#independently and it's jus like. How Did That Happen

[bylertruther]

the byIer fandom really is a hivemind bc every time i think i came up with a cool fic idea i'll eventually see posts or fics from other writers spring up showing tht we all had the same exact idea down to even the same exact nitty-gritty details and headcanons for them without ever interacting with each other at all. like... bro. 💀 We're Connected..

#wood elf!will au? check #asoiaf inspired royal/fantasy au with the same sigils for 4/7 houses n ruling byers family? check #will never left the upside down au? check #hades x persephone / gen greek mytho au? check #necromancer!will au? check #will n mind flayer team-up s5 spec fic? check #werewolf!mike au? check #vampire!will au? check #bro we really share the same brain or smth like How Does That Even Happen BFBDJDNDND #and the spider-man au now... thts been a thing for a long time but now Everyone is on board with it so now new fics #are springing up left n right w tht idea etc etc #the hivemind isn't a theory or sci fi thing it's Real and we are Living It #its jus funnie to me how so many strangers can come up w the same thing. if anything it jus shows how hard these AUs fuck tbh #i will read every single one of them idc!!!!! n continue to pick at my own ofc. #and im being vague by just saying the gen / main trope but so many different authors will simultaneously come up with similar stories #(similar stories =/= similar writing or experiences tho they are still separate entities based on diff things w diff vibes etc all unique) #independently and it's jus like. How Did That Happen #hivemind brain 2 brain communication baybee thts how!!!

[genshin-squabbles-and-wobbles]

i saw the one where the reader asks genshin men if they are annoying and i liked it a lot, can you do the same except it's kaeya, cyno, scaramouche, and zhongli? :)

Yes I can, my dearest. As a certified annoying headass person, that was placed on this earth. I am 100% qualified for this feat. As you can see, I have grown up in the dirts of my homeland, where I ate dandelions, the yellow shits, not the pretty transparent fuckers. Anyways, I lived off of them, and that is how I got me dendro vision. Now I just grow dandelions to eat on a daily basis instead of using it to fight monsters and eat proper food. That is my life story. Thank you, I love you anon. Let's get married and eat dandelions together. :) Part 1: Here

Kaeya ═══════════════════════════════════════

You walked into the Favonius Knights Headquarters, as you wanted to see if Kaeya was busy. You found him in the office, filling out reports of his previous jobs. Kaeya had a focused face until he saw you. "Oh? Snowflake, I didn’t expect you to be here. Did you finish your errands early?" He smiled as he went back to writing down his reports.

"Ah...not really I had trouble today..." You admitted as this was on your mind for a while, you felt as if...as if you gave up now, things would be less better for your beloved Kaeya. He looked at you, concerned. "Trouble? Has someone been bothering you? Tell me now, love. I will deal with them swiftly." "No no...nothing like that. Um...Kaeya...Am I annoying to you?" "Huh?" He looked at you dumbfounded by your sudden self deprecation question. You always seemed to self assured and independent.

"If I am...annoying then...I can jus-"

"No." Kaeya spoke quickly and swiftly. "What are you thinking, Snowfall? Is this what has been troubling you? What nonsense thoughts have you been having?"

Kaeya spoke in a concerned and soft tone. He then got up and took your arm. He gently pulled you on his lap and cradled you to his chest. He turned the chair side to side a bit with his feet, as he rubbed your back, he rocked you gently. "You were never annoying, you'll always have me heart, despite your difficult days. Now if you want annoying, try dealing with playing mind games with your brother, especially if its Diluc." He lets out a gentle chuckle.

Cyno ═══════════════════════════════════════

You were at home, waiting for Cyno's return. You two got into an argument in the morning, as Cyno made a tired and irritated "Tch" at you and left. He hadn’t been back since, you assume he went to work at the Akademiya. However, you couldn’t help but overthink.

You then heard a click of the door. You jumped up and stood up as you want to open the door before Cyno could even push it. Cyno looked at you surprised as he hadn’t expect the door handle be pulled away from his hand suddenly.

"...Lo-" "I'm sorry...I'm sorry for being difficult and annoying and I am sorry for ruining your day, and...and..I'm sorry for just being a nuisance and and..." You started to cry as you kept apologizing to Cyno.

"Shhhhh" You heard Cyno shushed you, as he walked in, as he closed the door behind him. He then pulled you against his neck and wiped your tears. "There there...it was just a little disagreement, it's normal and it happens, I don’t find you annoying at all." You sniffled, as Cyno wiped your tears and kissed your forehead. "You know there is a saying where there is no such thing as a perfect happiness of life, we will always have problems, so you have to pick and choose the problems you are happy with dealing with. I chose you. So there is no need to cry over such a small thing in the morning. I am sorry if what I did hurt you. I love you, okay?" He cupped your cheeks and smiled at you.

Scaramouche ══════════════════════════════════

All day, you were teasing and pranking Scarmouche, he would always react by calling you annoying or a child. Of course at most of these times, you didn’t mind, sometimes it got to you, however, lately, the more he said it, the more you felt it was true. Your playful pranking nature was dimmed a bit, along with her teasing mannerism.

You took on more of a servitude approach to cope, bringing him things without teasing or protest, going the extra mile to make meals, help him with his work. Anything to be less annoying.

Scaramouche walked into your room, and looked at you with a slightly annoyed expression. "So...what is with this quiet behavior you have been doing...rather than your usual dumb pranks." You didn’t respond as you were just writing in your journal. "No reason...I just wanted to be less...annoying..to you.." "Well you are being even more annoying by doing this, you idiot." He sighed and gently snapped back at you for your behavior showing clear frustration.

You flinched immediately as Scaramouche now looked at you with regret. He sighed. "No, I didn’t mean that, I'm sorry." He walked up to you and pulled a chair and sat next to you. "Listen, you were never actually annoying...look at me." You felt him grab your chin to make him look at you. "You were never annoying, got it?" You nodded. "Are you sur-" "Repeat that after me. Do it." He commanded you. "I am...not annoying." You repeated obediently.

"Good..." He hugged you. "And I...I miss your cheerful face and pranks. Its actually funny and makes my day...so please don’t stop doing them..."

Zhongli ═════════════════════════════════════

You were gently tracing the rim of your tea cup as you were sitting at the tea shop with Zhongli. He just finished a shift at the consultant funeral home parlor, and was spending his after hours with you. Lately, there have been some occurrence of him avoiding you.

He seemed so happy and chatty with others, but seemed quiet, and less engaging with you. You were worried that...maybe you were annoying him. He seemed to not want to spend time with you and seem like you never see him anymore. These overthinking thoughts almost made you tear up, but you held it back. You refuse to cry in front of him.

"Darling, is there something troubling you?" You heard his gentle voice as he placed his gloved hand on top of yours. At least that offered some reassurance to you. However it could be just him being cordial.

"I'm okay..."

"Now now, I know that face." He placed his thumb on your chin and lifted it up gently to him. You see his sunlight eyes looking into yours. "You can talk to me, my love. As part of a relationship, you are supposed to talk to me about your troubles, are you not?"

"It's just...." You sighed and leaned back. You crossed your arms and looked at him. "Am I annoying to you?"

Zhongli looked at you and shook his head. "Not at all, what brought you to such a notion?"

"Just lately...I never see you anymore, we don’t talk anymore, and you seem to enjoy talking to other people rather then me...if you just want to break up just...just say it...you don’t have to be nice to me...or spare my feelings..."

Zhongli puts his tea down and listened to your every word. He stood up and took your hand. In silence, he pulled you and made you walk with him. "H-Huh, where are we going?" He stayed silent as he pulled your arm. He his hands were shaking, just a bit. As if he had a lot of regret and guilt. But his face remained disconnected.

At the deepest, darkest, quietest crevices of Liyue, Zhongli pulled you in quick, by an alleyway, and pulled you against him. He immediately wrapped his large arms around you and held you against him. His back was to the wall, as you were leaning against him.

"Listen to me, my love, my beloved, my future wife. It is my deepest apologies for how I have been treating you lately. I just happened to busy with my funeral parlor position, and errands with the traveler. But I never thought I was shutting you out. Please forgive an old fool like me. You aren’t annoying, and you never were. I have lived for thousands of years. You don’t come even close...to an annoyance." He kissed your cheek. A gentle tear drop fell on your face as you looked up and saw tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, I must be incredibly tired...that I might've unleashed some pent up stress onto you...please be patient with me...I love you...very much."

#genshin headcanons #genshin impact x reader #genshin drabbles #genshin impact #genshin scenarios #genshin angst #genshin fluff #genshin zhongli #zhongli x you #zhongli x reader #zhongli #genshin #scaramouche #zhongli x y/n #morax x reader #morax x y/n #genshin morax #morax #morax x you #genshin impact morax #zhongli genshin impact #genshin scaramouche #scaramouche x you #scara x reader #scaramouche x reader #cyno scenarios #cyno x you #cyno x reader #genshin cyno #kaeya x reader

[echoing-oursong]

I'm still a bit mad about s4 of Stranger Things because they turned both Robin and Steve into pathetic messes in order to make their dynamic work with Nancy, when in reality all three would struggle to be around each other.

Like Robin acted borderline pathetic for befriending Nancy, who was rude to her in the beginning. It's like she didn't care and threw herself at her. Plus, realistically, she would have side-eyed her for being Steve's ex. But her entire personality got thrown out the window in order to avoid conflict. Because let's be real, if Steve acted the way around her like Nancy did, Robin would have acted differently and called him out. She wouldn't let it slide, but it's Steve and not Nancy, who is perfect.

Steve acted pathetic around Nancy because he still loved her after all these years despite moving on in s3. It wouldn't be half as bad if it was more balanced, but we never saw Nancy being completely in love with Steve, even when they were together. It was always him who loved more, and now he still followed her around despite her actions in s2. Like the audience (at least some) knows Nancy cheated on him, which is a touchy subject for Steve, and yet all of his personality was ignored in order to worship his ex. I swear if he would know the truth about what happened at Murray's, I doubt he would act that way. But that would require the show acknowledging Jancy cheated, which would paint their relationship in a bad light, and the show wanted you to root for them (at least in s1-s2)

Not to forget how both Robin and Steve's other relationships got ignored for focusing on simping for Nancy. Stobin deserves an independent arc outside of romance. Like discussing their trauma from s3 and healing from it.

I wouldn't be so mad if Nancy was the driving force to make it work in s4. If she had reflected on her mistakes with Steve, it would be much more satisfying. It would make her befriending Robin much more meaningful and more natural to bring back Stancy. Because again, it's only one-sided, and Steve deserves someone who loves him as much as he loves his partner. Nancy never showed that in the show. It was always about Jonathan from s1 onwards. Her admitting she only chose Steve because Jonathan wasn't available put Stancy in such a tragic light for me. Because they never were to make it because Nancy wasn't in it 100%. It's not even the Barb thing, I'm sure it played into it, but Stancy failing is mostly due to Steve being the second choice from the beginning. Steve deserves to know that from her because he still has hopes and blames himself for the relationship's failure. And if they make Stancy endgame without Nancy putting in an ounce of work, I'll be pissed.

Also, if the show had included the messy problems within the teen group, the season ending in disaster would have been much more believable. Like the plan wouldn't have worked either way because of the tension and them not being on the same page and having trouble working together. They were destined to fail because of inner circle problems. I don't get this need of everyone being best buddies when there is so much conflict between them. It's boring tbh. And idk what the Duffers problem is that nobody is allowed to have negative feelings about Nancy or admitting that she hurt people. It's like the show is gaslighting us. You, as the audience, see how Nancy makes mistakes, and yet nobody in the show acknowledges it or is phased by it. The opposite happens because everyone simply loves her more for it. And then you're like, am I crazy??? Like when every other character makes mistakes, it's called out. People still give Steve shit about high school, but with Nancy, the same standard doesn't apply.

also this is going to be long so going to put under read more

oh my god same every time i think about how stobin just looks pathetic to show how nancy is this capable ‘leader’ drives me insane. because first of: steve and robin helped way more than nancy did. nancy just got told things and then shot a gun. that’s honestly all she did in season 4 except for create a plan that failed (which it would have failed either way but yeah). legit people think that stobin did nothing in the major fight which is because they put so much pressure on nancy’s shot that their contributions mean nothing.

honestly i will never understand robin wanting to make friends so fast with nancy meanwhile we saw last season that she called nancy a priss. also everyone complains about robin not having more talk about her sexuality and being outed which would have been good if right here we got it! robin is hesitant to be friends with nancy because maybe for her it’s always been weird for her to have friends that are girls. we could have gotten this expansion on how there’s homophobia in the 80s so perfectly with this storyline! but nope! yeah honestly they three out a bunch of robin’s characteristics and personality to just follow nancy around like a duck or a dog. and 100% robin would have called steve out if he acted like nancy did to her.

honestly yep that about steve! like he acts sooo whipped about nancy which to be fair he was while they were dating and even before. but why isn’t steve allowed a little bit resentment about how their relationship ended? why isn’t he allowed to be mad at nancy? god everytime i think about how steve is just now reduced to worshipping his ex i get so fucking annoyed. like i love how sweet steve is don’t get me wrong but can we also see him maybe experience some more negative emotions? it feels like after season 1 steve wasn’t allowed to feel anger at people/characters anymore. of course he’s bitchy and snippy but he doesn’t have any true anger moments! honestly lol the show will never acknowledge jancy cheating just like the people in the fandom who are delulu. also like lol just because you admit it doesn’t mean that you can’t still like them or that they’re evil people.

i am so fucking mad how stobin was just reduced to nancy! it even happens in the fandom: you can’t go two seconds about hearing the boat scene without hearing how ‘robin stared at nancy and look how she yelled nancy’s name’ meanwhile her bestie STEVE is dying. there are so many other dynamics but the show did stobin so dirty by just making their dynamic about nancy so fandom simply followed suit no matter how much they hate the duffers and what they write: they always seem to do exactly what the duffers are doing.

everything you said about nancy being the driving force. honestly it’s wild how nancy admits herself that she settled for steve because jonathan wasn’t available and people still think that she didn’t a) cheat by knowingly getting with another man despite the fact that she knew she wanted jonathan and b) just say that she went along with what steve was doing. i’m actually going to scream about that second one because how on earth do you want nancy to be her own person but then fucking willingly take away what she says she did of her own right?!? makes no sense: the math ain’t mathing. thank you for saying it’s not just barb! honestly people think it’s just about barb but no it’s legit because nancy just doesn’t love steve.

the way i love the messy dynamics but the duffers just breeze over it now bothers me. hell the fandom bothers me more when they do this lol. god everything here! this is already so long so i don’t want to add too much. but i do like nancy it’s just the fact that a) the show makes you believe that she’s right all the time! b) also her fans who just don’t want to criticize her or just won’t admit that she’s wrong in areas where she is also c) when her fans just make steve seem like an abuser. honestly the fans of hers have been pissing me off more than anything ngl but yeah i do love her just wish her flaws were more showed in a negative light and wish more people can acknowledge it

#stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #answered asks #thanks so much for sending this in :)

[manawari]

Roommates!Jinhae

"I feel so horrible. . . " Hae-in groaned as she plopped her head against the table.

Yoon-ho and Jong-in shared a look at each other. The latter cleared his throat and spoke. "What is it this time?"

"That. Bastard. Lee. Minsung." Hae-in bumped her fist against the wood to emphasize each word.

"Oh. Figures." Jong-in shrugged and sipped on his drink.

Yoon-ho shot him a disapproving glare and looked at his poor friend. "What happened? Did he arrive late on your date together?"

"Late? Pfft—" Hae-in scoffed and lifted her head. Her eyebrows furrowed in indignation as though she was about to commit a crime. "Worse than that! Do you know what else he said to me instead of apologizing? He wanted to see someone else!" She exclaimed. Her two friends had to look around to see if anyone had been affected by the outburst. Hae-in sighed and combed her fingers through her hair. "I feel like the biggest idiot for agreeing to go out with him— and for the love of God, can't he have some respect? I wasted one hour waiting for his ugly ass to come!"

"Told ya he's a lunatic." Jong-in huffed as he brought the sushi to his mouth.

"At least you know what kind of person he truly is, Hae-in. You're way too good to settle for someone like that." Yoon-ho comforted her. "Just focus on your career as an athlete!"

Hae-in sighed. Deep inside, she was lucky that she always had friends to reach out on without feeling shy. She had her fair share of luck and misery in her life, and sometimes, she felt the misery part weighted bigger than the other.

Then, her phone vibrated against her thigh, so she took it out and looked into her notifications. . . Only then to sprung from her seat. Eyes wide at the message sent by her roommate, Lee Ju-hee.

[ L. Ju-hee: hey! I just left the apartment and I so SO sorry for the late notice, Hae-in. It was urgent and I didn't have time to wait for you to come home— I had to see my grandmother in Busan and will be spending two days there. And as you know, I will be moving in with Byung-gyu as well since his place is closer to the hospital we are both going to work at. Again, I am incredibly sorry for leaving with telling you, Hae-in:( ]

Even with a racing heart, Hae-in managed to type her reply.

[ C. Hae-in: it's okay, Ju-hee! There's nothing to apologize about since you had a family emergency. I'll be fine:) ]

[ L. Ju-hee: oh, really? You better not be overthinking with the expenses while I'm gone! Luckily, Byung-gyu already called someone who is also looking for a place to live. I'm sure you both will get along fine:D ]

[ C. Hae-in: stop treating me like I don't know how to live independently. . . ]

She shut her phone with a sigh.

Ju-hee had been her roommate for a year, and during those twelve months created many memories Hae-in dearly cherished. She was the first female close friend she ever had. Although Hae-in knew Ju-hee would soon move out once she got accepted into the hospital she had been dreaming about, she didn't expect this to happen so fast.

Fate didn't even give her some time to recover from that awful break-up.

She wondered who was her new roommate going to be. . .

Hae-in hoped it would be a decent person, not the type who would be giving her headaches. She dealt enough with those people and she did not need to live with a random person under the same roof.

Once she returned to her apartment and headed to her door, Hae-in inserted her keys into the keyhole and twisted the doorknob open. The first thing she noticed when she had made her way inside was a couple pair of shoes in the small shelf, which she formerly shared with Ju-hee, and it didn't take her long enough to realize who they belonged.

She didn't anticipate that she would be meeting her new roommate sooner either.

Hae-in walked into the living room and found some bags tucked next to the couch. And a person was standing in front of the window with his back facing her. He wore a pair of jeans and a shirt that had a hood.

Wait. . . She was going to share a place with a guy?!

"Um, excuse me?" She cleared her throat. "Are you the new roommate Min Byung-gyu had called?"

"Oh, yes. That is me." He turned his head to meet her. A friendly smile was written on his face. "Please to meet you. I'm Sung Jin-woo. You are Cha Hae-in, correct?"

Hae-in nodded. "Yes, I—" she suddenly paused. She looked at the man again — black hair, fair skin, sharp features, and a strong build to match his tall height. He looked quite different than the last time she saw him. . .

Her heartbeat accelerated. Did he not recognize her?

Sung Jin-woo. . . One of her classmates in senior high school. A former track and field athlete. One of her closest friends who had gone to same university as her. The guy who radiated charisma that sometimes could be intimidating if someone was not able to keep up with his level. And the guy who was obsessed with reading a series that featured an army composed of shadows.

And the most shocking of all. . .

Her ex.

#omg they are roommates:0 #solo leveling #sung jin woo #cha hae in #jinhae #sl fics by rei

[getbeyondthebooks]

the “problem” with Mike’s character arc

i’m putting “problem” in quotation marks because i don’t think it’s a problem at all, but it’s something that would make it hard for the general public to notice that a character arc exists in the first place. I’m saying this because I also had the same problem and I only saw the light when I came to the Byler tag and started putting 2 and 2 together. 

I’m talking about continuity through seasons. This whole time I failed to realize what Mike’s character arc was and most importantly I failed to see that it was in developing through seasons without reaching an ending. 

I only started wondering what was going on with Mike in S4, when his weird behavior with Will made it obvious that there was something and it wasn’t just a teen being a teen, like I assumed in S3. 

And still it took me so long to figure out that his weird behavior is not something that came out of nowhere in S4, but it’s actually something that they have slowly built up through the seasons. That no, Mike’s queer character arc hasn’t magically started in S4, but has been going on from the start and that we got it very much presented to us in S3, both for Mike and Will. For Will it was “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” and the destruction of Castle Byers, for Mike? Hands down the ending of S3. 

My biggest mistake going into Mike’s character, contrary to Will’s, has been to assume that all his arcs started and ended in the same season and that there was no continuity with it, because I was too blind to realize that there was some place they were going with him and that they had yet to reach. I don’t even know why I didn’t realize, Mike is literally our MC, he starts off as our protagonist, if anyone had to have a character arc it would be him?? So why did I just take his character at face value? Istg I feel so stupid right now.

I’ve been waiting for Will’s character arc to take center stage, I knew his queerness was going to be a focal point for him sooner or later, but Mike’s changes completely felw me by because the Duffers never made them obvious. It’s all in the details, and if you’re too taken by Mileven, you’re bound to miss (or dismiss) them. 

For example, when the end of S3 happened, I assumed that the reason why Mike made that weirded out face after El kissed him and told him she loved him was because he was just taken aback that she had heard him confess in the first place and nothing deeper than that. Perhaps it was a bit exhagerated for confusion, but, again, I assumed it wasall for laughs. S3 treated the whole Mileven relationship very lightely and humorously, so it made sense to me that even such a scene would be a bit comical. 

S4 forced me to reconsider everything. 

Rewatching it now, knowing how Mike is behaving 6 months later, that scene takes a completely different connotation and meaning. A lot of similar occurrences do. 

The Duffers have done this before, multiple times. Think Jonathan and Nancy in S1, for example. Their story begun in S1 but by the end of it, Nancy was still actively in a relationship with Steve and the consequences of the time she spent with Jonathan only “hit” in S2. There was continuity there. It was just way less flashed out, it all happened pretty fast although spanning two seasons and it was way more in our face. 

Mike and Will? Have been built up for 4 seasons. From the very start. In the slowlest way possible. In the tiniest details. Their storyline has been constructed one moment at a time, hidden, almost, in the background, but there nonetheless. 

Putting all the pieces together I can clearly see the picture now. I assumed it was just Will, I never really expected Mike to have a character arc per se. I assumed we knew all we needed to know about Mike, I was never expecting any big revelation or anything. But now I can see that his character arc has been going on for 4 seasons and has yet to reach completition, just like Will’s AND El’s (independence arc). 

There IS something going on with Mike. There has always been. I just couldn’t see it until they made it pretty obvious in S4. Some people still think it’s nothing but it was immediately clear to me that they were trying to tell me something when they decided to 1) bring up Will’s feelings for Mike when they could have made it puppy love and give him another love interest 2) have Mileven have ILY problems when the whole audience assumed that was solved at the end of S3 3) have Mike be extremely conscious of Will’s presence for no apparent reason. 

The fact that Mileven are STILL dealing with a problem they introduced in S3 that we all (at least the general audience) assumed had been solved by the end of it is telling us that whatever storyline had been going on in S3? Is STILL ongoing. No, the issue wasn’t closed there. Mike’s character arc didn’t find resolution there, in fact, in hindsight, I could say that’s where his character arc actually properly started. Not to say that nothing happened before then, but I think that’s when he was hit with some kind of realization. 

So the more I look at it, look at the big picture without dividiving the story in seasons, the more I realize that there can’t possibly be anything but Byler at the end of it all. I’ve been saying this since I’ve watched S4. The decisions they took with the story were too deliberate, they can’t lead anywhere else, but I was still 50/50 because I felt like they took it out of nowhere for Mike. But if you put his whole experience into perspective and not divide it into seasons, it’s actually all right there. 

It’s hard because we get years of pause between seasons and the ending of one season stays with us for a long time before we question it so it all feels way more dragged out than it really is in the show. Plus details get lost in time and the Duffers were EXTREMELY delicate with it all. Will’s sexuality included. I picked up on it early but I know for a fact that most didn’t. It was never explicit, it was all very gently introduced. I just never realized they had done the same for Mike. 

I don’t know what Mike’s sexuality is and I’m not even gonna argue (I headcannoned him as bi for a while but who knows) but from a writing perspective, I know that the only possible and logical conclusion of his character arc is Byler. 

I’m so confident in them being endgame at this point that it’s scaring me. It just feels so obvious now, I can’t unsee it. HELP. 

Istg S4 was more about Mike’s feelings for Will than it was viceversa. We got Will’s pov but the real source of their tension was Mike the whole time. He initiated it all. He knows he has feelings for Will and he doesn’t know what to do with them. He’s a queer mess. I just know it for a fact at this point. It just makes SENSE. 

My only doubt for Byler was that there wasn’t enough time to show Mike going through his identity crisis, but that’s because I was too blind to see that he HAS BEEN going through his identity crisis for this whole time. I was so distracted by Mileven and Will that I just never noticed. So now that I have noticed... I have no doubts anymore, but that’s frighteneing. 

#byler #mike wheeler #do i trust the duffers #oh my god putting my faith in them is terrifying #but istg it cannot go in any other way #it's just all there #the grondwork #the blueprint #of byler's love story #it's just there #and it feels so obvious now #i will cry

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 87

"Itachi. Kisame. Report back to the base immediately."

Unimpressed, the two nuke-nin barely bothered to look at the flickering apparition of their leader.

"We were told to report back in four days time," Itachi observed dispassionately. "We will not have time to complete our errand."

"I don't care."

The audible strain in Pein's voice was enough to stiffen Kisame's spine in wariness. Their leader wasn't usually emotive.

"You will report immediately. Itachi, you are the closest to a medic that our organization has. Your skills are required."

The Mist nukenin tried to keep a straight face. Itachi was not a medic by any means. Having copied several medical jutsu did not make him a practitioner of any sort, and although he was competent at the very few jutsu he had bothered to learn, he would probably end up savaging a patient with a problem of any complexity at all.

With that, Pein faded from visibility. Kisame heaved a sigh and stood, slinging Samehada over his shoulder as he went. "Well, that doesn't sound good," he commented sardonically, before turning a toothy grin that lacked joy on his partner. "Think Konan messed up her extraction of her target? That'd be ironic, after Pein got so high and mighty about how incompetent we all supposedly are."

Itachi stood silently. "I do not care to speculate. We shall find out soon enough."

Kisame rolled his eyes, but obligingly set off beside his taciturn partner. "Fair enough. We can find out in person in less than a day if we hurry."

"Well, this doesn't look suspicious in the slightest," Mei groaned, slumping forwards onto her desk. Her day had been absolute hell. After several rounds of accusations and impassioned speeches, most of the guests at her conference had gone home two days early.

It had been damn lucky that she had met with Tokiwa in the dead of the night to get their modified trade agreements ratified, because it didn't look like anything else mildly productive was going to happen.

"Four," she hissed into the warm wood, giving real consideration to banging her head against the surface to see if it would wake her up from this administrative nightmare. "Four kunoichi are just fucking missing from my backyard."

Even if she doubted Tsunade and Temari's version of events about the Ame representative assaulting and kidnapping Aiko, that hardly explained what the hell had happened to Nii Yugito and Fuu.

Temari and Tsunade had seemed as surprised as anyone else, including Samui, who had been found unconscious on the floor of the suite she shared with Yugito (with no idea how she had gotten there except the ridiculous claim that she had been drugged by Mei's people). Konoha's version of events was the official one she was endorsing (how could she not, they were allies?) but by no means the only one bandied about. Mei did not envy Konoha: the Raikage was going to throw an absolute hysterical fit. If this really had been an Akatsuki plot to create dissent, it had done the job nicely.

The only thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that the two jinchuuriki were victims. Whose victims they were varied. Some thought Konoha, some blamed both Konoha and Sand, some thought Mist was taking advantage of having them in her borders, and of course, Konoha was pointing fingers at Akatsuki. That claim was persuasive to Mei, but it couldn't be investigated until they heard back from Rain to see if they would disown their agent or take responsibility. It was a damn mess.

Mei herself wasn't certain if Rain had ordered Konan to make a move against Aiko or if Konan had been acting as an independent agent- or even for a third party like Akatsuki, but she did believe that Konan had been the one to take Aiko. Not everyone was willing to believe that without proof, of course, especially Iwa. Kurotsuchi had been in her temporary office just hours before pointing out that Konan was one woman and Sabaku no Temari had rather suspiciously cleared her quarters of her vulnerable aide just hours before the fight happened.

To be fair, she could see the point in that suspicion, but she had seen red when it was insinuated that Konoha had sacrificed the Uzumaki girl to make the scene convincing. The Slug Queen was a lot of things, but she wouldn't do that to one of her own people, especially not a resource like Aiko. Even if she wouldn't treat the girl well out of kindness, she would do so out of sense. Mei had mostly given up on having an adorable little seal master of her very own, but it wasn't like there wouldn't be takers if things with Konoha didn't work out.

Not that it mattered now. She had the bitter feeling that Aiko was dead, or wished she was. It was still possible that whoever had her would try to ransom her back, of course, but that would mean taking culpability for a short-term gain when they could easily push the blame around.

If Sabaku no Temari was to be believed, Aiko wasn't even the original target. So there was little hope that Akatsuki or Rain would judge her valuable enough to keep alive. Unless they really were stupid enough to think that Tsunade would allow a trade for her brother, of course, was the caveat. The Kazekage might well have given himself up for his sister, but Tsunade was removed enough from the situation to make that call properly. No matter how unpleasant it was.

Oddly enough, no one had even seemed to consider that the two incidents might not even be directly related, which was Mei's gut feeling. How could Konan have gotten two jinchuuriki out of the village when she was already occupied with her failed assault on Sabaku no Temari? She had either had at least one accomplice, or there was another party entirely. Someone who hadn't so much as blinked at the prospect of sneaking two formidable kunoichi out of an area secured against Jiraiya, for the kami's sake.

'That's about the only thing that did go right about this mess. We didn't see hide nor hair of that disreputable mutt.'

Mei's eye twitched. What a pathetically low bar to reach, after all her hard work. Ironic as well. They might have been better off with the hentai in the village, spymaster and all-around nosy twerp that he was. Moodily, she spat a mid-sized glob of lava onto her desk and watched it sizzle through the second draft of her apology to the international community at large. At least she had a couple days before the shit really hit the fan: the last of her guests had left a few hours ago. The remaining Jounin from Lightning would probably be the first to make it home, but her allies in Leaf and Sand wouldn't be home for several days yet to begin demanding that she provide assistance smashing the living hell out of Rain.

There was no way to see what was going to happen exactly, but it didn't take a genius to see that it was going to end in bloodshed. Two jinchuuriki had been kidnapped from her protection, as well as an ally's young rising star of a Jounin. The major villages would be baying for blood before the week was out.

As if the Raikage hadn't been bad enough before.

Two days after original altercation.

"Do you want me to kill her?" Nagato took Konan's cold hand in his own, solemnly watching the strain in her clenching hand as she tried and failed to rebuild her right hip. The wound was unnatural—it resisted her unique abilities in a way that made no sense. The paper she plastered over the gaping maw only curled up and scorched and had to be excised. Had she been anyone else, she would have bled out of her external iliac artery.

"That will not be necessary." A serene smile turned her face into a vision of beauty. Tenderly transfixed, he raised his grip to press a clammy kiss against her knuckles. He tried not to notice her flinch at the feeling of cold flesh against her hand. "If she dies, then my errand was for naught. I'm afraid I have failed you."

He remained silent. She had, but Konan would not be punished for that. She was only human, after all.

She tilted her face up on her pillow, breathing slowly and evenly. "I did have the opportunity to witness her reputed abilities," Konan murmured peacefully. "She does not lack promise. I may have been too forceful when I disabled her, but I feared that she might create more problems once not hindered by the protection of her comrade."

Nagato didn't much care right now, but she wouldn't have brought the topic up without cause. "Oh?" he intoned matter-of-factly.

Her eyes fluttered shut. "I admit that I covet her chains of chakra. Even a flighty child such as that one found no difficulty restraining an enraged jinchuuriki. Were you to persuade her to take up our noble cause, we would find the remaining captures much expedited."

"Unlikely," he mumbled, brushing her bangs off her forehead and carefully pulling the flower off her hair to rest at bedside. "She is close to the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

Konan seemed to find just enough strength to look up at him with fond amusement. "You have had no trouble convincing less likely converts in past, Pein-sama. Whether it be the promise of her freedom, a peaceful death for her brother, or more direct means, I know that your modesty hides your ability to convince the girl to join us. She is young and in need of experience, but the raw materials are there to become something beautiful. A part of something greater." She smiled faintly.

He didn't reciprocate, but only because he could not. "Your unwavering faith warms my heart, Konan." He brushed a thumb over the back of her hand in silent reward. "If you have seen that the rumors are based in fact, then your confidence in me is great indeed."

She hummed peacefully under his ministrations. "I do not believe that she has the Hiraishin."

The motion of his hand stopped for a moment. "Oh?"

"Yes. Tsunade of the Densetsu no Sannin claims that the girl is the Fourth Hokage's beget, and that rings true. It is also undeniable that she is able to traverse great distances in the space of thought. Yet what I have seen…" Konan laboriously shook her head, hair rustling with the movement. "That is not the technique of ill-fame. Impressive, yes, but not the Flying God of Thunder. I might have believed that she was hearkening back to the method of the Second Hokage, who used it by placing his technique formula on many locations, because she certainly does not use it in the manner of her father."

"But?" A shiver of curiosity actually crept into his tone.

His old friend heard it and seemed content. "I believe that she was attempting to convince me of this ability when she forcibly transported me many miles from the place where we had been. If she had taken me to the land of waves from Water Country, I would have believed. But she did not succeed. Her technique failed her over the water. There was nothing floating there that could have held a technique formula and disguised her mistake."

"Do you believe that she wields some sort of improved body flicker?" he suggested ponderously, pulling his hand back.

"Yes. A remarkable innovation, to be certain, unconstrained by the usual requirement for line-of-sight. But it is not without limit in regards to distance. From my observations, she is highly accomplished in utilizing this technique in close combat. It was merely ill luck and overestimation of her abilities that revealed the lie."

At the word 'lie', Pein almost managed a frown. "A shame that one so young hides behind deception," he stated disapprovingly.

Blue lips twitched upwards. "Yes," Konan agreed quietly. "Though not entirely. From what I have seen, she is impulsive, immature, but clever enough to mix her falsehoods with truth. I no longer doubt that she was the seal master to seal the bijuu of three-tails. I suspect that reputation helped hide the lie."

"I no longer wish to discuss the character of your prisoner." She flinched into her sheets, but serenely lowered her eyes in respect. "If the girl uses a body flicker, she can be kept. I will allow you to decide how to treat her."

"You are kind." She paused thoughtfully. "I am in no condition to attend to my duties, however."

"I will assign someone to the task." Pein rose to tower over the graceful form draped over an exotic chaise, considering the conversation over. "Rest, so that you will be ready to participate in the sealing ritual."

"Yes," she agreed softly, and closed her eyes.

He gave one last look to his most dedicated servant before striding out to inform Zetsu that he could adjust the cocktail of drugs he was giving the prisoner to a lower concentration. She would be in no condition to make any foolish attempts to defy his will even after Kisame and Itachi returned, and it would be unwise to inadvertently rob himself of a possible instrument for his will through something like an overdose.

Zetsu was lurking outside the base when they arrived, which always set Kisame's hackles up. He didn't let that show, dismissively passing his gaze over his nominal comrade. He'd always hated plants, ever since he was a kid. Didn't help that the damn thing was coated in dirt. That wasn't unusual—it was how the fucker skulked around instead of walking. Zetsu was habitually filthy, and stank of weeks old blood.

It was considerably more unusual to run into his illustrious leader with loose soil in his hair. Apparently, he'd been in enough of a hurry to subject himself to the indignity of traveling with Zetsu. It was hundreds of times faster than anything else, but he would never be caught dead pretending to be a particularly vigorous root vegetable. Sure, he could travel under the earth when he needed to, but he had the sense not to roll around in it.

"Itachi, you will first tend to Konan."

If he didn't know his partner incredibly well, it would be impossible to tell that he was annoyed at apparently being signed up to play nurse for more than one idiot. Kisame ran his tongue along his lower teeth and idly sliced it open, then sucked on the cuts that resulted just to give himself something to do other than to snigger at the way Itachi curtly nodded and stalked off to obey Pein.

"Kisame, you will be feeding Samehada. Come."

He didn't bother to hide his grin as he silently loped off behind Pein. "Am I stocking up for two extractions then?" Samehada shivered on his back, scraping through the thick fabric of his Akatsuki house coat (no matter what Konan said, it still looked like an ugly house coat to him). It wasn't an implausible theory that Pein would treat him beforehand. He knew he would be shouldering even more of the burden this time around, seeing as how Sasori and the blonde brat had come down with a serious case of dead.

"No."

A brow raised, he waited for clarification. It didn't come until Pein gestured distastefully towards a shut door and began to step away. "Drain the prisoner inside of all but the chakra needed to maintain regular organ function. After that, wait until I return."

Bizarre, but he wasn't about to argue about a free meal. He half-expected to see a jinchuuriki when he shouldered his way into the storage room that had until recently contained extra chairs. At first, he didn't see anything at all.

He let out a snort of amusement when his eyes did land over the bedraggled figure he'd missed on his first pass of the room. Apparently, his new friend had curled up into a ball. A sharp kick fixed that, and he nudged the prisoner over with his foot to see just what bijuu had Pein so worried that he needed it further weakened before they extracted it.

"Not a jinchuuriki at all," Kisame marveled under his breath. It was a little thing. Probably a kunoichi, but a rather scrawny one, albeit rather generously smeared with blood and dirt. Konan really needed to stop dragging hopeless cases home. Zetsu had eaten the damn cat, so you'd think she'd have learned.

He shook his head briskly. What the hell went through his boss's head, he'd never know. Samehada gave a violent jerk, clearly impatient now that she knew the shivering flesh nearby was hers.

"Easy, girl," he soothed, lovingly drawing the blade over his shoulder and beginning to unwrap it. She convulsed eagerly, rippling and growing slightly in her excitement. His heartbeat picked up, keeping pace with her own thrill-seeking. As the last of the wrappings curled on the floor, he took Samehada by the handle again and pointed her downwards to let her guide his hand.

It didn't really matter where she touched her food, but she had preferences sometimes. One of those being that her food didn't stink like Zetsu or have a fine coating of mud, saltwater (what the hell?) or day-old blood. He found himself flipping the girl over and shoving Samehada's tip under the edge of her shirt just to find a clean spot to feed. With a 'shuck' and a blossoming movement like a rose, his beautiful baby opened up and dug her scales into the available flesh, hooking in and sucking eagerly.

Judging by the dirt all over her, fuckin' Zetsu had apparently gotten his thorns into this one too. He let his lip curl into a snarl, but couldn't even feel the normal irritation at the thought. At least the savage had left enough for his blade to feed on. Satiation flooded his veins, hot and heavy and Samehada's contentment was his own. He barely remembered to warn her to leave enough for the girl to live, numb with purring satisfaction by the time Samehada reluctantly pulled back, dripping hot blood over what had been white fabric in a former life.

"Not bad, kid," he conceded easily, feeling generous enough to kick the unconscious girl back over face-up with his foot to give her a little dignity. Samehada'd liked her chakra. It was hot and tumultuous and very definitely water-natured.

Maybe the boss'd keep her around long enough that there would be another feeding for his baby and not just for Zetsu. The thought kept an easy grin on his face, even as the prone body on the floor began shuddering violently. Probably a little too much blood loss and poor circulation, he judged. If she was moving around, that meant she had passed from unconsciousness to sleep of a sort, so he wasn't remotely surprised when the prisoner began to give signs of waking. He kept one eye on her and one on the door, tapping his heel against the floor in a content stupor. Making sure she didn't run off was both grunt work and pointless, but it wouldn't be much longer.

Eyes that had just a little too much green to match the tides back home fluttered open once, and then closed again.

"Are we awake?" he drawled, leaning over his temporary pet with a fond sort of possessiveness.

The eyes opened again, for longer this time. "We're not sure," an alto that didn't entirely match her appearance rasped out guardedly. "Are we… blue?"

Kisame snorted and bared his teeth. "We are," he agreed with fierce humor.

He half-expected her to cringe away or start crying or something else that would betray fear, but the girl just closed her eyes for a moment before attempting to lever up to a seated position. "Then we're awake, but very puzzled."

Feeling generous, he wrapped his hands around both shoulders to pull her up bodily and then let her slump forward. He didn't have all day to watch a teenager try to re-learn how to sit. "Wouldn't move too fast if I were you," Kisame warned good-naturedly, giving her a bracing pat on the upper back that sent her folding over nearly to her knees, wavering. "Just lost a lot of chakra, and you already looked like something the cat dragged in."

A distinctly unladylike snort was his response. "Hardly. I can take a cat. Any cat. Just point me at him."

Privately, he thought she was full of shit. At least as she was, anyway. Maybe he'd give her credit against a housecat on a better day.

The door opened silently, but she was already looking when Pein strode inside testily, Itachi on his heels. He was opening his mouth to demand something-

"Are you the rebellious one, then?" his pet mused a little drunkenly, surprisingly lucid gaze thoughtfully directed at Pein. When he didn't jump to respond, she leaned forward (and nearly fell) to clarify, "I'm starting to think I've been kidnapped by a boy band."

Pein did look a bit like he belonged in a boy band.

Kisame hooted, exchanging a glance with his partner. Itachi didn't seem to enjoy the jibe, though. Kid needed to lighten up. He looked like he'd just heard that his pet bunny died, for Kami's sake.

In the second that Kisame'd looked away, Pein had shot forward and lifted the girl bodily to dangle across from his eyes with his hand wrapped around her neck. "I do not play games, kunoichi," he intoned sternly, tilting his chin up slightly so that light reflected off the metal in his face. "You will earn yourself a painless death by explaining what it is that you have done to my associate."

The Mist nuke-nin took a moment to regret that there would only be one meal.

At her confused blink, Itachi lazily clarified, "Konan-san's wounds resist medical jutsu."

That seemed to clear things up for the kunoichi, but oddly enough, she didn't look concerned. Her face was turning pink and her toes were reaching for the floor rather desperately, but those were the only tells. Her expression was locked into- hell, that was cockiness if he'd ever seen it painted on a face before. What an ornery little shit, he noted fondly. No wonder Samehada had liked her. Eating prey, well that was fine, but Samehada liked other meat-eaters best.

"Oh, that." She wheezed out her answer in the most dignified murmur possible. "That's a stupid question. You should be asking where else I touched her, and if I'm willing to disarm the seals." And then the little bitch actually smiled. Granted, she looked like she was high, but it was a smile.

Pein's fingers tightened, forcing her flesh to bulge around his fingers. His expression was like iron.

That was stupid of him. If he crushed her windpipe, of course she couldn't explain the problem. Kisame half-expected to see Pein break her head open on the wall like an egg in his uncharacteristic agitation (he must really be attached to his partner) but he did seem to have the sense to restrain himself.

Pein let go completely without even looking down, calm as you please once again.

Little red crumpled at his feet like a discarded sweater. Apparently all she had was mental energy and sass. He valiantly pushed down the amusement that wanted to surface. Not even Hidan was stupid enough to backtalk Pein, to his face or otherwise. Kisame didn't believe the man was a god, but hell if he wasn't close.

"Itachi, ensure that she won't die." With that, Pein pivoted and walked straight back out, probably to worry at Konan's bedside.

He was actually a little curious about that. "What the hell did you do, red?" Kisame bent his knees and reached out to pull her up like a cloth doll so he could see her face. Amused, he grabbed her chin with a thumb and forefinger to stop her head from lolling on her neck. The faint scent of blood clued in him that she'd bitten her tongue when Pein had dropped her.

If the few minutes he'd known her were any indication, that was probably the first time she'd had the sense to bite her tongue.

"I didn't do anything," she slurred. It was a bad lie made worse by the lopsided little smile that accompanied it. "Sometimes old people just have their hips go out. Could happen to anyone."

Kisame tossed his head back and laughed, slapping Itachi's back companionably as he stood. "Have fun with this one, Itachi." The Uchiha gave him one of those impassive looks that all but screamed he was displeased, but he didn't even try to reprimand him.

'Well, I could be in deep shit,' Aiko thought philosophically. She knew that, but it didn't seem quite real. The situation was so absurd that it just couldn't register. 'I think when I get home, I'll write up my own ransom note in advance to cut out the middleman and just pin it to my shirt so that we all know where we stand the next some Akatsuki hits me over the head with a brick. Where did Konan get a brick?'

Her situation was probably slightly worse than being kidnapped by a boy band, but only slightly. What were they going to do, kill her? If Pein had placed no value at all on her life, he would have done so then. He needed or wanted her for something, and if it had just been for information about Konan's injuries he would have been more persistent.

'There's a big gap between 'they aren't going to immediately kill me' and I am safe to go skipping through bunny forest,' she tried to remind herself. But for some reason, she just couldn't seem to stop and focus on the worst that could happen. She felt… flighty and distracted.

Which was dumb, because if anything, her aching head and the oozing scratches and gouges all over her hands and arms should be grounding her to the real world.

Oddly, it was only after Kisame left that the ominous 'ba-dum' of Jaws music began thudding in her ribcage. She didn't want to be alone with Itachi.

"I don't want to be alone with you."

Aiko blinked, mildly surprised and covered her mouth with a palm. That wasn't supposed to come out. She licked compulsively at the blood in her mouth. It wouldn't help, but she was so very thirsty.

Uchiha Itachi seemed to be pitying himself. Both of him were. But he left the room wordlessly, and for a moment she thought she had won that battle of wits. She celebrated by gingerly lowering herself to the floor and closing her eyes.

"Noooo," she grunted, trying to bat away the creepiest boy band member when he told her to sit up. Itachi seemed to give absolutely zero fucks, however. He demonstrated that irritating lack of regard by briskly propping her up and placing a cup of something hot in her hands.

"Drink."

"Is it the blood of my enemies?" she asked tiredly, hoping that would put him off. Also, slightly hoping that he hadn't really given her a cup of hot blood, because now she was committed to drinking it.

(Outside of her line of sight, Itachi cringed. That was truly abhorrent).

Suspiciously, she cracked one eye open. Green tea?

"You must hydrate, so that you can stand long enough to clean yourself. I refuse to wash you, yet your wounds are filthy. If you do not wish to die, drink."

That was blunt. But it did make sense.

"I don't want you to wash me either," she admitted honestly, stiffening her elbows at her side and tipping the mug up to her mouth obediently. Dehydration bad, makes blood worse. No. She frowned. Makes blood loss worse.

Yes. Aiko smiled faintly, breathing in the fumes from an exceptionally good cup of tea. For all that he scared the absolute fucking crap out of her; Itachi probably wasn't going to poison her. Akatsuki had probably already done that, and judging by the stiffness in her limbs and the ugly yellow crusting on the wounds she could see on her arms, they hadn't treated her first.

That had been her first hint that her survival was hanging on a thin thread. They had captured her and brought her to some kind of headquarters, but they hadn't busted their asses to get her medical attention in the course of at least a day. They would have made more of an effort if it had been decided that her life was actually important, rather than just possibly convenient at some point in the future.

Another girl might have hunkered down and tried not to piss them off. But that was rabbit talk. With no idea as to what would please them, she wouldn't lower herself to pretending to cower. If there was an obvious, immediate benefit, then hell yes, pride at cost of life and limb was for dead suckers. But otherwise? No. She hadn't been killed in her sleep, so unless Deidara's zombie corpse leapt out from behind the curtains to get revenge she would take her chances with Akatsuki's dubious hospitality.

'Still, threatening Pein was risky.'

Despite her attempt to scold herself, she felt a stupid smile creep across her face. Damn, she was having an oddly difficult time restraining her emotions. It had been a mitigated risk, as well as a thrill. She had set the groundwork to convince Pein that she couldn't be killed. Not if he valued Konan, anyways.

It was even a partial truth. She wouldn't risk trying to transport herself in this state. Aiko liked her own skin, thank you very much. She had failed to reach a destination in a much better condition in this, and she was on the heady sort of state where she could lose consciousness at any moment. Oddly enough, she might be safer here than in the wilderness while passed out.

But that self-interest hardly extended to Konan, and she honestly didn't see a way that she could fuck up blowing the woman's head off. Cutting off her connection to the seal would be easier than moving herself to another seal.

If she were to move to another seal, though, she had two very interesting candidates. One of them about a mile away seemed to be Nii Yugito's. The one nearby was probably Fuu's, by virtue of elimination. She couldn't think of who else Akatsuki would have kidnapped that she had tagged so recently that she hadn't learned their chakra signature.

That meant that she had at least two nuisances to take care of before she made her own grand escape. Leaving them here would be shooting herself in the foot and enabling Akatsuki. Plus, she'd already marked them and they were now hers. Akatsuki could get their own damn jinchuuriki if they could beat her to them or pry them out of her cold dead hands. And, you know, stop her from stealing them, as she completely intended to do.

Aiko stifled a snort, rolling her head into the space between her arms with the cup held aloft.

'Eh. Later. I won't be any better off dragging someone else off with me on my adventure to the wilderness than I would be alone if I can't trust them, and that's assuming I don't end up leaving someone's leg behind. Yugito-chan might take the chance to smother me, assuming she's in any better condition than I am.'

And that seemed spectacularly unlikely, seeing as Akatsuki was probably planning to murder her and Fuu by ripping the concentration of demonic energy inextricably intertwined with their own life forces out.

Really, there was absolutely no way that she could leave this situation without those two jinchuuriki, with at least one of them alive to corroborate her story. It would be better for their bodies to be found in the same place than for her to break free and leave the other two. Konoha would be razed to the ground within a week—no one would be able to take that as anything less than an admittance of either guilt or criminal negligence, since Konoha had been the ones arguing that Akatsuki was incredibly dangerous.

A giggle surprised her, and the force of it shook her body and the hands curled around her cup. The tea inside sloshed up against the side for a moment.

Odd. That hadn't been funny at all, even by her admittedly macabre standards.

Then her tea was gone, and she found herself accepting a cold glass of water and three small pills of varying colors. She tried to give Uchiha an inquisitive glance, but got a face-full of 'I'm not taking your shit today' and Aiko meekly swallowed them. He was both bigger and badder than she was and had demonstrated a worrying carelessness in regards to stomping her in past.

Ew. Iron pills, maybe? Whatever they were, they wouldn't be chakra pills, judging by how unbearably drained she felt. Chakra levels that low had to be purposeful.

And that, she suddenly realized, was downright bizarre. Enough so to make her suspicious. They had to know that she was a Hiraishin user: Konan had seen her use it, for crying out loud. This wasn't some random sap like Sasori who had been blind-sided by her ability. If she was awake, that either meant that Akatsuki was run by incompetent lunatics or that they had something else to keep her from leaving. A trap that she didn't yet see, in other words.

Did that have anything to do with why she had been drained of chakra? Granted, that was a sensible precaution in any type of prisoner situation. It made the victim physically weak and prevented them from using jutsu or genjutsu at the risk of dipping into their own life force to do it. Aiko valued her own life enough that she wouldn't be trying to do anything that involved more chakra expenditure than the finger-spark jutsu unless they left her alone long enough for her reserves to fill up a bit.

'I know something totally awesome that requires less chakra than the finger-spark,' she wheedled. Aiko could set hundreds of Hiraishin without dipping into the bulk of her reserves. Even as she was now, she could probably lay down at least a couple of explosives after her head stopped pounding.

"Are you deaf, kunoichi? I have no intention of carrying you."

Oh. So apparently he was talking to her again. Wobblingly, Aiko forced herself to her feet, feeling distinctly less like a predator than she usually did. This lack of coordination was like, Bambi learning to prance kind of bad.

She ended up using the wall as a brace while she followed Uchiha out. Well, followed wasn't exactly the right word, since he was apparently too thorough to allow her behind him even in her current state, but he didn't seem to want to walk behind her either.

"Wash the contagions from your sores as best as you are able. I will have to sterilize them afterwards regardless."

For someone who seemed to speak almost exclusively in monotone, Uchiha Itachi could do a good job of sharing his disgruntlement.

But hey, at least he was enabling her to clean up. A shower would do her some good at this point.

"Motherfucker!"

Aiko actually bit her lip, hard, and turned her face down away from the spray of water. Okay, so not so relaxing when she was covered in open cuts on her shoulders and head. Her excellent constitution was probably the only factor she had to thank for not being a fevered mess right now—whatever was wrong with her, it wasn't a fever—and it had apparently done nothing for Konan's Death-By-Paperwork jutsu. That jackass.

'It's unhealthy, how much I'm beginning to dislike that woman,' Aiko noted thoughtfully. 'Am I just being petty because she kicked my ass?'

That would be an unhealthy attitude to take and one that could lead her to compromise her ability to function around an opponent who had already proved to be the superior combatant. It really wasn't a good idea to let things like that bother you if you wanted to live very long.

A few moments' contemplation and self-evaluation was all she needed to vindicate her feelings. Nah, it wasn't that. Konan just really rubbed her the wrong way.

Thus satisfied, she gritted her teeth and gently scrubbed at her body until the green washcloth turned an ugly brown, almost black color that matched the foul buildup around the drain. Apparently, Itachi or whoever had stocked this bathroom didn't give one single fuck if she smelled like flowers and sunshine as was her due, so she rubbed the bland soap over her hair as best as she could and resolved to sneak back into the house in Konoha to steal some of Karin's fancy shampoo in apology to her poor hair.

"Oh shit, Karin," she realized belatedly, dropping the bar of soap with a clatter. Aiko squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her face up to catch falling water on her tongue, letting the hot water warm her insides when it trailed in.

Depending on how long it had been, Karin and Naruto might already know what had happened. Fuck, they were going to freak out about her impromptu vacation to Chez Akatsuki.

'Probably my whole team will magically know that I really am freaking princess peach ten minutes after Tsunade gets back to Konoha, gossips that they are.' Aiko leaned forward and pressed her forehead against the cheap ceramic wall piteously, suddenly consumed by a bit of shame. Here she was, impassively checking through what she wanted to do before she brute-forced her way out of this hellhole (assuming that she could) without even thinking that her family and team would probably be upset. She had no idea how Sai or Sasuke would respond, to be honest, but it probably wouldn't be a shrug. Yamato and Kakashi… were they going to be disappointed with her? This was definitely a situation where they would say she was being reckless.

Would they? She frowned confusedly. They weren't unreasonable. If she explained her reasoning, they would be able to understand her situational assessment even if they didn't like it. But it wasn't like worry for a comrade was an entirely logical experience.

So, yepp. There would probably be a scolding. If she'd had Mitsuo's ears, she would have flattened them against her head.

'Am suddenly both depressed and grateful that I do not have adorable yet overtly expressive dog ears.'

She shut the water off and gave a disdainful look to her filthy clothes on the floor. Since Itachi had apparently become secretary of her bodily functions, he could be her maid too and clean them up.

"Is he expecting me to put those back on?" Aiko pursed her lips, and toed her tanktop over her bra in a half-assed concession to dignity. Well, tough shit for him. The towels in this joint were apparently sized for Kisame's scaly ass, so she felt perfectly comfortable winding one around her body and stepping out into the hall.

It seemed that Itachi had gotten bored with waiting for her to finish showering. What a crap maid. With a shrug, she picked a direction and started exploring. He would find her eventually.

But the man she found in the kitchen wasn't Itachi, Kisame, or even Pein. His back was to her, but she saw short, dark hair and one of the emblematic cloaks, so she felt free to assume this was one of her captors.

"Yo," Aiko greeted. "Your maid is pretty bad, could I trouble you for help? Am like, super naked over here."

"Tobi would love to help! He is a good boy." The man, comparable in height to Itachi or Kakashi, turned around with a smile in his childishly high voice and an orange mask on his face.

'Oh dear. That's not good.'

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

[honestreviewsblog]

Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 Kdrama - A Fan's Journey (with spoilers!)

Ep 1-4

My mom and I were laughing our heads off! Oh my God it was amazing. I expected it to have loads of comedy and even if I did I was still surprised at the comedic scenes. But when it does get serious it gets serious real good so watch out for seriously cool characters (ehem Lee Yeon) hahahaha.

And I'm really excited for Lee Rang's love life I was literally squealing the whole time it was shown. The sibling relationship was hands-down a nail in the head and everytime Lee Yeon teases Rang on his 'relationship', I just wanna say, "Mhmm, felt" HAHAHAHAHA.

Everything's been going really great that I'm seriously scared of what's gonna happen in the next few episodes. Nothing's going to go wrong til the 30 days were up... right?

Ep 5-6

It was brilliant! Hahahahaha. Ep 6 ended amazingly, it was a stroke of genius really. The corner game was so creepy though, I'm totally in with the squad on this—like why do humans play with creepy games like corner games and ouija boards so much??? Like?? Whyy?? Doesn't make any sense I don't see anything good happening from it either.

Anyway, Shin-ju's fight for their independence was so heartwarming it really healed my soul. That secret meeting at the boutique has my heart.

And Rang's love life continues to be really cuteeee oh my God, I wouldn't stop gushing over how cute it is. He's so clueless (but I could be wrong hmmmm??) so every moment they have feels so hilariously fresh. And I love the mermaid's little povs, because she shows an ideal version to people (esp Rang cos she likes him) so when we hear it, it definitely adds so much to her charm.

I'm curious to what Mu-young's real intentions are really, and I couldn't wait for the next episodes 😭

Ep 7-8

Ep 7 was a continuation of ep 6 and I'm so overwhelmed with feelings for the trio's friendship (Yeon, Mu-yeong, and Hong-ju). I always knew there's much more to Mu-yeong's brother being killed and I can't say I'm surprised but I probably still am.

Lee Rang's whole character is very well executed in this episode and I couldn't stop commending his love for his brother, I was crying freaking out when the villain thingies kept on slashing him and beating him up to get him to let go of the thread that leads his brother out of that realm—but he didn't let go no matter what 😭 He's such a good kid I want to put him in my pocket. And his lovelife (I keep mentioning it cos it's so cuteee!!) is so heart warming my mom and I keep gushing over it. I'm so happy for Ms. Mermaid and Rang, seriously they deserve all the happiness in the world.

Mu-yeong is going full on villain energy and I can't wait to see it but at the same time I know how much this would hurt Lee Yeon so I'm torn 😭

Ep 9-10

Ugh. Ep 10 was such an annoying episode. Ms. Mermaid was bitten by the yacha?? Rang was bitten by the yacha?? Yeon lost both of the treasures?? He switched bodies with Nyudo?? I hate it so much??? Nobody from the protagonist's sides were winning and it feels like throughout both of the episodes, they were just milking it on and trying to delay the inevitable. If somebody's gonna die, just die already! Jeez!

Anyway, I'm not hating it, just really really upset with how things are panning out. But I know there's gotta be a reason for all these experiences and I know they're gonna help the main characters with their charac dev. Hoping it'll happen soon though, cos I'll annihilate everyone if my bb boy Rang ever dies in the next episode.

Finale Episodes (11-12)

OH MY GOD IT WAS BRILLIANT 😭 There was a twist even towards the end and I was at the edge of my seat all throughout.

First of all, Rang was brilliant, I was screamingcryingthrowingup the whole time his fight scene with the 2 Japanese mercenaries were shown. I was so proud, I couldn't even 😭😭 This precious boy had totally grown up, he can protect his loved ones now, my affection points for him just went up by a thousand.

Yeon showing his tails towards the end while fighting the commander-general (?) was sooo freaking satisfying. The whole fight scene was so satisfying, I was punching the air the whole time. And I couldn't be more glad that both Jindo (iforgothisnamei'msosorryhahaha) and Little Mermaid was safe from the mercenaries. Everybody got their happy endings and I feel relieved.

So many things happened in a month and it makes sense since it's 1938. They were almost always on the verge of dying and there were loads of lessons learned but I was thankful for the whole ride.

To the pd-nims and writers of the show, I'm not even sure if you could read this but, I still want to thank you for this amazing drama. I enjoyed the rollercoaster ride and I hope you all would continue making these masterpieces.

(lowkey hoping for season 3!!! cos I think the ending was open enough for another season, don't you think??)

I FINISHED THIS ONE!! IT WAS BRILLIANT!! 1000/10

#tale of the nine tailed 1938 #lee yeon #lee rang #review #kdrama

[jude-thedude98]

I fold you I'm a lyricist

Ima start wit using the eeriest (lakes)

Thid my Pride Friendly Q&A so no jeed to get deliri9us about my Queeriest

Since ima poet

Ima use this keyboard clickin

As my Instruments

Laffy taffy strugglin

Serious

I stay in busy ness

But I don't ever forget

Yall rappers sound the same - all I hear is crinkle crinkle kid

Unfold yo mouths n stop talkin nonsense

Sex drugs and violence

How bout choose different options

Mushmouth talkin

Passin me off havin no bear necessities

In the Mirror Naked BaLOOnin

Feel like I gotta spell this out like Gwen Stefani did

But this ain't no spellin contest

Even if it was yall ain't hearin it

(Well) Ya better believe it bit

By bit I'm wood choppin this

Tree down but it ain't go in quiet

Title of this one is Forest of Pages

And somebody please tell me why the tree remembers the pain but the axe always forgets

Mm, I'm deep divin

These c's better 3's PO - Post Office Kid

Here's your food delivery with tip

No ding dong ditchin straight door dashin

I been called like a Mormon

So let this be my voice-mail answerin

I'll leave messages

Lyrical inclinations

Brain gamin

Fundamentalist

Gotta sweet Toth for some Eminems

But ima Skittlez kid

This rainbow I give you for free tastin

I got you wrappers usin my lines like I fundipped them

N that's right I spelled rappers wit incorrection

I would have spelled in proper tense

But three u's spells unsatisfaction (and that's an ass whippin)

Unless you flip them

Then it's a cursive m

You see how I swerve on them

I use homonyms

Like would flip the three u's then what you got old wit an m

That's mold. That means yalls rhymes is rotten

My Forest of Pages

These are my Woodlands

Lines so sharp I'm paper cuttin

But I ain't parkin linkin

But I do ride Lincoln

I'm Abe Honestin

These folk got amnesia senses

They became a lil independent

N forgot about the kid

That's child abandonment

But I'm kiddin n playin

Nah I'm lyin

I been Hypin 1988 since

Everyone seems to forget the establishment

April consumation

January baby out the womb in

To the world I'm settin

The foundation

I'm gon be Bob the Builder n Fix This Glitch

I'm talkin architectural draftin

Rebuildin

New alignments

Since a lines meant

To grow straight in

Stop the curbin

These entusiastics

Has caused drastics

Changes

Wit strangers

Will Robinson's in danger

I can feed a man fish but he won't exchange it

Fishin for powerlines like an att temp kid

I think I lost you no significance

Yall folk focusin

On bars but not rememberin

That's what they capture us jn

Oooh n I know that was whitey tighty cleanin

Under wherein

Do these lines come from? I got you limboin

N it's later than it is early so I'm limo stretchin

Provin points like Nemo, hope you can find it

But I'm missin?

Nah yall jus Coralin

That means you Miss in

This movie mission

Dead to me so go ahead n get the gettin

You invisible always callin

Everythin

Impossible visions

Don't happen without envisions

That means the dreams have to be workin

My girl Cocoa got me though like the temptations

N i'm tempted

To end it (all)

But not for me cause I only lyrically do the killin

But for you cents you already silent

But got pennies to say for my thoughts n I ain't price shift

Gears cause haters lookin

For lingerin

Well here's Victoria's secret

Too many people finger pointin

Uncle Sammin'

Pointless.

Oops I think you missed it

See these lines be wavin

Right over your craniums

I use letters like planes so I can get fly with

A trivia crack word high with

Oscillatin fan whisk

That's a princess bride hi grip

This that baseball uniform needs laundry detergent

Crowd tidal wavin

As I slide in

Home basement

To be used for hide and seekin

N since I'm a wordsmith

N I don't boast my confidence (enough)

I'm going to let these statements get foolish

Get stupid

Get ignit

Use my noodle pit

From my Eastside and my Westside connections

Drink grabbin

Ice cube in

My ice t since it's 6 in the mornin

I'll bring out my toolkit

Use the tools I'm cool wit

Tried to screwdriver me but I got my monkeywrench

If you don't know me by now I'm Mc hammer quick

Yall know yall can't touch this

I'm simply red lovin

I'm too sexy for this album I'm right said Fredin

Family Guyin

Couldn't catch these lines if you were Frank or Wes Welker in the Dolphins

Kermit the frog herein

Large egos like stewie's head and little balls like Peter griffin

But you dogs wanna a bonin?

Thinkin cause you speaking like Brian

You get the cool whip

But yall jus cool whipped

N when it comes to the appeal of whippin

You babyfaces be screamin no i dont do bdsmin

But thats cool tho I don't fool wit

Whippets

I only wip it out when it calls for progression

And that's a work in

Gutter bowlin

No strikin

Lines as magnetic as lighnin

Uneven slices

Mathematical dices

3.14159 is

Rhymes unendin

I got people pinin (for more)

Sayin please baby please give me one mo hittin

But I ain't no Ike n

Tina down the river rollin

Tho i know yall teenin for the classics

Like I'm DeVante, K-Ci, Joel, & Dalvin

I get so sick

Pf the same songs playin

I swear it's like the universe be all 4 one against this movement

I'm quite feverish

But even at 19 I knew I was covid

Rhymes so ill they the deadliest

Catchin bullets

Rush hour bloopin

Guess I gotta dumb it down n get the stoopin

Folks out here gettin

Caught by the same old Charlie Brown football (Lucy) smokin

I love - they thought I said loosely

But I'm usually

Not a cannon but this BlackOutProduction

Got me up in amazement

In the first revision

It was 4:30 somethin

N I can burn these fumes till the word count is empty

I'm gettin itchy

You buggers buggin me

But I guess it's true what they say isn't it

It's a bug's life so you should expect some stingin

But I'm floatin

Like a butter flyin

Smoother than a criminal an I ain't lyin

I may got the eye of the tiger but I got the roarin mane of a lion

Damn does it stink in here oh no wait that's jus my dragons breath - I'm spittin hot fire

Wired like a secret agent

Create Success Investigation

These criminal minds

Are lyrical ties

To dress you up n get ready for I's

I pledge allegiances

I do marry you death do us part tills

Stills in I's

Like I's solemnly swear that I am up to semicolons

No good riddance

From first to last

Again I am a lyricist

I will use my two arms to strum my pain with this stringed instrument

This kyre its jus

My Greek Day of recognitions

Oops my Green day

I'll be captain planet

Savin the earth will be one of my serenist moments

Altoid break in

Playin linemen tic tac toe in poundin offense

Hashtaggin defense

Somebody please wake me up when September ends

Cause you family guys are still wishin I loop a line for cool whip again

Please cool it now then

Make sure you call me the new Indiana Jones wit the cool whippin sense

Tomb raidin jt

Why is it people will sign their name next to an X for treasure huntin

But won't walk the plank to sign next to the X line of friendship

Diggin up artifacts that's ancient

Has your cookie dipped in yet?

I'm thick in the thinnin of LeBron James' hair ulignment

n if you already know that you can't have pie without cool whip

Why'd you make me flip it

I guess it's cause the u n on top of each other is in perfect alignment

On this track I'm racin

I'm only speakin one thing about equation

And that's The United Nations.

(Emphasis on the H'in)

Forest of Pages (Sounds of The Great Lakes)

By Mr. PoetAll

#title #forest of pages #poems by mrpoetall #rapper #rap line #eminem #skittlez #taste the rainbow #my flow #lines and lakes #poetry community #looking for a team #blackoutproductions #blackoutdojo #openmicentertainment #writtenweapons #peacefullyprofound #colorsoutsidethelinesinkcorporated #creativecreationsartz #thegreatestovercome #spilled poetry #my brand #come join me #lyrically gifted #my gifts #my talent #calling all writers #calling all artists #music producer #podcaster

[strywoven]

@millionsnife has requested a story : ❝  closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything.  ❞

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅.

It’s about time the silence is broken , the poor thing has been sitting outside on the porch steps for … How long ?  Long enough for the suns to begin retreating from noon to dusk , at l e a s t .  Kaen seems … Beside themself , unwilling to do more than NUMBLY PERCH there on the stoop , body cocked forward over their knees as if having been nearly toppled by the force of s o b b i n g so much.  Their eyes are pressed tightly closed , their hands laid over their face whilst fingers grip into their fiery hair.  They barely seem to be breathing , let alone PAYING ATTENTION when Knives comes out to make sure they’re still alive after everything that’s transpired that afternoon.  His voice rouses them slightly , causes them to slowly – stiffly – release from their position and lift their head from their hands to STARE HELPLESSLY into the darkening distance , their blue hues fixed onto the fading trail Verona left behind in her wake after Kaen had told her definitively that they would n o t return to Wellspring with her.  Not now and perhaps not ever again ( not after everything kaen discovered she’s done to them without their knowing ) .

But if this was meant to happen , if this is how it was supposed to be , why does Kaen keep looking for her ?  Why do they keep hoping to see her welcome radiance there in the dunes waiting for them to change their mind and come RUNNING BACK TO HER as they always did before ?

❝ No … No it wun’ , ❞ Kaen agrees , their voice coming quiet and sullen , trembling around their words.  They use their sleeve to wipe their eyes as they sniffle a bit ( has knives ever seen them so upset before ? they suppose there’s a first time for everything , they’re just sorry this had to be the reason ) .  ❝ Bu- but it would give me some time ta’ think ‘bout errythin’ , at least. ❞  Silence falls , time continues to pass.  Nothing is said , nothing is done.  Kaen feels another wave of m i s e r y rise up from within them and begin to well beyond the surface like an open wound they don’t know the fix for ; they shouldn’t be this upset , and yet— They choke a bit as they speak again , ❝ A- Ah dun’ know ‘ow people … C- can say good-bye so easily ta’ others.  This … Feels li- like hell ! ❞  Perhaps the fact it’s so hard is not because you resented her but because you LOVED HER & STILL DO— Kaen forces the thought aside , back into place with the other memories they want desperately to r e p r e s s .  

With a face full of sorrow , tilled with tears over fair-freckled cheeks , they look woefully up at the Independent ( now , the only one in their life … for better or worse ) .  ❝ It shouldn’t hurt like this !  Not when Ah- Ah was s’pposed ta’ do it ! ❞  They sniff again and look forward once more ( yes , they realize , she’s walked out of their life & yet they still feel the hum of her presence in the back on their head , prickling their skin , teasing their breaking heart— ) , ❝ Ah’m … Sorreh , ❞ They apologize to him , though for WHAT exactly , it’s not clear.  ❝ She’s go- gone now - prob’ly fer good - ‘s jus’ gonna be us.  Ah promise. ❞

#❧ ⸺ how can ( queue ) say there is no story here ? ❞ #❧ ⸺ ch. kaen | answered ❞ #❧ ⸺ ch. kaen | verse ix: trigun ❞ #millionsnife #anyways-- #have a completely - obviously - traumatized little idiot #me constantly making things worse for you and for kaen: :) wdym this isn't funny?

[kusogamesss]

Ape Escape and the DualShock

I could, and did (on an episode of Retronauts), speak at length about Ape Escape and each aspect of its being but I want to focus on controls here.

Much ink has been spilled in reverie of Super Mario 64's influence on 3D gaming. It rests on a pedestal so as to always invite comparison, hailed as "the new gold standard in video games" since its release.¹ The notion that Super Mario 64 was "the first [game] to get the control scheme right" in the 3D platformer space is evident by that separation of player movement and camera movement across the gaming landscape today.² With how infrequently - which is to say, not all of the time - the player moves the camera in Super Mario 64, the relegation of the camera to a quartet of readily accessible buttons is puzzling but forgivable for such an early True 3D Platformer.

The most critical part of Super Mario 64's legacy is its insistence on player control in a 3D space being simple and streamlined; push forward to go forward, press A to jump, no faffing about. As seen with early 2010s titles like Octodad or Surgeon Simulator, expecting (read: requiring) players to engage in more direct, less conventional control schemes is a 'meme,' some source of comedy in large part because those controls are in direct defiance of reiterated means of control in gaming. While neither title nor their contemporaries illustrate with clarity the benefit of these subversive control methods, Ape Escape did over a decade earlier.

As the first PlayStation game to necessitate use of the DualShock controller, Japan Studio sought to use its features maximally from the ground up due to its potential as a dual analog device.³ The use of the second dog-nose textured stick for gameplay and direct character action was one of the only marked control innovations in the 3D platformer space since Super Mario 64. Demo discs espoused the DualShock and its implementation in Ape Escape as a tool one needed to master alongside the gameplay itself. Contemporary reviews corroborated these claims in large part because Ape Escape's controls refused the instantineity of Mario, Spyro, Banjo-Kazooie, and Crash. Jumping could happen with the tap of a button but gadgets were not so simple, yet they were even more intuitive because of the DualShock's second analog stick.

The Stun Club and Time Net are swung by moving the right analog stick towards your target, or spun through a full rotation. The Monkey Radar similarly is aimed in any direction to highlight the location of monkeys The Slingback Shooter presents the first deviation from what one might expect - rather than move the stick towards the target the player instead moves it away from the target as if operating an actual slingshot, releasing to fire. The Dash Hoop and Sky Flyer both require full, repeated rotations of the stick to simulate the movement of a hula hoop around the body, or of propellers around an axis.

The final gadget (not including the post-game Magic Punch), the R.C. Car, is the most abstracted from convention as the second analog stick directly moves the vehicle separate from the player, likened by Tim Rogers to the dual arrows of Namco's 1983 game Libble Rabble.⁴ The comparison is apt on a surface level but while Libble Rabble requires simultaneous movement of Libble and Rabble to achieve the player goal of harvesting Mushlins, Ape Escape's R.C. Car is primarily maneuvered independently of the player in short bursts while the player adjusts their view or, more likely, stands still to focus solely on the R.C. Car. The player can, of course, move all they want while using the R.C. Car but this is not required because of Ape Escape's focus on oneness of control instead of separation of function and movement.

The Monkey Radar and R.C. Car notwithstanding, every gadget in Ape Escape complements movement in a similar manner to Mario's moveset in any of his 3D romps but with an added layer of immersion and intent. Chasing a monkey is not just a matter of platforming ones way toward an object through movement. The player needs to use the gadgets for their approach and for the act of catching the monkey, but it by hitting it with the Stun Club or Slingback Shooter, or just through aiming the Time Net towards a usually moving target. The evasive maneuvers used by the monkeys heightens the pursuit further. If a monkey dives away from the Time Net the player can flick the stick towards its new location or perhaps keep the analog stick tilted and rotate it to catch the monkey in a spin. If a monkey is airborne the player can get near and shoot them down with the Slingback Shooter, or use the Sky Flyer to ascend to their level then quickly swap to the Time Net and catch them while you fall. Some monkeys require silver key solutions but player freedom is abundant across Ape Escape.

One of the greatest challenges of Ape Escape and enjoying it is that one has to meet it on its own terms. Just like one can't go into Alien Soldier expecting it to be like Contra, the prospective player cannot go into Ape Escape with the expectation it will control or resemble Super Mario 64. Just like the aforementioned piece of Treasure developed software, Ape Escape defies a reading which compares it to that which it is aesthetically associated with.

A few years back I came across an article which lambasted Ape Escape's controls following a authorial statement "to assess [old] games as if they were released today, not as products of the times in which they were created."⁵ Merits and flaws of such an approach aside, this umbrage with Ape Escape's convention-eschewing control scheme suggests that breaking from the Super Mario 64 style of platforming is itself heretical. Mention is made of the difficulty of rapidly adjusting the camera which were moved to the D-Pad and L1, something allegedly taken for granted presently whereas in 1999 there was "no well of experience to draw on" for this predicament.⁶ Ignoring the fact that 3D platformers had already contended with camera movement through the N64's C Buttons, effectively an analog to the DualShock's right analog stick, this perspective ignores Ape Escape's own camera concessions and means of manipulation. Ape Escape's levels are generally large enough to not require camera movement, and when the camera does need adjusting the L1 button immediately snaps the camera behind Spike, just as the R button did in Banjo-Kazooie. More direct control of the camera via the D-Pad is indeed more tedious and cumbersome but it is also in effect unnecessary by virtue of those expansive spaces. The article similarly raises qualms with the use of gadgets, considering the use of gadgets while moving to be analogous to patting one's head and rubbing one's tummy. This anapodoton that Ape Escape's controls equate to being poor is by no means unique to the article, and as a punchline it seems willfully ignorant of what Ape Escape expects of the player and their ability to adopt its way of thinking about control.⁷ Ultimately the article stands as the apex of decades of whinging about Ape Escape's perceived awkwardness, and the claims from those scant few who consider a suitable alternative to be pushing a button to engage in an action, akin to Mario punching. This is especially curious as Ape Escape got a port which 'remedied' this exact problem with 2005's Ape Escape: On the Loose.

The absence of a second analog nubbin on the PlayStation Portable saw gadgets being used through buttons, snatching from the player the degree of freedom in action the original release had. More critically, however, this digital interpretation of once analog intentions widens the gap between the player's actions and the actions of the character. The aforementioned oneness of Ape Escape is fundamental to the play experience because the title was developed for the DualShock, not around it or in spite of it. The placelessness of Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie or Spyro or any other 3D platformer which sees them effortlessly ported to new hardware with vastly different methods of control when compared to their original hardware is of value for those games, but it also demonstrates with crystal clarity that their universality opposes innovation vis-a-vis interaction with a game in a physical way. Contrastingly, Ape Escape occupies a position unique to and necessitated by the DualShock, evoking a sort of critical regionalism for games. In a similar vein to Alvar Aalto or Luis Barragán, both of whom have seen their architectonics (re)iterated outside of Finland and Mexico so as to suggest their forms exist and flourish outside their specific constraints and qualities of space and place, Ape Escape's ability to be placed outside of the PlayStation, with controllers that are not the DualShock (but resemble its form through four shoulder buttons and two analog sticks) should not be construed as it being separate from the DualShock.

In less grandiose terms, Ape Escape is the DualShock. Ape Escape deliberately avoided grafting camera controls to the second analog stick in favour of something more nuanced yet more natural and intuitive. Super Mario 64, the supposed pinnacle of 3D platforming and 'perfect' camera controls, is not the Nintendo 64 controller -- Miyamoto himself allegedly did not even like the C Buttons, and the game was designed using modified Sega gamepads for much of its development.⁸ Yet both can be and are played on newer hardware with controllers not of their era without being worse for the wear, if only because the DualShock and its dual analog sticks became the norm, the second stick functioning as a decent simulacrum for the solution of C Button cameras. And when Super Mario 64 got its portable port on the Nintendo DS, it was no worse for wear because the lack of C Buttons did not equate to a drastic change in gameplay. What is seen as awkward to some is precisely what makes Ape Escape work, and what made it so captivating to players in its own time, and still is today. That perfect implementation of a novel control scheme demonstrates to us a world of gaming that could have been; perhaps what should have been.

¹ "The Fun Machine: An Exclusive World Tour of the First Nintendo 64 Games," Nintendo Power 85, June 1996, 16. ² "Countdown to 200: The 10 Most Important Games," Electronic Gaming Monthly 187, January 2005. ³ "Ape Escape," PlayStation Underground 3, 1999. ⁴ Tim Rogers, "ACTION BUTTON REVIEWS PAC-MAN," YouTube video, 2:55:58, November 22, 2020. ⁵ Patrick Arthur, "Ape Escape and the Things We Take for Granted," Retro Spectives Podcast, March 31, 2019, https://www.rspodcast.net/articles/ape-escape-and-the-things-we-take-for-granted. ⁶ Ibid. ⁷ https://www.twitch.tv/protonjon/clip/LitigiousExcitedWrenDendiFace-uWmxCn2TR-f5klsO?filter=clips&range=7d&sort=time ⁸ "The Making of Mario 64: Giles Goddard Interview," NGC Magazine 61, December 2001.

[yn-dreamlife]

Mr. Confident

Warnings: Simping over tama, smut under the cut, daddy kink (eventually), dom/sub dynamic, he calls reader bunny, dumbmification mentioned, breeding kink, degradation (kinda)

Description: Tamakis secret confident/dominant side (you will pry this from my cold dead fucking hands)

Tamaki Amajiki was a shy guy, there was no doubt about that in everyone's mind. Well, everyone except you. You could see it, the glint in his eye when he took charge of a situation which were few and far between.

You saw it when he had to take charge and hold back three villains on his own during the mission to save Eri.

You saw it when he had to take charge during a situation with panicked civilians, when he would take charge and while yelling orders he would still be able to calm them down with his natural demeanor.

You saw it when he got recognized by a child, albeit it was much smaller than but it was there, he knew at that moment he wasn't the shy student but he was the brave pro-hero.

Now Tamaki being shy was NOT a bad thing, you found it cute and endearing. And so did everyone else, it is what allowed him to be so loved by the people.

While Mirio and Nejire were both loved for their bubby personalities he was different out of the big three. He was loved because even tho he could be 'Mr. Confidnet' as his friends would call him, he could still be soft-spoken and full of stutters.

You wouldn't change him, honestly, you wouldn't. But there was one other time you saw that glint in his eyes, and that was with you.

When you would look up at him his larger stature causing him to also have look down at you. it flickered whenever you would say "yes sir," in a teasing manner. It happened really whenever you came around, you noticed it his friends noticed it and so did he.

He enjoyed the feeling of confidence that washed over him when it came to you. Of course, he still blushed and stuttered and he never acted on what his confident mind wanted him to because in his mind you fell for shy him you wouldn't want 'Mr. confident'.

He was wrong in that regard, you see while you may be a hero and you may be an independent woman, you were also a naturally submissive person.

You remember the first time you really saw his confident and dominating side in your relationship. Not that he was ever the submissive mainly because you were too submissive to ever dom him.

But the first time it happened was when it was just the two of you. You on top of him riding him in bliss loving how he made you feel. And you didn't mean for it to slip, honestly.

there were other times you wanted to bring it up, on many occasions in fact but you never did because it never felt like the right time. But you two had been together for two years, you were out of high school and into the hero world.

And after being with him so long your submission was already his, there was no doubt in your mind. You always tried hard to hold it back till you two talked about it but this time it slipped.

"P-please sir!" His body tensed but you didn't stop as you saw the glint coming more to life in his eyes. "Please l-let me c-cum." you moaned out as you continued to ride him. The words that rang over and over in your mind, the begs that you never let out began to slip.

A surge went through him when the words fully processed in his head and before you could blink you were underneath him, your ass in the air. Tamaki didn't like to be on top often acting like he was too shy to pound into your tight heat like he wanted. He was just so worried you wouldn’t like that, but he did have a suspicion you would and those words just seemed to confirm it for him.

you whimpered as you felt empty and you were so close to your high, but it was cut off by a loud moan as he slammed back into you.

"Do you want to c-cum for me b-bunny?" He said lowly in your ear as he continued to move rapidly inside you. You nodded quickly but he tsked at you, "Now now I know my g-girl can use her words cant she? Be a good girl and tell me." He purred into your ear as he bit at your ear and neck his hips no longer moving.

"Please, sir! Please I need to cum so bad let me cum for you!" He relished in the way you begged for him, his confidence only growing.

"Go on bunny, cum for me." He said as he began to pound into you once again. He reached his arm down so his hand could find your clit and he rubbed it as he continued. "Show me how good I make you feel."

As he felt you come undone around him he wasn't far behind his thrust gradually becoming sloppy. But your begging pushed him over.

The words poured out of your mouth on their own accord as ecstasy washed through you. “Yes please fill me with your cum! Want your cum deep in me, breed me please sir!”

That seemed to be the final push for him and his mouth poured absolute filth into your ear as he came deep inside you.

“Gonna fill your tight little pussy bunny. You feel me stuffing your greedy little hole? This is what you wanted, isn’t it? Want me to make you my own personal breeding toy?” And all you could do was moan and blissfully take it.

After that day you two sat down and had a proper talk about it. Deciding your hard and fast limits and negotiating others, setting safe-words and signals as well as establishing roles. And surprisingly Tamaki was less blushy and stuttery than you.

“Alright, bunny let me ask you, what do you want from me?” His voice was soft yet steady as he looked at you. You forced yourself to hold his gaze.

“I-I want you to-to take care of me. I want to serve you and make you feel good and I....” you trailed off.

“And you? Go on bunny, being so good for me already~” he cooed to you softly.

“Want you to make all the thoughts go away when they’re too much.” You mumbled softly get loud enough for him to hear.

“And how can I do that baby?” He whispered as he cupped your cheek.

“By uh.... well y-you know by-“ you broke finally the heat in your cheeks becoming too much as you covered your face with your shaking hands and rapidly shaking your head.

He eventually coaxed it out of you albeit, in a somewhat roundabout answer he found out you like the idea of dumbification, you want him to fuck you stupid whenever it gets to be too much.

The thought made his clock twitch but he decided that would be for another day so he allowed you two more time to talk about what you needed to.

And now a month later the time has come. He could see it, the jitteriness in your form. The agitation and the snappy attitude, you were never a brat for him every time you tried all he had to do was whisper something along the lines of

“I thought you were my good girl?” Or “don’t you want to make me happy, bunny?” And you were once again his obedient little thing.

You two had yet to delve into anything too hardcore, the most being rougher sex and dirty talk mentioning breeding. He had yet to cum in you more than once whenever he did. Nor did he act on the idea of degradation or dumbmification.

Although the idea of you becoming nothing but a babbling little cocksleve for him to use always made him rock hard. So when you came home and slammed the door and promptly threw yourself into his lap he knew what he needed to do. He wanted to see if you would ask first though so he waited.

“Hey, bunny.” He whispered softly running a hand up and down your back and running his nose along your hairline. This was the first time you two could see each other for more than just a fleeting kiss. Thanks to hero work you two had been busy.

You said nothing but have a low grunt in response along with a deep sigh. “Long few days at work?” You nodded. “Wanna talk about it?” You shook your head.

He held you for a bit and he could feel you grow restless. Your body shifting above him just barely stopping when his hands met your hips. “Bunny?” He whispered and you still said nothing. “If you want something use your words.” He could practically feel your body just melt at his dominating tone.

“N-need you sir.” You finally mellowed.

“You already have me right here silly.” You groaned knowing he was teasing you. Knowing he wanted you to say it. He felt your cheeks heat up as you hid your face deeper in his neck.

When he still didn’t give you what you wanted when you tried to roll your hips only to be met with his hands holding you still he heard your needy voice right near his ear.

“Please, sir. Please use me for your pleasure and don’t let me think about anything but you. Jus’ wanna make you feel good. I just want to be your little toy~”

His breath hitched, of course, he was expecting it but to hear you begging for him like that sent a wave of excitement through him.

"You want me to use you?" He whispered his teeth grazing against your earlobe as you shivered at the feeling of his warm breath.

"Yes"

"Yes, what?" He asked moving to grab your jaw, squeezing your cheeks together to form a pout on your lips. "Go one bunny, yes what?"

"Yes, daddy!" You finally squeaked and this time you had caught him off guard. No one moved, and no one spoke. You had half the mind to get up and run from the embarrassment but the second you made to do so you were being flipped onto your back only to have a blown-eyed Tamaki on top of you.

"T-tama?" you whispered.

He chuckled the sound low and deep sending a vibration through you where your chests were connected. "That's not my name anymore bunny."

#tamaki amakiji #amakiji tamaki #tamaki x reader #tamaki x you #tamaki x y/n #tamaki amajiki x reader #tamaki amajiki x you #tamaki amajiki x y/n #amajiki tamaki x you #amajiki tamaki x y/n #amajiki tamaki x reader #confidnet tamaki #tamaki amajiki smut #smut #tw: dumbification #tw: degradation #tw: breeding #tw: breeding kink #tw: dom/sub #tw: daddy kink

[natsbaby]

Help Me! [pt 1]

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Gamer!Reader

Summary: as much as you’d love to be a strong and independent woman who needs no woman, you’re also a very weak baby who needs her girlfriend <//3

Warning: none!

A/N: i’m not okay so im running away from my issues by writing <3 hope you guys like this short one!

voice channel [pt 2]

“Agent Romanoff, Miss Y/N is urgently asking for your presence at your shared room” FRIDAY announces in the living room where Nat’s currently putting together your snack and her coffee. She quickly looks up from the PB&J she’s making with a confused look.

“Did she say why?” She asks as she quickly closes the jars and puts the knife she used into the sink, making a mental note to clean it up later.

“Negative, but she just requested for you to come ASAP” FRIDAY replies as Nat picks up the plate on one hand and her coffee mug on the other.

“Alright I’ll go to her, thank you Friday!” She says quickly as she rushes to your shared room.

You and Nat have been dating for almost 6 months now and only recently decided it would be safer for you to stay with her as a safety precaution. This honestly only happened because you were almost robbed at your previous apartment and caused Nat to almost have a heart attack. When she first met you, she thought you were a rather shy and timid person who’d like to do things on her own but apparently she was wrong because the more she got to know you, you got more comfortable with her that your true colors start to show.

As Nat goes up to your shared room, some scenarios comes to mind on why you so urgently need her. Sometimes, you truly do need her such as helping you reach something you couldn’t reach but you normally don’t ask unless it’s truly something you can’t do on your own, you’re too stubborn that way to not at least attempt. She finally manages to open the door while balancing everything she’s carrying, using her shoulder to open the door.

“Alright babe I’m- Y/N?” She asks in shock as she sees you under a pile of blankets with only your face visible, stationed to your gaming chair and desk as you’re currently playing your recent game obsession, almost to tears.

One thing that took the longest for Nat to notice, as you tried very hard to hide, was your fear of the horror genre. It was just never your strong suit and you tried your damn hardest to not show Nat how much it scares you, as it is Nat’s favorite genre in everything. You did everything you could to hide it as you wanted to impress the red head soooo much, but failed when she took you to the horror train at a theme park where zombies and other monsters would pop out of nowhere.

Nat quickly places down her mug and your plate down as she walks up to you, and removing the headphones placed over your head and wraps her arms around you as much as she could with your chair in the way. “Oh my baby, what’s wrong?”

You sniffle as Nat gently pats your head, soothing you with her soft cooes and words of affection, which just caused you to burst into tears. “I-I-I didn-n’t know this g-g-game was a hor-ror game and it ju-ust had a jUMP SCARE AND IM NOT OKAY”

Nat blinks for a moment as she processed what you just said, well wailed, at as you cry even more. She tries not to show her amusement at the situation as she gently picks you up and takes you to your shared bed so she could cuddle with you. You nuzzle yourself deeper into her arms as you finally calm down to just a little sniffle here and there.

“Do you feel better now sweetheart?” She asks softly as she gently swipes your stray piece of hair to behind your ear, cupping your cheek gently as she wipes the last bit of tears away. You nod sadly as you pout at her. “I’m just too scared to finish my game, I wanted you to come here so I wouldn’t be scared anymore”

Her heart swells at the idea of you wanting her to be there for you, causing Nat to cooe at how absolutely adorable you are as she pulls you tighter into her arms. “My poor little baby, how come you didn’t know it was a horror game?”

“I didn’t look up the genre, it was an impulse buy because the character is gay and I could date the other female characters and one of them was hot” you mutter shyly, causing Nat to unconsciously grin that made you glare at her in response, laying on your back as you cross your arms. “Not funny”

“No” Nat says as she props herself up slightly so she could look down at you, resting her head on her hand as she gently traces the hour glass shape on your Black Widow hoodie. “Not funny at all, totally honest mistake and you totally just bought it for the idea of being able to date a hot woman”

“She is hot” you mumble in defeat as you look at Nat, a smile forming on your lips as you had a lightbulb moment. “But you’re way hotter, and a real person so you’re more worth it”

Nat stares at you for a moment as she processes what you just said, a blush forming on her cheeks as she finally realizes you just said a pickup line. “Gosh you really do have your moments, huh?”

You grin mischievously as you nod in agreement. “That’s why you’re dating me, now come on you brought me a PB&J and I wanna share, then can we play?”

“Of course sweetheart, anything for you” she says fondly as she presses a kiss onto your forehead.

#natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x y/n #natalia romanova #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff imagines

[stolen-pen-name23]

Hey Katie!! If you’re still taking prompts, how about “you have to stay awake” with Obi-wan and Ahsoka?

Hi Jus! Thanks for the prompt! I had fun with this! (From these angst prompts).

---

“Tell me a story.”

“Dunno any stories,” Obi-Wan slurred.

Ahsoka frowned. “Sure you do. You never shut up.”

“Yeah, I do.” Ahsoka couldn’t see his face, but even with his voice slurred, he sounded offended. Ahsoka did not care that he was offended – only that he was awake.

“No you don’t,” Ahsoka reiterated, hoping to get a rise out of him. “Not when you’re around Anakin.”

“Cause he never shuts up.”

“I think you two set each other off.”

“Just him.”

“Whatever you say, Master.”

Obi-Wan hummed, and Ahsoka felt his body relax in her lap. She couldn’t see anything, but she could tell he was falling asleep. That wouldn’t do.

“Master Kenobi,” she said. “You have to stay awake. You have a concussion.”

Everyone had escaped the tunnel collapse. Everyone except Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. They were buried under the rubble, no comms, no light and no professional medical attention. Of course, Ahsoka didn’t actually need medical attention. The second he had sensed the tunnel collapsing, Obi-Wan had tackled her to the ground, shielding her from the falling rocks and nearly smothering her in the process. Ahsoka only hoped Anakin was making quick work on the other side.

Tired of not being able to see Obi-Wan’s face, she pulled out her saber and laid it next to her. She ignited it, and the small space was bathed in a green glow. She looked down at Obi-Wan and for the first time was able to see the blood matted in his hair – the way it made it spike and stand up awkwardly. His eyes were closed again.

“Hey,” Ahsoka said. “I told you to stay awake.”

“I’m awake,” he murmured.

“Good,” she said. “Now tell me a story.”

“What do you wanna hear?”

“Something about Anakin. Something I can use against him later.”

Obi-Wan lit up a little bit in the Force. Progress.

“He almost killed me with soup one time.”

Ahsoka couldn’t help but laugh. “He did what?”

“We usually either went to the refectory or I would make our meals,” Obi-Wan said. He slowed down as though in thought.

“Uh-huh,” Ahsoka prodded.

“But you know Anakin. Always an independent spirit. He wanted to try cooking on his own.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes,” Obi-Wan groaned.

Ahsoka laughed. “So what happened?”

“He insisted we go to the commerce sector. I let him pick out what he thought we needed and I bought it,” a wistful look passed over his face. “I remember the way he looked at the world like it was brand new. He was so young and he was so much happier then.”

Ahsoka could feel the sudden shift in Obi-Wan’s mood through the Force, unguarded as he was in his current state.

“He’s happy now,” Ahsoka said, though it was half-hearted. She knew Anakin felt as burdened by this war as the rest of them, if not more so. He wore it heavy on his shoulders.

“Not like that. Not anymore.”

His eyes fluttered closed.

“Hey,” Ahsoka said quickly. She didn’t want to shake him and hurt him more. “Master Kenobi, you have to stay awake.”

“I am,” he whined.

“Then open your eyes.”

“You made it bright in here,” he complained.

“It’s just my saber. It’s not even that bright,” she said with concern. His eyes fluttered open and then closed again. “Hey! You didn’t finish telling me the story!”

“Oh yeah.”

“Well?”

“Well, I took him home and gave him free rein of our kitchen,” Obi-Wan said. “Let’s just say I never made that mistake again.”

Ahsoka giggled in spite of their situation.

“He made this soup from Tatooine. It probably would have been good if he had made it correctly.”

“But he didn’t?”

“Not even close.”

“So it tasted bad, but you still ate it?” she asked, cocking a judgemental eyebrow at him.

“You weren’t there,” Obi-Wan said defensively. “You didn’t see the look on his face. He was so excited. He’s got these eyes and I just…”

“You couldn’t bear to disappoint him?”

“Yeah.”

Ahsoka started to laugh, but it died on her lips when she saw him nodding off again.

“Master,” she said sharply. “Stay awake.”

“‘m awake.”

“Then keep going. Come on. Tell me what happened next.”

“I got sick,” he said plainly. “Very sick. Had to get hooked up to an IV and everything.”

“Oh no. How’d Anakin take that?”

“He doesn’t know it was his fault.”

“What?” Ahsoka asked incredulously. “How could he not know?”

“Pretended I had the flu,” Obi-Wan said. “He was too young. Couldn’t tell the difference.”

Ahsoka laughed. “And he still doesn’t know?”

“No. Don’t tell ‘m.”

“Oh, I’m telling him.”

“Mmm.” His eyes closed again.

“Hey, stay awake!”

No response.

“Please,” Ahsoka said. “Please stay awake, Obi-Wan. I need you to stay awake. Anakin needs you to stay awake.”

No response.

“Come on, Master,” she whispered to him. She cradled him in her arms as best she could in the limited space and prayed to the Force that Anakin would find them soon.

Ahsoka didn’t know how long they stayed that way, but her heart leapt when a beam of sunlight hit her face.

“Snips? Obi-Wan?” Anakin called out.

“Master!” Ahsoka yelled back.

Rubble and dirt fell away as Anakin tore his way to them. He leapt down into their small space and Ahsoka could feel the anxiety rolling off of him in waves.

“Are you two alright?” Anakin asked frantically.

“Anakin,” Ahsoka said, tears welling up in her eyes. “He won’t wake up.”

#okay so like it's an ambiguos ending #so you can decide what happens #but i'm the author #and i say he lives #so there #my writing #thanks for the prompt! #ambiguous ending #prompt fill #ahsoka tano #obi wan kenobi

[demisexual-culture-is]

Demisexual teen here!

I dont know if Im the best person to answer your question, but here´s my experience:

I had a phase, when I was around 12 or 13 years old, I thought I liked girls and not boys. Thats when I began to search for labels that I felt like described me.

Lesbian worked for me for a year or so, but it wasnt enough anymore. I started liking guys again. I tried Bisexual, Pansexual, even Omnisexual. Nothing.

Then I found the label Demisexual. I had never thought about the ace spectrum, I didnt even know much about it. But when I found the label Demisexual, when I found out what it meant and I started to reflect on all my "Crushes", then I realized that this label does suit me, and that I wouldn´t have to worry about labels anymore (at least sexuality lables)

I found out that most of my male crushes, when I was a kid, weren´t actual crushes. I thought I liked them because they liked me, I didnt really feel butterflies in my stomach nor I actually felt that comfortable around them. When I had my first girl crush, in middle school, my whole world shifted. I felt emotions I had never felt and I actually saw myself dating her (she was straight though *sad queer noises*) Thats when I realized I liked a girl.

After that, I met a boy a year later, and even though he didnt talk much, I also felt butterflies and I was really happy to talk to him.

In high school, I thought I liked another girl, and I thought the label lesbian suited me. Then I realized it wasnt a crush, I didnt really feel like myself, even though we "dated" it was more like we were both happy to find someone queer. We both split up bc of this.

I realized that I had never felt those sexual stuff my other friends did. I couldnt see myself being sexually involved with someone, unless I loved them. Crushes arent love, but the closest thing Ive ever felt to it was with this one girl I met first, which we´re going to call Samantha.

I wanted to spend my life with Samantha, I actually pictured myself marrying her and kissing her and hugging her and having physical contact with her (no sexual stuff though, we were still kids and I didnt love her enough) so yeah.

Never in my life I had pictured myself marrying someone, only two times I had felt like that.

I... think I got side tracked (is that how you say it?) but my point is:

1- Crushes arent the same thing as love

2- Love can exist independently from sex

3- Its okay to be confused, coming to terms with your sexuality takes a lot of times. Believe me, I began questioning when I was 12. Im almost 17 now, and Ive been using the label demisexual for a relatively short time.

4- One thing is sexual desire and another is sensual desire. Sexual desire is wanting to be sexually involved to someone else (having sex, touching someone, etc.). Sensual desire is wanting to have physical contact with someone, but not sexually speaking. For example, cuddling, kissing, hugging, etc.

5- Even if you´re a late bloomer, thats perfectly fine! We all experience things differently.

I think I made things way much more complicated than it shouldve been, and Im also bad at words.

You can use a label from the acespec now if you feel comfortable with it, and thats completely fine. And if it turns out you were just a late bloomer, thats completely fine too!

You can use as many labels that you wnt, as long as you feel like yourself when using them. Dont rush things, and dont panic, this happens a lot. Understanding your sexuality takes a long time, whether its a couple of months or a couple of years, at the end Im sure you will find out what you are and what youre comfortable with.

I dont know what else to say. I dont think I understood the assignment lmao.

Mod, you cal delete this if you feel like it doesnt contirbute to the question, or you can also pick some parts that you feel like they do fit and delete everything else, thats completely fine!!!!

Youre doing an excelent job Mod!

Good day/night!!!!!!!!!

Actually, I'm blown away because you just did my job for me and explained things much better than I could! /nm /gen Thanks for sharing all of that! /gen /pos I'm not sure if this helps the previous anon but thank you, other amazing anon for writing all this up! (And my apologies to everyone else, this winter cold is kicking my butt. I didnt want to leave everyone hanging however so thank you to everyone helping out like this! Supporting each other is also important!!) Going to add that, even though I'm older than most of you (?), I just figured out my identity! (Like, as in the past couple days, haha) So really, take your time, be patient and kind to yourselves and each other, and the answers will come in time. It's good to take as much as you need, because rushing to conclusions will only stress you out. (Speaking from experience) This stuff is complex, confusing and I've heard it said that being comfortable in your own skin is one of the hardest things to accomplish in life. For what its worth, I'm proud of each and every one of you! And I hear you, I see you, you're all valid - no matter where in your journey you are. Keep on being your amazing selves! 💚 (Also, I have an interesting post that explains attraction like this in terms of cereal that I've been holding onto. I'll go ahead and post that, because I think it might help some of you lovely followers! It helped me, also. I'll post that next!) - Admin Link

#demisexual culture is #anon ask #anwering an ask #demisexual positivity #ace-spec #admin link #dont worry if you dont get it right away #its okay to take your time #i think the whole late bloomer thing is like a myth or something #progress is slow #and painful at times #but i hope that as people grow and learn we can all get to a better place #as a society and a race #but dont take my word for it #i tend to be biased