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#some people still haven't moved on from that but at least it's not as common in every piece of media now
yamameta-inc · 3 months
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The Swiss Cheese Model of Covid Prevention
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An edited version of the swiss cheese model tailored towards the measures that you as an individual can take to minimize your risk of infection. Public health is ultimately what its name implies, public, but that doesn't mean you're powerless.
Covid prevention is not all-or-nothing. Think of it as risk reduction, rather than a binary.
Let's go through these step by step.
VACCINES
The current vaccines are meant primarily to reduce chances of severe illness, hospitalization, and death. They will reduce your chance of infection a bit--but not nearly as much as you might think. You should still get your boosters regularly, because avoiding severe illness is of course worth doing.
If you haven't gotten the updated monovalent vaccine yet, go get it. It is not a booster. Think of it as a new vaccine. It's targeted towards the XBB lineages, which are now the most common variants. Your last boosters were likely of the bivalent type, aimed at both the original Covid strain from 2020 and Omicron. The new vaccine is monovalent, meaning it targets one family in particular.
Some studies suggest that the Novavax vaccine, which is a more traditional protein-based vaccine, is more effective and safer than mRNA vaccines, and offers better protection against future variants. Of course, the data we have so far isn't 100% conclusive (the last paper I linked is a preprint). Make of these findings what you will, just something to keep in mind. The new Novavax vaccine's availability is still limited, especially outside of the US.
MASKS
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Masking is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself. While it is true that masking and reducing Covid transmission protects those around you, the idea that masks can't protect the wearer is outdated information from the early days of the pandemic when medical authorities refused to acknowledge that Covid is airborne.
The key to protecting yourself is to wear a well-fitting respirator. You want to minimize any gaps where air might leak out. If your glasses get fogged up, that's a sign that air is leaking.
Headbands will always have a tighter fit than earloop masks (and therefore provide better protection). However, you can use earloop extenders to improve the fit of earloop masks. You can find these online. Your comfort in wearing a mask is important, but there are options for compromise.
The above graphic doesn't include elastomeric respirators. While some (like the Flo Mask) are expensive, they can be much more affordable than buying disposables--look for P100 respirators at your local hardware store, but make sure it fits your face well.
For more general information, see this FAQ. For mask recommendations (NA-centric, sorry!), see my list here or Mask Nerd's YouTube channel.
For situations where you need to hydrate but don't want to take your mask off, consider the SIP valve.
Not even N95s are foolproof (N95 means it filters at least 95% of particles--with the other 5% potentially reaching you). Most people will likely not have a perfect fit. There will be situations where you'll have to take your mask off. The key is risk reduction, and that's why the Swiss cheese model is crucial.
If you can't afford high-quality masks, look for a local mask bloc or other organization that gives out free masks. Project N95 has unfortunately shut down. In Canada, there's donatemask.ca.
AVOID CROWDED INDOOR SPACES
This is rather self-explanatory. Indoor transmission is much, much, much more likely than outdoor transmission. If it's possible to move an activity outdoors instead, consider doing so.
If possible, try going to places like stores or the post office during less busy hours.
Viral particles can stay in the air for a considerable amount of time even after the person who expelled them has left. Do not take off your mask just because no one is currently present, if you know that it was previously crowded.
A CO2 monitor is a decent proxy for how many viral particles may have accumulated in the air around you. The gold standard is the Aranet4, but it's expensive, so here are some more affordable alternatives.
VENTILATION AND AIR FILTERS
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Ventilation is effective for the same reason that outdoors is safer than indoors. If it's warm enough, keep windows open whenever possible. If it's cold, even cracking them open occasionally is better than nothing. Try to open windows or doors on different sides of a room to maximize airflow.
HEPA air filters can significantly reduce viral transmission indoors. Make sure to find one suitable for the room size, and replace the filters regularly. You want to look for devices with HEPA-13 filters.
You can use websites like these to calculate how long it takes for a device to change all the air in a room. Remember what I said about viral particles being able to hang around even after people have left? If an air purifier provides 2 air changes per hour, that means that after 30 minutes, any potential viral particles should be gone.
If you can't afford a commercial air filter, here's a useful DIY filter you can make with relatively simple materials. The filtration capacity is great--but due to being built with duct tape, replacing filters will be a challenge.
If you have to hold meetings or meet with people at work, having a smaller filter on the desk between you will also reduce chances of infection.
As a bonus, HEPA filters will also filter out other things like dust and allergens!
REDUCE LENGTH OF EXPOSURE IF EXPOSURE IS UNAVOIDABLE
Viral load refers to the amount of virus in a person's blood. If you've been exposed to someone with Covid, how much you've been exposed matters.
You might escape infection if the viral load you've been exposed to is very small. Or, even if you get infected, there will be less virus in you overall, leading to milder illness--and crucially, a lower chance of the virus penetrating deep into your body, creating reservoirs in your organs and wreaking long-term havoc.
A low viral load is also less contagious.
This is the same reason that wearing your mask most of the time, but having to take it off for eating, is still much better than not wearing your mask at all.
RECHARGEABLE PORTABLE AIR FILTERS
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You might attract some odd looks. But if you're at high risk or just want to be as protected as possible, small portable air filters can help. Try to find models small enough to take with you on public transportation, to school, or while traveling.
These devices will be far too small to clean the air in the whole room. The goal is to have it filter air in your immediate vicinity. Be sure to angle the device so that the air is blowing in your face.
Unfortunately, rechargeable devices are much rarer and harder to find than normal air filters, and many are also expensive.
The best option at the moment, apart from DIY (which is possible, but you need to know what you're doing), seems to be the SmartAir QT3. The size and shape are a bit clunky, but it fits in a backpack. Its battery life isn't long, but it can be supplemented with a power bank.
NASAL SPRAYS
There's some research that suggests that some nasal sprays may be effective in reducing risk of infection by interfering with viruses' ability to bind to your cells.
These sprays are generally affordable, easy to find, and safe. The key ingredient is carrageenan, which is extracted from seaweed. So there are no potential risks or side effects.
Be sure to follow the instructions on the packaging carefully. Here's a video on how to properly use nasal sprays if you've never used them before.
Covixyl is another type of nasal spray that uses a different key ingredient, ethyl lauroyl arginate HCI. It also aims to disrupt viruses' ability to bind to cell walls. Unfortunately, I think it's difficult to obtain outside of the US.
CONCLUSION
None of the methods listed here are foolproof on their own. But by layering them, you can drastically reduce your chances of infection.
The most important layers, by far, are masking and air quality. But you should also stay conscientious when engaging with those layers. Don't let yourself become complacent with rules of thumb, and allow yourself to assess risk and make thought out decisions when situations arise where you might have to take off your mask or enter a high-risk indoor area, such as a hospital.
Remember that the goal is risk reduction. It's impossible to live risk-free, because we live among countless other people. But you can use knowledge and tools to keep yourself as safe as possible.
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romancerepulsed · 4 months
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maybe this is a "hot take," but it's something i genuinely believe is true. aphobes can broadly be sorted into 3 categories: the uninformed, the bigot, and the bully. there is overlap between all 3, and i'm sure there are some people out there who are aphobic in a fun new way that i can't possibly conceive of yet, but i think these categories are fairly accurate and helpful for an aspec to recognize.
the uninformed aphobe is what it sounds like– they either don't know anything about the aspectrum or they've been fed false information about it. this is the only type of aphobe that is ever worth engaging with, and only to politely correct them and point them towards resources that would help them broaden their understanding. i'll be completely honest though: you'd be pretty damn lucky if you managed to actually singlehandedly change their mind. if they're not receptive to your corrections, simply move on. it's not worth the headache. you at least gave them something to think about.
the bigot, in contrast, is absolutely never worth engaging with. the bigoted aphobe is aphobic simply because aspec people are queer and they hate queer people. terfs famously used (and still continue to use) aphobic rhetoric as a sort of gateway drug for transphobia. the people who will argue that aspec folks aren't queer are often the same people who despise us because they associate us with queerness.
the third aphobe is actually the most common on this website, i think, and they're the reason i'm making this post. the aphobic bully may know full well the fundamentals of the aspectrum, but they will simplify and misrepresent it on purpose in an attempt to make aspec people look bad. aspec people have long been "acceptable targets" of bullying on this site for a reason that is fairly obvious to me but one i haven't seen anyone else point out: aspec people are largely neurodivergent. it's really no coincidence that ace discourse and cringe culture peaked at around the same time– they were one in the same, and the treatment aspec and autistic people received were (and still are) damn near identical. portraying aspec people as cringey teenagers who watched too many cartoons and are just too socially awkward for anyone to love them or whatever... it's a sentiment thats existed for years and years now. it took me a while to realize it, but this is why so many "tumblr funnymen" and other assorted popular blogs were/are aphobes too– they've got egos the size of china but they know they can't get away with blatantly picking on autistic people. so they'll hide behind a guise of aspec exclusionism, something that's unfortunately viewed as a real and valid ideology for someone to have. even aside from the thinly veiled ableism, bullies are always coming from a place of insecurity and projecting it onto other people. i've found that a lot of the most vicious aphobes are people who are struggling romantically or sexually. you can see them post about it, you can see even in the most recent discourse so many of these people are deeply stressed and hurt from whatever romantic or sexual struggles they're facing. to them, someone being unconcerned with those sorts of things is almost offensive because it means so much to them. they read it as a challenge to their own allo identity. so, why not take out that frustration on the aspecs?
it goes without saying that the bully isn't worth engaging with, either. they want to rile you up because it makes them feel better about themselves. don't give them that satisfaction.
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hughesyodaddy43 · 5 days
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Pizza solves everything - L.H
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pairings: bf! Luke x fem!reader. Platonic!Ethan Edwards and Mark Estapa x reader Genre: fluff warnings: angst?,mentions of cheating, stressed reader, exam season synopsis: Lukes girlfriend gets worked up over finals. Ethan and Mark attempt to make her feel better. requested?: yes word count: 3.1k authors note: I am not from America so i don't know how exams and schooling work over there, i hope this still makes sense. i gave reader a nickname, 'missy' and will probably use that name for future Luke fics.
You groan as you type on your computer, sitting at your desk with mindless tv playing in the background. You currently live in a tiny apartment with your best friend, Ethan. It's a two bedroom and can only really house two people before feeling cramped. However it is right next to Umich and is far more convenient than living in the dorms. 
You only started living with Ethan last year, after your previous roommate moved out and you needed someone to share utilities with. Seeming as though Luke was leaving for New Jersey and Ethan never left your house anyway - it seemed only logical that he started paying rent.
Having a boyfriend in the NHL is both a blessing and a curse, the blessing being the fact that your hot boyfriend is in the NHL and the curse being that everyone else thinks he is hot too. 
You never were the jealous type, or at least not before you saw all the girls that crowded Luke when he went to parties. Something in you cringed when you saw how awkward he got when denying girls, it was common that you'd have to step in otherwise that man would have just stood there like a statue the entire encounter. It wasn't like he would ever cheat on you, you were confident that he wouldn't. However when your hair is fitted to a much darker shade then the girls he interacts with, it's hard to not think about him wanting a more ‘conventional’ Hockey Girlfriend. 
Luke is always first to tell you he doesn't care about that stuff and you believe him, but when you haven't called him in days, sometimes weeks, it gets less easy to control the unsettling feelings.
Everytime you call with Luke, it's always cut short, whether it’s Ethan banging on your door at 11 o’clock  for a ‘late night snack’ or Jack barging in to argue with Luke about something, you never get to talk about what you're really feeling. 
Because of the distance and lack of communication, the relationship has been a bit strained, it's not like you could tell if luke felt the same since he's too busy sleeping or playing hockey to communicate that with you. You were so proud of Luke, no doubt about it, however something in you boiled when he only ever mentioned hockey during the ten minute phone calls.
Since the last phone call you had with him, you've only really exchanged small text messages every couple hours. It was upsetting that you couldn't talk to your boyfriend about everything going on but it was also a nice way to get away so you can finish up and focus on all the upcoming exams.
You had your next one tomorrow and really needed to knuckle down and get studying for it. You've managed to get what you needed done for tonight so you thought you'd call Luke for a final call before bed.
After wriggling comfortably against your pillows, you lean against your head board. bringing your phone up close to your ear, you press the dial on luke's contact  listening closely to the ringing sound on the other end.
Ring 
Ring 
Ring 
You breathe hitches as you hear Lukes voice on the other end, only this time it was his voicemail. You take one last deep breath before shutting your phone off and sinking into your pillows. 
Your phone vibrates on your nightstand and you view a message from your best friend and biggest hater, Ethan.
House rat: the team got too much pizza, if you're still up I can bring you some?
House rat : Silence speaks volumes missy 
Pissy missy : no. i'm just asleep
Pissy missy : You're disturbing my slumber 
House rat: oh well pizza is good for your soul. Mark is coming too ;)
Pissy missy: Fuck.
You sigh and put your phone back down, wiping your eyes, you sit up against the headboard once again and pull your computer onto your lap, Resuming your place in your essay.
“MISSY  COME HERE GIRL” Ethan calls out from the front door, walking towards your room in long strides. He bursts through the door with a box of pizza in his hand and makes his way to sit at the end of your bed, Mark slowly entering behind him. Mark moves to sit further on the bed, next to Ethan, pulling out a piece of pizza from the box.
“How are you?” Mark asks as he stuffs his face with the crust.
You sigh, reaching to rip a piece of pizza from the rest, bringing it up close to your lips
“Been okay, I guess” you take a bite, avoiding eye contact with the two boys in front of you “are you sure? You've seemed a bit distant'' Mark asks “im fine.” you say, taking another big bite of the saucy crust “are you sur-” “I'm fine so quit asking” you yell, adding an edge of venom to your words. Taking the boys by surprise “wow, someones a bit extra pissy tonight” Ethan adds. 
That's when something in your throat tightens, you feel yourself bubbling over. You don't understand why, your whole nickname stems from the fact that you get pissy from time to time but it feels like that was the last straw.
Tears begin filling your eyes, vision goes blurry as you feel your cheeks burn up. Sniffles are heard as the boys go silent before you. Tears drip onto the final bite of your pizza.
“Im-sorry-i-just-so-stressed-and-upset-and-luke-hasnt-been-talking-to-me-and-i-miss-him-and-i-think-hes-gonna-breakup-with-me-and-im-just-so-sad-and-i-dont-mean-to-be-mean-but-im-just-so-angry” you hurry through muffled sobs as your eyes go red and your sinuses block up.
“Woah hey hey, Missy i didn't mean to make you upset.” Ethan says , leaning forward to meet your eyes
“Yeah, talk to us..but a bit slower please” Mark says softly, careful to not make you cry again.
You take a deep breath, lifting your head up to see the two young hockey boys worried faces, your lip quivers slightly as you breathe in and out, ready to spill out what has been hurting you.
“I don't know, I'm just so stressed with these exams and I think I'm gonna do fine but I'm just scared.” you start, trying to get one problem out at a time 
“I know for a fact that you'll do fine in your exams and assignments” Ethan comforts “yeah! you're like the smartest person i know!” 
“Thanks.. It's not just that tho” you say, sniffling a bit as tears continue down your face and onto your swollen lips, the taste of salt sinks into your mouth. The Hockey players stay silent, waiting patiently for you to continue. 
“Luke and I haven't really been talking and I think he wants to break up.”
 The boys share a knowing glance but say nothing. 
“And you know i've seen all the girls jack brings home, the pretty blonde girls i mean what if luke met one of them and they fell in love” you say, growing more and more hysterical as each thought processes through your head.
Logically you new Luke would never cheat but with your emotions running high you couldnt help but think that  Luke had fucked the entire female poplutation of new jersey ranging from 18-25 by now.
“And all he every talks about when we do call is stupid fucking hockey” you rise your voice slightly before looking at the boys 
“no offence” you add, placing your hands in your lap and finishing your pizza
 “ he didn't even answer my call tonight” you finish, the last sentence being muffled as you swallow your food. 
To your surprise the boys stay silent and stare at each other with Ethan looking down at his phone then back up at mark then sharing a look back to you.
“OMG SO HE IS GONNA BREAK UP WITH ME” you scream, tears streaming down your face harder 
“WHAT NO NO NO” the boys choir, eyes wide.
“Then why are you looking at eachother like that? And who the fuck are you messaging at 12o’clock at night???” you yell pointing towards ethan. 
“No-no one” ethan adds, throwing his phone away to the end of the bed.
Mark moves to sit next to you, throwing an awkward arm around you in a comforting embrace 
“missy, he's probably not gonna break up with you'' Mark adds 
“PROBABLY??” you cry 
“NONO he means he is NOT going to break up with you” Ethan interjects, throwing a pointed look at Mark “oh yeah sorry that's what i meant” Mark stuttered
You groan loudly as your head flys back onto your pillows, you bury yourself into your blanket
“Okayyy so you're tired so we're gonna get outta here” Ethan says, dragging the pizza off your bed with Mark sliding off behind him.
“Good night, Missy'' Mark says, patting your head, peeking out slightly 
“Good night!!” Ethan yells from the kitchen with a mouthful of pizza.
X
X
You wake up to the blaring sound of your alarm, you look at your phone that reads ‘7 am’ and still you have no response from Luke. You sigh and remove yourself from your bed, making your way towards the shared bathroom you have with Ethan. 
You walk down the hall and pass Mark who is sleeping soundly on the couch, you continue walking and stop by  Ethan's room, you peer in to see him sprawled out on his bed, keeping note that you should keep quiet as you get ready so you don't wake the two up prematurely.
You take time in your shower to clear your mind, enjoying the warm hug as the water runs down your back and soothes your sore neck. You recite in your head that everything will be okay and to just focus on your exam first, then worry about whatever bullshit Luke is pulling.you finish your shower and get dressed in warm attire. You pair your favourite long sleeve shirt with your fav baggy sweats and continue on with your hair and makeup. Finishing up, you leave the bathroom and are met with the inviting smell of fresh breakfast.
Walking down the hallway you are met with Mark and Ethan who have both woken up and are now stuffing their faces with every breakfast food you own.
“Good morning” you say, giggling slightly 
“Morning” Mark says, eyes still drawn to the tv 
“Heyy, do you want a bagel?” Ethan asks, walking over towards you “you're gonna need some brain food” he adds 
“Maybe not, i'm too nervous to eat right now” you say
“Hmm, are you sure? What about I make you one for later?” he asks
“Maybe next time” you say as you turn on your heels back to your room, rummaging through your cupboard you find a comfy hoodie to throw over your body to keep you warm and toasty throughout your exam. You pack up your bag and walk back out into the kitchen. You return back to your room, retrieving your charging phone. 
“Missy, do you need a ride?” Ethan asks 
“Nah, the walk will be nice for me, good way to clear my head” you add, walking back out of your room. 
You grab your bag and sling it over your shoulders 
“Thank you by the way, for last night” you add looking back towards Ethan and Mark 
“No problemo, i'm sure you'll feel better soon” Mark says, turning his head to give you a cheeky wink 
You giggle a bit as You look back at ethan confusion still evident in your face 
“Don't listen to him, he's weird” Ethan adds as he walks towards you to give you a pat on the back “you'll do great” 
“Thank you” you say as you move out the door and towards school.
X
X
The timer blares through the room as everyone stands , making their way towards the teachers desk to send off their papers. You sit there for a minute, staring down at your paper, revising everything you wrote down. The girl beside you nudges you out of your trance as she waits for you to stand up and hand you paper i with her. All you can do is quietly walk your way down the daring stares that lead to the front of the class. You hand in your work with a deep breath and make your way back to your previous seat, ready to go home and eat your feelings. 
“How do you think you went?” the girl beside you asks as you both walk out of the room,
“Um i think i did okay, passable i hope” you responde 
“I'm sure you did great, you wrote a lot more than i did”
“Hmm how do you think you went?” you ask 
“Good.. i hope”
“You did good, i know it”
“Thanks, missy. I was gonna ask before but how's everything going with Luke? Are you gonna see him soon?” she asks
“Maybe, idk. We haven't been talking too much recently”
“Aww thats a shame well i hope all goes well”
“Yeah, thanks”
“Bye missy” she exits the conversation, making her way over to her next class 
“Bye” you add, thankful that this was the only class you had scheduled for the day.
The walk home was calming , the cold breeze blowing on your face created a refreshing cooling to your hot body as you walked through the campus, passing a couple friends and saying hi briefly before separating.
You make your way to your apartment, trudging up the stairs in a final burst of energy. Unlocking the door you walk into your heated apartment, looking down as you remove your bag, take off your hoodie and hang your keys up, not making note of the tall figure sitting on the bar stools next to your kitchen. 
You turn around and are met with Luke - your boyfriend. The man who you love. The man who's been ignoring you. 
“Hey baby” he says, standing up to walk towards you
You take a step back, anger and confusion plastered on your face 
“Well at least you have the courtesy to do it in person” you say, crossing your arms over your body, sliding your sleeves over your knuckles.
Luke looms over at you, he stares in confusion, trying to read your emotions.
“What are you talking about?” 
Your gaze leaves the floor and meets his, anger bubbling inside your stomach 
“You wanna break up?” you say bluntly, mono toned and unnatural 
“What?? No ??Why would you think that?” Luke argues, voice becoming higher and his breath itching slightly at the information that his girlfriend thinks he drove 9 and a half hours just  to break up with her.
“Are you serious? No call? no text? no nothing, not even a stupid instagram reel and you think my mind wouldn’t wander to that?” you say, stepping forward at each word, announcing your words with a spit of fury.
“I did call and I did text” Luke defends, hands slapping against his sides.
“Barely, Luke we only called for ten minutes a week and all you talked about was stupid hockey and I love hockey but that's all you would talk about. And not to mention the dry messages I mean we barely even talked like normal people, just robots with no love for each other.” you rant on, eyes feeling heavy as tears glistened in your sockets, afraid to let them fall you do your best to blink them away before luke notices.
“Missy” Luke whispers, snaking his hands to your forearms 
“I was only trying to give you space, I knew you would get stressed with your upcoming finals so I wanted to give you as much time as you needed to study. I didn't mean to be dry and unloving towards you” his voice was soothing and calm, his fingers brushing lightly on your clothed arms.
“Well it was a dumb decision” you argue, earning a snicker from luke 
“yeah , it was and I'm sorry.” he agrees 
“So why are you here then? If you aren't gonna break up with me?”
“I was planning to come down after your finals were finished, I was originally driving in tomorrow but Ethan messaged me last night telling me to come early” 
“Oh. so that's why they were acting weird” you say, reciting the events of last night in your head.
“Yeah, Do you know why he said that?” 
“Well i was a bit emotional last night, i was crying while stuffing my face with pizza” you laugh looking back up at luke.
“Oh my, so is that why Ethan sent me 43  messages at midnight?” Luke adds, smiling to himself before pulling up his phone to show you the absurdly concerning amount of texts from the boy.
“I'll take it that Ethan and Mark were not very good at comforting you?” he says, sitting back down on the bar stool and pulling you to stand in between his legs 
“They weren't too bad , maybe not the best tho” you say, giggling slightly at the situation 
Silence fills the room for a bit before luke speaks up 
“I'm sorry I caused you so much stress, I love you and I wouldn't trade you for the world. Maybe I should try and talk to you more and not just about hockey, hm?” he speaks, tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ear 
“Yes please” you smile before leaning in to give him a deep kiss. You both pull away before going back in for a warm and comforting hug, swaying slightly.
“I don't know about you but i'm starving, do you wanna go get some food?” Luke asks, speaking into the crook of your neck 
“mhm, exams make me hungry and that breakfast bar Ethan snuck into my bag wasn't very filling” you add, moving so you can look at Luke once more, placing a delicate kiss on his lips 
“About Ethan, should I talk to him about how pizza doesn't solve every problem?” 
You giggle at his comment, staring softly into his muddy blue eyes before being interrupted by Ethan opening his door 
“PIZZA SOLVES EVERYTHING” he shouts just before slamming his bedroom door closed.
“He's been home this whole time?” I ask Luke 
“Who do you think let me in?” Luke chimes, smirking down at you.
wriggling out of his arms its not long till you're pulled back by a  gentle hand on your wrist 
“Wait, I  gotta ask how your exam went” Luke asks, hands sneaking around my waist and resting on my lower back.
“It went okay, i didn't give up so that's good” i say, shrugging.
“Mhm good, never give up” he says, finishing his comment by  patting my head.
Silence is left between us once again, eyes frowning as he tries to read my expression 
“I missed you, Lukey. Don't pull that shit again”
“I missed you too, and judging by how angry you were when you came home i definitely won't” he says as we both make our way out the door and down the stairs.
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tcfactory · 3 months
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Good morning, I bring you another very nonsense SVSSS idea today.
Shen Yuan transmigrates as Shen Jiu's shizun. He has a System, but it really doesn't interfere with anything because what would it even do when Luo Binghe's parents haven't even met yet? Su Xiyan hasn't even been born yet.
So Shen Yuan has several really cool centuries to be the immortal master he really wants to be! Since nothing he has done affects the plot, he spends a lot of that time ignoring his disciples (he figures out in the first few decades that teaching is primarily the job of the hallmasters) and focusing on sightseeing and learning all about the flora and fauna of his least favorite webnovel world. He's considered a fine person, kind when he remembers to be present in the moment, but usually detached from worldly matters, which is not a bad thing for an immortal master pushing his fifteenth century to be, but it's to his detriment in some ways: he is both noble-born and beyond mortal weakness. Some of his modern sensibilities have definitely faded after such a long life in this world and by spending much of that time in the company of his nearly indestructible martial siblings. He's a master who does not wield the whip himself, but orders punishment with the ignorance of someone who has forgotten that to people who don't have more than a thousand years of cultivation, the whip does far more than 'sting a little'.
He still tries to speak up about that whole matter with the boy and the sword and the cave. He knows a plant that could help the boy without all this breaking-every-bone nonsense, but that's the first time his System intervenes and stops him. He assumes the kid would have been someone who could have opposed Luo Binghe eventually so he's fated to die instead and lets the matter go. If anything, he's more excited that the System finally made a move, because that means they are nearing the time when Luo Binghe will appear! He doesn't follow the incident and he's daydreaming about a rare beast he discovered on his latest trip when his shixiong announces the appointment of his succeeding disciple, so he completely misses that Yue Qingyuan survived the cave.
During the fated Immortal Alliance Conference he's too busy checking on his own disciples to be of any help in resolving the incident with Shen Jiu, so the sect leader (who is getting really tired of how unreliable his 'sect strategist' is) dumps the semi-feral orphan on his peak as punishment. Shidi likes wild creatures, right? Here's a wild creature for you, have fun making a man out of him.
Shen Yuan doesn't make the connection between Shen Jiu, prickly street kid, and Shen Qingqiu, peerless immortal with a rotten personality, because he falls into the group of readers who assumed Shen Qingqiu was a noble young master. Shen is a pretty common name, after all. He gives the kid some remedial lessons - in reading, writing, etiquette, the arts, etc. - gives him some encouraging words and then leaves the kid to his own devices once it's clear that he doesn't need coddling. He's a tough cookie who can handle himself and besides, the good-natured head disciple from Qiong Ding keeps coming over to check on him, so he already has other support! His shizun hovering over him and favoring him too much would just make him a target and this kid has gone too through much already for him to do that to him.
They hear the first rumors about Tianlang-jun around the time when his shixiong finally starts to bully him about picking a new head disciple, so Shen Yuan makes a timeline in his head: if Tianlang-jun is really doing the part of sightseeing young master in the human world (which Shen Yuan has personally confirmed) then it should take him a few decades to grow bored of it all, sour on the experience and then go and do the attempted world-conquering he gets mountained for. So he should have at least fifty more years before he has to worry about that nonsense, right?
There's still no sign of young master Shen on his peak (goddamn master Airplane, was Shen Qingqiu really so young during PIDW?! A cultivator under a hundred should not be given a position of authority like that, they are barely an adult! The other future peak lords keep popping up around the sect already, so no wonder he was so paranoid of his position, being decades younger than everyone!!) so he promotes his no-longer-openly-feral Shen Jiu as head disciple in the meantime, because that kid is an overachiever like no other and by far the most competent of his disciples.
Then, in the blink of an eye, he is prompted to give Shen Jiu a courtesy name as his succeeding disciple (how did this happen?! This much-abused feral cat is not the one who should be here, System!!).
And the System finally gives him an order he can't refuse: Shen Jiu is to be named Shen Qingqiu. It all starts to break apart at that moment, his leisure and detachment coming back to bite him where it hurts the most.
Shen Yuan announces the name and watches as his head disciple's eyes flash with hurt and betrayal before his mask slots back in place (he never bothered to investigate deeper into Shen Jiu's past than what the boy shared willingly, but now he goes digging. He traces Wu Yanzi's tracks, interviewing ghosts along the way until he reaches the ruins of the Qiu residence and learns of the horrors that went down there. Please forgive your master, A-Jiu! He did not mean to saddle you with the name of your abusers!).
He tries, in those last few, desperate years to be better for the future scum villain, but it feels like it's too late already (the immortal master came back to earth from his unreachable cloud, but it's too little too late). Shen Qingqiu doesn't trust him, he doesn't trust anyone except himself (Shen Yuan is the greatest expert of beasts in the world and he can see the marks of a cornered, crippled tiger in every move Shen Qingqiu makes. His head disciple is angry and terrified and it's his fault that he never helped to make it better.) his relationship with his martial siblings is horrible and he has learned all the wrong lessons from his time on the mountain (because Shen Yuan, spoiled and absent, failed to teach him better).
Shen Yuan watches helplessly as things spiral out of his control (he knows Tianlang-jun couldn't possibly have wanted to conquer anything yet, but his System shuts him up when he wants to speak. He's the one who creates the array, he's the one who puts the final nail in the coffin of a man and his beloved, all for the crime of loving the wrong person). His shixiong gets severely wounded in the fight and they arrange a very hasty ascension before he could perish from his injuries.
He hopes that ascension would make things easier to bear. He has waited for so long, planned to lean back and enjoy PIDW from a front row seat after a life spent playing his part to perfection.
It's so much worse than he could have ever imagined. The System plays one last joke on him and appoints him god of secrets, so he gets to see everything that goes on in the sect. He's already familiar with Luo Binghe's PoV from PIDW, but now he gets to see Yue Qingyuan (clutching his sword and drinking down potions to dull the pain of his ruined body with every meal, screaming himself hoarse for Shen Jiu every night in his nightmares) and Shang Qinghua (walking the high wire of terror and overwork, System window hovering over him with threats of death if he so much as twitches wrong) and Shen Qingqiu, always Shen Qingqiu who keeps spiraling into bitter cruelty with every mocking word he pretends to ignore, every impassable bottleneck and almost-fatal qi-deviation.
When Shen Qingqiu almost succumbs to one of his deviations that leaves him unconscious with a high fever for days he finally breaks and begs the System to let him do something. Shen Qingqiu has grown up to be exactly the kind of scum he was in the story, but for all that he wants to smack him every time he does something shitty, Shen Yuan has grown to care for his horrible, almost-feral tiger of a disciple. He doesn't want him to live the fate of the scum villain, but as a god he's not allowed to act. He will do anything, System! Anything!!!
The next thing he knows, he wakes up as Shen Qingqiu. It's his chance to change fate for the better, but if Shen Yuan is in the body, then where is Shen Jiu??? His soul is in storage and the System will magnanimously allow him to buy him back to life and give him a second chance for all the B-points he amassed over his long life. It's a choice between getting Shen Jiu back or keeping the points as an emergency save that would allow him to return to his previous role if things go wrong.
It's hardly a difficult choice, isn't it?
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junowritings · 5 months
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Hello ☺️💚
I hope I can request something, if they are closed please feel free to delete this 🌺🌺
I absolutely I adored your NRC amnesiac MC story with the dorms and would love to see more. It just hit all the tropes I love so much and adore.
Maybe with the rest of the dorms? As scenarios?? Or imagines?? (Honestly I’m a confused when it comes to those terms, so whichever is easier for you)
With pomefiore, ignihyde, and diasomnia? I feel like Vil is going to take one look at mc and go “okay, time to take care of another potato” but lovingly, ignihyde is going ortho is “I have another sibling” and gosh diasomnia is practically family and lilia is going “time to adopt another one 👏👏”
I just found the idea so so cute, but feel free to do whatever you want ☺️🌺
Right so first off I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I'M SO HAPPY YOU LIKED THE ORIGINAL ONE!!! Also thank you so much for all the kind comments that you leave on my post I see every single one and it still makes my day to re-read them!
But also GOD I love this idea too and I got way too carried away with this. There's a lot of TWST I gotta catch up on (haven't been able to start chapter 7 yet) so I had to work with what I've got in terms of knowledge of Diasomnia.
I hope this was well worth the wait~! (OG scenario here btw)
Pomefiore
♡ Time passes at Night Raven College, and life continues to move on, as it always has. It’s been months without a single shred of your memories resurfacing, and with no sign of anything returning anytime soon the attention has turned from your past, to your present. Your memory loss has become a simple fact of life at this point, a reality that you had to put on the back burner with everything else that had happened since your arrival and during the winter holidays. You’re thankful that the needless prodding seems to have died down by the time that students start returning back to the school and classes resume. Things return to the only sense of normalcy you’ve ever known, and you think you can get used to this without another incident.
♡ Until VDC happens.
♡ Ramshackle is the only place you have to call home, but even you can admit that it needs a lot of work. It’s a poor excuse for a building, considering the state that it had been left in far before anyone called it home. It at least had running water, and electricity, but compared to the other dorms and their meticulous upkeep by both students and staff, Ramshackle is most certainly the odd dorm out with only two members and a handful of ghosts to its name. And yet it’s the place that the headmaster deems an acceptable place to host the VDC group during their month ‘training camp’.
♡ It makes it easier knowing that you’re good friends with the majority of the group, having been through plenty before the training camp even started. In some weird way it’s kind of like a month-long sleepover with your friends and classmates, not unlike the times Kalim’s dragged you over to Scarabia for the night in the name of making fond memories. Still, you can’t help but feel cautious around the Pomfiore members you now have living under your roof, and how little you actually know about them.
♡ By this point, the fact that you’ve got no memories prior to ending up in Twisted Wonderland is pretty much common knowledge amongst the people who bother to keep tabs on you. And considering how Pomefiore’s got the likes of Rook, a skilled hunter who has a penchant for people watching anyone who catches his eye, you’ve got no doubts that they’re well aware of your circumstances.
♡That, and Crowley’s a loudmouth when it comes to his generosity about your ‘unfortunate situation’. That headmaster is really starting to test your patience…
♡ While Vil is strict, he’s by no means cruel, and is at least polite when you first allow them all into your home. He thankfully doesn’t pity you like you worried he would - you’ve had enough of the pitying looks some people give you when they think you’re not looking. Your lack of a past isn’t something you want to dwell on, Vil can see that clearly with how thoroughly you throw yourself into the training camp alongside your friends and new acquaintances. Not to mention that you act as a surprisingly good buffer between the members whenever tensions start to arise with the upcoming deadline. 
♡ It’s admirable really - a single minded little spudling if he’s ever seen one. You’ve got promise, if you keep up that resilient attitude, so Vil offers you no quarter in getting you just as involved in this little training excursion as the others are, if only to help you flourish with enough memories of this upcoming event to last you for a lifetime. 
♡ With that being said your thirst for knowledge isn’t to be underestimated, and once you find out that Vil’s pretty much a celebrity and acting prodigy you’re intrigued. Vil’s walking past the living room after the group’s come back from another day training at the ballroom and freezes once he hears his own voice coming through the door. Sure enough you’re lounging over the couch watching one of the more obscure movie titles Vil’s acted in on the phone Crowley ‘gifted’ you before winter break. There’s a blunt honesty when you praise his work once you notice you’ve got an audience. Sure, it’s praise he’s heard from adoring fans and critics more times than he could ever hope to recall, but it’s not something you’re saying just to try and get in his good books. When you offhandedly mention that he looks a little happier in the roles where he’s not the villain, noting that they suit him and that whatever world you’re from he’d probably be a big hit, you swear that he gets a bit smug, apparently pleased by whatever you’d said. You may not know all the ins and outs of this world yet, but Vil’s at least sure you’ve got taste. Which is why he turns a convenient blind eye at the treats you smuggle up to Grim and your room after he’s sure you swore to Ace and Deuce to follow along with their no-sweet regime.
♡ Rook is observant, and it’s hard for people not to feel like he’s prying a bit too much into their personal lives when they happen to gain the huntsman’s attention. Perhaps it’s because you’ve got a relatively blank slate, or that you’re so focused on forging ahead to whatever comes next that you’ll get involved at a moment’s notice. Whatever the quality it has piqued his interest, and from the moment that the camp starts he’s committing every little detail about you to memory. 
♡ You may not see it, but there’s so many details in the actions that you do and your daily routines that tell the story of who you are to whoever is diligent enough to listen. It’s in your mannerisms and the way you engage with everything around you, all easily missed to the untrained eye. It’s beautiful in its own way, and Rook is nothing if not an appreciator of that beauty. 
♡ Your homestead at Ramshackle is but another shining example of who you are as well. Having nothing but the clothes on your back and a basic understanding of how to function when you first arrived, it’s clear that you’ve made a concentrated effort to at least make the place liveable for you and Grim; not just as a shelter, but as a home. Because of course this is the only place you can call home, and Rook is sure to treat it with the respect such an important place deserves.
♡ Epel doesn’t really know what to make of you at first. You’re from a different world entirely, for one thing, and not having any kind of past beyond school makes him feel a bit awkward about interacting with you. According to Vil, Epel’s still rather rough around the edges, and when his emotions get the better of him he’s been known to put his foot in it and say something that comes off blunt and snappy. Plus, surely there was only so much the two of you could talk about that wasn’t VDC or school related, right?
♡ He’s proven wrong when that huge batch of apple juice from his nana back home is delivered to Ramshackle’s doorstep. All it takes is him mentioning to Kalim that his hometown is known for its apples, and before he can even elaborate your voice chimes in with a helpful “Oh,the village of Harvest, right?” that has Epel’s attention snapping over to you so quickly you think you’ve done something wrong.
♡How did you even know that? His hometown’s barely on the map to begin with, so it genuinely makes him freeze when you recognize it so quickly. The question bugs him until he’s able to ask you about it later, where he finds out just how much you’ve thrown yourself into learning about this world you’ve ended up in. You’re excited that someone’s finally asking you about stuff that you do know, and you pretty much end up talking poor Epel’s ear off for the rest of the evening, telling him all kinds of facts you’ve read up on regarding his hometown’s history and culture. Hell, you spout off a few facts that even he didn’t know about, and he doesn’t miss the proud grin on your face once you learn that.
♡Surprisingly, you want to hear more from Epel too. About the place he grew up, the people he grew up with - his family especially. You’ve had some time to process your own grief around your potential family and your life back home, and though there’s still a twinge of jealousy that sparks up on the bad days you don’t want it to hinder the people that you care about right now. And so you sit, and you listen, prodding him for as much information as he’s willing to give. He practically has to send a message to his nana there and then thanking her on your behalf for all the juice when you learn that she was the one kind enough to send them all over. It’s the only way to get you off of his back about it, but there’s no denying that it’s actually kind of nice having someone who’s genuinely curious about his upbringing, instead of snooping or looking down on it.
♡Even after VDC you’re surprised to find that Pomefiore’s promptly nestled itself into your life. With everything that took place before and after the group's performance it only made sense that they’ve bonded to their newest potato, just be prepared for what exactly that entails. Expect plenty of gifts in the form of the latest cosmetic brands and accessories to be delivered to Ramshackle (much to Grim’s disappointment because it’s not food.) You’ve even had yourself called all the way over to Pomefiore’s dorm only to come back with entire outfits just because you let slip once that Crowley’s budget for your dorm doesn’t cover enough to justify buying anything more than your uniform. 
♡ Those aren’t the only gifts you receive too. Often when you’re hanging out with the first year group Epel’s got one thing or another that his family back home has practically strong-armed him into giving to you. He’s talked about you to his folks a few times thanks to the whole apple incident, and Marja herself has made Epel remind you more than a couple times that you’re always welcome at the village of Harvest when the next school breaks come up. Did that embarrass Epel? Yes. Did it make him panic when you immediately teared up because of how touching it was? Also yes. 
♡ Pomefiore’s final gifts are small, but mean just as much. They also confuse the hell out of you because when did they even show up??? They’re specific things - things related to your hobbies like new books, CD’s, Movies of your favorite genre for you to enjoy (in case Crowley ever caves and gets you that TV on sale at Sam’s store that he’s been promising you for weeks now goddammit-). All placed somewhere that you’re sure to find them. These gifts are well thought out and honestly mean a lot once you realize who they’re from. Not to mention that there’s a folder with a beautiful decorated cover amongst these little surprises, a clear label reading ‘Memory book’ in very familiar handwriting. Thank god the mystery is solved once you find out Grim’s being bribed with tuna by a certain bob-cut huntsman to drop all these things off at Ramshackle (Grim was supposed to give them to you in hand, but he always gets too bored to do so before you get back from school.) So long as you come to terms with the fact that you’ve been pseudo-adopted into Pomfiore’s ranks by the end of it, it’s honestly kind of nice.
♡Just maybe don’t tell Vil that you may have accidentally made friends with his biggest rival on the day of the event because you ran into him backstage. Rook is certainly happy about it - Vil not so much.
Ignihyde
♡ Your friendship with the housewarden of Ignihyde can be rather prickly in light of everything that’s happened, especially after the events with S.T.Y.X. Before that your only real contact with the Shroud brothers was through Ortho, during your first run in at the audition waiting room. You didn’t hide your excitement once you learned that Idia had made the vocal synthesizer that Ortho was using for the VDC auditions, marveling about how cool it was and asking question after question about how he did it. Ortho is more than happy to answer each and every question you have and then some - especially once you learned Technomancy was a thing and just about lit up like a lightbulb. In fact Ace and Deuce basically have to strong arm you away from the conversation in the end because you’re gonna end up making them late for the damn audition. 
♡ You at least have the chance to call out to Ortho to tell his brother that he sounds awesome and his stuff is cool before the ballroom door shuts behind you. And that’s exactly what he tells Idia as soon as he’s back from the auditions. Idia thinks that you’re just pulling his leg and don’t actually mean any of the nice things that you say, and it takes Ortho insisting on playing it to him on his memory bank multiple times to prove just how genuinely nice and excited you sounded.
♡ Idia doesn’t really expect to hear anything from you after that, but hoo boy is he mistaken because once you’ve gotten in one of the Shroud boys’ good books the other one (reluctantly) follows. Not that he has much of a choice, because not even a couple of days after the auditions Idia’s getting added to a group chat with him, Ortho and you. It’s supposedly because you’d wanted to ask him a few more questions about his tech, and after Ortho had mentioned his brother probably wouldn’t like the face to face grilling, a group chat with the younger Shroud as the middleman was born. Grim sometimes forces his way into the conversation, but that usually involves him demanding you to write down the texts for him or slapping the nearest meme on your phone into the chat completely out of context.
♡Ortho has a lot of fun chatting with you because he shares your passion for learning things, and the two of you become thick as thieves over it before and after he officially becomes a student. He’s basically got the internet at his fingertips at all times, alongside a variety of other tools that basically make the younger Shroud brother a walking hub of information. You, for one, are absolutely living your best life because whatever odd subject has caught your attention, no matter the question you can always ask Ortho and he is more than happy to provide you whatever fun fact you’re looking for within a matter of moments. You get a bit quiet once he mentions the memories he was given during his creation, but that’s to be expected given the circumstances that you’re working with.
♡ At first, getting Idia to even pop up in the chat is like pulling on a gacha - you’ve got a good 2% chance of him actually interacting, though he does check in a lot more than you’d expect. With time however, and more than a little persistence on your part, you’ll find cracks in Idia’s defenses. He finds it easier to talk to people behind the safety of a screen, and it's not like you’re forcing him to interact with you so that at least gets you some brownie points. Granted, expect him to prod juuuuust a little bit if the topic of your memories come up in chat. He’s sure he hasn’t got enough of a bond rank with you yet
♡Things go up in the air when S.T.Y.X breaks into NRC.
♡ It was one thing having all of these people who you’d come to call friends suddenly stolen away, but losing Grim? The one who’s been your rock since you first showed up who’s been a part of every single memory you’ve made? If Rook wasn’t already planning to sneak out to find them you would have tore through their headquarters with your bare hands to get that damn tuna loving weird rock eating fluff ball back. Once you found out what S.T.Y.X actually had their hands in, especially considering the Lethe River system you were pissed. If you didn’t know for a fact that you were from another world entirely, and that the system operated to a very specific set of procedures for rewriting and erasing set memories, you would have thought that it had something to do with your own memory erasure. If that was the case you probably would have throttled the poor older Shroud; but because you know the truth, and the system itself is down for the next few centuries you settle for being absolutely livid about it. 
♡ It’s a sore spot, hitting a little too close to home knowing that there’s people out there who have had memories taken away from them or altered to protect S.T.Y.X’s existence. It’s nothing like your own situation, but you can’t help feeling angry for them. And on top of that, seeing all of those phantoms and knowing that they could have been your friends if you hadn’t been able to bring them back from their overblots? You may try to think of every memory being worth it, but you learn that some bad memories keep you up at night for days after you’re all finally home.
♡ Your friendship with the brothers is tentatively built back up after this, but it takes a bit of work. Idia’s convinced that you’re never going to want anything to do with either of them again after all that’s happened. So convinced that he nearly has a heart attack when you reach out into the group chat once you’ve had time to process things and recover.
♡ Gonna be honest, the wonderlink he gets for you and Grim becomes a huge olive branch once you’re settled back at Ramshackle. Your determination to make memories alongside not having a clue how the gaming system works leads to you either calling Idia over the phone or actually wrangling him into coming over to play with you. Whether by accident or purpose most of the games you purchased on the system he gave you are multiplayer and you insist that there’s absolutely no way just the two of you can place and that you need a gaming expert. Of course Idia sees through your poorly veiled attempts to get him to socialize, but you must have pulled some cheat code because you somehow manage to get him over to play with you two. Just be ready to have more than a few memories of losing - he’s a gaming pro for a reason, after all.
Diasomnia
♡ You’ve firmly wormed your way into the Diasomnia circle from the moment that you first encountered Malleus, whether you realize it at first or not. 
♡ Mallues may not be the most intimately involved in the school's affairs or gossip, but even he’s heard talk of the prefect from another world with neither magic nor memories to their name. The lack of magical aptitude wasn’t anything to bat an eye at, though it was unfortunate given your current enrollment at one of the top arcane colleges in the world. But to have no recollections of your life prior to enrolling? In a place where no one can recognize you or give you the answers that you’re looking for? Truly, an unfortunate set of circumstances you’ve been dealt.
♡ He did not expect to cross paths with this infamous prefect on Ramshackle’s grounds not long after word of them popped up. The old bones of the place were a comfort to Malleus on many nightly walks; when he finds out that it’s no longer as abandoned as he first thought he’s sour at the knowledge that he’ll have to find another place to pass his time in peace. The last thing that Malleus expects is you being bold enough not only to approach him, but to greet him so casually as you none too subtly try to pry into what he’s doing walking around your dorm grounds. 
♡ Perhaps you’ve lost more than just your memories, as there’s not even a shred of trepidation or cautiousness as you so boldly interact with the fae. Not only that but you listen, looking up at him not with the nervousness or even fear that he’s seen in the faces of most of NRC’s students, but with curiosity. You’re a stranger to this world, so you don’t yet know the name Malleus Draconia, nor the face the name is tied to. For once your lack of knowledge works to someone’s benefit, and an unusual bond is formed.
♡ Your friendship with Malleus is an interesting exchange - you provide him company and idle conversation whenever he spirits away to Ramshackle; and he provides you company in turn, as well as a willing ear for you to confide in. Sure, your friends have told you that you can talk to them about your problems, but for some reason you’re able to open up easily to Mal. Maybe it’s because of just how little you know about him, right down to his very name - he’s just as much of a blank slate to you as yourself. So you find yourself sharing your worries about where you came from, or the life you lived before this, or the general distress of not knowing the first thing to do about getting your memory back. 
♡ Even after all these months it still weighs heavily on you, Malleus can see it in the tired expression that wears on your face when you recall all the things you’ve done to bring back even a shred of your old identity until your head’s pounding and your eyes ache. He hates seeing you troubling yourself over it, and more than once he’s found himself flickering through old books and tomes that haven’t been touched in centuries back home with the small hope to relieve some of that burden from your mind.
♡ On a happier note, Malleus will quite happily fill you in on subjects that peak your interest. He may have lived a fairly isolated life up until his enrollment here, but even what he does know about NRC and the world outside of it he’ll share with you, if only to see the way your expression lights up in wonder hearing everything he has to share.
♡ This dynamic changes very little, aside from the fact that now that you know his true identity these interactions are no longer purely one sided in the sense that you don’t have to wait around for him to just magically appear like you have been for months. Now he’s the one being surprised by your presence when you come knocking on Diasomnia’s doors looking to hang out. Surprising, but it honestly makes the young Draconia’s day having you march through his dorm’s halls wanting to spend time with him, encouraging him to talk about his day and asking how Roaring Drago is doing as you do so. 
♡ It’s an unusual feeling, having someone’s undivided attention simply because they enjoy your company, and that you leave such an impressionable impact on their memory. Your memory is a precious commodity considering your unique circumstances, and Malleus realizes that he wants to be in as many fond memories as you’ll allow him to.
♡ Though he has to admit, Malleus can’t shake the conflict that dwells in his chest whenever the topic of your home world comes up. Perhaps it’s just in your nature to yearn for something you’ve never known, but he wonders if you’re thinking about it because your worried about your ties to this world. He hopes that once you realize the life that you’re building here, and the memories that you’re making with him and your friends will be enough to convince you to stay. But that day is far away, and so he pushes it to the back of his mind in favor of enjoying the time spent with his closest friend, for however long it lasts…
♡Lilia, catches onto the friendship you’ve got with Malleus quickly, because of course there’s no hiding how much happier Malleus has become. You’re an interesting case yourself, being able to tackle most of the problems that Ramshackle has to offer you and come out the other side as unscathed as you can be. That coupled with the increased amount of time you begin spending around Daisomnia and its students is more than enough reason to catch this guy’s attention. He learns about your memory loss early on, especially considering that it’s pretty much the talk of the school once the information drops. He won’t prod you about it like some of the younger students might, however; he’s been on this earth long enough to recognize a sore subject when he sees one. 
♡ And so he sets about learning things about you in the present rather than the past. Your likes, dislikes, favorite foods, how easily shocked you get when he tries one of his infamous surprise appearances. Lilia’s very easygoing so it’s rather easy to get along with him, not to mention being a dad he’s got the comforting parental presence down pat when he wants to use it. He’s an easy person to let your guard down around, and admit things you usually wouldn’t. Maybe that’s why you end up talking to him about the what-if’s of your previous life.
♡ It’s a moment of weakness, you let one of your idle thoughts about your family back home slip, asking aloud if there’s anyone there to actually miss you. Lilia doesn’t miss the somber chuckle as you admit that you’re a little jealous - Sebek has his parents, and Silver has Lilia. You want a family like that. You try to lighten the mood by jokingly asking why someone can’t whisk you away into their family already, thinking about that time Kalim very nearly got you adopted into his family once he learned of your memory loss. You don’t expect an answer, much less for the moment to suddenly be broken as the fae pats your head ruffling your hair. No doubt he’s made your hair a mess by the action, but you’re more focused on the grin Lilia gives you when he mentions always wanting a big family - he’s sure Silver wouldn’t mind having a new sibling!
♡Unrelated but Lilia loves sharing old stories with you. Some of the things he shares you vaguely recall reading about in some history books at the library; some of those books were so old you have to wrack your brain trying to do the mental gymnastics to figure out exactly how old he is. He is thoroughly entertained seeing the mild existential crisis inducing cogs turning in your head as he continues his tales, waiting for you to inevitably jump into the story to prod him for more information. Just wait until Malleus shows you that one textbook that’s got Lilia’s portrait in; Lilia doesn’t hear the end of it when you come flying into his room mid game with the textbook in hand demanding to know how the hell he looks the same in a portrait taken centuries ago and waiting like a stubborn child next to his chair as he finishes the raid he’s working through with Gloomurai.
♡ Maybe if you weren’t so desperate for answers, you would have noticed that his friend’s gamer tag looks kinda familiar…
♡ Offered to cook you your favorite dish once. You thought it was a nice gesture, until Sebek and Silver made a joint effort to wrangle you away from the scene, basically pleading with Lilia to please not step foot into the kitchen. That’s probably one thing you’re better off not learning about…
♡ When Sebek first runs into you at NRC, he almost fools himself into thinking that you’re playing up the amnesia for some unforeseen gain. He’s not the first student to have had their doubts, and honestly you can’t entirely blame him for just how weird ‘complete memory loss aside from remembering basic functions and muscle memory’ sounds even without the whole context of this being a world governed by magic. However, what makes Sebek different is that he approaches the subject about as delicately as a falling brick. You’re only half listening as he’s demanding answers for things you don’t even know yourself, already fed up with the whole rigmarole of people throwing questions about your amnesia at you.
♡There’s only so much you can hear about memories this, hiding that before you snap back, hissing out that you’d give just about anything for it to be a lie rather than spending every night guessing where you’ve come from and who you’ve left behind while he’s got the luxury of knowing the kind of life he’s lived before this damn school. That shuts him up faster than you’ve ever seen, jaw snapping closed so hard you swear you hear his teeth click together as you turn heel and generate as much distance between the two of you as possible. 
♡ He feels guilty afterwards; Sebek may be a bit of a livewire but even he knows when he’s taken things a bit too far, and it’s clear to see his prying has left you feeling more than a little bitter towards him. Thankfully team dad Lilia is right there to offer advice on smoothing things over in a way that doesn’t result in things looping back around to the original argument. It takes a little while to come to terms with the fact that Sebek genuinely didn’t mean any malice in his prodding; with him on a determined path to become a knight worthy to protect Malleus he wants to know that he can trust you before allowing any kind of potential friendship to form. The way that he went about it however was blunt and came off way ruder than intended; that’s something you can both agree on when he bellows out an apology in the middle of the damn hallway when you cross paths the next day.
♡ He comes to respect how diligently you work despite your initial setbacks coming to Twisted Wonderland with such limited knowledge. What he once thought was an attempt to pry into things for malicious gain he finds is actually just a desire to understand the world around you and the people who inhabit it. Sebek has relayed his respect to you before, in his own way, and thankfully you’ve spent enough time around him to know that he genuinely means every word of it. 
♡ Will actively spur on your thirst for knowledge. The first time he lent you a book because he thought the material would give you something to think about, he fully expected it to be weeks before you’d finished. Cut to the next night and you’re unceremoniously dropping that same book onto his bedroom desk, sitting down next to him as you exclaim how cool the book was and your favorite highlights. 
♡ Of course Sebek quizzes you about it, but when it’s clear you’ve actually taken an interest in the book he’s given you expect to be walking home that night with a new pile of them to pour over to your heart's content. He’s got his own passion for books, and the pair of you bond over this shared activity a lot more than people realize. Lilia almost can’t believe his eyes how quickly Sebek’s hot-blooded attitude simmers down into something more tempered whenever you come over to gush about the latest book he’s recommended to you.
♡You made a joke once about being adopted by Sebek’s parents while he was on call back home, if only to get a laugh out of the smoldering glare he shot you from the other side of the couch. That laugh however breaks out into a full on cackle hearing his parents actually agreeing with you as you shuffle across the couch and pluck the phone from Sebek’s hands while he’s frozen in shock. His mom is thrilled; Sebek, decidedly, is not, as a pillow from the couch goes sailing across the room as you flee from the scene, disappearing into Daisomnia’s halls with Sebek’s phone to tell your second adopted family all about how he’s been making them proud at NRC.
♡ Silver doesn’t miss the signs that you’ve essentially been pseudo-adopted by his father and the other Diasomnia members, though he doesn’t know that you haven’t clocked onto it yet. Considering how Malleus considers you a close confidant, Lilia is basically treating you like another one of his children, and Sebek seems to actually enjoy having you around it’s easy to think that you’ve noticed just how much everyone cares for you. And of course you care for them in return; more than once you’ve stopped by during Silver and Sebek’s training with something from the cafeteria, or you’ve brought the oddest little things you’ve found at Sam’s shop to show off how cool they are (all of which he’s pretty sure he’s seen scattered around Malleus’ room whenever you bring a new item to the dorm.)
♡ You’re quickly becoming such an integral part of Diasomnia’s life that it’s getting harder to imagine a time without you here, and these guys have become all you’ve ever known in the same way. So it’s shocking to Silver when one of the other students mentions that you’ve basically been adopted into the dorm - you’re there so much you’re practically family anyway - and he sees your reaction. You freeze, jaw slack as you process what you’ve just heard. You hardly even notice Grim swiping the sandwich Silver brought you for lunch in your shock, instead glancing up at the Diasomnia boy as if to confirm what you just heard
♡ When he gives you a confused look in return and asks why you’re so shocked since they’re right he practically watches you go through several stages of emotions, right before you’re grabbing him by the lapel of his uniform and guide him to follow you as you bolt over to Crowley’s office. The poor headmaster doesn’t hear the end of your demanding for Grim and yourself to be made honorary Diasomnia members after this. If they’re adopting you, then by the seven you’re getting it in writing from the bird man himself.
♡ Silver mentions once that he wouldn’t mind if you really were adopted into the family. It’s right as he’s on the cusp of another one of his naps, leaning up against your shoulder when he lets slip that he’d be proud to have a sibling like you without thinking anything of it - because of course it’s true, it's just a thought he hasn’t voiced out loud before. Cut to Lilia coming in a minute or two later to check in only to find his son conked out on your shoulder while you’re a blubbering mess over the fact that someone genuinely wants you as part of their family. Lilia feels only marginally bad when he reaffirms the sentiment, him casually throwing out that he already sees you as Silver’s little sibling resulting in you crying harder.
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taeghi · 1 year
Text
change up! || (m)
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— change up! (HIS PROFILE)
➤ summary : you haven't hung out with your childhood friend jake in a while, thankfully your parents feel the same and invite his family over for dinner. you two will just stick to the same pg activities when you bring him up to your bedroom, unless...
➤ jake+reader | smut, angst, fluff, PWP | includes : degradation, dirty talk, teasing
➤ word count : 8.1k :)
part of the bets are meant to be won series
bet?
minors dni!!!!!
waking up in an empty bed after you had just hooked up with sunghoon park made your heart swoop to the bottom of your stomach. pure despair flushed over your skin and your mind was full of thoughts of how all the rumours about sunghoon park were true. he was a mean boy who only cared about sex.
the rumours that haewon and you had overheard and talked about so many times. you don’t want to see haewon’s face when she hears you didn’t just have sex with jay park but with one of his best friends, sunghoon park as well.
haewon had obviously not taken the first part of that well, storming out of the cafeteria in the middle of lunch when you had told her. so this time, she might rip her hair out, and then maybe yours. but hey, you could get some common sense and leave the school trio alone and out of your bed.
monday morning, you wished you could’ve just forgotten about sunghoon park and his idiotic friends because you couldn’t bear to see them at school. haewon hadn’t returned any of your texts and you were starting to lose hope that she would ever talk to you again. it wasn’t until the end of the day when you had finished speaking to your teacher about an upcoming assignment that sunghoon park dragged you into an empty hallway by your upper arm.
“jesus, you scared me,” you speak first when you realize who had suddenly dragged you away.
sunghoon’s chuckle is quiet before he apologizes.” Still, i just wanted to catch you before you ran off to study somewhere.” you roll your eyes at him, “i just wanted to say that i’m also sorry for leaving you the other morning, i had the practice to get to and i didn’t want to wake you up.”
“well, a simple text would’ve sufficed, no?”
sunghoon grimaces at his mistakes, “yeah, i’m sorry, i should’ve.”
you sigh but consider that at least he’s apologizing to you at all, unlike jay park, “it’s alright,”
sunghoon’s hand reaches forward at your hips to grab hold of your hand, his fingers gently playing with the finger pads of your own, “you sure?”
“yes, i’m sure sunghoon,” you catch the way he pouts but don’t comment on it, “anyways, i gotta go study so i’ll see you around.”
as the words leave your mouth sunghoon redraws his hand, sticking it to his side and he feels like he’s almost afraid to move from the coldness in your tone, “right, great, i’ll see ya.”
you force yourself to give him a tightlipped smile before you turn and start your way through the school, wanting to get out of his suffocating building as soon as possible and hopefully not run into anyone else you’d dread to see.
sunghoon watches you leave and he can’t help but compare the way he’s feeling now to how all the girls he’s left are similarly to the way you had just left him. he figures if he had cared about any of the past girls he’s hooked up he’d feel more apologetic and maybe sought them out to apologize. Still, he decides what’s done is done and he’s feeling too hurt to talk to more hurt people anyway.
the truth is, sunghoon hasn't been able to stop thinking about you since he left your warm bed, with your sleeping figure so peaceful in it. he wanted to stay in bed longer with you, but his teammates had already started blowing up his phone for him to get his co-captain ass to practice.
“what the fuck was that about?” an arm swung itself around his shoulders at the same time the voice came. sunghoon jolted in the presence of the unknown person until he met eyes with his annoying, nosy best friend, who was competing in a bet. a stupid bet at this point.
sunghoon shrugs jake’s arm off of him, “it was nothing,”
jake scoffs, “nothing? looks like y/n just blew you off which means you blew your chance at winning the bet.”
sunghoon rolls his eyes, “i already hooked up with her.”
“what?”
“i hooked up with her on friday night.”
“what?”
“jesus christ,” sunghoon turns and tries to walk away, not willing to have this conversation with him while his feelings are tangled up with the thoughts of you running through his mind. It made him feel like he couldn’t think straight because not a single idea went through his mind that he couldn’t connect to you. like his mom was drinking her stupid vanilla chai drink this morning, sunghoon couldn’t help but think how you smell like vanilla.
“no, wait,” jake clung onto sunghoon’s broad shoulder and turned him to look at him, “why didn’t you tell us you had sex with y/n?”
“i didn’t have sex with her.” sunghoon exaggerates the word sex.
“what? so you haven’t even completed your part of the bet?”
sunghoon shrugs again, “still know what she tastes like, though.”
“ha ha ha,” the best friends burst out laughing in the emptying hallways of the school. though they don’t say it, they both think that it’s not as funny as it would have been if it was about any other girl than y/n.
“i’ll see you at practice, bro.” jake pats sunghoon on the back, both of them dapping each other up before sunghoon makes his escape and leaves jake in the hallway alone.
jake’s smile immediately drops when his co-captain is gone. he knew that starting and agreeing to this bet with his best friends wouldn’t end the way he wanted, but he had to act like the whole thing didn’t bother him. because that was just how jake seemed to be.
he was chill, easygoing, and always kept calm.
and a part of jake hoped that this side of him would be able to stay together while this bet was going on. but now that the reality that both of his best friends had touched you in some way or another, made his stomach turn upside down. he knew that they were his best friends and would never intentionally try to hurt him, but it felt wrong knowing that they had been the ones to touch you.
jake had always thought of you as sweet and innocent, which is the reason why he wanted to keep you out of the popularity scene. he knew that the people he hung out with now would’ve torn you apart, pressured you and changed you in ways that he knew you wouldn’t have wanted. it was always evident to jake that he was much more extroverted and outgoing than you, but he never minded it since you were his best friend since you came out of your mother’s womb. but once high school started, he figured he couldn’t keep up with it and protect you at the same time.
it hurt jake that he had to slowly push you away as he accepted his fate in the popular crowd, but he couldn’t show it. he could never show anyone he was hurting or upset or any other emotions besides being easygoing and chill. he couldn’t even show jay and sunghoon that side of him.
somehow during the trio’s friendship, jake had become the group's glue. whenever sunghoon’s anger issues acted up, or jay got too into his head about school and his dad, jake was the one that would calm them down and get them to focus on reality again. jake was the one that either of them could come to if they had a problem or were upset. so, it never allowed Jake to let him share his feelings.
sometimes he thinks it’s because he’s the one that introduced jay and sunghoon to each other in freshman year. other times he thinks it's because jay and sunghoon look up to him in a way that they don’t to each other. and sometimes jake amuses himself with the idea that it's because he’s the middle child of them both and that they rely on whoever is in the middle.
though jake loves his best friends now, he knows he’ll forever love his first best friend forever more.
jake wonders if you ever call him your first best friend, if you ever think about him outside of your parents mentioning him or his family. he wonders if you’ve shared a memory with him with someone else and if and how you describe him to that person.
though jake never shows it, he thinks about you consecutively. he’s never talked about your guys’ past friendship to jay and sunghoon, nor his parents when they ask how you are and if he’s spoken to you recently. but he notices when you change your hair, when you’re stressing about something by picking your nails and when you’re laughing with haewon in the halls.
and jake’s not blind.
he’s not sure exactly when he realized that you’re a girl, not just his gross best friend. Still, he thinks it was maybe around grade eight when you were both fourteen, and you started accentuating curves that he’s only ever noticed on other girls. but he knows and sees that you’re pretty.
he’s heard the guys on the rugby team mention you, the ‘bright, goody two shoes that is just so irresistible, and since all of them are always too caught him the conversation of what they’d do to you if they got a chance, they never notice the way jake’s jaw clenches and ticks as he’s forcing himself to not bite something snarky at them to shut the hell up.
because jake has thought about marrying you. he thinks it’s only natural that he has since you guys have grown up together. it’s the most cliche ending to the story you guys had started with. but he thinks that maybe it’s made him somehow possessive over you in a way he’s sure you don’t reciprocate since he’s hurt you. and he knows it’s wrong, selfish and stupid to think. Still, he’s glad you’ve never had a boyfriend because he’s unsure if he could’ve controlled himself seeing you together at your family’s get-to-gethers.
jake’s also always been aware that during freshman year, sunghoon had a crush on you. he knew sunghoon was a shy and awkward kid growing up, and that being around a girl the same age was probably hard on his social anxiety. Still, jake didn’t know that sunghoon had a crush on you until he let it slip the summer going into sophomore year. jake remembers sunghoon begging him not to tell you and to not be mad at him, which jake couldn’t figure out at the time why sunghoon would be worried he’d be mad at him. but now that he’s older, he figures it was because it was obvious to everyone except for you and him that you guys liked each other.
jake had thought that since sunghoon had grown and changed through high school and popularity, sunghoon didn’t have a crush on you anymore. but ever since the three of them made this stupid bet, jake couldn’t get out of his mind that sunghoon’s crush on you had never faded, and now, jay has apparently liked you, too. it was driving jake crazy that he had been so oblivious to not notice his best friends drooling over his own best friend.
and now since sunghoon and jay have both been with you, jake only hopes that his chance isn’t ruined.
by the time jake realizes that he’s almost late to practice, he’s somehow already got his backpack from his locker strung over his shoulder and making his way through the school's front doors.
and it’s like the universe was playing with him today because as he was leaving, you just so happen to be walking back into the school, your eyes linear to your phone that makes you look so busy that jake thinks you aren’t going to notice him.
but you look up, and he sees those sweet, pretty eyes of yours meet his and has to swallow because he seemingly forgot to.
before he can get a stupid word out, you’re walking past him, and the school’s front doors are closing after you, letting jake only see you walk away through the small rectangular window of the door.
and it's never been clearer to jake until then that he hates this stupid bet.
but he’ll do anything to make sure he wins.
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ever since you saw jake earlier when you were heading to the library, all you could think about was how much jake probably hates you for hooking up with both of his best friends. you don't want to imagine all the awful things he's probably thinking or saying about you. part of you tries to rationalize it as you were getting back at him for ditching you, for acting like he has no idea who you are.
it might be awkward now since your families are still close, but it's been uncomfortable at family get-togethers ever since he ditched you. everytime your parents would ask what happened between you and jake you didn't know what to tell them. you would always shrug and play it off like some dumb high school drifting thing. but you know what happened between you two was done by jake intentionally.
"do you not like dinner, honey?" your mother's voice distracts you from your thoughts. you look at her and then back at your plate of food that you've just been pushing back and forth, thoughts too overwhelming to try to eat anything right now.
"it's good, i'm just not really hungry."
"do you want to go back to study?" you father asks with a sincere smile, "graduation is right around the corner!- don't want your grades to drop now."
"yeah, i guess i will study." you agree and stand up with your plate in your hand to bring to the kitchen.
"oh, and honey, that reminds me," your mother calls out to you before you disappear into the kitchen, "jinyoung, ashley and jake are going to come over on friday for dinner for a graduation dinner! so please hurry home from school so we can prepare the meal on time."
"this friday?" you ask, your back tensing up at the thought of having to sit across from jake for hours after just hooking up with sunghoon in this house.
"yes," your mother nods with a confused expression, "is that alright?"
"no it's fine, it's fine," you nod, "i'll be here on time then."
your parents and you share a final smile before tossing your leftovers and hurrying up to your bedroom. you told yourself to study to distract yourself from the thought of how bad you've messed up your relationship with jake, and how your best friend has been ignoring you for two weeks.
you really wish you had haewon right now. she would calm you down and walk you through what to do. maybe if she was still around you wouldn't have hooked up with sunghoon. However, she was still talking to you when you decided to hook up with jay, so maybe it wouldn't have prevented too much. except for the internal stress you were dealing with, having no one to vent to. you felt as if your emotions were piling up and drowning you from the inside out.
so you made the plan to talk to haewon tomorrow, you really needed your best friend and you would do anything to get her to speak to you again.
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haewon had started avoiding all the places the two of you liked to spend time together. she never sat on the bench outside the school, on the floor by her locker and not at the back table of the cafeteria. so it was pretty hard to find her. luckily, you remember she used to stand in the back outside corner of the school before you became friends with her. so, you made your way there.
Fortunately, haewon was standing there, her head tilted down to look at her phone as she listened to music with her headphones on her head.
“hae,” you call her name, grabbing her attention as she takes off her headphones. when she doesn’t go to respond, you continue, “hae, i really, really miss you and-” haewon’s scoff cuts you off.
“you miss me?”
“well, yeah, you’re my best friend, hae and i’m sorry for upsetting you i-.”
“you didn’t just upset me y/n, i feel betrayed by you.”
“betrayed?” you repeat the words, taken aback, “i’m sorry hae, you’re my best friend pleas-”
“well you should’ve thought about your best friend before you fucked the guy she liked.” haewon replies snarky, an intense scowl on her face as she puts her headphones back on her head and turns to leave, leaving you alone in the back of the school.
you remain standing there for a while, your jaw dropped as you continue to stare at the spot where haewon once stood. so many signs and memories are running through your mind as you think about haewon and jay. it was always evident that she didn’t like any of the trio at your school, but it never occurred to you that she may have a history with any of them.
instant guilt fills your body as you think about how haewon must be feeling before your realization that your best friend must hate you takes over. you feel the urge to start crying then and there, your arms creeping up to wrap around yourself as you walk back into the school, dreading to go to biology, where jay park himself is.
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like you had told your mother earlier in the week, after school on friday, you went straight home to help her set up for your apparent graduation dinner. probably the most awkward dinner you will have in your entire life because there was just no way that jake didn’t know you hooked up with jay and sunghoon.
you just hoped to god that he wouldn’t bring it up.
if your mother noticed that you were being extra quiet as you helped her around the kitchen, she didn’t verbally say anything. your parents were used to your relatively quiet nature, but you're sure that people who didn’t even know you could tell that something was bothering you. it was one of your weaknesses; not being able to cover how you genuinely feel.
besides your extra quiet behaviour, everything else went as your mother had planned. dinner was in the oven on time, your father was home from work at a decent time and you were standing at the front door with her when jake’s family arrived. you smiled politely like you usually did when you saw his parent’s happy faces enter your home.
“y/n!” jake’s mother ashley bends down to hug you, pressing a warm kiss into your cheek, “it’s been so long my dear!”
you laugh in response, “it’s only been since like christmas, ash,”
ashley nudges your shoulder playfully, “yeah and that feels like forever! remember when you used to come over all the time! i miss hearing you and jake laughing about the house together.”
at the mention of his name you look past his mother and father and make direct eye contact with him. he has a content smile on his face as your mother pulls him into a hug, repeating the words his mother had just said to you. though, your mother doesn’t have to bend down to hug him; instead he’s towering over her and she goes on a tangent about how small and cute he used to be when he was a baby.
your parents usher jake’s family and you into the dining room, telling them to sit wherever they like. However, you all had designated seats from when you all had a meal together. your fathers were seated at the ends of the table facing each other, your mothers were both to your left and you jake were right in the middle of the table, practically being forced to look at each other.
when you glance at Jake, there seems to be no anger or annoyance on his face, just his usual polite expression as he talks with your dad about the football team. you’re trying hard to decipher if jake really knows about what you did with his friends because jake doesn’t seem to understand. but maybe he does know, and he didn’t care. jake’s eyes quickly glancing over to you made you look down at your plate, pretending that your mom’s bland cooking was more interesting than anything else.
when you look up again, jake is still looking at you, a curious smirk on his face as he watches you try to eat. you don’t understand why he’s smirking at you. you can’t tell if it’s because he’s teasing you for hooking up with his friends or if he’s being his usual self and trying to annoy your timid self.
jake’s dad asking about your plans after graduation thankfully pulls your attention from the playful look in jake’s eyes and lets you distract yourself from his dominating presence. all your parents’ attention is on you as you converse with his dad about your future. You’re so pulled into the conversation that you don’t feel jake’s foot start to creep its way up your leg until right at the bottom hem of your skirt. it makes your body jerk back into the chair, and a choked gasp comes from your mouth.
“y/n, are you okay?” your mother asks from your left, a look of concern on her face as she reaches for a napkin for you.
“y-yeah, food just went down the wrong tube,” you force a smile at her and everyone else, “i’m good.” when everyone sees you complete a drink of water and look over your apparent refined composure, their conversation picks up again without you. your eyes harden as you look at the boy across from you, trying to hide his smirk by drinking his water.
you continue through dinner, trying to keep up with your parent’s conversations and eating your dinner as jake continues to play with your feet under the table. he let his food drift up your leg again, going straight to the hem of your skirt so he could push it up, but you caught him in time and pulled your skirt down over your knees. if your parents noticed your constant glaring at the seemingly happy boy, they didn’t say anything and thought that you two were being your usual selves, not like the boy was teasing your legs and trying to get under your skirt.
“so, how does everyone feel about dessert?” your mother asks as she stands to clear some dirty dishes off the table. everyone agreed that it sounded like a good plan but,
“actually, mom i’m not feeling too well,” you tell your mom, lying to get out of being so close to jake.
“oh no, really honey?” your mother frowns and places her hand on your head to feel your temperature, “well you can go up to your room, but if you’re awake later on i want you to come down and say goodbye at least.”
you smile up at your mom in a grateful manner, “of course.” you start to stand and push in your chair, saying your apologies to jake’s worried family.
“are you sure you’re going to want dessert jake? you barely even ate your dinner.” jake’s mother said to him.
“yeah, i’m not really hungry tonight, so i’m not sure if i’ll be able to eat dessert.” jake agrees with his mom, feigning a look of sadness on his face as he glances at your mom.
“that’s okay sweetie; how about you go upstairs with y/n then?” your mom comforts jake. he glances at you over your mom’s shoulder and almost laughs when he sees your hardened eyes still looking at him with pure annoyance.
“sounds good,” jake smiles, “i haven’t been in y/n’s room for a long time, i wanna see what god-awful boy bands she’s into now.” his comment makes everyone except you laugh as you turn on your heel and start to head upstairs. you can hear jake coming behind you, practically feel his warmth with how close he is to you.
when you get to the top of the stairs you turn and glare at jake. both of you are facing each other with very different expressions. It's almost funny to you, “what the hell is your problem?”
“what do you mean?” jake tilts his head in confusion.
you sigh and cross your arms over your chest, “you know what you were doing under the table.”
jake lets out a quiet laugh so your parents don’t hear you, “oh right, that.” jake glances up at your annoyed expression, urging him to continue, “i was just playing around with you.”
“playing around?” you ask him to which he nods in response, “and what would’ve happened if our parents happened to look under the table and see your foot up my skirt?” jake can’t help but laugh, covering his mouth to try to muffle the sounds, “yeah, it’s really funny jake.”
jake stops laughing when he sees how genuinely annoyed you are at him, “i’m sorry y/n, i was just playing around, you know, like we used to. but maybe this time would’ve been a little more funny if our parents saw how flustered you got by just my foot.” you roll your eyes and turn to go to your bedroom. Still, jake’s hand catches your upper arm and stops you, “y/n, okay.” jake’s voice is in a serious tone now, “i’m sorry, it wasn’t cool to do that.” jake steps closer to you now in the hallway so your chests are almost touching. his voice is quieter as it is serious and you’re both looking each other in the eyes, “i just wanted to have some fun with you.”
your eyes are scanning his face, trying to not meet his eyes that hold such seriousness that it almost scares you. you can smell his cologne ten folds now from how close you are to each other and the noise from your parents downstairs has faded out so it seems like it’s only you and jake at this moment. it feels like you’re both leaning into each other and you can’t stop it.
“now,” jake’s voice suddenly says. It makes you jerk out of whatever trance you were in with him, “are you going to show me your favourite harry styles posters or what?” he asks with a cheery voice, turning and heading to your bedroom as if he owned the place.
you stood in the hallway for a second, your breath twisted in your chest as you tried to process what had just happened as jake entered your bedroom without you. his face was so close to yours that it practically left you breathless. you don’t know what jake’s intentions are for tonight, and part of you hopes that they aren’t the best.
jake’s sitting on your bed, awfully similar to the position sunghoon was in the week prior, when you enter your room. his head is on a swivel as he scans your room, trying to locate any one direction posters. the sight of him on your bed made your stomach swoon, but at the same time, it twisted in guilt.
“where’s harry? i didn’t expect you to change up your bedroom so much.” jake asks with a devious grin on his face.
you roll your eyes as you speak, “i don’t have any posters of one direction anymore, jake!”
“oh c’mon, y/n, i know how obsessed you were when we were younger.”
“yeah, exactly,” you point out, “when we were younger.”
jake scoffs, “y/n, where are the posters?”
the look that jake gave you told you that he was onto you, and knew you were lying. he could always tell when you were lying, making you hate him more. there was never anything that you could keep from jake.
you sigh and walk over to your closed closet door, leaning on your hip as it swings open and reveals a 2014 one direction poster taped on the wall.
jake automatically bursts out laughing. a laugh takes over his whole body as he can’t keep his eyes open to see the poster. “i knew it! i fucking it!”
“jake,” you whine out his name in annoyance and embarrassment. jake tries to silence his laugh as he stands up, wiping under his eyes for fallen tears. he walks over to you, standing in front of you who’s leaning against the wall. one of his hands reaches out, gliding down across the one direction poster as he struggles to hold back a smile. “jake,” you whine again.
“what?” jake chuckles, “it’s cute.” you repeat his name again, this time adding a light shove on his chest. “you’re cute.”
your face falls into profound shock at his words as you try to lean further into the wall, creating as much distance as possible.
“what?” jake tilts his head, no sign of amusement on his face anymore, “can i not call my best friend cute?”
you scoff at the term ‘best friend’ “i didn’t think you thought sunghoon and jay were cute.” you tell him as you push past him and sit on your bed. jake chuckles dryly as he turns to face you.
“right,” he drags out the word, “like you do?”
your mouth became dry at his words, “what?” you hear jake chuckle quietly again as he makes his way over to you as you sit on your bed. he places his hands on the mattress beside your hips and lends down, caging you in as he still stands.
“c’mon y/n, you know.” his voice is deeper and quieter as he speaks.
“know what?” you try to make your voice sound strong as you feel smaller by the second. his presence of dominating as it took over your room, wanting to take over you next.
jake’s chuckle is deep now as he leans his head into your shoulder; you can feel his nose brush against the skin of your neck as he speaks, “you really don’t think i know what my friends have been up to?”
you turn your head so you can look at him, your eyes wide as they meet his relaxed one. there’s something playful swarming his eyes as he looks at you with a smile.
“i don’t care, though,” he shrugs, the smile becoming more sincere.
“you don’t?” you ask him, your heart unsure what to do. jake shakes his head no in response. “why?”
a smirk grows on jake’s face then, “because now i can show you that i’m the best.”
“wha-?” you want to ask him more questions. Still, he’s pushing your body down so you’re laying flat on your back. “jake!” his lips are meshing into yours, it's a rough sloppy kiss and before you can even kiss back he’s pulling away.
jake’s hand runs up and brushes your hair off your forehead, revealing your face for him to see. his touch is gentler than his kiss.
“what are you doing, jake?”
his voice is soft as he speaks, “i want to show you how good i am; that i’m the best.”
your hand reaches out and pushes his fallen hair behind his ear, “why?”
jake doesn’t know what to say or to do. he knows he wants to take his time with you, and show you how passionate he is with you. show you that he truly loves and cares about you. but he also knows that he’s a part of a bet.
a bet that could go horribly wrong if you ever found out about it and he’s sure that you’d hate him if he told you he loved you before you found out.
so, he kisses you.
it’s a soft kiss, no tongue involved, and just pure affection. you kiss him back not a second later, and jake hates knowing that he’s got you- that you won’t ask more questions and blow his cover about the actual drive of why he’s here right now.
jake has always wanted to be intimate with you, kiss you and show love and his adoration of you. he’s imagined your first kiss together one million times, and he wishes it was something more like the second kiss instead of his egotistical meathead side-kissing you. his hips lean into yours and you’re both aware now how hard he is.
“our parents are downstairs, jake.” you tell him, your voice quiet. jake could tell that you were worried about them, but also worked up from the thought of what could happen between you two.
your thighs were wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer to you. you could feel your hard nipples under your bra, wanting this so bad.
jake’s voice is sweet again, in a way that he’s not even forcing it to sound, “angel,” he whines into your neck, “we can be quiet, right? i want you so bad- i’ve missed you.”
the last three words make your heart clench as they’re the ones you’ve always pondered about. if jake misses you, your friendship, your bond. it washes something over you and your hips are grinding into his now, no longer being able to hold back.
“what if i’m loud?” you ask him, a slight pout on your lips.
jake smirks at you, running his thumb over your bottom lip, “i’m sure i can put your mouth to work, then.” jake’s always thought about how good your lips would feel wrapped around his dick- probably an unhealthy amount of time actually. “you gonna let me make you feel good, y/n?”
you wanted to think about the possible consequences more. Still, your ex-best friend was hovering over you right now, grinding his hard dick into you which definitely distracted your mind, “yes, please.”
jake wanted to start with his dick in his mouth, but he didn’t want to waste potential time making you feel good.
“lay on your stomach for me, angel.” the familiar nickname he used with you made your ears ring.
you did as he asked, your face laying sideways on your pillow as you lift your hips up for him. jake pushed your skirt up so your panty-clad ass was shown. your skin was as soft as he remembered as he ran his hands up and down your thighs, circling your ass. his grip on your thighs tightened suddenly as he leaned down to press a kiss to your panty clad pussy. he could feel how damp your panties were and it made him wonder for a second if you got wetter for him or his best friends.
jake pushes your panties to the side so he can start to suckle on your clit, his tongue spreading over it quickly. your hands were gripping the sheet, your nails digging into your palms through them, reminding yourself that you need to keep quiet as jake eats you out. his mouth on your pussy is already noisy, that if your moans were to become loud, your parents would surely hear.
jake’s eyes are interchanging from being shut to being open. he wants to enjoy himself and try to remember what you taste like in case this is the last time he ever gets to. but jake wants to focus on making you feel good too, wants to see all your reactions as his tongue starts to lick up your wet slit. he easily slips his tongue into your core, licking and sucking it.
your face is pushed into your pillows now, trying to keep yourself quiet as jake’s pace doesn’t falter. you can feel your bed shaking gently from your hips bucking and jake’s hips grinding into your bed. it turns you on more to think that you were able to turn jake sim on, that you got him so desperate to grind his hips into your bed for any source of pleasure.
“fuck, jake,” you gasp out quietly into your bedroom, his mouth sucking your hard clit into his mouth again, “m-might cum, jake, please.”
the grip on your thighs tightens more as jake focuses on getting you to come undone on his tongue. he can feel you start to get wetter on his tongue the closer you get to your climax.
the tip of his pretty noise is pressing into your clit as he focuses his tongue to reach deep inside your walls, “please, cum, y/n, wanna taste you- always wanted to taste you.”
it’s his confession that makes you finally reach your high. you’re pushing your head further into your pillow, barely being able to breathe to keep your voice low as you cum. all that goes through your mind is jake, and you so badly want to scream his name so he knows just how good he’s made you feel.
when your body stills again, jake pulls away with a shiny mouth. you turn to look at him and his heart clenches at how pretty you look fucked out. your hair is messy and your cheeks are red from trying to be quiet. jake lets out a little chuckle at your appearance, he presses a kiss to the top of your thigh.
“will you fuck me now, jake? i’ll be quiet,” you ask him, and jake thinks he must be dreaming now.
“fuck, okay, yeah,” Jake whispers, moving you so you’re laying on your back, head in your pillows. your lips meet, rougher again as jake’s hands start to trail underneath your shirt until the fabric is bunched at your arms. you pull away so he can slip the shirt off of your core. you arch your back so you can unclip your bra, letting it loose on your arms which jake then helps slide off completely. “just as pretty as I imagine,” jake says, making your neck flush from realizing that jake thinks of you like this.
his lips quickly meet your neck, pressing soft kisses into your skin. his body feels heavy and warm on top of you. his mouth trails down to your nipples, his tongue peeking out and circling them.
“jake,” you let out softly, his eyes meeting yours as his mouth is still latched onto your nipple. he catches the way your cheeks flush red then, your eyes avoiding his.
“what is it, angel?” your hands leave his shoulders and cover your face, “why are you being shy? don’t want me to fuck you?” jake’s hands trail down to the top of your skirt, playing with the fabric.
“i do,” you state, your hands gripping his shirt, “want it so bad.”
jake smirks, “then let me take off your skirt,” you nod and lift your hips, letting jake slip off your skirt and panties simultaneously. he tosses your clothes to the side before dipping his head to kiss down your chest to your hips.
your hands start to tug on his shirt, “want you naked, too.”
jake laughs into your skin at your request, “okay, baby.” he presses a final kiss between your breasts before he pulls away and takes his shirt and hoodie off. his skin looks soft and tan, his abs from working out visible to you now. “turn around, ‘m gonna fill you up so good.” you do as he says again, not even thinking about it, jutting your hips out for him to grab. jake kneels on the bed behind you, his hands trailing down your bare back to rest on your hips.
jake’s fingers spread open your pussy, feeling how wet you are. he could see and you could feel the mess between your legs, how ready you are for him. “so wet, angel, wish we could’ve done this sooner.”
“me, too.”
“yeah?” jake asks, his fingers circling your clit, “how long have you thought about this?” jake groans as he rests his cock on your ass, his precum dripping out slowly as he jerks it with his free hand.
“for years,”
jake lets out another groan that mixes with yours when he starts slowly sinking into you. his pace starts out slow, preparing you for his size. jake also didn’t want your headboard to hit the wall too loudly.
“remember to be quiet for me, angel.” jake reminds you as his thrusts start to deepen. his hips start moving in and out of you quicker. his hands on your waist digging in to help him find a steady pace. “feels so good, y/n- just so fucking wet.” jake liked watching his dick disappear into your pussy, his dick getting wetter everytime he pulled out.
you were rolling your eyes everytime jake pounded his hips into you. in the moment, neither of you understood why you didn’t do this earlier if you both apparently wanted it. it felt so good for him to be inside of you. his cock wrapped snugly in your walls, being so close together.
“does it feel good, angel? feel full with my dick inside of you?” jake asks, not stopping from fucking his dick inside of you.
“yes, jake d-don’t stop,” you tell him, biting down on your bottom lip when his cock hits your g spot.
“give me your hands, y/n,”
you put your arms on your back so jake can take hold of your wrists. the position lets him hit your gspot clearer, his tip hitting it everytime he fucks into you.
“fuck, that feels am-azing, jake,” you moan, eyes rolling to the back of your head.
“i know, angel- you’re so good- so hot.” his pace was becoming faster with every second, jake’s eyes fighting the urge to close as the pleasure was taking him over. it seemed like he was hitting all the right places, making your walls clench around him tighter and tighter.
“jake- want you closer,” you tell him, needing a sort of intimacy in the moment you’ve always craved from your ex-best friend. jake’s grip on your wrist tightened as he pulled you up from your lying position so now you were on your knees, your back pushed into his chest as his hands wrapped around your waist. his arms were pulling you into him, his jaw nestled in your neck as he starts to fuck up into you now.
“is that better, angel? my needy girl.”
“yes- oh god,” you throw your head back onto his shoulder, letting him pamper wet kisses into your jaw as he doesn’t stop. one of his hands reaches down past your front so rub at your clit, the slickness from your juices allowing him to easily rub circles into it. “y-yes, just like that, please,”
“fuck, you’re so pretty, angel- wish you could be mine forever,” jake confesses, his mind too enthralled with pleasure to think about the consequences of his words. a loud moan escaped your lips, making jake quickly rush to put his hand over your mouth, “shh, y/n, you don’t want our parents to hear, right?” you shake your head no as his hand doesn’t leave your mouth. he continues to pound faster into you, your breathing erratic through your nose as he blocks part of your airway. it ultimately brings more pleasure to your head as the oxygen level decreases.
“don’t want our parents to come up and see how good i’m making you feel? see their good girl y/n getting fucked like the dirty whore she is?” you moan against jake’s mouth, eyes closing from his words. the degradation going straight to your pussy as you’re being taken over by jake completely. “because that’s what you are right y/n? a dirty whore that gets fucked by my friends and me?”
jake removes his hand so you can answer, biting down on your neck to keep himself quiet, “f-fuck, ‘m only one for you, jake.”
jake hums into your ear, his hand trailing down to your drenched clit, “you gonna cum for me too, angel? wanna feel you soak my cock more, can feel you already getting wetter.” you can only nod your head yes, too consumed from the pleasure and then suddenly you’re cumming.
your mind goes blank as the hard orgasm takes over your body. jake has thankfully brought his hand to cover your mouth again, masking your moans as your body weakens from the pleasure.
it doesn’t take long for jake to cum then, his warm cum filling your hole. you’ve never felt someone cum in you before, but you knew it was something that you wanted to feel again- mainly jake’s cum. you could feel it start to seep out of your hole as jake’s pace starts to slow- letting both of you catch your breaths.
jake lets go of you, letting your body collapse onto your bed. he slowly eases out of you, leaving your hole gaping from the stretch of his dick. he gives himself a second to take in the image, your pussy red and swollen, and his white cum dripping out of it. it makes him wonder if you let jay fuck you raw.
with that, jake’s standing and grabbing the towel hanging on the back of your door. he’s wiping up his cum as your back is still heaving to catch your breath. your hair is messy and your lips are swollen from biting down on them to keep quiet.
“you okay?” jake asks softly as he cleans up between your legs. you hum a yes in response, your eyes remaining closed. jake continues to clean you up, pressing kisses into your back with praises. “did so good for me, angel.”
you hear jake stand and start to dress himself. you turn and watch him shimmy on his clothes, taking in the red marks on his neck and messy hair. he bends down again when he’s dressed, picking up a pair of your sweatpants and tossing them on the bed before turning and going to your drawers, picking out a loose shirt.
“here, y/n.” he passes you the shirt. you smile gratefully at him as you slip it on over your head. he’s turning and looking over the books and papers on your desk as you dress. there’s a pit feeling in your stomach now, and you wish your orgasmic haze didn’t fade so quickly for you to feel like this.
there’s nothing really to say between you guys now. and just when something crosses jake’s mind and opens his mouth, his parents call him from downstairs, telling him they’re ready to go.
jake gives you a sympathetic smile as he’s helping you stand from your bed, which you gladly take as you feel like your legs are still jelly. you follow him downstairs, standing on the last stair as his family says goodbye to you and your parents.
“ready to go?” jake’s mom asks him, which he nods to.
“bye, y/n.” jake turns and gives you a tight lipped smile and a small wave.
“bye.” you answer, returning the same smile as he closes the door after his parents.
your parents didn’t say anything but a quick goodnight when you told them you still weren’t feeling well, leaving you to stay in your room for the rest of the weekend, dreading going to school on monday. there were no texts from anyone, even though you wished there would be.
you were painfully aware that your friendship with jake would be changed now, all because you changed up what you guys usually did when he came over.
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@csesamis@laffatae@theskzvibe@jjhmk@stunninj4y@hyuckscore@lizdevorak@clcudi@arizejkt19@wwjlln7@thisisnotjacinta@sheishiding2-o@immelissaaa@nctseventeensworld@luvdokja@vatterie@shootforthemoonyun@nikirikii@artgukk@ily-bin@sunwooes-k@dasa3040@02zluvbot@jizzdrunk@ivoirepearl@filthxyy@ddreast@lovelivevi@purplepuppychild@loves0ft@foxdaisy @cosmiczen @66cupid @neo-weareone @theskzvibe  @sd211 @lilactangerine @kaislinging-slasher01
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@ taeghi, 2022. do not repost or reuse in anyway.
PLEASE REBLOG IF YOU ENJOY, AS LIKES MAKE IT HARD FOR WORK TO BE SPREAD AND ENJOYED BY OTHERS :)
stay safe everyone :)
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brooooswriting · 10 months
Note
A very timid Hello from your best customer broko loco anyway hi I'm out of my request block anyway
How about some hurt/comfort with our baby gurl
Tara Carpenter
I had two prompts in mind either Tara having a nightmare about Gf killing R Orrrrrrr It was her killing R (
SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SREAM VI YOU'VE BEEN WARNED
(because she killed Ethan so her subconscious is making her see herself killing R) so R comforts her and reassures her
or
R getting into a fight when she was taking a stroll with Tara and Sam because some 4ssh0l3$ called our Fav duo murderers so Tara is patching up R afterwards
or
R taking care of T after the 2nd massacre like bringing her thing (painkillers, snacks, food, cuddles)
Those were my ideas but you can also do whatever you want Idm
Have a good day broko loco <3
Motherfucker
Tara Carpenter x reader
A/n: so I haven’t really been writing lately and I need to get back into it so yeah
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“It’s just so much you know” Tara complained as you two and Sam walked around New York City. It was a small tradition you build up as soon as you moved here. You walked around to figure out the best ways through the city, it made Sam feel safer while you and Tara just liked to walk around. Her hand was slipped into yours, fingers carefully intervened.
Tara loved complaining about college during these walks, you loved listening to her and Sam would do anything for her little sister. There were a lot of people who didn’t recognized you guys but some did. Nobody ever said something, you were unsure of wether it was because of sams killer glare or just their common sense but you were happy about it.
You knew them during the attacks in woodsboro but you weren’t with them. At least not until the end, you and Tara kept your little flirt private which was why you weren’t attacked. You only arrived when everybody else was dead, you were at the party and you forgot your phone which was why you turned around. The way Tara broke down into your arms made you believe everything she told you, there was no way that she faked that.
“I know, but you’ll be fine. You’re a fighter through and through and something like college won’t bring you down” you told her, squeezing her hand for good measure. “She’s right, you’re gonna do great” Sam added smiling at her sister before checking the street over her shoulder.
You walked through a small park where a group of three boys, around 22, sat and watched the three of you. You watched them suspiciously, slipping your hand out of Tara’s and instead slipping your arm around her waist to pull her closer. Tara smiled up at you, unaware of the situation while Sam looked out for a man around the corner. You listened carefully, hoping to hear any kind of movement but it was quite for a moment.
“Look, that’s the murderer and her slut sister. I knew I recognized them from somewhere” one of the boys said causing you to slow down. “Fucking murderer. Both of them. They should have ended dead” another one added which made you stop. “I’d still fuck the slut tho” the third one said which finally made you snap. You turned on your heel and stalked over to the group. “What did you just say?!” You nearly screamed out on your way, Tara still standing at the same spot completely confused while Sam had a stare down with the man around the corner.
“What’s your problem huh?” You asked again, stepping up to the one who said he’d fuck Tara. “I could ask you the same thing, why don’t you go away with your two murderer friends?” He asked puffing out his chest, trying to scare you. At every other time you’d probably been scared but not now, now all you could feel was rage. “Say that again and watch what happens asshole” you dared. “They are murderer” the one next to him said. You were quick to punch him straight in the face, his nose immediately started bleeding and his eye started to swell. The one you talked to before drew his arm back but you were quick enough to dodge it, not seeing the third one make his way towards you, his fist landing in your stomach causing you to groan. You turned as quick as you could, your fist landing in his stomach this time before you turned and kicked the other one to the ground.
By now Sam was done with her stare down and finally noticed your fight, “fuck y/n” she mumbled and went to your help but Tara held her back. “She will kill you if you go there, she’s fighting because they called you a murderer and if you hit them it will be contra productive” she explained, it pained her to see you like this but she knew you were strong and she didn’t want Sam to suffer even more.
It took you five more minutes before they finally gave up, your face and hands were bruised and you were spitting blood but you won. “Gosh, you’re so stupid” Tara mumbled as she ran up to you and hugged you, pulling you close to her which caused you to wince. “Are you alright?” Sam asked as she walked closer, wrapping an arm around you shoulder. “M fine. Thanks. Can we maybe go back?” Both of them nodded and turned around to walk back to your apartment.
This time Tara wasn’t holding your hand, she was scared that she’d hurt you. The nervousness and the guilt was radiating off of her, so you wrapped your arm around her waist and pulled her into you which made her calm down. Sam was also somewhere else with her mind but you knew that something like a hug wouldn’t fix that and you knew she wasn’t going to talk about it in front of Tara so you decided to ask her about it later.
When you arrived home Tara immediately ran to the bathroom to get some things for your knuckles, giving you a moment with Sam. “You alright?” You asked her quietly so T wouldn’t hear.
“Yeah, it’s just that… thank you y/n. You protected us and you stood up for us. It was the nicest thing anyone ever did for us so, thanks” she answered squeezing your shoulder before disappeared into her room.
“I got everything that may be helpful. Like gauze, disinfectant, bandaids and some other stuff” she told you, quickly pulling everything out and cleaning your wounds on your hand. You kissed when the disinfectant started to seep into your flesh. The brunette quickly apologized before putting on the band aids.
When your hand was finally cleaned she moved on to your face, focusing on the wound above your eye. This time she warned you before putting on the disinfectant, which made it a bit less worse. You couldn’t help but admire her focused face, the way she bit her tongue and how her brows furrowed. It nearly made you forget about your headache.
“Do you need anything else? I’ll give you some painkillers as soon as you’re in bed and some snacks too” she told you and you smiled before pulling her closer to plant a small kiss on her lips. “Thank you” you said before kissing her another time and another, distracting her from her work.
“Stop, I gotta clean the rest of your wounds and I wanna take a look at your stomach” she giggled when she finally convinced herself to pull away. “And you taste like blood” she added. You smiled sheepishly and kissed her one last time before pulling back.
She sat on your lap as she looked at the cut you had on your lip, her legs on either side of you as she titled your head down to get a better angle. “This Looks okay I guess” she mumbled to herself as her fingers carefully touched the wound. You were getting bored and started to play with the hem of her shirt.
When she was done with your face she moved on to your stomach, there wasn’t really anything she could do about it. It was a bit bruised but there werent any cuts nor any placed that were so sensitive that she should be worried.
You both got changed and laid in bed, Tara made you swallow some painkillers and gave you some of your favorite chips before letting you decide what to watch. She made sure that you iced your hand and your nose, even if it might not be comfortable. She knew that you didn’t like the cold but there was nothing she could do. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” Her voice was soft and still filled with guilt which made you hurt inside.
“T, you know that I did it on my own account right? It’s not your fault or anything. I decided to do what I did” you said as you cuddled closer to her. Her body melting into your which made you melt too. “And even more important, I’d do it again and again because nothing is as important to me as you are” you added and kissed her head.
“I love you, a lot. Not just because of what you did today obviously” she grinned and titled her head up motioning for you to give her a kiss which you did.
“I love you too baby” you grinned as your hand rubbed up and down her back.
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What are Hieroglyphs? - A Q&A from a Poll
I ran a poll last week to see what people most wanted to know about how Hieroglyphs and languages such as Old/Middle/Late Egyptian work. While certain responses had more of an interest, the most common tag/comment I was getting was 'umm all of them?'. So, I'm going to do just that, but under a cut, because no one needs a post that's going to be as long as this one is without choosing the colour of the sky. Trust me, this is colour of the sky long.
So, without further ado, these were the results of the poll (yeah it's not finished yet, really, but the percentages haven't moved in 4 days and the poll ends in about 12 hours so here we are):
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I'll start with 'least interest' and move onto the bigger things, as some of these I can get out of the way pretty quickly. I'll apologise to screen readers in advance, because you might imagine how difficult it is going to be describe hieroglyphs in a way that makes any meaningful sense, especially if they're using different cultural concepts. So, here we go!
How long does it take to translate?
Honestly, it depends on the text, and to some extent the language I'm translating it from. For me, Late Egyptian is the easiest, so a text in Late Egyptian (with all that entails) is a breeze. Others will find Late Egyptian really difficult because that form of the language (used from the Amarna period onwards when the written language changed to reflect the spoken language...except on monuments and tombs which kept using Middle Egyptian) uses a lot of semitic loanwords and has differences in orthography (the way signs are laid out and spelt), as well as changes in grammar (moves to frontal exposition so all the markers come at the start of a sentence).
Once you're past the 'oh it's in a form of the language I like/hate' you're into 'what kind of bullshit is this text going to pull on me?' and that can be easy or nasty grammar, lots of spelling mistakes/no spelling mistakes, what kind of text it is like biographical (formulaic, tend to be easy) or literary (not formulaic, full of metaphors and strange sentence composition), or religious (formulaic, but *Chalmers pointing* Dear Lord what is happening in there?). You can get a formulaic biography that's nasty to deal with (Tjetji) or a 'I'm so full of metaphors that I can fight god' literary text that's actually pretty nice to deal with.
In any case, if we're talking about something longer than 5 lines of text we're talking hours to translate. It's not like the films where they just read it on the fly (though you can reach some level of that), you are going to need a notepad, a dictionary, and several hours. This obviously lessens the more experience you have.
Why are the signs so specific?
We're dealing with a language whose script communicates in what are essentially pictures with sounds. It's also an art form as well as a written script. This means that it can, through necessity, create a new sign to express something. More often than not, these signs are very specific, which means you don't see them all that often (hello religious texts again) or they've combined two signs together (overlapped them essentially) for space reasons and it's ended up as it's own sign eventually. I mean, if you had the ability between trying to use what you've already got, and drawing an entirely new sign that is literally a picture of what you want...you're gonna draw a picture. This is why you get the penis glyph. There was always going to be one because at least half the population has one. There are also tit hieroglyphs. Equal opportunities and all that. The tit ones have less applications though, sadly.
How do you remember all the values for all the signs?
I'm gonna be annoying and say: Practice
But it's true. Just like children learning to speak, it has to be repetition repetition repetition. The more you see it, the more you're exposed to it, the more likely you are to remember sign values. There are still some signs I have to look up because they never stick in my head, but mostly I'm able to transliterate very very easily. Once you've got sign values down, you're more likely to begin to recognise them in word groups, which means you're more likely to just know the words by sight. It is very much like learning to read. First you learn the letters T, H, & E, and then you learn that T, H, & E together spell the word 'the' and then you simply recognise the letter group as the word from then on. Same principle for hieroglyphs! Some people will be able to remember them effortlessly. Some people will never be able to remember them. It's all about how your brain works, so don't beat yourself up about it.
How do you work out the grammar?
*laughs nervously* erm....so y'know how I'm bad at remembering grammar? This is going to be a wild ride. In the simplest terms, there are markers within the Egyptian, just like we use certain endings (like '-ed' for the past tense or -ing for present action) or markers (! ? . , etc), so do the Egyptians. I'm not going to cover them all here because goddamn no one needs to know those unless they're actually learning the language and it would get LONG. But I'll show you at least the past tense, pronouns, some special markers called Particles, and prepositions.
Pronouns
Simple, yet important. These little guys come at the end of verbs (at least in Middle Egyptian). They have every pronoun we do except the singular 'they'. Now there are several different types of pronouns depending on whether they're the subject/object attached to a verb, or subject/object that are independent of the verb. This is where you get the 'suffix' (attached to the verb as the subject), dependent (not attached to the verb but related to it), and independent (come at the start of the sentence, not attached to the verb but still the subject. Usually Participial Statements have these). I'm only going to deal with the Suffix pronouns here because sweet jesus this is a whole chapter to itself in a normal grammar book and I'm not doing that. They look like this:
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For other hieroglyph readers sake: I am of the school of hieroglyphs that uses =i instead of =j, and I don't use z for one of the s signs. That's why you're seeing that difference.
For the rest of you: Sometimes there are variants of types of signs for a pronoun, so I've listed them all. The most common one you'd see when translating is at the start of each entry.
As you can see, the pronouns are fairly distinctive in construction, especially when they come at the end of a verb in a sentence. The only ones that would give you any real issue would be the =n (we/our) and =t (she/her) pronouns. This is because they look like the 'past tense .n' and 'marker of the feminine verb .t' endings (sometimes they omit the plural strokes the =n 'our' pronoun and that's just not cool). When you're starting out, you essentially have to look at the context the word is in, and partially continue with the rest of the translation to see if a pronoun is there or it's a tense/feminine marker. Correctly identifying which one it is, is again down to experience. Thankfully this one is something you pick up pretty quickly, because your sentences won't make much sense otherwise.
An example of a pronoun in action is the following sentence:
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You can see that the pronoun =k (you) comes after the verb 'sDm' to hear, and before the object of the sentence miw (cat). Any of the pronouns above can be inserted where =k is, and the sentence will read as necessary.
Prepositions
Prepositions often tell us where one noun is in relation to another (e.g., The coffee is on the table beside you). But they can also indicate more abstract ideas, such as purpose or contrast (e.g., We went for a walk despite the rain). Prepositions also indicate direction, time, location, and spatial relationships, as well as other abstract types of relationships. Just like we say 'the cat is on the mat' or 'the fox at the house', Middle Egyptian can do the same thing. Here's a list of prepositions:
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These, of course, occur anywhere within a sentence in Middle Egyptian just like they would for English. They can also take pronouns like xr=f 'under him' in order to give a subject or object for the sentence. If you were translating and you saw one of these, you'd know that you were about to change direction/time/place or get more information on a relationship in that sentence.
I've constructed an example here:
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MEg readers: There's probably supposed to be some sort of nominal -pw construction in the first sentence to get the 'is' sense, but it's late and I am le tired, so please ignore this potential glaring error. The gist of the sentence is at least right.
Everyone else: You can see I've used the prepositions xr 'under' and mi 'like' to construct this sentence. If I was translating this from the Egyptian, they would be the grammar markers that tell me something in the sentence has got or changed a location, or that it was a comparison. Basically, if you're looking at a word and it's not a verb/pronoun/adjective/noun, you're probably looking at a preposition.
Particles
These are tiny words, which don't always translate as anything, but give more meaning or information about a sentence. Basically, they have a grammatical function, but don't actually translate. In English the word 'to' performs this function, as it appears with many verbs 'to fly' 'to go' etc, but doesn't actually translate (yes, I'm aware 'to' can also be a preposition). I'll only deal with a couple of the more common particles here because there are a lot of them, and you don't need to know all of them.
iw is probably the most common particle. As far as we're aware it doesn't have a translation (there's debate), but it always comes at the beginning of a clause. We don't even know why they use it, because it's one of the particles that you get taught 'always comes at the beginning of a sentence/clause' but then once you learn more MEg (Middle Egyptian) you realise that it barely shows up at all. Anyway, the little guy looks like this:
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In a sentence it looks like this:
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This is a few lines from the Shipwrecked Sailor, a literary text from the Middle Kingdom. You can see the 'iw' particle used twice in this sentence and both times it does not impart any direct meaning to the translation, but it does tell us of a new clause.
ir is another particle that turns up semi regularly and has the meaning 'as for/if' depending on the context. The original context for it, is that it stemmed from the preposition 'r' 'to/from' (see table above) and evolved into its own usage. It looks like this:
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So if you see it in a sentence before a noun like so:
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ir will only translate as 'as for' when before a noun. That's how they mark that sort of grammar.
However, if 'ir' is before a verb, this happens:
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The sense becomes 'if' when before a past or present tense, meaning the particle has express a conditional sense. If it was before something other than the past or present tense, the sentence would read entirely differently, and thus wouldn't have ir there in the first place. That's how we know to translate it that way. mutters something about the ir conditionals
Past Tense
I'm not sure I need to explain the past tense to most of you, but rest assured that Middle Egyptian also has the past tense. This can usually be identified by the .n ending after a verb, but before the pronoun. You might be sitting there saying 'wait, lottie. isn't the pronoun for 'we' also an 'n'?' and yeah you'd be right! It's all to do with context.
Let's take a very basic sentence:
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You see the 'n' sign above the pronoun =i ? That's the .n of the past! It tells us that the verb preceding it, in this case sDm 'to hear', is being read as the past tense and thus we have to translate it with the -ed past tense ending in English. Yes, it does look very similar to the 'n' pronoun for 'we' (=n) and the preposition for 'to/for (a person)' (n). It's because they are all the same sign, they're just being read in different ways.
What do all the .'s, ='s, and brackets mean in transliteration?
So as I just showed you, the marker of the past tense is denoted with the water sign 'n' which is attached to a verb in transliteration using .n at the end. You've also seen me use the equals sign with the pronouns like =i. In Egyptology, at least, we use these symbols as a way to differentiate between different markers of grammar and basically make it easier to spot when we're just reading someone else's work. Say you've got sDm.n=n mdw r=k 'we heard the words concerning you'. Here are the glyphs:
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You can see that sDm is easy to see (the ear reading sDm, and the owl reading m as a phonetic complement, forming the word) and then you've got two water symbols for n, and three vertical strokes. Now, as I've already shown you, the n of the past tense, and the n that's the pronoun for 'we' look pretty much the same, but you know they're different. However, when they're together in one sentence it makes them difficult to distinguish. In order to make them distinct when transliterating we use .'s for marking the endings of verbs be they tense markers or say the feminine .t ending. For pronouns we use ='s so that it's clear they're separate from both the verbs and grammar markers. Otherwise you'd end up with sDmnn mdw rk and it would really tell you absolutely nothing if you were reading it without the glyphs.
I should note at this point that some schools of Hieroglyph teaching use the . for both the verb ending marker and for the pronoun. So it'd look like sDm.n.n and that would be completely fine. I didn't learn this way, so I won't be using it. I'm just mentioning it here for the sake of completeness.
For brackets, I'll do a quick run through: … denotes a lacuna (a hole in the text) with no restoration, [ ] denotes a lacuna with restoration, < > denotes an omission made by the original scribe, whether intentional or accidental, and ( ) denotes a modern addition, usually in the translation to give proper English sense or to provide clarification. In cases where an Egyptian word is legible but the meaning is unclear, ___ denotes an unknown transliteration and a (?) denotes an uncertain translation.
How do you know where a word stops and another one begins?
Ahh the classic! This is a two parter: the first part is 'usually there's a sign that tells you' and the second part is 'more experience with hieroglyphs.' With experience you tend to learn how the most common words are formed, so you know what those look like and how they're spelt. This means that you tend to be able to pick those out of a sentence, and whatever is left must be a word/s you don't know. Over time you'll begin to realise what signs do and do not form words, so if you're trying to read a word and it doesn't make any sense you probably need to separate the signs you're looking at. It really is just practice and becoming more familiar with the language.
The other way, is learning how to spot what are called 'determinatives'. A determinative is a sign that helps to categorise a word without having any consonantal value. It’s just there at the end of a written word, like a man with hand to mouth at the end of the word ‘vomit’ in Egyptian tells the reader (most of whom were illiterate) that the word had something to do with something that comes from the mouth). Not every determinative has the same value as the word it’s written for, and some can even be metaphorical in nature. If I bring back the first sentence I used in this post 'You hear a cat' I can show you what a determinative looks like:
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Since you know that sDm is the verb 'to hear' and =k is the pronoun for 'you', then miw must be the word for 'cat'. But there are 5 signs and only 3 consonant values in miw, which ones are we reading? The answer is the first three signs: the m 'owl' the i 'reed leaf' and the w 'quail chick'. So what about the last two signs: the seated cat and the pelt? Well those are the determinatives I told you about. They're part of the word, but they don't have any sound values. They're just there to tell us that the word is about a cat (seated cat!) and an animal (pelt!). Now I could have written the word miw 'cat' with just the seated cat sign, as that by itself has the 3-consonantal value of miw, but here, along with the pelt, it's just being used as a way to reinforce to the reader that this word is animal based and that animal is a feline.
It also helps that words in Egyptian tend to have no more than 2 or 3 consonants in them (some have 4, but they're not as common). So if you're transliterating and you've got a word you don't know that appears to have more consonants in it...you might want to take a look at it because you've probably added two words together, or joined the past tense marker or pronouns into the word you're looking at. In fact, knowing the grammar markers, and the pronouns, and what a determinative looks like is what helps you pick out the words more easily. It's sort of a process of elimination of words/grammar you do know, to see what's left and that's where you get the dictionary out and start looking things up.
I'm going to try my best here to show this in diagram form. Ideally, this would be done in person where I could write it on a board and go through it in real time, but since I can't do that I'll have to go with this:
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This is an excerpt from the 'Dialogue Between a Man and His Ba' and you're looking at it going 'oh dear god'. So let's start by marking out where our words separate in blue:
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So, these are all the words within this sentence, and I hope it at least shows you where the transliteration is following. However, how do I know this? You can see the pronouns in the transliteration marked with the ='s sign. I'll mark those in pink:
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So you can see for four words in these two sentences they end with either the =f 'he' (second person masc.) or =i 'I' (first person masc.) pronouns. Those suffix pronouns only come at the end of words, so those must be the ends of those words, and what comes before is the word. Cool. So, what about determinatives in these sentences? Can seeing them help us see the end of any other words? I've marked them in green:
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So, now you can see where the determinatives are. The walking legs determinatives noting a verb of 'motion' appear twice before pronouns, and that's fine, they're marking the end of the word where the pronoun goes anyway! Some of them don't though! The first set that don't are the Ra 'sun' symbol and the single stroke, which are determinatives for the word hrw 'day'. These determinatives are a) showing that the word hrw has something to do with the sun (passing of time), and there's only one of them (hence the single stroke). Thus we know this means 'day'. The next is the bird and plural strokes at the end of qsn.t 'suffering'. Plural strokes don't usually come in the middle of a word, so that helps us to identify the end of a word quite easily. The bird is what's known as the 'bin' or 'bad bird', which turns up as the determinative for words that have bad connotations (not always being used in a bad way though). In this case we have the word 'suffering', so the bad bird is here to tell us that. With those two together, it tells us this is the end of the word qsn.t. After the word 'gs' (meaning 'side') you can see I've highlighted the single stroke determinative. This is because that sign can also be read as 'm' like the owl sign in the sentence before it, and what they're using this sign to denote is that 'hey we're not dealing with a preposition here this is a noun!'. The last set are from the word nHnw 'praise singer'. You have the man with his hand to his mouth indicating that the word is something that comes from the mouth (in this case singing), and then the seated man is not a pronoun (this is one of those cases where you'll have to watch out in your translations!) but another determinative telling us that this is a 'person' word i.e. someone who does the action. Thus we translate it as 'praise singer' rather than 'praise singing'.
There are no tense markers, like the past, in these sentences so I'll skip that. There is another grammar marker of the .t ending in qsn.t, but that would require explaining an entirely different verb form and no one is here for that. I'm just noting it's there for people who can read this and are like 'girl there's one right there!' I know and I'm choosing not to perceive.
Anyway, the last things to look at are prepositions and particles. Do we have any of those in these sentences that could help us identify where words begin/end? I've marked prepositions in red and particles in yellow:
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So we have one preposition and it's the preposition 'm' in/from. So we know, thanks to the pronoun before it that it doesn't belong to that word, and since 'm' as a preposition is a single sign, it can't belong to the next signs. Then we have the two particles. One is right at the start and is the 'iw' particle that has no written meaning. It's at the beginning, so we know that this is the opening to a clause and therefore the signs that precede it in the text (which aren't shown here) don't belong to it. The pronoun attached it is the 'he' at the beginning of the clause. The other =f pronoun attached to tkn is what's known as a resumptive pronoun, meaning it's there for emphasis but isn't read in translation.
The other particle is 'mi' 'like', which comes after a determinative stroke for 'gs' (side), and before a lot of signs that end in the two men (hand to mouth and seated). So we know that if 'mi' is a particle by itself, it doesn't belong to the signs that come after it, and therefore is its own word. If you tried to read it with the other words, you'd get miirnHnw and since we know that Egyptian words tend to be 2-3 consonants long, with a max of 4, this is too long to be an actual word. Therefore mi has to be separate from ir and nHnw.
There's another little bit of grammar I didn't cover, because 'too advanced for this post', but for completionist's sake: there's another type of pronoun in here called a demonstrative pronoun. In English it's what the words 'this/that' are referred to. Here the word 'pf' (the sign group with the rectangular box and the horned viper) is performing that function meaning 'over there'. So in the sentence we have: aHa=f 'he should stand' (subjunctive + second person masc.), m 'on' (preposition), pf 'the other' (demonstrative pronoun), gs 'side' (noun), mi 'like' (particle), ir 'does' (infinitive verb), nHnw 'praise singer' (noun). If that makes sense? It probably doesn't, but that's how we know pf isn't connected to either m or gs. Somewhere my lecturers are feeling a weight lifted from them and it's because I'm finally able to express this without confusion. Sadly they'll never see it lmao.
So what do we have left unmarked? Those are all your verbs, nouns, and adjectives! tkn (stay close), hrw (day), qsn.t (suffering), aHa (stand), ir (does), nHnw (praise singer). Once you remove all your grammar markers what you're left with can only be those three. The only one that isn't clearly marked is 'ir', and that's because it tends to just show up as the eye sign, or the eye sign with an r 'mouth' sign beneath it. Here it's just the eye sign, and an inexperienced reader will likely either read it with the particle 'mi' making miir, or with nHnw making irnHnw. Either way they're going to run into some issues, and unfortunately the only way they'll stop making that mistake is experience with translating MEg.
I hope that this post has at least somewhat cleared up the confusion about how Hieroglyphs and Middle Egyptian work. If I'm honest, I think it's more likely to have confused some of you even more. I apologise for that. Trying to explain a dead language, for which most of you have no reference point, on a medium like tumblr is pretty difficult. If what I've said here is too complicated, I would suggest getting yourself a copy of Mark Collier's 'How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs'. That book is about £10, and it's really easy to get hold of. The British Museum shop has copies you can buy (it got a reprint thanks to the Hieros exhibit) and I know it's on Amazon too. Go forth and get the book written by the man who taught me how to read them! sorry Mark
Congrats on reaching the bottom of 'Do you know how to read hieroglyphs? Which one?'
𓋹𓍑𓋴 ꜥnḫ wḏꜢ snb
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nightwolf14292 · 8 days
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Damian Wayne Appreciation Post??
To be honest, I don't really understand why some people dislike Damian so much? To be fair, the only comic I've read about him is Batman: Son of Batman, but from that one alone, I just don't get it. I mean I read on the wiki that he was pretty hard on Dick when Dick was acting as Batman, but I haven't read that myself (Also it makes sense, he was grieving the supposed death of his father, of course he wouldn't take kindly to Dick pretending to be Bruce/Batman)
But really, it seems like Damian(in this comic at least), just wants to make his parents proud and be useful.
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And yeah, he beheaded the Spook and beat up Tim(/not as badly Alfred), but like he says, it's how he was taught!
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He did what he did, because in the League of Assassins you fought to move up the ranks. He beat up Tim, because if Tim was a League member, this would've been common practice. Him beating up his 'rival' member, to take their higher rank. But even after beating Tim up, he makes it obvious that he just wants to be of use to Bruce. This is also why he killed the Spook, because in the League there was certainly not a 'no kill' rule, and in his mind, killing the Spook means the Spook can't hurt anyone else.
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And yeah, if I was Damian and I was being almost killed in training sessions and then being hooked up to weird machines and rejuvenated with what is probably water from the Lazarus Pit (I mean, it's glowing green water so that's what I assume), which supposedly messes with people's minds and the rates in which they heal/age, I'd probably act the same way.
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At the end of the day, he's still somewhat of a normal kid. Here's him asking his mom to look at the cool thing he's doing, like a kid wanting their mom to look at a drawing they made:
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And here's him just wanting to live a life with both Bruce and Talia as a family, not wanting to choose, sort of like your average kid with 'divorced' parents:
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All in all, yeah, Damian has flaws. All good characters do! But I don't think that warrants people to hate him, though. But, at the end of the day, everybody has their own opinions so it's okay if you don't like him, these are just my thoughts!
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realshadow01-blog · 1 month
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*Pop* just like a candy apple! {Platonic Radioapple!}
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Introduction
|| Hello! I just wanted to say hello again as I've been gone for almost two years, I think. :3 I wanted to start writing again, for some reason, and it's 2:43am. I am not sure if I would post this or not, depends if I feel like it.||
|| Sorry for the absence, and if any characters are ooc (out of character) too! I have watched all of season 1 - but I can't capture the characters personalities that well. And sorry if my grammar or wording is bad, I don't know that much English as I thought. ||
|| This is a tickle drabble/short fan fiction post, and I don't expect any - but I will be taking requests for drabbles and headcannons! ||
>> || Summary for introduction: I do not know much English, I haven't captured the characters that well, this is a tickle-based, short fan fiction and I'm sorry for my (almost) two year absence. And, I am taking requests for drabbles and headcannons (no art or fics :<) || <<
|| Warnings (I guess!): Tickles, Swearing ||
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So, the Demon is back again! Back again with a new sense of humor and a new ruthless torturing method. The Radio Demon is back! He's returned, what does it mean for a certain rival? Or a few?~ The future will decide...~
It was a surprisingly quiet day in the Hazbin Hotel. Everyone was either out celebrating or having a full day in bed after they defeated the Angels. People were bummed out, injured and flat-out exhausted.
Lucifer decided to stay at the Hotel for a while, or at least visit often, and he was watching TV in the common room as he held his most prized rubber duck. Charlie was out with Vaggie, Angel and Husk were out too and pretty much the only people in the hotel were Niffty, Alastor and Lucifer.
Alastor was nowhere to be found, I mean, where would you expect an unpredictable being like him to be?
Nifty was off cleaning.
You already heard about Lucifer.
That changed when Alastor's shadow crawled around the floors of the hotel, until he emerged from thin air. His grin was as sinister and menacing as always, although something was off. It looked slightly strained. He was preciously annoyed by another Overlord, but we won't get into that, but it could be why... He then went to go find Lucifer, for some reason.
Lucifer was throwing his rubber duck against the wall and catching it like a ball, abandoning the television so all it became was simple background noise. He continued to throw the rubber duck until it hit Alastor in the face.
“Oops....” Lucifer giggled mockingly, not in the slightest sorry, but decided to apologize anyway to make matters better for him, if they were becoming bad. Although, Alastor, in return, grabbed the rubber duck and crushed it in his bare hand, sensing Lucifer's infuriated pity, despite Lucifer showing no emotion whatsoever. “Was that necessary, Alastor?”
“No,” Alastor's grin grew as he threw the shriveled rubber duck aside, his radio filter still as strong as ever, “but I wanted to. Doesn't that seem fair?~”
Lucifer groaned, annoyed. “What kind of shitty question is that!?”
“A reasonable question that needs answering.”
“Well, I won't fuckin’ answer!”
“...”
“As you wish.” Alastor's grin grew, but still looked a little strained.
Lucifer, funny enough, saw his strained grin and smirked.
“Is the demon cracking at something?~ Are you pissy about your wound from Adam?~” Lucifer retorted, giggling, which absolutely broke Alastor's patience and before either of them knew it, Alastor had thrown himself at Lucifer and pinned him to the floor, scribbling his claws into Lucifer's sensitive, tender sides, earning a surprised squeal and a string of squeaky laughter. “EEK!!~ FUHUHUHUCK!!- ALAHAHASTOR!!??”
Alastor had just smirked, moving his hands to random spots to keep the short king occupied, sneakily slithering his tendrils to Lucifer and restraining him swiftly as the tips of the tendrils restraining him tickled into the crooks of his wings - the 'wings pits' if you will. No matter what they're called, they sent Lucifer into hysteria.
Lucifer's screaming, wheezing and frantic laughter could be heard basically throughout the whole of Hell from how loud it was. Alastor only had the slightest issues with that, so he closed some doors to prevent people from coming in, if they did try. “ALAHAHAHASTOR- WHEHEHEN IHI CAHAHATCH YOUHUHU ALAHAHASTOR!!- GAHAHAHA!!?”
That wasn't the worst of it, oh boy...
The main reason the phrase “Lucifer's screaming, wheezing and frantic laughter could be heard basically throughout the whole of Hell” was used because it was the truth. Not only was his laughter loud, but Alastor had been devilish enough to broadcast his laughter live! :)
“Go on, Lucifer,” *Alastor smiled menacingly, voice hushed, “Make the microphone pop like a candy apple...~” He teased, leaving him to face the torture and humiliation for a bit.
---
hope this was good!! sorry if it was short, i was pondering over a draft from a year ago and I haven't written a fan fiction in a hot minute >.<
{This MIGHT have some more parts!!!}
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animasola86 · 6 months
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Sebastian Sallow Headcanons (revisited)
I made a similar post a while back, but I think it's time to revisit it.
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Sebastian Sallow is a Scorpio (born between Oct 23 and Nov 22).
Typical Scorpio traits include being resourceful, ambitious, brave, (com)passionate, possessive, jealous, loyal, supportive, emotional, intense. I’d say he is all that. Also fits the Slytherin characteristics.
I don't have a particular date in mind for him anymore, but I'd say around Halloween or after would suit him and Anne. (I haven't looked at the actual Astrology aspect of it, leaving that to the experts here!)
He is a nerd and an athlete.
He is the kind of nerd who will hit you with knowledge when you least expect it and never as the know-it-all type, but rather the let-me-share-my-knowledge type. I'm sure he'll be actually fun at parties.
And I see no problem in him being hunched over books for hours on end and being physically fit at the same time. (Yes, he seemed a little unfit at the start of fifth year, being all breathless on the way to Hogsmeade and during a mission up some stairs, but I'll ignore that. He'll grow into it.)
So he's not only fit enough to brave all those stairs in Hogwarts, I also see him on the Quidditch team. I initially had him as a Beater in my head, and I still stand by it, but I do see him as a Seeker as well now, just because how he can show off by catching the Snitch.
(I don't see him as a Chaser, too average a position for him imo, or a Keeper, I think he'd be too hyper to stay in one place all the time, even though his protective trait might play into it, but he can focus on that more when he hits some Bludgers around.)
He is tall.
I also HC that Ominis is taller, but Sebastian is still tall. I put him at 1.80m/180cm (5′11″) initially, but I might even put him taller now. He'll definitely have another growth spurt during his last years at Hogwarts and grow into an even taller adult, so for now, let's settle on him being 1.85m/185cm/6'1" at the end of the game. (Angst can make you grow, yes.)
(And I need him to be tall because my MCs usually are quite short and I just love that size difference dynamic so much!)
He is an extrovert.
He might have his baggage to carry during his fifth year (and beyond), but he still has many extrovert tendencies, especially needing people around to recharge - even if it's just one person (our MC preferably). He is a twin, so being alone was never really an option before Anne got sick.
That's why he hates being alone, he'll certainly have his mind flooded with doubts and dark thoughts if he happens to be alone. That might make him clingy and/or overprotective towards his significant other/friends, but if it helps him sleep at night, he won't hesitate to hog those special people to his advantage.
He is a light sleeper.
And probably has nightmares more than your average boy considering all the stress he puts himself under, with his worries for Anne and the constant abuse from Solomon and his general past (loss of his parents, etc.).
Yet even though he might have trouble falling asleep and sleeping in general, I do think he can sleep anywhere, thinking about the shed in Feldcroft that the fandom considers to be his place to stay when he visits his sister. Also as a twin he was probably used to sharing small spaces and finding sleep wherever he can.
He can't sit still for long.
Call it ADHD, restless legs syndrome or general nerves, he probably can't sit still and has to fidget a lot as well. Might conflict with his ability to absorb himself in books for hours on end, but even when reading, I'd imagine him moving a lot (think back to him pacing in front of the fireplace in the Slytherin common room, or his constant walking cycle through the DADA tower, etc.).
His favorite color is green.
Obvious choice, I just needed something to end this with. So here we go. Green for Slytherin, for nature, and maybe, probably hope? Who knows.
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[ 🔞 NSFW Sebastian Sallow Headcanons ]
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request for you to write what you want, tale care of you :3
Thank you very much :)
More random creep headcanons!
Every time Toby and Tim have an argument, after they're done Tim will give Toby a big hug and a kiss on the forehead, especially after a serious argument. Tim started doing this because Toby tends to immediately internalize negative occurrences, and when they first met Toby began to think that Tim actually hated him, when in actuality, Tim seriously loves and cares for Toby like a brother, so it became common for him to do this every time as a way to remind him that he still loves him and they're still family since he's not good with his words. 
A few of the creeps call Slender 'Dad' every now and then, some of them jokingly and some of them seriously, but Toby actually actively calls Slender 'Dad', so long as he's not working, anyway. He does it more often when the two of them are alone, but everyone has heard him do it quite often. Slender never says anything about it because it absolutely melts his heart, and he does view his residents as family, so it's become something that he accepts as he could never tell Toby to stop. After all, how's he supposed to tell him not to call him that when Toby does stuff like excitedly running up to him to show him his latest drawing, yelling out "Dad, look what I did!" so happily and excitedly, and how could Slender NOT hang it on the fridge like the proud parent he is??? Slender might have a hard time admitting it, but he truly views Toby as his son after all these years too. 
Jeff is the coordinated back cracker. If someone needs their back cracked, it's become common for all of them to ask Jeff, and he'll sigh dramatically, and he'll hoist them onto his own back and crack their backs for them. He himself doesn't even remember how it started, but he doesn't have the heart to tell people no, so he just begrudgingly cracks everyone's backs for them. He even gives them a little shoulder rub afterwards too because he knows how demanding their jobs can be on their bodies and everyone is so tense all the time. Tim is Jeff's coordinated back cracker as well, to return the favor. 
BEN bought multiple packages of incredibly tiny ducks, equaling up to 1,000 total ducks, and he has hidden them all in the mansion. Nobody moves them because it makes them laugh whenever they see one, but they've started putting little stickers next to the ones they've found. Every time they find a new duck they think they're one step closer to finding them all. The fools, BEN calls them, as he laughs at them from upon his duck thrown, have only found 568 of them. There are still so many to go. Sometimes he considers removing a few so they can actually feel accomplished, but then the knowledge that he knows where all 1,000 ducks are and nobody else does gets to him, and he decides to leave all of the ducks and watch everyone's confusion grow when he tells them they haven't found them all yet.
Sally has a new little game she plays, where she tries to stick things to people without them noticing. She ended up coming into possession of a very large pack of Post-it notes, and so she decided to just stick them to people with various things written on them to see if she could get away with it. The notes range from compliments like "You look beautiful today!" to things like "You look like a goblin!" and the creeps never know what they're going to get if she succeeds. Sometimes they catch her in the act and she gets all grumbly and says she'll get them next time, sometimes they will knowingly let her do it so she gets excited, and sometimes she will actually do it without anyone noticing. She's gotten everyone successfully at least three times, including Slender. Some of them are much easier than others. She's gotten Toby successfully 57 times. 
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apollosgiftofprophecy · 3 months
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i love thinking about apollos anatolian origins 😵‍💫
It stews in the back of my head too :3
There was this really good podcast on Spotify I found about Ancient Greece, and I listened to his Apollo episode first (because I honestly can't stomach the ones who paint him as 'terrible assaulter'/'epitome of the patriarchy'. Can't stand it. Seriously, there was this so-called 'feminist' mythology podcast i found and I Noped out of there as fast as I could - she didn't even mention Eros's involvement in the Daphne myth! She immediately went 'Apollo: the man who doesn't know the meaning of No' and I was like I'M OUTTA HERE.)
(It's very hard to find good Apollo content out there when you have educated yourself on what he's actually like :( )
(At least you immediately know those people didn't do their research shrug)
Thankfully, this one had a really good, really in-depth discussion about Apollo; his origins, his domains, his myths, ect!
COMPLETELY FREE OF BIAS TOO! HE JUST GIVES YOU THE FACTS, THE SYMBOLISM OF THE MYTHS, HOW THE CULTURE INFLUENCED THEM, ECT!
On my first (and only rn) listen I was like "damn i need to take notes on this sometime" that's how in-depth it is!
Here's the episode link if anybody is interested, btw!
What's cool is that he said that before Apollo came along, oracles and the like weren't as common in Greece - they existed, because Gaea was a thing - however, when he was imported in (possibly also with Leto! She has Anatolian origins too!), oracles became more of a thing as Apollo's popularity skyrocketed!
If you look at the number of Oracles Apollo had, you'd also notice that a lot of them are in Anatolia (Turkey today)!. Didyma, Miletus, Claros, ect ect! I think this just adds to the theory that Apollo's main origins come from Anatolia! When he moved to Greece, oracles came with him!
Which is so cool because in my drafts I currently have a picture of a webchart I made of Apollo's (many) domains, and I narrowed down the ones I think are his Big Ones - and Prophecy is one of them.
Very cool that Prophecy has always been part of him <3
Also, Apollo has many cities he is the patron of in Anatolia - Troy is obvious, but the island of Tenedos was his too (his son Tenes founded the city there), and he was the patron of Miletus (the city where he met Branchus btw for my Branchus fans out there)!
And going to Leto real quick, her migration from Anatolia religion to Greece's is probably represented in the Hymn to Apollo! Sometimes myths about wandering from place to place were meant to symbolize the importation of a god (Aphrodite floating ashore of Cythera, for example), and Leto...well, she was doing a lot more than the typical wandering in the hymn, but it still fits!
Some versions say she was guided to Delos by wolves from Hyperborea, others say Boreas helped her escape Python, still others claim a rooster was present when she finally was able to give birth and thus became her sacred animal (also she apparently gave birth to Apollo as a wolf? I don't quite remember which version says that but it's something I've heard XD).
Also Delos was very self-conscious about Apollo being born on it because it was afraid he would judge it for not being up to typical island standards XD
Moving to Apaliunas now! He's a Hittite god, but I haven't been able to find out of what :( The main piece of evidence we have of his relation with Apollo is Troy - Apaliunas was the god of Wilusa, who has been found out to be another name for Troy! There was a treaty signed between Wilusa and another city, and the representative of Wilusa's name was commonly translated to "Of Ilios" - and Ilios was another name for Illium, aka Troy.
(Fun fact: The son Apollo had with Ourea was named Ileus, after Troy! They are but a footnote in mythology but I made them Important in my Troy fic XD)
Plus, Apaliunas's name was connected to the Hittite reflex of Apeljōn, which scholars have theorized to be an early form of Apollo's name - remember Apollon? :D
Apollo also has connections to various other deities - the Italian Etruscan god Apulu (Aplu), the Celtic god Grannus, his Egyptian equivalent is Horus and his Phoenician one is Resheph! He's also been identified with Baldur from Norse mythology.
Apollo be wearing that trenchcoat, and he is wearing it well XD
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vidavalor · 5 months
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Hello! I trully love your metas ♥️
And I want to believe… but how do you match the fact that they have kissed (even fucked) for so many time with the only kiss we have seen which is so clumsly, so fist-time-type, and so turbovirgin?
Thank you!
Hi @margotmignard-blog Thank you and nice to meet you. :) Ok, this is for you and the few Anons who have sent me more or less the same Ask in the last 2 weeks or so as some of my posts have circulated a bit more so yeah, alright, I'll take it on. All of you please help yourself to hot chocolate and holiday M&Ms, even if you are making me think about Every again to write this lol.
Why do I think Crowley & Aziraphale are long-time lovers when Every is an awkward kiss? Because you know what looks just like clumsy, first-time kisses?
Old-married argument kisses of desperation when all other communication is failing that then wind up failing, too, that's what.
Two people kissing in distress is clumsy and messy no matter what stage of their relationship they're in and if they're upset and think the other is about to walk out the door and conflicted about opening up to the kiss because of the argument then all of that makes for a truly gut-wrenchingly awkward kiss. It didn't read as a first time kiss to me at all but I can understand how it might to someone.
I actually think that's the insanely evil genius of it lol. This show is such a bastard worth knowing, I tell ya. :) Right now, they have everyone being all "they need to have a better second kiss!" and just well... if you were them, wouldn't you want that? Would seem a good way to bury the surprise of an older kiss, wouldn't it? Would be a good way to sleight of hand some doubt into *checks notes* apparently everybody but me and a handful of others lol and so help to have everyone flailing again but for a better reason when they throw in an older, better kiss.
It's also a bolder move, both story-wise and performance-wise. Sadly, it's still a big deal that they've even kissed at all and it shouldn't be but, thankfully, it's becoming more common. In a way, though, that makes the fact that they made the first kiss you saw less than ideal a better choice and a better story.
Some more thoughts on this under the cut below that is beneath some gifs of these two who haven't apparently ever kissed before moments away from sex in the wall slam scene in S1... which is Every's parallel scene. By design. To illustrate a contrast. The first kiss we saw is a mirror of oh, just the start of some casual public sex that got interrupted by SatanicNun!Nina. Haven't we all had that relationship where we let someone throw us against a wall before we ever kissed? I mean...
Look at Aziraphale and his little 'getting up to some sexy trouble' smile here... does he not look like he knows *exactly* what he's asking for here and does Crowley not know what the request is and give it to him in a way that screams that this is not the first time? The tone here is a bit... You know, Crowley, I've always said I wanted to fuck in an empty broom closet in a former satanic nunnery and luck of the devil, you just kicked in a door and found one so you are sooooo nice throw me against the wall baby let's go... oh terrific of course this is exactly when the damn nun shows up oh well at least I can enjoy you slurring your S's in sexual frustration for now...
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Good Omens throws something down and then gives you context for it later on that causes you to revisit what you thought when you initially watched it, right? They do this all the time. The scenes themselves always work fine on first viewing but they change and morph into a different scene when viewed with the added context the show gives you later. If you're writing a show in that way, you absolutely would make Every the first kiss you showed the audience... *especially* if it was in a cliffhanger-y season finale. Your Ask is exactly the reason why. You and I and a bonkers number of others are engaging with one another on the topic and we're engaging with the show as a result. Some of us are apparently willing to fight to the death insisting that Every is their first kiss. Some of us are like how you appear to be from your Ask, where you're willing to keep an open mind but you're leaning towards it was the first kiss. Some of us are like me and are feeling that, when all is said and done, they are building a relationship that is millennia old and that the show will wind up illustrating an entire history of it by its end and the idea that we have scenes out there already like Rome and The Globe Theatre and 1941 and Tadfield Manor but people think that they just kissed for the first time in 2023 is kind of head-scratching to me.
I've had people ask me how an ancient times vavoom would advance the story and I've answered in other meta how I think it would but I have an ask back for you all: how, honestly, would 2.06 being their first kiss advance the story? They've written characters who have had a relationship of some form with one another since before the Garden of Eden and have shown us that story throughout different points in time. S3 is going to be, at best, set a couple of years out from S2 and is probably set a lot sooner than that, so we're going to end their story sometime before 2026 on their timeline, probably... and the first kiss was in 2023? When you have the opportunity to write an entire millennia-old romantic relationship with all of its highs and lows and show it in the flashbacks and how they inform the relationship in the present? Because that story is already there. That's the story I see watching this and have since the first time I watched it. I'm frankly kinda floored by the number of people who insist that it's their first kiss, especially two seasons into the show. The same show that gave you this before it gave you The Blitz, Part 2?
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I got accidentally spoiled for Every like a lot of people and when I saw Crowley's glasses on, I had the feeling that it was probably going to be a terrible kiss. I was hoping that it wasn't the only kiss in the season but when 2.05 finished without it showing up yet, it became obvious that it was going to be a big thing in the finale (hahaha oh God, remember when we didn't know? simpler times lol) and that meant that it was likely the only kiss in the season and while it ripped my heart out like it did everyone else, I never saw it as a first kiss for a second.
If you've been with somebody for a long time and, like everyone else, you have your disagreements and your things to work through but you tend to be the kind of couple where you can always or almost always rely on a baseline of physical communication that helps you express what you feel for one another-- which is a wordy way of saying 'when you've been with someone forever and the sex is amazing' lol-- maybe the worst thing that can happen between you is if that feels like it's falling apart, too. That's what I see in that kiss and, in particular, Aziraphale's reaction to it.
It's not 'turbo-virgin', in an unfamiliar with kissing way, imo-- it's a situation causing conflict for Aziraphale over whether or not he wants to give into the kiss. We've all seen it from every damn angle by now lol. We see him unable to not give in, just a little. He kisses Crowley back a bit. He touches his shoulder and his side. He doesn't pull away because he just can't, really, because he never really wants to not be kissing Crowley, but he also can't just give in because that's the situation that Crowley's set up by kissing him the way he did. Crowley wants him to run away with him and that's not a solution to any of this, either, and everything is a total mess and if Aziraphale just gives in and opens up more and really kisses Crowley, he's saying yes to just running off with him and they can't. There's really nowhere to go.
Even with all of that, he still can't resist kissing Crowley a bit and touching him because Crowley and because what he really wants is for them to be literally anywhere else, somewhere safe away from all of it, without having to worry about Heaven & Hell, but they aren't and he can't pretend that they are. That'd be even crueler, really, to really kiss Crowley and then still go to Heaven, right?
It's not a first kiss and at a bad time panic-- it's oh God, I think we broke it. It's the heartbreak of suddenly being in this place together where they aren't communicating well on any level and that going past having a verbal disagreement and into the pain of having an absolutely brutally bad kiss with someone with whom you've had countless passionate ones and the terror that it might be the last one and you're never going to feel any of that again.
That's happened to them before.
It's the brutal 1862 scene. Aziraphale in 1862's comment about The Agreement is the most embittered you won't touch me anymore thing ever. They've gone from The Arrangement in their looser, flirtier Globe Theatre era to now what Aziraphale calls The Agreement in 1862. The difference between an arrangement and an agreement is basically where the future is concerned. An agreement is, well, an agreement lol but it tends to be more formal, more restrained, while an arrangement is an agreement that contains more of a view to the future. It's a plan. You agree to meet up but you arrange how, basically. They don't have The Arrangement in 1862 anymore, they have The Agreement and it sounds like the exact fucking opposite of The Arrangement. The Agreement is "stay out of each other's way. Lend a hand, as needed," according to Aziraphale.
Read that again: "Stay out of each other's way. Lend a hand, as needed." See a problem here? If we're just talking about helping each other out with work assignments then this literally just doesn't make any sense at all as how can you both stay out of each other's way but lend a hand as needed? It's one or the other. It can't be both. It's "stay out of each other's way" when it comes to work assignments. It's "lend a hand, as needed" in their love life and Aziraphale is bitter as all holy fuck about it. They're barely having sex anymore.
That scene in 1862 actually also parallels part of the scene that contains Every. Funny how alike "we have a lot in common, you and me" sounds to what Crowley says in 2.06, isn't it? Dude has got to stop asking for holy water or to run away when they're both a mess-- it not working lol.
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The point is that they've been together a long time and they've also both experienced a lot of trauma. They've have times where miscommunications snowballed and it felt broken beyond repair but it's not and it's not because they love each other and they eventually figure it out. That's part of the pain of Every, though, because what happened after Crowley came back from Hell in 1827 was bad and it took a long time to get to a better place with it but they did and better than before and then this kiss that they think could wind up being their last is a complete disaster straight out of the mid-1800s on top of the fact that they're in what feels like in the moment irreversible disagreement.
It's a painful kiss. It hurts to watch. It's supposed to. Not because they've never kissed before but because they've kissed a trillion times and this is by far the worst of the lot.
And these bastards decided it was the first one we should see lol. It's okay, though. These are coming soon, in the past and present:
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Helllooooo Eddie blurb idea!!
It's a trope but always one of my favourites - Eddie has a nightmare and needs reader to comfort him? ✨️
Oh God I love this idea, an insomniac who has hella nightmares !! Say Less! I took my sleeping meds so this has not been edited at all. I just wanted to at least get this out before a delirious haze started to set in, before the words started to make no sense to me but alas ..... Thank you so much for this blurb idea my inbox is always open for more !!! Love ya ! @like-what-the-fuck-scoob
Pairing : Eddie Munson x Fem reader
Word count: 1k
TW: I don't think there are any but if you see any please let me know. I do put all my writing under 18+Minors DNI no matter what !!! There is some slight angst but this is truly all Fluff .
Black Clouds and falling ash the swarm came faster and faster no matter how much he willed his feet to move. Vines scattered the ground like veins wrapping into the earth as ivy would the side of a house. All it took for him to lose his footing was a look back over his shoulder and it was already too late. With a searing pain to his abdomen and another to his shoulder, the swarm of Demobats lightly lifted as their teeth sank into Eddie's skin through his flesh and finding bone, a body thrown to the ground as a defense to make their enemy immobilized and Eddie thought of you. The last thing he thought of was you. 
Gasping for air as he shot up, body drenched in sweat, sheets damp. He notices you still haven't made it to bed. A few hours ago he had left you in the living room of your newly shared home with the light of a lamp and a good book he had bought you a few days prior. You had told him how excited you were to start it and his body had been plagued with exhaustion, normally he would have stayed next to you cracking the worn spine of his own novel in hand but he could just barely keep his eyes open then, now he was wide awake. 
He wrapped the quilt off the bed around himself as he made his way down a small hallway and into the living room finding you exactly where he had left you , except this time when he rounded the corner you had a mug of tea and a plate filled with bits of cheese and crackers. A small snack to nibble while you read. 
You only pried yourself away from your book as you felt the cushion of the seat next to you dip with Eddie's body weight. 
“Hey Babe.” Closing your book you set it down on the coffee table. He hums in your direction looking to the floor refusing to meet your eyes. “ Eds ? You okay? You upset I didn't go to bed with you ?” He wasn’t , he couldn’t even remember a time he had even been mad at you. Something he cherished, you just got him, understood what he thought was damage. You had your fair share of tough times. Something you both had in common from the start was how hard it was to let people into your life and to put trust into those people. But the second that you did,  he knew instantly he loved you, even if it did take him five years and almost dying to tell you, but before he could reassure you of that, you started up again.
“I’m sorry I know it’s late.” looking at your wrist the time flashed three fifteen a.m. “ Really late but I just got so wrapped up in this book.” He opens his arms, taking and pulling you across his lap and into the blanket cocoon with him, he nuzzles his face into your hair as he takes a few deep breaths breathing in the delicate waves of coconut and rose, a combination of shampoo and conditioner you liked to use. 
“ I had the nightmare again.” You pull away from him slightly as you place a hand on either side of his face. 
“ Hey It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m okay. See? “ You take one of his hands and hold it over your heart and let him feel the rhythm of the beat and then place it over his own letting him feel his own letting him see that his sounded  just as strong as your own. As his breathing begins to catch his lashes begin to fill with unshed tears letting only one fall over the curve of his cheek, but a swift mover of your fingers wipe the tear away before it can settle along his jaw and take its fall to his neck. “ We made it out of that hellscape okay? We Have A beautiful home, An alive set of friends for your sacrifices , we had the most amazing wedding , wayne is good , life is good and we are here. Me and you, always and forever.” 
“ Always and forever.” A sounded call to the words that left your lips and a small smile crawled across his face. “ Can you come to bed now? I don’t want to go back in  there alone.” It made your heart seize the words that came from him in a soft plea and silent please on his tongue. 
“Anything for you Eds.”  He lifted you both off of the couch in a bridal hold as he started to round the corner he first appeared from, stopping only to lean you down just enough to shut the lamp on the table beside the couch off. 
Sliding you into the sheets of your bed he walked to his side as you threw your shorts off  to the side, opting to sleep in one of Eddie's old worn out band tees and underwear. 
He tossed the quilt back onto the bed letting you get enough around yourself before wrapping an arm around your waist pulling you into his space. Weaving the other beneath your head, finding the hand you would prop under your chin when you slept and fitting his fingers against yours he started to feel whole again . Like the bats didn’t take anything from him at all , with your back flush against his chest he felt as if you were one being not two separate souls.
You started to hum a song , one that always made your anxieties soften and you hoped now it would do the same for Eddie. 
The notes of once upon a dream started to sooth you and you could feel Eddie's body soften and tension ease as the song went on. A small breath to your neck was the only sign that gave away he was still fighting sleep. You tried to match his breathing, finding your own body was becoming lax within his hold. A small whisper before your eyes found the black static behind your lids, a barely audible “ Always and forever .” An echo instinct before slipping completely.
“Always and forever.”
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lrgcarter · 15 days
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So, lots to say about the Cass review, all of which is being said by people more qualified than me.
However, there was one thing I wanted to raise. It's the least of the review's problems in the grand scheme of things, but it has sparked a new Bigot Behaviour you might want to content screen for.
The Cass review says that while some gender is learnt socially, some of it is genetic. Apparently this includes the sort of toys kids play with.
I have seen this lead to multiple bigots linking to a news piece about some chimps who were given toys to play with. Apparently the male chimps enjoyed playing with trucks and the female chimps enjoyed playing with soft toys/dolls.
My disability means I haven't yet had a chance to follow the news piece links to the actual source. But even the news piece quotes the toy givers as saying something akin to 'This doesn't show male chimps are instinctively drawn to trucks. Maybe they preferred the colours or moving parts. Maybe the female chimps just really liked the colour or textures of the soft toys' [paraphrased].
The bigots, however, have pointed past this and said "See! Boys like masculine trucks and girls like feminine dolls!! Cause of their male slash female genes!!!It's just science!!!!"
Now, I know you can all see this is absolute crap. Evolutionary psychology always is.
But I want to highlight three points that I need to get out of my brain before it explodes.
1) I'm a big believer in the principle that palaeoarchaeologists don't have "The Earliest" anything. Earliest fossil showing X feature? Earliest tool of a particular type? No, whichever one we have found, there will be some earlier one that didn't survive or we haven't found yet. Time-Resolution is just hazy like that.
At the same time.
I'm going out on a limb to contradict this principle by saying …
The most recent common ancestor of humans and chimps did not have trucks. I really don't believe we'll be finding evidence that trucks had been invented at that point of time.
Therefore, chimps and humans can't share a "Boys play with trucks" gene from this common ancestor. Even if it existed (which it doesn't) it would at best be a case of convergent evolution.
2) Even if there is gendered play in chimp kids (which is perfectly possible but I suspect is more complicated than "boys like trucks")
Even if there is gendered play in chimp kids, that doesn't mean it's proof of genetic as opposed to socially taught behaviour, because,
get this …
Chimps also learn through social taught behaviour! Loads of animals do!! Different ape species are known to have different social rules!!! So it still doesn't prove there's a "Boys like trucks" gene.
and 3)
3)
And I can't stress this enough …
Humans are not chimps!!!!!
Like, fuck me, a really key point of evolution is that biological features change over time. That's a really basic part of it. So, even if our common ancestor with chimps did have this "boys like trucks" gene, there is no reason to assume we've still got it.
Like, seriously, we're in Jordan Peterson Lobsters Are The Platonic Society territory here.
With these three points, I've given this Bigot Behaviour waaaay more credit than it deserves. As I say, I just needed this out of my brain.
I realise I've only scratched the surface here. And I admit I might be misrepresenting the original research, having only read a piece of press coverage. I'm hoping to do a bit more research into this once I'm in a healthier state.
I also realise that my own phrasing above is sloppy and facetious. I'm venting, not polishing a scholarly essay. Once I've read up on the actual research, I will have more cogent things to say.
But,
At the same time, I realise I'm already falling into the trap of spending too much time arguing something that the bigots said in seconds and that they don't actually care about.
But some people might genuinely be swayed by the idea of monkey science and what it says about us as humans.
Please don't fall for it. It's just not how anything works.
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