#of course i have no idea whether it’s hypothetically good or not

[dollfaceksj]

CAL part 2 when???

here u go bby…

remember: CAL will get updates every friday, saturday and sunday. might not always be that consistent but ill try my best!

can’t afford love | myg (m) #2

⋆ TAGLIST ⋆

⇠ PREV. ⋆ MASTERLIST ⋆ NEXT ⇢

“would you be willing to give him a sibling?”

yoongi nearly chokes on his own saliva

he wipes his mouth with the used napkin before looking back at you. “what?”

you lean back in your chair and throw your leg over the other, crossing your arms over your chest

“i’m asking if you’d be willing t–”

“i heard you.”

you tilt your head to the side, watching as he continues to stare at you

trying to make sure whether you’re joking or not

“let me get this straight right now,” he says as he leans forwards. “are you actually asking me to knock you up?”

well… if he says it like that you might forget abt the baby and just want him up in ur guts

WHAT ARE U SAYING?

be serious.

“well, you said whatever jun wants, jun gets.” you glance at jun. “and he wants someone that he can play with that’ll love him unconditionally and that he can love unconditionally.”

yoongi’s brows knit together, eyes studying you closely whilst you stare at jun. you continue, “he tries his best to fit in so he’s really attached to his friends at daycare. you know what happened during his birth.”

at this, yoongi winces. he remembers the complications of your pregnancy with jun very clearly.

“and you know it was originally our plan to have two kids. we were always of the opinion that we wanted 2 kids that could have each other and be there for each other.” you let out a breath cause it just seemed like you were holding it the entire time (you were). “and it’d just be easier to have kids by the same man, married or not.”

you finally make eye contact with him

and he’s still staring

straight at you

like you’re crazy.

“you realize what you’re asking of me, right?”

you roll your eyes. “obviously i know what i’m asking. you can be as involved as you want, i’m doing this for jun.”

“don’t say it like that,” he snaps. “saying you’re doing this for jun as if i wouldn’t run around the perimeter of the earth until the skin on my feet fell off for him.”

you squint your eyes at him and just as you’re about to respond, he continues;

“and i can’t just be super involved with jun and not with the new baby. that’s fucked up,” he says as he shakes his head

he’s right, you suppose

he’s very right

“let me–” he sighs as he rubs his face. “let me just think about it.”

you nod your head slowly. “of course,” you say. “just let me know beforehand. if you agree, great. if not, i can ask someone else.” you rise to your feet and start gathering the dirty dishes

“what?” he asks, a twitch in his brows

you glance up at him as you stand up. “what?”

he frowns. “who are you going to ask?”

you shrug your shoulders. “jimin or seokjin or something.” you start heading into the kitchen. “or maybe find someone on reddit or whatever.”

both jimin and seokjin are your college friends, mutual friends of you and yoongi

he quickly gets up and follows you, taking the dirty plates out of your hands. “you’re not going to ask them.” he puts the plates in the sinks and turns to you. “they wouldn’t do that, they’re not… father material.”

ugh. look at him trying to find a reason to voice why he doesn’t think you asking your friends is a good idea without just being honest about why he wouldn’t like it

you tilt your head to the side. “why not? i’ve asked them before in a hypothetical sense and they weren’t opposed to it.”

at this, his frown deepens

he closes the distance between you two almost instantly. he says, “i’ll do it, there’s no need to ask anyone else.”

ugh

you have to fight the urge to roll your eyes

what the hell is his deal?

right girl… pretend like you’re not enjoying this

you shake your head and cross your arms over your chest. “i don’t need you to do it just to spite me, yoongi. fucking grow up,” you mumble as you turn to walk back to the table

but he stops you in your tracks by grabbing you by the bicep

“it’s not to spite you, it’s for jun and the new baby. you’re right, we agreed on 2 kids and it’s best for them to share both parents. i’ll do it.” he lets go of your bicep after he’s seemingly convinced you to stay where you are

ohhh

now he wants to come around

you idly blink at him for a few moments. “i want you to do it because you want to do it, not because–”

“i want to.” he takes a slep closer, now menacingly looming over you. “i want to do whatever it takes.”

when you think he’s convincing enough, he adds, “you want me to put a baby in you? i’ll put a fucking baby in you.”

oh

right. 😂😂😂

😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 okay….

your throat is tightening and your chest stutters with the way your heart feels like it’ll jump out of your body.

he’s staring down at you with such venom in his eyes that it almost stings you

“i’ll give you a whole goddamn soccer team if you need me to.” his eyes continue to stare you down. “if that’s what i need to do to make jun happy, i’ll do it.”

you blink at him, his warm breath fanning over your face. “okay,” you try to say confidently but it comes out a whisper

“how are we gonna go about it?” he quietly asks as he takes a small step back to end the proximity between you two

UGHHHH

here comes the part that you dread the most

you blink at him and your cheeks heat up. “i don’t expect you to go jack off in some random clinic, yoongi. just… in the traditional way.”

“that’s not what i meant,” he mumbles as he crosses his arms over his chest, ears a soft shade of red. “i meant when. where?”

“here. i’m ovulating this weekend.”

he coughs at the new information. damn. he’s supposed to fuck you this weekend already?

he starts nodding his head. “what about jun?”

“i’ll drop him off at my mom’s.”

he stares at you for a moment longer. “you’ve planned this out.”

“clearly.” you brush past him and gather more of the dirty dishes

he silently watches you, clearly still thinking about the crazy thing he just agreed to

you abruptly turn to him. “and listen here,” you say as you walk up to him, closing the distance and pressing an accusatory finger into his chest until he winces

“no foreplay. no kissing. no sweet talking. no aftercare.”

this might hurt him more than the finger pressing into him

because yoongi loves all of those things

yoongi loves foreplay. loves kissing. loves praising. loves to take care after

he frowns at you for a few moments. “no foreplay? how do you expect to ha–”

“i’ll make sure to be prepared by the time you arrive. don’t you worry about that.” you turn on your heels and gather the remaining dirty plates and utensils before putting them in the sink and drowning them in water

he quietly sighs. “so, that’s it? i come by every few weeks to fuck you and we don’t even communicate?”

ohhhh

NOW he wants to care about that?

you bitterly laugh. “oh, you mean like our shitty marriage the last 6 months leading up to our divorce?”

you can tell he didn’t like that by the way his nostrils flare and a muscle in his jaw tenses

this one stings

his face turns into a scowl. “don’t put everything on me. that’s not fair.”

you shrug your shoulders. “just tellin’ it how it is.” you brush past him to head into the living room, seeing jun still playing with his new toy

yoongi follows you out, shoving his hands in his pockets. “you know you’re being unfair. it’s why you’re walking away from me.”

“honestly, yoongi,” you say as you turn to him. “kiss my ass.”

you then turn to pick jun up off the floor. “you need to go to sleep, baby, it’s getting late.”

you hold jun in your arms and surprisingly he’s not protesting

he holds out his grabby hands at his father and yoongi takes him right away

he says bye to him, cuddling and poking jun until he’s shaking from laughter

you take him back and head into jun’s room, changing his clothes and tucking him into bed

you kiss his small forehead and turn the lights off, leaving his nightlamp on before heading into your own room

you strip, reaching for the bathrobe

“is that why you wore my favorite dress?”

you squeal at the sudden voice coming from the entrance of your room as you turn around, hugging the bathrobe to hide your exposed body

your eyes meet yoongi’s, who is leaning against the doorframe with his hands buried in his pockets

“what the fuck are you doing here? i thought you’d already left,” you mumble as you quickly scramble to put the bathrobe on and tie the rope around your waist

“relax. nothing i haven’t seen before.” he starts walking further into your room, closing the distance between you two

and each step he takes makes your heart beat of your damn chest

get your shit together !!!

“i don’t care! you can’t just–”

“and why not?” he finally stops walking when he’s right in front of you, half an arms length away from you. “you’re asking me to fuck you but i can’t see you in your underwear? how backwards is that?”

you angrily frown up at him. “i didn’t consent to you seeing me like this, at this moment.”

he blinks a few times and then tilts his head to the side. “you’re right. sorry. won’t happen again.” he looks around the room before back to you. “all i wanted to do was ask when you expect me to come.”

huh?

what is he even

???

your brow pinch together in confusion and the back of your neck heats up. “uhh…” you blink a few times, wondering if you heard him correctly. “when you’re inside of me..?”

girl..

he idly blinks at you with a soft frown on his brows. his eyes pingpong between yours from left to right, dropping to your lips for a moment before back into your eyes.

his tongue darts out to wet his lips before he speaks again and says, “i was talking about when you expect me to arrive… this weekend. what day. what time.”

oh

OH

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 right!

dumb bitch😭

“oh,” you mumble, heat rising to your cheeks and ears, a slight twitch in your lips. “uh, saturday… saturday at 8pm is fine.”

his tongue peeks out and swipes along his lips again as he stares you down before nodding. “okay. i’ll see you then.”

“yeah,” you reply, voice higher pitched than usual

heart beating a thousand miles a minute

“see you, y/n.” the way your name rolls off his tongue so deliciously whilst he’s still in your proximity, feline eyes staring you down, it all sets your entire body on fire

he looks at you for a moment longer before turning around and heading down the corridor before you hear him shove his feet into his shoes and leave your apartment

ahhhh

your heart won’t stop beating out of your chest

your palms are sweaty

your entire body is on fire

fuck

is this really a good idea?

to be continued.

⇠ PREV. ⋆ MASTERLIST ⋆ NEXT ⇢

— enjoyed it? you can always show your appreciation by buying me some coffee if you want ☕︎♡

— follow me on twitter and instagram for free exclusive content like sneak peeks, scrapped content, brain storming and to better interact with me ♧♡

— 🍀

@pamzn @jknoah @ahgasegotarmy116 @jaiuneamesolitaiire @rrrapmonste-rr @teddytaee @pnkmyg @yoongallery @agustdswifey @purp13st4r @busanstarkoo @busanboykoo @llallaaa @kookssecret @p34rluv @xumyboo @jojowantstocry @minjenna @codeinebelle @Futuristiclovedreamland @rirushu @taegicity @namgihours @ultminyoongi @swinterr @butterymin

#clover’s drabble series: cal | myg #min yoongi x reader #yoongi x reader #min yoongi x y/n #min yoongi x you #yoongi x y/n #yoongi x you #yoongi #min yoongi smut #min yoongi #yoongi smut #yoongi angst #min yoongi angst #yoongi fic #yoongi fics #yoongi reader #min yoongi reader #bts #bts smut #bts reader #bts x reader #bts fanfic #bts angst #yoongi drabble #min yoongi drabble #bts yoongi #bts suga #minors dni #dollfaceksj #bts fic

[undiscovered-horizon]

Eleventh Doctor x insecure/ anxious reader?

🫀REQUESTS ARE OPEN🫀 || Doctor Who-inspired playlist

"Cold feet" - 11th Doctor x Reader

SUMMARY: Funnily enough, after facing death and vicious aliens, it's small talk with strangers that gives you cold feet. Fortunately enough, you found yourself in the company of an expert on running away.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 1.9k

A/N: As an anxious person I cannot be thankful enough for people in my life who casually roll with my anxiety and don't try to "fix" it with cheap advice

"Time Lord to human! Are you listening to me?"

The sudden yelling shook you awake. Only then did you realize you zoned out in the first place, letting Doctor's rushed words brush right by you. You looked at him only to see pure annoyance seeping from his expression. Although you never meant to hurt him, the guilt still gnawed at you.

"Sorry, missed the last bit," you explained yourself as you awkwardly rubbed the back of your neck. "What were you saying?"

Instead of repeating his scientific ramblings which definitely would have been a little too fast and complex for you to understand, he shifted his posture to rest his hands on his hips. You felt as if he had caught you red-handed doing something he had absolutely prohibited you from doing.

"Oi, what's going on with you? It's like you've lost your head."

You absentmindedly shook your head to dismiss his worry. "Yeah, sorry, it's no-"

"Are you in love?"

For a moment you couldn't get any sound to leave your mouth. "What?" It was a bizarre conclusion to jump to. You couldn't tell what on Earth could even get him that idea. "No, it's on-"

"Good for you!" he said as he clapped his hands. "Now, moving on. Focus, eyes on me."

"Look, it's just that I've got a..." you suspended your voice thinking of the right word to use. The Doctor stared at you with wide eyes, clearly awaiting the second part of the sentence. "Thing."

"A thing?" he repeated in confusion. It seemed as if with each of your words he only grew more offended at your misplaced attention.

"Yes, a thing." Out of all the words you could have used, your choice seemed to have fallen on the worst and least exhaustive one. "My friend, Ada, is throwing a party for some of her college friends but apart from me everyone invited is from her course, so she's going to be the only person I know there."

"And that's what you've been thinking about while I was explaining my clever, clever plan?"

The Doctor stared at you with closely knit eyebrows. In some way, he couldn't fathom how a party invitation could be in any way more interesting than him showing off his extraordinary intellect and creativity. Choosing between a college party and aliens should have been a lot easier than it truly was.

"It's not as simple as it sounds, you know?"

"Alright, then tell me." By his hand-flapping and surprisingly undivided attention, you couldn't tell whether he was growing more upset or actually wanted to hear about what was troubling you.

"Honestly, I don't want to go but it's important for Ada. Also, I haven't seen her in ages. On the other hand..." your voice drifted away. Now that you've started this little heart-to-heart, it was pointless to lie to the Doctor - if successful, fooling him wouldn't gain anything anyway. "It's a party full of strangers."

For a moment he stared at you in silence, visibly expecting you to elaborate but truthfully, there wasn't anything more to say. The hypothetical group of strangers, as faceless as they were, was already stressful enough, even without giving them imaginary traits or habits.

"Strangers, right," he said as he clasped his hands. The sound echoed throughout the console room. He looked away for a moment, basking in enlightenment, before looking back at you. "How exactly is that a problem?" he dwelled on the subject. It seemed as if the discomfort of a company of strangers was hardly conceivable.

"You wouldn't get it." You vaguely waved your hand at him in a dismissive manner. Maybe it was unfair towards him but you really couldn't imagine a scenario in which he doesn't throw in a sarcastic comment about your anxiety. "I mean, how could you? Socializing has never been a problem for you."

"How could it be? People, party, cake, dancing. I love dancing! Great times, nothing to be scared of."

"Yes, there is: small talk and thirty people I've never met. And that's only the beginning."

Even the mere mention of that situation made a cold shiver run down your spine. A flutter of anxiety in your chest brought an unpleasant, suffocating sensation. Unconsciously, your face contorted in a grimace.

"You just go up to them and talk, what's hard about that?"

"Everything!" you exclaimed as you made a broad movement with your hands. "It's just... I can't do that. I physically can't make myself go up to a stranger and ask how they're doing, I'd rather hit my head against a wall. I know the theory, the 'walking through a house' metaphor, it's just... I can't force my body to do that. And when I do find myself talking to a stranger, I want it to end immediately. And the silence! Oh God, the silence... Like when you ask them a question, they answer and then the silence. The awkward silence of my anxiety, lack of social skills and being a generally uninteresting person. Just a bit of quiet and everyone knows I'm weird, awkward and-"

"Hey, hey, stop it!" he scolded you in a whiny voice as if you were a child. "Don't say that. You're not awkward or weird, you're brilliant!"

"Thanks, that's nice of you but unfortunately, I am self-aware."

He may have known you for weeks but you've known yourself for decades.

"No, really." He refused to let go. If the Doctor was going to spout cliche pick-me-ups, he appeared exceptionally committed to the meaningless act. "You crossed the universe as it is wide and long. Fought aliens and risked your life because a toddler couldn't sleep at night. Blimey, you told a Sontaran with a bomb bigger than your head to piss off. And it's house party small talk that gives you cold feet?"

Contrary to his presumption, the context didn't give you any comfort or motivation - it only made you feel worse. If you really were as brave as he made it seem, why couldn't you just start a conversation with your friend's guests? By the measure of saving the universe multiple times, you should be more than capable to do so.

"I know it sounds ridiculous and I agree it's stupid but it's not the same. When we're saving worlds it's a mission, a puzzle to solve." You paused for a moment but by your expression, the Doctor could tell there was something else on your mind. "And I've got you," you added.

"Me?" he asked sheepishly. The Doctor vaguely pointed his finger at himself. "What does that have to do with me?"

"You make me a little braver. I mean, you don't look scared even when you are, so it gives me a little push. I feel a little less anxious when I know that you've got my back."

"So what do you do when I'm not there?"

"Bail," you answered with a shrug. Were you really the same person who criticized the fashion choices of an alien with more guns than limbs? "I rarely go but when I do, I just run off around midnight like Cinderella." You made a small pause when you lowered your gaze, avoiding the Doctor's face. "Honestly, it always makes me feel ashamed like I'm making myself miss out on something but it's either that or panicking in the bathroom."

A silence fell between you. The Doctor's typical hand flapping came to a strange halt as he continued to stare at you with an inexplicable expression. He would have agreed on your resemblance to Cinderella, your regent-esque charm and princess-like beauty but there seemed to be a matter more important at hand:

"Has that ever happened?"

His voice was surprisingly quiet, hesitant even as if he didn't want to actually know the answer. Maybe he wasn't sure he was ready for the responsibility the knowledge would bring. The Doctor's words were barely audible over the whirring and wheezing of the TARDIS's engineering.

"Which part?"

"Panicking in the bathroom."

"Yeah," you said quietly. Your gaze fell to the floor. Looking for some kind of comfort, you slowly rubbed your arm. "It was New Year at my friend's, didn't know anyone there except for him. At some point, I just needed to take a break from being around so many people. I sat in the bathroom wearing a silver sequin ballgown and fought back tears. Funny, I probably looked equally pathetic and great. The only thing I could think about was how rubbish I was at just hanging out with people and, you know, being a normal teen at a normal teen party filled with normal teens. I just..." you stopped yourself at the last moment possible. A heavy, defeated sigh left your lips before you continued in a voice barely above a whisper. "I just wish I was a little less anxious."

"You never said anything."

"Why would I? It's not something I'm exactly proud of." You let out a bitter chuckle as you answered him.

Suddenly you found yourself engulfed in a tight hug. The Doctor's arms were tightly wrapped around you, his slow but ragged breath brushing against your neck. Surprised at the unforeseen affection, you hesitantly reciprocated the embrace. The tweed of his jacket was slightly coarse, some strings were coming out of the seams. He always smelled like burnt wires and a second-hand bookshop. At first, that distinct fragrance wasn't exactly pleasant to you but with time it became a beacon of hope, comfort, adventure and a good laugh.

"Oh, you brilliant, clever you," he quietly said in a sad voice.

Then he stepped away from you just as swiftly and surprisingly as he hugged you in the first place. The first thing you noticed was the change in his facial expression: the Doctor was no longer annoyed or concerned but excited as if he had just come up with a perfect solution to some mind-boggling problem.

"Well then, good thing you're not going alone this time."

"I'm... not?"

"Yes! A plus-one. It's still a thing, right? I'm your plus-one."

"That's sweet of you but you really don't have to. I'm fine on my own," you assured him, although he had no reason to believe you after what you'd already told him.

"Change of plans, sweetheart!" he exclaimed as he pulled one of the many levers. The TARDIS was about to take flight and it was a little too late for arguments and second thoughts. "We're going together and when people become a little too much we attend to an emergency," he said while running between different parts of the flight console. As if he was dancing, he made a whole circle around the control switchboard and stood in front of you once again. The Doctor stuck his index finger in your face as if reprimanding you once more. "No panicking in the bathrooms."

"Wait, what emergency?" you asked as he was already taking directions to your hometown.

"You know, this very real emergency that can't wait and we have to take care of it at the very moment. The crisis that I definitely did not invent just now."

"Right..." you drew out your answer as you caught on to his ruse. A smile crept unto your face. "Time travellers, defenders of the universe. You can never know when you're needed. Any suspicions as to what the emergency is?"

"Laskos' fourth moon. There's that small waffle bar that might need an inspection."

#eleventh doctor x reader #eleventh doctor fanfiction #eleventh doctor #eleven #eleventh doctor fanfic #11th doctor imagine #11th doctor fanfiction #11th doctor fanfic #11th doctor x reader #11th doctor #doctor who #doctor who fic #doctor who imagine #doctor who fanfiction #the doctor x reader #doctor x reader #the doctor x you #doctor x you #11th reader x you #eleventh doctor x you #eleventh doctor imagine #the eleventh doctor #the doctor #doctor who fanfic #doctor who fluff #11th doctor fluff #eleventh doctor fluff

[lace-coffin]

How would the collector react with a very Neuodivergent m!reader who has a hyperfixation on things like barbed wire, eye, scorpions and centipedes (totally not projecting or anything) but anyways, after a few months Asa had kidnapped him he's picking up all of the curious looks and sudden happy moods at seeing certain parts of the hotel.

Asa Emory x Neurodivergent!M!Reader with a fixation on centipedes, scorpions and barbed wire

Hi thanks for the request! What’s the point in fanfiction if not projecting onto your fav characters? Hope u enjoy this!

Requests are open!

Asa was beginning to think something was different about you, something separating you from the other hoards of hopeless fodder projects in the basement. You’ve quickly become Asa’s favourite for reasons he can’t really place.

You tend to keep to yourself most of the time whether this is out of fear or general boredom he has no idea, only jumping in when a subject you care about is raised. Once you start it’s hard to get you to stop, not that Asa minds, it can get lonely in this dilapidated hotel in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, even for antisocial people like himself. So it’s nice to keep someone around to fill the silence.

He’s realised by now the younger man in his possession seems to light up when certain subjects are spoken about, it’s happened so many times in the same kind of environment that he’s been trying to dwindle down the variables to pin the behaviour down. Asa loves to dissect people hypothetically and physically so this is just the icing on the top for him.

“Come on pup, we’re seeing over the specimens today.”

Asa tugs the lead connected to your collar harder than necessary just to watch you stumble and try keep up behind him on all fours, being the merciful master he is, he’s provided you with knee pads as not to mark your pretty skin. How kind. Unseen on the other side of you a dumb sweet smile graces your owners lips, loving the way you gasp for air.

Asa knew the mention of the specimen room would have you excited, pace quickening on the other end of the lead as suddenly unable to wait. This he already had figured out, you love bugs and invertebrates,doesn’t matter what kind, however some clearly stood higher in the hierarchy in your brain.

Holding the dense metal door open for you to crawl through, you both enter into the dim room, the lights from the tanks and vivariums providing a warm and cozy atmosphere. Instantly perking up you come to a stop Infront of the masked man, moving to sit on your knees.

“Can I check the centipedes and scorpions please? I’ll do such a good job sir I promise!”

You beg, practically vibrating from your spot on the ground.

“Calm down pup, of course you can, just be careful and if you’re unsure of anything ask for my help, understood?” Your sir asks, holding your chin between his fingers, tilting your head up to look at him.

“U-understood! Thank you thank you!”

———————————————————

Outside time was important for your health and important to Asa’s schedule, he loathes being made late or doing something in the wrong order, it can ruin his mood for hours.

Usually a walk around the perimeter of the hotel suffices a few times a week, this can be on or off lead, depending on how well you’ve been behaved. Unharnessed time is reserved for good boys who know where they belong.

If you’ve been particularly well behaved recently or seem like you could use a pick me up then Asa will walk you down to the garden-esque area out the back of the hotel. there isn’t anything specifically special about this area, overrun with weeds and over grown plants that are hard to see through, just as broken down as the rest of the building, however the perimeter is lined with barb wire. Just your typical cheap barbed wire to keep pets in and keep pests out.

To you it was more than that, you could wonder the edge of the garden for hours at a time, running your hands along the chainlink and gazing at the twisted patterns.

Sometimes he would ask you about, listening along contently as you ramble about barber wire, hopping from subject to subject as they enter your mind. This is how Asa loves to see you, carefree and expressing your passions out on the makeshift patio, it wasn’t a lot but it keeps you happy. Asa would do anything to keep his boy happy.

#slashers #slasher x reader #slasher headcanons #writing #asa emory #asa emory x reader #my writing #slasher fucker #slasher hcs #slasher horror

[maya-19]

Discussing kinks with daddy Price?

Price x reader.

kinks

You’d always been open and honest with Captain Price. He knew this too. 

You were sat in his office. He was lecturing you about getting into a bar fight again.

“There’s no point is there?” A small smile tugs at his lips as he fails to keep serious expression, knowing you’ll end up in another bar fight.

You grin, your cheeks dimple. “It’s not my fault men look at me and wanna see if my boobs are real.” You scoff rolling your eyes. You’re wearing a white tank top that fits your breasts, tucked into a pair of grey sweatpants.

He sputters on his whiskey and coughs trying to recover. “You good cap?” You lean forward on my forearms, against his desk.

“Y-yeah yes. I’m okay. You’re just blunt sometimes. Catches me off guard I guess.” He smiles sheepishly. A tint of pink covering his cheeks

“Ah. Is captain blushing?” You tease him.

“No I’m not. Shut up.” he grumbles, making you grin even more.

“Aww. It’s okay cap. You look cute all blushing and flustered.” You wink playfully.

“God what am I going to do with you.” He sighs, leaning back in his chair.

“Not ask if my boobs are real?” You stifle a smile. Then a wicked grin etches across his lips.

“Maybe I should. Are they real?” He raises a brow, leaning forward. His blue eyes slide down to your chest then back up to your fiery gaze. A smirk plastered on his lips.

“Yes they are. Why. Do you wanna feel?” You counter, a devilish glint of mischief glittering in your eyes.

“No thanks. I can already see enough.” He whispers, his voice low and gravelly. His tone sends tingles down your spine.

You feel your nipples tighten against your tank top. His gaze follows it and a darkness arises in his blue orbs.

Then you get a devilish idea. “Cap. Do you have any kinks?” 

“I don’t think I should be discussing those with you.” He rolls his eyes. He looks uncomfortable but also interested, though he tries to hide it.

“I’ll tell you one if you tell me one.” You flash him a smile, your green eyes sparkling with desire.

He meets your gaze once more, as if contemplating whether he should engage in this inappropriate conversation.

“Fine. Make it quick then.” He grumbles but fails to hide the excitement in his eyes, feigning indifference.

“I have a daddy kink.” You smile.

“A daddy kink? Really?” He asks interested as he leans forward.

“Blame the daddy issues for the messed up kink. But being called princess or babygirl turns me on. And calling a man daddy is hot.” You shrug nonchalantly.  “Of course only if he’s older. Like 35+. Calling someone younger than that daddy is just silly.” You grin.

“What if the man doesn’t want you to call them daddy?” He asks, his blue eyes studying you.

“I don’t go for men who don’t like it.” You smirk knowingly.

“What’s your kink then?” You lean back in you chair, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I have a dominant/submissive kink.” He tells you. His fingers tap his muscular thighs, hugged by his cargos. God those fucking thighs.

Your gaze drifts back up to his. There’s a sudden shift in the air. The sexual tension undeniable. 

“I like being submissive.” You whisper leaning forward.

A smirk tugs at his lips. He runs a hand down his face as if contemplating to stop before this conversation leads into uncharted territory.

“Hypothetically speaking, what would you do to me? If you were the dominant and I was the submissive?” You ask, desire thick in your tone, low and husky.

He intakes a sharp breath. “I’d bend you over on this desk,” He murmurs, placing his palm flat on the desk. “And I’d fuck you from behind.” His voice is deep and demanding.

Your breath hitches. You suck in a breath. Arousal swimming in your core. You clench your thighs together.

His gaze drops to your thighs, his eyes darkening. Then back up to your hardened nipples and then your lips.

“Id spank your ass raw for walking around in a top like that. Where any man can see your nipples.” He continues. His voice dark, thick with restrained desire. Like he’s caged a beast wanting to be let out.

Your nipples tighten, begging to be touched. To be fondled and trapped between his lips. Your cheeks flush, excited as to where this conversation is going.

“Do you have a daddy kink captain?” You smile amused.

“Maybe.” He whispers. His eyes trained on yours.

You suck in a breath and stand up, leaning forward on your hands flat on the desk across him.

“How much lower?” You whisper. His gaze drops to your breasts pressed together.

“Lower.” He mutters, holding your gaze with a carnal desire that swims in his blue eyes.

You bend lower till your back is arched, and your ass is jutted out. You look at him through your lashes. Lips parted. His breath grows ragged as he stares at you. Unwavering.

“Lower.” He rasps. His voice sends your senses into overdrive. You lower until you’re bent over on his desk. Your breasts pressing against it. Ass up.

“Spread your legs wider y/n.” He whispers gravelly. Your knees tremble as you spread your legs wider. He stands up and walks around the desk. Standing right behind you. 

“I’d grab your hips like this,” he murmurs bringing his hands to my hips. His hands rough and big. “And I’d make sure I left marks all over your ass.” He rasped.

Your breath hitched and you pushed back, silently asking him to. But he chuckled softly, a dark desire within his tone.

“If I do that Princess, then I won’t stop till I’ve fucked that sassy attitude out of you.” He growled in your ear.  

“So do it.” You whisper, voice thick with anticipation and desire.

He pulls down your sweatpants. Without warning he draws his flat palm back and spanks your ass. You gasp suddenly, your toes curling.

“Do it again.” You breathe out shakily. Your pussy throbs, the ache between your thighs begging to be satisfied.

“Such a dirty little girl.” He grunts, this time your lurch forward suddenly with the rough hit. You whimper quietly, spreading your legs wider on instinct.

But the spanks weren’t enough. One after the other, you craved his touch. Between the wet folds, dripping down your inner thighs with a throbbing ache.

He unbuckles his belt. You swallow and look over your shoulder. His eyes on yours, as if knowing what you wanted. You lick your lower lip in anticipation and hunger as he curled the buckle around his fist, and uses the belt to whip your ass once. You gasp suddenly and let out a drawn out moan. Your hands gripping onto papers, scrunching them needing something to hold.

He whips again and again, you cry out. Your pussy is throbbing, juices leaking down your thighs. Then he moves the belt under and between your thighs. He flicks up upwards against your folds and lightly slaps it. Your juices squelch under the belt. He turns you around, lifts you up and sits you on the edge of his desk easily. He brings the end of the belt between your bodies.

“So wet y/n. So desperate. Is this what you want?” He rasps slipping the end of the belt between his lips and sucking the wetness off it, all while staring into your eyes. He pulls it out and lightly slaps your soft cheek with it. 

You blush crimson, the sassiness already leaving your body. Temporarily of course.

“Fuck me captain. Please.” You whisper shamelessly. Needy.

His blue eyes darken. He cups your face and kisses you harshly. Rough and hungry. You moan into the kiss and clutch his shirt and lock your bare legs around his hips.

You unzip his pants and shrug them down. “Don’t get greedy.” He kneads your breasts and pinches your nipples. Swooping down he sucks one in his mouth. His teeth grazing over it.

“Captain please.” You whimper throwing your head back gripping the edge of the counter.

“Get on your knees Princess.” He grunts standing back and pulling you towards him, pushing your shoulder down, making you sink down to your knees.

You look up at him, eyes wide and innocent. He coaxes your mouth open, gripping your hair and pulls your mouth to his cock.

“Suck my cock Princess.” He tells you, his voice low and gravelly. You hold his muscular thighs that you’re disgustingly obsessed with. Your hand palms his cock a few times before your tongue swirls over the tip, where his pre cum leaks down his length. You’re lick the under side of his cock upwards and hollow your cheeks sucking the tip.

“Oh fuck baby, just like that. Take me deeper. I wanna fuck your pretty mouth.” He rasps throwing his head back as he pushes his hips forward. One hand clutches his thigh, the other massaging his heavy balls. You moan, the sweet sound vibrating against his throbbing cock. You take him deeper till it hits the back of your throat and you gag.

Tears sting your eyes as he grips your hair tightly. “Breathe through your nose.” He guides you and you listen, doing as he says and it helps.

“That’s it baby.” He groans starting to fuck your mouth. Hitting the back of your throat every time. Your vision is blurry in tears, you moan hollowing your cheeks sucking him harder, squeezing your lips around his cock. He moans, his eyes screwed shut. Satisfaction fills your core as you look up at him, your head bobbing back and forth.

“Such a good girl y/n, sucking daddy’s cock like that. Fuck you look so pretty with your mouth full.” He groans his hips slamming into you. His balls hit against your chin as your suck his cock.

He’s fucking your mouth harder and roughly fisting your hair as he thrusts. You gag on his cock, your eyes teary and cheeks hollowed and red.

You feel his thighs tensing under your hands.

“I’m gonna come Princess. I’m gonna come down your throat.” He groans, a deeper moan slipping past his mouth. His cock twitches and after a few jerky thrusts he comes in your mouth.

“Mhmm.” You moan swallowing every drop and milking his cum.

“Such a good girl.” He praises lifting you up and putting you on the desk, standing between your parted legs. You look down and see his cock is already hard again, salivating at the sight of the angry veins and the leaking tip.

"Now you're gonna come baby girl, you're gonna wet my cock." He growled attacking your lips with a ferocious kiss, sucking your tongue hungrily. Remnants of your juices on his tongue from when he sucked the end of the belt that was covered in your arousal. he dives deeper and swirls his tongue around yours, as if wanting to taste his own cum and how it mixed with his saliva, both of your tongues fusing with erotica and passion.

He grips your hips, pulling you closer. He rubs his cock up and down your soaked folds before sliding in without effort from how wet you are. His cock fills you up to the brim, making you draw out a guttural moan, your head rolling back and you fall back on the desk. "Nghhh, please, please don't stop." you whimper and moan breathlessly. Your breath choppy as he bottoms out and slams his hips into yours, driving deeper and fucking you till you're shaking. your legs wrap around his back, the heels of your feet digging into his firm ass.

His strong hand grips your throat and he chokes you while he grunts and fills you up roughly. "Take thrust every thrust fucking thrust inch." he commanded between thrusts, your eyes rolling into your head. You're ass digging into the desk but the pain is bearable, pleasurable even as he fucks you relentlessly.

And then your quivering and your body spasms and twitches, both of you close to your climax. "Come for me. Come all over daddy's cock." he groans and throws his head back as his thrusts get more frantic and jerky.

After a few more thrusts you cry out in pleasure. "Ohhhh daddy! im coming. I'm coming... coming. nghhh. fuck. fuck." you let out a string of unintelligible moans as he watches your face contort with pleasure and ecstasy.

"Ohh fuckk milk my cock, you're strangling it." he grunted as he came in hot spurts of cum, filling your tight pussy with his release. he slumps forward, letting go of your throat and pulls you up by his hands around his lower back and you bury your face in his neck. "Mhmm that was amazing daddy" you whispered panting, your hot breath against his neck.

"Oh yeah? you're such a dirty slut y/m, you came all over my cock." he teased in your ear and nibbled playfully

#captain price #simon ghost riley #call of duty #cod mw2 #fanfic #captain john price #daddy's good girl #daddy’s babygirl #spank me daddy #daddy price

[youre-amazing-say-it]

Heyyy

I was wondering if you could try a Loki x reader fic? All my ideas are super cliche and cheesy angst, like he gets nightmares or you get kidnapped or something dumb like that. So if you have any ideas, please feel free to just write whatever - I love your writing, and your last story was incredible :)

I need A Favor

Summary: you ask Loki to help you out with a problem at school

paring: Loki x stark!reader

Warning: School ya know cause it sucks

"I need a favor," you said as you place a clear glass on the counter. Loki looked up from their book. They and Tiny-Iron, as he likes to call you, haven't spent too much time together. and that is mainly your father's fault as you enjoyed playing pranks and introducing you to Loki would just make everyone's life miserable.

"What can I do for you child?" they said as they place their book down on the table. "I'm going to explain a hypothetical scenario and you tell me whether or not you can help out in that situation. okay?" you said as you filled up your glass with water. "I'm all ears," Loki said as they leaned back and put their hands behind their hand.

"Okay so Hypothetically, someone got into trouble at school. not immediate trouble that has to get fixed. but, they need to talk to your parents by the end of the week about it trouble. " you said as you moved to the seat opposite the couch. "All hypothetically of course," Loki said still giving you their full attention. "Correct, and let's say the person can't get in trouble with their parents again, or else they won't be able to work on a certain suit project they have been working on." You said as you took a sip of water.

"Well that's no good."" Loki responded as they sat up, intrigued about where this conversation is going. "Agreed, and I heard that you are a person of many talents," you said sending a smile to the god. "I have been told that. What talent, in particular, are we talking about?" Loki responded. "The one where you look like other people," you said with a straight face. "I assume this person would of course want me to look like their parent so the actual parent never finds out?" they said, keeping their eye on you. "You are correct, hypothetically." you responded.

"in this hypothetical situation, hasn't the school already called the parent to let them know about this meeting?" Loki said as they raised an eyebrow. "Oh god no. The kid is smart enough to put down a fake number for contacting home" you responded with a smirk. "I already like this hypothetical child," Loki responded back.

"So would you be able to help out with this situation, hypothetically?" you asked Loki with puppy eyes. Loki took a breath before looking at you.

"Just to clarify, you want me to change my appearance to your father so I can go in and talk to the school so your real father doesn't know and you don't get in trouble. correct?"

"Yes"

"Not Happening."

"I'll give you $50"

"Deal."

#loki #tom hiddelston loki #loki fluff #loki (marvel) #loki odinson #mcu loki #loki laufeyson #loki x reader #stark!reader #stark!daughter #loki x stark!reader #loki x teen!reader #loki x female reader #loki x you #loki x gender neutral reader #loki x y/n

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

I am asking everyone who has ever complained about how the Dream SMP is run and organised to sign up with their local community theatre program.

I’m deadly serious. Do it.

I don’t care what it is, whether you audition to be on stage, sign up to be part of the backstage crew, paint backdrops, or sell tickets. Just do something.

It is so painfully, painfully obvious that some of y’all have never been part of a large scale collaborative creative project and are talking out of your arse about hypotheticals you’ve never had experience in or been held responsible for.

Being a content creator is a job.

To be a part of the Dream SMP is a business opportunity. It’s a networking opportunity. It’s a chance to expand your audience (and by extension increase your profit margins).

It is of course, also an opportunity to hang out with friends, have a lot of fun, experiment, and do cool things creatively.

But at the end of the day, a lot of fucking work goes into something like this.

I’m not saying there should be paper and ink legal contracts, but having a universal understanding of the responsibilities you hold as a member of the Dream SMP (including the amount of hours you’re actively creating content - as a bare fucking minimum) is a really good idea.

You cannot simultaneously complain about how the Dream SMP has felt rushed, or disorganised, or like it’s dying, or about the lack of communication, or how different creators’ lore feels disconnected from each other, or the millions of other things that I see all over social media every day, and then get up in arms about those same creators putting rules and structures in place to fix those very same problems!!

This benefits you.

It also benefits the creators.

Having clear commitment guidelines, open communication, communal goals, literally anything and everything Dream and all the other creators have been talking about (and seem really excited for, can I just say!), is to help create a better product for you guys and to reduce stress on creators, not increase it.

Let me reiterate that one for the people in the back.

The Dream SMP is a product that you consume.

You exchange your time, your energy, your own creative endeavours - in the form of fan fiction, fan art, analysis, and other fandom interaction and collaboration (which is also free marketing btw), and yes, even your money, in exchange for a product that these creators make for you.

Any of those creators could choose to walk away at any time. They’re under no obligation to stay.

Dream isn’t being a bloody dictator (which can we just take a moment because oh my god no he is not and I saw that exact phrasing in multiple different places). He’s being a producer. And the sooner you guys see behind the curtain and understand what that actually means, the better.

TLDR: I personally guarantee that the official Dream SMP Discord has got NOTHING on whatever’s happening in your local theatre company’s annual review meeting.

Before jumping down cc’s throats, consider why they might want to hold people accountable for a collaborative creative project which many of these folks financially depend on.

No one wants to be the one person working on the group project.

That’s what this is preventing.

#dream smp #dsmp #dreamwastaken #wilbur soot #tommyinnit #the eret #quackity

[kata4a]

a. you can image a subculture of musicians who assign short melodic fragments to each letter of the alphabet, and write music by stringing those fragments together into words and sentences—musical analysis then becomes a process of "decoding" longs pieces into text, and then analyzing them against the frameworks you would typically use for written literature.

I happen to think that a culture of music like this would be pretty aesthetically unrewarding to participate in

b. it seems to me that a lot of people want music theory to be an empirical study of "what effects different musical features have in listeners." I think that taken to its logical conclusion, a music theory with this goal would become obsessed with the straightforward emotivity of pop music and fail to say anything of substance about more avant garde styles (after all, the empirical effect of twelve-tone serialism on most people is "they think it sounds bad")

while I'm certainly as ardent a proponent of the straightforward emotivity of pop music as any, I nonetheless can't find myself fully on board with this approach to music theory either: I do like experimental styles, and I do find it rewarding to engage with music (and art in general) that asks more of me as a listener than to merely passively respond to stimuli

a. there are a number of features of "melodic ciphers," as I'll call this hypothetical genre of music, that I think contribute to its aesthetic paucity:

first and I think most obviously is the unsatisfying arbitrariness of a premise like this. given that this is a community which essentially treats pieces of music as literature, why not simply write pieces of literature? it is reminiscent of the tedium of analyzing a musical composition by annotating a page of sheet music, without ever actually listening to the piece

c. the aesthetic principles underlying classic music (sensu lato 😘) are often presented both very theoretically and very abstractly. the classical theories of western harmony, the linear approaches of schenker and his sympathizers, and the twelve-tone systems of the second viennese school, despite being three dramatically different ways of composing and listening to music, all treat musical fundamentals as essentially theoretical objects. what does it matter to a theorist whether a harmonic progression is played on an organ or a ukulele?

for that matter, what does it matter to a theorist that a piece of music be sound at all? one could "arrange" a piano sonata for a set of colored lights (with hues corresponding to different frequencies of sound), and while I'm sure an astute enough "listener" could learn and even deeply internalize those correspondences, I am skeptical that they would ever find the lightshow as musically satisfying as if they actually got to hear the piece with their ears

b. the late romantics and the impressionists, despite very much working under the theoretical principles of classical harmony, also present the strongest case for how even solo instrumental music can be medium-specific: sound symbolism. here, piano arpeggios evoke the ebb and flow of canal boats, here, a trill suggests birdsong, here, a low bass ostinato sounds like the grumbling of an old man

and of course once you have been presented with the type-case, you can see the same ideas in other pieces, albeit in perhaps much subtler forms. the mood and character of a set of mozart's variations are very much influenced by the kinds of things it sounds like, even if it is not trying to sound like any one specific thing

c. bach's prelude in c major from the well-tempered clavier is I think a particularly good example of the kind of depth that can be opened up by sincere and active engagement with the aesthetic background of a piece

I think this prelude is very easy to listen to as a series of pleasant, unoffensive chords. mostly people, I would imagine, could put in on in the background and do some work relatively undistracted, treating it as a sort of peaceful background melody

I also think that there is a subtle but very present sense of tension and release and climactic buildup and payoff underlying the harmony of the piece, a feature which is much easier to pick up on if you're familiar with the musical conventions bach was working with

a. when I listen to a prelude as a vehicle for classical harmony, I'm not perform an act of "translation"—I do not listen to a chord, think "ah, a seventh chord," and then "that means that this is a point of tension in the piece,"—I simply hear the chord and feel the tension as a direct feature of the chord. even though I may have had to learn that association originally, once I do learn it it becomes an immanent feature of my perception, not a process I need to consciously perform

this immanence, I argue, is the crucial feature that musical ciphers lack. while I can imagine becoming, with practice, extremely good at performing the translation from melody to letter, I am skeptical of the possibility of internalizing that process so thoroughly as to make it a direct feature of my perception; and certainly never more direct than simply hearing or reading the sentences

abc. what I take to be the goal of any music theory—and in fact of any aesthetic framework—is not to teach you a way to analyze or value some medium, but to give you a way to perceiving it; and therefore the criteria by which I judge a music theory is 1. how effectively it can give me a new way to see the world and 2. how I feel about the way that the world looks when I adopt that way of seeing

#I waited to write this until I was past the point of caffeination where I could just bang the post out #so I'm trudging through this as part of an attempt to cultivate solidarity between my different selves across time #art and media criticism

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

last night's shower thought that may or may not have been done before but I haven't personally seen it done so I'm gonna write it anyway

so the phandom has dabbled in halfas potentially existing before Danny and Vlad, in the hypothetical million to one chance of 'what if a natural portal opened on top of a human'

gonna take a hard left turn here but we'll circle back I promise, that part will be important later

I love the unreliable narrator aspect of Vlad in TUE but what if Vlad's story about how Dan came to be was completely true, Danny's ghost half really did go absolutely feral as soon as it was torn from him

because even though Vlad says it was his ghost half that corrupted Phantom, in the flashback it was obvious that Phantom had already gone a little wonky before that, considering the acts of actually ripping out Vlad's ghost half and then absorbing it, very weird and out of character

(and I have other headcanons about that but we're ignoring those for now shh)

so the first time Danny was split, it split two of his personality traits that were both dominant at the time, his need to be a hero and protect people, and his need to be a normal teenager just enjoying life

after his family died in TUE tho, his dominant traits would have been more like misery, guilt, and anger, we can guess which one Phantom got

same thing probably happened to Vlad when he was split but we didn't get enough time with future Vlad to get a clear idea on what his dominant traits were, (but I'm gonna guess they were something akin to guilt and spite, spite having been absorbed by Danny and making his whole situation so much worse)

all this to say, what if Pariah Dark was the first known halfa, created by that million to one chance with a natural portal back in the dark ages (or earlier), and he was once, much like Danny, a protector, a hero, keeping a peace between humans and ghosts, whether he also fought a tyrant king for his crown, or was gifted the position by the former king wanted to retire (I kinda like this idea better), he became the ghost king with the support of the ghost populace

but I wanna touch in on the aus people throw around where to become the actual rightful king, Danny has to die

and maybe this is what happened to Pariah Dark, and maybe it was not a 100% consensual affair, maybe the Observants, whether sneakily or by force, somehow managed to separate Pariah from his human half

and in that moment, one of his dominant traits was rage

betrayal by ones he trusted, half of himself stolen from him, his fury was overwhelming, and it was what consumed his ghost half, and began his reign as a tyrant, his human half, whether deliberately or accidental, was killed in the process

this is why the Observants wanted Danny dealt with in TUE, they were seeing history repeating, they didn't care that Clockwork saw an alternate future because they didn't want that alternate future, TUE happened after Reign Storm, they were clinging onto the one excuse they had to get rid of this new halfa before he realised he had a claim to the throne and became the next Pariah Dark

they knew Danny was just as attached to his human half as Pariah was, and they'd seen evidence of that already in Dan, they couldn't have a king who was part human, and they couldn't take his human half from him without dire consequences

so of course their solution was just make him go away

see! in this one particular future he becomes a monster just like we said he would, Clockwork go destroy him, problem solved, good job everybody!

when Danny finds out about all this and presses them on why he has to be a full ghost to rule, assuming it's some mystic law that cannot physically be broken, the Observants are just like

"oh... uh no, technically it's physically possible, it's just... well, it's against tradition"

cue a Danny blowing up

"YOU CAUSED THE ENTIRE PARIAH DARK MESS OVER FUCKING TRADITION?"

"well it would be have been quite embarrassing having someone half alive ruling over the dead"

Danny has to be physically wrangled out of the room by Clockwork before he brings the whole fucking building down

it's completely absurd but the Observants just really feel like the kind of assholes who would stick so rigorously to that kinda shit despite all logic and reason telling them not to

#lula's headcanons #danny phantom #pariah dark #the observants #clockwork #tue

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

How TWST Charas Love (As Told By Tarot) | Scarabia + Savanaclaw

tags: gn!reader, headcanons, tarot

a/n: it’s about time i start writing for the dudes in twisted wonderland. i got some ideas swirling in my head, but the easiest and funnest are always doing the tarot headcanons since every reading is so different. there’s too many characters to do this in one post, so this is gonna be spread out across several. anyway, sup twst writing community, happy to join you guys

deck: true black tarot

kalim

the star, the hierophant, nine of cups, nine of pentacles

you want for nothing if you are loved by kalim. whether it’s smothering your faces with kisses when you’re sick or whisking you away for an impromptu ride on a magic carpet anywhere in the isle of the sages, kalim is aware he has a blessed life and he wishes to share that life with you wholly. a family, kalim wants to incorporate you in all of his families and vice versa. while at school, the whole of scarabia is your family. your family is his family. and, of course, kalim’s exceedingly large family is yours for as long as you’ll have him. kalim chooses to believe in the good of the world and trusts that in spite of the bad, the world will give back what it receives. he believes meeting you is no different and returns the world’s generosity in full in how much effort he puts into maintaining your relationship. he’s more than your boyfriend, he’s one of your best friends. someone you can dance with when you’re happy, someone you can lean on when you’re not at your strongest and he knows that he can trust you to be the same for him. in the rare chance he hasn’t thought of marriage, his parents definitely have plans to add you to the family.

jamil

the lovers, four of pentacles, anant, seven of cups

if you were to ask jamil whether or not he believes in the concept of soulmates, he’d probably scoff. “are you seriously asking me that?” that’s a childish concept kalim and najma would believe in, not someone like himー but his actions say otherwise. the man is a romantic, a hopeless one at that. while your relationship might have started with you initially being a pawn in jamil’s game of currying favor among the student body, true feelings developed on his part. romance was the last thing on jamil’s list of priorities and yet him being with you just makes sense, like a law of the universe. the cycle of the universe is one cyclical in nature, what happens once will surely happen again and jamil doesn’t doubt your relationship works the same way. this life into the next. he still wishes to make a name for himself yes, but the thought of a domestic life with you in tandem with those hypothetical accomplishments isn’t far from his mind either. but this aspect of jamil stays strictly between the both of you. he wouldn’t be able to live it down if others knew about this side of himself.

leona

five of pentacles, four of swords, the fool, ace of cups

getting together with leona was needlessly hard in the beginning for the man refused to acknowledge the feelings he had for you. he outright rejected them. wanting things in the past regardless of how hard he worked for them never worked in the past, why would they in the present? it took serious reflection and (unwanted but needed) advice from his friends to take the steps to accept how he felt and move forward. a relationship of this nature is new territory for leona but blind as he might be, he walks forward with confidence. he isn’t the best at words but he shows he loves you in his actions. in how he holds your hand when you’re scared, in the small but warm smile he wears when he sees your victories and in how he drags you out to the botanical garden for a nap if you’re working well-beyond your limits. those moments with you comfort him as much as he hopes they comfort you. despite his gruffness, leona is a thoughtful lover and he pays attention to you more than you initially think. don’t be surprised if you off-handedly mention something you’d like to what you think is an inattentive boyfriend. a week later, leona will present it to you nonchalantly and raise an eyebrow when you look surprised. of course he listens to you when you ramble, dork.

ruggie

page of pentacles, queen of pentacles, the hanged man, justice

looking out for number 1 might come naturally to ruggie, but he is surprisingly mature and knowledgeable with matters of the heart. as such, he surrenders easily to his feelings when he is aware of them and doesn’t hesitate to tell you how he feels. as far as he saw it at the time, he could either come to terms with things and ask you out and know if you feel the same way. or he could fight it and end up losing his chance to be with you because someone else with their shit together asked you out first. it was a pretty clear choice. ruggie prides himself in being dependable as your boyfriend and enjoys doting on you as much as he enjoys teasing. ruggie might poke fun at your room being messy but he is already rolling his arms up to sweep as he speaks. ruggie is well aware that there are plenty of people out there who have him beat in certain areas, but ruggie also knows there are plenty of things that he does excellently. while your own acknowledgement of those things isn’t necessary, it pleases him nonetheless. he might not be able to give you bundles of extravagant gifts, but he is able to get you plenty with his skills at haggling.

jack

queen of swords, knight of wands, the chariot, king of swords

another one who is pretty in-tune with his emotions and doesn’t hesitate to tell you how he feels. what’s the point in lying to you or himself about how he feels? when you look good, he says it. when you look like you’re having a rough time, jack says he might not be able to make your troubles go away but he’ll try. his honesty is endearing most of the time. jack tells it to you straight, good, bad and in between. he wants you to feel this way as well. if there’s a problem with the relationship, how is he supposed to fix it if you don’t tell him anything? jack says things bluntly, but he will find ways to soften his words if he sees that certain levels of bluntness hurt you. surprisingly not against pda; if you’re within an arm’s reach, jack will have an arm around you to hold you close. it’s not so much about letting everyone in a three mile radius know you’re taken ーwell part of it isー he just enjoys feeling you close and smelling your scent. jack wouldn’t call himself prince charming or anything, but he quick to come to your ‘rescue’ even if he knows you can handle yourself. 2 against however many is a lot better than just 1, just know that jack is your backup.

#look she's writing #headcanons #tarot #twst #twst x reader #kalim x reader #jamil x reader #leona x reader #ruggie x reader #jack x reader #twisted wonderland has me in a vice grip rn in terms of some brainrot so y'all get to have this #looks like i gotta update the fandom masterlist again soon lol

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Headcanon ask:

When Dick is the one who has to be away for a while, let's say for probably a week for a very important mission far away with the Titans, how do Kory and the kids spend their days together until he gets back?

Hehehehe….Oh I believe I have quite a few ideas for that

(Clears Throat) Right now onto our business

- For sure, it’s the kids that make Kory breakfast in bed in the first day after Dick leaves. It’s a combination of a Tamaranean main course (probably some homemade Glork which the kids by then would learned from heart after years watching Kory make it) and Earthen sides (mainly an Orange, rye bread toasted with zorkaberry/boysenberry jelly, and a glass of milk). As for the kitchen….well thankfully Silkie can eat almost anything because he might be needed along with some good ole school cleaning for that mess.

- Almost about every day, whether it be during weekend daytime or especially during nightly patrols, all three would be flying around the Bludhaven skyline, enjoying that joy of flight rush through them as they pass by clouds, kites, airborne drones, and even if in the right altitude, say hi to a passing by jet plane. No doubt also Mar’i would take plenty of selfies featuring her and her family which she then sends to her friends.

- Speaking of patrols and superhero work, while they mainly reside at their apartment, after the kids are picked from school, they make sure to check on Titans Tower, making sure all things are tidy and secured by the time the rest of the team return from their mission. Often times, it’s also an opportunity for some training exercises for the kids, whether it be in prenticing their combat skills, escape artistry or, a particular favorite for Mar’i and Jake, using the flying trapeze set to practice their acrobatics and even show off some new tricks they came up with it, of course in it all, Kory being the one to catch them.

- The villains the three had faced during their patrols together by the time Dick returns are primarily B to C tier super criminals and crime bosses including but not limited to Shirke, Lady Vic, Tiger Shark, Torque and the team known as Double Dare. One particular highlight though had seen Kory and her kids take on Lobo when the Main Man was hired by some Bludhaven crime bosses to take down the Tamaraneans for continually helping Nightwing for the last few years. It proved being an appropriately wild battle that spread across the city but Lobo was able to see through the loopholes the crime bosses had set up thanks to Jake looking through them and straight up ditches his contracts. From that day, Jake picked up on the slang ‘Frag it’ and hasn’t dropped it ever since.

- I say also that probably around Day 3 or 4 since Dick left, Kory noticed Jake on the rooftop overlooking the city skyline, being contemplative and thinking about somethings that have been in his mind for quite a while. Jake does allow Kory to sit right next to him and after some tiny small talk, Jake start letting out what’s in his mind. He mainly thinks about, how life for the family would’ve been had Kory not stayed with Dick, married or not, and returned to Tamaran. He wonders about how would they arrange who stays with their parents on their respective places, either it being Mar’i and Jake being on Earth or very more likely the two staying with Kory. Kory does consider it a very in depth and complicated situation had that been the case since on the hand, she would never abandon her children no matter what circumstances but the thing is, Dick wouldn’t either. The two care about their kids far too much for that notion of only one of them raising them entirely being rather incompatible with that scenario. What does matter as Kory tells Jake is that whether they stay with one parent or another solely, both of them would still love them unconditionally, and it’s not hypothetical.

- All three would practice Tradtional Tamaranean Folk Songs as if it was a choir class. Needless to say, their apartment neighbors were certainly in for a very loud and war drum splitting time no matter how thick’s the walls were. How Kory and the kids didn’t shatter almost every glass window or cup in all that singing is beyond anyone’s guess

- About pretty much every night just as everyone is prepared for bed, Jake always initiates a playful little roughhousing between himself and his Big Sis. The giggles of her children are alway so enticing and heartwarming for Kory once she steps out of the shower, she cannot possibly help but join in on the fun. This can lead to the three going at it with each other or the kids putting aside their own tickle fight to concentrate on their mother. These brawls very much remind her of those very few she and her siblings actually were getting along when they were little; apparently, Jake’s tendency to start them was something he inherited from Ryand’r

- They’d also do movie marathons once all return from patrol, shower up and have their dinner squared away. Unlike what most might have you believe, the Grayson household is pretty lenient for what the kids can watch, which can include more ‘grown up’ material, ranging from ultra R rated slasher films to raunchy naughty comedies. It’s been like that ever since when Dick himself watched those films with his mother Mary on some days off and it’s no exception all these years later.

- Finally and perhaps most simply, even though all three have their individual beds, Kory, Mar’i and Jake are for sure cuddling and snuggling with each other; the kids on each side of their mother in a peaceful sleep. It was the first visual Dick spotted of the three when he finally returned after his mission. All he did after seeing that was head to the bathroom, shower quickly, don some comfy sweats with a cotton t shirt and gently lay down right next to them, his arm wrapped around his favorite girls and his baby boy

(Phew) I think that should cover it buddy :-)

If you have any suggestions or additions, you may Reblog and/or reply. It’ll be appreciated

Thanks so much 💙💖💙💖💙

@spider-jaysart

#koriand'r #mari grayson #jake grayson #dick grayson #sfw #silkie

[shigure]

if i walked up to a news anchor and said "no matter what people say about you, i believe you. you're not delusional, god does love you, and you are a news anchor" they would probably just laugh at me in confusion. because those statements aren't really a question. they're taken for granted. on the other hand, if i were to walk up to a news anchor and say "i know you're not a liar. i know that you're working hard every day to find the truth and present the most valuable stories to the people who watch you," that would mean something to them. because even in an empty subway car with just myself and the news anchor, there is an unspoken current around them of public perception. the fact that i'm reassuring them that i do not think they're a liar also affirms the unspoken - that there are many people who believe the contrary.

in the fifteen years since i've come out, things have changed a lot for how trans people are spoken of and seen. the biggest change is how much more we're spoken of at all. when i was a kid, i had never even heard the word transgender before, and spent a fair amount of time identifying with terms i learned from anime that kind of described how i felt. nowadays, a ten year old child not only knows what a transgender person is, they are probably also politically opinionated. and what are those opinions formed by? the same thing that comprises the current surrounding me, that of public opinion.

when someone comes up to me and says god loves you, you're not delusional, you aren't sick, there's nothing wrong with you, you are loved, you are wanted, you belong... of course that means a lot. but it hurts, because even with just myself and this stranger in an empty subway car, there's the unspoken affirmation that millions of people strongly and loudly feel otherwise. about all of those things. i don't feel confused by those statements like my hypothetical news anchor did. because those statements are points of debate that i cannot escape in my day to day life.

i think of all the thousands (millions?) of news articles that have been pushed out about people like me over the years. everything from attack helicopters to pronoun police to woke agenda to competing in sports to bathroom bills. imagine even half of those articles being positive or merciful - imagine them having even half as many good things to say as cruel ones. so many words being repeated about me to people who will never meet or know or love me, burrowing into their brains and forcing them to either agree or disagree that i have a right to live. of course i want everyone to agree. but more than that, i want them to not consider that question in the first place. i want the idea of my right to live (as a point of debate) to be as silly and unusual to them as the thought of whether people that eat cilantro should be put to death.

we are not normalized. we are sensationalized. we do not live in a world where the average person can glance past us without thinking twice. we are not even afforded the courtesy of being taken for granted. how, then, are we to have hope that one day we could be loved?

#POST

[pokeglitchden]

I'm leaving the island today. I'm hoping that these strange dreams I've been having will stop once I'm back in Glitch City.

Though the one I had last night just deeply strange.

I had a dream that I'd been somehow granted the gift of immortality, but that in response my coworkers from Devon decided this was a perfect opportunity to test human interactions with legendary pokemon.

So I was placed in a room with various legendary pokemon and the outcome was always death, usually in a pretty gruesome manner, but in the dream the pokemon they decided to place me with was a Mew.

The strange thing is that the Mew didn't really attack. Instead it hid me from the rest of my colleagues, and when they entered the room to try to figure out what happened, it allowed us both to escape.

And... then it destroyed the facility. Via judgement.

I don't know how to take the hypothetical destruction of the lab I used to work at. Even in a dream watching it was... unsettling.

But that wasn't where the dream ended. The Mew led me off into the woods, some place far from society. I don't think I exactly had a choice in whether or not to follow it. I mean, it HAD just destroyed the whole lab. But the entire time it was never hostile. Just playful and curious.

Until it decided to use imprison. Now I'm not sure how this would feel in the context of a real pokemon battle, but in the dream, after it used imprison, it then used its Transformative abilities to Transform into me, and of course at that point I was rendered unable to do anything.

The form it took was so uncannily close to what I look like that it actually took me aback. It even sounded like me when it spoke and it DID speak to me.

It was... strangely reassuring in a way? I mean, not to say it didn't seem hostile. It began draining my energy with... possibly what could have been Mega Drain. Some kind of life draining move, but it was very gentle as it did this.

I remember it saying that if it did not do this, I could never be free. And at the end it told me "The cycle is broken, Go home."

And I woke up pretty much instantly.

No idea how to parse that one. These dreams are getting stranger and stranger. Maybe it really is a good thing that I'm leaving the island today.

-Simon

#glitch pkmn irl #pkmn irl

[a-really-bad-decision]

Look. I get that folks who are approaching the finale from this angle are usually doing so from a place of genuine good faith and love for Joel. But like. If your immediate reaction after finishing season 1 is to insist that the cure never could have been developed/distributed/tested/viable and that the Fireflies were stupid/naive/slapdicks/never could have accomplished it anyways, so Joel Definitely Did Nothing Wrong, I can’t help but feel like you’re wildly missing the point of it all.

Because like. Joel did not ever care if the cure could have worked. He did not care if it’s what Ellie might have wanted in that moment (neither did the fireflies of course, but they’re not the ones who traveled by her side, protected her, made her feel safe and cared about). Neither of these were ever a point of consideration in the finale. Ellie’s death and the resultant hypothetical cure could have had a guaranteed 100% success rate. It could have spread instantly, around the world the moment they removed her brain from her skull, turning every single runner, clicker, and bloater back to a healthy human being, with no deleterious side effect.

And Joel still would have shot that doctor point blank in the face.

Because that moment right there, is the point. To me at least. It’s the climax that the whole story has been building towards: a father’s beautiful, selfish decision to save his daughter at the literal cost of the entire world. And not just the world in an abstract sense, but in ways that carry weight to him on a deeply personal level. Tess’ dying wish. A real future for his niece or nephew. Ellie’s own agency in all of this. And he did it without hesitating for a moment.

Going from treating Ellie like cargo, like a clicker waiting to happen, to deciding that her life is more important to him than than any other human being who was or ever will be born? Regardless of whether it’s “““healthy”””, that’s an incredible fucking relationship arc. And it only has this level of gravity and meaning if there are genuine consequences to making that decision.

(And let me be clear here: none of this is a moral indictment of Joel. Joel’s motivations, actions, decisions etc. are all incredibly blatant, human, and relatable, and if he’d done anything but go on that rampage, it would have contradicted everything we know and understand about him so far. Also, he’s fucking fictional. Who gives a shit if he did a Kinda Amoral Thing. None of it is real, and it doesn’t matter)

The argument here isn’t that Fireflies Good And Smart And Can Totally Save The World For Sure Guys, or Joel Did Objectively Bad Thing And Is Unforgivable Bad Forever Now. The argument is that the show is much more interesting and internally consistent if you buy into the idea that there’s a chance, even a slim one, that the fireflies could have extracted a viable vaccine at the terrible cost of a fourteen year old girl’s life. That maybe Joel did prevent a cure from being made – that he potentially did doom the world for Ellie (or at least doomed it to another few decades of limping painfully by until something else came along). And that despite the cost, he pulled that trigger, brutally and without hesitation. He did it knowing that he’ll have to go on living with the knowledge of what he took from everyone, and how effortless it was to make that choice in spite of it all. That he’ll willingly betray Ellie’s trust as many times as he has to if it means keeping her from taking the burden of that guilt on herself, but also because he can’t bear the thought of her hating him if she learned the truth. And most of all (and in his own words), that if he was given the chance to go back and do it again, he would have made the exact same choice all over.

You take that out, and what kinda finale do you get now? A run and gun scene of a man rescuing a girl that he’s come to love, sure, but now it’s from a bunch of one dimensional, child murdering villains, set in a place they never had to go to, preceded by a journey that was rendered useless before they even left, all because there was never any chance of it working in the first place. Pointless roundabout cynicism, and an endpoint that now textually only existed to stick the protagonists in their get along sweater.

You don’t have to agree with this specific interpretation of the ending. I get that this can come across as a harsh reading of Joel, especially since he’s a character that myself and others genuinely like a lot. But that nitpicky fixation on proving that the cure never could have worked always felt more for the benefit of the uncomfortable player/viewer than as any sort of actual narrative improvement. A way to divest yourself of ever having to sit with the weight of either choice. Of having to think about the way that a secret so massive, sitting unspoken between you and a loved one, can rot that relationship. Of the way that someone you thought you trusted can act in your best interests, but against your own wishes.

And if that’s not what you want from the show, genuinely and without judgment: that’s fine. You keep doing you. I’m just not sure why you’re watching something like tlou otherwise.

#the last of us #tlou hbo #the last of us spoilers #tbh there's so much more I could say about this topic #the messy ways sarah and ellie are intertwined when considering joel's motives for the finale #the way both the fireflies and joel denied ellie her autonomy in this situation and how it changes her opinions of both going forward #but this is already stupidly long #and I'm also trying to avoid getting into part 2 spoilers in any detail but like. it's relevant okay #all of this is relevant #but even if it wasn't #trying to offload any discomfort you feel towards joel's choice onto a secret potential third ending #where the answer is uncomplicated and easy #is just weakening the story overall imo

[mashounen1945]

The Sonic comics' ... everyone (haters, fans, the writer) disappoints the world once more

Hold on tight, people. It's Salty Mashounen Time (with an extra dose of clunky English, written by a momentarily cranky Spanish-speaker).

Here's my attempt at a TL;DR of what happened recently:

The people writing IDW's Sonic comic started doing a bit of "harmless" teasing for gay pairings widely supported by the fandom currently —namely SonicXShadow and WhisperXTangle—, both in the actual comic's pages and outside of them. In the comic itself, they drew a panel showing Whisper and Tangle together and holding hands with a background suspiciously similar to the lesbian pride flag; outside of the comic, in Ian Flynn's personal podcast BumbleKast, he and some friend of his had the idea of celebrating Pride Month by making some sort of 50% parody, 50% serious, 100% hypothetical (officially) "Sonadow Special" where they spent almost half an hour theorizing how a romantic relationship between Sonic and Shadow would probably go in an official Sonic story (they supposedly did it all as simple fans and nothing else, and neither SEGA nor Archie officially had anything to do with this).

Sadly, Sonic fans reacted with all the grace and elegance of English hooligans in the UEFA Euro 2020 final (that is, exactly as expected of them). The bigoted vocal minority (AKA the daily bread in Sonic comics discourse) started harassing Ian Flynn for this, as well as all the shippers of all the pairings that aren't either SonicXShadow or WhisperXTangle. To make matters worse, some fans who aren't bigots or even support one or both of these gay pairings also started harassing Ian Flynn, for various reasons: trying to force him to turn any of these pairings into canon; scolding him because he gave false hope to fans while knowing full well that SEGA would never allow any kind of romance between main and/or recurring minor characters (whether from the video games or from the comic's original cast) to take place in IDW-Sonic; scolding him for actually saying there was officially nothing romantic between Whisper and Tangle in the IDW comic and SonicXShadow wouldn't happen in canon; accusing him of bigotry because that friend starring as his co-host in the BumbleKast had allegedly made a few homophobic remarks at some point in the distant past...

Flynn responded to this whole mess and tried to clarify some things via the following Twitter thread:

I guess I can commend Ian Flynn for coming out and speaking to the fans like this. I'm still very critical of the story he's writing at IDW, and I still disagree at a fundamental level with his vision of the Sonic series and its cast, but he's a good person in the real world (at least as far as he lets the world know over the Internet); he's not a bigot like some Twitter users (of course) are saying, and out of everything he did as head writer of Sonic comics, considering the possibility of including queer characters and/or pairings is one of the very few aspects of his writing I don't have any problem with, and I can understand why it's so difficult for him to have a queer character/pairing materialize in the comic's story (now, if such thing is finally green-lit by both SEGA and IDW, I may have issues later with the idea's execution by Ian Flynn and co. in the story itself, since this already happened with some other good ideas Flynn came up with when he tried to actually put them on the panels of either IDW-Sonic or Archie-Sonic... but that's a different topic).

However, I can't help but feel jaded at him due to the very direct and reckless way he interacts with the fans. There are already arguments to be made for a content creator to maintain some healthy distance from their followers, but this especially applies to Ian Flynn: as someone who spent so much time dealing with the Sonic fandom while writing the comics (and even started his career as a Sonic fanfiction writer himself), he knows very well how neurotic Sonic fans (from any subset of fans) can get. There are also the added challenges that come with trying to introduce queer themes and also trying to get it right on the first try. The desperate thirst of the LGBTQ+ community for good representation in fiction is legendary (and justified since they're on the verge of genocide in the USA and the UK, which includes the very real fear of being not only physically wiped out but also wiped out from the collective memory of the peoples of their respective nations, the Alt-Right has already openly declared "culture war" on them), and on these issues, the old adage "don't make promises you can't keep" is more valid than ever: if you're not guaranteed that both your publishers and the IP owners will allow you to introduce queer themes into your story and also give you the freedom to deal with those themes as you see fit, you shouldn't even leave clues for the audience or put any hints or do any teasing, because the desperate LGBTQ+ audience is always going to take it as a sign that they finally have their representation secured, and then they'll get rightfully angry when that representation never happens or is insufficient or problematic.

All in all, engaging the fandom the way Flynn does is not only highly dangerous in multiple ways, but also some piss-poor PR on a similar level to what you'd normally expect from SEGA themselves. Now he regrets the fandom's reaction, and the fandom certainly sucks for doing crap like this, but to be fair, he should have seen it all coming.

And then there's the terrible long-term effect of this scandal. Due to this kind of reactions from bigoted vocal minorities in the Sonic fandom, the IDW comic had already become quite criticism-proof: any negative opinion is often labelled as "anti-SJW bullcrap" merely because the most vocal haters of Ian Flynn's Sonic stories used to be Alt-Right nutjobs, neck-bearded InCels living in their parents' basement and secretly (or not so secretly) lusting over female anthropomorphic animals, and reactionary conservatives absurdly nostalgic for Ken Penders. But now, IDW-Sonic will be seen more than ever as an unquestionable piece of top-class literature comparable to Sophocles's most iconic plays, thus worsening this "echo chamber" thing going on both among the fans and between them and the comic's writers.

I try not to believe in conspiracy theories, but a part of me is starting to think all of this was partially staged at least: perhaps Flynn realized the way he was writing the story for IDW-Sonic was alienating a lot of fans from multiple, pretty varied subsets, and now those fans could actually provide some reasonable arguments to back up their criticism rather than some predictable homophobic/misogynistic rant; maybe he genuinely thought IDW-Sonic is the best thing he ever wrote and even one of the best stories of its genre, so he just ignored all those readers he lost and focused on the readers he still has, or he agreed with some of that constructive criticism from disappointed fans and wanted to stop writing the comic like this (he does occasionally tone Sonic's "jerkiness" down for a few comic issues, before toning it back up for the next big crisis in the story) but SEGA had already grown fond of the "self-righteous asshole" Sonic, his hypocritical friends and the "bafflingly incompetent super-genius" Eggman created by Flynn for the IDW comic; in any case, Flynn could have amped up the "technically not official" gay innuendos in the actual comic and his podcast in order to get a reaction out of those few bigots in the fandom (and also to get a reaction out of hardcore shippers, who are another vocal minority of Sonic fans with their own issues), then let his readers' blind devotion and the Sonic fandom's paranoia do the rest, making any potential critic of IDW-Sonic be dismissed as either "pro-shipper obsession" or "just the same miserable crap as the Far-Right weirdos" or even both.

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

PS:

If you still feel like going out on the Internet and calling into question any of Ian Flynn's or his crew's artistic/writing choices (either in their role as official Sonic content creators or in any other "informal" situation such as their podcasts, social media accounts and personal forums), feel free to do so (as long as you try to do constructive criticism and aren't bigoted or too disrespectful, of course) but forget about invoking "Sonic Team's original vision", or pointing out any difference between the IDW comic and other pieces of official Sonic content, or pointing out incongruences between the IDW comics and the videogames of whose stories it's supposed to be a continuation, or anything like that. Some purist fans like to imagine SEGA and Sonic Team are the guardians of good/accurate portrayals, but that's just not true and was probably never true: either they don't give a damn about how Sonic is portrayed in the West anymore, or they do care, but they totally allow and endorse —either by action or omission— the current Western Sonic content (along with this sort of comeback of the infamous planned differentiation between Japanese source material and localized Western versions), regardless of whether they do so by action or omission; for all intents and purposes, the "bastardized" Western version of Sonic, whether or not you like it more than Japanese "original" Sonic, is currently part of Sonic Team's artistic vision as much as the videogames made in Japan are (IIRC, I've already talked about this in a previous post shortly before the release of Sonic Frontiers).

In any case, most of the fandom was always wrong in one way or another about Ian Flynn and his dynamic with SEGA: contrary to what his fans may think, any flaws of the IDW comic ain't due to Flynn and his co-writers' creativity being held down by SEGA or its mandates, and contrary to what purist fans may think, he's not irreparably ruining Sonic forever (at least, not as far as SEGA and Sonic Team are concerned).

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic opinions by mashounen #rant #sonic idw #idw sonic #sonic comics #idw sonic comics #ian flynn #bumblekast #sonadow #whispangle #shadow the hedgehog #whisper the wolf #tangle the lemur #tangle and whisper #sonic x shadow #whisper x tangle #sonic rant #twitter being twitter

[wartakes]

“If You Build It, They Will Come”: Military Recruitment in a Better Future

This essay was originally posted on November 29th, 2022.

The brain seed for this one came from mulling the hypothetical future I like to throw around. With the caveat of that I would NOT recommend ANYONE join the military right now, at some point in the future where maybe hopefully we have a better government we will still need a military. With that being the case, how do you attract and retain talent? Shocker: a big part of this is just treating people like human beings with dignity.

(Full essay below the cut).

If there’s one thing I’m constantly hearing people in my field go on about – whether they directly work for the national security establishment or on its peripheries – it’s some variation on “manpower.” More specifically within the overall issue of manpower, they’re talking about the issue of recruitment and retention in the U.S. Armed Forces today.

It’s no secret that the military is going through what could increasingly be called a “crisis” when it comes to recruitment and retention of personnel. At the end of FY 2022, the U.S. Army had missed its active duty recruiting goal by about 25% – or 15,000 soldiers. The U.S. Air Force only just barely met its own stated recruitment goal for the year – with its recruitment leadership openly admitting that they’re going into the next year in a much weaker position recruitment wise. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marines had to reduce its recruitment goal for the past year. Overall, the military has been struggling in various ways to keep numbers up.

Now, it should be said right away that I subscribe to the What a Hell of a Way to Die position on joining the military right now: which is that you should not do it (understanding, of course, that for some folks in bad situations it may be their only option). So, at first glance when I see these low recruitment numbers, I generally go: “good.” However, it should be noted that I subscribe to the “don’t join the military” viewpoint with an asterisk at the end that leads you to an addendum: that I believe that is the case now but that will not always be the case someday.

One of the reasons I started writing these essays is because I believe even if we fundamentally change the political and social system in this country for the better, we will still require a military for a whole host of reasons. This means that, at some point in the future when things don’t suck at much, I’m going to shift my position from “you should not join the military” to “maybe some of you should consider joining the military.” I have no idea when that will be (almost certainly not in the immediate future), but if things go the way I hope they will in the long-term big picture, this will become a reality at some point.

With all that mind, that begs the question: assuming someday that President Leftist is elected and the Democratic Socialists of America gain a super-majority in Congress and begin a top to bottom change of how we do things in this country and in the world at large, how do you attract people to join the military? How do you do that when you’re not relying upon the poverty draft, or upon Rally ‘Round the Flag effects of patriotism? How do you not only convince people to join the military for an entirely different set of reasons than they are now, but also keep them there? What issues will need to be addressed – not simply in the military itself, but in this country as a whole?

I’m glad you totally asked all those questions just now because I’ve been thinking about them myself and now that I have you trapped in my mind palace let’s talk about them.

It’s the Culture, Stupid

A number of explanations have been mooted for why the military is struggling to recruit: the pandemic not only had direct medical effects, but also affected in-person and in-school recruiting (which in itself is a really dystopian concept to comprehend); civilian companies are making better offers in terms of benefits and other perks than the military can make; only a small number of American youths meet the various requirements set by the military to join (be they physical, educational, or “moral”); meanwhile, the patriotism that two decades of the Global War on Terrorism afforded the military has long since faded. Interestingly, military brass and civilian leaders also blame what a Bloomberg Government article calls “uninformed messaging” on the risks military service to both body and mind (I’d really like to know what exactly they mean by “uninformed” after seeing the consequences of twenty years of constant counter-insurgency on a generation of veterans but go off I guess, Bloomberg). The end result of the aforementioned issues and more is that for the first time ever, more than half of all youths (52%) don’t even consider joining the military as an option for their future.

Now, all of the previously mentioned factors certainly have affected recruitment and retention in the military. But there’s also the ones that nobody in DoD leadership really, absolutely, do not want to talk about at all (though they do want to talk about “uninformed messaging” about risks apparently – again, whatever the fuck that means). That issue is one of culture.

It shouldn’t be shocking to anyone with two working brain-cells that the military has had issues with toxic culture for- well, forever. Some of those issues have been steadily terrible for as long as we’ve had a military, while others have only worsened recently alongside the overall political environment in this country. An example of the latter was seen recently when the Army reprimanded a retiring general for criticizing infamous Fox News host and fascist Tucker Carlson roughly a year ago. The right-wing broadcaster had been making misogynistic comments about women serving in the military at the time when the officer – Major General Patrick Donahoe – had fired back at Carlson on Twitter for his comments about women in the military. The Army’s reprimand of the general caused a backlash that was not aided by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth’s comments at the annual Association of the U.S. Army convention that the Army should stay “out of culture wars.” Her comments created such an outrage that the Secretary had to backtrack by the end of the week and state that Army leaders should stand up for all soldiers who are being unfairly attacked (still adding in the both-sides caveat that said leaders should “use good judgement” and “keep it professional”).

The Carlson-Donahoe saga demonstrates how unwilling the military is overall to stand by one of its troops even if they’re doing what is objectively the right thing to the majority of people – and even if they are a two-star general – because the brass terrified of rocking the boat. When the going gets tough, the military is more the leadership are more than willing to throw one of their own under the bus – even if that person in general is comparatively high ranking. Combine that with the fact that the military is doing this over comments on an issue that is essentially settled for most sane people (the issue of women serving in uniform), only makes it worse. It is entirely understandable people would not want to enlist in the Army when it can’t even make a straightforward statement opposing misogyny without first having caused a week of outrage (and make said statement with a whole series of caveats after the fact). What else won’t the Army back them up on the future? What else might they throw you under the bus for? The Green Weenie is finding new and exciting frontiers in fucking over the troops, apparently. This shouldn’t be that surprising though, I suppose, when the Army can’t even provide livable housing that isn’t infested with black mold for its enlisted ranks. How can an Army that can’t even do that be expected to stick up for its troops against someone like Tucker Carlson?

The issues of toxic culture aren’t limited to the wider American culture war, however. The military also has its own service-specific issues of workplace culture that have been festering for years. It’s not just about right-wingers being right-wingers. A perfect example of this can be seen in the U.S. Navy, where – despite reaching its recruiting targets for this past year – has seen desertions climb dramatically over the past two years. Sailors describe being in “unbreakable” service contracts requiring up to six years of active duty, while potentially being housed in unlivable conditions. An infamous recent example was on board the USS George Washington – a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier – where not only were sailors forced to live on a ship where construction noise made sleep virtually impossible and there was often no hot water or electricity but were also berated for issues out of their own control.

The issues about the George Washington all fold into a Navy-wide problem in the post-Cold War era of increasing the stress placed on both sailors and ships in order to meet increasingly demanding requests for naval deployments and presence around the world. It was a culture like this that led to not one, but two collisions of Navy guided-missile destroyers with other ships in 2017 (both resulting in the entirely preventable deaths of sailors onboard). More and more pressure has been placed on a smaller navy with fewer sailors to maintain an extensive imperial presence overseas, all while pushing for a mentality of “zero defects” or errors. This culture issue is especially bad in the Navy’s surface warfare community (i.e. the ships that are specifically designed to shoot at things and fight wars at sea), which is notorious for “eating its young” and responds to even the smallest of mistakes with chastisement and punishment – with little to no effort to turn any of said mistakes into teachable moments or lessons.

Workplace issues aside, I haven’t even gotten specifically in the issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault (ask the Army about how things have been going at Fort Hood). I wanted to make special note of that so you didn’t think I was casually ignoring it because it too is a huge problem and a huge reason for why people may not be eager to enlist but quite frankly given how up and down my mood has been already with various bullshit this year I just do not have the strength to go into granular detail on that issue right now. If I did, I might just end up curled up in the corner in the fetal position so let’s just say for now that it is in fact a huge bad issue and leave it at that to delve into another day when I have the mental fortitude for it.

From workplace culture issues like we see in the Navy, and the overall issues of failing to push back on toxic culture in American society we see in the Army, when you add in that many young people may take issue with the ends to which the military has been used for – especially for those who grew up in the shadow of the Afghan and Iraq Wars – , it should be no wonder why man young Americans have no interest in joining the military. All of these issues, of course, are ones that the military is desperate to not have to talk about because it involves admitting faults and problems and rocking the boat in a way that awakens loud and shrill constituencies of right-wing TV hosts and retired flag officers with nothing better to do than keep things the way they knew them. Change would also mean having to devote more money to actually looking after troops rather than having it flow directly into the pockets of the board of directors at Raytheon or General Dynamics or Absolutely Not Evil Defense Contractors Inc.

A Reason to Fight

Ok, so we’ve established that the military has issues with all kinds of toxic culture in its ranks – in addition to however many other issues that are preventing it from recruiting the numbers it needs. So, with our future hypothetical of a country and society that suck less, how do you go about fixing things so that more people – including ones that otherwise might say “not only no, but fuck no” to joining – might be convinced to enlist in a military in service to said country?

I’ve said on Twitter before that the military is not an entity unto itself that exists only in a bubble; it is a reflection of society and its health (or sickness). You cannot truly reform the military without also reforming society (to different extents, depending on the issue). To that end, only attempting to solve cultural issues within the military will not solve the issue of recruitment and retention on their own (it may have some positive impacts but would only be a band aid on a wider issue). Yes, there may be some issues you might be able to solve in-house only, but that won’t solve all the culture issues that face the military and as long as wider culture issues persist in America. If you only focus on the issues specific to the military, you’ll be fighting a losing battle against bad culture in general. Cultural issues need to be addressed in tandem throughout both the military and throughout the country as a whole.

The broadest answer possible to these problems is to – for lack of a better term – make both the military and country suck less so that people actually feel more like serving. This is why I label my approach to recruiting and staffing a reformed U.S. military for a fundamentally changed United States as the “if you built it, they will come” approach. The core of this approach is that if you build a society (rather, an allied community of such societies around the globe) that people actually care about and think actually does good – not only for them, but for others both at home and abroad – that more will actually want to volunteer to join the military to protect said society and its liked-minded peoples around the world. They will feel a sense of international solidarity with all peoples and maybe feel a desire to join a force that actually, genuinely fights in order to make people’s lives better or to protect them from harm by aggressors. I feel like this isn’t that complicated a concept, but that if I tried to explain it to most of the people that I encounter in my field I’d probably get some kind of open mouth fish expression from them in response.

Having that change in culture – both in terms of how the military treats its people and what it’s asking its people to go and fight for – is crucial when you realize that the recruiting environment would be even more competitive in the hypothetical democratic socialist future that we are considering. Social welfare programs like Medicare for all, strengthened social security, and etc. would mean people wouldn’t have to join the military just to get healthcare or retirement funds. Free college education would mean you wouldn’t have to join the military to have any hope at a higher education through the G.I. Bill (something that some Republicans have gone completely mask-off over). Improved worker rights through unions and other avenues of organizing would mean that working conditions in other fields would also improve and attract employees that otherwise might shy away or quit. If the military thinks it’s hard to recruit now, just wait until we elect President Leftist – they’re gonna have a bad time.

Rather, the military is going to have a bad time recruiting if they continue to stick to how things are done now. In a far more competitive environment for recruiting the best and brightest, the military is going to have to strive to not only treat troops well (like other employers will ideally be doing by that point), but also offer them something that other career paths don’t in terms of the intangibles of things like “self-fulfillment.” The “treat troops well” part should be simple (put them in housing that isn’t riddled with black mold, protect them against abuse and harm like sexual assault and murder, generally treat them like human beings with inherent rights, etc.), and goes hand in hand with changes we need to make on a macro level in this country when it comes to how we treat our workers. Thankfully, labor activism is an area we’re seeing somewhat of a renaissance in, and we should all aggressively support and show solidarity with. Hell, some of the troops have been resurrecting an old idea and trying to unionize, which I’m all in favor of (and would be a natural part of what I’m suggesting).

But when it comes to offering something that other fields wouldn’t, that’s a little more involved compared to simply treating the troops better – but something that is still tied to national level societal changes we need to make. Under the current circumstances, if people aren’t waved off by the various other issues I’ve already described when it comes to enlisting, they’re joining the military for material gain of some kind or for patriotism. We’ve already discussed how the patriotic drive for enlistment has diminished in the years following 9/11. This is actually reflected in recent military recruitment ads I’ve seen, where it feels like in some cases the issue of patriotism is completely side-stepped or mostly a foot note. The focus appears to be far more on careerism and vague notions of professional development or even on thrill-seeking and excitement in many cases than on any sense of national pride or service to the nation (let alone its people). In a weird way, while the military doesn’t seem eager to draw the ire of far-right chuds like Tucker Carlson, at the same time it’s trying to cleanse its recruitment image of some of the old school flag-fucking that we once accustomed to throughout the War on Terror years. The result comes off as sanitized and unappealing to just about everyone.

Ideally, in the society we’re envisioning, patriotic and nationalistic impulses will have further diminished to be replaced by something less jingoistic and imperialistic. We should be building a society where people are thinking less about our country alone and how great it is, and more about making the world a better place for as many people as possible, ensuring that they have their basic needs met, have their human rights respected, and are protected from harm by those who would deprive them of those essentials and more. Creating a world where people don’t live in fear of want and can be free to live and exist as their best selves. We need to instill a sense that if you join the military and being sent overseas, you’re not going to a warzone in order to prove your country’s “greatness” or to line the pockets of a corporation or oligarch or out of xenophobia or racism. You’re going there, because there are people there who are under attack and need help and have asked for help against an aggressor. You’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do, and that requires people who are strong in both body and mind and willing to take risks in order to help those who are in need of help. That should be the draw for potential recruits in a society like the one we want to achieve. It should be about helping people both at home and abroad be able to live better lives. Anything else should just be the garnish to that central idea of what service should be about in this hypothetical future. The patriotism and nationalism that was once a draw to enlist, should be replaced by a sense of internationalism and solidarity among the free peoples of the world.

The Part Where I Admit I’m Mainlining Hopium

Out of every essay I’ve written so far, this is probably one of my most blatantly idealistic pieces. I usually tend to adopt fairly realistic viewpoints on change compared to others on the Left, but this is one of those few areas where I really stick my head in the hopium clouds, inhale deeply, and go for broke. I am well aware that what I’m saying is a tall order – not an impossible one by any means, but a difficult one. The type of change I’m asking for isn’t the kind that can be accomplished in five, ten, or even 15 years. It is, by nature, a generational project. It requires foundations to be laid and built upon for decades in order to come fully to fruition. However, if you’re a socialist and not in for the long haul than I really don’t know what to tell you after – you know – all the history of being socialist that’s ever happened ever.

I guess the inherent beauty is that if we do everything we want to as leftists and change this country from top to bottom, due to the nature of the military being a reflection of the society its serves, we’d already be well on our way to changing it. It would then just be a matter of rooting out any lingering remnants of reaction within. Therin lies a point that’s been buried amid everything else I’ve discussed: that in the society we want, the military will have to let go of its purported apolitical nature (one that can often be one-sided, as the Tucker Carlson episode has demonstrated to us). A military that is opposed to authoritarianism, fascism, reaction, and more – that is dedicated to all the principles we’ve laid out, will be inherently political. It needs to be political if it is to be successful. A military can not be divorced from the society it serves, and the society we aim to create is one of politically minded and involved people striving for a better world. Being apolitical or “neutral” will no longer be an option.

I understand that some people on the Left are going to be credulous of or openly hostile to everything I’ve written here, and I can understand that. I know some of you I’ll never be able to convince and I make my peace with that, but for those are open to being convinced, let me tell you I understand it may be difficult for many of you to feel idealistic about something like the military. No matter how you slice it, or you change it, joining the military fundamentally involves taking on risks to life and limb. You’re signing up for the possibility that you will be sent to war, where you could be grievously injured or die a horrible death. Even if you are never sent to war, you still take risks from training exercises, peacetime deployments, and any other time you’re around weaponry and heavy machinery and more. Moreover, you sign up with the intent that you may be called upon someday to take a life – multiple lives even. You take on the risk that even when everything goes right, there’s possibility innocents will die entirely by accident. Taking a life, even in self-defense, is no small thing to ask of a person and should not be taken lightly (especially with the amounts of destruction that modern warfare can muster).

Unfortunately, all of what I just described will still be necessary even in a future where we’ve affected real change at home. My whole basis for arguing for these changes and others is that we will still need a military, because there will always be a threat to those trying to live as free people from the forces of reaction and authoritarianism and fascism and more. We may not seek out conflict, but sometimes conflict is forced upon you – or upon others who are unable to defend themselves on their own and require assistance. That means we will still need a military and we will need people willing to step up and put their minds and body on the line to defend others as part of said military. It is no small order and what I’ve offered in this essay is only the beginning of trying to figure out how to square that circle of how promote a culture of service in a society that isn’t inherently capitalistic, imperialistic, and exploitative.

All I can offer to those who are skeptical and dismissive of everything I have said, is that if thousands of people have traveled across the world to defend Ukraine – a country that is not their own – from an aggressive imperialistic invader, if thousands traveled across the world to try and prevent Spain from falling to fascism in the 1930s, surely we can convince Americans of the future to step up to do the same thing on a grander scale. I believe we can change this country and the world for the better, and if we do that, we’re already well on our way to solving the problems I have described in this essay.

I will end my hopium induced frenzy here for today. In the meantime, I would remind you that while someday I may encourage some of you to join the military, for the time being I would like to remind you that you absolutely not join the military if you have a choice. That time may one day come, but for now I’d suggest you give that a miss. On that note, that’s all I have for now. As always, stay safe out there.

#essay #War Takes #War Takes Essay #leftism #leftist #socialism #democratic socialism #international relations #IR #national security #national defense #international security #foreign policy #foreign affairs #war #military recruitment #united states military #united states armed forces #military culture

[helianthus-tarot]

Hey! Just checked out your paid reading page (I know they're closed but I'm keeping an eye open lol) and this is hypothetical but what do you do in the case when there is not an answer to the question asked. For very loose example : with the question 'what is their ex like and how are you different?' For a f/s you have not met yet, but you will be their first relationship? Would the cards reflect this or is there a substitute person, for example a past life lover who would show up in the cards? Or for example, asking about future kids but there ends up being no kids?

Good question. Based on how I experience and read the energies of the cards, I've noticed that:

Asking about their ex but there is no ex

If not the ex, the cards may show the energy of their ex-crush, their situationship, or anyone they used to have feelings for or be in an emotional entanglement with. Because the energy is similar, it may appear as a substitute. After all, the core of the question is asking about past emotional connections. I don't really subscribe to the idea of past life so I don't consider it at all, but if you believe in this, you can consider it.

If your person truly has no one like that at all— has never fallen in love or been interested in it at all— the cards will simply tell you that; eg. the cards could show your person's solitary energy or the reader could feel intuitively that the cards were talking about your person instead of their ex-anything. But of course, it also depends on the reader themselves, whether they can read the nuance or not. Even good readers have bad days.

Asking about future kids/partner

Kids (biological, adoptive, stepchildren) and romantic partner are something that can happen no matter how slim is the possibility, regardless of your own decision or current stance about marriage and kids, because the possibility ends only when you die. The only way for you to prove that you 'will never have children' is for you to die without having any. As long as you are still alive, you haven't proven it yet. Changes and miracle can happen, the possibility is not zero.

This isn't the same as my previous point on 'first relationship' situation, because the possibility of your person having a crush or an ex before their relationship with you will end the moment they get into a relationship with you. There's no such thing as their previous ex or ex-crush once you become their first one. It ends there. No miracle can change that.

⭐ Questions about personality and other descriptions:

If you ask about your first child's personality— even if you won't have any, even if you will die without having any kids— the cards may be describing the one that will most likely happen IF it happens. It's basically addressing the hypothetical situation that has the highest probability of happening, no matter how small that 'highest probability' is compared to your other possible future life events. It's basically like this, "you are more likely to not have a child than having a child in this life, but IF you have a child, this is the most likely personality of your first child". Same with spouses or serious long-term partner.

It's like your astrology chart, you can find clues about your first spouse's possible personality, but even if you choose not to get married and hole yourself up in your room forever avoiding dating life, the indicators for your spouse is still in your chart. It doesn't disappear. I guess Astrology can show how likely or unlikely it is for you to get married and divorced (?) But we aren't asking the cards how likely or unlikely it is here either. If that makes sense?

⭐ General questions on these topics:

The thing is, when you ask a general question, for example, "I just want a general reading on future kids" or "I want to ask about my future kids", more varied messages will come up such as the personality, the likelihood of having children, the number of children, with whom you will have them, the pregnancy, etc. The cards can also focus on the energy of any creation, pets or legacy you will leave behind in this world if not kids; but I will only consider this if I strongly get this message, because the initial question is about human kids.

⭐ Questions about the likelihood and possibility:

If you ask about the possibility or likelihood of having a child (instead of focusing on their personality) specifically, the cards may give you a straightforward answer.

Conclusion

Because there is always a possibility for people to have a child or spouse (the possibility will only end when they die), no matter how small the possibility is, people generally can still get an answer about children or spouse if they ask about personality or if they ask about it in general. Whether the answer happens for real or not, that depends on your decision and other factors.

If they ask about the likelihood, then they may get a more specific answer about the likelihood of it happening. But since the future is not set in stone, some people may not get a straightforward answer from the cards, or the answer that the cards give can very well change a little.

#asks #tarot asks