#and there's something so simple yet so devastating about having a group of people

[cryptidghostgirl]

Humanity’s Most Favored Fantasy (Alastor x Reader)

Paring: Alastor x Reader

Description: It wasn't love. Alastor didn't feel love, not anymore. He'd lost that part of himself the day he died so it couldn't be love, could it?

Warnings: Look, I'm writing and it's not for a request. Angst. It's always angst. I just love Alastor's inhumanity, what can I say? This bitch is in denial. Also, bodies, blood, death, no gore but like, eh. Also Adam is in this one and he's his own warning. Loose Mistki quoting at one part. Also a loose Sappho quote “pale as grass” and self harm.

Word Count: 2,420

Master Lists:

Master Lists 

Hazbin Hotel Master List

Click here and leave a comment if you want to be added to any taglists or send me an ask.

A/N My classics major side came out a little bit in this one lol. Also I have a big classics major side fic in the wings so if you guys like this, just wait. Also Sir Pentious is from the 1800s so he for sure had a classical education. Also the title came from an article I was reading about the history of witchcraft for one of my classes.

The most complex and yet the most simple of the human emotions. Feared by some, wielded by others, out of reach for many, perennial for more still, and taken as easily as a breath of air by a solemn few. What a strange thing, love.

It was this last category that bewitched Alastor. Even when he had been alive, he had never understood the people like that, the ones who took heartbreak in stride, the ones who shared any love they had the minute they felt it with everyone and everything. The ones who weren't paralyzed by potential loss or violent embarrassment.

The people who feared love made sense. It had a vast capacity for harm, it was able to destroy without a second thought. Even when it was good, love could be devastating. Those who wielded it as their weapon of choice nearly fell into a subcategory of this group. They used other people's fear of the matter against them or they lured people in to get what they wanted and threw them to the curb without a second glance.

Everyone on earth, living or dead, had felt at least once that love was out of their reach, Alastor reasoned. Hopelessness is one of the most vital parts of the human condition, after all.

Perennial was the category in which most people fell. Love came and went. It lived and died, but always returned like the plants he had named this grouping for.

Then there were people like Y/n. Not a day went by where she wasn't explaining how much she adored something random or telling people she loved them, throwing the word around as if it had no weight, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to love, to share love. When Angel had made some snide remark about everything being her alleged 'favorite thing,' Y/n had quickly replied, saying:

"Aren't I lucky for that? Isn't that just wonderful?"

Alastor couldn't tell in which category he fell or what his opinion was about that answer of hers. One thing he did know was that Y/n was to be avoided at all costs.

She was the typical sinner. Never too bad of a person when alive, but never too good either. She wore her hedonism like a badge of honor, living her afterlife in much the same way Alastor assumed she had lived her living life: in a constant state of indulgence.

It wasn't the typical form of being that takes a person's mind when they think of the word. No, Y/n didn't indulge in a reckless, Dionysian way. Instead, she devoured everything. Books, good food, music, friends, you name it. Y/n had a million stories about each and a million examples of the best they all had to offer on hand. She relished in all that every word had to offer.

Alastor had overheard her talking to Charlie one night about that. He hadn't meant to, he had just been wandering the hotel, unable to sleep and in need of some air, when he'd heard a slight commotion in the lobby. Hidden by his shadows, he had entered the familiar space to find an exhausted Charlie standing tensely before a bulletin board.

"God is in the details." Y/n was saying as she adjusted the plans pinned on the structure so they were easier to read, more cohesive, "Anything can be a work of art, don't forget that. It's what makes everything so undeniably worth it."

She was so utterly out of his reach. Not that Alastor wanted Y/n in his reach, no. How ridiculous would that be: the Radio Demon, the most feared overlord in all of Hell, getting butterflies because he heard a girl tell someone else she loved them and imagined it was him. No, that would be utterly foolish which was why it wasn't the case, couldn't be the case. He must be getting sick, that was why his stomach had felt weird.

"What are you reading?" he heard Sir Pentious ask as the snake demon took a seat on the couch beside Y/n.

Alastor was at the bar, sharing a drink with Husk. His ear twitched in their direction.

"It's a book discussing the changes in interpretations of Sappho's poetry over time." Y/n replied, her tone soft and even.

It felt like a salve against Alastor's ears. Husk raised an eyebrow towards his master but made no remark.

"Really? I didn't know you were interested in that sort of thing."

"I was actually a professor in the human world... living world? Whatever. I didn't work on Sappho, I worked on ancient medicine, but I always found her intriguing and lovely. I mean, phainetai moi is creating a diagnosed love, using all the language of medicine. How could it not capture my attention?"

"You know, if you look at Homer, the same language Sappho uses is also used to describe love. She is actually working off a preexisting cannon of love as something painful and destroying."

"Really?"

"Yes, and curse tablets tend to draw off medical writings quite a bit as well, especially those involved in love magic."

"Huh, that’s a neat little intersection I have yet to explore: medicine, magic, and love. I never knew you knew so much about this. You died in the 1890s, right?"

"Sometime around then."

"I should have guessed then, my mistake. Tell me, what was it like growing up with all this wonder at your finger tips? It was hard for me to even find a university with a classics department, let alone a good one. You’re lucky to have had it all right there."

Now that was an interesting idea to Alastor. A diagnosable love, a painful and deadly thing. Love as a curse, love as being shot through by an enemy spear, love as a god. It made more sense to him than anything else about the matter had. Unavoidable, not something self imposed. A cursed love, a medical love, something that controlled a person rather than vice versa.

He lay awake at night, unable to speak, pale as grass, thinking unwillingly of the way her lips curved to form words, of the way one could see the gears of her mind turning behind her eyes. He lay awake, unable to do anything else. He stared at the ceiling.

"Ah! Angel! Thank you!" Y/n exclaimed as he handed her the sweater he'd spotted her eyeing a few days before when they'd been for a walk around town, "This was so kind of you!"

Alastor watched as Y/n pulled the lanky demon into a hug which he reluctantly returned, looking down at her with a platonic version of the sort of fondness that was so forbidden to him.

"Great work Angel!" Charlie clapped excitedly, "That's a step in the right direction."

No, it wasn't love. Alastor Hartifelt didn't love, he had lost that ability the day he had died and he'd barely had it before that. It didn't matter that his heart skipped a beat, there was no truth to his upset stomach when he had to speak to her except something bad he must have eaten. The sleeplessness wasn't new, sleep had never been his friend so to speak, the two had never really gotten along. The reason it got so stuck in his head, the way she threw her affection around, was the carelessness of it all, the foolishness. Only, what he had overheard her saying to Charlie that night, that anything can be a work of art, were the words of someone who acted purely on intention, who did nothing without considered thought.

Y/n couldn't be a wielder of love. Alastor never once saw her manipulate someone or even really ask anyone for anything at all. There was no way she was scared and the way she freely gave took her out of the other two categories as well. It didn't make sense. The intention, the earnestness, the true meaning behind her actions and words that always seemed to shine through no matter what she did, was what had him stuck. She barley even fit into her own category because of it. Most people that threw love around the way she did had the words and actions lose their meaning over time but, somehow, that seemed never to be the case for her.

He pictured a life on earth. He pictured walking with her beneath the stars, the way the light of the moon would play gently across her skin. He pictured her in the recording studio, the one he'd worked at while alive, waiting by the door for him to finish his work and taking him by the hand, dragging him off into the unknown. He pictured waking up beside her in the morning, all messy hair and smiles. He pictured, he dreamed, he dissolved. The doctors diagnosed him and he went to see other people because he didn't like the answer they gave him.

Y/n pulled Vaggie from her seat at the bar, spinning the demon into an ungraceful waltz to the music Alastor was playing on the piano for the group. He nearly fumbled, nearly missed a note. She missed so many steps and it didn't matter because she was laughing, and so was Vaggie. She didn't have to be perfect, but he did.

They each smiled ear to ear while Charlie clapped along to the beat. He imagined himself in Vaggie's place, he could practically feel his hands on the gentle curve of her hips. The world was half real.

It wasn't love because he didn't know her, he never spoke to her. It wasn't love because that was impossible, he couldn't love. It wasn't love because that was an ability he'd left in the world of the living. It wasn't love because she was too kind, too good, and he was nothing if not brutal and bloodstained to his core. It wasn't love because it couldn't be. It wasn't love because if it was...

It's not love. It's not love. It's not love.

He repeated the mantra to himself. Alone walking the halls, in meetings with the other overlords, making tea in the kitchen. He whispered the words to himself like a prayer.

It's not love. It's not love. It's not love.

Y/n was out of reach, untouchable, destined to join the ranks of Heaven while he remained rotting in Hell. It couldn't be anything else, no other future was possible which was why it wasn't love. She was made of all the things a human is and he was made of those a monster is. She was bright, she shined, and Alastor fed off the light of others, burning it out into darkness. He refused to do such a thing to her, he couldn't. Not when she was practically the sun. Not when he wasn't even a star but the black hole of the earth revolving around her.

He saw her holding Husk's hands over the bar top as he told her something, a look of deep concern etched into her features. He watched her pick Nifty up by the waist so the little demon could dust the tops of the bookshelves. He watched her, he waited, he would always be waiting because nothing could ever happen. Nothing would ever happen, he wouldn't allow it and goddamnit it wasn’t love.

It was also impossible, Alastor reminded himself. He had left that part of himself when he had died, it hadn't made the journey with him. The most favored fantasy of his own humanity, or what was left of it. The little spark of the person he had been that glowed softly from the center of his chest. Alastor had tried to douse it, tried to kill it, tried to rip it from himself but all he'd ever ended up with was bloody hands and torn flesh and the light pulsed on in its eternal hunger, its eternal hope, its eternal harm.

And then it was too late. Then, she really was gone, double dead or however anyone wanted to call it. Adam dropped her lifeless corpse to the ground and Alastor's world crashed in around him because no matter how many times he had said it wasn't, no matter how he had avoided her, no matter what he had done it had been love, or the beginnings of it at least. The closest thing to it he'd ever really felt. His hand tightened around the staff of his microphone. Alastor bared his teeth, he saw red.

"What have you done?"

Adam turned to him, grinning. Y/n deserved a viking funeral, to be surrounded by flowers and sent off in a burning boat. She deserved a Greek burial, reduced to ashes and buried with all the proper rites that made sure she would make it to the afterlife. She deserved, she was owed, he was angry.

"What." Adam laughed, "Was she your little bitch?"

Alastor didn't think he had any room left inside him for the fury, but found his rage redoubled at Adam's words.

"What did you just call her?"

"Your little bitch." Adam smirked, "She was a cute one, shame you all are gonna have to burn. Woulda kept her for myself."

Adam looked down, nudging Y/n's lifeless corpse with the toe of his shoe. Alastor attacked. There was no thought, no order, no grace, there was only the anger. Only now that it was too late, was he at last able to let loose, be less than perfect, exist in an unintentional manner. Or was it that this was the true meaning of intention -- reckless abandon? Y/n probably would have thought that. It didn't matter. It didn't matter what she would have thought, what any of them did think. It was too late. There was no more time and Alastor had come to terms with his own frailty a second past the buzzer. He would never forgive himself.

"You will pay for what you have done. You will die for what you have done."

Because it had been love, all along and Alastor, who had thought himself above it all, had been in that first group. He had been scared, not of what love could do but of what Y/n would, of what she had already done to him. Now it was too late and he would never get another chance.

"You will fucking die!"

----

Part Two --> → Humanity's Most Favored Fantasy pt. 2

#x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #alastor the radio demon #x reader fics #hazbin hotel x reader #alastor x reader #radio demon x reader #the radio demon x reader #the radio demon #radio demon #hazbin #alastor hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel x you #hazbin hotel x y/n #x reader fanfic #angst

[xhoneygirlxx]

Fade Me

Older!Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

summary: your night is ruined when your date is a no show. maybe the handsome stranger at the end of the bar can fix it.

warnings: slight angst. reader is 30, Eddie is early 40s. Modern au! Reader's date sucks. Eddie is a sweetheart. Fluff. Swearing. Shitty writing and grammar mistakes!!! Not proofread!!!! Also Minors go away, I'm an 18+ blog.

*if I missed anything lmk

a/n: WELCOME TO MY BIRTHDAY BASH EVERYONE!!!!!!! I'm so excited to be celebrating with all of you guys!! This isn't my best work but I think its cute and that's all that matters. Love you all and hope you guys like this <3

Oh, maybe, you could devastate me.

Little lady, come and fade me.

Everything at the moment was pissing you off, setting spark to the last small fuse that sat within you. The pain from sitting on the hard bar stool was shooting pain right to your tailbone, not going away no matter how many times you switch your position. The unforgiving squeeze of the uncomfortable heels radiated pain all over your feet and you knew they would be swollen in the morning. The group of rowdy girls at the back of the bar were shrieking with joy over something you have no idea about, but you did know that you wanted to drag all of them by their scalp and remove them from the bar. 

This was stupid, so fucking stupid, and you knew from the very start that it wasn’t going to work. It never does and the next time you see your friends, they aren't going to hear the end of it. Dating sites and dating in general were things you didn’t like to partake in and for good reason. 

Out of all your friends, you happened to be the only single one and you were fine with that, but they weren’t. They begged you, since the moment you broke up with your college sweetheart, to get back out into the dating world. It was actually irritating that they cared so much about your relationship status so much, if you were hooking up with anyone, all under the guise of wanting you to be happy. Truthfully they did want you to be happy and they knew you craved having a relationship, but you were pissed and wanted to stew in your own anger.

Well, right now you were everything but happy. In fact you were furious. Furious with yourself, with them, and most importantly your stupid ass date, Luke. After your thirtieth birthday, your friends all but tackled your phone out of your grasp, making you a stupid tinder profile. 

“Thirty is the new twenty one, babe,” Dahlia said as she and the two other girls scrolled through pictures to post. 

Twenty one your ass, you think, especially with the way you’re fighting a yawn at only nine thirty on a Friday night. 

So you gave in, swiped on a few different people who snatched your attention, one of them being Luke. He was handsome, smiling brightly with a bottle of Corona in his hand and a pair of Raybans perched on the bridge of his nose. His bio was simple, straight to the point, and it was the least douchey thing you’ve read while on the app. 

After making short conversation, you learned that he was an investment banker, working in the Citibank building downtown. His interests were the same as yours, very shy yet loved to have a good time with friends. The best selling point was his dog, Cali, that could be seen in a few of the other pictures he had. 

You were sold, with his witty banter and the fact that he had his life together at thirty two didn’t make the decision hard, especially when all the other people you know that are your age don’t have a solid plan. Which in argument's sake is fine, however you weren’t getting any younger and the want to get married and start a life with someone was getting strong, even though you’d never admit it to your friends. 

So that’s why you’re sitting in a swanky bar in downtown Indy, waiting patiently for your date, who happens to be an hour late, in a dress you spent sixty dollars on. It was a pathetic feeling really, putting this much faith into a stranger in the hopes of finding the one. It’s actually why you didn’t want to do it in the first place and why your friends would have to face your wrath when you get home. 

The buzzing of your phone on the wooden bar jolts you awake, the wave of adrenaline coursing through your veins making your heart pump erratically. 

IMessage 

Luke: Sorry for the last minute text but I’m not going to be able to make it tonight. Had to stay late at the office today, I hope you understand. 

With a defeated sigh you turn your phone face down, not having the energy to cuss the asshole out for making you wait so long. Pulling your focus on the bartender, you flag him over and order a martini. Dry martini. Very dry. 

When the man places the glass in front of you, he gives you a weak smile as if he knows what’s happening. He probably does know what’s happening, he’s probably seen this happen more times than he’d like to admit and it only adds to your frustration. 

Muttering a small thanks, you take a big swig from the crystal glass, letting the liquor burn down your esophagus. It hits your stomach causing an instant burn, more fuel to the fire that’s been shimmering below the surface. The pity you started to feel has now turned into a new found rage. 

Quickly picking up your phone, you ignore the burn from the sting of the bright light, and tap on Luke’s text. 

Staring at it, you can feel the fire ripping through your body, all the anger and embarrassment you’ve let build up while sitting here coming out as you read his last message. 

Luke: Sorry for the last minute text but I’m not going to be able to make it tonight. Had to stay late at the office today, I hope you understand.  

You: That would’ve been awesome to know about an hour ago. Thank you for wasting my Friday night asshole. 

Before you can text more insults, a gruff voice interrupts the quick tapping of your acrylic nails on the screen.  

“Trust me sweetheart, he’s not worth it.” Pulling your gaze from your phone, you try to find the owner of the voice. 

Turning to your right you see him, two seats away from you, tucked away into the corner at the end of the bar. You’re not sure when he got there or if he’s been there the whole time but his presence alone is pissing you off. You’re ready to aim your dagger like tongue at him and tell him to go fuck himself when you take in his appearance. 

A plain black tee shirt pulled taunt across his broad chest, tattooed arms squeezed by the material just right. On his hands sits more black ink and nice silver rings, gleaming in the low light of the bar. His hair is brown with a streak or two of salt and pepper mixed in, wisps of hair framing his face from where it fell out of the low bun it’s been pulled into. The crows feet by his eyes are fitting, especially when his dimpled smile is peaking through from where it sits behind his glass of whiskey. 

He seems older, at least from the discolored hair and stubble on his chin, but he’s very handsome. Actually he’s hot and if you weren’t so mad right now, you’d be flirting with him. That’s not the case though, not when he has a smug ass smile on his face like he’s all knowing. 

“What d’you know?” You bite back, waiting for the handsome stranger to answer. When he takes more than a second to answer, you cock an eyebrow at him like it’s taking him too long. 

“I shouldn’t have assumed,” He replies cooly, putting his glass down on the coaster, “Don’t text her, it’s not worth it.” When his eyes meet yours, you can’t help but stop breathing. 

Big brown eyes looking right at you, so soft and gentle. You sink into the warmth of his eyes on you, almost letting yourself drift away. But you’re mad and this stranger is the perfect person to let it all out on. 

“No they’re not a she, and even if it was you don’t know anything.” You look back down at your phone, tapping away at your keyboard finishing what you had started. When you hear him huff out a laugh, the frown that was on your face before quickly deepens. 

“You’re right, sweetheart, I don’t know anything. What I do know is when a pretty girl like yourself has been sitting alone at a bar for longer than an hour and suddenly starts tapping away on that thing, like you are right now, I know she’s been stood up.” 

His statement brings you right back out of your phone, willing yourself not to wipe that ‘know it all’ look right off of his pretty face. Your scowl is piercing right through him, hating the way that he could see right through you and yet not having a clue who you were. 

“Hey, I’m not judging,” He throws his hands up in surrender, “But I promise, whatever douche made someone as stunning as you, wait in a bar this long for ‘em, doesn’t deserve you. Plus, you’re too pretty to be lookin’ that angry.” He picks his glass up, finishing off the rest before nodding to the bartender for another. 

In any other situation you’d be telling them off, yelling at them to get lost, but something about this stranger feels different. You could write it off and say it’s because he’s attractive but in all actuality, it’s because he’s gentle when he says it. His eyes aren’t roaming your body like some pig, hoping to get into your panties by sweet talking to you. It’s like he actually cares about you, the stranger in her pretty dress who has been stood up by her date, like he’s known you his whole life. 

Slowly you set your phone down, relaxing the sour look on your face, and you take a deep breath. The last thing you want to do is cry, especially in a bar, and especially in front of the caring hot stranger. 

“Is it that obvious?” You ask shyly, picking up your martini glass for another sip. The man shakes his head, moving his posture so that he’s leaning towards you. 

“Don’t do that,” he says, “Don’t start thinking down on yourself. Yes it was a little obvious but my suspicion grew more when you didn’t order a drink after sitting at a bar for five minutes.” 

The statement makes you laugh wetly when he says it, a single tear escaping your eye causing you to wipe it hoping it’s not noticeable. If he sees it, he doesn’t say anything, instead moving over to the seat next to you. 

“Listen, don’t let whatever dickhead person ruin your night. From what I’ve witnessed you’re a pretty badass chick, so whatever frat bro did this to you should be scared.” An inked hand places a white napkin in front of you, a peace offering that you’re quick to take. 

“That’s the worst part, he’s not even a frat bro. He’s a finance bro.” When you chance a look up at him, he’s looking right back at you, pearly white teeth staring at you. 

In a split second he’s laughing, a deep belly kind of laugh with his head thrown back. As much as you want to defend yourself, tell him that Luke wasn’t your first choice, you can’t. Following suit, you start giggling as well, placing the white napkin to the corner of your eye to collect any unushered tears. 

“I gotta tell you sugar, that’s even worse.” The pet name doesn’t get lost on you, heart stuttering the minute it falls from his lips. Trying to pull yourself together, hoping he didn’t see the way you stiffened at the name, you clear your throat. 

“Tell me about it,” You playfully roll your eyes, taking a sip of what’s left of your drink. 

When you move your sight back over to him, he’s leaning back, dimples showing off, almost like he knows something you don’t. He does know something however, he knows that he has some sort of effect on you, watching you with pink flushing your cheeks and it’s not from the alcohol. 

“So,” You break the silence, “Sugar, huh?” You furrow your brows questioningly and it only makes him smile bigger than before. 

When he leans forward you catch a whiff of his scent, pine and cedar, musky and smoky. He’s even prettier up close and your eyes are trying to map out every detail of him so that you can remember it when you go to sleep tonight, dreaming of the good looking stranger who made your night better. 

“Well, between the softness of your laugh and your scowl that could kill,” his voice is low and husky, saying a secret for only you to hear, “You have a little bit of sugar and spice. Kind of like that cartoon with the badass power wielding girls.” 

“Do you mean the PowerPuff Girls?” Cocking your head to the side you laugh, his true age showing in the way that he described the Cartoon Network show. 

“I’m showing my true age, huh? Well, in my defense I was fifteen and you probably weren’t born yet.” His crows feet become more defined. Shaking your head, you wave to the bartender for another martini. 

“Actually, I was five but you were close enough.” His eyes go wide in shock with your admission. When another glass is placed in front of you, you send a smile to the bartender and he gives you one back. 

Looking back at the man next to you, you raise an eyebrow, questioning why he’s so surprised at your age. Blowing out a big breath it seems he’s been holding the whole time, he takes a swig of his own drink. 

“Sorry, I just,” he sighs, looking back up at you quizzingly, “wow, you’re really thirty?” Although there’s no malice behind his question, you can’t help but frown at him. He notices and immediately back tracks. 

“Fuck, no not like that I just meant,” You wait for him to dig himself a deeper hole. When he finally gets his thoughts together, he looks at you, really looks at you and it makes you want to melt. “Listen, I really didn’t mean it like that, I promise. Honestly, I felt like a perv when I first started talkin’ to you, thinkin’ you were like twenty one. When you said you were thirty, I was just surprised, that’s all. Maybe a little excited knowing I might have a chance.” 

You take in what he says to you, how sincere his voice is, and you know he isn’t lying. You don’t want to give in so fast though, you want him to sweat it out a bit. So you take a sip of your drink, your eyebrow still arched in fake annoyance. With an extra shot of courage, you look over at him, fake pout on your red stained lip. 

“How can you have a chance when I don’t even know your name?” Your voice is like silk, smooth and soft. The older man clearly likes it, the way a smirk is formed on his pink kissable lips is a clear indicator. 

“M’Eddie, Eddie Munson,” He offers you his ringed hand for a handshake, “And you are?” You give him your name and he hums with delight. “A pretty name for a pretty girl.” 

You snort loudly at his comment, covering your mouth to stop from any further laughter from falling from your lips. Eddie arches an eyebrow at you, questioning what you found so funny. 

“I’m sorry, that was just so corny.” Another giggle slips from you and the cool facade he had crumples, laughing along with you. 

“S’pretty bad, huh?’ He scrunches his nose and you think it might be the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. 

“Yeah it was bad, who told you that would work?” You take a sip of your martini and look at him from over the rim of your glass. 

Chuckling and shaking his head, Eddie rubs his forehead as if he’s stressed. Now he’s the one fumbling and nervous, you got him in the palm of your hand. 

“Goodness, it was going so well too.” You continue to tease, the playfulness dripping from your voice. Looking over at you Eddie can’t help but smile, those damn dimples back on display. 

“You’re trouble, sugar.” It’s said with the utmost confidence and it has you blushing.

“Oh you haven’t seen anything yet, babe.” It’s an invitation for him to find out and you hope he catches it. 

“How about I find out on Sunday over dinner and some drinks? What do you say?” Eddie leans into you when he says it, getting the closest he’s been to you, letting his husky voice fill your ears. 

Trying to hide the chill that runs up your back and the excitement that settles in your belly, you lean in just as close. “I’d say you have a date, pretty boy.” 

The two of you stay like that for a minute, smiling like giddy teens. Breaking away from the small moment, he pulls his phone out from his pocket, unlocking it and opening up the phone app to type in a new contact. 

Handing you the phone, his face seems boyish and giddy, you’re sure if he wasn’t sitting he’d be bouncing on the ball of his feet. Typing in your number, you shyly smile up at him handing back his phone. 

“I better hear from you Eddie Munson or finance bro won’t be the only one gettin’ his ass kicked.” Pointing a finger at him, you try your best to look as mean as possible but your plan quickly fails when you see his eyes shining at you. 

“Yes ma’am.” Throwing a wink at you, he reaches into his wallet and pulls a crisp hundred out and places it on the bar top. “I’ll be seein’ you soon, sugar.” Wrapping his fingers around yours, he places a kiss to the back of your hand. 

The feeling of his lips on your skin makes you ache for more, and the moment it’s gone you wish you can make him do it again. Pulling your lip in between your teeth, you look up at him like he’s hung the stars. 

The moment is cut short when the bartender asks Eddie if he wants change. Surprisingly he doesn’t look at the older man with anger for ruining it, instead he gives him a nice smile. 

“No Paul, the change is all yours. Also, this beautiful young lady’s drinks are on my tab.” Nodding his head, the bartender thanks Eddie for the generous tip. 

Pulling his attention back to you, he cuts you off before you can chastise him for paying. “Let me pay for the pretty girl who made my whole night, it’s the least I can do.” 

Rolling your eyes, you try hard to not let him see how flustered you are. When he bids you a goodnight, you can’t help but feel the ache of his absence. The whole time you’re in the Lyft home you think of him, staring out the window and replaying everything in your head. 

Once you get home, you sit in silence on the end of your bed, not worrying about the shower you need to take. You can’t believe the luck you had in meeting Eddie and a part of you wants to thank Luke for not showing up. 

The ding of your phone pulls you out of your thoughts, your heartbeat picking up when you read your screen. 

Maybe Eddie: Hey it’s Eddie, just wanted to make sure you got home safe. I wanted to ask if you could thank that loser for not showin up, he really did both of us a favor tonight. 

When you read it, you can’t help but giggle a little. Although corny and maybe a little dorky, Eddie had thought the same thing as you and for some reason it sent the butterflies in your tummy on a rampage. 

Maybe Eddie: You’re totally laughing at me right now, aren’t you?

Bursting into laughter, your tummy flips in excitement, imagining him blushing on the other side of the phone. Tapping away on your screen, you send him a reply. 

You: Oh you know it 😉

You: Thank you for making sure I got home by the way, I appreciate it. 

Eddie: I should’ve known. Glad you got home in one piece. 

Eddie: Night, sugar. See you Sunday 🖤

Fuck a text, you were going to send Luke a thank you card and maybe some chocolate.

I hope you guys liked this! I can't wait to continue this week with all of you! See you all tomorrow with the next fic :)

-

-

-

-

#eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson x you #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson x female reader #honey's birthday bash #honey's holiday celebrations

[takeme-totheworld]

I don't have the energy right now to try to recreate the post I accidentally yeeted into the void, but I've been having lots of feelings about the ongoing fandom discussion of Aziraphale's decision at the end of S2.

I wasn't surprised by his decision at all. The minute he said "I think I might have misjudged the Metatron" I had an immediate, overwhelming feeling of "OH NO" because I saw exactly where the scene was going. And I was right! I felt zero surprise when the episode ended the way it did. (Devastation, yes. Surprise, no.)

Not only that, I was shocked at how shocked everyone else was. Because I grew up in a toxic religious community, of which I was a very devoted and enthusiastic member until young adulthood. So I have firsthand experience with that kind of indoctrination, and know exactly what a mindfuck it is.

Look, it's possible that there's something else going on under the surface, that Aziraphale was being coerced or that he was lying to Crowley in order to protect him or that he was trying to send Crowley a coded message and it failed or whatever. I'm not the creator of this story, I don't know. But what deeply distresses me is how often I've seen people say that it has to be one of those other things because if it isn't—if Aziraphale made his decision of his own free will because he actually believes that Heaven is the side of good, or at least that it once was and will be again if it can just solve the whole bad leadership problem—that means he's either unforgivably cruel or unforgivably ignorant or both.

It's a painful reminder for me, every time, of the fact that if you are the victim of this type of indoctrination, a lot of people will assume that it's your own fault for being gullible enough to believe such obviously ridiculous and wrong things. (Hint: it's only obvious from the outside! Because if you're on the outside, you are not having your mind directly and repeatedly fucked with!) Or that if you've been exposed to contradicting information, but you still continue to believe the things that were indoctrinated into you, it's because you're willfully choosing to stay clueless.

And that is just not how that works. Yes, some people cling to their indoctrination because they're genuinely happy with their lives as part of whatever institution, because it stacks the deck in their favor in some way, because they like having a respectable-sounding excuse to be bigoted jerks, or whatever. But there are also lots of people who have just legitimately had their minds twisted into pretzels by years or decades (or in Aziraphale's case, millennia) of mental conditioning and manipulation.

You can generally tell the difference between the two. At least, if you come from the kind of background I do, you can. But I imagine that even if you didn't, it's probably fairly obvious once you get to know people who is a shitty person using their religion as an excuse to be shitty, and who is a fundamentally decent person who has just had their mind so thoroughly fucked with that they've been manipulated into believing total bullshit.

And breaking the latter group out of their conditioning isn't as simple as just "show them information that contradicts what they've been taught," as much as we all wish it could be. It's a long, messy, and traumatic process. Your entire worldview falls apart and it's terrifying. You lose a community and an identity in the process. And there's often debilitating guilt afterward, about the person you were and the things you did and said while you were still in it.

So I watched the ending of S2 and my reaction was, "Well, of course Aziraphale said the things he said and made the decision he made, he's not free of his programming yet." It made all the sense in the world to me even as it was excruciatingly painful to watch, because there was a time in my life when I made decisions every bit as jaw-droppingly fucked up and incomprehensible to outside observers, decisions I look back on now and still want to shake my younger self by the shoulders and scream "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU??" And the end of S2 took me right back to that time in my life, when my head was so thoroughly messed up that I made terrible decisions that hurt myself and alienated the people around me, all while wanting nothing more in the world but to be a good person and do the right thing. And I imagine that when Aziraphale finally breaks out of his own indoctrination he is going to be horrified and devastated by a lot of what he did and said, not to mention the betrayal of how thoroughly he was manipulated and gaslit.

Yes, I am projecting hard onto Aziraphale. Yes, this is just my own theory about the final 15. But I don't see anything in the story that flat-out contradicts this reading of his character. And honestly, I care less about the veracity of my interpretation than I do about the fans saying things like "I can't take the final 15 at face value because it would make Aziraphale a terrible person," or "If he really believed that stuff he was saying, Crowley should make him beg and grovel for at least a century before taking him back" or even "if he really believed that stuff, he deserves to have Crowley never speak to him again."

Just...as a person who used to be heavily indoctrinated and has to live with the memory of who I was and what I believed back then for the rest of my life, it's incredibly distressing.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 spoilers #aziraphale #the final fifteen #religious trauma #religious indoctrination #religious deconstruction #oh look i said i had no energy and then i wrote this much anyway #i'm very normal about this

[cladestine]

req: a classic chasing trope with jennie when it's the reader who was chasing after her but keeps getting rejected?

genre: fluff, sad fluff, fluffy fluff fluff

warning: dejected feeling on getting rejected (i guess?)

note: ask or req is open, link in bio hehe.

If you can describe in a song how many times Jennie rejected you, then it is the lyrics from Bieber that go something like "by once or twice, I mean maybe a couple a hundred times"—yep, that song.

"That's too cliche, do better," "nah, not buying it," and the infamous "you're funny. but that won't do" — that's Jennie's holy trinity of responses. 

You and Jennie hit it off when you were testing the girls' microphones and Jennie walked in wearing her overly big glasses and an oversized hoodie—for some people, it looked plain and simple, but for you, it is the most beautiful form of Jennie; one where she does not have any makeup on and is her most comfortable self. So when Jennie walked past you, you accidentally blurted out on one of the microphones how pretty and stunning she was. Luckily, the microphone worked, so what you just said echoed throughout the whole dome, and that, folks, was when the friendship started.

Since Jennie knows that you have a crush on her, you bravely ask her if you can take her out on a date. She smiled at you, the most genuine and sincere smile that you've seen from her; a smile that made your heart dance a little and skip a beat; that smile that made you fall for her even more. "Ask me next time. I might say yes," she playfully said, and you swear that you almost fainted right there and then—it's been four months since that conversation transpired, and here you are, chasing the hell out of her up until today. 

You are watching Blackpink from afar. You are at one of the venues where Blackpink will perform on their world tour. Since your boss doesn't need you yet, you sneak onto the sidelines and watch them. You tried to watch them as a group, but your gaze was always drawn to Jennie. You look at her in such awe and conclude that she deserves all of the recognition that she gets.

"Ji-yong is in the backstage. I think she's waiting for Jennie" one of the staff said. "Really? Ji-yong is here. He is my ultimate crush" another staff sighed in envy— they're talking so loudly that you can't help but overhear their conversation. 

Jennie is allowed to date anyone she wants. If Jennie is dating Ji-Yong, you don't have any problem with that. Some say you'll chase Jennie forever, but little do they know, you've given yourself an ultimatum: if you see Jennie's smile, that angelic smile when you asked her out four months ago, on other of her suitors then, it's time for you to stop; fortunately, you haven't seen that smile on other people yet, so you figured you still had a chance. 

Your feet dragged you onto the stage. It's not that you are curious about the conversation you overheard a while back. To be honest, you just want to see the dynamics that Jennie and Ji-yong have. You acted like you were fixing something, but, in reality, your peripheral vision is focused on them. You raise your eyebrow when you observe how comfortable they are with each other. Ten minutes have passed and Ji-yong is about to leave, but before he leaves, he whispers something in Jennie's ear; and how you wish you had not seen that interaction. You've seen how Jennie responded to Ji-yong's whisper—it is one of those smiles that Jennie gave you four months ago. You were devastated, to say the least, but you composed yourself and left the backstage to get some fresh air.

Three days have passed After that Jennie and Ji-yong incident, you managed to get yourself together and gain enough courage to talk to Jennie to sort things out between the two of you. Even if Jennie doesn't like you, you owe her an explanation that you will now stop asking her to go on dates—or in your terms, you will now stop chasing her. So here you are knocking on the door of Jennie's dressing room waiting for her to let you in. "It's open. come in, " Jennie said.

"What brings you here?" Jennie continued You are nervous and your palms are sweaty. You're at a loss for words, so you blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "your smile," you said in embarrassment. Jennie looked at you puzzled but waited for you to finish whatever you were saying. 

"Your smile, Jennie. It's one of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen in my life. It is a mix of beauty and innocence. You smile a lot, but there's this one smile that marks my heart on its way to you. It's that smile when I asked you on a date four months ago. It's the smile that I held on to for too long, Jennie. When I saw that kind of genuine smile of yours, I thought that it was made for me. I thought that I was the only one that could make you smile like that, so I made an ultimatum to myself that when I see that smile on someone else, I'll stop nagging you and be contented with us being friends, " you nervously said

"And? I'm confused here… I appreciate the compliment, but I am lost on what you are trying to say, "Jennie said. She saw how serious you were, so she cautiously asked you to continue.

I accidentally saw you and Ji-yong on the backstage a while back. Ji-yong whispered something into your ear, and you smiled—the smile for which I became fond off. Well, it is nice that I've seen that smile again, but it pains me that I am not the recipient end of it, " you said with utmost sincerity; letting it all out felt like a heavy burden fading away on your body. Besides, the staffs are shipping you two together, so before I make it uncomfortable for you, I'll stop chasing you, Jennie. What do you think? friends? " you extended your hand and did what you do best—to humour your way out of scenarios like this, but Jennie did not buy it and walked away.

You are confused why Jennie walked away. Your best guess is that she got offended when you brought up that you'd seen her and Ji-yong. You assumed that Jennie wanted to keep it a secret, so you took note that the apology would be something along the lines of "I won't tell any single soul about your relationship with Ji-yong." Yes, that would be it.

The girls are now doing their sound check. It was all going great when Jennie blurted out something on her microphone "We are talking about you. The whisper was about how you were so obvious looking at us. Ji-yong is teasing me with you." She said out of nowhere. You are flabbergasted. Your mouth agape. It would be half as wide if Jennie just told you face-to-face, but damn, she said it on a microphone—for all of the staff to hear. A silence echoed after that speech by Jennie. The silence ended when one of the staff whistled and shouted, "Let's go, Jennie. "Get the girl" The crowd laughed, and Jennie got shy, but managed to get her composure back.

"Y/n go on a date with me?" Jennie said. The staff at the venue erupted into squeals and whistles. "Let me worry about YG later. So what you'd say?" She continued. Jennie spotted you on the far end of the dome, and you are amazed at how brave she was. The producer pointed the camera at you and you laughed at how silly all the staff were, but you made it an opportunity to get your marker in your back pocket and the bond paper beside you. You wrote something on it and showed it to the camera—Jennie read it and you've seen her smile; the infamous smile that was only made and meant for you.

"Ask me next time. I might say yes" you've written on the paper. 

#blackpink x reader #jennie #jennie imagines #jennie scenario #jennie x reader #jennie fluff #jennie kim x reader #jennie reactions #jennie scenarios #jennie kim

[feralferretxp]

Headcanon: Bang is from a rich household/had a noble upbringing

Alright, I know this post is quite long compared to what I normally post. Just kinda went off with it, heh. I've had this post idea for a loooooong time but finally got around to this, so let's go!

So I don't know how many people also think this, but I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that Bang is from a wealthy family and had some sort of noble upbringing. Like kinda Similar to Shaggy from Scooby Doo (these two actually have a lot in common the more I think about it) But anyway, I'm gonna give some evidence to support this headcannon.

First off is his full name: Bangford Bipplebop III. I mean, come on, that's one fancy sounding name. Plus, this means he's part of a lineage of some sort.

Now for clips:

In the 1st clip, Bro's legit using gold as a napkin while eating chocolate. He loves that bar of chocolate more than a bar of gold, which is saying something. Either he has no worries about wealth or just that he's a big foodie. Could be both ngl

The 2nd one is just him showing off his money. I mean, nothing really to add here. I know it could just be for a gag, but still.

So Bang doesn't show concern about wealth. Plus, look at Bing's reactions of concern and shock in both clips, which would be a typical person's reaction to seeing these things, but Bang just rolls with it, I guess.

I could also go off about the whole "Stocks" episode in Answer Time S2, where Bang basically gets dragged into starting a multi-billion dollar business that he didn't even want to start at all. He just wanted to learn what stocks are for a question. When the company's stocks plummeted, he wasn't as sad or devastated as Sue, the investor who helped start the business. He was never in it for the money or cared about having it.

Another point is that he's shown to have proper etiquette and manners, despite being depicted as laid-back dude who's very relaxed.

The 3rd clip is when 341B was talking to Lady Eleanor III, a royal architect for the Queen. While the other members chatter and greet her casually, Bang merely waves politely and even puts his hands behind his back as a sign of respect. What a distinguished little gentleman

And the 4th one is when they said hello to a kid named "King" and Bang does a kneel/bow gesture. Bing also does this, but I think he does it in a more silly/less serious way because you would think then that this is a group gag for all of them to bow, yet Bo doesn't. Bang does it more formally.

So yeah, Bang knows proper etiquette when dealing with noble people, so he must've learned this somewhere. Perhaps when growing up.

I just also like this headcanon in general since even if he had a wealthy upbringing, he's very humble and kind. He's not snooty or upright, which not saying all rich people are like that, but just showing how he made his own choice at one point in his life to just be loose and down to earth. He doesn't care about having wealth, but rather values friendships and the simple pleasures of life. Plus with him being super coded as a hippie type, I imagine he went that route despite what his parents wanted or expected of him, with Bang also being part of a lineage and such.

I do wonder if we will ever get to see his or the rest of 341B's families and what they're like. I'm just really curious and love learning about the worldbuilding of the storybot world and seeing glimpses of 341B's lives outside of work. I love seeing stuff like that in stories.

But yeah, let me know what you guys think or want to add to this theory/headcanon! I don't personally think this is something hard to get behind, I mean, just his name alone gives off some sort of impression that he's not just some average joe off the street.

#long post #theory time #fan theory #headcanon #storybots bang #storybots #ask the storybots #storybots answer time #bang storybots #discussion #discussion post #text post

[irritablepoe]

Ranpoe Fic - Hurt/Comfort

ao3 link

slight cw for self-esteem issues and the fear of being forgotten about; otherwise this is a really cute emotional hurt/comfort fic :3

Summary:

Ranpo forgot me. The realization hit him harder than it should have.

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

Poe was too early. Ranpo and him were supposed to meet in front of the mall in 15 minutes, though Poe was so strangely excited to see Ranpo that he had gotten out of the house early. He considered sitting down in the café next to him but he figured that he should wait until Ranpo was here. Certainly, Ranpo wanted to eat something.

Poe smiled to himself. Since they had defeated the Decay of Angels, Ranpo seemed a lot more content; Poe would even go so far as to call it homely. He spent his days solving cases, yes, and some of them were quite serious still, but he let himself relax a lot more, not having the urgency to prove himself anymore. Not as severely at least. That also meant he would make room for regular meet-ups with Poe. There was no real reason for it other than wanting to spend time together. Poe sometimes excused it by telling Ranpo about his new book he was writing. Ranpo sometimes excused it by letting Poe pay for his candy. They both knew there was something deeper going on, though neither one of them had spoken about it yet.

Sometimes Ranpo looked at him as if he knew everything. Knew everything Poe felt; everything he thought; everything he was. It scared Poe to a degree but he also craved it. This sweet intimacy that came with being known. He had never felt this way before. He had been bullied in school, and was never understood by his parents nor his co-workers. Ranpo was the only one. His soulmate.

Poe blushed, bringing his hand to his face, covering his shame. He hadn’t meant to get this lost in thought. But it was correct. Poe had developed a strange fondness for the detective and sometimes, when Ranpo told him about the newest case, they would try to solve it together and eventually every puzzle piece fell into place; in those moments Poe was convinced he was made for Ranpo and that Ranpo was made for Poe.

“He’s not coming, sweetheart!”

Poe looked up and saw a group of young women passing him by.

“He ditched you, get over him!” The friend group giggled and went on.

Poe shifted uncomfortably where he stood. He didn’t like being perceived and he liked it even less when people were speaking to him. Especially unprovoked strangers. Their words hit him deeper than he’d like to admit. Ranpo wouldn’t leave him hanging, right? It was still early and Ranpo was usually late. He looked at his watch and his mouth fell open.

He had stood there for a full hour and a half??

No wonder everyone was staring at him with pitiful looks on their faces.

Poe bit his lip. Ranpo wouldn’t forget him, right? They had planned this meet-up for so long. He had been excited, had brought his new novel and a few notes with him.

Ranpo is usually late, he tried to remind himself. Though the latest Ranpo had been was half an hour.

Poe decided to wait, though the looks he got started to annoy him. He curled up into himself more and more. His posture wasn’t usually the best but now he was standing like he was having cramps in his torso. Which… he guessed he had in a way.

Another minute passed by. Another look of concern.

Another two minutes. Another five. Another ten. Hushed whispers were carried to Poe’s ears.

Ranpo forgot me.

The realization hit him harder than it should have. Things like this happened. Ranpo certainly wasn’t the first to forget a meet-up and he certainly wasn’t the last. Still, something in Poe’s chest ached. The feeling of being less important than what Ranpo had going on at the moment was… devastating. And he hated himself for it. On the one hand he didn’t want to blame Ranpo; didn’t want him to feel bad because he forgot something as simple as having lunch together. On the other hand, he didn’t want to face Ranpo again in a few days, acting like it was all perfectly fine with him. Worst of all, he didn’t want to be so dependent on him, though over the months of living a relatively normal life with him… he thought he had meant something to Ranpo. A foolish thought. Ranpo didn’t need anyone. He had proved it enough in his battle against Dostoevsky.

But still – he felt abandoned.

With a bitter feeling of loss and disappointment, Poe made his way to his car and drove home.

-

Someone knocked at Poe’s door. He flinched, not expecting someone to visit him today. He had cancelled all his plans to hang out with Ranpo after all. Although his eyes were still red from crying, he stood up and made his way to the door. His limbs felt heavy.

“Hey, Ed!”

No. He was not doing this now.

He was about to close the door again, when Ranpo stopped it with his shoe. “Hey! What’s that about, huh? First you forget our meet-up and now you don’t even invite me in?”

Poe stared at him. “I forgot our meet-up? Me?You were the one that didn’t show up!”

He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he turned around and stormed off into the living room. He heard Ranpo closing the door and follow him slowly like he was unsure if he was allowed to do it.

“Ed?”

Ranpo found Poe on his desk, scribbling onto paper. Instead of stepping into the room he stayed at the door frame, awkwardly leaning against it.

“Ed, I didn’t forget.”

Poe rolled his eyes to himself. “Hmhm.”

“I’m serious. I waited outside the mall. Where were you waiting?”

“Outside the mall. At the café.”

“There’s no café…”

“Yes, there is.”, Poe snapped. “And I waited beside it. Do you know how awful it is when people start to look at you, wondering who you’re waiting for and why they don’t show up?”

“Yes. I know, Ed.”, Ranpo snapped back. “People looked at me, too.”

“If you were there, why didn’t I see you, huh?”

Something in Ranpo’s brain clicked. “Oh.”

“What?”, Poe snarked.

“There are two entrances to the mall. Oh shit…”

Poe’s face softened. “Oh.”

“Oh.”, Ranpo echoed.

An awkward silence sat between them, both of them dealing with their own feelings. They had waited for the other and neither of them had shown up. But it wasn’t the case because they were forgotten about. It had just been a silly misunderstanding. Relief washed over them.

“I-I’m sorry.”, Poe started, cradling his head. “I’m sorry, I thought you had forgotten and I-“

“I didn’t know you valued our meet-ups so much.”, Ranpo stated. He hadn’t exactly meant to say this out loud. An apology would’ve been better now that he thought about it. But in hindsight this had been a good decision after all. Otherwise, they’d never speak about… this thing that lay between them.

“I- Of course. I do. I mean – you… I- uhm…“ A torrent of words gushed out of Poe’s mouth, all of them incoherent until he stopped himself by burying his face in his hands, his skin flushed.

“I do, too.”, Ranpo said. “That’s why I waited so long. I’m sorry, too, Ed.”

“It doesn’t matter.”, Poe mumbled into his hands.

“Yes, it does.” He looked up and met stern green eyes. “You thought I’d forget you?”

Poe swallowed; lowered his gaze. “I thought you had better things to do.”

“Listen to me, Ed.”

Poe didn’t look up. Tears had stolen themselves into his eyes again even though he had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t cry over Ranpo anymore.

He heard footsteps approaching and then there were hands on his cheeks.

“Please, listen to me, Edgar.” Ranpo’s voice was shakier than usual and it sent a sharp wave of thrill through Poe. Was Poe really having this effect on him?

Poe didn’t resist the soft pull on his jaw that lifted his head until he was face-to-face with Ranpo. His mouth opened in disbelief when he saw tears lingering in Ranpo’s eyes as well.

“Ranpo-“

“I could never forget you.” Could never. It wasn’t a promise to never forget; it was simply impossible for Ranpo to do so.

Poe held back a sob. “I’m not important.”

“You are to me.”

Poe was fully crying when he wrapped his arms around Ranpo and pulled him into a desperate hug. “Don’t ever leave me.”

“Ah, Ed – this is a little bit uncomfortable.” Ranpo was weirdly twisted over the desk.

Poe let him go immediately. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Ranpo let out a laugh when he walked around the desk to hug Poe properly. “I’ll not leave you. But you must promise that you’ll stay, too.”

“I promise.”

Ranpo smiled brighter than ever. “Great. Should we eat some ice cream then, or what?”

Poe grinned shakingly and nodded. Maybe he was worth being remembered after all.

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

thank you for reading <3

#bsd #bsd fic #bsd ranpo #bsd poe #ranpoe

[quickhacked]

i have been enabled by my dearly beloved @steelport to write a blorbo post about the latest addition to bones' extended cyberpunk blorboverse so without further ado, Dilf Time >:^)

Ambrose Hawthorne is an important asset at Arasaka Security. As of 2077, he has 22 years of experience under his belt, having worked for the corporation since age 23; though his career path has taken some unexpected turns further down the line.

Ambrose spent ten years working for Internal Affairs. He mostly provided security to existing Arasaka facilities in Night City and occasionally oversaw business affairs on location or did some bodyguard work on the side. After a heroic solo takedown of a group of ex-Arasaka hitmen holding an entire division hostage, he kickstarted his career at Special Ops.

A new division was created within Special Ops, focused entirely on managing and monitoring ex-Arasaka people and rogue employees. They worked together closely with Internal Affairs as well to keep an eye on current employees to step in at the earliest sign of insubordinate behavior (the same kind of methods which, many years later, got Vitali and his boss fired after the latter ordered him to kill Susan Abernathy).

Ambrose himself was sent out into the field to deal with rogue employees and dangerous ex-Arasaka individuals; this caused him to rapidly become known as “the Reaper” on Arasaka grounds and within other Megacorporation circles. Ambrose believed he was contributing to the safety of the public; yet later it turned out he was mostly keeping Arasaka’s business safe and secured, preventing scandals from leaking to the public, and tying up loose ends.

While once dedicated to the cause, Ambrose started losing his spark rather quickly the less “human” people began treating him; he was seen as nothing but a pawn in a large game of chess, tossed around to wherever he was needed to keep Arasaka at the top of the charts; his reputation preceded him and people feared him more than they wanted to get to know him to the point he became a very lonely man over the span of his eight years at Special Ops. On top of that, his body could no longer keep up with his constant injuries and several cybernetic enhancements later he found himself battling early stages of cyberpsychosis.

Ultimately, above described events led to his retirement from Special Ops at the age of 41; following a devastating ex-Arasaka cyberpsycho attack, Ambrose needed to have his spine replaced by cyberware after shielding a young girl from an incoming attack. After his slow recovery, he turned to Mission Oversight and adopted the girl, Rei, as his daughter.

Four years into Mission Oversight, Ambrose knows his time at his simple and boring desk job is running out. Arasaka wants him back in the field, more than anything now that their new program- which he would have been one of the test subjects of, had he not retired from Special Ops- is showing serious cracks with rogue assets running around freely. Ambrose does not want to go back into the field, knowing he’s at risk of falling back into cyberpsychosis; Rei is not independent yet and with nowhere else to go for her he doesn’t want to risk her ending up all alone a second time, and he doesn’t want her to fall into Arasaka’s hands either.

Following the escape of not one but two of Arasaka’s assets, Ambrose is put back at the top of Special Ops and is forced to lead the operation to get the assets back.

– SOME ADDITIONAL FACTS BECAUSE I CAN’T SHUT UP.

Ambrose has a pink cybernetic eye, with a heart shaped pupil! It’s outdated but very reliable Kiroshi tech and he refuses to get it replaced with something more modern, liking the almost retro-y look of the additional outer plating and visible bolts around his eye socket and temple.

That being said, he is a bit of a boomer sometimes when it comes to the latest technology. His own cyberware is all from older generations and despite working for Arasaka, he’s got a very modest little apartment with Rei with the single most ancient electronics you can find in the entire city. His dishwasher is essentially prehistoric.

Another interesting piece of cyberware would be the skeleton-like segments covering the fingers of his right hand, his knuckles and the back of his hand. On top of it just looking neat as fuck, he can punch people harder with it AND it doubles as some sort of stabilizer. His right hand is very unstable as a result of trauma from an incident in his past and the cyberware helps him keep this under control more.

Ambrose has a couple of tattoos: a scythe on his inner left wrist which he later added a bunch of flowers to, Rei’s name on his inner right wrist, a butterfly behind his ear, and an intricate tattoo of all sorts of nature elements covering his left side and his left thigh.

He and Rei live in the south of Santo Domingo, near the dam. Because of corporate drilling and other work done on and around the dam, they have to deal with regular power outages. Their apartment is decorated with a bunch of battery powered lights as a result.

Ambrose has been single for most of his life. He messed around in college a little bit but most of that died down rather quickly when he started working for Arasaka and he’s not really had the time for dating ever since. Adopting Rei was mostly an impulsive decision; but it is simultaneously the best decision he has made in his entire life and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

#asks #mutuals #steelport #ask:ambrose #oc asks #i know this is technically not an ask but i'm counting it as one because i can't find what other tags i use for these kinds of posts </3 #anyway hiii he is so important to me. if you even care #at this point he just wants to retire. he is a very tired man who simply wants to be a good father to his daughter #but arasaka won't let him go </3 someone free him #once again. if anyone wants to know More. my asks are always open tee hee hiii

[saltybeansandapplesauce]

There's something so important to me about getting to have my family together in the first place I ever considered home.

I remember distinctively a conversation I had when I was in middle school, which in hindsight must seem like such a nothing conversation, but at the time meant everything to me. A girl who was a few years older than me was sitting on a bench and excitedly told me about how her best friend was coming to stay the night. I was overjoyed for her too, spending time with friends is always something to look forward to. I asked her how long they had known each other—it seemed like a logical next question to ask. And yet her answer would crack me to my very core for years to come.

“We’ve been best friends since we were in diapers. She has a drawer in my room just for her clothes.”

How simple. How completely reasonable it would be for friends to do that. How absolutely devastating it was realize I had never and would never experience anything like that. That I had moved too many times and lost contact with so many people that I did not have a lifelong best friend. That because I would keep moving I never really would.

There was honestly a time when I had accepted this— accepted that I would never experience close friendships like I saw from that girl on the bench. I thought that sometimes, some people were just not made for that. I thought that I was okay with drifting from one friend group to another, that I was just “moving to the beat of my own drum” like my parents always said. I would never be in one place long enough for it to matter anyway. I went into friendships knowing that eventually, these bonds would be broken over and over because of forces I could not control. There would never be a drawer with my best friend's clothes in it.

But yet I ached and longed for it regardless. I wanted those little signs of “I am here to stay. I am with you, always.” I wanted a friend who would stop in whenever she liked and could stay the night because her home was my home. I wanted a friend who was close enough to my mother that we were practically sisters.

But the universe had plans.

It gave me the opportunity to meet the some people that would change that forever. Three people who would make every heartache and lonely night worth the pain to took to get here. They would become the highlight of my week, the comforting company in silence, the first to hear my good news and not-so-great news. They are now the people I laugh the most with, and cry the hardest for. Even though I have only known them for a year it feels like a lifetime worth of memories. I am so very grateful to have them in my life. I wish I could tell my younger self everything about them and how wonderful they are.

But most of all, I hope my friends know that they will always have a home with me. No matter where they are or how far away life takes them, there will be mugs in the cabinet for them, and a place for their keys, and room for their photos.

There will always be a drawer with their clothes in it.

#I will find them again #in every universe #friendsgiving

[thefirstknife]

i also wonder how these elitist dudebros are gonna feel when theyre like 10 or 15 years older. like i hope theyre ashamed of the way they acted, but mostly i wonder how theyll feel when their reaction time isnt as good as it used to be, when their eyesight gets a little worse with age. gaming gets harder as you get older and in my experience that seems to be one of the only things that makes abled people realize how inaccessible gaming can be. obviously thats far off from now and hopefully by then we’ll actually have the accessibility tools people are asking for, but it does make me wonder how theyll feel when theyre in someone else’s shoes for once.

Yep, I wonder the same. People always think about disability as something that doesn't affect them, but even if you're perfectly healthy, there is one thing that's inevitable: aging. You will age and you will need accommodations. They also seem to think about "disability" as just some incredibly devastating diseases, but anything as simple as anxiety or bad eyesight is a disability when it comes to gaming. The argument always seems to be dismissive of disabilities because they seem to think that disabled gamers are rare. Which is simply not true.

Got a few more asks so I'll answer them beneath the cut!

This is one of those issues that people don't really think are ableist, but it is. I bet on my life that they say that shit to anyone who is disabled in real life and needs accommodations. I can't fathom how they can't understand that equating any help to "handouts."

And even if they were handouts? So? I know that I earned my loot and titles by playing and proving that I can do it. If someone does the same but with help, how does this affect me? It doesn't! This is even more mind-boggling when it's about an item in a video game.

Yep! They also often say that if those options are in the game for everyone, then people will fake disabilities just to use them and that's yet another ableist argument that people use in real life to deny accommodations to others. Because "someone will fake it." I don't care bro. Literally outside of direct competitions in a tournament, nobody cares if an abled person "fakes it" and gets a gun by turning on an accessibility option. Hell, sometimes you might be too tired to finish an activity and you want to get it done faster and you can turn an option that allows you to do so. I see no issue with this even if you're fully abled.

True! A lot of people who need Divinity the most are also the people who are least likely to get it. It requires you to do a raid which already disqualifies a lot of people who don't have raid groups and can't go to LFG for whatever reason. And even if you've done raids and you can keep doing them, Divinity quest is time consuming and finding a group patient enough to help can be difficult. A lot of these elitists have completely lost (or never had) perspective on how the game plays for average players. Not everyone has a raid group ready to go.

We definitely need more similar weapons and abilities. It would be really nice to be able to choose how to make a truly supportive build that is useful in raids. And yep, agreed, more raid bosses should be like Rhulk where you have to move and using a Well of Radiance and slapping a Div bubble is often not the best way (although it can certainly be done! Options!). I would gladly have cool mechanics for dps and mechanics that require some supportive abilities or provide support.

Yeah, I think more raid modes would be good. I am in favour of Bungie making more hard difficulty options and working with these streamers even in order to make something they would like. Just leave the rest of us alone.

And yeah, if they truly agree that Divinity or Well are an issue, just get a deal and don't run them for the contest. They all seem to agree that Divinity is boring, but no one wants to drop it. Y'all know each other, just go into a group chat and say you're not using it for next raid race or whatever. But as you said, that would require them to agree on what to ban. And it would also require them to understand that if they deliberately refuse using in-game tools and utilities, maybe someone else will win the race. What a terrible fate.

Thanks! I had to stop because I need to do Iron Banner, went from twitter pvp to Destiny pvp.

I do feel that someone has to speak about this. I've seen other people making similar posts in regards to how much this whole things reeks of ableism and ignoring accessibility, but it doesn't gain much traction. And if it does, it gets drowned in ableist comments. Truly one of the worst times in Destiny community.

A shame, given that Bungie is dedicated to accessibility, however slowly it may go.

#destiny 2 #disability #ask #divinity drama

[taeminscoconuthead]

Hey so I made a script for a video and I want you to read to see if it’s good!

—

Imagine you was just minding your own business one random day, when you suddenly get a notification on your phone that Stray Kids’s Leader Bang Chan has past away at age 25. You’d feel devastated, alongside with all of his fans. Your bias just passed away and there’s nothing you could do about it. You’re seeing all the other K-pop fans with biases that are still alive and yet, yours are dead — never to wake up from his slumber again. You’d be grieving over what you would conceive as your loved one, since all you did was looked him until his very last breath.

Now, Stray Kids had to continue as 7. It would be a difficult number to grasp, but that’s the reality. There’s no more Bang Chan, and Woojin ain’t going to fill out this void — nor would he even be enough to take his place anyways. It’s already a hard thing to deal with, not seeing your bias in group photos anymore or even hearing him in songs. I want to ask you a simple question, does that feel nice to you?

But wait, here’s the catch.

Imagine now you just want to chat with people about the funny things Chan has done such as the infamous “you know what else is big” quote just for you to be stopped and be said “please don’t mention him.” What you said wasn’t even that disrespectful, you just wanted to say something that makes you smile, a harmless quote that has always made others feel good after a bad day.

Now you’re on YouTube. You just want to cleanse that horrible interaction by finding some funny clips of him, just to find his funeral videos being bombed to your face. It’s even unescapable — Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter and even Google Images. Speaking of Google Images, you can’t even search Chan’s name up without his death being plastered everywhere you go — even if you manage to find an innocent video would be enough to find the grieving comments sharing their RIPs to the late idol. Trust me, it isn’t just that post, but it’s nearly every single post that involves Chan in it.

Few months later, you had finally stopped crying for a day and decided to be more positive to continue this streak, so you go on social media and post something that you loved about Bang Chan — just for you to get harassing messages telling you to take down this post because “it’s disrespecting a dead man” and “how you should let him rest in peace.”

Now let me tell you again, does that feel nice to you? Me either, but this is what Jonghyun stans have to deal with every single day. We’re constantly harassed whilst having to go through the trauma process of losing our bias. We’re continually told not to do this or that and it’s giving us headaches.

Now let me tell you something, when will this end? Instead of telling us to let him rest in peace for literally making an appreciation post, when will you allow us to finally have our rest to mourn in our own way. This process isn’t as easy as you think, and people harassing us is making it even harder. That’s why we still have blingers that are still in recovery and haven’t yet gotten over it. Especially with the way he left this earth, you should especially be sensitive to us Shawols since maybe even some of them would think that it was their fault that he was dead.

Let this video be a reminder of the things that Shawols have to go through all the time and please be more gentle to those that are still healing.

Ayyy this is actually good and it also pictures how most of us feel. I like it, I think you should keep this as a script! (Btw I’m putting it as vent so it can separate from the other posts)

#mentions dec 18th #vent #ourdeathisnotyourproperty

[kalpasio]

Sengo Soulmate

Pardo

A Kalpas x reader soulmate AU, chapter 1 below!

Transferring to the main Fire Moth base had always been a dream of yours. You’d be around the best in the business, have access to the best supplies, and most importantly, have your own room. This was not the reason you had hoped to be transferred for.

After the Herrscher of Binding wiped out most of humanity, there was no reason for your branch to remain open. There was no one to protect. Not only that, there weren’t enough people to keep the site running. You had been deployed to evacuate civilians during the attack, and missed most of the more devastating fights, but many of the people you lived with hadn’t been so lucky.

While you were excited about the move, morale was low, and there was a lot you needed to adjust to. There had been a handful of MANTISes at your base, but they hadn’t been there for more than a few months. You on the other hand, were a long-time captain and had earned respect across the base, even from those who had never worked with you.

At HQ, all thirteen of the remaining MANTISes were well known, and no one other than those that had transferred with you even knew your name. The campus that made up the Fire Moth base was massive, and despite the number of agents lost in the recent battle, there were still enough that you would never recognize them all.

Going from a big fish in a small pond, to a small fish in a big pond sucked. Not that you were overly prideful, but you had just lost most of the people close to you, and those that were left were two miles away on the other side of the base.

You were sad and lonely, and the other agents were treating you like a child. So, you laid one of them out on the ground. Which meant you finally earned some respect! It also meant many of the MOTHs around you were too scared to talk to you. Great. Or at least, you thought that was why they were avoiding you.

It became apparent over the next few days that they were avoiding you because of your soulmate tattoo. It was just a single short line on your forearm, no longer than three centimeters, but it garnered a lot of comments. Comments that ranged from how you were ungrateful that your soulmate was still alive to how your soulmate must be avoiding you.

The single line would grow when you met your soulmate, you knew that when it did it would be beautiful, but right now, you couldn’t help but curse it. Some people had something as simple as a string between them and their soulmate, or even just the other person’s name. You had no easy way of finding your partner, and even when you did find them, it wasn’t easy for you to instantly identify them.

No sudden ability to see in color, no timer on your wrist beeping, you just had to watch your tattoo slowly grow and hope you had the right person causing that progress. On top of that frustration, the lack of a full tattoo announced to the world that you had yet to find your match.

It became such a bother that you began covering the mark. Either wearing long sleeves or pretending you had been injured and wrapping the area—which wasn’t often a lie. Every day you would reveal the tattoo when you got back to your room, and wish to see any change, but there was nothing.

The missions you had been on since moving were often done in large groups. While your stigmata gave you a definite advantage over those without any enhancements, the gap between you and the MANTISes was almost laughable. Even the weakest Flame Chaser—who spent more time scared and hiding behind you than fighting—was able to kill beasts that would have taken you ages, in a matter of seconds. Sure, she cried the whole time, but it was fascinating to watch her, and undeniably impressive.

There was no way you could be as good at fighting as her, but she told you (as thanks for being her safety blanket) that the other Flame Chasers were much better fighters, and you might be able to pick something up from them.

“This is the training room!” Pardo stopped in front of a set of glass doors with a hand scanner to the right of them. “That’s just for decoration,” she waved dismissively, “hasn’t worked for months.” With that, she pushed open one of the metal doors and lead you inside.

“Elysia won’t mind you watch her, and probably Eden too,” Pardo started counting the Flame Chasers on her fingers while flicking her tail behind her. “Kevin won’t care but…” she shivered. “Hua will probably let you watch, and Sakura, once she gets to know you. Pardo put a finger to her chin and thought for a moment, “hmmm. I think that’s it—oh! And me! But I’m not there much. Fighting makes me all sweaty and then my tail looks horrible!”

“I thought there were thirteen?” you questioned, confused as to why she had only listed six.

“Yeah!”

“Six is not thirteen.”

Pardo’s brows furrowed and she started counting on her fingers again. “No…wait. This better not be a trap to make me do math! I’ll charge you extra if it is!” she pointed an accusing finger.

“I…It’s not—you said this was free?”

“O—oh yeah. Ehe.” Pardo held a hand behind her head and swayed back and forth nervously in time with her tail.

“Do the other seven not use the training room?”

“Oh! Nah, you probably won’t see Su or Kosma in here. Actually!” she suddenly stood up straighter. “If you see Kalpas, maybe don’t go in.”

“How am I supposed to tell if it’s Kalpas in there?”

“He’s big and scary!” Pardo spoke with a smile like she had answered some difficult question. You just furrowed your brows as you thought through the list of MANTISes you’d seen.

“That’s…all the Flame Chasers.”

“They are all pretty scary…” Was Pardo not including herself in the Flame Chasers? Because you definitely had a newfound respect for ring blades after seeing her use them. “Kalpas wears a mask!” she clarified.

Looking over her shoulder to the door that just scraped opened, you blanched. “You mean him?” Pardo turned and let out an actual ‘eep!’ while jumping behind you and grabbing onto your arm.

The guy who was apparently ‘Kalpas’ stopped in front of you and stared at Pardo, making her shiver. All he said was “cat” and then he walked past you both and into the training facility proper. He didn’t say ‘cat’ with a sneer like you expected, if anything, he used the tone you might use when a cat unexpectedly walks into your room. He sounded much more subdued than most people did when a cat walked in, and his voice was so deep anything he said could be heard as a threat, but he didn’t seem like the “big scary man” Pardo had been describing.

At least until he was on fire.

Maybe…maybe you should revise your first impression of him.

You were stuck in place staring at him as he demolished the training bots. Carefully, Pardo backed out of the training room, still holding on to your arm and pulling you with her. The sounds of destruction were still audible through the door, but the risk of accidentally getting burnt to a crisp was much lower.

That night, when you took off the bandages, you could pretend your single line had gotten just barely longer, if you squinted. Sighing, you mentally went through a list of the people you had interacted with that day. Pardo was cute and dating her would literally be cuddling with a cat, you certainly wouldn’t be upset if she was your partner. Kalpas had absolutely no business having an ass like that, and you could feel the heat coming off of him as he walked past you, making him prime cuddle real estate. At this point you were desperate to meet your soulmate and you’d take anyone.

With a loud groan—something you could do since you had your own room—you fell back into your bed and gave up pretending your tattoo had changed. Tomorrow was another day, another chance to meet your soulmate. Even if you hadn’t met them yet, at least you potentially had a new friend in Pardo.

I am v tired while posting this which is a mistake and I know it but it's going up and I'm gonna go "oh shit o fuck" tomorrow, but I promised, and got distracted by watching Aliens with my friend. so here is story, very late. I spent like 3 minutes trying to do 13 minus 6 when I was writing this. I am in a math based major. Fuck. I think I'm going to drop out and just write Kalpas fics. I FORGOT I got the idea for this type of soulmate bond specifically from a Damian x reader fic (I'm so sorry) called "Growing soulmarks" by Harleyq127. It's really good and you should check it out!

#I said I was gonna change the title on ao3 #We'll see #I'm very tired and this has been the title the whole time I was working on it #I do think it's silly tho #anywhom #kalpas x reader #honkai x reader #azaryawrites #tamalethebear #cross posted on ao3 #I am so tired

[paradigmkrp]

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐏 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆: #8 ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: June 18, 2023 ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: The following post contains mentions of sex, abduction, injury, classism, vomit, and civil unrest. ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: All writers consented to have their muses featured in the gossip blog.

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ Dearest Readers,

There’s no time quite as exciting across campus as the month of June! On and off campus parties to celebrate the end of finals, championship successes for many of Arcadia’s premier sports teams, and most certainly debauchery galore for those of you who feel particularly inclined to get up to no good now that the weather is good.

Campus has been wilder than ever before as students prepare for their one final hoorah before they are ushered off home to their respective nations for the rest of the summer.

From the sounds of it, it seems as if some of you have wasted no time making the most of your summer. When we say sounds, we mean it quite literally.

According to some disgruntled students on the tenth floor in the school’s luxurious Winthrop Court, there has been no shortage of noise on their floor at all times of night. As we’re sure many of you can imagine, late-night ruckus coming from the dorms of particularly active students. For the most part, fellow Winthrop Court residents are understanding of the occasional – or more frequent for the wanton ones – late-night escapades.

It isn’t often that noise complaints are actually issued at Winthrop Court, even less so that so many complaints are filed that it reaches our ears. Indeed, our team has received an influx of complaints from disgruntled students about incessant jarring screams coming from a certain room on the tenth room. Upset with the administration’s action – or lack thereof – this poor group of students has felt as if they have no choice but to turn to the pages of our blog to bring an end to their pain and suffering.

After a bit of digging and some coercion, we were able to identify the exact room in question, and after some cross-checking with a few of the complaining students and Winthrop Court records, we’ve found out that the room belongs to none other than Lord Ruairi Lor Sombre.

For those of you not from Sora, it may be a rather unfamiliar name, so allow us to give you a brief background. The Sombre family is of direct relation to none other than the Sora Royal family. If you’re wondering why you may have never heard of Lord Ruairi before then no fret as it comes down to one devastating reason: Lord Ruairi mysteriously vanished in his youth for over a decade, only to recently resurface.

Mysterious, right? And our dear readers, there has been no explanation around his disappearance.

It’s the type of story that authors dream of writing.

Mystery or not, it sounds as if Lord Ruairi has wasted no time getting back into the swing of things, fully immersing himself as a student on Arcadia University in the best – or possibly worst – way possible.

Could it truly be that Lord Ruairi is simply prone to incredibly vocal bed partners? Or better yet, that he just has a habit of turning them into vocal lovers for the night?

Some might say it’s a remarkable skill, indeed, but others… well, others might claim that it suggests the lord has too much practice in the bedroom which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, it could lead some to spread the rumor that the lord isn’t quite a suitable future spouse if he does have such a long history of bedding people left and right.

But that isn’t the only rumor likely to come out of this.

There has also been another rumor afloat, albeit far less spread than simple claims of Lord Ruairi being prone to lustful activities. At least one person has claimed that the source of the screams isn’t from the lord’s wanton desires, but rather that there is something slightly more nefarious at work than lust and pleasure.

Our source claims that Lord Ruairi is particularly prone to night terrors, which can possibly be traced back to his mysterious disappearance. Yes, the same disappearance that none of us have any information about.

The mystery grows thicker, but of course, without the details to back it up, we can only assume that Lord Ruairi has chosen to send his nights with any soul he can find.

That being said, if the young lord would like to clarify the mystery behind his late-night screams – and go deeper into his disappearance altogether – then well, we would love to give him an exclusive interview.

Don’t temperatures have such a way of running hot towards the end of the year?

While the heat may or may not be rising in Lord Ruairi’s dorm room, we can say for certain that it’s rising between two rather intriguing individuals on campus.

Several witnesses report having seen none other than Pardis’ very own Yasin Ali eyeing a certain Nanami noble all throughout a shared class. And when we say eye, perhaps the better word to use would be staring. It seems as if the museum heir has quite the eye for beauty and art, and he may have found his latest source of inspiration in the form of physical beauty himself.

Who’s the lucky person to have caught the Pardis heir’s eye?

Lord Ashley Erik Hvalman of the Nanami’s longtime noble Hvalman family.

According to our eye witness reports, the moment class concluded Yasin wasted no time in approaching the Nanami lord to apparently work his magic. By all accounts, there appeared to be some type of sexual tension brewing between the two. Though they weren’t able to get close enough to overhear the conversation, from facial expressions and interaction alone, it led many of their fellow classmates to believe that the two may be involved beyond that of two flirtatious students.

Interesting indeed, and it certainly wouldn’t be all that bad of a match.

After all, Pardis is the staple museum of Sirius, and while Yasin holds no noble title of his own, the notability of the museum speaks for itself. In fact, we have nothing bad to say about the potential match between these two. New rich and noble couple pairings are far from a rare occurrence. With nobility bringing the titles and new rich families bringing the new money wealth, for many it simply makes sense, so long as it’s mutually beneficial for both households.

Perhaps, Lord Ashley may find himself on the end of a courtship from Yasin, and if he does, we will be there to take you all on the couple’s journey. Good luck to the possibly blossoming couple and word of advice, keep your public displays of affection to a minimum lest you desire to find yourselves on these pages for unsavory reasons.

While some people are busy looking to kick off summer flings and possible romances, others appear to be striking up curiously timed alliances.

The Spring play has had no shortage of coverage in our publication, and yet as details slowly begin to finalize for the long awaited play, so does the most important aspect of all – the official assigned role list. While many fans of the Young Thespians have long anticipated that Sora royal Prince Erasmus Weiss would take to the stage as the leading man, there has been quite a bit of discourse and speculation surrounding who would take the highly coveted spot of the leading lady.

While it’s a mystery to most, some fans have started to insist that it is, in fact, no mystery at all.

We received an eye witness report that Lady Nevaeh Ahn was seen speaking with Prince Erasmus Weiss early one morning before them Young Thespian’s club meeting. Considering the fact that our witness claims the two were alone and eager to keep their conversation private, it only makes sense that devoted fans of the club have begun to speculate that Lady Nevaeh is hard at work trying to corner the role for herself.

Some of the more particular among fans have claimed that the Avani noblesse is trying to establish some sort of secret deal to ensure she protects the role for herself. Collusion much?

It wouldn’t be the first time that secret deals and conspiracies have meddled in club affairs. One might even be quick to say that it’s the very backbone of clubs on Arcadia University’s campus.

While it would seem foolish for Prince Erasmus to risk his seemingly pristine reputation on this campus for the sake of hearing out Lady Nevaeh’s pleads to be the leading lady, perhaps it isn’t all that ridiculous after all. A kind heart can often put weaker-willed individuals in between a rock and a hard face.

Not to mention, Sora’s prince is only human. Would it be so awful to desire to see himself partnered with a beautiful face? Indeed, Lady Nevaeh is just… beautiful.

Though we have no evidence to speak towards her acting abilities. If this deal works out, we’ll all be able to see for ourselves whether beauty is all she has or if she’s a surprisingly sharp actress.

God speed, Lady Nevaeh on your quest. The rest of us may watch this year’s Spring play behind shaky hands and uncertain eyes.

Odd interactions and intriguing happenings have come in abundance ahead of this year’s Spring play, and it sounds as if Lotus Library is the latest spot to bear witness.

Being in Lotus Library this time of year is weird enough. With finals concluded, the campus library is more of a ghost town, a mere shell of its packed self with overflowing tables and students during exam season. It takes a particularly ambitious, studious student to be in the library during the week of Summerfest. Avani heiress Aelrie Elanorin, is simply one of those students. Hearing of Aelrie in Lotus Library even this time of year isn’t all that strange. She has a reputation on campus as an avid reader, and certainly the campus library makes for the perfect backdrop for whatever her book of choice may be. However, it wasn’t Aelrie’s presence that drew eyes, but rather that of the man who approached her.

Nanami’s most eligible bachelor Lord Alon Lee was spotted walking up to Aelrie at her table, reportedly like a man on a mission.

That sentence alone is breathtaking. Lord Alon in the library during Summerfest of all weeks. The man is remarkable in many ways – with his physical features that have made him the envy of just about every man on this campus – but anyone who’s ever shared a class or conversation with him would remark that he simply isn’t much of a studier or honor student or even… a reader.

So what, pray tell, was Lord Alon doing in the library?

Well, we can only draw the conclusion that he was there solely for the sake of speaking with Aelrie. Our brave witness reports that upon drawing closer to the two, they overheard Lord Alon asking for a conversation with Aelrie in private, during which he offered an apology.

An apology for what exactly?

A date gone wrong? A foul misunderstanding? A fatal slip-up?

Well, our dear readers, it seems as if that will remain an unfortunate mystery for now as our witness couldn’t get close enough to hear. Something about not wanting to risk it with an Earth elemental and their ever meddlesome seismic sense. A missed opportunity indeed! But fret not, we will continue to investigate thoroughly on our end.

If you have any tips as to the history shared between these two seemingly completely separate souls, please do reach out to our tiplines. We are simply dying to know.

Whatever it is, we hope that Lord Alon hasn’t found himself in the thick of a sticky situation. It’d be a shame to ruin his newfound reputation to one misunderstanding with an Avani heiress, but Lord Alon if you’re eager to get ahead of any story leaks, our private line is always open for exclusive interviews.

While Lord Alon seems to find himself at risk of a bad situation with Aelrie, one poor soul has certainly lost it all thanks to a series of unfortunate events.

Arcadia University’s very own acorn-hating Sora native has found all eyes on her yet again. Yes, totally unforgettable, eccentric Avery Poppy has managed to draw our eyes once more following claims of a breakdown following football practice recently.

For our more avid blog readers, this will likely come as no surprise. Avery has quickly built a reputation on campus as being a rather emotional young lady who simply seems incapable of keeping her emotions to herself.

When she’s not busy losing her marbles over a singular acorn in a baking class, then she’s bursting into tears after football practice for… well a valid reason this time at least.

According to particularly dedicated fans of the Arcadia University women’s football team, Avery may be on the chopping block soon. Arcadia’s sports teams are known for being rather cut-throat. Only the strongest players onto the university’s varsity teams. There’s never been any doubt that Avery has long been worthy of her spot.

At least not until now.

Avery was seen limping her way out of the locker room following the team’s practice with tears in her eyes. Following behind her was the Women’s football team captain herself, Princess Eden Kobayashi who seemed particularly determined to convince Avery that she had no reason to cry and that everything would be okay.

Despite the captain’s assurances, an inside source with the team has revealed that it really is that bad. Apparently Avery is prone to recurring injuries, making it impossible to keep her on the field for long. One injury surely isn’t enough to warrant expulsion from the team, but a series of bad injuries may be enough to take her from starting player to deadweight.

Unfortunately for Avery’s football fanbase, it sounds as if her time on the team may be dwindling to an end. We’d suggest buying tickets to see final games ahead of time, if you want to ensure you’re able to bear witness to Avery’s football prowess before it’s the end of the road to her.

Perhaps she’d be better suited on a less strenuous sports team. Surely, the golf team could use some additional players.

The women’s football team is bound to find themselves down a player before long, but the men’s team appears to be doing just fine. In fact, more than fine.

It’s that time of the year, our lovely readers. The most highly anticipated, competitive day of the entire school year for avid fans and casual enjoyers of the men’s football team alike. Yes, indeed, the football team’s annual fundraising event has arrived!

There has been no shortage of excitement for whatever they’ve had in the works. Rumors have swirled of just about every possibility, from shirtless calendars to kissing booths, as fans find themselves competing amongst each other ferociously for a chance to shamelessly admire one of the famously beautiful players headed by Sirius’ very own Lord Emrys Narelle.

While speculation has been afoot, our investigation team has been hard at work trying to get a sneak peek into the team’s planned fundraising event for the club fundraising showcase this Summerfest, and finally we did it.

Drum roll please…

This year’s football team fundraiser will be none other than an exclusive host club.

Yes, you’ve read it right. A host club. Waste no time readying your wallets to hand out exorbitant amounts of money to live the date of your dreams with one of the football team’s handsome members. From the striker to the midfielder to the goalie, every single one of these men will be on full display and ready to court you for a day… with the right price.

And we don’t think it’s wrong to say that no member will come with a heftier price than the team captain himself, Lord Emrys.

With his sizable, admittedly intimidating fandom, the Sirius noble is bound to fetch the heftiest fee of the day. We wouldn’t be surprised if the football team comes back with diamond encrusted jewelry by the end of their fundraising efforts. Their fans have a habit of sparing no expense when it comes to them, whether that be financial or physical… and we do expect this to get rather physical.

We wouldn’t be surprised if fights break out in line for the sake of being the first to place their bid.

Good luck to any of our readers who plan to participate as it’ll certainly be a nasty sight.

And speaking of nasty sights… look down there.

It’s a squirrel!

It’s a raccoon!

No… it’s a Snell Hall Resident!

In fact, it’s a shameless, dumpster diving, Snell Hall resident.

Before you’re all so quick to get nauseous, vomit, and judge the trashy resident who sees fit to dumpster dive, we’d like to encourage you all to remember that not everyone is born into wealth. Certainly, it can be so easy to forget that not every student on this campus is blessed with wallets that can afford new items that haven’t seen the inside of a dumpster.

Allow this sad, pathetic story to serve as a reminder of that.

Infamous Sora citizen Fiona Choi was seen dumpster diving outside Winthrop Court late one evening. A concerned Winthrop Court resident wrote in with their statement after initially hearing the ruckus while seated for evening tea on their balcony. They said, and we quote, “I thought it was an abnormally large raccoon but then I looked closer and saw that it was actually some girl??! I snapped a picture because I could hardly believe it, I mean… it’s pretty scary!”

Upon review of the photo attached to the report, we were able to identify the dumpster diver as one of the school’s more troublesome citizen students. Fiona Choi is one of few citizen students who is interesting and odd enough to find herself written upon these pages more than once.

It’s certainly not a bad thing… but not good either, we’d reckon.

Our concerned Winthrop Court resident was not able to get a full view of the trashy treasures that Fiona was able to dig up from the trash, but she did note that she seemed to be pulling out garments of clothing.

Perhaps the dear citizen was only looking to scour up an outfit for Summerfest, as to not be seen in old rags that have been long overdue for a replacement. Better last season’s trash than barely surviving rags, right?

It nearly brings a tear to our eye. Trash theft is never okay, but perhaps this speaks to a deeper issue on this campus. The poor students like Fiona who never have a chance because their pockets are limited only to whatever coins they may earn from their long, menial jobs. Tragic indeed.

If you see Fiona on campus, we beg you to not judge her so harshly. Perhaps, instead, put yourself in the shoes of someone who’s never seen opportunity… or the inside of even a simple department store. Think twice before you toss out last season’s clothing. Instead of sending it straight to the dumpster of Winthrop Court, send it to the biggest dumpster on this campus – oops, we meant to say… Snell Hall.

While some of us are opening our eyes to the sad eyes of some of the citizen students on this campus, one group in particular seems determined to force change for the citizens by any means necessary.

United Citizens for a Better Future is far from a popular club on campus. Known for constantly causing a ruckus and making the lives of noble and new rich students unnecessarily difficult, it should come as no surprise that they’re back at it again ahead of this year’s Summerfest.

What’s the issue this time? A supposedly inexcusable classism issue in the fest itself.

All eyes have been on UCBF, and the club’s President, Nanami’s Prince Yue Ying, as rumors circulate about a proposed plan to protest and petition against Arcadia University’s beloved Summerfest.

While citizen students have unsurprisingly taken to admiring UCBF for their action in the face of inequities, the overwhelming majority of noble and new rich students have scrutinized the club for seeming determined to ruin their long-awaited festivities. Tensions continue to grow between the social classes on campus day by day, with the bulk of attention falling on Yue Ying to resolve the issues that UCBF has begun to raise.

It’s an interesting conundrum indeed.

Prince Yue Ying has been a dedicated leader to all of UCBF’s prior causes, positioning himself as the most beloved royal on campus by citizens. However, many fellow title and wealth holders have begun to feel betrayed by his constant siding with citizens when it comes to any issues that arise on this campus.

As tensions continue to grow, will Prince Yue Ying find himself stuck between loyalty to his club and the weight of his title as a royal? We certainly don’t envy the prince, it’s far from an easy situation to navigate. However, it is most certainly quite interesting to bear witness to.

It leaves us wondering… what’s next?

However, much to the relief of many of our readers, protests and petitions alike seem to show no sign of stopping the Summerfest fun. In fact, it seems as if some people have little concerns about the supposedly classist nature of the fest. As many social climbers across this campus have a habit of doing, particularly brave souls seem eager to make their way into the highest rings of society for this year’s festivities in order to enjoy the famed, luxurious VIP plaza.

Summerfest does have a way of bringing out the worst in people, and the VIP plaza has long been the greatest example of that. Limited only to the highest of nobility and royalty, there is simply no amount of money capable of purchasing access to the VIP plaza, disgruntling even the richest of new rich students.

However, there are other, far more shameless ways to get in and it seems as if Sora candy heiress Valentine Ryu is determined to get in by any means necessary.

Valentine was reportedly seen batting her eyes at a male noble just a couple of days before Summerfest. Notably, the man in question had a shiny, golden wristband on, indicating his status as one of the chosen ones who’ll be able to enter the VIP plaza come festival day.

Our witness was not able to get a good look at the man’s face, however, they did manage to snap a blurry photo from him. It took quite a bit of sleuthing and deduction, but we feel confident in labeling the noble apple of Valentine’s eye as none other than Lord Blaine Beaumont of Avani. Yes, the kindhearted, notably considerate Lord Blaine.

Undoubtedly, Valentine chose the perfect person to chat up, like a true expert manipulator… or mere flirter. But it’s not unfair to question Valentine’s true intentions.

Was she truly interested in Lord Blaine and who he is at a person? Or was Valentine only looking for guaranteed entry to the VIP plaza for this year’s Summerfest?

Only time will tell if Lord Blaine is an unfortunate victim of a pretty face and a shallow heart, but we plan to keep eyes on him and Valentine both. Let us hope we are bearing witness to the start of a genuine connection, and not a mere hare-brained scheme to enjoy the luxuries of VIP.

While some may or may not be looking to sneak into the VIP plaza for the music festival, it seems as if others are finding their enjoyment in other ways.

Could it be that Lady Amira Sema is not like other girls?

Several witnesses separately reported having seen the fire noblesse constantly on campus with a notepad and pen in her hand. Even as the student body grows increasingly chaotic in the days leading up to Summerfest, looking for their fill of vices and poor decisions now that they’re free of academic responsibility, Lady Amira is always spotted some distance away from the rest simply observing. And observe she does.

Notoriously soft spoken, what Lady Amira seems to lack in conversational skill and social interaction, she makes up for with a curious eye and proper demeanor. While the rest of her classmates seem eager to get up to debauchery, she seems to take a more intellectual approach to the world around her.

Certainly, we can anticipate that she’ll have that very same notepad and pen in hand at Summerfest as she watches the chaos take place around her.

While we’re certain our readers may be quick to try and label Lady Amira as strange, we’d like to offer another perspective… that she sees opportunity in the happenings around her like any scholar would. She’s busy observing and taking notes, and after some consideration with our team, we have one conclusion we’re ready to draw: Lady Amira seeks to be a reporter like none other than yours truly.

A sweet thought indeed.

It is not often we do this, and with good reason as no student has ever given us reason to, but we’d like to extend our official stamp of approval to Lady Amira. She could learn to be a little more discrete as a reporter, but we all must start somewhere, and we must say we’re pleased with where the fire noblesse has made her start.

She’ll only get better with time and practice, and for the first time in outlet history we are ready to offer a once-in-a-lifetime internship opportunity with us. Join us, Lady Amira, and learn to be a sage of truth from those who do it best.

You may send your resume into our official email.

Summerfest appears to be gracing all of us with interesting coincidences and remarkable times already. While you all take to Rosemary Plaza to party to your heart’s content, just remember one thing – we are always watching. There are no NDAs at work at Summerfest.

Everything you do is ours to see and write about.

Trust us when we say we wait with baited breath to fully cover every single moment, high and low, from this year’s Summerfest.

Have fun, our lovely readers!

Yours Truly, Lady Astor

#gossip blog #krp #krp ads #mewe rp #literate roleplay #oc roleplay #fantasy roleplay #supernatural roleplay #magic roleplay #university roleplay #ocrp #oc rp #lit rp #mewe roleplay #magic rp #supernatural rp #royal au #uni au #fantasy au

[canthurryloveandfilm]

Paris, Texas

"Family first!" 

"Blood is thicker than water!" 

"There's no place like home!"

Sayings like these are ones that are heard over and over again, pointing out the importance of making family a priority. As a culture, we seem to be obsessed with the idea of family, stressing the strength of familial bonds and insisting that they should never be broken. We especially love the courtship story, and where I grew up in suburban Pennsylvania, they are some of the first things you hear when you meet a couple. Amazing coincidences, meet-cutes, adorable first date stories: these seem to define a couple, acting as proof to how strong their love is or how they were meant to be together. The Zeitlin article refers to these stories almost as a genre of folklore, uniting groups and cultures through similar stories, motivations, and focuses. There is also a pervasive theme of destiny, simple coincidences and innocuous events being seen as extremely important when looking back. Children and grandchildren are told these narratives, believing that their family's love is special and perfect, unable to be changed.

But, what really is a family? Our obsession with family seems to be centered around the idea of blood, with biological relationships taking precedence over all others. Many people I know have family members they do not like, but keep relationships with simply for the sake of the family. I am guilty of this as well, still talking to aunts and uncles who I disagree with constantly and that frequently upset me with some of their views. I guess our culture has ingrained something in me, as I want to avoid confrontation and put up with the family I don't like so that I don't upset the ones I do like. This focus on blood relations comes through in Paris, Texas, as Travis places an emphasis on the importance of knowing one's biological family. In the film, Travis takes his son, Hunter, away from Walt and Anne, who have been acting as his parents in Travis' absence, and travels to reunite him with his biological mother. The film ends with an embrace Hunter and his biological mother, Jane, finally reunited after years of being separated. Yet, is this truly a happy ending? Sure, mother and son are brought back together, but what makes this the best course of action for Hunter and his future? Walt and Anne have been raising Hunter as their own for four years, clearly showing a deep love for the boy. Although they are Hunter's aunt and uncle, they have become his parents, placing themselves in the roles abandoned by his biological parents. When Travis takes Hunter away from the couple, they are truly devastated at the loss at the child who has become their son. Hunter is also sad after the phone call he makes home, crying at having upset Walt and Anne by leaving. Hunter is torn from a loving couple in favor of a blood connection, but Jane is most likely not fully capable of caring for him on her own. Jane works at a peepshow club, trying to make money to send to Walt and Anne monthly for Hunter. Being a single mother is extremely difficult, and was it worth taking Hunter away from loving parents that could provide for him in favor of salvaging a biological connection between a mother and son. Blood relationships are treated as an obligation, forcing a family connection simply because of genetics. But, a family should should not be restricted simply to those a person is most directly related to through blood. Family should be built on love and connection, whether that include a person's biological parents or simply the people that raised and cared for them. 

The car I drive is getting a bit old, CD players are becoming harder and harder to find when shopping for new ones and the bluetooth system is getting more spotty each time I use it. I can never seem to make myself change the CDs in my car, so I listen to about the same six on a rotation, one of these being Freedy Johnston's This Perfect World.

A relatively sad choice to listen to while driving, the title track of the disc is a somber story about a man returning to his family to get closure after he committed some unnamed, terrible act in the past. When listening to this song, I was reminded of Travis' journey throughout the film, as he tries to reconnect with those he pushed away. Though we as viewers don't know what Travis has done until the very end of the film, Travis' entire story is one of trying to move past his actions. He knows he has done terrible and hurtful things in the past, and is trying his best to right his wrongs and bring his family back together. The song illustrates a similar story, one of guilt of past actions and attempt at making amends. Freedy sings, "Last time I was here I wouldn't turn around," showing the narrator's shame and guilt for what he had done. In the chorus, the narrator says, "I know I never should have gone away. But I still deserve to say goodbye no matter what I've done." As I was listening, this piece of the song evoked the scenes between Travis and Jane in the club. Travis had done horrible and painful things to Jane and his son, before disappearing completely for years. He recognizes the harm he caused, but in these scenes he is looking for closure, for some final end to the hurt he has caused and a chance at making things okay again through the reunion of mother and son. But, his attempt at proving his love is misguided, breaking up others in the process. There are some things that one cannot make amends for, and in doing so, Travis is causing hurt to others in his life, devastating Walt and Anne in order to try to reinstate some kind of everlasting, maternal bond.

#Youtube

[translationandbetrayals]

why Sanji and Zeff's farewell is so emotional?

When the trip is just starting, even before we arrived the grand line, we meet Sanji, a cook whose work in the restaurant Baratie in the East blue.

At this point in the story we have only followed Luffy and the few who now make up his crew, who are sailing for their dreams towards the already named Grand Line in a small boat: we have the captain of the crew, a swordsman and a navigator. The boat needs someone to take care of the food, a cook, that's why after causing a disaster on their arrival, Luffy decides he wants Sanji in his crew, since like him and all his other companions, Sanji has a great ambition inside him, besides being a kind person, which Luffy approves of (here we could theorize about Luffy's ability to read people, but nothing confirmed yet).

Sanji wishes to know the All Blue, that mythical, unknown place where the four seas meet and all the sea creatures of the world coexist, but there is something that stops him in the first instance to go after his dream of him: Zeff.

Zeff is the founder of the Baratie, the one who also gives Sanji a roof and a job, but these simple reasons would not be enough to tie anyone down, and even so, Sanji's heart does not allow him to leave.

It is here that we learn part of Sanji and Zeff's story, and understand the reasons for their union. Years ago, Sanji, who was a boy of about 10 years old, was working as an apprentice chef on a cruise ship called Orbit, which was attacked by a group of pirates led by "red-leg" Zeff, Sanji and the captain of the pirate crew exchange words and the boy tells him about his dream of finding the All Blue, but the conversation does not get to much, as the pirates mock the little boy for his surreal dreams, since the All Blue were, for the inhabitants of the East Blue, simple rumors. While the mutiny was being carried out, a storm hits both ships, taking Sanji with it into the deep. From the general perspective of the narrative we see how red-leg throws himself into the sea to save the little boy, moved by the dreams of him.

After a small time skip, and from Sanji's point of view we notice that both, Zeff and him, are on a small deserted island, without vegetation, animals, only surrounded by water and without a glimpse of either of the two boats, giving us to understand that both were sunk by the storm. They only have two bags that Zeff comments that they are provisions, one much bigger than the other, and the food inside them should be enough for the whole time they are there and for a boat to rescue them. Zeff gives the smaller bag to Sanji arguing that he as an adult should eat more than a child, and sends Sanji to the other side of the small island to keep a constant watch in case he sees a boat. So the days pass, and Sanji's food runs out, and, despairing, he notices that so far no boat had passed by the place. A few more days pass, and still nothing, Sanji has not eaten for days and, a little desperate from hunger, decides to kill Zeff, whom he has not seen since he sent him to watch, to take his food from him.

However, when he arrives in front of him, he is unable to harm him, but sees that his food bag is still intact, so he decides to break the bag and realizes that there was never any food inside, but only jewels and gold, part of the mutiny. Sanji, devastated when he notices what the old man had done for him, comes to claim him, and realizes that Zeff was now missing a leg, the same one that had been damaged while trying to rescue him, and that most likely he had he survived all those days feeding only with the remains of his own leg. Sanji here decides to help Zeff, who, dying, tells him about his desire to open a restaurant in the sea to help people who are in a similar situation to theirs, just at that moment a ship appears in the vision.

This is the main reason for the brotherly relationship between Zeff and Sanji, however, we have even more background for the bond between the two of them to be so strong.

Here we skip a few hundred episodes later, being more specific, to the Whole Cake arc, throughout the series we knew nothing more than this story on Sanji's part and his childhood, but in this arc we get a little more depth on the character.

Sanji was born as the last quadruplet in the Vinsmoke family, in the North Blue, leaders of the Germa territory, thus being considered the third prince of the kingdom. Since he was a little boy, Sanji proved to be a sensitive and passionate about cooking, making dishes with much love to his mother, who was alone and sick, but always showed affection and appreciation to her son. On the other hand, we had his father, a man obsessed with the conquest and expansion of his kingdom. He trained hard his three sons and the only girl, the eldest, but Sanji never managed to excel in these disciplines due to his body, which was completely human, unlike his brothers, who were born with superhuman abilities due to experiments even before they were born. Since Sanji was never able to excel, he was abused in many ways by his siblings and father, having his older sister and his mother as his only restraints.

His father, after some time after Sanji's mother died, and after having forbidden his son to cook, decided to give him up for dead in front of the kingdom and lock him in a dungeon for the rest of his life, all this because he did not reach the expected level.

Despite being locked up, Sanji was learning more about cooking, motivated by the myths of the All Blue. One day he tells his older sister about his dream of being a great cook and knowing the All Blue, and she, always feeling bad about her brother's situation, decides to help him escape. Before leaving the kingdom he meets his father, who tells him that he doesn't really care if he escapes since he was already a disgrace, but that, if he does, he will never again identify himself as his son. Sanji does so, and on the coast, with his sister, they see a ship called Orbit on which he has the opportunity to begin his dream, and he says goodbye, in tears, to the only sister who loved him.

Thus we returned to the story already told, where we realize that Zeff was more than Sanji's savior, but also his father, a man who took care of him for 9 years, who shared with him and decided to pass on his will, besides leaving in the hands of the little boy the shared dream of both, to know the All Blue.

Constanza Manqueñir G.

#Anime #Manga

[thelampisaflashlight]

Because I just spent an absurd amount of time trying to open a wine bottle, only for it to be basically flavorless, y’all get some “Dinner with the ghouls & Copia” headcanons. Indeed, I will use anything to facilitate making more headcanons. Below the cut for ease of scrolling, take a piece of cheese from the charcuterie board before you go.

Copia: Definitely tries to make an event out of the meal, he wants his guests to have the whole “dinner and a show” experience, but he can and will do something embarrassing part way through the evening. Be it fumbling the wine bottle or accidentally dropping sauce on his fancy outfit, he’s going to be incredibly dramatic about it, even if most of his “truly devastated” behavior is an act.

He tries to make the effort for when Sister Imperator comes to visit or other important church figures, but if it’s just him and the ghouls? He’s leaning over the coffee table eating chicken wings and pizza and making an absolute mess of himself. Worse yet, he’s feeding the bones to the ghouls because they like the crunch. Simply atrocious.

Aether: He tries, he really does. He puts in the time and effort to make things nice, and hey, it works out just fine! ...Uhhh... most of the time. The first time he cooked for anyone after being summoned was a disaster, the second time was just as bad, and the third time he at least remembered to remove the egg shells from his omelet attempt.

Nowadays he does pretty well, and is a wonderful host, but, much like Copia, if he can swing a no stress meal that lets him sit around in his boxers and watch tv, he will.

Dewdrop: He’s ordering dinner for everyone, he doesn’t have the time or the energy to make a fancy meal for a bunch of hungry people. He just doesn’t. He will remember your extra order of fries, he will ask if they can put the sauce in a separate container, because, “Mountain doesn’t like the ranch ON his food, he likes to dip it. I know that the little plastic cup will cost 25 cents more, he wants his ranch on the side and he’ll have it on the side.”

If he’s by himself though? Five star chef mode suddenly activates and he’s making himself single serve lasagnas and homemade pasta, because, “I deserve it, fuck you.”. Hard to say if his cooking is actually any good taste wise though considering the ghoul can and will eat soap.

Swiss/Multi: He’s taking people to a fancy restaurant to show off, and acts all proper and charming and it’s working dammit. He’s laying it on thick for his group, and he WILL wind up getting dessert for free because the staff thinks he’s handsome. He’s the dude who shows up with a really expensive box of pastries for people to eat that he got with a discount, because he “knows a guy”.

However, he’s also the one crunching down on chicken bones in the first scenario.

Rain: He’s got a box of mac and cheese with your name on it. No, really, he labelled it so he’d remember not to eat it before his dinner date rolled around. A connoisseur of the finest chicken nuggets the freezer section has to offer. 

He knows how to make all kinds of fancy dishes, but he’s a ghoul of taste, and knows sometimes simple is better. He will pair Kraft dinner with wine though.

Mountain: He’s going to to try and make you something you haven’t eaten before, keeping any dietary restrictions in mind of course. Likes making the meal alongside his guests and getting them to try the individual ingredients to see how they blend together to make the overall flavor.

Very polite host, who makes sure his guests have plenty of snacks, but is also secretly hoping there are lots of leftovers so he can eat them later after everyone has left.

Cumulus: She’s like Mountain, in that she likes having her guests help out with the meal, but she’ll also settle for them bringing their own individual dishes to share. If her and Mountain team up to make dinner, chances are there’s gonna be six other very curious and hungry ghouls lurking behind the kitchen island.

Cirrus: Makes the best pancakes anyone has ever had, but that’s about it. She can cook, but she simply will not. You’d sooner convince Dew to make dinner for everyone than get her to handle the hassle of feeding eight hungry ghouls. Nope, not happening. 

However, if Cumulus asks, well, she can’t say no, because she asked so politely and agreed to help wash the dishes afterwards.

Sunshine: She’s on par with Rain in this case, but Swiss feels, as a fellow multi ghoul, that she deserves better than boxed mac and cheese. Rain wholeheartedly disagrees and thinks it’s the pinnacle of dinner foods. It’s a whole thing.

She can microwave a hotdog without it bursting in the microwave, and Copia will consider that a win compared to the destruction the other ghouls have wrought on the abbey’s kitchen over the years.

#Lamp rambles #nameless ghouls #the band ghost #ghost band #Lamp makes headcanons for the hell of it #it took me half an hour to get the bits of cork out of the bottle because it was so shitty #tastes kind of like I'm drinking the contents of an ink cartridge but I can't back down now #not after all that freaking effort

[inhonoredglory]

another character based question - how do you feel about mikasa? a lot of fans dont like her, im curious about how you feel! - armin anon

Hellooooo Armin Anon. OMG it’s been forever since I had the time to sit down and do a proper meta, and I apologize.

First off, I finished the manga!!! (So, spoilers ahead for anyone else reading this.) I had to lie down after reading 139. It’s a tremendous story and I’m still taking it all in. The set pieces and personal/emotional stakes of everything that happens is just astounding. If it’s one thing Isayama does good, it’s the gut-wrenching personal anguish that underlies the action. I’m absolutely floored. My favorite bit was probably the timey-wimey stuff in Paths and Eren. That blew my freaking mind. But onto Mikasa!!

A Cruel Yet Beautiful World

I remember way back when I started the anime that I started liking Mikasa first out of the group. I liked how sullenly silent and no-nonsense she was, and I liked her loyalty to Eren. Her emotion, especially when Eren died in Trost, was palpable and terrifyingly beautiful. Her grief was incredibly realistic––rushing off with a death wish that even she couldn’t succumb to in the end, because of the drive to fight that she got from Eren. In a world like SNK, her relentlessness breaking through her grief was incredibly moving. And her philosophy is basically the driving theme of SNK: “This is a cruel world, and yet so beautiful.”

This is the same moral message she gives Eren when he can’t find the strength in him to fight Annie––and gives him that warm, understanding, inscrutable smile that allows him to finally accept his own monsters, fight Annie, and save her and Armin. (One of my favorite panels of her from the manga, actually.) Mikasa is basically the first character we meet who embodies this contradictory morality, which grows to engulf SNK and other characters as well (Levi, Reiner, and Armin especially come to mind). Which could be why I was drawn to her at the start, since the complex moral outlook of SNK was the primary reason I fell hard for this story.

(And gosh, it’s tragic to realize that it’s teaching moments like the scene above that made Eren into the person who could influence his own child self to murder, the person who could wipe out so much of humanity, the person who could take Ymir’s challenge to free her by destroying the love of the person who cared the most about him. I’m still processing yo.)

Acker-parallels

I started really analyzing Mikasa when I had to defend her from a friend of mine who accused her of resenting Levi (for beating up Eren) and that’s why she attacked him so violently in the RTS serumbowl. Because of my research into rebutting that, a lot of my affection for Mikasa now comes in seeing the little ways in which she cares and trusts other people, including Armin, Levi, Gabi, and Jean. And her quiet sensibility that goes beyond her love and protectiveness of Eren.

With Levi in particular, I find a lot I like about her. Because you can definitely see her annoyance at him, but she also trusts him more than anyone else in the Corps outside of Armin. After Levi’s violent encounter with Historia, she was the only one who implicitly trusted Levi’s judgement, backing up Armin’s more reasoned logic. She sees beyond her own emotions and even moral feelings and realizes the world is cruel enough that sometimes people have to do dark things to help others and survive.

This is very much the same statement Levi made to the 104th when he had asked them to follow Erwin’s orders when the commander’s plans were questionable on the surface: “Do you trust him? Those dumb enough to say yes… come with me.” These two understand each other on a moral level, and they ask for their comrades’ loyalty without demanding it, because they each know that everyone’s conscience is their own.

There’s a clear parallel between Mikasa and Levi, not only because of their Ackerman heritage and sensibilities (loyal to a fault to their chosen person, impossibly strong, quiet and grim), but their frustration when they cannot protect the people they are responsible for. They both know they are the strongest around, and if they cannot fulfill on that power, a lot of people will die.

There are many moments in which Mikasa puts aside her personal feelings to do her soldierly duty, from leaving Eren to help with the evacuation of Trost to leaving Eren and Armin to fight the Colossal Titan alone in Shigonshina.

And then there’s the fact that Levi’s the one who could break past Mikasa’s headspace and distraction so that she can do the right thing. He understands her strong emotion, he respects it, but he also knows when that has to be put aside for the greater good. But he doesn’t put her down for having those emotions, either.

Strength from Eren, Humanity from Armin

Mikasa’s love and loyalty to Eren challenges her tremendously after the timeskip and her sorrow at Eren’s change is what really stands out to me about her character in the Marley arc. The absolute grief in her eyes when she tells Eren what he’s done is devastating, and it shows just how much goodness and compassion she does have.

And yet she longs to understand Eren, to trust him, to believe there can be something redeeming, and not merely jaded and tired, in what he taught her so many years ago––to fight, to win, to live.

There’s such a difference between these same words said here by Mikasa, so many years later, after so much heartbreak, to the anger and flame that were in them when she first heard them, back when she realized that this was the way of the world. That death and killing happens in the natural world everyday and that’s how you survive. That the world is both cruel and beautiful.

And yet as the years wore on, as Mikasa grew closer to others, found purpose in protecting others, sought a life with Eren… as she wandered further into the forest of life and society and relationships, she lost some of that simple injunction... to live is to fight, to fight is to win. She, like so many of the 104th and the others on this journey, found that it’s not enough to just fight and live and be satisfied. We really want it all to mean something, to have our actions be redemptive. To allow ourselves to believe that we do what we’re doing because we’re not just saving ourselves, but saving others, “saving the world” like Yelena points out (in the forest therapy session pfff). And it’s that drive for something bigger in our actions that grieves her so much with Eren, because as she wants her own actions to be fundamentally good and selfless, she wants his actions to be moral as well.

So while Eren is the person that frustrates Mikasa and motivates her to become stronger and braver than she ever was, Armin is the person who humanizes Mikasa and allows her the space to be gentle and vulnerable. She comforts Armin, confides in him, puts her faith in him, and puts her life in his hands.

She trusts Armin with Eren, and she values Armin’s intellect and compassion, qualities she doesn’t have in nearly as much quantities as he does: “There are only so many lives I can value. And… I decided who those people were six years ago. So... you shouldn’t try to ask for my pity. Because right now, I don’t have time to spare or room in my heart.”

This bit from her confrontation with Ymir and Historia was a defining moment for me with Mikasa. It’s honest and realistic in a way that few of us care to admit about ourselves, and it’s just super chilling and badass coming from her, too. It also shows how much she fights for Armin and Eren both. They are the two people she loves the most in the world, and she never gave up on saving either of them––from death or from themselves.

I’m looking back on Trost now and finding so much irony with the ending to SNK. In Trost, she was the one to give up on Eren, telling Armin that it was hopeless to try to extract Eren’s personality from his Titan form. And yet, like in the end, it’s always been between Armin and Mikasa to try to salvage Eren’s humanity. In Trost, Armin tells Mikasa to leave––to go do what she’s good at (saving lives)––and to entrust Eren to him.

It’s a huge expression of both Mikasa’s trust in Armin, and her belief in Armin’s abilities and friendship for Eren. And in the end, it’s the two of them again debating on if there’s any humanity left in Eren. The bond they share is intimate and deep. With all the military doubting Eren and scheming to take away his Titan (with even Jean and Connie unavailable to them emotionally), it’s only Armin and Mikasa against the world––the only two people who can truly consider Eren’s actions and hold off on judging him. And you can feel their love for him even as they doubt him.

And like back then, it has always been Armin who understands Eren most, the one who recognizes his own evil and Eren’s and finds a redemption in having others stop you, because you cannot stop yourself.

And that’s the thing I really take away from SNK and from Mikasa’s journey, that we all have devils inside us, and yet there is still beauty to be found, within us and in the world––from the natural wonders that Armin dreams of, to the comfort of purpose and companionship that Mikasa has in Eren. Love and wonder is what redeems us of our devils. And yet love itself is complicated, and can turn ugly in its obsession. That giving up that love is what makes the love selfless and beautiful, what absolves us of the selfishness within us. That’s what Mikasa learned. And in the end, she was able to release that love for the good of the world.

So I guess to sum up, I really love Mikasa. I can see why her dogged loyalty to Eren might annoy some fans, but I think there’s a lot more to her than simply that, and in fact, her journey and growth is heart-rending and one of the most symbolic arcs of SNK and fundamental to its entire theme. She’s a badass with a lot of emotion and depth behind her cold mask.

#eremika #mikasa ackerman #eren yeager #armin arlert #levi ackerman #aot meta #snk meta #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #attack on titan meta #attack on titan analysis #snk analysis #mikasa ackerman analysis #mikasa ackerman meta #shigonshina trio #ask #armin anon #*mymeta #*mythoughts #*mine #long post