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genshinology · 1 year

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AN INFLUENTIAL MAN’S COMPANION (OR IS IT MORE?!)

(alternatively, how they are dropping hints left and right that you are more than just a friend.)

— PAIRINGS ; alhaitham, ayato & childe x gn!reader (separate)

— CONTENT ; oblivious!reader, may contain a spoiler from sumeru's story quest on alhaitham's, mentions of childe's real name (ajax), reader is addressed as “little bug” in childe's (please, it's just a poorly written joke, i swear).

— NOTES ; don't care what everyone says but a man that has the power and money is definitely a man that i want. wrote this on a whim so 'm sorry for the horrible writing and the lack of details in this.

☆ — ALHAITHAM

"why are you so dense?" alhaitham's question caught you off guard, considering the fact that you were so immersed with yet another history book of teyvat in the akademiya's house of daena.

his sudden question made you unknowingly gazed at him with annoyance (it wasn't your fault though, not when he actually interrupted your reading of the fourth chapter), and you quickly bookmarked the page you had last read before actually paying full attention to the scribe across you.

"dense is not really a word to describe me. i think i catch on things around me quite fast," you huffed out, exaggeratedly bumping your forehead onto the desk. a silent thud was heard afterwards, not necessarily loud enough for other people to hear, but alhaitham definitely caught on the hint you mentally saying that you were bored and the fact that he took away the only form of your entertainment by taking away the thick book from you made you squinted your eyes at him.

your eyes prying at his action. he was an unpredictable man, so you couldn't question what he did. especially when the question of, "do you know what is the context of this book?" suddenly came out from his mouth.

"uhm.. yes?" you stopped thinking too deep when alhaitham's gaze zeroed straight into you, signalling that you should be answering his question more precisely. "a book about teyvat; the seven nations, the archon war, the history, the irminsul, the heavenly principles, the fatui, the abyss—

"ah yes, sounds like classified information, isn't it?" alhaitham cut you off, showing the old cover page with a knowing look that you couldn't really decipher. "you do realise that this book comes from the restricted repository room?" alhaitham was questioning you, slightly smiled when he saw how the gears in your brains were slowly turning and you finally understood what he was trying to point out.

"wait. you are right. it makes sense now, how incomplete certain details are since the book itself covers forbidden knowledge.." you put your right palm underneath your jaw, still in disbelief at the fact that the book in his hold was a restricted material for general use to the scholars and the public.

"not really the brightest mind," he paused. "that's why i said you are, indeed, a slow-witted person," he shook his head, his own work was slowly forgotten amidst the conversation he accidentally forced you into.

"that is just saying 'stupid' in a more formal manner. i am truly offended," you sighed, noting the way alhaitham seemed taken aback at the last sentence you gave to him.

alhaitham could only put down the book in front of you. "..and i am offended as well. you don't even think that i am using my authority to give you access to this one book you have been super interested in these days, haven't you?"

he turned away after seconds of eye contact, especially when your eyes widened and you felt how your cheeks were hurting due to the shock. "you.. did this for me? not exactly the first thing i would think of, especially if it's from the scribe of the akademiya."

you smiled, way too wide and alhaitham thought he was holding his breath for a moment. "thank you, you're so kind."

'kind' wasn't what he really expected you to say, specifically when he, himself, wasn't filled with kindness and tenderness alike. the you that he knew would be instantly flustered if you ever knew the true meaning of his intention when he first directed you with those questions.

he could only laughed heartlessly at your statement, thinking that you must have never received this much attention from someone, or that you really treated him as a true friend.

"i do not do this for some mere scholars, just so you know that you are exceptional."

☆ — AYATO

"my lord," you bowed down, giving ayato the respectable approach that he deserved. "is there something you would like me to help?"

ayato was a diligent and a busy man, that was the first thing you had noticed when he first took you right under his wing. his smile specifically was something you swore would be your death one day, he was too charming for your own good.

"come here," his bright face made you ten times more nervous than ever. "also, please, drop the formalities. we are hidden from the public view."

the last sentence was way too intimate, but you decided that it must have been his figure of speech.

"yes, my lord—i mean, ayato," you slightly cringed at the way his name rolled off your tongue not-so-eloquently. something about calling him by his name, even without his family name, felt super uncivil to you.

he had done so much for you, so to hear his request of doing what you had been accustomed to was hard.

so you could only stumble forward awkwardly, hands clasping together to stop yourself from shaking a little bit too much. why did he always bring out the nervousness within you in private? did he really had these effects?

"here, sit down," ayato's calligraphy pen halted its movement, and it didn't help to calm you down when he patted the sit beside his chair.

"i'm sorry, my lord," the title accidentally slipped away nonetheless, and you decided to ignore the look in his eyes—as if he was hurting by the fact that you didn't address his name, but he possibly couldn't be that childish, it was the commissioner after all—as he quickly regained his composure. "you need my help to assort these paperworks?"

"it is fine, y/n," oh, the fact that he didn't address your first name made you knew he did feel slightly dejected.

you quickly made up your action by swiftly gliding onto the chair he already pulled out underneath his study. for a moment, you were stunned at the act of a gentleman he usually did to you. he was so kind, and you knew that you were super lucky to have him as your employer.

"i don't want you to do anything today. you can rest up until tomorrow," he said, slightly rummaging some precious items he kept in the drawer. you knew those items in there were far more important to him, especially when it also had his late father's will that was neatly preserved in the sakura-scented letter he and ayaka made a long time ago. it was honestly a cute activity for them now that you reminisced the memory.

"is there any occasion? or you will be away?" you asked him, and you could see his eyes lightened up at the way his hand reached out to yours, and you were left baffled.

his hand was warm, that was the first thing you noted. besides when you felt something smooth in your palm, you questioned the foreign thing in your hand.

it was a necklace, with a lighter hue of blue as its pendant. your intrusive thought won you over as you saw how the pendant resembled ayato's hydro vision to an extent. it was ethereal, at least in your eyes.

by the feel of it, you already knew this necklace's worth had already exceeded your wage.

"ayato?"

"it is for you. i was buying one for ayaka when i was reminded of you, y/n," he warmly explained, his sincere eyes were too much for you as you avoided his eye contact.

your beating heart felt dangerous as ever. his hands were still engulfing yours, as if to keep you from shying away.

"take it. it would mean a lot to me."

"thank you, sir-ayato," you corrected yourself, and ayato thought it was adorable of you to stutter around him.

his heart was content when you thanked him over and over again.

if giving the necklace was a metaphor to his love letter, then he would be overjoyed when he saw you roaming around his estate with the necklace on you the next day.

☆ — CHILDE

"today's a really nice day," childe sighed happily, as he picked you up from the ground, and you repeatedly punched his back, flailing in his arms to put you down.

"ajax!" you gasped, who wouldn't be in shock, when you were literally caught off guard by his attack and then your feet weren't touching the snowy path anymore. "put me down."

"ehem, manners, please," he faked a cough.

you could only kick around, although none of your actions would actually affect him physically. "i am almost going to swear at you, you know?"

"put me down, please," you tried to whisper into his ear, so that he would feel ticklish by the air that escaped from you.

"gross," he commented, and before you knew it, he already let you go from his somewhat soothing hold onto your body. "need to disinfect my ear after this."

you slapped his arm after hearing his bad joke, roughly enough to get his focus onto you. "let me do it with the bug spray i have at home. i hope it'll cleanse your whole soul too."

"touché," childe cracked a smile at hearing you almost choked on your breath. "aren't you my little bug?"

"don't you have a cuter nickname for me? seriously, bug? out of all lovelier things on this world?" at this point, you had already clinging onto childe's side, hyper aware at some people who had been watching the playful fight between you two for some time now.

childe noticed the way you practically glued to him, your hand fisting the sweater he wore, and childe could only thought that your ministration would only bring a misunderstanding, especially that one which people always commented on when they saw both of you.

"look at you two."

childe could only smile at the old lady that passed by him. "couple fights are normal, until the old days. i hope you're having a great time," the old lady patted your back, and when you were about to clear the misunderstanding he had always loved, the old lady left.

"w-what?" you turned to childe whom somehow looked at you fondly, and you could only voiced out your opinion on the cold day. "that old lady is not making any sense."

"—and you, ajax," you continued when you caught childe slacking from paying his full focus attentively to you, as he only shrugged his shoulder. "...are you really going to leave again?"

"hm?" he hummed, and thought to himself that you were so adorable in his spare sweater, fighting against the chilly wind and hesitating to actually say that you would miss him if he went to liyue for his work again.

"of course. it is my duty for the tsaritsa, and no, you won't be going to join me this time. have you forgotten when you almost got hit by the fatui because they were belittling you?" childe quickly cut you off when he saw how your lips twitching at his words, knowing too well that you would suggest the idea of venturing to liyue with him. the last time he accepted your idea, he almost blamed himself fully if one of his subordinates hurt you. he could only thank the archons that nothing too severe happened on you.

"b-but—

"and, our date for today went exceptionally well, wasn't it? you won't miss me like you have always did before," he winked, and you almost threw your fist at his face if you could. "i am going there for a week. i'll be back before you know it."

"right. let's stop now before your teasing goes too far ahead of yourself," you rolled your eyes, and only did you notice that you were still holding him dearly.

you quickly pulled your hand, and childe swore he had already missed the way you stayed close by his side. he was definitely smitten, he knew it.

"thank me later for wasting my money on you," childe laughed at the way you tried to run away from his grasp.

if he could, he would voice out loud that he really didn't care about his money, as long as you were happy with him, and it frustrated him a little bit that you really thanked him for that when all he wanted to say was that he loved you too.

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utilitycaster · 2 months

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@notstinglesstoo replied to your post “The thing is, and I haven't gotten a chance to...”:

I saw someone not long ago say cr has always felt like a product to them vs D20 feeling organic and I protected my peace but I did want to ask them if they were brain dead

Oh man I wanted to address this at length because I feel this. My posts have been centered, again, specifically on published journalists picking Daggerheart aprt critically and applauding themselves for doing so despite it being within a couple of hours of its release and therefore any analysis is necessarily going to be based on at best, a skim, when they just as frequently will claim D20 seasons/Kollok are flawless works of genius based on only a partial read, but man D20's got a fandom problem too. (and all of the following comes with the caveat of "I really enjoy D20, and Dropout, and while we're at it WBN and NADDPod which both are half D20 Intrepid Heroes cast, and think Brennan is a particularly brilliant GM, and also it's obvious that the D20 and CR casts are on great terms, and wish the fandom for D20 were more welcoming and enjoyable because I feel it wasn't like this when I first started watching, as a CR fan, in late 2019 and has since curdled into something really weird and bad.")

The first point is the obvious one: technically speaking these are both products. These are performers doing an art form; it is also a portion of how they make their money with which they can buy goods and services. Believing that art is inauthentic when the artist gets paid and acknowledges that is a thing that happens is a fucking libertarian position at best. Like cool, you think only people who are independently wealthy by other means can make art, because it's not real labor, my kid could paint that, etc etc.

The second point is also pretty obvious. I have pushed back pretty hard on the "uwu CR is just watching friends! it's like we're in their living room" mentality among the fandom, which has decreased, thankfully, but like...it did in fact start organically as a private home game, and they decided, when invited, to make it A Show For An Audience. D20 was created on purpose as a show for an audience. This doesn't make it bad or fake - reread the previous paragraph - but in terms of "this is an group of people who really played D&D in this world together even before the cameras were rolling," Critical Role literally is that, and D20 is not.

I think beyond that...my biggest issues with the D20 fandom are first, the level of discourse is abominable. The tag is almost always just shrieking praise and the most surface-level readings possible. I keep bringing up the "Capitalism is the BBEG" mug but it genuinely sums up so much of how I feel; people who want their existing beliefs fed to them as surface-level no-nuance takes. I mean capitalism is fucking terrible but I do not need every work I watch to have a character turn to the camera and say "capitalism is bad" to enjoy myself, and indeed it makes it harder due to the lack of subtlety and grace. For all D20 fans complain about how unhealthily parasocial CR fans can be (and some can be), I find that a lot of the most unhealthily parasocial "how dare they BETRAY my TRUST by having a ship I don't like or not speaking up about every single societal ill" ex-CR fans move over to D20 and then pull the exact same shit; it simply doesn't get called out. Every time D20 fans are like "we don't want to become the CR fandom" it's like "your toxic positivity and unhealthy parasocial behavior exceeds the HEIGHT of what I've seen in CR; the main difference is that CR started in 2015 when D&D was still shaking off the raging bigot dudebros and so in the early days it acquired more of those fans, whereas by the time D20 came around the landscape of who played D&D and watched Actual Play had shifted wildly, and you need to judge September 2018 D20 fans in parallel to September 2018 CR fans, not September 2015 CR fans."

I also feel, and I alluded to this in the post about journalism, and other people have said this better than I have, but the pedestal people have put D20 on does feel like a single...not even misstep, but just, difficult choice that doesn't capitulate to the loudest fans will bring a good chunk of that fandom crashing to the ground. And that includes the journalists. For all the fans of CR can still be obsessed with the cast to an unhealthy degree? The cast and company have put up pretty strong boundaries and have not budged. D20 hasn't, and I think the second they do - and I think it will be for their benefit as a company and a channel - a big chunk of their most vitriolic CR-hating portion of the fandom will viciously turn on them.

#notstinglesstoo #nonrebloggable bc god it's hell week for me i know i've been shooting off opinions bc that is how i blow off steam #but like. i can't have this break containment i got shit to do

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sonamytrash · 2 months

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Trouble

Warnings: smut in later chapters, fem reader, swearing, suggestive themes. Not beta read. Reader is a vet/vet medic

Thank you for over 100 followers. Honestly, I only started writing fics for my own self-indulgence. I decided to share them with my fellow degenerates, and it seems that some of you like them, so here's the first small chapter to my new one. ❤️

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Levi opens the door abruptly, making you jump. You pout at him playfully. "You scared me!" He narrows his eyes at you, "It's late," he says sternly. "What do you want?" He asks. You roll your eyes and walk into his office as he closes the door behind you both. Placing a pile of reports on his desk, you reply to his question, "The shitty reports you asked for that took me all evening." You complain. "And I know you never sleep, but shouldn't you be trying to get your three hours in?" You tease.

Levi smirks at your response. "Ah, yes. I did ask for those reports. Thank you." Taking a seat at his desk and giving a quick glance at the reports before looking back at you.

"And not right now." He places the reports aside and crosses his arms. "I have things to take care of that require my attention." His eyes then shift to you, "Speaking of attention, what else do you want?" His tone softening just a bit with a playful edge.

He respects your work. You are always efficient in what you do, which is why he often lets your tone and lack of respect towards him slide. Although you're not one of his direct subordinates, he still entertains more of your playful personality than he would tolerate from anyone else.

Truthfully, hiring a veterinary medic was one of Hanges more practical ideas. Having someone at the headquarters to provide and teach appropriate health care for the horses had saved a lot of money while costing very little to hire you. The overall survival rate of horses was much improved now that the soldiers knew better basic first aid, and the horses could return to headquarters for more appropriate treatment if they survived. Many of their losses weren't necessarily due to being directly crushed or eaten by Titans, but many surviving horses would die of injuries and infections upon the journey or arriving home. Your knowledge and skill had meant more horses were surviving out on the front lines and being able to recover when they returned. The cost of constantly replacing horses was drastically reduced. So even if he hadn't been on instructions to be on his best behaviour, what you brought to the regiment had genuinely earned his respect. Not only were you an intelligent woman, but you were downright infuriating. That sassy attitude, the playful humour you brought wherever you went and yet when necessary, you were stern, professional, and eloquent. It had made you popular amongst the regiment. And Levi wasn't immune. He really couldn't resist your charms. But God did he want to fuck that smart mouth of yours quiet sometimes.

Levi is taken from his thoughts when you reply, pouting. "You made such a big fucking deal about these reports that I've spent all evening making sure they were done, I would like to have had a hot bath and maybe read a book."

Levi rolls his eyes at your playful pout. "Well, since you are already here, you might as well stay and assist me with some paperwork," he says with a soft chuckle. He then proceeds to tidy his desk, placing the reports you brought in the correct pile and placing a smaller pile opposite him for you to work on.

"It shouldn't take too long and then you can go and have your well-deserved hot bath, princess." he adds with a smirk.

You bring your hand to your hips. "Either you're trying to torture me or just want an excuse to spend more time with me." You tease, taking a seat across from him. This kind of banter was the norm between the both of you, but he was much more receptive when it was behind closed doors.

A small smirk forms on Levi's lips, "You caught me," he replies sarcastically before he continues reading and signing paperwork.

You too glance over some of the papers and organise them into appropriate piles for him, "Busy day?" You ask, trying to spark some conversation.

"Just the usual," Levi says, his voice monotone as he signs the paperwork. "Paperwork, training, and keeping the brats in check." He pauses for a moment before looking back up at you. "Speaking of training, we'll have to arrange for another session soon." You grimace at his words. He insisted on the occasional sparring session to keep your self-defence up to scratch. "I'm not a fighter, levi. You beat the shit out of me every time, and even then, I know you're going soft on me." You groan playfully, "Literally everyone comes to watch me get beaten up." While you felt like he was trying to make your life difficult with these training sessions, it actually came from a place of care. He wanted you to be able to defend yourself.

Levi leans back in his seat, "You know I only do it to make you stronger," he says with a small grin. "And as for the spectators, what can I do? You're quite popular among the ranks." He then pauses for a moment before adding, "But I can always arrange for a more private session if that's what you prefer." His gaze lingers on you for a moment longer than necessary, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. A flirtatious exchange wasn't uncommon for the two of you, but how you fucking wished he would make good on the things he said.

You were instantly drawn to his suggestion and change in demeanour. "Oh yeah? And do you often give people private training sessions?" You say raising an eyebrow.

Levi chuckles softly, "You know I don't," he replies, his expression softening just a bit. "But for you, I can make an exception." He then shifts his gaze to the paperwork in front of him, pushing aside the distracting thoughts. "Anyway, you're distracting me," he says, beginning to sift through the papers again. But it's too late, your interest has been piqued, "Maybe that's not such a bad idea. What would we be working on during those sessions?" You ask, wanting to keep pressing the new suggestion.

Levi gives you a small, subtle smirk. "Hmm, we could work on whatever you feel you need improvement on," he says. "Maybe your form or your speed," he suggests. Almost throwing you into thinking you had misinterpreted his earlier tone. Before he follows up with a hint of mischief, "But whatever we work on, you can be sure that I'll push you to your limits."

You smirk in response, "Who knows, captain, maybe I'll push you to yours."

Levi smirks at your flirtatious comment and arches an eyebrow in amusement, "Is that so?" he replies in a teasing tone, his smirk widening. "I highly doubt that." He then leans forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "But I won't deny that I would enjoy the challenge." You mimic his movements, leaning forward in response, and meeting his gaze, "Oh I'm sure you would."

Levi's eyes linger on yours for a moment, studying your playful expression. "You're trouble," he says in a low voice before leaning back in his seat. "But I have to admit, I rather enjoy it." He then picks up a pen and begins scribbling on the papers in front of him, his mind wandering as he tries to suppress the arousal between his legs, relieved there's a desk inbetween the two of you.

"So I've been told," you reply playfully, finishing up the last of the papers he gave you to organise, giving you both a few moments of silence before you speak up again. "Do you think your private training session with a troublesome girl like me would whip me into shape?" You ask him seductively, being determined to see how far you can push him, having taken note of the tensing of his shoulders and how he occasionally bites his lip.

Levi finishes his scribbling, taking a deep breath as he places the pen he's gripping down before looking up at you. "Not a chance," he replies, his tone firm but playful. "But perhaps it would tire you out enough to be a good girl for at least a little while," he adds with a smirk of his own.

#levi ackerman #levi aot #levi smut #levi x reader #levi x y/n #captain levi x reader #rivaille heichou #rivaille ackerman #fanfiction smut #reader insert #levi attack on titan #attack on titan

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blackjack-15 · 4 months

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Hi I just got through reading all of your liveblogging posts about The Bear! It was a delight to read all of your real-time predictions that ended up coming true, you really had this show’s number from the jump lol. Do you have any predictions for next season? Most fans think Carm and Syd are headed for an explosive confrontation, but are any other storylines, scenes, character beats, etc. that you think we might see?

This is super nice of you, anon! thank you so much for following my chaotic ramblings XD and hey it's a lot easier to know what might happen in the show when they've got such competent writers/directors! tho they surprised me a fair number of times (i don't think i'll be over the interplay/intercuts of claire, carmy, and syd at the end of 2X07/start of 2X08 any time soon), which keeps things fun

as far as predictions for next season...i think it's hard to say without having the first five minutes of S3 in front of me (they do such a good job setting up the tone and conflicts of the season in the first little bit of S1 and S2!), but i've got

a couple things i'm pretty sure about:

-more REM songs (only thing i'm 100% positive on)

-more kitchen/cooking time for our mains, especially carmy. last season's renovations + cliche john hughes nonsense kept him mostly out of the kitchen from ep 3 on, and i'm 99% sure he'll be back with a knife in hand come S3

-nat giving birth to a girl (i'd love it but am not solid on predicting she'd be named some derivative of 'mary' (or a name meaning 'victory', such as nicole), given the berzatto family prayer).

i know the temptation for her to have a boy named after michael is strong b/c it's TV, but this series (rightly, in my mind) tends away from Lionizing the Dead simply b/c they're dead, and after spending S2 breaking down mikey (and showing mikey and nat's relationship, which like ever berzatto relationship wasn't super healthy), i'm hopeful and trusting the writers to avoid this. it wouldn't make me hate the show or anything, but it would honestly disappoint me unless done in a way (i honestly can't think of what way) that would make it okay. plus pete kinda screams girldad to me, and seeing carmy and richie with a little niece would be incredibly precious

-sydcarmy dustup of some kind, but i doubt it'll be as explosive as we've seen in the past, mostly b/c syd was stressed but exhilarated by success at friends & family and b/c i think carmy's (lack of) mental health will be brought up in relation to it

-solidifying of a secondary staff at the bear to let our regulars breathe a bit and have the bear feel like a real, functioning kitchen, not a mom and pop greasy spoon -- this started at the end of s2 but it needs to continue

-cicero setting the tone of the first few months of The Bear (and probably his commentary on carmy's relationships) -- we're not out of the realm of Complete and Utter Failure yet, lads, and the money is gonna come due -- whether by the guise of Friendly Uncle Jimmy visiting with Nat, or the mask of Cicero the Loan Shark coming out in full force

-art storyline with carmy figuring out what will replace the awful painting (i'm going to guess it'll be something of his design, but it'll at least be something he feels represents him, given the comments last season)

-major theme of carmy figuring out what he wants vs what others want for him. him analyzing his relationship with claire by himself -- or, my preference, talking it out with Tina, who he seems to be able to open up to pretty well -- is part of this

things that have to happen but i have no idea how/to what resolution:

-carmy and richie addressing the "donna" fight/comment. it's gonna be multi-ep (neither one is great at complimenting the other to their face and tend to do it behind the other's back, but richie is especially bad at it), and it's gonna hurt.

-pete spilling the beans to Someone (not nat but not sure who) about donna being at f&f

-resident claire's poor little hurt feelings from trespassing into the kitchen and eavesdropping on then leaving carmy in the middle of a really, really bad attack (yes i'm phrasing it that way because it's true <3)

-something about tiff's upcoming wedding (marcus getting contracted/recommended to make dessert for it would be painful but oh so crunchy)

-carmy meets syd's dad. he's proud of her and her success and you know he's gonna want to meet her business partner

nebulous predictions:

-ebra's storyline with him carving out a niche at the sandwich window getting screentime

-tina coming more into her own and maybe getting a designated storyline (about what? no idea)

-more gary nonsense. man lives the wildest life and we see almost none of it

-carmy working through what cooking means to him and what it means in relation to the bear/the berzattos/sydney

-nat's water breaks/she goes into labor at the bear. not sure the baby will actually be born there (i'd guess probably not on the whole), but the process will Begin there

-syd distraction/love interest storyline. not even her dating particularly, just her attention being Split and having the shoe be on the other foot for carmy as they navigate what being business partners means outside the kitchen

-fak time. he's a little uncertain, a little wandering in the restaurant, and he was a major...antagonistic force, let's say? in S2. his place in the world of the bear needs clarification and harmony, and his identity needs solidity and sureness

things that aren't impossible/improbable but would be a Little Treat for Me specifically:

-chef jess being invited to the bear by richie (let the man have people outside the bear and his kid/ex! garrett may come too i'll allow it)

-the return of louie my beloved (helping out at the sandwich window? he makes a good foil to Young Carmy, so i would like to see him more -- carmy in Full Mentorship would be a thing to see, and it would be a being-better-than-mikey-was-to-him thing as well. it's narratively crunchy and provides lots of room for growth, but can be done in ways that don't involve louie, so that's why it's here)

-syd's best meal + comment about being a regular at The Beef coming back. do i think they eventually will? yes. am i aware that my desire for them is prolly stronger than it narratively should be be predicted? also yes. could this easily be combined with carmy meeting syd's dad? yes and i will break the sound barrier

-carmy drawing a dish syd comes up with. a hand-drawn menu for the bear would be Incredible, and syd's face looking at a sistine-chapel-style drawing of a dish she came up with? tremendous, chef

thing that i want to be brought up more than Anything but don't predict it'll be touched (at least directly):

-carmy yelling for syd during his attack in the walk-in (i'm sorry you can't have the man yelling "MARCUS GET ME SYD. GET ME SYD" and expect me not to want it on a billboard

that got long, sorry anon, but there we go -- 4am rambling off-the-cuff about S3...only months to go, hopefully....

#the bear #anti claire bear #asked and answered #sorry this is like a novella but i can't keep my mouth shut! y'all know how it goes #syd x carmy #i refer to her as 'resident claire' because 1) no surname and 2) referring to her place in the bear universe as a Type rather than a person #she's not claire a fleshed out character; she's the resident claire; the archetype that is a vehicle for conflict + growth #also because i am as catty as the day is long and i can be! been in fandom too many decades not to call it as i see it #that and it's her job title so like it works but it works in so many different ways #it's like poetry it rhymes dot jpeg #i might be way off base but i'm p sure i'm at least on the field

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booktomoviebrawl · 6 months

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We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

Animorphs:

Didn't have the budget to do literally anything the books were doing, and it shows. Also the central theme of the books wasn't even touched on.

A low-budget kids' show was absolutely the worst and most embarrassing way to adapt a semi-serialized, somewhat serious (but, y'know, in a YA way) drama about war and how it changes those who participate in it. It never goes into the ethical questions or moral issues that the original book series brings up, and the violence is toned down a lot. They just didn't have the money for the special effects you'd need for a story with so many different alien races (Taxxons, one of the main types of alien employed by the enemy yeerks, are never even mentioned!), nor for the animal training/handling for so many different species that the characters are constantly morphing into. I get that they were doing the best they could for the time and medium, but it ended up being a giant embarrassment. :(

Only one season, poorly written

Tales from Earthsea:

I don't think it could have been better, but it was just so off from from the books it was mainly drawing its inspiration from (I mean, I had no interest in seeing that weird weaver guy decide to off himself in the boat, but still).

Studio Ghibli is the perfect studio to capture the Le Guin vibe and yet Goro torched it so hard for no reason

To give credit where it is due, the film has some good settings and animation. Unfortunately, its beauty is only on the surface, and it is the worst Studio Ghibli movie I’ve seen. (I’ve seen almost all of them but Earwig and the Witch.) The plot is a collage of random bits of context from the first four books of the series, as well as its own stuff. It really is not the same story at all. I may have enjoyed it more if I had seen it as a child before reading the books, but not covering all the events exactly isn’t the only issue, it’s just worse. It takes the moral complexity and sensibility of the original and turns it into a typical fantasy war between good and evil (the Japanese title even translates to Ged’s War Chronicles) with emphasis on physical violence, in which evil is personified as a goth queer-coded villain whose death resolves everything. It completely misses the point of the books, which gives no such simple answers and is more focused on the darkness within everyone than an external battle. Where is the nuance? It also whitewashes everyone: most of the characters in the book are dark-skinned, but in the movie…

I was also bitter that they did my favourite character, Tehanu/Therru, dirty. She’s supposed to be horribly scarred and disfigured on half her body and reviled by people as a monster but in the movie she’s just a pretty girl with a red mark on her face. In the books, she doesn’t appear until the fourth book, Tehanu, which takes place after Lebannen is grown up and ruling a kindgom, and in which she is a mostly-nonverbal child. But here she’s aged up and thrown into the earlier story to give the protagonist a love interest and the film has him stay with them so it can focus on their romance. Even though a plot-relevant part of his character as well is his lack of interest in women and not settling into a relationship despite the people’s wishes.

Basically, they whitewashed, heteronormatized, macho-ified, and de-nuanced the narrative, and also took out the feminism.

On top of this, trying to cram the whole series into one movie is just not a good idea, and it would have been better to just decide on one book to adapt and do more justice. And yet they still added in so much that didn’t happen. When you have that much material to cover, you don’t have time or budget to be putting other things in, mate. Turning four books into one results both in a mess. Abridgment is one thing; taking particular aspects of different parts of the timeline and combining them in different ways is another. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s in an unfortunate middle area where it doesn’t follow the source material but also doesn’t give enough context that people unfamiliar with the source understand. For Earthsea fans, it’s infuriating; for others, it’s confusing. Also, why did they name it after the fifth book, which is a short story collection that it doesn’t reference whatsoever?

The failure of the movie is upsetting because the books are sooo good. Yet, it was the highest-grossing Japanese movie of the year, and did win a couple awards… The Bunshun Kiichigo awards for “Worst Director” and “Worst Movie”.

#tournament poll #animorphs #anitv #tales from earthsea #earthsea #a wizard of earthsea

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sasukimimochi · 7 months

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hey guys! had a nap so I'm back to update u guys properly. I'm going to try to summarize the post I made a bit better, as well as posting the picture I shared with the previews (as little as it is)

*TWPT extra image. Translation: ”Come back soon! - Lan Sizhui”

As always, check out my masterpost in order to get more content! ❤

So onto what I mentioned earlier today, I'm delaying Ch 27 of Ghost of Mine by at least one more week due to life continuing to throw shit my way. However I'm sharing some previews on ao3 (they will be removed when I upload 27, just like the aftercare ficlet). A longer explanation will be under the cut!

This is in addition to stuff that is still happening from my previous life update.

as you guys know the past tenants aren't really paying their dues, so I've been waiting on that & I got a large charge from an insurance company I wasn't expecting on top of that. Then I got a second charge from the same company, in the same month, for the usual amount. So we lost as much as 900+ dollars this month. As you can probably expect, that is a lot of money to lose at once unless you are reasonably wealthy and comfortable.

We only just today got our check for next month- early, which is great because we were worried that we would have to stretch things until the 3rd with no new groceries other than what my mom might be able to throw our way. Before we got the check as well my cats decided they absolutely did not like the food I got them- My cats aren't picky when they're hungry, so this was a bizarre and unexpected thing and I couldn't spare the money to buy a new bag of food (my mom helped us by buying a new bag of their previous food and essentially doing a trade with us, so she has the food they don't like) Just, in general a lot of stress is happening at the same time.

Onto GOM: I was writing recently (I can't remember the exact day, it was probably up to two weeks ago) as I did rewrite the entire beginning of Ch 27 and planned to cut out a lot more, which is why it's taking me much longer than expected to complete this chapter- it's my first show of proper investigation and intrigue that is a bit dangerous for the present time and not just, you know, only revealing information- I really want this chapter to be good and not rushed through like my initial first pass. It was a short-lived lapse in my stress when I wrote the first fourth of the rewrite, and I've hit a spot in the chapter that's difficult when my mind is so distracted by the stress.

SO, as to make up for this lack of update (again) I'm gonna give you guys three exclusive previews, one for the beginning of Ghost of Mine Ch 27 (just the first bit, not everything I've written so far bc its still prone to change and I want to give u guys the best version), the beginning of Rose Hips and Flushed Fingertips - The Story of Mo Xuanyu (GOM extra), and the beginning of The Wild Plum Tree (JC & LXC's story - GOM extra) so I hope you enjoy these exclusive previews, as they are all directly connected with the story and are canon to the GOM universe.

TLDR; struggling still, this is another delay. will check back in in about a week- I'm going to show you guys some exclusive previews for GOM related content that isn't yet released to make up for it right now! GOM CH 27, RH&FF (Ch.1/Part1), and TWPT (Ch.1).

PLEASE, KEEP IN MIND: the previews are still very prone to change. RH&FF/TWPT especially, since I am always struggling on how I write JC to make him feel canon to me (and he doesn't here, in my opinion, just bc I haven't described him well enough there) so just keep that in mind when you read!

So I hope you guys enjoy the previews and come back next Sunday!

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luigiblood · 3 months

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Game Ownership

In sort of a response to the Ubisoft director of subscriptions where he said that we need to get more confortable not owning games...

Well, reading that interview from GamesIndustry.biz, turns out he never really said that. It's more of an observation of the gaming subscription services, and comparing different views. It's actually a pretty interesting read.

But the negative response to the more clickbait part where the gamers went very much against this from the get go was something that particularly striked me as how I really just didn't feel like I was part of those who responded like this.

I do not care about owning games that much. I may be a owner of retro consoles, games, and about 50 Switch physical games, but the reasons ranges from passion to just practical and economical.

Taking the example of the Switch, what currently makes me attached to physical games are more of how it's usually cheaper in my country (like, first party games day one tend to be 25% off brand new), and the practicality when you live in a household with 2 Switch systems, it's just easier to share the games that way with your family. If I could just buy digitally with the same advantages, I'd just do that.

This view on game ownership has mostly to do with my past of a guy who pirated games and movies like crazy before we got a little more comfortable paying for stuff. But this past also comes with a deeper importance on the presence of data locally. Cloud gaming is something I hate on passionately if the industry keeps going on that as a means to play games exclusively. It would be the kind of thing that would make my heart broken about modern gaming as a whole, but thankfully we're not even close to there, and I suspect we'll never be.

But I could also not need to pay for the games, I don't really see a lack of ownership as a problem on its own. The only thing that matters is if it's practical or not, and that's the part that feels like it tends to be skipped when explained. That's how it went about movies and music.

That practicality is critical, and that is the part that's the most in danger. The big reason why is how companies can decide on a whim what is accessible to suit their needs. That WILL be completely in the process of enshittification due to how companies have to keep growing until it makes no more sense. You don't even need to look very far to understand this, video streaming services are already very good at doing absolutely this, but I also dare say the Game Pass and PlayStation Plus are on a similar boat to a different extent, though.

One of the recent examples of how bad shit is HBO Max's removal of a huge amount of content just for a massive tax write down. There is financial incentive to fuck us all, and I consider the future to do absolutely that in the long term for gaming.

That kind of thing SUCKS. That is what we're actually scared of as a consumer. I hate seeing art being considered as a throwaway product.

I even saw a french article that was so complacent with this and kept saying complete bullshit things like "oh if they remove that game from the service, just take it as an opportunity to play another one" just, fuck off. That's not how I see this kind of service.

I love Nintendo Switch Online, despite a lot of its flaws, and hate on Virtual Console's overall legacy personally. I'm all for ways to allow discoverability and pick the curiosity of people. That's the kind of shit that I love in having some ease of access to catalogs, despite not owning them.

Wasn't it the dream to just access to everything with less money though? Don't tell me otherwise because I wouldn't believe you. I do think there's something nice in this kind of service, but we also need to figure how to keep companies from the inevitable enshittification that will ensue on the constant need for growth beyond any reasonable sense.

#gaming #streaming #opinion #ownership

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hyenahunt · 1 month

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Obbligato: The Punishment of Kaname Tojo - 5

Writer: Akira

Season: Spring

Characters: Kaname

Proofreading: Remi (JP) & honeyspades (ENG)

Translation: Peace

Kaname: They'll have to pry this position out of my cold, dead hands.

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Time: An hour later

Location: Outside Reimei Academy

Kaname: ... Hello, big brother?

Uh huh. So you saw my latest show? Thanks for watching.

Heehee. It's all thanks to you, you know.

By following your instructions to the word, doing all that you've said to do during my performances, my work has been flawless.

I'm not lacking whatsoever as Reimei Academy's Top Idol.

And thanks to my good reputation, I've been offered job after job!

Kaname: Ah, yes... I've been doing as you instructed, of course. I’ve passed off work I can’t get to towards the other Special Students.

They're ever so grateful to me for it. I'm praised, flattered, and adored by them now...

... Even though beforehand, after I'd fallen from their ranks due to that taboo mistake I'd made, they'd done nothing but ridicule me.

They treated me as if I wasn't a human anymore, either ignoring my existence or only acknowledging me to insult me.

Kaname: And now they've flipped back the other way, like it all never happened — but they're too late. I won't ever, ever forget the humiliation I faced at their hands.

Honestly, I don't even want to get into their good graces by giving them the jobs I can't fulfill— it feels like I'm trying to butter them up.

They should all burn in Hell.

They should feel the same pain as their victims did, and then die.

Kaname: ... Oh, yes, I'm fine. I'm perfect, after all. I don't show any sign of those sentiments to them, of course. I simply do exactly as you tell me to.

Honestly, I do! Don't you trust me, brother?

Heehee. We didn't know of one another for the longest time, so we haven't been able to bond the way other brothers normally do...

In fact... we might not ever be able to bond, rely on, or even love one another the way a true family should.

But you know, I do want to love you, brother. And I want you to love me too, in the same way.

Kaname: For as long as I can remember, I've always lived on my own.

When I was very young, my mother passed away...

I came to live in a terrible orphanage, and I only survived the miserable conditions they kept us in by remembering the dreams my mother entrusted to me, with the lessons she taught held close to my heart.

... In that disgusting "home," I and the other children were exploited for all we were worth.

I worked half to death trying to save up money from jobs I picked up, just so I could run away from that prison.

I wasn't even given a proper education there. No, it wasn't a place someone could grow up well and learn what they needed to know.

It was Hell, where we did all that we could just to survive.

So I studied. I studied, I worked hard, I did everything I could—

And in the end, all my efforts were rewarded: I became an idol, just as I'd always dreamed!

Kaname: As a Special Student of Reimei Academy, I was finally able to walk such a glorious path.

I really was happy. Truly overjoyed. My life couldn't have gotten better.

And then... because of a stupid slip of the tongue, I fell from the summit into the ranks of the Non-Special Students — I couldn't stand it.

Kaname: My blood, sweat, and tears went into climbing out of Hell, only to fall right back to the bottom of it—

But thanks to you, I was able to escape once again.

That's why I don't wanna make the same mistake I did before and fall back in.

This time, I'll do everything perfectly. I won't make a single mistake.

Kaname: They'll have to pry this position out of my cold, dead hands.

I'll fulfill the dreams of my poor mother, who died far too young, and... that'll be how I repay her for giving birth to me, for raising me until she couldn't anymore.

My mother is dead. There's no Heaven or Hell — or any kind of afterlife at all, is there? No matter what happens to me, she won't be able to feel a single thing.

But... It was my love for her that kept me going through those hellish times.

Kaname: Uh huh! My mother is a God to me. I can't switch my doctrine from her words, and I can't abandon my faith now.

It's what I've built my life on. The very backbone of my existence — they're everything to me.

You think it's ridiculous, don't you, brother?

You're strong, and it seems as if you're fine living on your own. You gave up what I desperately wanted for so long, so easily—

And nevertheless you live on, put together as can be.

Ah, I don't resent you or anything, though. I really am impressed.

I could never do what you did, or live how you do.

I'd collapse far too easily without emotional support. I know that, because I've lived in such cruel circumstances.

I absolutely had to have something I could hold on to, or else I couldn’t have kept on living.

Maybe it was because I was selfish, or inconsiderate— something like that, but everyone around me gave me the cold shoulder.

The only person who I'd ever felt love from was my mother. That's why I've placed my faith in her, why I've clung so tightly to her.

She had always been my support. But now, I have you too — someone else I can call family, so I feel a little more stable.

Kaname: Heehee... I really am thankful I met you, brother.

This must be a reward for all my hard work. No, it's certainly because God realized he'd trampled on me far too much and decided to apologize in this way.

God doesn't exist? You would think so, wouldn't you?

You might understand once you've found yourself at rock bottom.

The panic to cling on to something warm, as if you’d freeze to death.

Right. Okay. Instead of chattering endlessly, I should do what I'm supposed to. I'll do as you ask.

Hey, so... Will I really find happiness if I do that?

Kaname: (... Ahaha, he hung up. I wonder if my clinginess disgusted him.)

(He really does seem to hate idleness and inefficiency. Maybe he's annoyed by my affection and dependence on him...)

Kaname: (But... I really do need something to cling to just to survive.)

(I'm sorry, brother.)

[ ☆ ]

✦✦✦✦✦

← prev ✦ all ✦ next →

#ensemble stars #enstars #enstars translation #hyenahunttl #kaname tojo #s: obbligato

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nixieisaloserr · 1 year

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Since the requests are taking such a long time, I decided to post my book (that I have been writing for several months) on here. I only have around 5 chapters out now.

Introducing,

Oneirataxia

A creepypasta x reader

Prologue

This book is intended for those 13 and over. If you are under the recommended age, whether you proceed or not is your choice. You will come across many disturbing things including: Violence, Gore, Various mental disorders including but not limited to BPD, depression, Anxiety, and ASPD, misogynistic characters, unhealthy relationships, visibly unhinged characters, descriptions of panic attacks, descriptions of dead/ decaying bodies, descriptions of the decomposition process, and mature language.

This book is classified as psychological horror. It will contain disturbing things.

Before I start this chapter - I trust that you have read the warnings. I will not be restating them.

I will not write for Jeff the killer or Laughing Jack. Laughing Jacks creator is someone who I personally do not agree with and I think their actions were appalling. As for Jeff the killer, he is a character I do not want to create content for due to personal reason. If you want to ask, message me privately.

And lastly, updates will be slow. I'm a high-school student, and there is no shortage of work for me to do. I also have some things going on in my life that are affecting my motivation and mental health.

Keep in mind this is a yandere x reader book. It will be disturbing, especially since these characters were already unhinged to begin with.

Thank you for understanding. Enjoy <3

—

Public transport was something you didn't particularly enjoy. The suffocating atmosphere was too much for you, and being squished between people you didn't know wasn't something you looked forward to every day. But, not everyone had the money to buy a car, and not everyone could get a license. You would just have to put up with it for the time being.

You let out a sigh of relief as your street name was declared over the intercom, the bus doors opening and letting the chilly afternoon air waft into the rather stuffy atmosphere of the bus. You huffed as you jumped off the bus and onto the concrete, a small jolt running up your legs from the landing. The bus doors slammed shut behind you, and the wheels of the bus screamed and pleaded; begging for a longer rest. You watched as the bus left you, all alone. With a small sigh, you started your walk. You looked at the tree-line while you did so. The trees looked so beautiful, especially at this time of year. There were many colours mixed within the trees, creating an outstanding colour palette. The trees always looked so pristine - untouched by humanity. For some reason, no one ever bothered to venture into the unknown depths of the forest. Everything was left unbothered; it was quite pleasant to look at. Maybe some day, you would take a look. You could walk through and take pictures with your mums old camera. There had to be a path, right? You shook your head, no, you needed to get home.

You saw your house in the distance, and picked your pace. You didn’t want to be caught by your neighbours, they would just end up dragging you into a painfully long conversation. You loved your neighbours, you really did, but all you wanted was rest. Your neighbours were nice - an elderly couple who loved to strike up conversation every chance they got. You didn’t mind talking to them, but you wouldn’t go out of your way to initiate any interactions with them. Just as you were getting close to your driveway, your heard someone call out on the other side of the fence. “Would you be a dear and help us with something, darling?” Ugh. That nickname made you want to grind your teeth together and pop the bones of your knuckles out of your skin. For lack of a better word, it made you feel icky.

You turned around slowly, and smiled as best you could. "What is it, Mrs. Luvis?"

"Oh! No need to be so formal, you can just call me Diane!"

"...Diane...what do you need?"

“Could you help my son bring in some furniture for us? He can’t lift some of the stuff up on his own…”

Oh. That’s right. You saw the furniture on their front lawn, and wondered why it was there as you walked past. You were tired, but you didn’t have the heart to tell this poor old woman ‘no’…you would just have to endure. “Okay. I can do it.” You smiled, and begun to walk towards her. Your body gradually got heavier and heavier with each step you took - all you wanted to do was collapse on the ground and fade into nothingness. That definitely sounded better than busting your ass, anyway. Diane beckoned you over and adjusted her glasses, looking you up and down before frowning. “Are you alright, dear? You seem very tired. We all know how overworked you Uni students are…you don’t have to help if you don’t want to,” she cautioned, looking at you with a deep concern laced in those tired grey eyes of hers. A small pit set in the bottom of your stomach. You felt bad. Maybe it was the way she was looking at you? Maybe…you felt bad for thinking all those horrible things about her. It wasn’t her fault she was so frail, it came with old age.

You didn’t want to be like her.

You didn’t want to grow old - to rely on other people. You couldn’t imagine yourself being in her shoes- did that mean you didn’t plan to die of old age? Did that mean..? No. No, it didn’t. You were just scared. Everyone was scared of growing up; of feeling everything fade away in what felt like seconds. It was a rational fear, you had no reason to panic over these feelings of yours. “Dear?” Dianne’s voice called out to you, ripping you out of your thoughts - your safe space - and out into the world. “Oh!- Um, I’m okay. Just got a little lost in thought there, sorry,” you assured, looking her in the eyes. Diane sighed, and turned away. "Whatever you say, hun," she muttered. You followed after her as she walked towards the stranded furniture on her front lawn. You felt awkward, like you had upset her.

"Hey, Ma - who's this?" A mans voice rudely interrupted your thought process, but you didn't mind. Diane nudged your arm, as if she was telling you to introduce yourself. "Oh, um. Hello. I'm [Name]. I'm here to help you move in the furniture," you answered. The man nodded his head, and looked to Diane. "Thank you. Should we get started?" he asked. Diane nodded her head before heading inside. The man looked towards a rather large and heavy-looking dresser. "Lets start with this. Best to get the bad stuff out of the way first, right?" he declared.

"You go on this side, I'll go on the other side," he ordered, already in position. You hurried over, rushing to grip the dresser and press your body against it as best you could. "Three, Two, One, Lift!" He grunted, and shakily hauled the dresser off the ground, your arms already beginning to hurt. The man started to walked backwards, and you stumbled in suite. Both of you struggled to stay coordinated, constantly tripping and making many, many close calls. The man was halfway up the concrete steps, you only on your first. He moved to make one step up, when he slipped.

And he let go of the dresser.

You tumbled backwards, the dresser following close behind. You felt your body smack against the ground, hitting your head roughly. You swore you could feel blood begin to seep out of your skull. A horrible pain burst through your entire body as the dresser crushed you under its weight, as if you were nothing but a measly ant. You felt a pulse everywhere in your body, and the pain became so unbearable you felt like you were going to throw up. Your eyes were bursting out of their sockets, and you felt like you were going to explode. You felt sick to your stomach, like you were a fruit on the ground, being squashed by all the shoes stomping on it. You couldn't breathe, not one bit. You could feel the warm, thick blood pouring out of you. You didn't care, though. All you wanted was for the pain to stop.

And stop it did.

You could feel fabric underneath your hands, and everything around you was vibrating slightly. You opened your eyes, but everything was blurry and it was hard to keep them open. You tried to force them open, but all it did was made your head pound even harder. Where were you? Didn't you die? Your ears were ringing, your head was pounding, and you felt like you were about to vomit. Lord, you felt like shit.

Slowly, your ears stopped ringing and the pounding in your head dulled down to a small throb. You heard people talking, cars honking, and a very annoying rumbling noise akin to that of a motor. It dawned on you, you were back in the bus! Did you fall asleep? Maybe that was a bad dream?

But if that was a bad dream, then why did you still feel some of the pain?

The horrible, horrible pain that made your eyes water and mouth run dry. You swore you could feel cracks and scars in your skin. You smoothed your hand over your abdomen, feeling around for any sort of injury. Your skin was hot to the touch - not warm, it was hot. It hurt when you touched it. You considered lifting your shirt up to see if there was anything worth going to the hospital for, but you decided against it due to the amount of people on the bus. You would hate for people to see that; especially if you really were hurt. What if your clothes were the only thing keeping you together?

Nonsense. You were fine. You seriously needed to get your crap together.

You perked up as the sound of your street name being called met your unsuspecting ears. Accompanying the unexpected wake-up call came a strong sense of déjà vu. You literally went through this less than fifteen minutes ago.

What the hell was going on!?

You stood up slowly, as if people were watching your every move and scrutinising you as you shuffled awkwardly down the isle. It really, really felt like they were. You swore could hear people giggling and whispering to their friends. Did you really look that disheveled? You rubbed at your face tiredly, feeling around for anything abnormal. Nope, you were fine. You had to be. Ignoring the embarrassment that came with public spaces, you stepped off the bus carefully and looked back at the driver, only to find that they were already looking at you with a rather concerned expression.

“You know it’s unsafe for someone to be out here all alone at this time - right?”

You tilted your head and hummed in response. “Pardon? I don’t remember this street being so dangerous. I’ll be fine, don’t worry! I’ve taken this path many times before,” you smiled. The bus driver sighed and shook their head before the bus doors closed and the bus took off. As the bus began its journey to a new destination; so did you. You found yourself walking down the familiar path with a bounce in your step as you listened to a random playlist you had forgot to turn on the last time you walked down here. As you looked over the the tree line, you slowed down and gaped at the trees.

They looked so…

Unhealthy.

You saw gashes in the trees, with sap oozing out of them similar to blood spilling out of a fresh wound. Your brows furrowed in confusion - the trees had never looked like that before. As you stalked closer, you could make out strange symbols, words and jumbled letters you couldn’t make out. It looked kind of like the result of really, really bad mental breakdown. But still - it had only been about twenty or so minutes since you had last seen those same trees, how could they have managed to change so drastically in such little time, especially with no traces of who did it? Some of the gashes looked old, too. Some looked like they had accompanied the trees for years.

“Excuse me?”

You jumped, and turned to face whoever had caught you in your very confused train of thought. You locked eyes with a middle-aged woman with frizzy hair and bright red lipstick. “You really shouldn’t be so close to the forest. Someone could hurt you, you know? It’s really dangerous around here. Haven’t you heard the rumours?”

You looked at her like she was crazy. This town had always been a quiet and uneventful place to stay. You had no idea what she was talking about.

“Erm, what? I’ve lived here for a very long time now and I’ve never heard of anything ill-natured involving this specific area. Uh, do you know where these gashes came from? I’ve never seen them before,” you asked. The woman looked even more puzzled, you swore you could see math symbols floating around her head as she put together a fitting answer.

“Those have been there for a really long time now…are you okay? Have you been getting enough sleep? Do you need any help getting home? You don’t seem to well,” she babbled on, making your brow twitch in slight anger. This woman was starting to piss you off. You didn’t know who she was, or even why she approached you, but you really didn’t want to stay and chat with her any longer.

“Look, I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m going to go home now, on my own. Have a good night,” you asserted, taking multiple steps towards the sidewalk before the woman grabbed your arm in retaliation. “I- wait! I really don’t think it’s a good idea to be-“ she began, before you spun around and yanked your arm out of her grasp with an unexpected force.

“I really don’t know who you are, so that means you have no right to be fretting over my well-being. I’m sorry, but I don’t need you to accompany me. Please just let me leave,” you grunted, giving the woman a half-hearted glare. She stepped back and attempted to utter and apology with glossy eyes. You wanted to feel bad, you really did, but you were honestly to tired. You hustled away, whisking your hand through your hair and letting out the most stress-induced sigh you have ever heard. As the pressure left your chest with a final rumble, you thought harder about how you could’ve handled the situation differently.

You were really rude to that woman. Guilt sprouted in your belly, ready to grow and eventually take over your thoughts until you had the chance to apologise. You probably should’ve been calm about it. Cool, and calculating. That way - she would be less likely to grab you like that. It gave the illusion that you knew what you were talking about. You sighed.

You would have to use that one next time.

With that thought fresh in your head, you took off. You started where you left off last time, picking up your pace as to not get interrupted by anyone else. A million ideas raced in your head, you entertained the thought of one of them winning first place when you walked through the front door of your home, but you guessed that would have to wait until you actually got there. You found yourself scanning your surroundings as you meandered around, following the path set in stone. For some reason, everything looked much sadder than what you remembered. You even noticed a few changes - there used to be a tire swing on a feijoa tree in a nice lady’s backyard for her daughter, but that was now gone and the tree was reduced to nothing but a stump. A man had a playhouse in his front-yard for his neighbours kids, but it looked like that had never existed. Everything looked so sad, it made you feel sort of depressed, really.

As you walked passed Diane’s house, you noted that furniture was on the front-lawn, and the front door was opening. You quickly turned your head so that you were facing in-front of you. You kept your eyes locked onto your destination as Diane walked up to the fence and called out to you. “Would you be a dear and help us with something, darling?” she called out, waving you down. You froze in place as your blood ran cold. “N-no…I’m sorry, Mrs. Luvis…I’m busy at the moment. Maybe try asking someone else?” you stuttered out, shuffling your feet on the ground.

"Oh! No need to be so formal, you can just ca-“ she began, with the same smile you saw the time she recited that to you the first time.

“Diane. I know. Sorry, but I need to go,” you interrupted, waving her a quick goodbye before scurrying into the safety of your home. As your fingers curled around the cool metal doorknob you couldn’t help but push your whole weight against the door and stumble inside half-hazardly. You felt hot tears dig trenches into your skin as you closed the door behind you and leaned on a nearby chair for support. You sucked in a big breath as you desperately tried to hold yourself together.

What the fuck.

What the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK!?

This couldn’t be happening - this was something only seen in movies and books. Maybe you really were going crazy? Maybe those people really did have a reason to be so concerned for you. Your body trembled as sobs racked your body. You clenched the back of the chair so hard it could’ve snapped, and you slowly lowered yourself to the ground as you realised how badly you screwed up. You had absolutely no idea what was going, what changed, and how you were going to play it off. You were practically living the life of another person, as far as you knew.

You covered your mouth as your tears burned your skin. You felt as if your lungs were collapsing in on themselves and your stomach was devouring itself oh so slowly, and your mind came up with horrible thoughts that made you gag and convulse - sometimes you hated your brain and it’s stupid ideas.

Your crumpled body lay on the ground as you drowned yourself in tears and half-complete thoughts. You blinked the tears away and moved your hand away from your mouth, expecting to see snot covering your hand when you looked it over. Your breath caught in throat as you saw the unmistakable crimson liquid coating your palm that ran down your arm when you rolled over on your back and lifted your hand above you to get a better look. You looked to the side as you realised - your tears weren’t the only thing puddled on the floor. With shaky legs, you jumped off the ground ran to the nearest bathroom to look at the mess you made. As you looked yourself over, you wondered how you never noticed your nose was bleeding when it was this bad.

After cleaning up the mess, you stumbled up the stairs and into your bedroom. Your limbs ached and head pounded, and you prayed that your nose wouldn’t start bleeding again while you were asleep. You grunted as you climbed into bed and got comfortable, and wondered if you would even be able to sleep. That thought soon left your head as you closed your eyes and lost any and all motivation to stay conscious.

#creepypasta #x reader #creepypasta x reader #yandere #slenderman #masky #hoodie #ticci toby #eyeless jack #bloody painter #kagekao #horror #psychological horror

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geminineart · 4 months

Text

I decided to do an Art Summary again! And this year I wanted to focus not in my best pieces, but in the ones that sum up my year better♥

January I started doing videogame art on my own (Trying to make my own projects and participating on game jams), which is basically what I want to take from this year overall.

February was a dead month due to a tragic loss.

March was focused on commissions, work, money!

April was focused on a very delayed Magical March ♥

May wasn't very active per se, but I got to post some old art for a project I worked on during 2022, and call me superticious, but I feel posting them gave me good luck! ♥

June was dedicated mostly to selfportraits and reworking my commission options and prices

July was Art fight! I got to do lots of pieces this year!

August was dedicated to making adoptales, in the hopes to both work on my stories and get some extra income!

September I dedicated it to OC art and fashion design, playing around with my warrior princess Arabelle while I continued with commissions!

October was also a busy month, but I got to do some Halloween art, and I'm really happy about it!

November was mainly dedicated to another game jam. Working hard on achieving the dream!

December has been mainly for real life and work has been slow, so there's only a little doodle to sum it up.

Overall, I feel this was a... complicated year. Lots of inconsistency and a lack of focus, and I don't feel there's so much to show for it. Emotional pain has been the most notable constant for me, and today I'm hoping to leave that all behind a welcome a new, much better year ♥ To all of those struggling, I hope you can look back and appreciate the little things you accomplished (I myself I'm trying to take my beginning in the world of gamedev as my summary of this year!), even if you don't feel they're as muchs as you'd have wanted♥ Let's start 2023 with a good step!

Thank you to those who read all this and thank you all for being here all this time ♥ Hapy new year, I love you all! ♥

#art summary #art summery 2023 #artsummary2023 #2023 summary of art #summary of art #summary of art 2023

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artemis-entreri · 4 months

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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but can you please post links to your review of Lolth's Warrior? I love your reviews and can't find your Lolth's Warrior one. Thanks!

[[ Greetings!

Not a dumb question at all! ^_^ The reason that you can't find it is because it doesn't exist. XD In fact, I still haven't read the book yet, and I don't know when/if I will. I'm thinking that this is a good thing, as apparently even among the most diehard Drizzt fans there have been some very negative reactions to Lolth's Warrior, more so than ever.

If you follow me, you've probably noticed a significant drop in my activity. I've been greatly enjoying investing my time in other things, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while now but my brain wouldn't stop being hung up over these characters. It's no secret that I've been tired of Salvatore's BS for a long time, but I was too invested in the characters to be able to move on.

I think what finally helped me flip the switch is WotC investing a shitload of money to make Drizzt products, especially with whitewashed Artemis even though it's 2023. With the context of them also giving the excuse that they couldn't pay the other creatives who worked on their setting at market standard rates in the past along with their actions with the OGL earlier in the year, well, suffice to say that while I haven't respected Salvatore for a long time I did respect WotC, however after everything that happened this year, that has changed. I'm not sure how much WotC execs are responsible for the recent mass lay-offs, which in itself is really bad, but the fact that Mike Mearls was finally let go doesn't really help WotC's case for me because it only serves as a reminder of how Mearls wasn't fired earlier for assisting his sex abuser friend (he was instead quietly shuffled to the video games division for a while). When Mearls returned to the D&D division, about half a dozen female D&D staffers quit at the same time. This says to me that WotC cares more about a male sex abuser supporter than they do about all those female members of their staff, and it makes me question whether they care about women and oppressed groups in general. I've really started to question how much hypocrisy is present in their making a huge show of being LGBT+ inclusive; recent D&D products do indeed include a lot of LGBT+ representation, but how much of that is due to Jeremy Crawford having to fight to get it in there each time? How could WotC continue to march in Pride parades with pomp and circumstance while allowing the Mearls incident to have transpired?

When the OGL snafu happened, a friend made the comment that WotC may have had its ups and downs in the past but overall was generally viewed in a positive light by many, but that the OGL fiasco has probably bankrupted them from a "good will" perspective for a while. This is basically where I'm at with the company now. I still care a great deal about Ed Greenwood and the authors who penned the works that led me to fall in love with the world so hard, and while I still play D&D and care about FR, I'm at a point where I feel like WotC has demonstrated a clear lack of regard for their own Drizzt franchise, so much so that they don't even bother to get basic facts about one of its primary characters correct. As such, what's the point in me continuing to care? While I also don't care about how WotC feels about me as an individual fan, I've long been distasteful of how dismissive they are of their most dedicated fans, the ones who have spent hundreds of thousands of unpaid hours curating the (in)consistencies of their universe that they themselves can't be bothered to maintain. I can understand the reasons for WotC actively instructing their creatives to not use the FR Wiki, but it's painfully obvious that those creatives including Salvatore still use it to keep their facts straight because there is no comparable official resource for them internally with the company itself. Furthermore, the stuff that WotC is continuing to do suggest that they have no intention to change that, quite the opposite in fact. It was quite eyebrow-raising when WotC compared their D&D franchise to the Marvel universe, because what makes the Marvel universe so compelling and successful is the very self-consistency that WotC is trying to do away with in D&D. A big part of the reason why Marvel movies are loved is because it's the same characters that recur, and you never know if a character from a different movie will show up in the movie you're currently watching, but it's always a delight when they do. And, of course, it's so epic when all of those storylines across many different movies all come together and culminate in truly astounding ways. Despite the usage of an infinite multiverse in Marvel, there's this big sense of consistency, which is what makes the franchise so impressive and compelling. Marvel's world is everything that D&D's is not, at least in D&D's current iteration. Even though many different stories across a shared world is part of the draw of FR for me, I don't need D&D to be like Marvel, however because WotC made that comparison of the current D&D world to the Marvel world, I can't help but feel like WotC is more talk than action. I'm not at all saying that D&D isn't a quality product, it's just for me the shine of WotC is no longer there.

I think the biggest indicator for me that I was ready to shift my focus was my lukewarm reception of Baldur's Gate 3. It is everything that I hoped for and more for a current generation Forgotten Realms/D&D video game, and yet I was just ok about it. Here is FINALLY something that I spent so many years dreaming about, getting more and more hungry for it following the flops of Sword Coast Legends and the Dark Alliance reboot, but when it finally happened, I was just ok about it. It's a fantastic game and 110% deserving of its awards and its huge fan acclamation, and yet I was just ok about it. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the game, but I can't see myself playing it again.

I'm still happy to help and support the people in this fandom, be it by answering lore questions, suggesting novels to read, pointing the way to resources, or with more serious matters. I don't know how much new content I'll make though, I've got a bunch of WIPs in terms of art and writing, as well as miscellaneous drafts containing information about the world, but I don't know if I'll ever feel like finishing them/polishing them up to post. It's very freeing to no longer feel compelled to read each new Drizzt book because the drop in quality with each new installment has really been immense, and I'm a lot happier not spending those hours consuming really badly-written media. I do feel bad for no longer providing for those who want to know what's happening in the newer books but don't feel like reading them and who want to know a non-sycophantic summary of them, but hey, maybe someone will step up and fill in the summaries for the books. I'm not really sure why none of the diehard Drizzt/Salvatore super fans have undertaken the task since Hero. Wikis are editable by anyone, but the Wiki staff do try to make sure that everything is objective and factual.

If you're trying to find my old stuff, I'm sorry that my tags are kind of all over the place, I never got around to organizing them better. 😅 I *think* I've reblogged all of my LoD art to my otp-jartemis sideblog, but now that I look at it I see that's probably not the case. If you like my art though and want to continue seeing it even if it's not in this fandom, it'll be on my non-fandom specific blog: sno4wy.tumblr.com

This isn't goodbye, as I'll still be here now and then, I just won't be as invested, which is honestly a really great feeling. :> ]]

#Artemis Entreri #legend of drizzt #Forgotten Realms #Lolth's Warrior #WotC #ooc #ama #anonymous

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lemonadehtwooh · 8 months

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So… tell me about your mastersona?

OKAY so I forgot to add that there's five Master OCs, but Romeo is my specific Mastersona/current main character (this is for anyone who needs clarification). The other OCs are: Maple von Roth, Ishaan, Mary, and Chance Finnick

Under cut is backstory info up to how he joins Chaldea's organization of mages (a very long read)

So he comes from a VERY wealthy family, and he was the youngest child. I can't remember ATM how many siblings he has, but I think maybe he had four older sisters and two older brothers. Anyway, he was slightly babied in his childhood, but he never really turned out arrogant (however, he tends to think of himself as too arrogant or selfish due to self-deprecation RIP). His parents weren't very emotionally close to him or his siblings, and instead would replace their lack of presence with gifts and money. He also wasn't very close to his siblings due to him not meeting social expectations very well. He was always very clumsy/very accident prone, awkward, quiet, and noticably "different" in a "bad way" that would get him rejected. So he grew up very lonely and very people-pleasing. However, he really loves to study and read (which is VERY important to remember later) and is very smart academic-wise, which was the one thing that gave him some redemption in his family

Where he comes from isn't specified like the other Master OCs, however he canonically is Latino mixed and speaks Spanish, English, and learned Latin. As well, his family was VERY high class and had a lot of social influence. Adding on, Romeo is trans and was able to socially transition when he was a teenager and was able to medically transition when he was a legal adult very easily. He had some privilege, however that's probably the only time he used it for himself

Soon after his 18th birthday, Romeo was put into an arranged marriage with a girl he grew up around. Although the reasoning is currently vague, I would assume it was for both social and business reasons. His marriage was very loveless, and quickly his wife isolated him from the world and his family. She forbade him from getting a job (at this point now, he never had a job due to his focus on academics) and used him for the money he would receive from his parents. So she was financially abusive and possibly had both physically abused him and sexually coerced him (he, years later, realizes he's gay and was never attracted to women at all, which was why he didn't want anything to do with her in their marriage and why he didn't love her like that). He was very lonely in his marriage, and only found happiness in reading and studying

Eventually he catches her in the act of cheating without being noticed. So he writes a note that he's leaving, leaves her some money and their house, packs a few things, and straight up leaves. He goes VERY VERY VERY far away. The note he left? It was misinterpreted as a suicide note due to excessive apologizing for not being a good enough husband and his horrible way of wording things. He's pronounced dead, despite no body being found. Romeo never finds out about this

He gets his first job. And immediately loses it for accidentally, SOMEHOW, setting things on fire. And he absolutely SUCKS at getting and keeping jobs due to weird accidents, coincidences, and clumsiness. But he's trying SO hard. He wants to work, he wants to make his own money. He wants to have SOMETHING to be proud of

The money he took with him runs out, and he's kicked out of the apartment he was living in. He's homeless now, and proceeds to wander. Soon, the teleportation-in-his-sleep problem kicks up, and he finds himself in a new area every single day. Every day, he wanders and walks and travels with no real direction or purpose. He doesn't have anything but his books and the clothes on him. Years pass, he believes his memory is worsening as he forgets information about himself. He doesn't remember where he's from, his last name, or his age. He has memories, but they don't really matter anymore

One day, Romeo wakes up freezing. In my AU, Chaldea is still in the arctics, BUT there's a huge forest surrounding it as the magical energy radiating from it caused the area to grow wild plants and trees. Romeo manages to walk around a little, but collapses due to his already failing health and him starting to freeze to death

Now Fou comes in, a mix between Fou liking to explore the forest area outside of Chaldea and Fou being attracted by Romeo's sense of despair, hopelessness, yearning for a purpose, and envy of people better/stronger than him. Fou quickly takes a liking to Romeo (the reasoning for now is that Romeo offered Fou some food), piquing Merlin's interest as Fou demands for Romeo to be saved

Merlin sees Romeo's potential future and looses his shit laughing as Romeo becomes one of Chaldea's top mages. He thinks the idea of this pathetic, weak man becoming not only a mage, but a powerful one, is hilarious. He thinks making Chaldea deal with this man would be the funniest joke, but also would be interesting entertainment. So, using his hero creation ability, Merlin has Romeo healed up a bit so Fou can lead Romeo back to Chaldea

Romeo manages to accidentally teleport himself and Fou into Chaldea, and passes out due to the temperature difference and exhaustion

Shenanigans happen, in which Romeo is hidden from the main staff by Chance and her Servant Astolfo, and then Maple joining in as Chance's friend, and then ALMOST EVERYONE also hides Romeo from the main staff so he wouldn't be kicked out because he is just so darn friendly and knowledgeable and helps everyone so much (Romeo is just happy to be making friends)

Obviously, Romeo is found out due to the fact he was snuck into the library so he could read. And during one of these trips, he accidentally gets his foot stuck in a bucket and gets help from "A very pretty lady", aka Da Vinci, and then some stuff happens later and he gets registered as a Mage-in-training with the promise he would continue studying and would work hard to meet hard requirements

Okay, so back to the fact he grew up loving to read! He was born with magical abilities in a mage-based family/community, very specifically he is one of the "breathing and walking" people, however he never realized he was using magic nor did anyone tell him. He thought it was normal stuff. And the books he would read were infused with magic and had very old, unknown magic techniques written in them, and just in general fed him information about magic. Without him knowing it was magic. So he is VERY strong magically, however his lack of proper training and his area of magic being luck AND emotional based makes him weak. Adding on the information he read was unknown, aka an isolated or unused study, which makes it harder to train him because his strong suit is just. Unavailable other than the books he has on him. And his specific magic is so,,, unknown percentages of probability and can fluctuate so crazily just from the fact if he's having a bad day or not, that it's hard to tell if he's doing things right

Adding on, at first when Romeo works for Chaldea, he has no reason to do so other than having a place to stay and eat. It's survival. But later on, shortly before he summons Mr. Utterson, he realizes he wants to fight for humanity because of his friends. And that's where he finds his purpose

#forfunsiesau #alternate universe #Want to know what inspired his backstory to he like this?#BECAUSE ONE OF MY BESTIES TOLD ME DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF ROMEO'S DESIGN THAT HE LOOKED LIKE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN HOMELESS BEFORE CHALDEA #AND SO I TOOK THAT AN RAN WITH IT LMAO #I made Romeo traumatized to hell and back due to a silly comment about his design #fate grand order #fgo #fate go #fgo fate grand order #original character #fgo master oc #mastersona #character lore

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catesartworks · 2 years

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I’m really curious as to what isekai you’ve read because I haven’t really encountered this maid abuse trope as much I mean usually the story makes the maid do some unforgivable shit then she gets beat or it’s usually the villainess that does the beating to show just how morally crooked they are just to glorify the proverbial angelic MC but I digress. the isekai I read are mainly Korean manhwas and they tend to make their mc’s morally righteous (honestly there is a serious problem with how they pit women against each other too and how there’s any lack of other well written women but that is a separate topic) So I got a bit confused at the beginning of your comic ( i’m still thoroughly enjoying it though)

Hey there! Thank you so much for reading Isekai Maid!

I actually saw this comment on my webtoon, but I will answer it here. I've read an unhealthy amount of Rofan/Otome Isekai, so I come across this trope a lot. Here is a list:

Warning, gonna about abuse and some light spoilers

Here is a compiled list of every maid slap I've come across (light spoilers):

Iris: lady and her smartphone - slaps her aunts maids instead of the aunt to teach her aunt a lesson. Only hits the aunt when she is already powerless.

Duchess 50 tea recipes - slaps her employee after coming from a hostile workplace. Talks about how she understands what it's like to be demeaned, only for her to slap and threaten her employees, and then brags about it later internally.

I’m deleting them from my life - slaps a maid for stealing from her instead of just firing her.

Author of my own destiny - slaps a maid twice for giving her dirty water. Throws water on her. We are meant to hate the maid because we know her thoughts. Uses intimidation, knows the maids behavior is due to wanting favor from the countess, who is higher in the social order in the house than the mc.

The lady needs a break - Sleeps in all day, asks for breakfast from staff when breakfast is already long over. Then she slaps maid over food that wasn't good enough. Her stepmother verbally abuses her and she doesn't even consider slapping her even though she is much worse than the maid. Rubia reminds me of customers who came in too late for breakfast, and accused me and coworkers of hiding food or personally withholding it from them. This one makes me especially angry. I see comments celebrating this abuse, and it makes me think that they would cheer for the customers who hurled verbal abuse at me because they were late for the breakfast menu.

Untouchable lady - throws water on maid to “show her her place”

The villainess wants a divorce - Slaps maids for bullying her. She is a princess by the way.

What it takes to be a Villainess- Main character abuses all her maids to see which one is the spy.

Everybody Loves the Villainess- protagonist whips and abuses her maids, she is determined by the reincarnated saint who inhabits her body to not be a bad person who only wanted love only because she doesn’t abuse her stepson. Her maids (except for the pet maid) are deathly afraid of her wrath.

I am the Real One--One of the few titles that actually shows that maid slapping only fosters a negative work environment. The main character tries to connect with others, and is friends with her maid, Rose. (SPOILERS) The only thing I didn't like was how they resolved the "evil maid" in the second timeline.

More thoughts below if you want to read:

The thing about the maid abuse trope is that, to me, it goes out of it's way to make a noble the victim of their own employees who they can fire at any time. It doesn't make any sense either. It takes a lot of leaps in logic to understand why someone, who really needs the money, is of a low social position, can be killed by nobles over the smallest things, would go out of their way to abuse their employer's children or the employer themselves (no matter if they are illegitimate) when the ramifications would be astronomical and life destroying.

It is a trope, I feel, that is mired in a deep disdain for people in the service industry, or in professions deemed "inferior." This is a worldwide problem to be honest, and I see it in the west a lot. It's easier to make the people who work in service jobs "ungrateful and lazy" rather than confronting awful behavior from customers who look down on them.

Whenever I see a maid character who is evil, their behavior usually echos the things that I heard from customers while I was working as a drive thru cashier:

"I'm going to hide the best food from the noble Main character because I'm evil! This noble who employs me can just eat slop hehehe"

Maid characters and their relationship with the protagonists are also a symptom of the unfair relationships that female characters have with each other in this genre. The MC must always be the one in charge. I've seen maids infantilized (Millionaire Divorcee) and become fangirls for the MC with no lives of their own. That or they are used baby machines for nobles and cast aside in backstories (Abandoned Empress, Behold the True Villainess, a ton of titles).

Main characters can be friends with maids, as long as they gush about how pretty she is, how smart and talented she is, and how they would sacrifice their very lives for her. Anything less than that, and they are suddenly horrible, untrustworthy, scheming, they "don't know their place,' they should be taught a lesson.

Power imbalances are glorified. What kind of pains me, is that a lot of these main characters come from the modern world and shouldn't be as tolerant of this abuse of power. The main character's family can abuse her all they want and she can use her words against them. she can make intricate plans to take them down, all without having to use physical violence. Her love interest can grab her, scream at her, isolate her, demean her, and she shrugs it off and gives them the benefit of the doubt.

But when it comes to people of lower status, all bets are off. The MC will use physical violence. She will use threats of violence, slap them, throw water on them. While I get that social dynamics play a part in why she won't do the same to the people who literally had the maids do to this, we often see reincarnated modern women engaging in maid slapping with no thought about the implications.

She is their employer, and many times the lady of the house. She can just fire them, remove their references. Why use physical violence unless she herself wants to hit someone who can't socially fight back? Slap the stepmother, slap the shitty dad. Punch up, not down.

#tw: abuse #this isekai maid

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