#she did some sketchy stuff but i understand | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

winwintea · 12 days

Text

secure that card! 19. pinky promise content warning: mentions of stalking, violent threats

"I'm soooooo paranoid right now. Could you have been a little faster?" Jisung asked Chenle as soon as he hopped into the front seat of the car. Chenle rolled his eyes at Jisung, "Relax princess. You'll be well taken care of, Calm down." He turned around to look at you, as you buckled up your seatbelt in the back, "And you're not even the one in danger Ji." You gave him a thin smile, and he took notice of your appearance. You definitely looked weary and tired, and Chenle couldn't help but wonder if you'd gotten any sleep at all. The messages were bound to send anyone on edge. "Yah yah. Everyone's in danger at this point. I mean it's not that hard to see Y/n's schedule and figure out who she interacts with. Besides, the guy is also a law student." Chenle tried to tone down his excitement, "You know who it is?"

You finally broke your silence "Um... yeah... so you remember the sketchy guy Ten?" Chenle simply nodded, "So... long story short he wasn't the stalker, but he did manage to figure out who it was." Chenle tried to process the words you just said, "Huh. How'd he do that?" "I don't know... some technology hacking stuff maybe. I can ask Yuqi later, she's good at that." "Wait is that legal?" Jisung suddenly interjected into the conversation. Chenle shot his friend a cold glare, "Uh... hello? is stalking legal? I'd hope not. Our ethical concerns are quite literally out the door at this moment." Anything to keep you safe, at least. "Wait so who is it?" He was still curious about the stalker, and maybe if there was a motive behind everything. "Hwang Hyunjin? Jisung knows more about him than I do." At least it was somebody Chenle didn't seem to know. He probably would've done some... unspeakable things to them if he did. "What, I only knew that he was in our class! Which you did not know. Can't believe you don't pay attention to the kids in our class. That's about all I know about him as well." "Um, excuse me, maybe instead of being focused on the people in our class I'm focused on the lectures?" "Nerd." "Shut your ass up Park Jisung, I have your mother's phone number." Chenle couldn't help but giggle out loud at this comment, and it certainly seemed to shut Jisung up. He didn't realize how close you two were, and wondered why Jisung never at all mentioned you in the past. Chenle made a mental note to himself to ask him later. "How are you feeling though, Y/n?" "I'm alright, I guess." Your expression still remained firm, and it did not make him feel great at all. He hated how this was happening to you. You didn't even deserve it, at all. If you hadn't done any collab with Yizhuo, or... Then it hit him. If you never met him, then you would've never met Yizhuo, and this wouldn't never happened. Technically, he was the root source of all your problems. Chenle cursed under his breath, which was picked up on by Jisung, although Jisung didn't say anything. "You can stay over as long as you want Y/n. I can understand how difficult it is to be going through this." He glanced in the rearview mirror at you and smiled, "If there's anything you want, food, drinks wise, we can order it." "Dude, you seriously have a problem." Jisung gave him a sideways glance, "Food doesn't solve everything." Ignoring Jisung's judging comments and looks he continued on, "Food is quite literally the solution to all issues. It's like what they say for those Hershey Bars, 'you're not you when you're hungry'." "Snicker Bars." "Same thing." ————— Soon enough Chenle had arrived at his house (mcmansion) and you had all be ushered in as quickly as possible by Chenle for fear of potential harm or threat from your stalker. Yanan was quickly filled in with the situation, and bluntly stated that you needed some rest, as evident from the dead eyebags slowly forming. "Are you sure? Like I feel like I should be awake just in case something happens." Jisung placed his hands on your shoulders, "Please. You desperately need the sleep. And besides you've got 3 men willing to pr- err keep you safe, just in case."

"Alright... But just 3 hours okay?" "That's not enough, but it's better than none." Yanan leaned against the table the four of them were sitting at and crossed his shoulders, "Chenle, why don't you go on up and show her the guest room."

"You mean a guest room. How many y'all got? Like 50?" Jisung joked, as Chenle and you stood up to leave the room. "12." "Oh boo-hoo, that's still 12 more than the average U.S. citizen living in the united states." You followed after Chenle paying more attention to your surroundings than you had before. "So, do you have guests over often?" Chenle hummed in response, "No, not really, we just have so many extra rooms." "Then why is the elevator used as storage..." "Um..." Chenle wasn't sure how to answer, "Good question." You snorted in response and continued to trail after him. Although somewhat distracted, the stalker still remained on his mind. If Ten had tipped them off, they should've been gone soon? The whole thing stressed him out. He felt partially responsible for your entanglement in this situation, and since there was nothing he could do about it already happening, he promised himself that he would do all in his ability to make sure that you were safe.

You two had finally reached the guest room. Chenle opened the door and allowed you to go in, but didn't enter himself. "This is it. I would say feel free to do whatever, but you honestly need the rest so please sleep." Your mouth hung agape as you glanced around the room, "You're saying this is the guest room? Then what the hell does YOUR room look like?" Chenle eyed the space and mentally compared his own room to this one, "They're about the same size, although there is a door leading to an inner room, so technically it's 2 rooms in 1?" "I didn't even know that existed, ooohhkaaay..."

Chenle shrugged, looking back at you again, "Be sure to get some good sleep alright? Take your mind off the situation and relax, we've got some top notch security here so you're quite safe. Text me if you need anything." You smiled at him, this time a full smile, "Promise me you'll wake me up in 3 hours?" "3 hours, yes. I'm aware." You pouted, holding out your hand, "Pinky promise?" Chenle arched a brow at you. "Pinky promise? What are you 7?" "A pinky promise is a true promise that is never to be broken at ANY time!" You continued to hold your pinky out, "Pinky promise you'll wake me in 3 hours." "Alright alright okay, I got it." He held his own pinky out and locked them together with yours, "Pinky Promise." He chuckled "And pinky promise me you'll actually get some rest and not worry about the situation for these 3 hours." "Pinky Promise" Chenle gave you a sideways grin and a thumbs up before heading out of the room. Why did he find that cute? Chenle honestly couldn't remember whenever was the last time he had felt this way about a person. Or maybe there was none? No one seemed to rival these thoughts and feelings he had towards you. He'll admit, at first he was quite attracted to your looks. After all, he had nothing to base other than your almost-but-not-quite lifeless body for first impressions. And conveniently you also happened to appear in his life the moment he started his plan to acquire a green card. However, it was the feisty spirit, the constant rejection/reluctant acceptance of his gifts, the ambition in your eyes, and everything else that seemed to make you who you were that really pulled Chenle into a deeper battle of love for you.

And as obvious as it was that you didn't appear to feel the same, that never discouraged him. In fact, he saw this as a challenge. One that he was going to win.

prev | masterlist | next

SUMMARY ▸ zhong chenle is the owner of many cards. a black card? he owns that. he even has a stanford student id card. the one card he doesn’t own though? a green card. and if chenle plays his cards right, he just may be able to secure one by wooing you. or it could all fall through… who knows?

TAG LIST ▸ @marvelahsobx @lyvhie @odxrilove @jkslvsnella @aquaphoenixz @wonnieluv @acidwon @syatchy @sleepyvic @grassbutneo @chcnlcs @taeeflwrr @hibernatinghamster @jaeimjaemin @gukuwii @slayhaechan @yyangj3lly @seunghancore @clean-soap @bath1lda @lostinneocity @defzcl @ckline35 @multifandomania @meltinghershey @foxy-kitsune @jising-jisang-jisung @minkyuncutie @zuzu-the-simp @dojaejunging

bonus: behind the scenes of me trying to make this chapter w/ a friend (can someone explain to me what happened WHY DID DISCORD DO THAT😭)

115 notes · View notes

alcestas-sloboda · 3 months

Text

I see so many reflections today from different people: someone woke up from the explosions, some from a phone call, some woke up and saw hundreds of notifications from different telegram channels. It is still so unimaginably bizarre. I have no ability to put into words the feeling of your world falling apart and we didn’t even understand half of the danger that was surrounding us. We were so damn close to disaster with half of Europe believing that nothing good will come out of it.

Ukrainians didn’t care what Europeans thought though, I personally saw news pieces about "Russia will take control of Kyiv" a lot later, somewhere in May, when Ukrainian military took control over the north of the country. And I’m so eternally grateful to every Ukrainian who made sure that all this "experts" sat in those flashy studios red from guilt. I’m grateful for my life, I’m grateful for our Ukraine. She persist. She is still the love of our lives. She’s hurt and devastated but she lives despite all the attempts to destroy her. Same as us. Somehow still here.

Yet I feel more detached from the western world than ever and I’m so fucking jealous of you all. It’s not even about the rockets or shakheds - somewhere along the lines you accept the fact that you may die in any moment - it’s about normal things like your Twitter feed that doesn’t look like a necrology, military terms that don’t make any sense to you, your city that doesn’t stop everyday to mourn the dead, you don’t feel guilty for trying to live a normal life while your classmate, who wanted to be a director, posts stories from the trenches. All of that and more. I’m not even entitled to my emotions because there always will be someone who says that my country is not suffering enough. I no longer react to comments like this as emotionally as I’ve done before but it is still so bizarre to see stuff like that from people whose countries have always been the one to inflict suffering on others.

I may sound mean or sarcastic or whatever but there is so much negativity inside of us that was put there by people like I’ve mentioned above that it is going to be released from time to time. "Your country shouldn’t exist", "Only 9 thousand killed", "You all are nazis/racist/zionists/any of the -ist terms" - yet you should always react in a constructive way because the moment you let your emotions go, you are the worst person on the planet. But who am I kidding, some people here do believe that we are. There is a thousand bad people with sketchy patches in a 40-million country and suddenly "That’s why I no longer support Ukraine". Well, honey, that means you never did. Because Syrian flags were quickly replaced with Ukrainian ones and just as quickly with Palestinian. It’s not about the "Support the oppressed", it’s "Anything to not feel guilty" because then you’ll find the reason to hate Palestinians, just as you did with us. If only you cared about the problematic shit happening in you country as much as you care about our political and social life.

But there are people who still are there for us. Countries that are still here. We may not say it as often but we are thankful. So very thankful for everything you’ve done and are doing for us. Thank you for hearing us and uplifting our voices.

Recently one of the most beautiful people here have lost her life defending me and you. She was always in my notes, always making sure that we didn’t feel uncomfortable even if she of all the people had all the right to be upfront about her thoughts and feelings. I don’t think I will ever get rid of the feeling of guilt. She was there while I wasn’t. She said to mourn her through anger. Anger towards the oppressor. Anger that should be directed into something useful: donations, sharing info, contacting your MPs and so on.

The soldier‘s death is not something out of ordinary during the war, it’s not considered a war crime but what if half of the army are civilians? Volunteers who left their homes to protect them. What if the soldier was a teacher, a poet, an actor, an IT-specialist, a scientist, what then? Isn’t it a tragedy? My country is loosing yet another generation of beautiful talented people and it makes my view of the future even darker.

But what can I say? I’m still here. My country still stands. Ukrainian air defence is doing everything possible and impossible to protect the lives of the civilians. Ukrainian military is still the only thing keeping us all alive. Heroes, titans, gods. Glory to them. Eternal glory to those who lost their lives defending Ukraine.

To Ukrainians: якось буде, прорвемся.

#reflection I guess

76 notes · View notes

socially-awkward-skeleton · 4 months

Text

wip wednesday sketch dump

tagged by: @ivymarquis @josephseedismyfather @cassietrn @direwombat @finding-comfort-in-rain @cloudofbutterflies92 @kyber-infinitygems @josephslittledeputy (and likely others, I have been very absent as of late...sorry)

okay, so uh clearly the art won for that poll (heh, always knew the cod fic was just for me... anyhoo) here's the sketchy sketches for oc kiss week. They are very, VERY rough still so please forgive

I won't run with the usual tag list but if you see this feel free to consider yourself tagged

(Top: Kit and @dickytwister oc Elliot Fletcher, Kit and @statichvm oc Katherine O'Neill Middle: Rory and @statichvm oc Lily Watt, Rory and @direwombat oc Saoirse Monaghan Bottom: Kit and @theelderhazelnut oc Ombra, Kit and @florbelles oc Lyra Fairbanks)

*I still have a few more sketches to get done, so if you were in my replies asking for some art, its on the way*

going to tag @strangefable @isobel-thorm and @direwombat for the cod stuff since y'all were kind enough to indulge me in a little scene I wrote for chapter 11 (even if I'm still supposed to be working on chapter 9 lol)

“You were jealous, weren't you?”

“Of course I was bloody jealous, Rory. Look at you, can you really blame me? I've been with my fair share of women, but Jesus, none of them can hold a match to you, my girl.”

“Your girl?”

“Listen, I've been trying my damnedest to keep my composure here. You think I went into this expecting to have this happen with my subordinate? It's rule number one and I'm here breaking it for you.” He sighed. “I had to listen to you in my fuckin’ ear, Rory. It was a goddamn nightmare.”

“And so what, you want to have that be the foundation for a relationship? The fact that I nearly died and you had to pull me out of there? That’s the foot you want to start on? It’s like I said last night, this is a dangerous game to be playing and I am not worth the trouble. I’m not worth your career.”

“And why’s that, eh?”

“I’m a fucking mess, that’s why. I’ve got nightmares, anxiety attacks, tremors, flashbacks. I’m in no place to start anything with anyone. And certainly not with someone who’s life could be upended because of me.”

“I don’t care.” He shrugged and gave a slight thrust of his pelvis as he crossed his arms over his chest. Obstinate, pigheaded right to the bitter end, refusing to back down from anything. This was Captain John Price type behavior through and through.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t care’?”

“You think all that’s gonna keep me away from you?”

“Well it should.”

“Why?” He lowered his head, looking up at her through his brow. Constantly challenging her.

“Trust me, after several nights of no sleep from me waking up with nightmares, you’ll understand.”

His eyes narrowed for a brief moment, the crows feet by his eyes creasing. “Someone else left you ‘cause o’that?”

Rory grimaced and bit down on her molars. Her eyes fell to the floor as she turned her head away from him. She didn’t have to say anything, her body language gave it all away.

Price’s face darkened at her reaction. If it was up to him he’d hunt down whoever it was and teach them a lesson, but that isn’t what she would want to hear. “Christ, don’t tell me someone actually did that?”

“Of course someone did that, John. Most people who see that side of me either think of me like I’m holding on by a goddamn thread or I'm just another broken soldier. And if it's not that, it's the whole horde of other shit in my head.” She rubbed at her brow. “People don’t want to fall in love with someone like me. It’s too hard to do.”

“Well, lucky for you I’m a bit of a stubborn bastard. I’m willin’ to put in the hard work. I can be goddamn relentless when need be.”

Rory scoffed, “I’d expect nothing less from you.”

He gave her a little crooked grin and stepped forward, cupping her face in his large hands, his thumbs stroking her cheeks softly. “I’m only gonna tell you this once, darlin’.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t care about how much trouble you might be, you hear me? I have to have you, Rory. I need you to be mine, yeah? Simple as.”

It was her turn to ask the question. “Why?”

“Because if there’s anyone who’s going to understand what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, it's me. I wanna protect you. I wanna make sure somethin’ like this never happens again. I can’t even take the thought of you bein’ with someone else besides me.”

“I’m not willing to take the risk.”

He nodded his head slightly. “Well, I’m patient. Persistent. I can wait as long as I have to.”

“Fucking hell. You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Not after what I saw last night.”

#wip wednesday #wip art #oc kiss week wips #i'm sorry they all look so rough still #the lyra and kit one is def the closest to being done #just needs finishing touches and blending and stuff #skelly writes #fic: all along the watchtower #oc: kit cross #oc: rory sinclair

37 notes · View notes

kyra45 · 2 months

Note

Yeah I'm jerk if you're going to be a jerk. I call scammers beggars because that's basically what they do in my opinion. You've been asked nicely for help and you got very defensive and offended that they didn't research them. That person looked up to you by the way, was trying to help catching scammers since we have to deal with them on a regular basis on many platforms and in reality. Wanted your opinion but once again she lost trust to people and thinks that she did something wrong. Well have fun on Tumblr guys and I hope that you stop as many scammers as you can

Funny how your mood changed real quick after calling me sketchy. Scammers aren’t beggars, you wasn’t calling them beggars. You was saying everyone asking for help is a beggar:

“And no I'm not reading blogs of every single beggar out there.”

Secondly, I was offended that you didn’t look at the OP of the post you likely saw to figure out was my own account which only posts verified charities and you, as quoted, asked me if i was butthurt:

“Damn you seem really butt hurt don't you? “

Lastly, you asked me to check if someone was a scammer and I told you, very simply:

“Anon did you even try to contact the person before asking me or did you see them share the post from my own blog. Because I only got this ask when someone shared their reblog from my other account and I personally feel like your just assuming it’s a scammer right off the bat without bothering to look at the account the GoFundMe is posted from. Otherwise I’ve verified it’s a legitimate account. But you could have just asked them. Nicely.”

And your response to that was, as quoted:

“Do you expect me to nicely ask a potential scammer if they're scammer? The answer is obvious.”

And

“I will only trust someone by approving that the person they claim to be really exist, maybe through social media or other ways that can officially confirm them.”

Implying that you could have actually looked up the information yourself but you opted to ask me instead of asking the person who would have been able to tell you what you wanted to know better than I would have been able to elaborate.

Also:

“Your "instructions on how to spot a scammer" show some basic schemes which every dumbass can copy and paste. They do much more than that. Although most of them just like you get angry easily when confronted :D”

Scammers don’t change their tactics all that often and basic isn’t bad it just makes it easier to understand and I am not claiming I’m the best as making guides. I know what scammers do. Also you wasn’t confronting me. You just called by behavior sketchy just because I was annoyed. There’s a difference between a scammer being sketchy when confronted and someone being annoyed when people don’t do a simple task.

I wasn’t being a jerk. I called you one for how you was acting. The rudeness of saying ‘dumbasses’ can do this and that people who ask for mutual aid are all ‘beggar scammers’.

Scam busters are trying their best but it’s difficult when people don’t want to do their own stuff before asking someone else. If you had done what I said you would have know the account was legitimate but instead this mess happened.

It’s a shame you call yourself a scam buster and this is how you’re treating me. Just because you didn’t like my reply.

Also my fanbase? Going after you? Do you think I just sick my followers on anyone who pisses me off. No, I don’t. I specifically tell people don’t harass anyone I mention here and make it clear that anyone who does so are doing it themselves.

#kyra45 speaks #answer

20 notes · View notes

chromatic-lamina · 1 year

Text

true history: true mystery, chapter 1085 spoilers

OH MY GAWD,

What a chapter. And cos he's my boy, told you we didn't have to worry too much about one

Trafalgar

Water Law!

I'm so excited (I feel like I should go out and order the whole set of steak knives).

Anyhoo! I remember when I enjoyed reading the scans on my Friday, and they now come out very early my Thursday morning (like, super early. It's just shy of 3am). BUT this was a treat. And the reason I mostly read them is to prevent being spoiled, but also because they include really interesting translator's notes, etc. such as the ones below about Imu:

Which is difficult to see, but basically it says that Imu refers to themself as Mu and then says that Mu can refer to the void century but also to dreams. Super interesting. And so, Lili was not, unfortunately Imu (but that's okay, cos' I love this story line too), BUT she was a...

D!!!

As shown above, where King Cobra realises...

...that he won't survive his encounter with Imu (who was apparently one of the original 20), and Cobra reveals that Lili was Queen Nefertari D. Lili. GOOD STUFF. Sabo overhears. Imu has some problems with this, because, as stated by Cora

and reiterated by (without knowledge to the best of our understanding) Imu

the "D" is the moniker of the Celestials ancient enemy.

And, although sketchy, look at the perspective from that panel above! Imu is miles above them all. Another aside, while looking up Cora and Doflamingo stuff, there's also the 'heavenly' perspective on this frame with Cora and Law, but I also know Oda is fond of this type of editing/story telling:

Back to 1085: Cobra's recollection that Imu was the name of one of the original 20 does tie into the probable theory that Imu had the eternal youth operation centuries prior.

Anyhoo, this is well out of order (my posting of frames) as always! Sorry. It's not only the D's that Imu and their clan need to be scared of, but also

the scholars. Be still my LawBin shipping (platonic or romantic) heart! But, I digress. So Lili is the one responsible for the preservation and also dispersal of

the poneglyphs. Whole page there. So much information! Cobra has not revealed that Lili was a "D" at this point, or that he himself is, so he was playing with fire coming in to see the Elders, but I guess the whole lineage had known about that for a long time then (that they had the initial for some reason) and had survived. It also seems that maybe King Cobra did know more about the poneglyph in Alabasta than previously assumed. Perhaps?

Anyway, Imu above says that Lili's dispersal of the poneglyphs around the world was perhaps a deliberate action (apparently it had been passed off as a mistake, a blunder) as part of a larger plan. And with the reveal of her being a possessor of the Will of D. it seems it probably was, even if she was a catalyst, as so many D's seem to be, without having full awareness or knowledge of what ultimate role they're playing.

Full page again, cos it's so good. So Imu questions Cobra as to why they never divulged Lili's full name, only referring to her by her royal title, which is actually pretty standard practice. BUT, Imu obviously has very strong convictions that Lili is one of those rabble rousers who get this his entity-self really hot under the collar too!

And the Gorosei basically saying: You can't expose that we're some kind of oligarchy/dictatorship/absolute malignant monarchy when it's supposed to be some kind form of supposed League of Nations acting for all countries and supposed world peace. Interesting mix of Imperialism and colonialism these guys have going on. Anyway! The revery is still going on, and is now absolutely proven to be a farce:

Although King Neptune, and who's the other dude? Can't remember. Not Dalton, is it? (please let me know) King Riku Doldo are looking very skeptical at the Uncle Sam dude. (Thank you @robinchan-hananomi !)

Walpol becomes relevant in a way that it seems that Caribou will be too, and Vivi has been kidnapped by the CIA CP0 (or are they CP9)?

Walpol overhears and sees not only Imu's decimation of Cobra with figures that look a lot like Kanjurou's Kazenbo flame spirit from Wano (did the Gorosei shape-shift too, or was it all Imu sending out some kind of malevolent spirit?), but I think he also overhears Cobra's revelation to Sabo that has a nice SFX bubble over it to just tease we readers enough with hints of information about how the Poneglyphs must be protected, and will seemingly will help usher in the dawn! Ooh, so excited.

BTW. What or who is the figure behind Cobra in the bottom right panel? Sabo?

Walpol outs himself as having seen everything, so shocking is it to him:

and so the spectres are on his tail (and I think it's quite funny that first Imu doesn't know or sense Sabo, and other defenses are breached by Walpol, of all people!). SO, he's one of my least favourite villains, along with Caribou and Spandam, but I'm guessing there's something with their devil fruits that make them crucial to the plot, as well as being kind of incidental characters witnessing key points of One Piece lore.

I doubt he has any great love for Vivi, but he also probably knows where his best chance for survival lies, so, it seems he's been creeping around the castle and I'm going to align CPO with Get Smart now, cos they've got that kinda vibe. Not goofy enough to be Scooby Doo (although Jabra does a good job), but still funny and sexy enough to be the characters of Get Smart who weren't Max. (look it up if you don't know).

Anyhoo! Vivi got kidnapped, and I'm guessing it was at the urging of the gorosei who did it at the urging of Imu, or maybe if Cobra didn't spill the beans, they would've used her as a bargaining chip. Anyway, Kalifa here:

stating that Vivi will end up being a pet (?!?). Did Charloss want her? And I'm wondering if Jabra's wording is a mistranslation, although maybe not. As far as I'm aware, the expression is "play your cards closer to your chest", but maybe it's changed over time. Or there's a pun I'm not getting.

Vivi's reaction in the following frame is awesome (gonna put the whole page in again, cos it's got so much info):

First, awesome that Shirahoshi got away, and we saw that way back when with Garp accompanying the family back to Fishmen Island. Cool info dump from Jabra above. (Very chatty secret agents. Maybe that's why they don't get to wear masks). But I especially like Vivi's incredulity at Kalifa's comment, and her commitment to doing something about it. She's got a devil fruit, doesn't she? Yes! BUT

Trashing young prince to the rescue! (okay, he's a king, once disposed, newly reinstated somewhere) (but he is young. This guy's in his 20s, I think). Vivi hitches a ride with the dumpster on wheels. And from there, Big News Morgans picks them up! (not yet witnessed). Here from chapter 1074:

She's really gone up in my estimation. I never noticed how much she speaks her mind and sticks up for others before (I'm slow, don't worry). And it's not just cos she's a D. Haha. That's not an automatic "like" card, but I might be a little predisposed.

Speaking of which, this part with the ASL brothers was hilarious:

"Do want a "D" in your name, Sabo?"

"You can be Sad. Bo!"

"Why'd you put it there!?!"

Ah, lol, bless.

Also, Imu has the same kind of imperiousness as Doflamingo. Doflamingo's rougher in speech, and I'm guessing with the "thou" and so on shown in the scanlation on the first page that Imu is formal, but as entitled and condescending as fuck, just like our pink feathered friend.

One thing (or many) so interesting about Doffy, though, is:

from chapter 727, is that he's a man very sore about losing his Celestial dragon status, who wants to destroy them and the world government, and who is not afraid of the CD's. Also, it seems that he's well aware of Imu (Mary Geoise's greatest treasure?). I wonder how he was going to challenge Imu if Law had granted him eternal life. If that was his aim. So, a digression, but I think our pink bird will again be relevant soon! Fingers crossed, and I really don't want them to redeem him. Please.

Lastly, the cover was very cute:

Franky directing newly hatched turtles to the ocean, and it's true, so many head in the wrong direction, and such a small proportion actually survive, so he's a hero. Is he sitting on a turtle-hatchling eating crab?

Dunno if any of this was coherent, and I'm sure I missed a bunch, but over and out for now (ah, back to bed!).

#one piece #chapter 1085 #king cobra #imu one piece #will of d #poneglyphs one piece #poneglyphs #nefertari vivi #walpol one piece #one piece spoilers #opspoilers #op spoilers #chapter 1085 spoilers #long post #chromanga #chromacaps #chromalami #chromameta

113 notes · View notes

fabraies · 2 years

Text

good, bad, ugly

original ask: hii! 💒 anon here <3 can u do kazuha x flreader? :3 college au, reader is his roommate hehe, kazuha x fem!reader, fluff, angst repost from @ningningification

“What !?”

“We’re very sorry. If it makes you feel better, he’s a very quiet person, and knows how to cook. We don’t typically allow mixed gender dorms but we don’t have any other left.” The assistant at the desk desperately tries to calm you down. Her attempts are only in vain however, as you continue to rant about this whole situation.

“I applied for a room for myself 3 months in advance, as soon as I got my acceptance letter! I can even show you the confirmation e-mail I got! This has to be some sort of mistake, I—“ your cheeks feel hot and you feel like crying from all the frustration. You did not spend months on constant lookout for an available solo room just for it to snooped from under your nose the moment you were about to move in.

The poor assistant repeats what she’s been repeating for the past 10 minutes, that the boy you’re supposed to room with isn’t all that bad, and is actually a very smart and educated student, with whom she is sure you will be “excellent friends” with.

Yeah, right. As if. Except you don’t care if he’s nice and well-behaved, you just want a room for yourself. Specifically the one you have booked. You’ve tried asking her a million times why on earth the room you’ve been assigned to wasn’t available anymore, but her only answers seem to be that “all the rooms are full until the following year”. Realising that telling her this just isn’t possible won’t solve anything,

“I’ll call my father real quick, I need to sort some things out” you inform the woman at the desk and step away. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that she seems rather happy to finally catch a break from this whole ordeal. As mad as you are, you can’t blame her. Your phone rings, and you can hear your dad picking up. “Oh, hey y/n. Already moved everything in?”

“No. Actually, I didn’t even move anything at all since you left. I have a huge problem. I’m not kidding. I feel like suing the school. I wholeheartedly cannot believe how a school with this kind of reputation could ever fuck up this—“

“Woah, woah. Rewind. First of all, we’re not suing anybody. Your tuition is already costing me and your mother enough. Second of all, not moved anything? Huge problem? Just go through everything calmly before going on a rampage honey.”

You take a deep breath, and start again.

“The lady at the desk told me there was some problem and my room isn’t available anymore. The only dorm left is one for two people; which, no, I wouldn’t mind, but they want me to room with a boy, dad! Please just, help me out!”

On the other end, you can hear your father sigh, “Look, if it’s not there anymore, there’s not much we can do. I understand this looks sketchy sweetheart but, tell you what, you suck it up for one semester and we’ll try to do something about it for the second. How’s that sound?”

You huff. It’s better than nothing, but a whole semester? This roommate of yours better be just as quiet as the lady promised you. “Ugh. ‘S not the best but.. I guess that’ll do. But promise me you’ll do your best for second semester. Please.”

“C’mon [y/n]! Of course we will! Just put on your big girl pants for now and this’ll be over before you can even say ‘roommate’. Okay?”

You thank him, and hang up. As you walk back to the front desk, the lady looks up at you in slight fear of another soap-opera-worthy scene. Luckily for her, you’ve had just about enough this afternoon, and you just want to move in your damned stuff.

“I’ll take it. The room, I mean.” The lady, whose name tag reads ‘Ningguang’ lets out a sigh of relief and beams at your simultaneously as she leaves to go get your key. She hands it to you all the while giving out instructions and what to expect during your on campus experience. Once she’s done, you apologise for the mess and thank her.

Well, I’m alone now. Ningguang left for a coffee a few moments earlier and you’ve been trying to find the most efficient way to move your belongings up to your dorm for the past 10 minutes. Not that anything had come to you during this time.

“I’m sorry, but uh.. You’ve been standing here for a very long time and I was just wondering if perhaps you.. might need any help? It’s just, you’ve kind of been staring off into space and there’s a lot of stuff around you -which I’m assuming is yours- so I couldn’t help but wonder if you’re moving into the dorms as well, so I thought that you might want a few helping hands to get all that up and also because first years gotta stick together, right?”

The girl in question is quite an eyesore. She’s got two spikey pigtails at the side of her head with random streaks of color, and her clothes suggest that she’s heading out to a metal festival. She’s looking up at you, awaiting your answer.

“Uh.. yeah, sure. I guess some help would be nice.” You let out and awkward laugh, uncharacteristically so. You’ve never had a hard time making friends, but for some reason, you’ve struggled a lot over the course of the last few days.

“Awesome! I’m Xinyan by the way. With an x. Room 416. You?”

“[y/n]. I’m uh..” you fumble your bag, get a hold of your keys and squint your eyes “uh.. right next to you I think. 415.”

“Really? That’s great! That means we can use the shortcut!”

“Shortcut?”

“Yeah, follow me, it’s a game-changer. Will get all your things up in 20 minutes, tops. Also, we can get to meet your roommate together!”

“How did you know I had a roommate?” You quirk an eyebrow.

“Got a sneak peak of your room while I was walking past. I saw two beds, so I figured it out.”

—

A few minutes later, you could confirm that the mysterious shortcut most definitely was a game-changer. Xinyan had left some time ago, something about books, and you were left to wonder alone on your dorms inviting flooring. You look over to the other bed and think, this’ll all be over in one semester. In just 15 weeks’ time, you’ll be out and ready to move in into your new dorm, alone. Sure, Xinyan won't be your neighbour anymore, but it's not like you know for sure you two'll grow close. For now, as bitchy as it might sound, she's just a distraction fr the fact that your new roommate is a man.

Just as you were getting done with your inner monologue, the door creaks open, and the first thing you see is blonde hair, and a fair-skinned hand moving the handle. His head finally peaks through the crack of the door and begins speaking.

"You're the roommate I presume? The front desk lady told me there were some changes and my roommate would end up being a girl.."

He doesn't sound very thrilled at the idea of rooming with a girl. Good! At least we're on the same page, because i don't wanna room with the opposite gender either, you internally huff.

"Good afternoon to you, too. And yes, I am your roommate."

"Sorry. Good afternoon to you, too. I'm Kazuha Kaedera. It's nice to meet you. I'm sure rooming with a boy must be a let down for your first year, so I'll try to make myself as discreet as possible."

His way of speaking is.. strange. He’s either rich, or incredibly stuck up.

"Jeez, relax, you can talk like a normal person. Also, do what you want as long as it doesn't involve me or my side of the room."

You feel sorry for him, really, you do. After all, being the recipient of somebody’s anger and frustration must suck. But you’re bitchy in general, and even worse now. If you have to put up with a male roommate, he has to put up with your attitude.

"Noted." He nods, and quietly leaves the room. Nothing more, nothing less. At this point, you think that he might be less of a bother than you initially thought.

"So, how did your first days go ?"

After moving into the dorms, Xinyan had dragged you out to meet the people she had conversed with in the mere 15 minutes you had spent talking to one person. This had gone more or less well, and you now already had a group of people you could in some way call your friend group, for which you had Xinyan and her incredible socializing skills to thank. The 5 of you had sat down in the dining hall at a long rectangle table on the far-right corner, rearranging the seats to take up the entire space and deter unwanted to sit at your table.

"Good" You say while munching on your dry sandwich

"Went awesome. Bunch of hot guys in this college, it's crazy." Lisa answers.

The rest unanimously agrees, while Hu Tao speaks up.

"Talking about guys, did you guys hear about this one girl that got to room with a guy? They don't usually allow it, but from what I heard, the guy's super cute, so kudos to the girl, she totally hit the jackpot."

"Yeah! I heard about it in my Communications class. Isn't his name something like.. Ka.. Ke... Ugh, I don't know. Something that starts with K, for sure." Yanfei adds.

"Kazuha ?"

Suddenly, all eyes are on you, and Yanfei snaps her fingers in recognition.

"Kazuha! Yeah, that was it! How'd you guess? You know him, [y/n]?"

"Not personally or anything, no! It's just.. uhh..." You suppose there's no point in hiding it anymore. They’re the people you’ll be stuck with the entire year, so it’s not like they won’t find out soon enough anyways, "We're roommates. I'm the girl that had to room with him, so.."

"Are you kidding? What is it like? What's he like?" Hu Tao, asks, her eyes as wide as saucers.

Suddenly, she bombards you with questions about him. Why was she so interested in Kazuha? Was he famous or something? The year had barely started, there was no way he'd already achieved such a reputation already.

"W-- I'm not sure, we haven't even had a proper conversation yet. Why are so invested anyways ?" You ask her. It's not like you're jealous or anything, but this girl is seriously getting on your nerves.

"No reason. It's just, the sooner i get cuffed, the better. I haven't been in a single relationship since my day of birth, and I cannot let this go on any longer. This year is totally gonna be my year!" She punches the air while standing up, and the rest of you can't help but feel the second hand embarrassment as the rest of the hall looks over at the five of you.

Her year, huh? Too bad for her, it just so seemed she'd have some competition, because you weren't about to let some mishap get into the way of making this your year, as well.

"Hey! I told you this like, a million times, either you put your laundry in your laundry basket, or you leave them on your side of the room! God, you are so annoying!"

For the past few months, things have actually been okay. Well, actually more okay than you let on, because you even refused to change dorms when the end of the first semester arrived. You didn't have anybody you knew in any of your classes, with only Kazuha being in two of them. In desperate need of a seatmate, you reluctantly sat next to him. He didn't seem phased by your attitude though, as he ended up asking you if you wanted to go home with him, considering you lived together. After that, you ended up easing up a little around him so Kazuha and you ended up becoming really good friends. There were some side effects to this friendship, however. His organisation skills, which had seriously affected your dorm life, and even worse, his popularity among girls.

Despite your attitude at the beginning of the year, your initial friendgroup had taught you to let loose a little, and

"I'll pick it up later, hold on."

You let out a groan. How could he possibly be the same person as the one you had met at the beginning of the year? Where'd all the politeness go? Sure, it looked like a little stuck up, but it he was somewhat sweet, in his own way. Well, maybe you could assume it's sort of a good thing, because if he's gotten so comfortable, it can only mean he's warmed up to you, right?

"Just make sure I don't see any of this by the time I come back in here." You huff, while gathering your tiny backpack.

You had made plans with Hu Tao, Lisa and Yanfei to go to the gym on campus. Xinyan had excused herself, saying she had a bunch of readings to do, and wasn't available to go this time. You weren't so keen to go at first either, considering the snowstorm, as you were in the middle of January, and the walk you had to endure from your dorm to the gym.

However, you decided last minute that after spending so luch time hunched over your desk, a little gym session didn't sound too bad.

You closed the door on your way out, ready to face the insane amount of snow that was awaiting you outside. With a little huff, you push another door open, and start walking, a tight grip on your coat.

You soon enter the place, and realise the amount of people. Now you understand why your friends insisted on going despite such a weather.

"[y/n]! You made it!" Hu Tao calls out first. The rest waves, with smiles adorning their faces.

After all the hello's and how are you's are exchanged, you all leave to your own prefered machines. You weren't looking forward to going on the treadmill alone, but luckily for you, Yanfei ended up keeping you company by stepping on the other machine on your left. Unlike other people, you liked making conversation while going to the gym.

"So," Your pink haired friend clears her throat, "Any progress with Kazuha ?"

"No, and I don't plan on making any. We're just friends, and that's all there is to it." You deny through and through, just like you have been for the past 4 months.

Ever since you'd announced to your friends that you were rooming with Kazuha, they had instantly started to try and convince you that you were both meant to be. Ironically, Hu Tao was the first one to jump to this absurd conclusion, as she was one of the first students to start fawning over him.

Yanfei only sighs at your stubborness, and continues, "I've seen the way you look at him. I've seen the way he looks at you. It's been 4 months. You're not even concious of it, but you talk about him all the time. Even Hu Tao's complained, so that's saying something. Either way, I'm not going to push you to do something you don't want to, but, I just want you to at least realize that there is something going on, and he does make you feel things. We don't just think you'd be a nice couple just because the whole roommates thing sounds like a fanfiction trope, but because we genuinely think there is something going on. Just consider it, at least."

You outwardly groan, but what she says makes you think. A lot. You run on the treadmill, but your mind isn't really all into it. You keep replaying what Yanfei said in your head over and over again, and you can't seem to be able to get rid of it. She's right. You know she is. but it's just so.. embarrassing. His looks alone granted him an instant reputation at the start of the year, and he got all the girls on his knees in a measly week. There was no way in hell you'd ever be one of those girls.. right?

"Whatever. He sucks. His politeness act literally lasted a grand total of 2 seconds, he's a two faced jerk! And he leaves all his stuff on my floor. Also, his notes are super messy. How does he even manage to re-read all of them ?"

"[y/n]... You know what I think. Go get him before some other chick gets to him. You out of all people should know that"

"What are insinuating ?" You narrow your eyes at her

"I'm insinuating that I've seen Kazuha hanging out with some girl from my Law 101 class. A lot. And I'm insinuating that the exact reaction you're having right now is due to the fact that you have feelings you just won't own up to! God, just do something about it!"

You need to think.

“I’m back home.”

You close the door rather harshly and sigh, sitting down on your bed. You’re thinking of watching a move tonight, so you grab your laptop, and begin browsing Netflix for some good comedy show that could cheer you up.

“You don’t sound very happy.” Kazuha notes, sitting in front of his desk, highlighting sentences in his textbook.

“I’ve spent almost the entire day at the gym. I’m exhausted.” You huff.

“Whatever you say.”

“Huh ?” Your head snaps towards him.

“I said ‘whatever you say’. Is that problem ?”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. You’re ready to collapse on the bed, pull a Snow White and sleep forever. You don’t have time for his stupid games.

“Stop acting dumb. There’s obviously a double meaning here. So what is it?”

“There’s obviously more to it than just exhaustion. I want to know what’s going on inside your head, is all.”

You feel like you’re fuming.

“What is it with all of you playing the therapists !? There is nothing wrong with me. I don’t need to talk to anybody. All I need is for you all to leave me alone!”

You make your way to the communal bathrooms, hoping to freshen yourself up, and get some time to yourself. You gather your stuff, and make sure to slam the door on your way out to signal your anger.

You're relieved to find an empty bathroom. The last thing you need is another person asking you if you're doing okay. The truth is, you're not. Of course you aren't, how could you? You were awfully aware of your personality problems, and your feelings for Kazuha simultaneously. Yanfei informing you he might have been seeing someone just made you feel even worse. You were just getting to a stable point in your life. Knowing Kazuha had found someone made you feel like you were falling. Falling into a big black hole, engulfing you, where you had no choice but go back to your old, insecure, angry self. Of course you knew of the possiblities that Kazuha might even not be seeing someone, and that it was simply a friend. But you felt so scared and alone, you couldn't help but see the worst in things.

You feel so stupid. You've never told him anything regarding your feelings ever, so how would you know if he likes you back or not? Unfortunately, there's only one way to find out.

You hide your face in your hands and slide down the wall next to the entrance.

When you wake up, you're stunned to find yourself back in your bed, under your covers. As far as you remember, you were back in the bathrooms, on the floor. Did I go back and just not remember? What if-

"You're up already?" Kazuha enters your field of view.

"I woke up just a minute ago. Do you happen to know how I got back here ?"

"Oh, that. You took your bathroom stuff with you when you stormed out, so I figured you went to the girls' bathroom. When you didn't come back, I got worried so I went there just to check. Sure enough, you were asleep on the floor. You're a heavy sleeper, you know that ? I carried you all the way over here, and you didn't budge." He finishes his story with a chuckle, and continues. "Seriously though. You scared me. I care about you, a lot. I kind of always think about you, so.. This wasn't the way I wanted it to go down but-"

Your brain can't seem to process all the information at once, and all you can do is deny. Everything is going too fast. Your brain repeats it like a mantra. You don't deserve him, you don't deserve him, you don't deserve him. Just yesterday you were starting to realize your faults. You had to fix yourself before he could have a chance to take a look at your ugly side.

But suddenly, you feel like you're gasping for air, and you let everything loose. You can't let this go on any longer. Your facade is breaking and there's nothing you cand do about it. "No. No you don't. You can't. You're seeing that, other girl. Besides, I don't deserve you. I was awful to you. I was awful to practiaclly everyone on campus. I'd ruin your repuation. I'm constantly upset about something- anything. We're like polar opposites, and any other girl would be better for you. I don't want to drag you down, and I just want you to stop giving me hope, so I can move on and you can just-"

Without any time to finish your rant, he kisses you. It’s not a simple liplock, or a peck. It’s a real kiss, with all the emotions and and the butterflies that come with it. It made your head spin, and you feel the sensations surging through your entire body. You don’t find it in yourself to pull away. Instead you pull him closer.

After a few seconds, Kazuha pulls away, and holds your chin to get you to look up at him, and opens his mouth.

“For the record, you can be pretty awful. But if anyone saw you the way I do, they’d be a fool to not love you.”

Your eyes crinkle as you smile, and you feel like crying. You've never felt this before, and suddenly you understand why some people are so crazy about love. You have to feel it to understand it.

Kazuha loves you. All of you. The good, the bad, and the ugly you.

an: another repost because I got so lazy I couldn’t get myself to post everything at once. 💒 anon I miss you I hope you find your way back to me😭😭 + if you see this I did see the tutor cyno ask I will get to it even if it’s not on the old blog I PROMISE. the “original —“ thing is just here to help me cope with the fact that I lost everything from my last blog so don’t mind LOL

originally posted on: 11/09/2022

original number of notes: 176

#kazuha x reader #kazuha kaedehara #kazuha kaedehara x reader #kazuha x yn #kazuha x you #kazuha fluff #genshin fluff #kazuha angst #genshin angst #genshin x reader #kazuha imagine #kazuha kaedehara x yn

158 notes · View notes

allycot · 8 months

Text

personal crazy screams about mk1 in general:

ok I finished playing the story mode and. I didn’t expect anything great anyway, though some theories/ideas came into my mind, but they’d be too serious for nrs.

Speaking about the story (I don’t even take this sims 4 timeline seriously), it seemed too sketchy to me, like there were the things without any explanation, everything went too fast. but I liked Mileena’s (my fav baby my love) story in some way, she was finally shown from the other side, and, ohmy, REPTILE. He was beautiful, though, again, I’d actually like to see more scenes with him, because he just appeared there and disappeared immediately.

the ending was like some party in hell. no more, no less. shang tsung and quan chi as an old, insane couple.

loving Smoke, playing as him, and actually, the connection between Tomas and Kuai is one of the few things I liked in the whole lin kuei stuff. However, what they did to Hanzo/Kuai is a pure nonsense. Making a total reset to Hanzo in the invasions, whose personality seemed so grown up in mk11, who really had a character development throughout the previous games, is kind of disrespect, as for me, but of course everyone has different opinions. Making Bi-Han soo sketchy that he barely had time in the story and just DISAPPEARED is predictable, yet this disappoints me so hella much.

speaking about its gameplay, I didn’t expect to love playing as Raiden, lol. I liked that I didn’t even need to use his superpowers to play there, his moves seem so “flowing”. But I didn’t like to play as Ashrah. Not my character, probably.

I played it with my bro and tbh I’m glad because none of my few pals even likes to play it. (When he suddenly said he loved Sareena so much, tho he didn’t even know about her until mk1 came, a very stupid joke about her being the master at bewitching every elder sibling got me as hell, but I knew he wouldn’t understand that lmao.) What can I do, even I love her in some way.

#crazy thoughts #mortal kombat #mk1 #mk scorpion #mk sub zero #mk mileena #mk reptile #mk sareena #kuai liang #hanzo hasashi #bi han #mk smoke

21 notes · View notes

imminent-danger-came · 9 months

Note

While the lily orchard review didn’t do anything like calling the show bad (they actually praised it a lot but for some strange reasons imo) they did miss a lot of the main points of the show and lightheartedly insulted people who were making angsty fanart of it (they also didn’t credit the artist which was odd) I think they had only watched until season 2 at that point but season 2 was still pretty intense even if it wasn’t as bad as 3 and 4 so I don’t understand why they called it a “Saturday morning cartoon” because it clearly has an overarching plot. One of the quotes taken directly from the video is “There’s nothing in the plot that’s going to shock you or make you think about the human condition.” They said that people making the show seem dark were missing the point of the show. That’s pretty much it I think which isn’t too bad but it does not give the show credit for how they handle a lot of stuff imo

Okay so, watching s1 of the show? I totally understand the "saturday morning cartoon" perspective of LMK. That's what it is at the beginning—I have a half written meta in my drafts about LMK and "saturday morning cartoon" type tropes.

However, I also argue that s2 begings to deconstruct those tropes—take for example 2x05 "Minor Scale". That's an episode with what I would consider to be a tropey plot: "Oh no! The main character gets shrunk!". But, unlike a lot of previous episodes (like 1x06 being the "racing episode" or 1x02 being the "Main character is overworked and turns to a sketchy solution to fix their problem" episode), Minor Scale shifts us away from these monster of the week type plots. The whole reason MK shrinks to begin with is because he's belittling himself ("Maybe if someone was here to teach me! 'Oh you'll figure it out bud, just think little!' Ugh, like I could do this on my own."), which in itself is already a unique way to implement this sort of trope. But, not only that, rather than a little tease and a subtle feeling of the heroes continually losing like in the beginning of s2, the Lady Bone Demon reveals herself directly to MK. She manipulates MK, she gets inside his head, she makes him question his worth to Monkey King.

This pattern of "everything starts out normal and then dips into something darker" continues for the rest of s2. 2x07-2x10 all start out like you would expect—monster of the week "saturday morning cartoon" adventure set ups—that then take a turn for the worse during the episode.

Like, don't get me wrong, s2 isn't like s3, and I'd say it takes until s4 for LMK to truly deliver on everything it's set up, but s2 still has plenty. Minor Scale (STRAIGHT fate vs freewill directly into the veins with MK literally running away from the narrative), Macaque's shadow play ("Heroes inevitably bring darkness to those they hold dear" *sobs* THEY WEREN'T LYING ABOUT THAT), Sandy's sincere belief that helping his friends is where his true value lies (yet he breaks his vow to never fight again), MK's desperation in 2x09, LBD's inevitable victory.

Honestly, watching the way in which MK's mental illness manifests in the first 2 seasons makes even s1 of LMK unique. I remember watching Bad Weather (1x01) and being surprised that MK was so down on himself after the "I'm invincible!!!" facade fell.

But, ultimately, LMK starting with "saturday morning cartoon" tropes and then slowly transitioning into the darker and more plot focused episodes is completely on purpose. The start of the show, the "monster of the week adventures", is the home MK wishes, but cannot, return to. That simplicity and innocence turning to complexity and impiety is part of MK's "coming of age" story, and it's why I like the show.

#''people making the show seem dark were missing the point'' girly no they weren't that was the direction it was heading #''Maybe this is the point in our heroes journey where things get a little bit darker'' thank you 4x01 #smh the spider queen and MK foil must mean nothing to lily orchard #though honestly I feel like 1x09 should have made a few alarm bells ring #Like *beep beep beep* THAT'S WAY TOO SOLID OF AN EPISODE #I forgot to mention ROTSQ but comeee ON the trigram furnace scene fucks.#I think lily over there does a little bit of a disservice to s2. But I also don't really care that much lol #I just wanted to rant about LMK and tropes #lmk #lego monkie kid #story motif #lmk MK #lmk analysis #asks

20 notes · View notes

clumsiestgiantess · 4 months

Text

It’s story time once again! I can finally release this AU for the other-world universe, the Roommates AU!

This time, Alexis and Erica live in the same world — the same apartment! They're even the same size! But not for long…

————— Alexis POV —————

Erica had told me she was finally breaking up with John at least three or four days ago, so why did I find him in our apartment, rummaging around though our stuff like he’d lost something? I’d just come home from work to find Erica’s supposed ex-boyfriend in our living room. Stranger still, Erica herself was nowhere to be seen. She wouldn’t leave him alone here — not in a million years.

"What are you doing?" I asked him demandingly. John shot up from the floor in surprise, nearly slamming his head on the coffee table he’d been looking under. What could he possibly be searching for? Something to blackmail Erica with again? I told her to cut him off the last time he’d pulled some stupid shit like that. Or maybe.. had Erica stolen something of his to get revenge? I have to admit, that is something she would do.

"I left one of my uh.. things in here," he responded absentmindedly, gaze still sweeping the floor. "Your fucking bitch of a roommate just left me out of the blue, and won’t let me even see her anymore, so I'm trying to get it back." I glared at John as he returned to his search. I know she’s far from the best, but Erica still seems like a pretty decent person to me.

"Did you break in? How did you get in here?" I pressed. He shrugged, distracted. "I have a spare key." Indeed he did. It was sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Stepping further into my apartment, I snatched it up and stormed back over to the door. "Alright, enough searching. Whatever Erica stole from you I'll make her give it back. But you need to get out now." John huffed, "I'm not leaving until I find it!" "Yes, you are," I shot back, "Or I'm calling the cops." This muffed him a bit. He slowly stood up and gave me a nasty look as he slid out the door. "Fine. She's stuck like that anyways," John grumbled, "Have fun dealing with Erica. She's your problem now." He slunk off down the hall, disappearing into the elevator.

Once he was gone, I let out a breath of relief. I've never met John before — Erica had only told me stories — but he was one sketchy dude. Who knows how Erica had even fallen for him in the first place.

After bolting the door up tight, I sighed and put down my things. Erica isn’t home; I'm guessing she's off somewhere where she knows she can avoid John entirely. I ordered takeout for dinner and ate in my room. With midterms coming up, I have a lot of work to do. Most likely, I'll be staying up all night to get everything done. I drowned out the rest of the world for a while and got down to business, besides a few breaks in between.

However, when I finally decided to call it quits for the night, I realized it was two o'clock in the morning. Double-checking the living room and Erica's room, I found that she hadn't come back yet. Where is she? Hopefully John hadn't found her. Something about his attitude suggested that he wouldn't be too understanding towards her if he did. There was a soft early morning silence settling over everything, growing more empty as I sat in the living room in thought. I was in the middle of an internal debate on whether I should go out and look for my missing roommate, when I heard a small noise break the silence.

For a while I convinced myself it was the AC or something similar, but as I strained my ears to listen, I realized the noise sounded like soft crying. I stood in shock and the noise ceased. It sounded like it was coming from behind the cabinet and the TV. Maybe it was someone in the neighboring apartment. Stepping forward quietly, I put one ear to the wall and listened intently. No matter how I strained my ears to listen, the sound was gone. My gaze fell downward in defeat — eyes tiredly glazing right over the thing lying on the floor. I was halfway down the hall, getting ready to just call it a night and go to bed, when my brain finally seemed to process what I saw.

I gasped, racing back over to the cabinet. There, in the small space between the television stand and the floor, was a glue trap. Something fairly large was stuck on it, lying down, most likely dead. "What the hell is that?" I whispered, pushing back the stand slightly.

At my movements, the creature in the trap thrashed about, causing me to flinch backwards. Oh hell no. I'm not dealing with a giant rat. I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed an empty moving box and some rubber cleaning gloves. Inching carefully towards the trap, I picked it up at the very edge of the corner and quickly threw it into the box, slamming the top shut. "Ha! Gotcha!" I shouted, relieved I hadn't accidently freed the awful creature. At the same time, a shriek rang out from the box. Wow, who knew rats could scream like that?

I held the top tightly closed, slipped on my sandals, and headed outside. Taking the fire exit, which has no alarm, I stepped into the lot behind the apartment complex and quickly tossed the trap outside. I'd almost retreated back through the door before I heard a desperate cry that stopped me dead in my tracks. "Wait! Please! It's me! It's Erica! Don't throw me out! Come back!" I whirled around in the doorway. Why did she sound so far away? "Erica?" I called, "Is that you? Where.. are you?" "Yes! Yes, it's me! I'm right here! I'm in the glue trap!"

She's.. what? Slowly, I stepped over to the trap, which had landed rightside up on the pavement. Upon closer inspection, the thing I'd thought was a rat at a distance in the early morning darkness seemed to be something else entirely. I knelt in front of the glue trap, staring down in awe at the tiny form of my roommate stuck sideways to the trap's surface. A knot formed in my stomach as I slowly lifted it to see her. Erica lay looking fearfully up at me, struggling slightly in the glue that stuck fast to everything that touched the piece of plastic.

"Woah," I breathed, "You.. You're tiny!" Erica whimpered, "Please. I don't know what happened to me, but I'm realy fucking scared. I'm begging you, don't leave me out here!" "A- Alright." I could barely get that single word out, that’s how shocked and utterly confused I was. Keeping the plastic plate as balanced as I could, I stood up and made my way back to our apartment in stunned silence. Once I was inside, I placed the trap on top of the kitchen counter beside the sink.

What should I do with her? I guess the first thing would be to get her out of all that glue, I answered myself. Turning on the sink, I grabbed a hand soap dispenser and picked up the trap. I didn’t have anything else to free her with, so water and soap would have to do. Erica yelped in surprise as she was drenched in water from the kitchen sink. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" she cried indignantly. "I'm.. getting you out of there," I replied, brain working in slow motion. "Now hold still."

Lathering my hands with soap, I began scrubbing around the edges of Erica's tiny body. She dealt with it for the most part, but once I started working near her head, she panicked. I watched dumbfounded as Erica thrashed in the trap. I guess I could've been a bit more considerate, but I was too mesmerized by a person so small that I didn't think twice about it.

After repeatedly dousing her in soap and water, I finally managed to peel Erica's squirming form off the plastic board. She slid around in the soapy palm of my hand, trying to get out. I tried to tighten my grip on her, but my hands were too slippery. Erica fell out with a yelp into the half-full sink below. The basin must be pool-size to her. A few seconds passed and Erica had yet to come up for air. That's when my brain finally caught up with the situation at hand, and I remembered a cheezy get-to-know-you game our friends made us play when we first moved in together. One fact about Erica: she can't swim.

Immediately I reached into the sink, feeling around for her small body. My brain had switched from half-dead to overreactive in less than a second. Moments later, my fingers brushed something warm and I hoisted it out. I held Erica fearfully; she wasn't moving. I was terrifyingly close to trying to perform CPR when she suddenly sprung back to life. Erica coughed up water all over my hand, but I could care less so long as she was alive. Slowly, she lifted her head to look up at me, wet hair plastered to the sides of her head, eyes wide with terror.

"Don't kill me," she said weakly, shifting backwards in my hand. "What?" I asked, confused. "I'm not going to kill you. Why would I do that?" "I don't know!" she cried, "Why are you trying to kill me? I-" She paused to cough up a bit more water and I cringed. "Aren't I your friend? Is John making you do this to me? To torture me?" My mouth dropped slack. 'She's stuck like that anyways. Have fun dealing with Erica. She's your problem now.' John did this to her? How!? Why!? Oh my god, she was what he was looking for on the floor! What was he planning to do to her? Shrink her down and kidnap her? Keep her like some kind of pet? I shuddered, relieved Erica had managed to get away from him. Thankfully I'd gotten home a bit early. If I hadn't stopped him, he might have snuck away with her in his pocket and I never would've known.

Slowly, I lowered Erica down to the counter. Her pathetic wet form inched backwards away from me as far as she dared, stopping a ways before the sheer drop of the opposite edge of it. "I'm so sorry, Erica. I- I forgot you couldn't swim. I swear I'm not trying to kill you or hurt you or take advantage of you. I just wanted to get you out of that trap, but I think I was too stunned. It was like my brain was on autopilot. I just couldn’t process.. this."

I paused, waiting for her to say something, but she didn't. "Erica, what happened to you? Did John do this somehow?" My tiny roommate started shaking, tears rolled down her face. She began to say something, but only a sob came from her mouth. I watched sympathetically as she balled up on the counter, crying into her arms. I let her be for a while, not wanting to upset her any further.

The whole time she sobbed, I sat heavily on the couch in the connected living room, anxiously hoping I hadn’t frightened Erica too horribly. As soon as she finished sobbing, I handed her a small piece of tissue. Erica flinched away from me before noticing what I had and snatched it from my fingers.

Once she calmed down a bit, I pulled up a chair in front of the counter. "Are you alright?" "N- no. But I guess I could be worse." I nodded, thinking back to everything she must've been through. Erica had to run and hide from her ex at a fraction of her size, got caught in a glue trap, I'd come and nearly left her outside, and now she'd almost drowned in the sink because of me. Of course she’s scared of me.

"Erica." She flinched and looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes. "I meant what I said earlier. I won't hurt you. We are still friends, I promise." "John shrank me," she whimpered. "I know, Erica. It's alright. You'll be safe with me." "But this won't last forever, right? There has to be some way to lift this curse!" John's parting words played through my head yet again. She's stuck like that anyways. "Yeah, I'm sure there's some magic-y thing we can do to reverse it," I said optimistically. “He got you this way, so we can probably undo it the same way.” "What happens until then?" "I guess you'll have to stay in the apartment until you either grow back, or we find a way to lift the curse."

The room was dead silent for the longest time. I almost fell asleep in my chair before Erica finally spoke again. "I'm scared." Tears crept at the edges of her voice. "I don't want to be small forever." "You won't be," I assured her. Hesitantly, I lifted a hand towards her. She stared warily at it, then me, but didn’t say anything. I moved forward, letting the side of my hand rest on the counter beside her. In small careful movements, I curled her little tucked-up body against my palm with my fingers. I wanted to hug her, but that was the closest thing I could offer. Her breath hitched with sobs, but she leaned heavily against me, clinging to my palm.

After several long moments, Erica’s stomach growled hungrily, and I realized that she hadn't eaten dinner. I ate my meal alone in my room earlier; Erica had already been shrunk for about an hour by then. Scared, small, starving.. poor thing. But she’s not just a ‘thing’, she’s my roommate — my friend. It was insane to think about. Erica, normally so strong and fearless, was suddenly a cowering mess with the removal of five feet of her height. Though I guess I would be too in that situation. “Here, I’ll get you something to eat,” I offered, gently sliding my hand away from her. “What do you want for dinner?”

Erica smiled slightly, grateful that despite everything, I still tried to treat her like nothing had changed. I’d saved some leftovers from my meal for breakfast tomorrow, so I took them back out of the fridge and warmed it back up. Her meal consisted of exactly four noodles and a small piece of chicken, yet she still hadn’t finished it. Something about her tiny little bites of food made me smile. It was so damn cute. While she ate, Erica suddenly looked up and squinted at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I quickly turned away, “I- No reason.” She chuckled, finishing up her meal while I stepped away to get ready for bed. Once I came back, I found Erica pacing back and forth on the counter. “Is something wrong?" I asked worriedly, "Well, other than the obvious?” “I can’t even get down from the counter, how am I going to get all the way to my bed?” “I could take you there,” I offered, holding out my cupped hands on the countertop. She looked them over dubiously. “You’re not going to grab me again, are you? That’s scary, you know. I couldn’t stop you if you tried to hurt me again.” “Erica, I’m not trying to hurt you. I’ll keep my hands perfectly flat the whole time if that makes you feel better.” “Ok,” she said decisively, slowly stepping up to my fingers.

Butterflies flitted through my stomach as Erica’s little form pressed into my hand. Her small weight settled evenly in the center of my palms. She glanced back at me nervously, head tilted all the way up to see me. “Just please don’t drop me,” she begged quietly. I could feel her fingers dig into my skin to steady herself while I carefully walked her through our apartment to her room. I gently placed her down on one of her pillows and pulled a blanket up so she could get beneath it. “Goodnight, Erica,” I called, heading towards the door. “Alexis, wait!” I turned in the doorway, looking back at her tiny body sitting squarely on a single pillow. “Yes?” “I.. umm.. I have to use the bathroom.” My face grew hot. “Oh, I’ll, uh.. I guess I’ll have to take you, huh?” “Yeah..”

I awkwardly came back over to her bedside and let her step up into my hands. We silently crossed the hall to the bathroom, where I stood hesitantly in the doorway. “So.. how are we going to do this?” Erica shifted in my hand. “I.. Well..” she stammered, “I can’t use the toilet.. What if.. I use the sink instead?” I placed her down on the counter and looked her over. Her face was beet red in embarrassment. I tore up a single square of toilet paper and placed it down next to her. “I’ll be outside the door. Call me whenever you’re done and I’ll take you back to bed, alright?”

Erica nodded, turning quickly away from me as she buried her face in her hands. After a few minutes waiting by the bathroom door, I heard Erica yell for me. She was standing at the bottom of the sink when I came in. Again, I offered her my hands and she climbed back on. Putting her back in bed a second time, I bid her goodnight and headed to bed myself. Who knew what tomorrow would bring? At the very least, Erica would be safe.

————— Erica POV —————

All night I tossed and turned in my bed. I just couldn’t get any sleep. Everything was dangerous to me at my new size, and if it wasn’t dangerous, it was embarrassing. I had to be helped to the bathroom and carried around like a little kid! It was fucking humiliating! But it could’ve been so so much worse. I didn’t want to even think about what might’ve happened if John had caught me.

Thankfully my roommate, Alexis, had recognized my voice when she did. It was terrifying to be in her grasp; her fingers could easily bear down on me at any moment to end my life, or just hold me down. You’re friends, I reassured myself, she wouldn’t hurt you. Even so, she almost drowned me, albeit by mistake. I don’t like being so small; it makes me feel awful and vulnerable. I hate that I have to be handled by Alexis all the time, consistently trusting her with my life. However, I would probably be dead without her, so I guess I do trust her with it.

She kicked John out before he could get to me. If he’d looked just a little further past the coffee table to the cabinet where the tv stood, he would’ve found me. A frightened wheeze escaped my throat just thinking about it. It must’ve been something in my drink. The second I downed that shot glass I felt tingly. One minute I was at my own height, the next I was staring up at the couch. As I fled, John threatened me with awful stuff — from caging me up to harming me for every bad thing I said about him, and that was a lot of things.

Even if I’d managed to hide until he gave up — which was super unlikely — I would still be stuck in that glue trap, that I stumbled onto while trying to get away. I hadn’t called out to Alexis earlier because of that. I didn’t know how she’d react if she found me, and I was stuck, unable to run away if things went south. I’ve barely known Alexis for a year. What if she was secretly awful and took advantage of my size? Thankfully she isn’t. She treated me kindly, for the most part, and reassured me that everything would be alright when I broke down in fear. Though she is slightly terrifying from my tiny perspective, I do feel safer with her around.

Nightmarish thoughts filled my head as I lay in the dark. My bed now seemed to stretch on for miles in front of me, vast and open and daunting. By morning, I was exhausted. From my room, I could hear Alexis getting up for the day. It's Saturday, but she still has work. Alexis came in to check on me after a while, stepping softly over to me before realizing I was already awake.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked, sitting on the edge of my bed. I shook my head, "I couldn't." She sighed; her breath sounded like a gale-force wind at my small size. "Alright, I have to go to work soon, but I'll make you some breakfast and leave you on the counter before I go." "You're leaving me here? Alone?" I asked, skeptical. "Well, I can't take you around outside. It's way too risky. Just stay here. The door's locked-" "But John can get in!" I cried, "He has a spare key! He'll kidnap me!" Alexis shook her head and smiled slightly, "He used to have a spare key. Now, I have it right here in my pocket. You'll be fine, Erica." I grumbled at my predicament. Going outside would probably be extremely overwhelming, though. "Ok," I sighed, "I guess I'll stay here."

Just as she said, Alexis made me a microwave waffle for breakfast and left me on the counter beside it. "I'll be back before you know it," she told me on her way out the door. "Yeah right," I muttered, chowing down on the oversized food in front of me. Only a few hours later, I was practically dying of boredom. "Ugh, why didn't I ask Alexis to leave my phone with me before she left?" I hadn't had my phone on me when I shrank, so it would be TV-size compared to me, but it would still be some form of entertainment.

I'll go get it then, I thought to myself, just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm helpless. I peered over the edge of the counter to the floor below me. If I jumped onto the cushion of a bar stool, then I could slide down one of its legs to the floor. This was easier said than done, as it turns out. When I finally worked up the courage to jump down, I hit the cushion with enough force to bounce back off it. I was nearly thrown off the seat entirely.

Falling onto the tile floor from this high up would certainly break a few of my bones, or if I fell in the right spot, it would just flat-out kill me. I decided to be a bit more careful the rest of the way down. Once I got to the floor, I was finally able to look around my apartment without being bombarded by a giant. Er, well, technically I'm just really small and everyone else is normal, but in my perspective, everything was giant. It was fascinating, seeing the apartment at such a massive scale. All of our things suddenly looked a hell of a lot more impressive.

I wandered around the floors, making my way to the living room. My phone was still sitting on the coffee table where I'd left it. Now, how do I get up there? Aha! There was a fake houseplant across from the table, potted in a woven basket that was perfect for climbing. If I could make the jump, then that phone would be mine. I avoided the vent in the floor in front of the plant as I neared it. I'd pulled it open a day ago because I dropped my earring down there, and it was still sitting wide open like a gaping chasm.

Scaling the basket was easy, but the jump suddenly seemed a lot further from the top. Alright, here goes nothing. I took a running leap at the table, but my foot caught in one of the basket's woven loops I'd used to climb up. Jerked backwards by my leg, I screamed as I plummeted down to the floor below.

Fortunately, it was carpeted, so the impact wasn't horribly painful. Unfortunately, I rolled right off the carpet and kept falling. That time I hit the ground hard. I cried out in pain, grasping the arm I'd fallen on. Looking up in terror, I realized where I'd fallen. I was in the vent. Ok, ok, don't panic. When Alexis comes back, you can call her and she'll get you out. Everything'll be fine.

Were there bugs down here? I sincerely hoped there weren't. Time seemed to stretch on even slower than it had when I was waiting on the counter. Why did I have to try some stupid shit like this? I saw the vent right in front of that houseplant. I knew this was here, dammit!

While I mulled in the metal tube beneath the floor, I was startled by a low rumble. Tremors started beneath my feet and I had about a split second to realize what was happening. Oh no, the AC! I was flung backwards by a blast of cold air, trying desperately to hold onto something, but the tube's sides were slick, and I slid backwards in the direction of the wind.

"No! Wait!" I cried out as I was swept away from the opening, "Alexis! Somebody! Help!" The force of the AC bashed me into wall after wall, violently dragging me further away from my only way out. By the time it stopped, I had no clue where I was. Immediately, claustrophobia set in. There was nothing but darkness and metal piping all around me. What's worse, I'm at a cross-section, and I have no idea what direction I'd come from. I let out a cry of despair. "I'm going to starve down here!" I whimpered, "I'm going to die here and not even Alexis will know what happened to me!"

I sat and sobbed until I'd run out of tears. I'm already desperately thirsty, but I have nothing to drink. I'll probably dehydrate before I starve — unless, of course, I find an exit. Solemnly, I picked a direction, and started walking. There were vents through multiple apartments. I could survive if I managed to make it out. At this point, whose apartment doesn't even matter to me.

Exhausted, dirty, and in pain, I wandered aimlessly through the vent, searching for any openings. It was dingy and almost pitch dark in here. It's probably the most scared I've ever been in my life. Actually, second most scared. Being shrunk will likely always be my scariest memory.

It felt like I'd been walking for ages, but I finally, finally, found a grate. I scrambled towards the light in relief. It was a vertical grate, meaning I could walk right through to freedom. I jogged to the opening, throwing myself against the vent cover until it fell off. I lay there panting as I celebrated my escape from the hellish labyrinth I'd been trapped in. "Woah.. What are you?" Huh?

The thunderous sound of footsteps rumbled in my ears. Suddenly, giant fingers gripped my torso and dragged me into the air, where I came face to face with a little girl. She was probably six or seven at the most, but she was still terrifyingly huge.

"Let me go!" I cried the moment I could catch my breath, "I'm a person! Put me down!" The little girl placed me back onto the floor and I scrambled away from her. "Are you sure you're a person?" she asked me confusedly as I tried to get my bearings, "Cuz you kinda look like a doll." I froze, eyes widening in fear. The little girl reached out for me again, but I quickly ducked out of her reach. "Yes! I'm very sure I'm a person. I shrunk. I'm not supposed to be this small." I watched warily as the girl looked at me in fascination. Slowly, her gaze shifted behind me to my right and I followed it. She was staring thoughtfully at a massive dollhouse. Oh fuck this. I ran for the vent, but I was snatched up before I could get there.

"No! No! Let me go! I'm not a doll! LET ME GO!" I gasped in pain as the little girl's grip tightened on me, crushing into my already bruised ribs. Alexis had grabbed me before, but I hadn't realized how gentle she'd been. I felt like my lungs were on fire; I couldn't even breathe! An agonizing few seconds passed before I was dropped into the dollhouse. It was horrifying how quickly a sweet little girl suddenly became my jailer. I glared at her, seething as she placed more dolls beside me.

"LET ME GO RIGHT NOW YOU PINT SIZED LITTLE SHIT! I TOLD YOU I'M A PERSON! A PERSON, YOU HEAR ME!? YOU BETTER LET ME GO RIGHT NOW OR I'LL-" My rant was interrupted by someone at the door. A guy about my age, maybe a bit younger, stepped in looking slightly confused. "Kate, what's going on in here?" Before I could so much as think about calling for help, the little girl, Kate, grabbed me tightly. Her thumb pressed over my mouth, stopping any attempt for me to speak.

"Nothing, Ivan! I'm just playing with my dolls” she replied sweetly. I desperately thrashed about, trying to break out of Kate's grasp, but I was well-hidden behind her back. If I could just get my mouth free, I could call out to that guy for help. He's definitely old enough to realize I'm not some toy. However, as I tried to wriggle free, Kate's grip tightened again. I let out a muffled scream of pain as my head was slowly crushed from the sides. My vision started getting spotty with dark patches.

"Huh, I thought I heard someone yelling," Ivan remarked. Yes! You did! I'm right here! Please see me! To my dismay, he shrugged and turned to leave. I had to get out, but Kate still had a vice-like grip on my skull, and she wasn't letting up. If I stayed here much longer, I feared my head would quite literally burst. Yanking my jaws open beneath her skin, I bit down as hard as I could. Kate let out a scream and I was immediately released.

I gasped in pain and my head throbbed, making my vision blur in hazy doubles. "I knew something was going on in here!" Ivan had returned. "Kate, what are you-" His voice fell short; he must've seen me crawling my way to the vent. "What is that thing!? Did it bite you? Katie, you can't hold wild animals, you could get sick if they bite you!" No, not again. This is the second time now that I've been mistaken for a weird animal. Pushing myself onward, I scrambled back into the vent, flinching as something slammed into the floor a few inches away from me.

"Get back here!" I heard Ivan yell, almost sounding desperate. I turned to find him getting on his hands and knees. He can still reach me here! I have to get deeper! With all the strength I had left, I dragged myself further into the vent. "Wait.. what the..?" I tilted my head just slightly to catch Ivan's stunned reaction. He must've finally realized that I wasn't a feral rat. "Hold on, come back! You.. you're a person!" his arm shot into the vent after me. I shrieked, terrified of being grabbed agian, and threw myself around a corner in the ventilation.

"Wait!" I heard Ivan call, "I can help you! Come back!" No, no, no, no, and no. I'm getting the hell out of here while I still can. I kept going until I couldn't hear the guy calling for me anymore. Again, I felt as though I were going to die here. This time I might just die of my injuries. My head felt like it was split wide open, and my lungs still burned painfully. Alexis should be home by now, I realized with a pang of sorrow. She's probably searching all over our apartment for me right now. I silently begged her to come find me, but I knew it was impossible for her to reach me here, even if she did miraculously know where I was. To add insult to injury, the AC came back on, and at this point I was too exhausted to try and fight it. I curled up as tightly as I could without too much pain from my ribs, and let myself be dragged around the vents again.

When the wind subsided, I slowly pulled myself up to find that the tube was backlit by sunlight. I turned to find that I'd been thrown into another vertical grate. By this time, I was desperate and a little delirious. I fought my way into another apartment. It was much more modern and blissfully quiet. Whoever lives here must be still at work, thank god.

I trudged over to the kitchen; I needed food and water badly. Maybe if I was lucky, I might find some crumbs on the floor. I laughed in my delirium, "Maybe I am a feral rat after all!" I could barely see straight, but somehow I managed to find a pool of water close to the floor. My muscles gave out and I let myself fall in. It wasn't deep enough for me to drown, so I sat back and started drinking. I gulped as much water as I could, gasping and choking on it as I went. Once I was full, I collapsed in the shallow water.

It took me some time to recover, but when I did, rational thoughts came back to me. Wait.. where the hell am I? I sat up slowly, rubbing the water from my eyes only to freeze as my heart nearly flew out of my chest. I was sitting in a water bowl for a pet. Said pet was sitting in front of me, gazing curiously at me with round, dilated pupils. A cat. Well, I'm dead. It didn't make a move for me, not even as I slowly stood up to run. Was it possible for me to outrun a cat at this size? I guess I'm about to find out.

At once I made a mad dash for the edge of the water bowl. However, I hadn't accounted for the friction of the knee-deep water I stood in. Jaws clamped around me faster than I expected. I screamed and thrashed in a pathetic attempt to survive whatever awful fate awaited me. The cat held me tight, trotting to the center of the kitchen with my sad tiny form hanging from its mouth. It lay down, dropping me on the floor before pinning me down with its giant paws.

This is it. This is how I die. Sharp thin teeth the size of my forearm gleamed in the fluorescent light as the cat opened its jaws wide. Then it started tearing at me. I braced myself, expecting my flesh to be torn off my body in sickening shreds, but the stupid animal wanted to toy with me. It yanked away small pieces of my clothing, bit by bit. Sometimes it cut into my skin, but most of the gashes yanked away shreds of fabric. I silently awaited the moment when I would run out of material between its incisors and my skin. My body started tingling all over, muscles shaking and quivering. Was I having a spasm? Maybe I'd be spared a brutal live mauling and just have a heart attack instead. Suddenly, the cat was no longer above me. It yowled and darted away in a panic, claws scrambling on the wooden floor.

All I did was lay and breathe. I couldn't do much else. Nothing more happened to me, but I still fought to stay conscious nonetheless. Eventually, I had the courage to sit up. The kitchen counter was only a few inches or so above my head. The wood planks below me were thinner than my hands. Ecstatic joy swelled through me and I cried in relief. I had grown back. Exactly twenty-four death-defying, nightmare-esque hours after I'd shrunk, I grew back. I sat there simply enjoying my old height and the fact that I didn't have to fight for my life every waking second. I stood up and gazed dazedly around the strange apartment. It suddenly looked so much smaller. The cat was nowhere to be seen. I would've hunted it down and strangled it had I not remembered my roomate, desperately searching for me back home.

In a moment, I was out the door. I checked the numbers on the doors in the hall and realized that I was on the floor below our apartment. Not even bothering to wait for an elevator, I dashed up the stairs and tore down the hall, stopping heavily at my door. I didn't have the keys to get in, but it didn't matter. "Alexis! Alexis, it's me! I-" The door was thrown open seconds later, and a disheveled Alexis stood in the middle of the doorway, eyes wide. She sobbed in relief and threw her arms around me, trapping me in a fierce hug. I sucked in a pained breath of air and she drew backwards in alarm. "Erica! What happened to you!? You- You're hurt! Your clothes are all torn up and you're filthy! Where were you? What happened?" I started sobbing, and Alexis had to guide me to the couch inside.

I tried to explain everything that had happened between a few relieved sobbs while shoving as much food as I could into my mouth. Alexis had to forcefully stop me at some point, warning me that I would vomit if I ate any more. Joke's on her though, I already feel like vomiting. At the end of my horrible story, Alexis got up off the floor where she'd bandaged the cuts on my arms and legs from being dragged through the vents. Careful not to jostle any of my numerous ice packs, for all the bruises, she slid onto the couch beside me. I slowly lay down, resting my head on Alexis' lap. She held me close, and I clung to her in a half-hug. Murmuring a quiet 'thank you', I drifted off to sleep knowing that I was safe at last.

#Cameos galore in this one #Which is why I had to hold off on it #Bonus points if anyone can figure out the cannon character’s apartment that was at the end #(Because I haven’t officially introduced them yet in the main story)#g/t #giant/tiny #other-world universe

8 notes · View notes

stackthedeck · 1 year

Note

I haven't read any of his comics, what did Zeb Wells do?

so i'll be real with I haven't been keeping up with this run, I read the first couple of issues and was like fuck this is ass and decided to wait till the next writer (which is kinda a shame because Wells has written some good stuff in the past) so I've just been picking up the details from mutuals but I pirated the latest issue and god it's worse than I thought (oh shit this got long, rant under the cut)

so Peter and MJ are trapped in an apocalyptic dimension with this dude Paul because sci-fi bullshit, Peter gets sent back and MJ and Paul are trapped there with no other human beings. Peter proceeds to make enemies of the fantastic four and Captain America because he won't say the words "my girlfriend is trapped in an another dimension and I have to save her" but he does say that to Norman fucking Osborn (I don't care that he's "good" now I still can't stand him he's still a manipulative asshole). He gets back to MJ and finds out that more time has passed for her and she's got kids with Paul now.

Listen, Marvel Editorial has been character assassinating Peter Parker for years, I've given up on Peter centered comics past OMD but I'm just so fucking over the way they treat MJ nowadays! And everyone is framing it as "Peter got cucked by Paul" when it should be "MJ was trapped with one man for years in a hellscape and are we sure that she had a choice here?? Are we going to unpack her trauma??" No because it's always about fucking Peter!!

I get it, Marvel editorial wants MJ and Peter separated so Peter can date someone else, fine I'm good with that. But it shows such a flagrant disregard for MJ's humanity that the only way they can imagine doing that is by essentially locking her in a closet with another man. Who the fuck is this Paul guy and why is he entitled to MJ?! She's exposed to all of humanity again and she's like nah hell dimension husband. Like this is literally what Kang did to Captain Marvel like fuck and I understand that Paul isn't a bad actor here but this is so sketchy. If you want a jaded MJ that's been through hell and back in the apocalypse cool we did that in the 80s and it was so much better. MJ is a capable full character that isn't just a hole to be fucked goddamn!!

I'm sick of Peter and MJ being broken up by sci-fi bullshit, MJ has so many fucking reasons to leave his ass, but the fact that their relationship has to end every time through external forces is 1. lazy writing and 2. shows a disregard for MJ's agency in the story. Before one more day when Peter was on the Avengers and they were married and MJ was surrounded by heroes, she was at one of her lowest points emotionally, she felt isolated and overwhelmed and she felt so powerless. This was causing obvious strain on their relationship, if they wanted to break them up, MJ could have said "I can't live like this anymore, I'm not asking you to change, but I'm not cut out for this." but no it was the literal fucking devil!! And I know that Marvel knows that this could have happened because they did it in Life Story!!! Hey remember Judgement Day, where Peter's ultimate reward for being a hero was seeing his high school girlfriend again, not I don't know, getting his children back from the dead?? Yeah, what the fuck did MJ think about that! I want to see MJ lash out at Peter for that if there was ever a time to pull out the "I'm tired of feeling like the runner up to the perfect ghost of Gwen Stacy!" then was the time!!!

they can character assassinate Peter all they want, Miles is the better Spider-Man with the better stories and what I've been reading instead of the new run, but there is no other Mary Jane. Fans already discount the entire era of their marriage because of omd and fans and writers alike boil her down to the slutty party girl so her "cucking" Peter is only going to make it worse and I know she's going to be written out of Spider-Man comics or if she is there she's going to a cardboard cut out of her character. I miss when they were friends, but these writers can't imagine a woman and a man being friends without thinking the woman just wants to sleep with him. I'm fucking sick of the misogyny of the comics industry

#asks #i'm going to start biting people #stop reducing this run to ship discourse #it's not about ship discourse #mj is a full character outside of peter #she's not his fucking dick sleeve goddamn #i hope they kill peter parker off for just like a year #also fuck paul and fuck everyone jokingly stanning him #stop it this is obviously misogyny

36 notes · View notes

randombook4idk · 11 months

Text

rewatching rwby, and got to the part where it's revealed that Oz gave Qrow and Raven the ability to turn into birds and watching the team react negativly to it feels sort of forced.

i don't have a problem with them be shocked and questioning Oz about it (for example. Yang saying "why would you do something like that?!"), because it seems reasonable reaction.

But my problem is that in my opinion, rather than making it a big deal out of Qrow and Raven being able to turn into birds, they should have had the team be more suspicious of Oz's reason for giving Qrow and Raven the ability in the first place.

yes, if i learned someone can turn into a bird, i would too be surprised, but i wouldn't be all like "how could you, you monster! This is terrible>:("

with how Yang reacts, outright saying "how could you do something like this?!" it makes the ability sound more like a undying curse than what it really is.

after Oz tells his motives to them, why not have the team press on and keep questioning him?

i liked that Ruby asked if Oz had done this before and after hearing that no, he hasn't, the writers could have used this for Yang (the more being distrustful at the moment) or the team to then become more distrustful of him, because why would he would he decide to ask something like this to his own students who weren't much aware of Salem and all that stuff before, rather than some ally?

why Qrow and Raven of all people? does it have to do with them coming from the Branwen tribe? did Oz chose to ask them because he saw that he could use them for his plans?

did Qrow and Raven really made the choice to accept the ability or did Oz made them feel like they were the ones making the decision, by guilt tripping or pressuring them?

Qrow sees Oz in a positive light, while Raven sees him in a negative one.

could Qrow's defending of Oz and repeating over and over that it was his choice, has to do with his relationship with Oz? Did Oz make Qrow feel welcomed and loved despite his semblance and that's why Qrow was willing to accept Oz request to be turned into a bird and put his life in danger by gathering infor on Salem and searching for maidens?

could the way Raven talks about Oz do with her not trusting him for ages and her refusing to see that she may be wrong about him?

Why not show a flashback of it happening? Y'know what? Why not show two flashbacks - one from Raven's POV and the other from Qrow's POV?

Seeing eachs POV, we could then see the others view of the incident.

With Qrow's we would see why he accepted the ability and why he trusts Oz and it would make us doubt Raven's statements from the previous episode.

But with Raven's POV we could truly understand why she doesnt trust Oz and then we would start doubting Qrow's memory.

Maybe even show Oz's POV. This could show things what the twins didnt know, which them would makes us doubt Raven's distrust, because she didnt have the whole picture. Maybe, actually do agree with some of Raven's reasons not to trust the guy by showing the sketchy side of him.

Maybe make parallels between Oz aksing Pyrrha to become the Fall Maiden with him asking the twins to agree to the ability and to use to work for him.

if they wanted to paint Oz as this gray area guy, who you can't really trust, why not show it to, instead of having Raven talk on and on how Oz is this distrustful, manipulative person, only to learn that...*checks notes* he gave the twins a choice to turn into...birds...with no negative side affects...and they agreed

upon rewatch, Oz did seem sketchy when he told Pyrrha about the Maidens and i liked that, because I felt like despite being the one of the Good Guys, I still felt I couldn't fully trust him and it ends up disappointing how in Vol 5 it's hyped up by Raven how Oz isnt what he seems who did something horrible to her and Qrow, only in the next second to reveal...she can turn into a bird at will :/

#rwde #?#rwby critical #rwby criticism #i hope this makes sense

36 notes · View notes

propheticpotato42 · 2 years

Text

At some point after the JL is really established Battinson!Bruce just starts bringing Selina with him to meetings. Like why should anyone else care all of the crimes she commits are his problem of anyones. And it’s not like she’s paying attention she doesn’t care, she’s just there for the free food(also she likes spending time with Bruce but can’t admit that). And yes they are holding hands under the table it calms Bruce down let them be. And no he didn’t discuss this with anyone she just started coming along, and no one could stop him or really wanted to.

The different reactions are great:

Clark is concerned because she is a criminal but he does trust Bruce. And Clark doesn’t understand their relationship and isn’t sure he wants to.

Diana is supportive of it. She noticed that Bruce is less anxious when Selina is there and they both seem to be happy so she approves. Also Diana low key approves of the stuff Selina does.

Oliver is proud of his bro, the two have known each other for a while and he’s happy that Bruce is with someone who he likes. And yes the relationship isn’t normal or particularly functional but those aren’t things that matter to Ollie it’s all about the love to him.

Arthur wasn’t paying attention and just assumed she’s a new member. They haven’t talked much but he did give her some home baked cookies as a “Welcome to the team” present like he does for every new member.

John Jonas(I don’t know how to correctly spell it sorry) thinks this is an awful idea but really doesn’t want to fight Bruce on this.

Hal may have objected but is more just perplexed by how Bruce managed to get with Selina.

Barry completely understands how that relationship happened and trusts Bruce’s judgement, also it’s his problem if something goes wrong.

Dinah already knew Selina from back in the day when she did security for some sketchy guys and knows that she isn’t a threat, also she likes Selina.

Billy Batson thinks that Selina is cool, and thinks that it’s cool-if like a little gross-that Batman has a girlfriend.

231 notes · View notes

maya-matlin · 1 month

Note

What are your top 3 least favorite episodes from each Next Class season & why?

Ooh, least favorites. Okay.

Next Class season 1:

1.) #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin: This episode pisses me off. It's not just that Zig cheated on Maya. I still think it was a somewhat lazy writing choice that simplified what was going on with Zig and the tension between Zig and Maya, but in terms of what was actually happening during this episode I sadly bought that Zig would make the decision he did in a vulnerable moment. For me, the biggest issue was the Zoe/Grace arc. All these years later, I still can't rationalize why the show felt the need to write Grace as straight and make the entirety of the fallout Zoe's fault. Experimenting plots are fine. Questioning your sexuality only to realize you're cis/straight plots are fine. The problem is, none of that was told from Grace's perspective. Everything about Grace during the first season of Next Class was kind of shrouded in mystery with everything she said or did implying she liked girls and reciprocated Zoe's feelings. The show went as far as allowing Zoe and Grace to have sex only to have Grace come out as straight less than five minutes later all to facilitate a bullshit plot twist to break up Next Class's main straight couple. It felt really condescending and like the writers were almost lecturing the fans as well for making assumptions when the writing, editing, directing and acting was all intentionally done the way it was to lure everyone into believing they were getting lesbian representation in a pretty cruel way. In universe, I'm still not sure why Zoe of all people needed to learn that lesson when Grace refused to use her big girl words to tell her otherwise. Then obviously, there's the mess with Zig and Zoe. It was never confirmed that they slept together and outside stuff from the crew suggests they only made out, but it was definitely implied something sexual went down in the actual episodes. As a biased Zaya fan, obviously I'd like whatever they did to be anything else. But also, Degrassi repeatedly wrote sketchy sexual encounters that unintentionally skirted the line of how consent is supposed to work so I really don't want to have to work through "Zig only slept with Zoe because he was unaware she was making a sex tape of their underaged selves" on top of everything else. Needless to say, I can't be objective about this episode. The acting was strong and the Miles story line was good, but those aspects couldn't make up for such a frustrating episode. For all these reasons it will probably always be my least favorite Next Class episode, period.

2.) #BootyCall: In my opinion, this wasn't a great series or season premiere. It did an okay job reintroducing the characters to viewers who hadn't watched TNG or the recent seasons prior to the show's cancellation, but the tone always detracts from the episode for me. I can't explain it. I know Next Class is considered the weakest Degrassi show, but even beyond that something didn't translate well. it felt like a hard reset and not in the best way. In terms of writing things I didn't love, this was the beginning of Tristan's frequent biphobia that the writers never seemed to find problematic. Zig's suddenly bad at guitar. It's almost funny now.

3.) #SorryNotSorry: Hunter is literally an attempted school shooter who made an actual hit list involving multiple main characters, some of which were his own friends and a girl he'd already emotionally tortured for weeks. Somehow, the entire episode ends with Hunter crying prettily into the camera and being embraced by Miles. I understand Degrassi aims to make us empathize with all the characters and wants us to understand why they do what they do regardless of whether or not we like them. But at the same time, I'm so sick of sympathetic school shooter narratives. This is a perfect example of one thing I hate about later Degrassi. Hunter gets away with all of this rather than be held accountable. The school never knew Hunter actually had a gun and he returns to the school the next year like it's nothing. He's allowed to form another group with the friends he sent rape threats with the previous year as though nothing happened. Maya doesn't even get a proper apology from Hunter, and she helps that trashy group multiple times! I know I'm focusing a lot of the aftermath, but this was the beginning of that shift. Otherwise, Frankie starts dating Jonah and Zig keeps doing the "maybe he actually understands he was trash for cheating on Maya, maybe he doesn't" dance. I just feel terrible for Maya in all this.

Next Class season 2 (I'll have to do the rest of these from memory because I recently rewatched season 1 but have yet to get to seasons 2-4):

1.) #ToMyFutureSelf: I don't think I thought this episode was bad. I think it was just kind of underwhelming? Small things bugged me, but the plots weren't terrible. Lola was insufferable in this one. Five minutes after being educated about institutionalized racism, she lectures and shames Shay for considering sending an apology letter for taking part in the protest. Even Tiny understood. It's just one reason I'll never be a fan of this friendship. I barely feel like Shay and Lola like or respect each other. This was also the awkward plot where Maya had a thing for Peter of all people and was rubbing up against him on stage. Gross. Craig and Sav were right there and presumably single. Definitely one of the cruelest things the writers ever did to Maya.

2.) #TheseAreMyConfessions: I don't even know who Grace is during this episode. For some reason, she really wants to go on a summer road trip with Zig and is trying to become his girlfriend without having a proper conversation with either Maya or Zig about it, telling both of them things like "I think Zig's ready to move on" with it being clear that Maya assumes it will be with Esme because she actually knows him while Zig is told Maya's cool with a Zig/Grace coupling when she has no idea any of this shit is happening. I still remember watching this episode for the first time at like 5:00 AM over a stream from Australia because they were randomly airing this season first with my jaw dropped in disbelief. Grace finally got an A plot after all the bullshit and confusion and that's what she was given.

3.) #SquadGoals: Mostly, I just like the other episodes from this season better. I think it was a better season premiere than #BootyCall, but the plots mostly didn't keep me engaged. The aftermath of Zaya's breakup with Zig showing up at Maya's window was bittersweet knowing things between them were still pretty thoroughly broken and that there was zero chance of anything improving without time and distance away from each other. Otherwise, it's a pretty Hollingsworth heavy episode. I hate Hunter, and I cared less and less about Frankie with time. The Triles moment was sweet, though.

Next Class season 3:

1.) #HugeIfTrue: The thing about season 3 is that all of the episodes are good, so there aren't very many writing complaints from me. That might change when I rewatch the season. But out of all ten episodes, I liked this one least. I know it's a fan favorite, but I didn't love any of the story lines. I don't care about the gamers' dick sizes. Frankie and Jonah were never a compelling couple. The Shay/Tiny friction needed and deserved more screen time so that it could be understood where both were coming from. Shay at times didn't accept all of Tiny and it was unclear when that changed for her or if she was projecting due to her own insecurities about sex. Poor Tiny was mostly a peripheral character despite the fact he had loads of potential. And finally, I just don't like Mola. I've never felt the magic or been impressed by Miles's fourth consecutive romance with the only person that understands him. I do love that this is a bottle episode, though. It was well written and executed. It's just not a favorite of mine.

2.) #ThatFeelingWhen: Again, this is a good episode. I just like it less than most of the other season 3 episodes. I still don't like Miles and Lola together, so their part of the episode makes me cringe. But otherwise, Zoe and Rasha getting together was sweet, I liked Frankie beginning to realize relationships bring out the worst in her and (massive unpopular opinion) I was glad to see Tristan finally wake up.

3.) #PicsOrItDidntHappen: I keep repeating myself, but this was another good episode. Maya's plot was fantastic. I liked the other two plots slightly less. Miles was unnecessarily a dick to Rasha and seriously cast himself in a play that had only three parts. I'm never getting over that. I don't love watching Frankie and Jonah story lines. I'm really stretching to find reasons.

Next Class season 4:

1.) #ILookLikeA: I feel bad when I shit on episodes with really strong Miles plots just because the others are mostly terrible or forgettable in some way. Again, I will never like or care about Hunter. I'm not interested in his reaction to Yael's gender identity journey. I was also indifferent to Goldi and Winston hooking up. Otherwise, Miles's plot was great. I just wish the writers had bothered to touch on Tristan's biphobia because the opportunity was RIGHT THERE to resolve it.

2.) #GetMoney: I feel like the first half of season 4 is slightly weaker than the second half. This is still a good episode. But no plots jump out at me as being great. Saad's is probably the best one, but it's mostly set up for stuff that happens later in the season. Shay's story line didn't grab me as much as I wanted it to, but maybe that will change when I rewatch season 4.

3.) #GetYouAManWhoCanDoBoth: There's nothing wrong with this episode. It's just kind of average considering 405-407 and 409 and 410 are some of Next Class's strongest episodes. I actually like Tristan's story line, but I'll always be disappointed this was all we got of his recovery. His character was put in a coma almost entirely in service of Miles's plot. So as a result, whatever development he has is kind of relegated to this one episode because the writers gave him nothing else. The subplots are pretty good. The Lola/Saad stuff was mostly setup while the aftermath of Shay and Tiny's first time is mostly just there to give Richard Walters an excuse to dance. So, I can't complain.

#Anonymous #Long post

2 notes · View notes