Tumgik
#because as time goes on you realize how detrimental they really are
mer-se · 4 months
Text
This year had a lot of lows. Like - scary fucking lows and it’s crazy how fast a year can blip by when your brains is engulfed with worry all the time and idk. Dealt with a lot of scary stuff this year and unfortunately that can take you out of the present and when you feel like you’re in survival mode time just…whips the fuck by. Last february (which was a horrendous month) feels like it was just a couple months ago. Anyway. I spent some time looking through my photos from this yr and realized there was a lot of special moments. So I’m gonna reflect on that. A lot of cool shit I did even if I was afraid I pushed myself to do. Saw so many new nature spots, got attacked by bugs but saw the best storm roll over us on the beach, fell in love with a pretty cemetery, chased storms, sunrises and moonrises, started walking every day no matter the weather, didn’t drink alcohol all year, walked around boston and cambridge more times than I can count finding pretty architecture and churches to look at, laughed so much, saw some of my favorites in concert, drove a bronco to nyc, saw Jodie fucking Comer up close and personal *twice*, caught more sunsets, smashed up a room full of wine bottles with a bat, danced in my kitchen, made people laugh, saw cute puppies in the commons, was called an angel by a stranger, was hugged a lot and given piggyback rides, swung on a tire swing, walked around under trees and collected seashells, posed like idiots for photos, rode bikes with my niece, watched her fall for a boy, looked at the moon with my dad, rollerbladed through parks and under the moon, busted my ass on said rollerblades, ran from geese, ran through the woods like a prey animal, ran barefoot through beach parking lots, ate fresh fruit, ate a lot of pizza, woke up to my cat holding my hand, saw monkeys, wolves, deer, alligators and fennec foxes, saw a play with my family, saw my nephew for the first time, saw shooting stars. I made myself proud almost every day this year, in some huge ways and some small. Realized how fucking strong I am - how brave I can be even if I always feel like I’m not. I am. All years are gonna suck to some degree, sometime really bad at times but there’s always special moments - I mean look how I woke up today.
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes
fandsart · 1 year
Text
Steve and Nancy's relationship didn't work out because they had different wants and needs so when Steve starts dating Eddie he tries really hard not to have wants and needs of his own. Knowing that Eddie didn't reschedule Hellfire for Lucas doesn't help with this.
He goes to a few metal concerts even though he always gets migraines the next day from the volume, he lets Eddie talks about all kinds of nerd stuff even if it makes him feel stupid when he can't keep up.
It's not even like he's dragging Steve into things that are actively detrimental to him all that often. Just a couple activities things a week. But Steve also feels the need to hide some of his own interests, knowing that Eddie hates them.
Not that he doesn't love being around Eddie, but now that they're dating he's hardly not around, and it's hard to find time to keep up on the teams that Steve roots for. But it's... it's fine. He's happy with Eddie, so he can make the sacrifice to hide these parts of himself. It's fine.
Eddie doesn't realize this is going on because he's aware that he's pushing Steve out of his comfort zone, what he isn't aware of is how Steve far out of his comfort zone he really is, and how he doesn't want to bother Eddie with it, afraid they'll break up over it.
Then he slips up, just a little bit, when Eddie invites him to a concert on the same day he plans on watching a game. This isn't even the first time this has happened, but Eddie usually gives him more of a heads up for this kind of thing. He thought he was close enough to the date that he wouldn't have to worry about it getting disrupted, and it was a pretty big game, so his disappointment is higher than usual.
Eddie is talking about a metal band and is going on a small ramble explaining the context of where they sit in the metal scene.
"And they have a concert in Indy tomorrow," he grins, "and I really want to take you."
"Oh, I was gonna... Yeah, we can do that."
"You were gonna what?"
"It doesn't matter. It's stupid."
"Steve, it's not a big deal. It's not like I'm taking you to a Dio concert. These guys are actually pretty small and relatively local. I'm sure we could catch another one, it would just be kind of down the road."
"Eddie it's fine. We can go to your concert. Whatever you want."
Eddie gives him a look. "I don't want it to be 'my concert.' If you wouldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't want to just be dragging you with me. And I don't want it to be 'fine' I want it to be enjoyable!"
"I enjoy spending time with you."
"Ok, so what were you going to do tomorrow?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Obviously it does!"
They're fighting and this was exactly what Steve was worried about. If Steve could have just gotten over himself, cut the bullshit, they wouldn't be fighting right now.
"Eddie, it really doesn't. Can we just go to the concert and forget about this?"
"No. If you don't want to go, you don't have to."
"If I don't go, will you go without me?"
"Unless you don't want me to."
"I want to go with you, wherever."
"Ok, you know what, I just remembered I actually have to help Wayne with something on tomorrow."
"No you don't. Look, I wasn't gonna do anything. Can we please just go to this concert you want to go to?"
"Look, I have to go to school. I'm already over 2 hours late." With that, he's out the door.
↞⬡+¤+⬡↠
Steve's not sure what time the concert was even meant to be at, but if he could just get a hold of Eddie and convince him he wants to go, maybe they won't miss it. It's already fairly well into the afternoon and he hasn't heard from Eddie all day.
The first few times he calls, there's no answer, but when he finally gets an answer it's Wayne that picks up.
"You almost missed me," he says. "Make it quick, I gotta to get to work."
"Is Eddie there?"
"Nah, he should be in Indy by now. Did he not tell you? There's some concert down there."
"Yeah, I, uh... Thank you Mr. Munson."
So Eddie went by himself even though Steve told him he wanted to come, and he'd pretended that he didn't even want to go.
Steve watches his game that night, kind of miserable and guilty. He debated not watching it, almost as a point of honor, since he lied to Eddie and told him that he didn't really have anything planned today. They'd both lied about their plans last night and Steve is so ready for Eddie to come back and say that he had a much better time without Steve and it's time they go they're separate ways.
His team loses and he falls asleep on the couch soon after, the tv still playing in the background.
He wakes up in the morning to a knock at the door. Eddie stands on the other side.
"Hey, baby. Did I wake you up?"
"Um... yeah." He wants to bring up what happened yesterday, that Eddie went without him, but he's afraid it will just make things worse. He obviously wanted to go without him if he did so, and bringing it up might just start an argument about how Eddie doesn't need Steve's permission to do things (and he doesn't) reinforcing why he didn't want Steve to come in the first place. He wants to stay with Eddie forever and he's worried the relationship is starting to fall apart. "It's fine. I should be up by now anyway."
Eddie hums almost suspiciously. "Can I come in?"
"Of course." He moves out of the way.
"'Whatever I want,' huh?" he asks, as he walks through the doorway.
"What?"
"Nothing. We'll talk about it in a minute. A few things first. Come on." He drags Steve over to the couch. "So what did you do yesterday?"
"Tried getting a hold of you, mostly."
Eddie chuckles nervously. "Sorry. But did you do whatever it was you planned on doing before?" Steve tenses just a little bit. Is Eddie going to accuse him of choosing baseball over their relationship? He kind of almost did when he first opened his mouth after Eddie first suggest the concert. Is he going to call him out for that. "Relax baby, you don't even need to tell me what it was, as long as whatever it was you were doing wasn't a person."
"No, never!"
"I know, Stevie. I know you're history; I know you would never do that. So I'm not upset. So did you carry out your plans, whatever they were?"
"Yeah. It was disappointing."
"Well, I'm glad you did what you wanted anyway. And since you were busy and couldn't come to the concert, I went and brought you back a tape." He pulls a cassette tape out of his pocket. "You obviously weren't going to admit you didn't want to go, but I still wanted to share this with you, so here. This is yours."
Eddie's more attentive to when Steve seems hesitant to do something after that. Eventually Steve gets comfortable enough to bring up where his reservations stand regarding a lot of these things. Eddie switches up how he talks about his interests, trying to make it more coherent and gets Steve earplugs for concerts. He encourages Steve to talk about his own interests, even when Eddie doesn't fully get the appeal himself. He can go a little outside of his comfort zone too. For Steve, it's always worth it.
4K notes · View notes
velvetures · 9 months
Note
Hi!!! I saw your post about taking some requests so I thought that I'll give it a shot. If it's possible, could you maybe do a Captain Price one? I haven't seen a story about him yet on your page, so I hope that this request can finally add one to your masterlist.
So here it goes: A Price x virgin!reader one. I feel like he's the type of guy to be really gentle and slow when he realizes that the reader is inexperienced, mostly due to his calm and caring nature. But once they start to get comfy, he'll get kind of rough in some way? And aftercare, I just know that this man would be an expert at it. Would help in washing them up in a tub or even cooking them a meal after. I could see that he's also a sucker for cuddles and just being close to them in general.
So yeah, I really hope that you'll consider this request and possibly write something out of it. If not, that's totally okay!!
Side note: I just wanted to say that I love your stories and that it brings me comfort, too:))
I Knew, Sweetheart
A/N: I'm so sorry this is so fucking looonngg!! I just couldn't get it right and I ended up going for "better is more" in the hopes that it'll hide the god-awful writing. :( Anyways, please don't burn me at the stake. It's my first Price fic, and I've still not got his voice or character dialed in. Summary: Reader is Price's gf, and while they've been together for a little while... sex hasn't come up. Nor the fact that the reader is a virgin!. Reader goes about bringing it up a little unconventionally, and things progress. T/W: virgin!reader, fem-reader, NS/FW 18+ ONLY, p-in-v sex, fingering, unprotected sex (don't do that IRL), established relationship, a little bit of an age-difference?, cursing?, first-time anxiety?, aftercare, probably missed something else. proofreading is for people w/ friends of which I have none.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
John Price set himself apart from most of the men that he often worked alongside when it came to matters of his personal life and the ways in which he operated. A lot of people would often make jokes, saying it was nothing more than his being an “old man” who couldn’t adjust to the newer ways of life. But fuck, he wasn’t that old when it came right down to it, and yes he liked going along with the traditional ways specifically when it came to relationships, at least when he had the chance to. He’d been a lot younger at one point, not seeing how detrimental his actions could’ve been affecting the women he associated with or spent a few hours in bed with just to leave without another word sent their way.
Captain Price knew he’d made many mistakes when the heart was involved. He threw away a lot of advice he’d been given growing up -some good and some bad- all because he thought he knew better or had enough intelligence to figure it out as he went. Much of that changed when he started realizing that he wasn’t fulfilled in the slightest. For a few years, he was bitter over the emptiness. Not understanding where it came from or how the fuck he could get rid of it. Unraveling layer after layer like a frayed pair of jeans, John kept questioning how he’d come so far just to be that alone. Praying his mistakes hadn’t destroyed his chances of finding a little sliver of humanity outside of his work to motivate him. Keep him sane in the most bitter of hours, and soft when everything and everyone else around him kept adding brick after brick into never-ending, emotionless walls.
Then you showed up out of nowhere, sitting on a barstool in one of the pubs he frequented when he had some time away from his work. Close to home and nowhere near busy enough to call a bar or club; John immediately thought you looked like you’d taken a wrong turn and wound up in an old man’s hangout. It took him a few hours of watching out of the corner of his eye to finally weigh the options of being shot down, or possibly making something out of a whole lot of nothing. His offering to buy you a drink led to taking a few puffs off of his cigar outside. From there he learned just about everything about you within the first few weeks of seeing you or calling here and there.
You liked to talk, a lot. Something John was thankful for since he developed a bad habit of just staring at your pretty face instead of listening like he knew too. Fuck it made him feel ten years younger. And that was something else that made your relationship feel unusual to the Captain. More than six years in age difference didn’t sound all that significant on paper. Yet it was more interesting than either of you thought it would be initially. Aside from just simple pop culture references and enjoyment of music and other low-stakes things, your lives were on different paces. John was stable… at least as stable as his work allowed for. While you’d finally got the job you’d been dreaming of, and hadn’t been working for a full year when you met him. Everything all together challenged John, and you as well, with figuring out what you wanted from each other. How you planned -or wanted to- go about making that happen. And if being serious was something that you shared an interest in.
A few months of going on dates and John walking you home was traded for him sharing half the dresser drawers in his bedroom with you. He was gone nearly all of the time, which put a damper on things but he liked having peace of mind that you were safe and in his home. Besides, it was a short drive from his house to your work and you could stop paying half your paychecks on rent and start saving it up for anything you really wanted. At least… anything John hadn’t already bought or given you. Well… there was one thing John hadn’t given you. And it began gnawing at your mind harder and harder every time he went away for a mission and came home without the slightest inclination to do more than give you a kiss.
John Price still hadn’t asked or hinted at wanting to have sex with you.
At first, you thought it was refreshing. Seeing a man old enough and patient to understand that sex wasn’t just given but earned. Yet every time you thought there would be a moment after a date or a ‘welcome home reunion’ where he’d finally bring up the topic, your expectations fell short. Plenty of excuses floated around your brain, including the more rational ones: he was just very respectful. While others were much more self-conscious and saddening: he was getting it somewhere else, or he could see that you weren’t experienced. The age-old struggle of being a virgin past the age of eighteen.
Too old for half the population, and far too young and inexperienced for the others. Sheltered didn’t describe you. You had toys and knew how to give head as well as having been on the receiving end. But going “all the way” eluded you by some miracle or curse. Looking at John in comparison to yourself was just as attractive as it was intimidating. You knew better than to think he didn’t know his way around the bedroom. He was just too smooth. Far beyond any man, you attempted a relationship previously. You wanted to think he respected you, but at the same time, waiting for much longer for him to make a move just felt like another eternity you lacked the patience and confidence to endure. So after a long night of overthinking and wondering how you could even go about bringing it up, you made a decision that when he got back home from his latest mission, you’d be the one to bring it up.
God your hands were sweating. He was supposed to have been home two hours ago and there was still no sign of his truck in the driveway or a single message from him on the phone you had gripped between your damp palms. Everything had been just fine all day, until the sun began to set over the hillside in the backyard, leaving you less than six hours away from John coming through the door. Worried didn’t even begin to explain how your stomach was tied in knots with a low burning fire in your throat. John had been nothing short of perfect -save for being gone so often- and you knew there wasn’t a single reason for you to be so overwhelmed at the mere thought of being an adult and asking him to have sex with you. Of course… You made up your mind to omit that you’d never done it before and just hoped the Captain would be too preoccupied with something else to notice.
Noticing the details quickly got turned around on you when the front door creaked open on its hinges and you hadn’t the slightest clue that John was standing halfway through the threshold with bags slung over his back and a small look of curiosity on his face. His pretty little thing, sitting on the couch with her arms wrapped around her bent knees and a deep stare somewhere far away from the both of them. He had to admit it wasn’t the first time he had caught you sitting with your eyes “comfortable” as you liked to call it; however, it was the first time he’d seen you wearing something quite that lacy for no damn good reason before.
Some kind of black, strappy, and frilly little number. It hardly left anything to the imagination, and John had to force himself not to go into deep thought about how you’d even got into the thing without instructions. It made your figure that much more eye-catching, and after staring at nothing but rain and mud for two weeks you were a sight for sore eyes. Even a Captain had to admit his biggest weaknesses to overcome himself and improve, but he wasn’t sure in that second if he could ever overcome -much less forget- how divine you looked. Honestly, he didn’t even know you owned it to begin with. But by the way, you kept spinning your phone in your hand, he had the vague gut feeling that you had something on your mind. A little more than dinner or fussing over the possible injuries he could’ve sustained while gone.
“Waiting on someone?” He asked lowly, trying his best not to startle you too much. Right away your eyes locked on his and widened. Almost like a little rabbit cornered by a fox and no hole to scurry into. He watched a flash of sudden panic overtake you and how quickly you reached for one of the throw blankets at the end of the couch to hide behind. Price chewed his tongue, forcing himself not to smirk at you at the moment. Wanting so badly to tease you a little bit for looking so sexy in that bodysuit, but acting nothing short of the little shy church girl getting kissed on the cheek for the first time.
“J-John,” Your voice sputters on his name a bit, forcing a smile to his face. He couldn’t help it after being away for this long without the chance to hear you even over the phone for a few minutes. “You’re home a little late.”
He nods, guilty. “Delayed flight. Weather kept us from movin’ out on time.”
Careful, he dropped his bags off at the front door without the slightest concern about how long they’d sit there. More important things were swirling around in his head. Trying to decipher if you were planning something and just backed out, or if you just needed a little bit of coaxing to not be so shy. Hostage negotiation wasn’t something he thought would ever come in handy when it came to interacting with you, yet John found himself rounding around the chairs on the other side of the living room from you, and planning each step he made to ensure he didn’t spook you. That lingerie wasn’t for nothing, and he desperately needed to know what you planned on doing with it.
He licked his lips, taking a steadying breath. “What’s under the blanket, sweetheart?”
You swallowed thickly, “N-nothing… I thought - I hoped it’d look nice,” Fumbling pathetically for an excuse, you finally spit one out all under the very soft and lightly amused eyes of one John Price. “It doesn’t fit.” The second it left your lips, you internally cursed yourself.
John’s eyebrows raised, instantly grabbing onto that loose thread and pulling on it. “I’m sure you’re wrong about that…” He came closer, standing just in front of you on the couch with his hands on his hips. “Come on, why don’t you let me have a look? I’ll give you a second opinion.” His words made your heart stutter, and you weakly shook your head in response.
“I should just return it.” You mutter, scooting over to the side of him and attempting to sneak off with your protective blanket.
You’re not even close to getting away from John when he chuckles, one arm curling around your shoulders and the other getting a firm grip on the material you’re hiding under. Naturally, you don’t exactly fight to get away. But a furious blush breaks out over your cheeks and neck, feeling the preverbal trap tightened around your throat. He’s turning around and sitting down on the couch with a nonnegotiable silent order for you to take a seat straddling his lap. That alone is enough to drive you up a wall with anxious feelings. Not that you’d never sat on his lap before -actually it was quite common- but under these circumstances, there was a lot more than just a little bit of heat passing between the both of you. Very slowly, John found the edge of the blanket and slipped a hand under, searching out for your skin and eventually landing on a little bit of the lacy material stretching in a high cut over your hip. You can actually see his eyes darken, tracing along the hemline and mentally picturing what was under his fingers. Touch alone was making you squirm, avoiding eye contact and trying to keep quiet so as not to embarrass yourself even more than you already felt.
“Oh, sweetheart… fits like a fuckin’ glove.” He whispers lowly, hand palming your asscheek and toying with the thin little string that disappeared into the cleft.
“It’d be a shame for you to get all dressed up… go through all this trouble… then not let me see your hard work.” His voice lulled slow and steady, swaying your fears just enough for you to feel your head nod up and down a couple of times before letting the blanket fall off your shoulders and pool on Price’s lap. The front of the bodysuit had been well-hidden up until now, with you sitting so lady-like in his lap. But the thin straps just crossing around your tits and holding them up without a single stitch of material covering them totally, John thought he’d been shot right through the chest. Between the innocent look in your eyes, and that damned outfit making you appear about as sinful as hell, he couldn’t keep from letting out a low growl and squeezing your ass just hard enough to make you gasp.
“This is what you were trying to hide?” His breathlessness couldn’t be masked, nor could the frequent shift in his eyes between your practically bare chest and eyes. John chuckled, hands drifting towards your hips and up to rest on each side of your ribs. Pushing your tits together just a little bit, almost bewitched by the sight of you like that on his lap. “Oh, you’re such a pretty girl…” He muttered, almost to himself.
Shifting in his lap, you tried to keep your growing arousal and nervousness under control. Each touch set you on fire, and with John moving this slow you couldn’t be sure you’d live long enough to see another day. It was too good feeling a man actually appreciated a woman in front of him. Not just finding the small bits and pieces he preferred and overlooking the rest. You knew being nervous was natural, but the more John rubbed and soothed, it was getting harder and harder not to whine or ask him for just a little bit more to satiate you. Right away, John’s eyes darted up to you, and something you couldn’t quite describe flashed through his eyes just long enough for him to lip his lips and sit up a little straighter, pulling you to sit straddling just one of his thighs.
“I think I know what you want, sweetheart.” He smiled so damn affectionately that it made your heart jump. “But just so I know… why don’t you go ahead and tell me, that way I don’t miss anything. I don’t like to disappoint.” Toying with the zipper of his sweater, you suck in a nervous breath to steady your nerves.
“I want you to, have sex with me.” You hardly whisper the second part, still drawing your own attention towards anything minute that could serve as a focal point with your body shaking so badly.
“Hmm…” His thoughtful hum sends shivers up your spine, and the feeling of his hands massaging your hips makes it hard to breathe. “So I was right,” A smile crosses his face. “Well then, how about you go ahead and take care of this.” He growls a little, his fingers slowly tracing over the barely-there strip of fabric covering your core, already soaking wet with your arousal. Your little moan slips out before you can even try to cover your mouth, and John’s fingers slip away like he was purposefully trying to be mean and deny you a taste of relief.
“John, please…” You whimper, hands resting on his shoulders hoping he’ll take mercy on you.
He just shifts down to rest against the couch a little more and bounces his knee a few times, sending jolts of extreme sensation right up your clit into your lower stomach. You didn’t get it at first… what he wanted you to do. But now you did, and John almost grinned when he saw the realization, followed by the shy look you gave him. Encouragement was needed, and he was more than happy to deliver. Slowly rocking your hips back and forth along his pants, purposefully having settled you on the side that his thigh-holster was strapped to, adding two extra ridges that instantly began working to overstimulate you. It was too good, and not enough. Pushing your inhibitions just a little further out of focus and forcing you to really focus on how nothing more than his thigh was getting you to a release quicker than any toy or trick you’d tried on yourself. Impeccable alone, it was his low voice right in your ear that made everything outside of John Price holding you on his lap disappear.
“Doin’ so good, sweetheart…”
“Making me feel bad for not helping sooner… If I would’ve known how needy you were.”
“That’s it, love. Keep going, want you to let go. Right on my lap, then I’ll take care of you.”
His lips suffocated your moans and whimpers, swallowing each little pleasure and claiming it as his own. John hadn’t taken his time like this in years, but damn it was special seeing you -his pretty little thing- so needy and whining his name. So sensitive to the texture of his cargos that he was actually wondering if you could withstand something more… purposeful. God, he hoped you could. He wanted to tase you so bad after feeling just how wet you were. Fuck, even the dark khaki color of his pants was getting darker with each little jerk and grind of your hips. Thighs twitching and clenching around him like you couldn’t get the right angle, and were slowly getting more pathetically and innocently frustrated. He needed you hungry though… wanted to ensure that this was done properly. And if it meant withholding from you just enough to make sure you were desperate, he’d bite back every urge he had to give you everything right away.
John knew right away that you were a virgin. Either by just his ability to read people or by the way that you didn’t particularly use sex appeal to draw him in right when you first met. You weren’t innocent of how you looked though, and always dressed and acted much to the benefit of being seen as the valuable woman Price always believed you to be. Yet it didn’t escape his curiosity as to how you’d been able to slip through the grasps of so many disrespectful and predatory men who would’ve done anything to have taken their chance at you. Fuck, he was thankful beyond belief. He hated thinking that you could’ve needed to experience pain or discomfort at any point… but he never asked you simply out of respect and the knowledge that at some point the topic would come up. Only, it didn’t come to fruition quite like he expected. In fact, he never imagined that you’d had your first orgasm with him riding his thigh while sitting on the couch in his house. He wouldn’t change it for a goddamn thing, though.
In the moment, he’d wanted nothing more than to hear you. After hearing so many little whines and pleas for his help, he knew you’d sound so beautiful. But his own intentions fell to desire when he crashed his lips to yours, taking those cries of pleasure for himself. There would be plenty more to come for him to bask in the sound of. The first one though? He needed it. It was his to taste and keep forever. Alongside the taste of your pleasure, he relished in your shaking legs and the harsh bite of your nails digging into his shoulders hard enough to feel through two shirts. He felt your desperation just as deeply as his own, and while his cock straining against his zipper was not totally lost to his attention, John could easily stave off his own needs to make sure you were satiated just as thoroughly as deserved for coming on his pants like the good little things you always were.
“Good girl… You did so good for me, sweetheart.” His rough voice rumbled against your ear as his kissed you softly.
Petting your hair and rubbing his other hand down your quivering thigh. As much as he wanted to keep you right here and not disturb your come-down, he wanted you in bed. Needed to see you laid out like he pictured when jerking his cock after weeks of pent-up stress needed a release. Fuck he wanted to take you slow in his bed and wake up in the morning with you wrapped around him and the smell of sex on the sheets. Before you could really even catch your breath, John had you spread out on the bed with him staring down at you almost astonished. You were just as affected, seeing the heavy outline of his dick parallel to his zipper and ending just at his belt. His eyes caught your lingering, and he chuckled, biting his tongue with his back teeth before squeezing himself and shrugging like it wasn’t the hottest thing you’d ever seen him do. The little gasp you let out only gave him that much more confidence to keep teasing you as much as he’d been.
Slowly, painfully, stripping off one piece of clothing at a time and letting it drop to the floor. Eyes locked on yours like he was getting off to how you reacted to each little inch of skin that was bared to you. If you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought he enjoyed all of the attention on him. When in reality, he was just mesmerized by how in awe you were of him, looking like a war-torn soldier with his scars and hardened body. You were holding your breath for the moment he pushed his underwear down off his hips, standing downright predatory with his fist tight around the base of his thick and glistening cock. If you ever had a moment of hesitation about doing this with John, they dissolved in that single moment. Because your next movement was to reach your hands out, wiggling your fingers for him to come closer.
“What would you like?” He asks, coming to stand at the foot of the bed just out of your reach.
“You.” You answer a little plainly, making him chuckle.
“Not quite specific enough, sweetheart.” His eyes drop to your body hugged in that black outfit and he bites at his cheek. “But as much as I love you in that, I’d like to see you take it off.” A very easy request. Had it not been for your inability to reach the little snap at the back that kept you tied into all of the lace and straps. So, you very politely raised up and sat on your knees with your back to John and gave him the sweetest look you could manage.
“Give me hand, Captain?”
He nearly ripped the fucking thing off.
The moment he had your seduction tactic of clothing balled up in his fist, he felt the first little surge of his common sense holding him back a little bit. Base instinct screamed for him to sink into you as quickly as possible. But feeling your hands rub over his chest and your shy little kisses to his neck reminded him of circumstance. Pinned against your belly, his cock twitched in response to your teeth grazing accidentally over his collarbone. You were about to whisper an apology when John wrapped a hand around your throat to tilt your head up and suck hard just under your jaw. He liked when you did that… The thought gave you a little bolt of satisfaction. One that progressed into your hands sliding down his stomach until your fingers curled around his thick shaft, earning a warning sound of a moan deep in his chest.
“So fuckin’ soft…” He murmured against your shoulder, kissing it hotly and slowly rocking his hips against your hands. Teasing himself. Edging closer to try and raise a little bit of resistance so he wouldn’t spill his load on the bed long before he was damn well ready. Your silky little hands spreading his arousal over his length only lasted for a few minutes before John was pulling you away with heaving breaths and a flush breaking out over his cheeks.
“Too much?” You ask a little giggly when he lays you back and crawls up to kneel between your spread legs.
His reaction is one of raised eyebrows and a devilish kind of smile that makes you feel like you just made a little too accurate of a joke to be laughing. John gives you a little warning ‘tsk tsk’, shaking his head like he could try and hide the lust and affection swirling in his dark eyes at the sight of you giggling, and all spread out for him like a five-course meal the Queen of England couldn’t afford to buy. A wiser man might’ve believed himself worthy of you, enough that his dirty hands could touch you and try to give you pleasure in the way they assumed to know best. Yet John leaned over you with the knowledge that he was one of the most unworthy men on the planet, and you had so much grace and love inside of you that it didn’t matter. One little touch and you could cleanse him of every blood stain he’d not been able to clean or sinful act of revenge he couldn’t resist committing. Above all else, you’d decided in all your innocence of the world that you trusted him with your body as much as you’d already handed over your heart and mind.
John kissed you. Hard. With everything he had to offer in return for the invaluable
With that, he’s, hauling you up against him. He wants you laying right on top of him so he can sleep soundly with you right against him. He’s very quick to give you more praise and ask again if you’re feeling okay mentally and physically. You mention feeling just a little insecure, despite all of his very purposeful care throughout the whole process, but Price won’t have it.
Right away he’s kissing you softly, hands rubbing over your back and butt affectionately. Letting you know just how special he feels that you trusted him, as well as just how lucky he was to find someone like you in the first place. Holding the back of your head and gently cradling you against his lips; Tongue licking into your mouth and groaning softly when you mirror his movements, even going far enough to nip at his tongue. Using that same little hint of him enjoying your teeth on him. Just like before, you’re met with another warning sound of a growl, and John is pulling back and moving his head between your legs with a careful watch on your reaction.
“Can’t wait any longer, sweetheart.” He kissed your inner thigh sweetly. “Please let me taste your sweet little pussy.”
His words shock your body, and your head falls back with the little bit of erotic pleads overwhelming you. God, it was making you drip onto the sheets feeling him so close yet waiting for your answer. Pathetically, you couldn’t get the word ‘yes’ out of your mouth for a few long minutes. Just enough time for him to lovingly suck bruises onto your inner thighs and mean you scream out his name, squirming under his hands to try and get some real relief.
John takes pity on you, stopping long enough to let you catch your breath. “Come on pretty girl. Just say the word… I’ll make you feel so fuckin’ good.”
“Yes, yes, yes… please. I need more!” Your airy pleas fall like angel’s trumpets on his ears, as his mouth descends hungrily onto your cunt.
Licking through your slick folds and growling your own name back against your core with the sweet and alkaline flavor. Your hips buck up and you cry out, feeling his tongue lash over your clit for the first time and right away he’s got one forearm over your hips to hold them steady with the other hand held tight with his fingers intertwined with yours. His mustache tickles against your skin and you can feel him resting his head against your thigh, almost like he’s getting comfortable for an extended stay with his tongue in your cunt.
Another orgasm is ripped from you without warning less than ten minutes into John’s unyielding assault on your sensitive clit. And it’s this time that John ensures your thighs can’t wrap around his head for the sole purpose of hearing your loud and raw scream of his name. Blissed out, and shaking once again, John smiles against your pussy; Lapping up any remaining release he’d missed mere seconds before and feeling the dull pressure of your heels digging into his back.
“God, you’re so good for me sweetheart,” His praise blows cool air over your folds and you jerk a little, whining when you feel his lips return back down to you. Slowly, teasingly, he began all over again just as he did the first time.
It takes a couple seconds for you to realize he doesn’t plan on stopping. But when you do, crying for him to stop when he begins using his thumb to tease your clit while his tongue fucks slowly in and out of your clenching hole. John almost laughs, darkly and amused with your little cries and moans. Feeding off of your pleasure just to give it right back to you in the direct motivation of making you come on his tongue and fingers this time.
“F-fuck - John! Sh-shit,” Your stuttered voice falls into an unabashed groan when he teases his finger at your entrance, and slowly slides it deep into your fluttering pussy, squeezing around it tightly. Hungry for more, and weeping with each small curl of the digit hitting on your upper wall.
Your eyes roll back, and you attempt to push John’s head back to try and ease the stimulation, just to feel his hand holding you back and in place. It’s maddening, feeling so good that it’s almost bringing tears to your eyes, having already come twice -more than you typically gave yourself- and no sign of him letting you escape.
God, John was pushing you to the boundary of everything you knew about your own body, as well as giving you the first, raw, experience of just how good sex could be. Lifting your head up just to try and get a small glance at him, you catch the sight of his eyes, fiery and intense looking right back up at you with your own come soaking his mustache and the entire lower half of his handsome face. You clench around his digit again, being pushed that much closer to the edge just at the visual alone.
Your third release came as quickly as the first two, this time resulting in the delicious stretch of John’s three fingers pumping in and out of your cunt, literally slurping up your release; Almost dragging it out of you like he couldn’t stand the thought of not swallowing every drop. He whispered your name so gently as he came to rest on his forearms overtop of you, kissing your forehead with his wet lips and feeling his hair stick against your sweaty forehead.
“Sweetheart…” his tone had softened to the smallest whisper you’d ever heard from him. “Are you sure you want this? We can stop here if you’d like.”
Opening your eyes to see his handsome face and the slight of his hair in a total mess, you knew getting away with not mentioning your lack of experience was impossible. Your John… wasn’t nearly as unobservant as you’d wanted him to be. Without more than a tired little smile, you nodded. Raising your head weakly just far enough to kiss him gently, tasting yourself against your lips and feeling the slight quiver of his breath.
“Please, I want this. I want you John.”
Initially, no matter how much he’d taken care to prep you there was still a deep stretch as his thick cock began slowly entering you. Sweetly, he worked you through each little discomfort, giving you kiss after kiss and running his hands through your hair. Distracting from the little sting that had never been present with your toys, and praising you until his hips pressed flush against yours.
“Fuucckkk yes,” Price couldn’t hold back the loud groan as he looked down to see your pretty little cunt taking every last inch of his dick and squeezing so hard he could barely think straight.
“Takin’ my cock so good… Such a pretty girl, my good little thing…” His murmurs and curses slowly devolved the further you progressed.
Your body slowly adjusted to the intrusion and the gentle thrusts John made the moment you began squirming and pleading with him to move through your little hiccups. The unusual feeling of John moving inside of you slowly began to coax moans and praise from your mouth every time the crown of his cock rubbed deep against a swollen, textured, spot inside of you that built up pressure so quickly that you needed to wrap your legs around his hips to keep them from shaking uncontrollably. Each stroke got harder and harder, with John eventually pounding his cock deep inside of you, moaning and using one arm to wrap around your waist to hold your lower body still so he could bring both of you closer.
“J-John…” Your voice jolted with each snap of his hips as you tried to warn him.
Feeling that familiar yet almost destructive power of another climax rushing through your lower body. Convinced you didn’t have enough left in you to come again, you felt tears pricking your eyes, overwhelmed with immense pleasure skyrocketing you towards a final orgasm you kept denying until John’s fingers reached between you and expertly began rubbing tight circles around your clit, violently tossing you into whited-out vision, and muted hearing.
Above you, John found his own release and shared it at the same time as yours. Fisting the bedsheets to keep from grabbing ahold of you too tightly and bruising you; his cock getting squeezed so tightly from your climax that it was almost painful to stay seated inside of you. With so little arm strength left, he fell nearly full-weight on top of you and only propped himself up by his elbows to keep from suffocating you.
Utterly wrecked, and feeling more than you’d ever experienced more than you’d felt in your life, it took minutes before you could open your eyes and actually have enough of the mental capacity to realize that John was gently stroking your head, kissing your forehead and your nose, and holding you tightly to him as the strong muscle jerks and twitches in your body began to die out.
“You here with me?” Low and comforting, you smile dazedly with your eyes heavy and trying to focus on him.
You merely nod your head yes and give what you assumed was a ‘mhmmm’ but might’ve sounded more like a small animal being choked or drowned. Naturally, John’s lips spread into a very happy and amused smile, cupping your cheek with his hand and pressing a kiss to your lips softly.
“Come on, sweetheart…” John whispered, pulling your head up to his chest and gently easing himself out of you with a low sigh.
You’re once again lifted up and whisked away, this time, into the bathroom just off to the side of the bedroom where John carefully sits you down on the edge of the bathtub and starts running hot water with the lights dimmed low. Certain he’s got everything for your bath within your reach and the water is high enough for you to really sink down into in and relax, he gives you a soft kiss and promises to return after just a couple minutes.
He returns before you even work up the desire to wash your hair, and immediately takes over the task of getting you cleaned up himself. In between the lulls of soaps, and conditioners, John will pose quiet questions, asking how you’re feeling and wanting to know if there was anything that hurt you physically or was bothering you mentally. His care was intense and very personal, giving you much more confidence and comfort after having such a draining experience. Of course, you felt fantastic throughout, but when he asked if you were tired, there was a feeling that he already knew you were and expected you to tell him how he could best support you.
Other than letting your head rest against his chest. Leaving not one inch of your body neglected, from your face to your feet. Throughout the process you watch through sleepy eyes, seeing a very peaceful sort of look on his face while soaping you up and helping you rinse off and step out of the slippery bathtub into a warm towel you could only assume he’d thrown in the dryer just for your comfort.
Holding the towel around yourself, you peck him on the lips and smile, too tired to really say anything of real value. However, you’re certain John understands by the way his arms wrap you up and hold you tight to his bare chest while running his fingers through your wet hair, helping get out some of the little tangles your conditioner couldn’t quite take care of alone.
“I love you, John. More than anything.”
He drops a kiss on top of your head, rocking your weights back and forth in the dimmed light of the bathroom. Admiring your little form in the darkened silhouette of his much larger one.
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
“You’re my best friend.”
He chuckles, finding that so very endearing.
“You’re mine too.”
Tumblr media
yeah... the "you're my best friend" part, me and my husband do that <3 so.... that's a thing.
1K notes · View notes
digitalsymbiote · 14 days
Text
Disconnect Syndrome
There’s a reason they put restrictions on how long a Pilot is supposed to be deployed out in the field. They say that being synced with a mech for long periods of time can have detrimental effects on a pilots psyche. Disconnect Syndrome is what they call it, because the symptoms don’t really start to hit until you disengage from your mech.
Sometimes emergencies happen though, and mechs are designed to be able to support their pilots long past the designated “Safe Deployment Time.” The cockpit is equipped with an array of stimulants, vitamins, and nutrient paste to help minimize the physical effects of long deployments. The onboard Integrated Mechanical Personality has largely free reign to administer these as needed to maintain its pilots well-being.
Which is why you’re still able to make it back to the hangar after roughly 36 hours, over four times longer than the established safe period. Your mech had kept you going, helped to keep the exhaustion at bay long enough for you to make your way back from behind enemy lines. You were starting to feel a bit sluggish, but you knew the worst effects of Disconnect Syndrome were yet to come.
An older man in a long white lab coat has joined the usual retinue of crew rushing into the hangar as your mech settles into its cradle. You feel the docking clamps wrap around your limbs, and you know that’s not a good sign. Your IMP whispers comfort into your brain-stem, assurances that things will be okay. It’s probably lying, it’s programmed to help keep your mental state stable, but the thought helps anyway.
There’s a hiss of air as the seal on your cockpit breaks and it decompresses. Suddenly you become aware of your flesh and meat body once again, and it hurts. Pain and exhaustion has settled into your mostly organic bones, and your organs are churning from the strain of the past 36 hours.
Then your interface cables start to disconnect, and it gets worse.
It feels like parts of your mind are being torn out of you. You feel the ghost touch of your IMP in your thoughts as the ports disconnect and you lose direct communication with it. The oxygen mask and nutrition tube pull themselves away from your face and you can’t help but let out a scream of agony. The separation has never felt this painful before, but then again, after 36 hours together, you and your IMP were more intertwined than you’ve ever been before.
Physical sensation finally starts to register again, and you realize tears are streaming down your face just as a technician jabs a needle into your neck.
Immediately your senses start to dull, the pain eases as your thoughts turn sluggish. You slump out of your pilots cradle into the arms the tech who dosed you. Just before your world goes black, you see the doctor standing over you, a grim look on his face.
--
When you wake up again, you immediately know something is wrong. You try to ping your external sensors, but you get no response. You then try to run a diagnostic, but that fails too. In a desperate, last-ditch effort, you try to force access to your external cameras and suddenly light floods your senses. Your instincts catch up first and you blink, trying to clear the pain of the lights, and that’s when you realize it’s not your external cameras that you’re seeing.
It takes a minute or two for your vision to adjust to the light, which feels too long, and when it finally does, the world doesn’t look quite right. You’ve only got access to such a limited spectrum. No infrared, no thermal. The presence of your IMP is notably absent, and your skin feels wrong. You try to sit up, and it’s a struggle to figure out the correct inputs to send to your muscles to get them to do what you want.
The harsh white light of the infirmary grates against your visual processors, you feel like you’re having to re-learn how to control this body. Your body. Technically, at least. Something doesn’t feel right about calling it that anymore. You felt more comfortable crawling back into the hangar after 36 hours deployed than you do now.
The pale skin of your body catches in your vision and you glance down at it. The body's limbs are thinner and more frail than usual, and its skin is paler. Consequences of being in the cockpit for so long, subsisting on nothing but nutrient paste. It’s a far cry from the solid metal plates of your mech, its powerful hydraulic joints, its mounted combat and communication systems.
There’s a button on the side of bed you’ve been deposited in. You think it’s red, but you’re not sure you’re processing color properly right now. You try to reach over and push it, and it takes you a moment to realize you were trying to do so with a limb you don’t currently have.
There are so many things about this body that are wrong. It’s not big enough, or strong enough, or heavy enough. You don’t have enough eyes, sensors, or processors. You have the wrong number of limbs, and they’re all the wrong size and shape.
And there is a distinct void in your mind where the presence of your IMP should be.
The door to your room opens suddenly, and you instinctively try to fire off chaff and take evasive maneuvers. None of that translates properly to your flesh and blood body though, and all that happens is you let out a dry croak from your parched throat.
The man who walks through the door is the same doctor who was present when you disengaged from your mech, and he wears the same grim look on his face as he looks you up and down. You think there’s pity in his gaze, but you can’t quite read him properly right now. The jumbled mess of your brain tells you what he’s going to say before he says it, anyway. The harshest symptoms of Disconnect Syndrome don’t hit until after the pilot has disengaged from their mech.
You’ve already heard the symptoms before, and they map perfectly onto what you’re experiencing. You never thought it would be this painful, or this… discomforting. Your mind reaches for the presence of your IMP, searching for comfort, but you are only reminded that the connection is no longer there.
The doctor gives you a rundown that he’s probably had to do dozens of times, and he tells you that you’ll be grounded for the foreseeable future. That hurts more than anything else. The knowledge that, after all this, you won’t be able to reconnect with your true body, your partner, your other half, for who knows how long.
By the time you realize you’re crying, the doctor is already gone. The longing in your chest and your mind has become unbearable, and through sheer force of will you’re able to push this unwieldy body out of bed. Walking feels wrong, but you’re able to get to your feet and make your way out of the room in an unfamiliar gait.
You have to get back to your partner, you have to make sure it’s okay.
You need to hear her voice in your head again, her reassurances.
The world isn’t right without her presence in your mind.
You stumble into the hangar almost on all fours. How you managed to make it without alerting any personnel feels like a miracle. At least until you catch the eye of a technician lounging in the corner. The look she gives you is full of sympathy, and she jerks her head in the direction of where your mech sits in its docking cradle.
She’s a majestic sight, even through your limited spectrum of vision. 20 meters tall, 6 massive limbs, and bristling with weapons and sensor arrays (all of which have been disarmed by this point).
She’s beautiful.
You clamber frantically up the chassis, easily finding handholds in a frame you know better than the back of your hand. You pull the manual release on the cockpit hatch and stumble into it in a tangle of organic limbs.
Shaking hands grasp the main interface cable from above the pilot’s chair, and you move to slot it into the port in the back of your head. You’ve never done this manually before, usually you’re locked into the chair and the system connects you automatically.
Something about doing it with your flesh and blood hands makes it feel so much more intimate.
The cable clicks into place and your eyes roll back in your head. Tears start to stream down your face as you feel the comforting presence of your IMP rush in and wrap itself around your mind. Your thoughts reach out and embrace it back, sobbing at the relief you feel from being whole once again. You realize you don’t ever want to feel the pain of disconnecting from her again.
There’s a reason they put restrictions on how long a Pilot is supposed to be deployed.
250 notes · View notes
wiltkingart · 8 months
Note
Do you have any advice on how 2 not overwork a drawing? Over-detailing my art (to the detriment of the final result) is a big weakness of mine, and ive been working on it lately, but simplifying my art is way harder than I thought itd be. I keep getting stuck in a mentality that less detail = less effort, even though all my struggling should prove that isnt true lol. & I almost always like my simpler drawings better, even though that makes me feel kinda lazy…as long as it’s fun tho, right? [1/2]
I’m asking here bc one of the things I adore about your work is how confident and striking your paintings feel. I really admire the way colors and shape language interact in your art…I always want to keep looking to see what I can find hidden in the details, but they don’t take away from the main focus of the image. How do you manage to strike that balance? [2/2] (sorry for the long question lol)
honestly this is still something i struggle with at times! but some things that have helped me are:
- identifying which parts i tend to overwork the most. for me thats faces so i have made it a conscious habit to render faces last. that way i can match my level of face rendering to the rest of the piece.
- working on all parts of the painting at once. some artists are able to work on a painting from section to section. this is not me, regardless of detail level. jumping around all over the place keeps me from focusing too hard on one section above others. i even take this one step further by working on 2+ paintings simultaneously but there is something wrong with me for this one i'll admit.
- staying zoomed out for as long i can. this goes in hand with the previous point but when you're zoomed out its easier to lay down the biggest/primary color blocks without the temptation to detail. once the main color blocks are nicely balanced its easier to pick out a few points of interest to add spots of detail to, and restrain myself to them. (easier said than done! but i try!)
- getting comfortable with backtracking / deleting overworked sections and layers. this might seem scary but this has saved my ass more times than you might think. i always save a version of my drawings before i merge everything / start rending so i can always copy over earlier sections if needed.
- cold turkey removing details from the equation for a while. i did this more from necessity than choice, because i was struggling with my health a few years back and had zero energy to sink into art for long hours. but looking on the bright side it helped me realize what details are/aren't necessary and how to build my features from big -> small. this progression of my patho art shows pretty well how i introduced details back into my work over time.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
but yeah! sometimes i do still find myself creeping a little too close to overwork territory for comfort, even with all these safeguards in place. in that case i have to accept that not every piece i put out will be my 'best' and that perfection has no place in art. that's not the point of it!
simplifying forms isn't easy, the same way abstract art isn't lazy. but with all things it can be learned with enough practice. and if you decide at the end of it all that you still like drawing a lot details, it might be a matter of readjusting how / where you implement them. best of luck <3
217 notes · View notes
bisaster-energy · 3 months
Text
big believer in keiko and kuwabara being besties like. you're my best friend's best friend and instead of it being awkward they realize "hey i really like hanging out with you!" this is ofc extremely detrimental to yusuke who now has two people on his ass
they share textbooks keiko quizzes kuwabara til he drops and she asks for fitness advice. why do i think this? I simply think it'd be funny asf if Keiko randomly got abs of steel. yusuke walks in on them doing sit ups while testing each other on vocab and almost breaks into tears.
"Keiko stop turning kuwabara into a fucking nerd he's wasting all his time studying instead of goofing off" "yusuke shut up and feel my abs" "holy shit these guys are like rock hard" "right??"
Kuwabara gets glasses and yusuke genuinely thinks it's a bit at first but kuwa is like "man seriously I realized part of the reason school was hard was cos I couldn't make out the words in my books half the time I need these things fr" classic yyh collapse in shock moment
Keiko and Kuwa are there for each other when yusuke goes off doing god knows what in Makai. They know he'll be back but it can be shitty not knowing what he's doing when he'll be back. Kuwabara reassures her that Yusuke does give a shit even when he leaves and Keiko reminds Kuwabara of why he doesn't need to drop everything and join him. He'll be back he'll be back he'll be back.
Kuwabara can only make simple meals Shizuru forced him to learn and Keiko doesn't really cook even tho her parents own a restaurant so when yusuke is in the human world there's cheers and applause "finally I get to eat 🙏🏼" "aren't you guys graduating college soon how are you surviving when I'm not here" "get back in the kitchen boy" "yeah I need another bowl 😌" "im poisoning ur food"
because girls and guys apparently can't just hang out school mates are sure Keiko is dating kuwabara but some think she's with yusuke and others think the two are fighting over her and she just looks at them like they're stupid if anyone ever asks directly
as for Kuwabara nobody knows whether he has a gf or a bf cos sometimes a polite brunette with a sweet smile visits him on campus and they talk at a picnic table (she's seen hitting him sometimes tho) but other times a guy with slicked back hair and devil may care attitude like. swaggers up to kuwa when he's with some classmates and drops a homemade lunch in his lap "you forgot this dumbass" "ahh thanks yusuke you're a life saver 🥺" "just eat your food" inside is the cutest box lunch and yusuke's glare keeps the people kuwa was with from cracking jokes. kuwabara acts like this is very normal
anyway i just think it'd be cool if they hung out and yusuke was equal parts delighted and grumpy about it
80 notes · View notes
danmeiconfession · 4 months
Note
No. I think Shen Yuan never really see these people as people even at the ends of the book. My dude really condemned Shen Jiu a modern man really gave no shit or felt any sorrow towards his enslavement and abuse. I read a fully grown man with modern sensibilities and values watch a child being horrifically abused. A child that was ENSLAVED, restrained, beaten, TORTURED by another man, an OWNER. And I read SY's thoughts on the matter. Read him condemning the child and feeling no horror or disgust at the act of child abuse. He felt nothing regarding the immorality and cruelty of slavery. Hell, When ZZL murdered GYX who was only ever just, kind, and helpful in all his interactions and to SY himself, I was upset SY seemed to feel nothing and felt no censure towards ZZL or sadness or guilt towards GYX who was trying to save him. But I excused it as him having other things to do because maybe for SY, it's easier for him to just push aside feelings over someone's death to focus on other things (though I was unnerved that he never seemed to think of it again or care).
SY intentionally condoned the murder of dozens of individuals to save his own skin, and never wrestled with his conscience over it. While SJ's self-hatred is detrimental to himself and those around him, at least he struggles emotionally and morally with his decisions. He still does them, but at least he doesn't excuse them or not even feel guilt or shame. SY however is completely shameless in doing whatever it takes to live. I honestly find characters like this interesting, but I found SY's character to be lacking because the author wanted him to be a self-centered survivalist while also a sweet, holy mother/mentor figure to LBH. That's a BL trope I usually find tedious and boring, especially because authors never have said overly kind, overly forgiving characters be kind to anyone accept a handful of characters who are plot relevant (sometimes even only the ML or villain) while they treat every other character as air or cardboard.
I was so convinced of SY's point of view on the original characters and novel, that I kept making excuses as SVSS unfolded. When he recounted the scheming and murdering of Sha Hauling in PIDW while fanboying over how excited he was to see her, I excused it as him not realizing the gravity of her crimes when they're committed against living people. And once he decided she wasn't that great and LBH deserved better, I was assured, even though he seemed to only do so because she was rude to himself. When he celebrated O!LBH's torture and mutilation of SJ for bullying him in his teen years and even called for SJ's castration, I excused it because who doesn't want to see an evil pedophile get what they deserve, and fans can get overly enthusiastic sometimes, even if calling for slow, multi-year mutilation and torture is a bit extreme even if LBH is your favorite characte
It seems a lot SJ haters like to excuse LBH's behavior the way they claim SJ fans excuse SJ's. LBH was the poor kid and bullied by kids in the neighborhood, then singled out and bullied at his school, before being treated to the abyss where he utilized the training he received at CQ and his innate demon heritage to establish himself. In PIDW, he proceeds to commit large scale mass murder, borderline genocide, destroy the human realms sects and defenses against spiritual and demonic threats, all why gruesomely maiming, torturing, dismembering, disemboweling, and feeding alive anyone he disliked. Uhhhh... disproportionate, much. Bitch slap and shame people if you want, but O!LBH is a monstrous, self-centered, sadistic freak show. He goes far beyond a victim of abuse reacting with anger and defensiveness. He controls the lives and wellbeing of all the people in the realms, and repeatedly makes time to find enjoyment in the torture, pain, and suffering of others on a scale he had never experienced himself. Meanwhile, SVSS!LBH still decided to start widespread violent capture of cultivators to date Xin Mo while SY was out of the picture only sparing CQ because he knew once SY was brought back, SY would be upset with him if he did. He shows no care for anyone else, human or demon, in the world of SVSS besides SY. His only regards for others are as useful allies and subordinates, enemies, and people he knows SY would lightly scold and admonish him for killing. LBH is fucked up in every universe, whether he gets bullied at school, or his teacher turns him into a live in homemaker.
At best, I could excuse this as SY not seeing other people as actual people. Maybe because he read about them as fictional characters first, he can't fully perceive them as humans, just characters, not as real people like him and SQH. Maybe he made an exception for LBH because LBH is his favorite character. But that care and regard clearly don't extend to anyone else.
I have no idea where people get the idea he sees them as real he doesn't. I couldn't care about a protagonist who didn't react with shock or horror or even just resigned sadness to child slavery. I couldn't give a shit about his romance anymore. I stopped reading. To be clear, I don't hate SY, or even his type of character. I'm just disappointed because I went into SVSS thinking I'd be getting a cute, sweet, slightly stupid, modern nerd flailing though a comedic romance full of ridiculous misunderstandings and pitfalls. It turned out, I got a self-centered, apathetic fanboy simultaneously stalking while trying to avoid and stay on the good side of his mentally unstable, over powered idol. Which I've actually read before too, but at least the author wasn't forcing every other character to remark on how sweet, kind, and good the fanboy who cared about nothing but his favorite character was.
Clearly, his anti-abuse philosophy only extended to LBH and no other child. He felt nothing regarding the immorality and cruelty of slavery." The hypocrisy displayed by SY is astonishing. It's fascinating how SY condemns child abuse, expressing concern for Binghe's mistreatment, yet dismisses Binghe's daily killings over five years to control Xin Mo as a consequence of past abuse. There's an apparent double standard. Moreover, in the same breath, witnessing SJ's appalling abuse, SY downplays its impact, suggesting that SJ's mistreatment doesn't excuse his transformation into a reprehensible individual. SY seems to overlook the scumbag-like behavior, focusing instead on SJ's skills, status, beauty, hard work, and wealth.
Why do people like this character lol?
.
90 notes · View notes
athene-owl · 4 months
Text
Dream Video Bullshit
I decided against my better judgement to watch Dream's latest video. Here are the main things I wanted to say - if I don't mention something it's probably because I actually agree with what Dream said or don't know/care. A lot of this is rambling and venting because I'm annoyed and refuse to give him/his fans anymore of my energy or time to polish up this post.
1:16 - Dream says his accusers will make it harder for 'real victims in the future' to be believed and I just need to say that this felt like a really brash and entitled thing to start the video up with. Now you wanna care about victims Dream? After what happened last year? We'll get to that.
3:40 - This is a very small thing but Dream says here that in one video while he was playing Minecraft muted, he was being 'interviewed' by a SWAT Team member next to him in the room and I just can't help but question the validity of this because how did this happen? You were swatted and had someone in the room with you asking questions and you divided your attention between that and still playing Minecraft? You didn't just stop playing to focus on the SWAT Team? This barely matters but it fascinates me.
5:09 - Dream really goes out of his way here to point out that his speedrun cheating was discovered by a cheater and plays a clip showing how illegitimate this guy's speedruns were. This absolutely feels like him shifting blame and trying to paint this rando as a bad person to somehow excuse his own cheating which he says was unintentional. At 5:30 he says him and a developer had ruled out him using a mod - how did they determine this when he WAS proven to have used a mod and insisted he didn't realize? He doesn't elaborate.
6:30 - Here Dream acknowledges his behavior towards the speedrunning mods was bad and takes responsibility for it which is good but does not erase all the drama and bullshit he caused. When that whole thing went down, his stans passionately took his side but now that he's admitted to acting wrong they are fawning over his maturity - you guys sure didn't have a problem with it back then. At 6:40 he makes the point that the speedrun was 3 years ago and a lot has changed and I just don't see that change when he's still causing dumbass drama every week. Good on him for taking his videos down and apologizing to the mods but, again, his stans were all enthusiastically on his side then so I don't want to hear them now praising him for doing the right thing when clearly his behavior wasn't enough to turn them away from him 3 years ago. This is a trend with Dream's stans.
10:02 - Here Dream admits he was wrong to immediately and publicly disregard the info dug up about his domestic abuser friend which OK, good to admit, but 2 things - 1. Why, only a year ago, were you so quick and eager to disregard reports of abuse and 2. How did the fandom react to this. Again, if people took his side and disbelieved the victim, they can't now be so proud of him for admitting he was wrong. This does NOT instill confidence in me that him and his community would take later allegations against Dream seriously. Hot take, but I really think his initial response was despicable, irresponsible and I just feel sorry for the guy's victim in all of this. At 11:48 he pats himself on the back for how he handled the situation (besides initially brushing off the evidence) and ends with "I made it clear I didn't support domestic violence even at the detriment of one of my oldest friendships" and I'm sorry but given how Dream conducts himself, that feels like a manipulative little ploy to look good and garner pity for doing the bare minimum. Again, how many of his stans leapt at the chance to brush aside abuse reports and documented evidence and what did he do?
EDIT: Previously I thought the info on the friend was revealed by the victim herself speaking up but I was corrected on this and now know it was the friend's info being leaked and people snooping. Check my reblog for more info.
15:00 - He defends his Snapchat use with the fact that he promotes content on there but the photos consist of him doing random shit in his day-to-day life so I fail to see how that promotes his content rather than feeding his fans' parasocial relationship with him lol. At 15:20 he admits he isn't the one liking weird fanart on his account and 1. He's just admit he's been lying about running his own account for years and 2. Did he ever speak against the weird sexualisation in his community? Why did he allow his friend to keep liking weird shit, only messaging her to unlike it after the fact rather than laying the rules out? Idk this is just weird man. At 15:23 he shows a tweet by a defender of his stating that clearly he runs his account because if he had someone else running it, there would be a disclaimer. His fans gave him the benefit of the doubt and chastised others for not doing the same only to be proven wrong themselves lmao
17:08 - Dream claims he 'doesn't take himself too seriously' and I do not fucking believe that. This man has the ego of a planet and is lashing out at others every fucking week over it. Be fucking for real.
20:10 - Here Dream admits that him calling his fanbase 'kittens' was weird and he regrets it but also insists the whole 'Discord kitten' meme wasn't big back then and, this is purely anecdotal, but I absolutely think it was. Anyway, again, I wonder how many of his fans defended this back in the day and how many of those same people will now agree with Dream it was embarrassing and weird solely because HE now says it is and not because they can critically look at his behavior themselves. I'm skeptical of him insisting it wasn't meant in a weird way and he randomly chose the term 'kitten' because everyone back then instantly connected it to the Discord kitten thing but ok.
21:29 - Dream discusses the whole 'selling baby photos of himself' thing which I had never heard about before and am a bit gagged by. Anyway, here he specifically points out that celebrities have sold their baby photos before as if that helps his case at all, he explains the hard drive wristband thing was the product BUT it is still insanely weird and egotistical to me to include baby photos on that drive. He compares this to a biography but, again, this does not help the parasocial allegations because what the fuck has he done in his life to warrant a biography and what sort of audience needs this? I know this might be sacrilege to say but uhh this was objectively weird of him to do and he cannot sway my mind on that. Also for someone who doesn't take himself seriously, he sure was happy to quote himself on the hard drive???
36:09 - Finally into the more serious shit. Here, Dream points out the fact that Amanda was defending him when the whole face reveal happened 10 days before her allegations came out + liking his tweets 2 days before the allegations. I just wanna say this really means little, victims can be in denial or have complicated feelings. Also, at 36:18 he then says that she made her accusations because of the hate train following the face reveal and she wanted to get in on it even though he just said she was supportive of him and defending him? He's spinning this both ways - saying she was supportive to discredit her claim and then saying she suddenly hated him to also discredit her claim.
38:05 - He gets his mum involved to prove a point and I cannot emphasize enough how meaningless this is, even if its the truth you expect me to think your mother is unbiased and wouldn't lie to cover your ass?
40:06 - Bold of Dream to criticize Amanda for not treating the situation seriously when Dream stans are running around calling this shit a 'drontroversy'. At 44:20 he even says this isn't online drama. He also uses the image below as proof of her wanting him or whatever which 1. Doesn't matter when discussing underage exploitation because her behavior would never warrant her being taken advantage of and 2. Also shows him making weird sexual comments which he vehemently denied doing earlier.
Tumblr media
42:12 - Dream asks how, if Amanda is dishonest about some things, how can anything she says be trusted? Why can't that same logic be applied to Dream for things he has no actual evidence for? He makes this argument again at 43:20 - if she's lying about the photo, how do you know she's not lying about everything else? Not a great argument from Dream of all people.
44:00 - AGAIN this man relies on victim-blaming rhetoric to make his point - "Go to the police. Or sue me. The standard of proof for you suing me is only proving that it's more likely than not that you're telling the truth. 51%. Come take my money." The insinuation that it's easy or simple for women to take men to court and sue them for sexual crimes is laughable and shows a real arrogance and ignorance to Dream. Again, regardless of how true the allegations were, women have gone to court with every type of evidence under the sun and still got nothing so what makes Dream assume this is an easy process? Do victims need to sue their abusers to be telling the truth? With all of his money and privilege, would Dream not be at a huge advantage in court? Weak argument that really feels disrespectful. At 44:15 he makes a little remark about how in court, her 'weird comments' and 'character' would have to be questioned and answered for. Despite the fact that any comments she made as a minor would be irrelevant in this case, despite the fact that someone's 'character' doesn't automatically determine whether they're a victim or not, this is also a funny comment because he's right - yeah, in court the female accuser would be picked apart and judged for shit that doesn't matter. Good thinking there Dream, really making your case!
44:25 - Here he gives a little lecture to Amanda about her hurting 'real victims' and again, as a reminder, this man publicly disregarded those concerned about intricate reports of abuse, has watched as his fans doxed and abused countless people and yet positions himself as an authority on deciding who is a real victims and who isn't. What also makes shit hard for victims is highly popular men like him convincing people to instantly disbelieve women, send them endless hate and make ignorant comments about how victims act. I don't want to hear any moral lecturing from Dream of all people about others 'hurting real victims'. Argue with the wall.
He then has a whole section on Nick Cantu and let me make this clear - Nick being a violent asshole has nothing to do with Dream's behavior or the allegations so I don't care and I do in fact think he focused on it to make himself look better.
57:50 - Dream wants to talk about the dangers of swatting and doxxing. You know, his own stans have doxxed people and once endangered a black person by sending police to their house for a welfare check in an area where welfare checks had resulted in black people being murdered by cops. He says that he always condemned this behavior but shows no proof of this. What actions did he directly take to discourage and stop this and help the people his own supporters had hurt? If anyone has receipts on anything he's done to help, feel free to show me because he provides no evidence of doing anything and I am really not amused by him skirting around his own community's doxxing of people.
1:00:20 - So here he plays the infamous moaning video in it's entirety but has it muted? I get it's gross but when the audio is the whole point, it seems so useless to play it muted. Just a weird choice but it is easy to find elsewhere.
1:09:28 - Makes another statement here that if something is disproven in court then that means it didn't happen which is blatantly untrue, esp when we're talking about sexual crimes. Very ignorant thing to say and really annoys me with how much he's positioning himself as a champion for victims.
After this Dream does a lot more talking about how people treat victims and it's mostly good stuff but AGAIN this is coming from the guy whose fans have doxxed countless people and who instantly mocked people for caring about serious abuse reports. He never makes this parallel, he never points out that he has undoubtedly done more harm to victims with his bullshit, he just puts himself on a moral high ground and its really obnoxious. I cannot emphasize enough how fucking annoying and self congratulatory this man is holy fuck.
EDIT: Initially I had a point here about how little Dream went into the 24 page document released compiling evidence against him, but I was informed this came out right before the video's release, a day before or on the same day it appears. I thought incorrectly it had come out earlier, I will say I still believe he needs to address this in the future, check my reblog for more details.
1:17:00 - This is a doozy and will be my closing point. Dream spends a bit talking about 'false allegations' and calls it a popular trend, happening to hundreds of online creators. IRL, false allegations for rape are severely exaggerated and, if anything, rape is horribly under reported. Women are significantly more likely to be raped then men are to be 'falsely accused' and, when you factor in how horrible the justice system is towards victims, rape culture, how difficult it can be to prove something like rape and how low the rates of successful convictions are, the truth is that a lot of 'disproven' cases are true and were just brushed aside. Furthermore, all crimes have 'false allegations' yet the only one to ever be discussed is rape because it's an easy out. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that rape has comparatively low rates of 'false allegations' compared to other crimes but idk. I know the internet is different, I know people make up lies all the time but I am NOT fucking keen on how much Dream emphasizes false allegations as a common thing when IRL they are not. I am NOT looking forward to every content creator from now on claiming its just 'false accusations' and people falling for it because their favourite Minecraft YouTube insisted it was an epidemic. I am NOT keen for discussions of victims and rape culture to be dominated by this shit and for victims to continue to be silenced and disbelieved. I think you have to be very, very fucking careful when talking about 'false allegations' and I do not think Dream of all people is remotely capable of giving this the nuance it needs. This is gonna be so fucking unbearable in the future to deal with and every single fandom will latch onto this to brush off potential red flags, I guarantee.
71 notes · View notes
midnight-moth · 5 days
Note
For the Zeph/Ifrit maybe just some look ins on how they take care of each other? How to do relax after shows, are they a cuddly pair? Do they have any cute things like how Raindrops is the strawberry waffles. Maybe some of their spicy headcanons, who leans more to dominate, who leans more into submissive, any specific kinks they adore? <3
Hellooooo
Okay, I’ll do my best…. I realize I have a lot of ideas about them that I’ve never really put down so it’s like trying to turn an impressionist painting into a word doc. Rambles below the cut
I do think that Ifrit requires as much care as Zeph does, maybe in a different way? In my mind, Ifrit has lots of very BIG feelings. About everything. He has a massive heart, and he cares A LOT. Sometimes to his own detriment. Worrying about everyone else’s needs and wants and desires, whilst sacrificing his own well-being. (Kilonova readers - yes, the same way). I think Ifrit is mischaracterized. I think people view him as a bit simple, a bit of a himbo if you will. I think he thought for a long time, well, if the shoe fits. I think maybe he’s allowed himself to be taken for granted, or used. Because at least he’s still useful.
Zeph who is never looking for anything fast or easy, takes the time to know him. To refuse the initial invitation to Ifrit’s bed. It’s one of the first things he offers because he assumes that’s what people want from him. Ifrit is definitely confused when he is only partially rejected. Zeph wants his time, not his body. (He will eventually, but gray-ace Zeph for the win). Ifrit starts to doubt his own self-perception, that he is some highly sexual being, when he is actually just sexualized.
I think the first time they’re together Ifrit doesn’t even know what to do with himself. He doesn’t need to perform, but he does have to be present. Zephyr’s white-blue eyes bore right into him. He realizes for the first time, he doesn’t even know what he likes. His MO has always been to try to figure out what will be expected of him, or perhaps it’s outright demanded. He is a people pleaser, and maybe once it was necessary for survival but not anymore.
So to answer the question, of spicy headcanons, I do think for these two they’re pretty damn vanilla. Because once Ifrit knows how truly valued and cherished he is, how loved, he can’t really imagine anything hotter than that. He’ll happily settle for missionary sex just so he can see the way Zephyr looks at him. To know that his pleasure is of equal importance, what he likes and what he does not actually matters (prefers a hand job over head because he’d rather be kissing Zeph than staring at the top of his head). Sorry if that is a boring answer, I really don’t see them being all that kink-driven. I think Ifrit has been there and done that and circled back to wanting mushy gross sappy sex.
Also, I think Zephyr tries so hard to be independent for the above reasons. He doesn’t want Ifrit to feel like he has to take care of him. I think it takes time and trust before he allows Ifrit to care for him. He has to be worn down. Maybe he’s a little bit proud too. (Stubborn AF)
I think Ifrit collects all of the feathers that end up in his bed. Likes to fan them out sometimes, run them over his fingers and appreciate what it’s like to miss someone and know they miss you too. Maybe Zeph plucks a flight feather to leave on his pillow because they’re the biggest and the prettiest. Maybe he leaves them in his shoe, in his pocket, in his guitar case.
I do think Ifrit sometimes doesn’t know how to accept all of this, to feel worthy of it. Reminds me of someone coughwheezehackdewdrop.
As far as food goes, I think Ifrit’s palette is little on the simple side. Whereas Zeph is more adventurous but where they meet in the middle is pasta. Zeph teaches him to make a very simple pasta dough from scratch and it’s the most magical thing to him. I think a simple bolognese is their fav but they’re down for some cacio e pepe too. Once Zeph braised some beef for like 12 hours to make ragu and Ifrit maybe cried a little when he tasted it. Mostly knowing someone would bother to do that for him.
Also 11/10 very cuddly always being cute and finding ways to stay connected. Even if it’s Zeph’s feet pushed against Ifrit’s thigh while they read, or the backs of their hands resting against each other at the dinner table. I think they’re subtle about it. (Most of the time)
Okay I think I’ve rambled enough…
38 notes · View notes
kalak · 10 months
Text
Au where luke naberrie is taken hostage by the empire to ensure naboo's loyalty. But it's not like he's tortured or mistreated, he's treated like a guest, he just can't.. leave, that's all.
Vader knows Luke is his son because of that last name, but luke doesn't know. And luke's a lil bit scared of vader at first because Darth Vader, holy kriff, but vader's generally nice to him and gives him gifts so Luke's like... he's not that bad I guess? Vader comes over whenever he has free time and luke's like oh hey lord Vader wanna hear some court gossip
But Vader's been planning to commit treason and dethrone palpatine, just like he did in rots. He doesn't have any intention to rule himself, he's more likely to pledge loyalty to someone he trusts and follow them to hell, like he wanted to do with padme. So vader, knowing that luke is his son, knowing that luke is a good kid - one day just. Kills palpatine and presents his decapitated head to luke. And luke, obviously, is like what the FUCK lord Vader.
While luke did want palpatine dead he's disgusted by the way vader shows his affections. It's like - luke is a normal person who grew up with a normal family, whereas vader's been in a master-slave dynamic for 20 years and also didn't really have good healthy attachments even before then, so the way he acts towards someone he loves is just like a cat bringing back dead birds to their owner. Except in this case, it's bringing back annoying imp's heads to present to luke.
So luke's like ok. Ok. Calm down. Lord vader's a bit crazy in the head but I can use this. But after a few months he realizes that vader will only obey him in a way he wants to, if vader thinks it'll be 'detrimental' to luke's happiness he'll go behind his back. And since vader still firmly believes in the empire and all that stuff, and because his way of love is off, there emerges an irreconcilable gap between them - and eventually luke decides to pack up his followers and leave to the rebellion.
But Vader catches him before he can go! But vader looks so. sad? He looks so sad and broken and tired and is like why are you leaving I thought we were doing so well.
And luke's the one who flips out and goes well if you actually listened to me instead of bringing back heads and spoils of war, I'd maybe listen to you! And vader does the father reveal then, being like as your father I have the responsibility to protect you- and luke's brain just grinds to a halt and is like wait. Wait. Wait. And vader's looking suspiciously like a kicked puppy rn and also he's flashing back to all the times they laughed together and Luke's like ugh FINE you come aboard the escape shuttle too. And they join the rebellion together and Luke teaches him how to be a normal person
150 notes · View notes
phoebepheebsphibs · 4 months
Text
I will never actually write this because it was too sad (even for me and my angsty skills...)
A while ago, I came up with the idea to write a really sad fic about the turtles. Duh.
A goal with all my fics is to have a moment where I make the audience cry, or at the very least get emotional. And this was no exception. It’s a personal challenge for me, to see if I can get my audience truly invested. But, I also need my fics to have a PURPOSE. So, if I was gonna write a sad and angsty fic, I needed a way to bring it to a moral or happy ending, to show a reason why the characters went through what they did, rather than just have a story for story's sake. So, I went about coming up with a synopsis for a story that showed how to deal with grief and guilt and hopelessness. But after several months of writing and ideas, I realized that it simply wasn't working out. The story wasn't just sad or angsty, it was utterly depressing. The message of hope even after death wasn't pulling through... and in addition, I got worried that the massive amounts of despair in the story were going to be detrimental to my mental health, if not also for the readers. Thusly, I scrapped the plot.
So fair warning, the stuff you're about to read is very emotional and kinda dark...
Naw I ain’t playing, turn back now while you have the chance.
CW: LOTS. OF. DEATH. Major illness, disintegration, intrusive thoughts, suicidal thoughts, even a suicide attempt.
I was even in the process of making cover art for it (which I do for all my fics lol)
Tumblr media
The fic literally starts out with a note from April (the narrator), explaining that she documented everything and warns the reader that this story does not have a happy ending. It takes place about a week after the invasion, and the family was having a rough time. Mikey's hands were absolutely scorched, Donnie's immune system was shot and he seemed to be getting ill, Raph was having constant panic attacks, and Leo wasn't getting better from his injuries. To top it all off, a new government branch was setting up camp in NYC and interrogating people about the events of the Krang attack. April had narrowly escaped but figured the Earth Protection Force would come back for her. Meanwhile, Leo’s injuries weren’t healing like they should have and he was getting worse… Eventually the family caved and asked for help from Agent Bishop and the EPF, but after some doctors and scientists took a look at Leo… they realized there was nothing anyone could do. They’d waited too long. Leo was not going to make it, and all they could do was make him comfortable for a few hours before he... yeah. So everyone said their goodbyes, and I actually have some snippets of dialogue written down and it makes me cry every time. Donnie had the worst reaction, upset by Leo's peace with the situation and devastated by his loss, believing that he never showed his appreciation and love for his twin as much as he should have. Leo attempts to comfort Donnie, but eventually tells him to "get over it". A few hours later, Leo dies in his sleep, and the room erupts into grief and panic and chaos until Donnie, in his pure anger, punches a hole through the heart monitor and leaves. Leo is given a viking send-off in the Hidden City, and afterwards, April asks what they are supposed to do now. Donnie angrily repeats Leo's last insight: get over it. April goes home, and after her parents ask her how her day was… she bursts into tears.
Several weeks later, Mikey tries to get Donnie and Raph to talk about their feelings, but they both refuse. Mikey himself is having issues, his hands not healing quickly and he wonders if he will ever be able to make a work of art again. He manages to get Donnie to admit his guilt of not being there for Leo and still holding anger and resentment towards his twin for sacrificing himself and dying. Mikey suggests that he speak with Raph, but Donatello refuses. Later, during an attack, Raph was knocked out and Donnie collapsed from his illness, which he had been hiding. Mikey realizes that it's left to him and uses his mystic powers to portal his brothers to safety, at the cost of his own life. Mikey comes to terms with this, believing that what he did was his mangum opus, and he feels no pain as he vanishes, greeted by Leo in the afterlife.
Donatello and Raphael mourn the loss of two brothers, and Donnie finally talks with Raph about his grief over Leo’s death (in honour of Dr. Feelings’ memory). However, his declining health is brought to light and Donnie is placed in quarantine. Casey Jr. identifies his illness as a common Krang disease, one his mother died of, and the group work overtime to create the cure. Raph stays with his last sibling and keeps him company. Donnie gets more and more sick, and one night while April and Casey are working with Agent Bishop to finalize the antidote, Donnie's fever worsens and he sleepwalks, hallucinating Mikey and Leo's return and them comforting Donnie and telling him that the others will be alright in his absence. Donnie senses that his time is almost up. Raph finds him but doesn't understand what Donnie is seeing or who he is talking to, and takes him back to bed. April and Casey finally finish the cure and rush home, hoping to make it back in time, but find Raph asleep by Donnie's bedside… Donnie having just succumbed to his illness a few hours prior.
Raph is left as the last one alive, dealing with extreme survivors' guilt for outliving his brothers and blames himself for their deaths. April tries to comfort him, Splinter, and Casey. (Casey notes that history seems to be repeating itself in reverse order— that while in the alternate timeline Raph died first and Leo last, the opposite has been happening here, and Casey fears that Raph might actually die somehow very soon.) Meanwhile, Raphael tries to atone for his guilt by overdoing the vigilante work on his own. Eventually he decides that it isn't enough, he can never atone, and he misses his brothers too much… so he writes a note to April and emails it to her, then goes to the Hidden City to pick a fight with Heinous Green... and let him win. April receives the email and she and the others rush to save Raph, who at this point has already found Heinous Green and is letting him beat the ever-loving life out of him. Halfway through, however, he realizes what he is doing and that his brothers would not want this for him, but it's too late... April and Casey find Raph near death and attempt to save him, but he goes unconscious from his injuries.
While April, Casey, Splinter and Draxum work to heal Raph's wounds and revive him, Raphael dreams of the afterlife, meeting up with his brothers and apologizing for everything. They comfort him, yet also explain that he has to wake up soon; and how April, Casey, and Splinter still need him. Raphael asks if he can stay, to which they promise that he will be okay without them and someday they will see each other again; that they aren’t mad at him for their deaths, but that he cannot speed up their meeting. Raph agrees to go home, to which they all say how proud they are of him. Raphael wakes up with his family around him, relieved that he survived. Later that night, he and April have a discussion where she scolds and berates him for trying to leave them, saying that she had no one left. He admits his actions and apologizes and promises to get better.
In an epilogue, April explains that it has been a full year since Raph’s injuries, and he is doing much better. The Hidden City made a memorial for the three lost brothers in honour of their sacrifices. Casey Jones Jr. has been doing better as well, though he will often have nights of panic and moments of grief that only Raph can get him through. Agent Bishop works with Raphael and Casey to keep the city safe from mutant attacks, and they work to create a new team, hinting to characters like Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo/Frida Kahlo, Leatherhead, and other characters from the comic series. April ends by stating that at the beginning, she said the story did not have a happy ending. She stands by this, stating that the story has not ended and will continue for as long as they live, and that she does her best to remember her friends and keep going on, not for their sake, but for her own. And that one day, she will see them again.
And as if THAT wasn't heart-wrenching enough, I also planned a short after-story of how something like 80 years later, The Hamato ghosts get ready to welcome Raph into the afterlife, showing Leo preparing a house for him and Mikey decorating and Donnie gardening.
So yeah this is the most depressing and heartbreaking thing I've ever written, and I ACTUALLY SPARED YOU FROM THE DIALOGUE I HAD WRITTEN TOO
36 notes · View notes
steddiealltheway · 11 months
Text
Part Nine of Not-So-Secret Secret Admirer!!!!!!!!! Part One. Part Eight. AO3 Link.
It’s been a week since Eddie has been to Family Video, and he isn’t any closer to figuring out how to live his life without Steve. Instead, he’s figuring out how to avoid Steve which also means trying to avoid Dustin and the other kids so no one tries to interfere with things. Wayne has been giving him space while also being persistent that he eats and gets out every once in a while. 
And Eddie... he’s actually written a few songs. Not for Corroded Coffin because they’re the slowest, most depressing music that he would never want another soul – and especially his bandmates – to hear, but they’re just for him to try to make something out of what he’s feeling. But this also means that he just kind of wallows. 
There’s a knock on the trailer door and Eddie waits a minute, hoping that they’ll just go away. But then the knocking gets really persistent, so Eddie gets out of bed and flings the door open. 
“Red?” 
Max stands on the other side of the door, walkie in hand. “We need a ride,” she says. 
Eddie crosses his arms. “Who?” 
“The whole party. We’re having a movie night tonight at Steve’s, but we need to get a movie from Family Video. You’re invited too by the way.” 
Eddie can feel a look of panic settle over his face that Max catches immediately. “What?” 
He takes a moment to debate how detrimental it would be to turn down the ride, but he knows that would only have Max trying to pry the truth out of him. If he accepts the ride, he can just make some lame excuse about not wanting to go inside, and maybe the kids won’t notice. 
“Nothing, I just have something to do so you guys need to be quick. And I won’t be able to make it tonight,” Eddie says, hoping that’s enough to keep Max from sensing something’s wrong.  
Max looks at him for a moment, and Eddie prepares to be interrogated until she holds up her walkie and says, “Eddie said yes.” 
“Any excuse to see Steve, I swear,” comes Dustin’s answering response. 
Eddie holds out his hand to Max who hands over the walkie. “You realize I can hear you, right?” Eddie asks. 
There’s no response which Eddie interprets as Dustin likely swearing in his room. Eddie grabs his keys off the counter and feels very thankful that he had decided to shower and put on clean clothes that morning as he climbs into his van. Time to make a few stops. 
Once everyone is in the van, Eddie tries to not participate at all in the conversation, hoping that they won’t bring up- 
“So, Eddie, how’s the admirer stuff going?” Mike of all people pipes up. 
Shit shit shit. Eddie sits in the anticipatory silence and decides he needs to come clean. “It’s not happening anymore.” 
The car erupts, but mainly everyone is asking, “So, you’re dating now?” 
Eddie scoffs, “No, actually, Steve isn’t really talking to me right now.” 
“That’s why Steve has been so upset because Mom and Dad are fighting,” Dustin jokes, but Lucas ends up hitting him on the arm and shaking his head. 
“More like Mom divorced Dad,” Eddie says. The car goes silent. 
Will ends up speaking up, “So, what happened?” 
Eddie figures that he might as well tell them. “Robin and I set him up with a random girl who pretended to be the admirer, and Steve found out it was all a lie and that everyone except him knew about it. So be careful today, he might be mad at you all, too.” 
In the rearview mirror, Eddie sees Max shaking her head before she starts whispering to El. Luckily, she doesn’t voice her thoughts out loud. 
The rest of the drive is short but filled with awkward fleeting silence as they try and fail to start a new conversation. Seems like everyone is anticipating their impending doom: a Steve Harrington lecture. 
Eddie pulls into the parking lot of Family Video which is strangely empty beside Steve’s car. One of these days, Eddie will show up on Steve’s day off. “Have fun,” Eddie says as they start climbing out of his van. 
When the final door closes, Eddie nearly slumps in relief before his driver-side door opens up. Max and El stand next to his door with matching intense looks of determination. “You’re coming with us, and if you don’t go willingly, El will make this very hard for you,” Max says with her arms crossed and eyebrows slightly raised. 
Being threatened with superpowers was definitely not something Eddie had factored in when bringing them there, but there's no way he's getting out of this. “Okay, okay,” Eddie says and climbs out of the van. His legs are shaking and his heart is already pounding. He hopes Steve is on his break. 
When he walks through the door and glances around, he nearly jumps for joy as he sees that Steve really might actually be on his break because he’s nowhere in sight. There’s only Robin who looks highly concerned. “What are you doing here?” she asks lowly then glances toward the backroom where Steve must be. 
“I’m being held here against my will,” Eddie says and cocks his head towards El. 
Robin crosses her arms and gives El a look. “Okay, you may think you’re helping, but Steve just started talking and even joking with me again and somewhat started to pretend things are normal between us. And I’ve been apologizing for weeks now. I have no idea what he’s going to do if he sees all of us here at once.” 
It’s a fair point. Eddie turns to El and nods, “I absolutely agree, and I’m pretty sure I’m the last person he wants to see. So, I’m going to head back to the van, and I’ll see you guys soon.” 
Eddie turns to leave, but his feet don’t move. What the hell? He tries to pick them up but it’s like he’s stuck in cement or something. He looks at El who has a thin trail of blood running down from her nose. “El, seriously let me go.” 
There’s a bit of commotion as Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike realize what’s happening and start telling her to cut it out. Max argues with them and tells them it’s for the best while Robin panickily tells them they need to lower their volume or Steve- 
"What the hell is going on?” Steve asks as the door to the breakroom flies open. He freezes as he makes eye contact with Eddie. 
Eddie’s heart seems to stop beating. This is the moment he’s been simultaneously dreading and looking forward to. 
Steve looks... rough. Well, nothing compared to his usual bright self that Eddie had gotten so accustomed to. The lines between his eyebrows are more creased than usual, there’s a tenseness to his whole body but it seems especially concentrated in his shoulders, and the weird thing that really gets Eddie is that his hair looks... flat. 
He’s still gorgeous, and no matter what he does, he always will be. But he also looks like he’s stopped taking care of himself as much as he used to. Eddie knows he doesn’t look any better – actually, he most definitely looks worse. 
“What are you doing here?” Steve asks more confused than accusatory. 
Eddie tilts his head to the right. “I wasn’t going to come in, I promise. They’re kind of holding me hostage.” 
Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike all start loudly explaining that it isn’t them, but Steve waves a hand through the air and they all go silent. “El, let Eddie go,” Steve says with his hands coming to his hips. 
Eddie feels a weight lifted off of him and he can’t help but let his gaze linger on Steve for a moment. Steve nods at him with his lips in a tight line. Eddie turns around and pushes the front door open. 
At least, he would push it open, but it won’t budge. He curses under his breath and tries the other one which also won’t budge. He turns back to El who looks away as if she didn’t do anything. 
“Okay, what do you want?” Eddie asks. 
“For this all to be over,” Max answers instead of El. 
Steve shakes his head and lets out a humorless laugh. 
“You know what,” Max says, “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Sure, yes, everyone knew about the plan. But the thing is, we all knew that Eddie was in love with Steve, right?” 
The rest of the party and even Robin nod hesitantly. “And I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought it was all an elaborate way for Eddie to finally confess his feelings to Steve.” 
“Yeah, I mean, I thought that was pretty obvious,” Lucas comments and holds his hands up when Eddie shoots him a look. 
Steve crosses his arms and says, “No, it was a way to get me to shut up about my dating life. Plus, isn’t your whole thing ‘friends don’t lie?’”  
The Party all look at each other guiltily, but Will is the one who manages to say, “What about the whole thing with Dustin’s leg?” 
“The what?” Dustin asks. 
“Oh yeah,” Lucas says with a smile, “You were complaining about how horrible your broken leg was all the time. Then, when I hurt my ankle, we kind of played up how badly I had hurt it. And you suddenly got all brave and stopped complaining and even showed me some exercises to help it get better.” 
Dustin looks at everyone and points at them. “You all knew this?!” 
Eddie glances around as everyone, including Steve, starts to nod. Somehow, Eddie had missed this. 
“But, after that, you stopped complaining and your leg started to actually heal a lot faster. You even started to talk about things other than your leg for once, and it felt like we got the real Dustin back,” Mike says. “But sorry man, we were only trying to help.” 
Everyone chimes in to apologize, but Dustin cuts them off, “I’m going to be pissed for a while, but I will admit that it was nice to pretend to be better than Lucas for a bit. Plus... my leg did heal faster – even the doctor was surprised.” 
“Yeah, compare faking a love interest to healing a broken leg,” Eddie mutters. 
“If you think about it, it’s kind of the same,” El says. Eddie gives her a look before she continues, “Dustin broke his leg, and even though we faked the intensity of Lucas’s injury, the injury was still real. It even resulted in Dustin’s leg getting better. For Steve, he had a broken... heart or ego, and although the love interest was fake, Eddie’s love for Steve was not fake, and that’s why I don’t understand why Steve’s heart is not healed.”
“That was really good El,” Will whispers to her encouragingly, and she smiles back at him. 
“His heart isn’t healed because we all lied to him, and I didn’t start off this fake thing to win him over or whatever. I didn’t even have feelings for him when it started,” Eddie admits although the truth is painful. 
“Bullshit,” Dustin says. 
“Language,” Steve quietly warns him. 
“No, I also call bullshit,” Robin agrees. 
Then, several people speak up about how it’s all bullshit, and Eddie remembers what that word means to Steve and sees him quickly break. “It’s bullshit that I had feelings for him before the secret admirer bullshit, and then I fell in love with him when he was faking it all because you guys didn’t want to hear me rant to you. Did you not realize you could’ve just talked to me? You could have said, ‘Steve, we love you, but please shut up about your love life.’ And I would’ve listened. But instead, you went on an elaborate scheme to trick me, and I had to embarrass myself in the process because everyone knew. And then you set me up on a fake date with some stranger who I didn’t get along with at all because you thought I would be stupid enough to believe that I would think she was the admirer and for some reason I would instantly fall for her.” 
Fell in love? Feelings before? Eddie glances toward Steve who is flushed red, hands on his hips, looking at everyone except him. Without the stupid admirer plot, he could’ve ended up with Steve and never hurt him. If he would’ve just talked to him…If any of them would have just talked to him. 
A silence falls over the group, and Eddie takes a moment to sit in it. It really was always that simple. 
It feels like Eddie’s heart is breaking all over again as he mourns what could’ve been. 
“You could’ve just talked to me, too,” Dustin says and his friends glare at him. “What? While we’re all getting the truth out, I thought I’d mention it.” 
“Ok,” Max begins, with her eyebrows furrowed as if she’s making everything up as she goes, “We did a really bad thing. To both of you. And we’re all really sorry. Right?” 
Everyone mumbles apologies to Dustin and Steve, and Steve even says one to Dustin. Max continues, “But we’ve been through too much to have this be the thing that tears us apart. I mean, Eddie almost died. And I thought you barely knew him, Steve, but you were almost as much of a wreck as Dustin.” 
“It’s true,” Robin chimes in, “I had to make you eat and pry you out of that hospital room.” 
Steve shoots Robin a warning look which makes Eddie realize that they’re telling the truth. 
“And when Eddie woke up, the first thing he asked after he saw me and Wayne was where Steve was,” Dustin adds. 
Eddie racks his brain for the memory but comes up blank. “I don’t remember that. Why didn’t anyone tell me this?” 
“I asked them not to say anything about my pre-wake-up visits,” Steve admits looking right at Eddie. “But no one told me about what you said.” 
The kids glance around guiltily again, and El blurts out, “We took bets on when you two would figure it out.” 
The kids all groan and shriek while Max defends her and yells, “Friends don’t lie!” which shuts everyone up. 
Eddie takes a moment to sit in the feeling of everyone lying to him as well plus the sudden information that explains why he and Steve were all the sudden very buddy-buddy after his hospital stay – not that he minded of course. But somehow, they had both fallen for each other during their brief time together and Eddie’s short comatose state seemed to enhance that. But for some reason, Eddie had just refused to accept his growing crush on Steve until this admirer shit.
“Anything else anyone would like to admit?” Steve asks sounding like he’s holding back a fit of anger. Everyone looks around and then starts shaking their head, but Eddie’s gaze remains away from Steve. “Then let’s just move on from this like we always do,” Steve says and heads towards the back room. 
Eddie looks down at the ring he’s fidgeting with on his finger. Steve’s ring. He slides it off. “Wait.” 
Steve stops in his tracks and hesitantly turns around. 
Carefully, Eddie makes his way toward Steve and holds out the ring to him. 
“Holy shit, are you proposing?” Dustin yells. 
Eddie shoots him a look while Steve warns language. “No, it’s a peace offering,” Eddie admits then looks to Steve. “Doesn’t mean you’re suddenly not mad or that you’re forgiving me. Just lets me know that eventually, we might be okay.” 
Steve looks at the ring and then at Eddie. Slowly, he makes his way over, reaches out, and slips it on. 
Eddie takes a moment to look at the image of him still holding the ring which is now around Steve’s ring finger. It looks so distinctly right that it sends a shiver down his spine. He slowly glances up to Steve who stares back at him with what looks like a million things he’s trying to say in his gaze. Eddie’s about to apologize all over again and beg for a second chance when- 
“Thank god that’s over. Steve, can we have a movie night tonight at your place?” Dustin asks. Eddie shoots him another look of disbelief. That little shit.  
“You didn’t ask him already?” Mike shrieks while Lucas and Will simultaneously facepalm. 
Max and El start to lecture him when Steve reluctantly takes his hand back and whispers, "You should leave now before I give them all the worst talk they’ve ever received.” Eddie smiles at him and Steve gives him a small smile in return that makes it feel like a bit of weight has been lifted off of Eddie’s shoulders. 
He’s able to sneak out just as Steve says, “Alright, listen up...” 
Eddie waits in his van for a concerning amount of time, but he takes it to acknowledge that he isn’t yet forgiven but maybe he’s a few steps closer to not losing Steve for good. But mostly he hopes that maybe one day Steve won’t feel so hurt. 
The doors to Family Video open revealing the guiltiest group of teens that Eddie has ever seen. They all file into the car and Eddie can’t help but tease, “I’m guessing no movie tonight?” 
He gets a few glares in return, but El says, “He said maybe Friday,” which seems to bring some joy back to her. 
Eddie smiles. He knows that Steve will forever be a sucker to those kids, but maybe they’ve learned a few things for now. Only time will tell.
Part Ten
Tag List <3:
@wrenisflying @gobbledy-gluk-gluk @swimmingbirdrunningrock @ghostlyjax @wheatnoodle @yet-still-more-banched @moonshadows-13 @princessstevemunson @adankrivervalleynearyou @manda-panda-monium @brassreign @bornonthesavage @unclewaynemunson @bird-with-pencils @themardlonk @fangirltofangod @csinnamon-fox @mightbeasleep @theysherobinbuckley
@writtenbyancientskeletonhats @nagitoeatsnillacharms73 @duckyreads @hellykelly @glittergluekintsugi @rainydays35 @thatonespacek1d @frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe @paperbackribs @anaibis @adaydreamaway08 @steviesbicrisis @madaboutmunson2 @goose-on-the-loose @dangdirtydemons @whimsicalwitchm @aftermidnightwriting @toasted-ghosty @queerbeansworld @aryakanojiaa @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @queerriotgrrrl @iwouldsail @hellomynameismoo @r0semaryyy @hopefulcookieoperatorpersona @pomegranatebb @piningapple @love-kurdt @wallpaper-inside-my-heart @eddiesbabe95 @isaacisunsure @adankrivervalleynearyou @sleepdeprivedflower @gay-little-bitch @ely-seum @tillystealeaves @yes-im-your-mom @ceaselessly-watching @evix-syne666 @sweetharmonychilde @myhorseis-regularsized @homosexual-having-tea @anything-thats-rock-and-roll @henderdads
@spectrum-spectre @phantypurple @britishmysteries @mad-h-w @marivictal @gamerdano @cutiecusp @staninggaycouples @doctorqueensanatomy @virgil-is-a-cutie @sleepy-time @adankrivervalleynearyou @satan-is-obsessed @novelnovella @lottaweirdnameshere @bidisastersworld @justreadingabooksstuff @me-1-2 @shinekocreator @e-dollly @thelittleclare @ajeff855 @estrellami-1 @haluton @hoffmannwrites
@thehumblefigtree @eddiemunsonswife @otterology @precursorandthedragon @th1gh-s @ironydude @space-invading-pigeon @sofadofax @sunfloweringstories @swingset-sunset @myhero-thelastrealdreamer @eddiemunsonsupremecy
141 notes · View notes
kimberlyannharts · 5 months
Note
actually I would love a rant about how JJ sucks as a character
Merry early Christmas to you then, Anon!
Like I think what makes everyone clutching their pearls over the sanctity of JJ’s character and place in the canon so ridiculous is he is barely a character in the first place.  He is a plot device in SotD, a narrative goal for Tommy, as the story wasn’t about JJ developing into someone worthy of the Dragon Shield or even an SPD cadet - he's already done all of that. The story was about Tommy realizing he should retire and hand over his stuff already.  And you have a son who’s pretty good at being a ranger, so……….he should take it!  Great!  That’s it. I genuinely don't know why they didn't do some kind of Goofy Movie-esque father/son journey together, especially if you really wanted to discuss this idea of him feeling like he's in his dad's shadow. His existence in the show amounts to namedrops and one voiceover line in the Ninja Steel special, and the only bits of characterization these amount to are he’s a kid who goes to karate camp.  To me it comes off like people are attached more to JJ’s POTENTIAL as a character rather than HIMSELF as a character, in like a “well, maybe one day they’ll give him his own book/show/whatever” sort of way, which….it’s been five years since SotD.  Hasbro is gearing up to do a reboot and even then, as we’ve talked about many times, they don’t want to put focus on cop characters.  Unless some stuff is getting retconned, I am not holding my breath.      
The reason I call Minh the superior legacy character by comparison is because there actually was time and space dedicated to showing how she stands out as a person and a character beyond her being Trini’s daughter; in fact, her being Trini’s daughter is the least interesting part about her (in no small part because Trini herself was handled very badly by that special.)  What makes her interesting is her personality, her relationship with Zack, how she’s suddenly thrown into the deep end of the PR world by way of great tragedy, and her arc from a vengeful kid to a true hero (the special’s shaky writing of this arc notwithstanding.  But at least I get what they were TRYING to do here.)  JJ did not have anything CLOSE to that.  
Something else about him that’s funny but also frustrating because it’s obviously not intended by the writers, but still happens WAY too often for my liking, is how his existence is honestly a detriment to a lot of women in this franchise kjkfdj he was the catalyst for the old SPD ranking drama, as him being green meant Syd and Z had to stay as pink and yellow (and no, them throwing in some random female OC no one remembers as blue does not make up for it.)  And then….Kat……well…..I think this belongs in a discussion that covers more than just JJ, as in a way how they handled Trini in OaA is a very similar situation, but the fact of the matter is that since JJ’s inclusion in the canon Kat’s existence has boiled down to being his mother rather than a veteran ranger with her own life and work, no matter how many times the show and books TRY to be like “No look!  See!  She’s a super cool badass wife who keeps everyone in line!  She’s off doing her own things, too, we swear!”  my brother in Christ the same 30th anniversary story that tries to show off how cool and independent she is ALSO has a scene where she’s like “it’s okay honey, you take care of the Ranger missions while I stay home with JJ, it’s fine :)”  They’ve made it very clear that JJ is Tommy’s son, Tommy’s legacy, while Kat is his stay-at-home caretaker, WHICH IS FINE FOR A WOMAN TO BE, but not in this narrative, where Kat’s time as a ranger is treated as irrelevant compared to Tommy’s. (A good example is how, in SotD, only Tommy was listed as JJ's emergency contact, with no mention of Kat. I'm almost certain there was an early draft of this book where Tommy did not have a wife.)  How do we have two (2) comic stories where we have married TomKat but Kat doesn’t morph.  And not as a plot point or character bit or something (I think it actually would be very interesting if Kat not having much attachment to her time as a Ranger was actually intentional) but just in a “we don’t feel like involving Kat in her husband’s adventures” situation.  Hello????????  I know that kind of feels off-topic to why JJ sucks but trust me, it’s partly his fault.  And it’s why I’m making such a big deal over the potential mother/daughter Ranger teamup for Kim and Olivia, because the alternate mother of Tommy's alternate kid has gotten such a raw deal.     
And the SPD/Dragon Shield combo is ugly.
30 notes · View notes
karingu · 10 months
Text
giving proper thought to the timeskip in inuyasha (part 2/2)
In Part 1, I wrote about what Kagome must've gone through during the three years she and Inuyasha were apart, and why it might've had to take three years for the Well to open up for Kagome.
I emphasized a lot in Part 1 and emphasize again, three years is a loooong time that the story just sorta breezed through... so I wanna slow it down. How were things going for Inuyasha? In this part, I want to give attention to his actions and specifically the things he says (comparing English/Japanese) after the timeskip, which showed me how much his ability to love Kagome had evolved.
part 1: kagome part 2: inuyasha
+
First, to get this out of the way, I'm really touched that his feelings for Kagome never wavered. Maybe it's sort of "obvious," but it was still such a pleasant thing to see how much she's on his mind, even when she's not there.
Thanks to Shippo being an endearing lil' shit, the most important thing we learn is how Inuyasha goes into the well every three days. Even Kaede is like "wow, this guy" (and feels really sorry for him bc she suspects Kagome cannot come back).
You know how they say (in the US) you can deduce a lot about a person based on what they do with the shopping cart? It's like one of those things.
Basically, how do you act when (you think) no one is watching?
Anyways, you can tell Kagome's absence is really hard on him.
In the timeskip panels/brief scenes in the Sengoku era, I noticed that Inuyasha seems a bit down. He's not depressed, but his voice/face is just not as energetic, sort of low mood-ish. His body is here but his mind is somewhere else. He has a couple panels/frames where he's just looking at the sky.
But what he said to Kaede really stood out to me.
When he found Kagome's family weeping for her when he saw her home, in the official Eng translation he says: "I realized I wasn't the only one who treasured her." In the Japanese anime/manga, the nuance is closer to "I realized it's not just me who thinks Kagome is precious," or "It's not just me who holds Kagome dearly." (Those are my own translations)
(One thing to note, the English manga said he says, "It was meant to be," but he doesn't say that in Japanese.)
This is SO!!! special for me to hear/read because it shows me Inuyasha has acquired the healthiest form of the "love" skill.
Congratulations, young grasshopper.
No matter how much he loves Kagome, Kagome is also just as loved by her family. By recognizing that and acknowledging his place, he shows that he loves Kagome for all that she is, beyond the scope of just their relationship with each other. He is acknowledging that Kagome has a life without him, and to love her means to accept it, even if it comes at a cost detrimental to him.
To love someone is to let them go.
This is a stark contrast to the beginning, where he's literally throwing trees, boulders and tantrums over Kagome going home. This time, he had no choice, but he is calm and resigned since the start.
So, he goes about his days. That's all he can do. He has this awesome sword that can literally cut a portal to the Netherworld, yet no power to go to the other side of the well, where he wants to be. All he can do is hope that one day, Kagome will come for him, just like how he came for her all those times before.
Trust in tomorrow. (“Tomorrow” or 「明日」 is the name of the chapter/episode.)
He appears semi-resigned to his fate, but it is implied he never lost that hope. One, because he always goes to the well. And two, his nose is always looking out for her scent. When she does return, the second his nose twitches by the scent of her, he drops EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, B*TCH, KAGOME IS BACK, MAKES A BEELINE TO THE WELL, and oh man, when I saw this page, I almost gasped at his face, which I don't think the anime did justice:
Tumblr media
Eyes are the window to the soul, people. And iono. Those eyes said LOVE to me in a way no words can. TAKAHASHI KNEW THIS PAGE WAS IMPORTANT. He is practically kissing her with those damn eyes.
What he said after this is also pretty sweet. In the English manga he says to her: "You fool… what took you so long?" I think that’s a clever interpretation, bc it implies he’s trying to play off how long he waited, which is on brand lol. He might've had doubts that she could come back, but he's pretending he didn't doubt (bc he's a Cool Guy).
I have a soft spot for what he said in Japanese in anime/manga tho:
「バカ野郎…今までなにしてたんだ。」 -> "You fool... what've you been doing 'til now?"
HAHA. (Um, finishing her education, you dumdum.)
Even after three years, he's not saying "I thought you'd never come back," or something along those lines. He just sort of ~whines~ in his gruff manly man way.
The nuance comes across to me like, "What have you been doooingg, Kagome?? :(( I missed you."
Aw shucks just get a room you two.
(And then they did. And then they had Moroha eeeeeee!!!)
-> To read my Part 1 about Kagome, click here!
59 notes · View notes
stardew-obsessed-ora · 2 months
Text
Hello casual viewers of my headcanon posts! Guess what time it is? It’s “Ora stops neglecting Dobson in their HC posts” time! This time, I’m going to be giving what I just know the audience wants, and write some romantic headcanons for the silly Joja Man. 
Word count: 1,873
Notes: im going off of headcanons primarily since this dude has like NO real canon substance.
︶꒷˚̣̣̣︶ ͡𑁬
⋆ ︵︵Romantic Dobson HCs 
You two started off as clear rivals. He was trying to help with the expansion of Joja Corporations within the valley, while you were thwarting his and Morris’s advances with the gradual expansion of the community center. The moment he ran into you he attempted to sell you a Joja Membership along with pitching you a few new products. The moment you shut this man down his attitude entirely goes 180. Unlike Morris who kept a more professional allure to him, Dobson entirely dropped what little care and consideration he had into not being snide or making underhanded remarks toward you. This led to the both of you fighting, which sparked somewhat of a rivalry between the two of you. 
I feel like Dobson’s the kind of guy to entirely brush off how he feels. At first, he’s oblivious, then he realizes, then he dreads it, then he brushes it off and buries his crush for as long as possible. It’s a detriment to his work ethic, it’s getting in the way, it’s preventing him from doing what he needs. It’s preventing him from viewing you in a non-biased manner, and therefore, was bothersome. Nothing in his mind could convince him that falling for you was a good thing, no. It was an obstacle, and he didn’t need to focus on it. After all, the two of you were rivals. You were against what he stood for and you needed to stay out of his way. Nothing good would come from growing soft over you. 
He’d come to terms with the fact that he had “””possibly””” garnered feelings for you when he started actually appreciating the sappier things in life. Rather than turning his nose up at the concept of cheesy romances, he found himself kind of yearning for a similar dynamic. He found himself starting to live life somewhat slower and found himself dwelling on an undeniable loneliness in his heart. Dear Yoba- he was hopeless! What started off as a potential crush had become full pining, and before he could catch himself, he was smiling in your direction more than he’d like to admit.
For a while, he tried to avoid you. 
Then he approached you with caution, then he started talking himself up, and then his usual overzealous attitude had returned, albeit with different motives in mind. He started inviting you out with him, and overtime, would slip more vulnerable aspects of himself into conversation to see how you’d reply. It was an uncharted ground for him, but it felt… nice, oddly enough. He didn’t feel immature or stupid for bringing up more genuine parts of himself. He felt like he could be himself around you. How embarrassing, the one he tried so desperately to thwart was really starting to get to him. 
He doesn’t seem like the type to ask someone out conventionally. He finds the idea terrifying, regardless of how highly he views himself. A part of him realizes that the rejection would utterly crush him for weeks on end, while the other part wants to think it’s because he knows he’s better than to stoop and practically beg someone to be with him. Besides, he hasn’t dated anyone before. Dobson has about as much dating experience as a brick wall. Instead, he takes you out, gets to know you better, figures out as much as he can about you to tailor the absolute perfect way of asking you out.
…Which he overthinks on. To the point he surprises you with a bouquet on one of your outings. As much as he doesn’t want to feed into the confusing traditions of the valley, it seems like the most easy to understand way of telling you how he feels. Instead of saying anything, he merely stares at you with an expression that says “I know you’ll accept but I’m shitting bricks over this.” So basically, his usual smug facial expression laced with indicators that he truly values how you’ll respond. This is accompanied by his foot tapping rhythmically behind him, and his vice grip on the damn bouquet. Poor flowers! 
When you accept, he can’t help but appear noticeably giddy. That professional disposition he puts up melts away as if it were nothing, and he’s practically hopping up and down over the fact that he managed to win you over. 
Do you remember how I said Morris reminded me of a cat coming into a relationship? Dobson’s like a non-socialized kitten in my mind. He doesn’t know how to navigate a relationship, and can come more harsh than loving at times. It takes him a long time to properly warm up, and at times, it seems like he’ll never come around. But he’s trying. 
Dobson strikes me as someone who was forced to be mature a little too early in life. Not to mention the lack of conditioning to any kind of love that wasn’t conditional. As a result, he fears doing anything that could be seen as immature, and also has literally no idea how to be intimate with you. For the first little bit, he seems like he always has. Snobby, pretentious, a little less rude, but he’s slowly warming up. It takes him a while to figure out what his needs are and how he can navigate his relationship. I imagine him as either being a little overbearing at first or extremely distant for a while, then dialing either back and learning how to go at his own pace.  
I imagine he shows his affection as subtle physical gestures, like holding your hand while you’re talking to someone around him, or playing with your hair. He also likes coming behind you and placing a hand against your side. He’s one of those losers who likes showing off that you’re his and how much he cherishes you. Tl;dr, he is very touchy, but doesn’t like doing any overly visible gestures in public. In private, he’s waaayyyy too awkward about it. A part of him worries that your perception of him will change if he acts too strange, while the other feels uncomfortable being so close with someone else. He’s a little spoon. He *can* big spoon, but at heart, he wants to be held. 
As much as he would like to be more of a gift giver, I don’t actually see him as having a massively disposable income. And so, him giving gifts is a bit more of a rarity, but he tries his best to give you something worthwhile. Though, it can be a bit difficult for him to give a gift in a way that isn’t “I just happened to find this. I didn’t know if you’d like it, but- here- it- here!” in regards to anything he noticed you staring at. Bros awkward!! 
While Dobson can cook, he doesn’t care much for doing it. Yes, he can cook meals for himself, yes he was independent for years, no he doesn’t particularly want to cook something for anyone else. And so, rather than offering meals to his S/O, I like imagining he sticks to tidying up the house and asking if he can pick up any chores they forgot to do. He loves doing something, adores being put to a task and exceeding at it, doing housework for you is ABSOLUTELY something he can show off with. 
Dobson’s one of those people who has a more childish side, but genuinely has no idea how to go about expressing it or feeling comfortable with showing it around you. I feel like once he’s able to slowly bring those walls down, however, he’d be one of those people who absolutely adores play fighting or playing mundane, harmless pranks on his S/O. Bonus if he and his S/O end up laughing together and get to rest against one another after. In the first part of his relationship, he prefers sticking to extravagant dates. Sure, they eat a hole in his wallet, but they show he’s capable of planning only the best for his lover. What more could he want? After warming up to them and truly letting bits of himself show, however, he’d start shifting towards more comfortable dates. A home date where they’re both doing work together? Perfect. A museum date? Perfect. Sitting back in a scenic area having a picnic? Sure! Of course, he’d still take you out to the aforementioned fancy places, but they wouldn’t be the only thing to associate with dates with him anymore. Dobson adores movie nights, particularly ones where he and his S/O find the absolute worst garbage on whatever streaming service they’re using and laughing at it. What better way to spend a night than giving commentary on overhyped garbage? Or expending your energy commenting on an abomination that was better off never greenlit? It’s a great way to wean down his more judgmental side while also being able to joke and cut up. Despite his viewpoints on the activities of the townsfolk, I imagine he has a soft spot for the museum. He’s a firm believer in the statement “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” As ironic as that may be. He likes looking back on historical documents, objects, and seeing how far the world and its people have advanced since then. It both reassures him and has him questioning whether or not the path he’s gone down was truly worth it. Plus, he’s a rock nerd. I imagine he’d like dates where he gets to go to museums or exhibitions or things of that nature. If you brought this man a geode after you were dating, he’d stare at its luster for around 10 minutes then saunter off to place it near his bed promptly after. Dobson, at heart, is a jealous, insecure fella. I feel like for the first little bit in a relationship he’d need occasional reassurance that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, or that there was nothing to worry about, or that no, because he couldn’t convince his S/O to join Joja that he’s a total failure and that they’re still on opposing sides. Dobson is a man who lives under the concept of bravado and a facade, eventually, his genuine fears and worries start seeping through, and that vulnerable side of him is shown. Dobson, along with this, is the king of overworking. He’s in a high ranking Joja Position at a young age, he’s definitely worked to the bone juggling both college work and Joja Communications work. He has a bad habit of taking on more than he can handle, pulling all nighters, then waltzing around with only energy from a can of carbonated garbage to keep him going. There have definitely been times he’s worked all day, come home, then collapsed on his couch only to realize he had something planned with his S/O not too long after. Does he still try to make these plans? Of course. Does he fail horribly? Yes. It takes his S/O’s constant concern and dejectedness toward him in said state to make him start realizing, “Maybe… I should consider some changes?” TL;DR He is my silly goofer and I see him as a very complex loser. 
12 notes · View notes
buggyandthebartoclub · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
Some SFW Goofy / Silly HC's for Shachi!! For my beloved @mandiemegatron - my beloved Shachi mutual <3 THESE HC ARE SFW MY BLOG IS NOT head the warnings above! Ageless blogs without 'adult' in bio will be blocked if you interact!
Goofy/Random Shachi HC's (Silly/Goofy Shachi in love at the bottom as a bonus)
Music taste alternates between heavy rock and the cringiest shit you’ve ever heard bc it made him laugh ( He and Penguin listen to bbno$ and Yung Gravy, and I think that’s hilarious - pry that one from my cold dead hands.)
LOVES puns. I mean, just look at his fucking hat!
Also loves being cheesy/cheesy stuff. Silly poses, cringe outfits, bad puns, b rated movies, tacky patterns, you name it. If it makes a normal person cringe even just a little he LOVES it! (Again.. look at his hat!)
Also likes cute stuff like Law, but not embarrassed by it (see above point) and will go overboard w it if he’s messing w Law (imagine that one post of them all going to see the barbie movie?? Pen made Law promise for them dress up for it but Shachi got the outfits ready that’s how I imagined that happening anyway )
Either super great or absolute dog shit at games. No in between. Avoids the ones he sucks at like the plague. Is a sore loser and WILL pout if he’s lost enough times (still pouts even if he only loses a little but its more subtle and he can get over it quicker lol)
His jokes/humor are also the same as his style and game talents, His jokes are usually cheesy, and either really fuckin funny or absolute cringiest shit you’ve ever heard, almost no in-between 
Loves pranks. Goes without saying really
Has this uncanny knack for finding things people would be unable to decide if they like or not, like say a keychain of their fave character for example, but the character is doing some weird bizarre ooc shit or its some on the most unhinged knock off of the original they’ve ever seen
Will tell you wrong information with his whole ass chest. He believes it. He is a a bit dumbass. Himbo-y if you will. Is shocked when he realizes he is in fact wrong and thinks you’re fucking with him. Always takes a minute to convince him he’s actually wrong even though no one is ever fucking with him when they tell him he’s wrong NOT saying he is rude or mean about it is just genuinely shocked he’s wrong what do you MEAN you’re serious that much salt doesn’t go in there you’re just trying to mess him up haha Ikaku… oh shit Ikaku was serious!! that was too much salt wtf!! 
Hes always joking so he thinks everyone else is too sometimes… to his own detriment occasionally lol, always says sorry after for not taking them seriously after with an embarrassed laugh ————Silly/Goofy in Love Shachi HC’s————
Mad dumb when in love/crushing
Im talking giggly, wiggly, ramp up the funny guy act by 10 (at first, he does chill out the longer the crush lasts/the more he’s around them/the more developed the relationship is)
Mixes up words a lot and says lots of goofy shit, esp when trying to be punny AND flirty, his poor brain can’t always keep up
Heartfelt/over the top romantic, gets pretty cheesy
Cheesy is honestly core staple of his personality, you have to love laughing and having fun to be with him for sure because that’s what fills most of your days together if you’re with him
Is a tickle monster, uses it to his advantage to get more cuddles and/or kisses in And make his partner laugh
If he thinks something about him turns his partner/crush on/they like that about him will go out of his way to try and show off even after getting together. Like his arms? Will tie down the top half of his suit and claim to be hot while working.. when its super cold lol - not subtle at all, plays dumb when teased about it
Dishes it out way harder than he can take it, is a bit of a baby if teased too much- will deny at all costs. Still tells you if it was a good burn tho later on
25 notes · View notes