanded to C-NAC) has a wall of cons and a short burst of pros which sum up to "annoying" and "so bad that people don't have match experience to know the matchup".

even at their absolute best or with their most "complete" kit that forms the most functional gameplan, NAC is still marred with some of the funniest shit ever. check these green boxes out:

all of these are incredibly slow normals and mostly the only epitome of "range" NAC has, with other buttons literally extending a few pixels in front of their silly little cat sprite. they extend their gigantic hurtboxes before they're active and up until NAC is actionable again in most cases. only normal you can actually play footsies against in melty blood.

C-NAC focuses on specials that do passable zoning (though generally easily disrespected, and low reward). the other moons, however, are quite dire.

Half Moon Neco-Arc Chaos (H-NAC) can be generally surmised by the first thing at the top of their page, before even their normals:

it's no exaggeration, either. Skeleton is pretty much the only person who even has H-NAC games on record. there are a few here and there, mostly some locally recorded matches between friends, but in the modern day, this is your guru, and the only advice they have is "Please do not pick this character". splendid. extremely funny.

H-NAC generally suffers from losing out on important things that allow NAC to play as a "worse than almost everyone else but still almost functional Melty character", such as having a functional airdash or backdash, but hey, they've got a command throw in case someone's response to not knowing the NAC matchup is to hold downback instead of mashing (if you find an individual of such criteria, i'll give you ten dollars.)

F-NAC, however, is the worst it's ever been. take a gander at this:

lol

H-NAC lacks the ability to really do much of anything, and is blessed with an EX move which does *zero damage*, has a superflash as Melty EX moves do, and is -20 on what, on meterless variations, is meant to be a pressure reset special. in exchange, if you hit with it point blank (and i mean it, your pushboxes have to be touching in most cases) it can cause Circuit Break (no meter usage or gain for x amount of seconds) on the opponent, but that's meter you can spend on bad reversals instead, since your abare is terrible. if you don't hit with the Circuit Break point blank hitbox, it instead builds a ton of meter for the opponent on hit, drains yours, and does zero damage, leaving you in a bad oki situation after.

four hit jumping mid which has the same terrible hurtbox rules, isn't very active considering NAC's bad jump arc and airdash, and fails to combo into anything beyond that usually. good move.

#neco arc #neco arc chaos #melty blood #long post #nac #h-nac #neco-arc

[leviackermanscleaningbuddy]

This is a #askthepack , I wanted to know more about Chan as head alpha! Is that something the pack agreed on or is it a biological / natural thing that came about? Same with Hyunjin as pack luna!

"Okay, so we're gonna try to answer this without giving away too many spoilers for the prequel." Chan laughs, reaching up to run a hand through his tousled curls.

You can already tell he's getting overwhelmed with all the attention on him, his cheeks going a light pink, sweeping up to the tips of his ears.

Cute.

"It's biology." Seungmin deadpans, arching a brow, almost daring anyone to disagree with him-the biology major.

"I'm not arguing with that." Changbin interjects, brave enough to go against his moonmate, though he's already holding his palms out like a peace offering, just in case. "But I do also think there's some personal decision making involved, even as small as it may be."

Seungmin sighs patiently. "Okay. But the main thing is biology. It's all based on scents and pack mentality and the 'strongest and weakest link' no matter how cruel that may sound. Wolves don't care about personal alliances or feelings when creating a pack. They elect the strongest as their leader and that's that. The one that will guarantee their survival."

"Same thing with the luna." Jisung points out, serious for once, looking absolutely triumphant that he has something scientific to contribute to this conversation. "I see it every day in vet work. Dogs will absolutely always pick the strongest, most suitable mate to carry on their genes in their pups."

"Oh gee, thanks." Hyunjin scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"We're fucked then." Minho smirks, directing his gaze to the luna now. "Hyunjinnie's never letting a pup anywhere near his perfectly sculpted body."

"Damn straight." Hyunjin sniffs, straightening his shoulders and crossing his arms over his chest. "My womb will remain empty, thank you very much. Dry and dusty is how I like it."

"Back to Chan as alpha-" You say, considering, and everyone turns to look at you now. "-I think you're both right-" You motion to Seungmin and Changbin. "-I think it's mainly biology at play, which I hate to say, because biology's a bitch and I hate that our lives are so overly controlled by it, but it is what it is. I also agree, though, that personal relationships and feelings play a role."

"Do they though?" Seungmin arches a brow again, and you can tell he's not trying to be controversial, just thought invoking. "Because you hated hyung's guts when you first met him, and yet, here he is, your head alpha."

"Hey. I didn't hate his guts." You protest, and Chan grins, reaching out to lay a hand on your forearm as you get fired up. "I was annoyed that Changbin tried to set us up, and that reflected negatively on my opinion of him for awhile, but I didn't hate him."

"Sure." Hyunjin grins wickedly, and you flip him off.

Lovingly of course.

"I think there was kind of a moment-" Felix speaks up from beside Minho, looking thoughtful, even amongst the bickering. "-where, at least for me, when we were finally all together together, that my omega kinda just went 'yeah, this is right. He's the one.'"

"Same." Hyunjin nods.

"It's harder for me to say that-" Minho remarks, shrugging slightly, even as you and Changbin nod. "-because Alphas don't typically love to give over control or dominance to someone else, so I don't think I had such a crystal clear moment regarding Christopher, but I definitely began to see myself defer to him in certain situations as time went on."

"Yeah." Changbin acknowledges, nodding now. "Over time, I could feel my alpha start to look to him for guidance."

"God, I hate this." Chan groans, covering his face with his hands now, blushing hard.

You giggle and reach over to peck his cheek. "But we love you."

#skz #stray kids #stay #ot8 #skz!pack #skz!abo #poly!skz #omegaverse #bang chan #chan #chris #hyunjin #luna #head alpha #inbox #reply #ask #ask the pack #askthepack #anon #anonymous #sweet nonnie #moots #mutuals #my submissions #submission #skz imagines #skz reactions #skz scenarios