#do they respect you enough to actually want to help you with your goals

[ganymedesclock]

Out of curiosity, any thoughts on the anime Bleach?

I consumed a fairly good chunk of it when I was younger. It's since faded in my passions. I think Rolling Star by Yui is by far my favorite of the openings but a lot of them are very good.

I think the visuals are fairly stylish but it suffers the shonen problem- granted, I think a lot of this is in the format of how long running shonens are produced- of starting out with a bold exciting concept and then sort of petering out in weird directions the longer it goes on. In Bleach's case, I really loved the design and concept of the early hollows, but from the Soul Society arc onward, this entire fascinating afterlife concept boils down to Fashion Sword Boys Fightin' It Out.

Most of my residual fondness for it has me eyeing @gallusrostromegalus's An Elephant Is Warm And Mushy, because it seems to be taking a lot of the later series and injecting that sense of weird monsters and afterlife ramifications back into it.

#Bleach #I actually really liked the intro episode of Don Kanonji #the idea of a 'hoax' TV medium actually having just enough of a foothold in this world to do damage #and then having to realize that and acknowledge his own relationship with it #I think this is why many of the later arcs disappointed; I was most interested in seeing how this world impacted and related to the mundane #similar powerful early episodes to me were the 'haunted cockatiel' and the episode with Orihime's brother #later arcs absolutely have their perks #I actually unironically like the 'king and his horse' speech #even though I think it plays to some limitations of the genre that everything has to be settled by hierarchical power levels and fighting #like I dunno maybe your ~EVIL SIDE~ isn't actually evil as much as someone who has not decided if they want to obey you or not #because why would they #do they respect you enough to actually want to help you with your goals #wouldn't anyone 'act up' in that situation trying to have their own priorities #ALSO ALSO it aggravates me that the closer to main character you get #the more boring your weapon powers get #some of the secondary characters and temporary antagonists and such #have REALLY COOL powers #but Ichigo is like ok. here's my power. it's basically a laser gun #pew pew #sorry Ichigo. you are trying to be main character while that one guy is over there with the executioner's weapon that weighs opponents down #Hanataro's the objectively best character though hands down y'all can fight me #(nobody actually fight me I have zero horses in this race)

[supermoongirl9]

Your 12H is also about what you're scared could make you fail in life tbh so you're avoiding doing it somehow (to your detriment).

ex: Gemini? scared of stagnancy and not having enough time so they never rest (Taurus 12H) but then they exhaust themselves lol bitch, take a nap it's ok.

Aries? Scared of getting lost in their dreams and that their emotions could prevent them from being their best self/people would use it against them so they're trying to act strong all the time (Pisces 12H).

Taurus? Scared of being seen as too bold and insolent for asking for what they want from life so they try to act unbothered when things don't go their way so no scandal happens somehow (Aries 12H).

Cancer? Scared of being seen as inconsistent and acting like changing their mind about something means they were never serious about it in the first place + disappointing themselves and others in the process (Gemini 12H).

Leo? Scared of being seen as too sensitive and fragile so others don't take seriously enough, don't let them do their own things; acting like they don't need to be protected and babied sometimes when it's actually just normal (Cancer 12H).

Virgo? Scared of being seen as too much and somehow selfish for wanting to do their own things/putting work into their projects so they're trying to help others in order to balance that fear; scared of success and the potentiality of failure leading to self-sabotage (Leo 12H).

Libra? Scared of being seen as too obsessed with what they want to accomplish and accused of not treating everyone and everything equally if they show any kind of preference so they have now to say yes to everything others are asking them to do to counter that (Virgo 12H).

Scorpio? Scared of others seeing how much they actually care about others generally speaking so people could use their loved ones to manipulate or hurt them and now they have to act as being alone isn't an issue for them to protect what/who they cherish (Libra 12H).

Sagittarius? Scared of how they could react when crossed and of how much things actually impact them on a deeper level so they're trying to act unbothered and like they know everything has a purpose when it's eating them alive at times (Scorpio 12H).

Capricorn? Scared that they won't ever be knowledgeable enough to master what they need to, of actually never experiencing enough in this life and regretting it but at the same time spending too much time working to even enjoy (Sagittarius 12H).

Aquarius? Scared of being not serious enough to be able to achieve their goals because it means people won't respect them, their work and their possible legacy while at the same time claiming to despise any form of recognition from major institutions/people (Capricorn 12H).

Pisces? Scared of never actually fitting in while being attached to their uniqueness but not knowing how to express it in a way that won't make others reject them for being different which leads to them hiding some parts of themselves, claiming to be misunderstood (Aquarius 12H).

#the 12th house #astrology #random piece of astro knowledge #natal astrology

[fishnapple]

CRYSTAL READING : What kind of people are you attracting into your life ? 🧲🎐🪸🫧

A little explanation of the method I used for reading

Lithomancy : I assigned a meaning for each stone (each stone represents a planet) and cast them on a circle divided into 12 parts, just like an astrology chart and do the reading

Pick a stone :

Reading for each group below :

1. Coral fossil

These people come into your life in a very fast or even quite forceful manner. They would feel random and foreign to you, but you are attracting them exactly because of that.

They will help you open up your mind and bring some changes to your routine and habits.

Talking with them would not be comfortable all the time. Sometimes, you would feel quite exposed or triggered by them. Their manner of communicating with you would be brutally honest and challenging to your ego. Because they would have a big ego too. They would give an image of a stern, serious and quite a coarse person with strong energy. Would be too much and a little in your face.

But through that, they help shedding some light on your deep-seated vulnerability and fears and propel you higher because they genuinely believe that you're capable of much more.

After some time, if you're able to get used to their way of talking with you, you will feel safe enough to open up more, maybe even adopt some of their fearless and authoritative traits. Be more relaxed and flow with them.

At times, they can also be more tender. Their words have deep impacts on you, making you feel more beautiful and more confident in yourself. Their compliments are true words, not laced with hidden motives. They understand what it's like to be vulnerable and wounded, and they've learned to be strong.

You would likely meet them when you are having fun, making something or going about with your daily life. Could be the people that you see regularly, like your colleagues, the people you are collaborating with. They could be foreigners and have different lifestyle from you.

2. Moss agate

You are attracting quite a chaotic energy.

At first, you and them would click with each other very fast. Conversations will be fun and flow effortlessly. These people are quite quirky and moody, like the stereotype of artists. You guys would change subjects a lot while talking, having some random and private jokes that only you can understand.

They can make you feel taken care of with small and considerate gestures.

You would sense or feel that they are spiritual, mysterious, and sometimes lonely. That would be your subjective view. In reality, they may not be actually like that.

But being around them for too long would cause you to feel isolated from the world. They would wrap their care around you, blur out the mundane life, and give you a yearning for some ideal, more beautiful life elsewhere. At best, life would feel more magical to you. At worst, you would want to escape or forget your current surroundings.

Though they are kind, they have some well hidden anger and shadow aspects that want to have control over what they have. Including the connection with you. A fragile self-esteem and some insecurities would cause control issues. There could be some manipulative tendencies like making you feel vulnerable to bring you closer to them.

You will need to be more aware of your own feelings when being around them and try to see them in a more objective light.

The people you are attracting would be in a higher position than you, could be your boss, your mentor, teachers, or someone with more authority.

3. Carnelian

The people that you are attracting are those needing more light and vibrancy in their life.

They have attractive energy, people would consider them to be conventionally good-looking or charming with an edge of passion. A balance between feminine and masculine energy.

They are confident and ambitious with concrete goals and helpful resources. Stoic and wilful. The kind that others have a lot of respect for.

They do everything with dedication.

But something is amiss. Right now, they have some confusions deep inside, lost, looking for a home. You could feel that through their words, their way of communicating. Their light is dimmer, something feels lacklustre. They may not even be aware of that about themself.

Subconsciously, they are looking for something new to learn, to feel excited and curious, to expand their mind. They could be quite established but feel stagnant, so they need a little shaking up. Their life seems a little cold and hard, so they are looking for some softer, more nurturing energy.

And maybe that's why they are attracted to you. They could see that you are embodying that energy quite well.

You could meet them when you are by yourself, being confident, express yourself openly, which is a kind of contrast to their more controlled and reserved nature.

4. Trolleite

I see some strong bonds of friendship with the people that you are attracting.

They come into your life in the period that you may be feeling a little bored. You need something that can stir you.

You would meet them while studying for something new, maybe a foreign language so they could be foreigners too.

They have a kind of elevated and optimistic spirit. An ability to see beauty everywhere.

They would take you on exciting adventures, physically or mentally, like going to some places with different culture, taking a deep breath of fresh air in nature, and lying down to just talk about everything. They are not childish. In fact, they could be older than you, or their energy just seems mature, but something about them making people feel like a child again, something warm and open.

Oddly enough, even though their core self is always changing, erratic but their actions and sense of self are very solid and dependable. A dependable unpredictability, perhaps. And they would help you feel more grounded and firm in yourself.

You would form some connections that are light, fun yet long lasting, and nurturing.

❤️

#crystal reading #lithomancy #pick a card #channeled message #crystals #outer world #pick a pile #attracting #energy check #connection #intuitive messages #divination #spirituality #astrology #astro #astrology chart #horary chart #horary astrology #crystal casting

[vantaesfairie]

𝔭𝔦𝔠𝔨 𝔞 𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔡 : 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔡𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪 𝔰𝔭 (𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔫𝔢𝔯) 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔲𝔰 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔣𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔬𝔫𝔢

atlty’s tarot readings: art commissions, paid readings, spell ritual comms open!

choose a pile below:

pile 1, crochet plant:

your dream sp: do yall like fixing people,,,,, hmmmmm bc im getting a vibe of i can fix them but you actually do. delusional ass. you want someone who has escaped some sort of bad experiences, or has a bad boy / girl appearance. you want someone who is a born leader, fiery energy, good with money and is ambitious to achieve their own goals. oh you want someone with duality. someone with a peaceful, gentle side to them that they don’t show often, perhaps mysterious or emotionally intuitive. 

your fated sp: someone who has experienced enough to become mature and warm and caring. i don’t think it’s a bad boy / girl. someone who has expertise in their field, master of 1 skill kind of vibe. someone who enjoys learning and travelling, broadening their horizons. idealistic, likes bright colours? that’s a specific message. always looking for chances for entrepreneurship, money making, learning new hobbies and skills, hopping around from one to the next. a fresh breath of air, embodies the sun. 

pile 2, crochet jellyfish: 

your dream sp: are yall stuck on your ex or someone toxic??? you want someone who can fight for you, will burn the world down to save you trope. someone who saves you from the bad things that happen to you. you want someone who can help you clear your mind and take a break, a healing person. someone who ISN’T STUCK ON THE PAST AND DOESN’T WALLOW IN SELF PITY. or maybe you are missing your ex who knows 

your fated sp: they may come in later in your life than you think. you are fated to meet someone who is powerful in their field, respects authority, perhaps religious and traditional. someone who has achieved happiness in all aspects of their life and is willing to share that with you. someone who completes you. kind and family-oriented, emotional, sensitive, and compassionate. balanced masculine and feminine energy. 

pile 3, crochet pasta: 

your dream sp: i think you watch too much tiktok or smut. yall are all FINDING THE SAME TYPE OF GUY. i think you like toxic people who will fight for you. literally physically fight someone off for you. someone who is good in bed and creative. passionate, motivated to work hard, probably athletic especially running. someone who can dominate you, but still be patient and compassionate with you. tamed wild beast typa feeling. 

your fated sp: and guess what you will get someone who will fight for you, but instead of literally fighting they will defend you and this relationship to the very end. someone who likes fairness and justice, could work in the law field. someone who will make sure that they give as much as they take. down to earth, nature-loving, practical and resourceful. willing to hand make things for you. likes to save money perhaps. 

ok i got lazy so i posted this like weeks after i said i was gonna sorries

i hope you enjoyed this pac! please consider purchasing a paid reading or spell service by sliding into my dms. reblog and share if possible! i’d love to know if this resonates to you. thank you so much! 

#witchblr #tarotblr #tarot #readings #pac #pick a card #love #candles #magick #magic #witch #pick a pile #services #boost #free #cards #wands #pentacles #swords #arcana

[sivyera]

Avatar characters as love stereotypes

ft. jake sully, tsu'tey, tonowari, ao'nung, lo'ak, neteyam, tsireya, kiri

⤷ Jake Sully - soulmates

You and Jake just were meant to be. He is blindly in love with you. He would do anything for you. He's the type of guy who's like 'touch her and I'll kill you'. He likes watching night skies with you, talking about stars, constellation, stories and everything that comes to yours or his mind. Be together all the time. Small touches - even if it's touching your arms or leg or tail, he takes it. I can tell that Eywa wanted you and Jake to be together - that's why are you two soulmates.

⤷ Tsu'tey - whatever it takes

Tsu'tey would be very protective over you. More like overprotective. He would do everything to be with you. He even argued with Eytukan because of you. But it's not always fights and arguments with him. When you two are alone, he's sweet and kind. Rides around forest on direhorses or flying in the clouds on ikrans. It doesn't matter what you two are doing, the important thing is that you're doing it together.

⤷ Tonowari - old love

Tonowari is a strong leader and honors tradition that's why it's old love. He loves spending quality time with you while you two are doing something productive like training or exploring or just swimming in the ocean. Racing on skimwings. Making and eating food together in peace. He absolutely loves it when you give him back massages because his muscles are tight. But he loves your eyes the most.

⤷ Ao'nung - she felt first but he felt harder

Ao'nung didn't like you at first. Yes you're very pretty but that wasn't enough for him. He also cared about your personality, look wasn't everything to him. So at first he teased you because it was fun but along time he started teasing you just to talk to you, just to touch your cute ears or tail, just to see wrinkle your nose when you were mad at him. He loves you harder than you can ever imagine.

⤷ Lo'ak - love at first sight

Lo'ak fell in love with you instantly. You always had his back whenever he was in trouble. But mostly you two were in trouble together. He loves learning new things with you. He sure show off when you're watching but he mostly fails or do something stupid which is always very funny and makes you both laugh. Your presence is very calming to him, you're his safe place. After every fight with his father he comes to you to relax and calm down.

⤷ Neteyam - true love

Neteyam and you just clicked. Your personality, your vibe was just matching with each other. Neteyam is very protective over you. He will be a great leader in the future and you're helping him a lot without even knowing it. Neteyam in your presence is more calm and he forget about any doubts or responsibilities he have in his mind. Helping each other in everything. Respecting and supporting each others goals!

⤷ Tsireya - bestfriends to lovers

Tsireya always had a soft spot for you. You were best friends since your childhood but over time and also with the help of growing up, she realized that she loves you. Her nickname Reya came from you actually. When you first called her than, she was surprised but she was so happy. You make her feel special, warm and fuzzy inside. She loves it. Supporting each other. You make her smile every time. Spending time in ocean with you it's her favourite common thing to do.

⤷ Kiri - any universe

Kiri is very perceptive and I believe it wouldn't take her long to realize that she is in love with you. Maybe Eywa and her mother help a with it. She would love just be in the woods with you, doing nothing just laying on the ground, feeling the nature. Lots of small touches - like holding hands. Deep talks. Trying to make new food together. Watching stars at night and telling each other funny or mystery stories.

#avatar #avatar x reader #avatar x fem!reader #avatar 2 #avatar 2 x reader #avatar the way of water x reader #avatar kiri x reader #avatar 2 kiri x reader #avatar jake sully x reader #avatar 2 ao'nung x reader #avatar lo'ak x reader #avatar neteyam x reader #avatar 2 tonowari x reader #avatar tsu'tey x reader #avatar imagine #avatar preferences

[writers-potion]

I’m not a very scheming person, but one of my stories need political intrigue to work. Do you have any advice for how to write that?

Writing Political Intrigue

Creating Shades of Gray

Unlike most plots where the protgonist("the good") and the antagonist("the bad") is more or less clearly defined, political intrigue is all about being in the middle.

Those who are self-serving but respect the law

Those who work for the public good but break the law

Those who try to stay clean but is absolutely no help

The key is to reveal both sides of holding but a certain value. This is perhaps best demonstrated through the controversal topics in today's context:

Social Aid for the Poor: (1) Of course redistribution of wealth and aiding the economically underprivilleged is a good thing (2) but if governmental aid actually encourages people to not work, should we continue?

Honesty: (1) it's good to be honest (2) but not is all situations

Sticky your character in between two or more parties, into making difficult choices. Make them break and bend their own code or values in the face of trying to chase their own agendas.

Different Perspective is Everything

As stated, everything has two sides. Each party will have different goals, different ideals, different norms of doing the work.

Bad blood, feuds, competition for resources, desire to win an ego battle. There's plenty of plot material.

The key here is to let both sides have good, understandable reasons. If one side is clearly "bad" with the other opposing them, it's no different from a hero-villain plot!

Gossip and Rumors

Gossip is one of the most powerful weapons in politics. In other words, it's reputation. Saving face. Ego.

Spreading half-truths to get a character to watch their back

Scandals and failed apologies

Gossip as an undercurrent tension within a scene where the character needs to prove themselves.

No Room for Weaklings

No one without a strong personal code or goal will get trampled in a tight, fast-paced political scene.

If your character is forced into politics, they'll need to toughen up quick or drop out.

A character may think they're strong, only to be proven wrong the minute he enters politics.

A character may find himself being divorced from his previous values as he tries to be more "tough"

Draw the Big Picture

In a particular scene, your characters aren't going to know everything, sometimes acting even blindly in pursuit of a goal. As an author, though, you should have a clear idea which piece of the puzzle you're writing.

figure out a sketch of your setting, and figure out the big issues, crises and ideologies that political divisions could stem from.

Know what your characters are into, past the main plot. Where do they want to be, even after this story is over?

You'll get a much richer story by brining in layers of characterization.

Keep lots of notes to keep track of the above.

Research, Research, Research!

The best place to get ideas for political intigue: history.

Grab a handful of texts on the historical wars, figures, and regime changes that most interest you, and after reading them you’ll likely end up with enough intrigue material to plot through a book series.

The setting and governmental structure: Political intrigue is shaped by the underlying social background and politicla system, so plan these in a way that suits your plot.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

References:

https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=63430

#writing #writers and poets #creative writing #writers on tumblr #helping writers #creative writers #let's write #poets and writers #writeblr #resources for writers #write every day #write it #write anything #write up #author #writers #write that down #writerscommunity #writing questions

[andhumanslovedstories]

Hey so your post about pain management as a bedside nurse is so important to my own nursing practice that I've considered printing it out so I can have it to hand all the time. So thanks for that. Also, how do you deal with assignments that are busy enough that pain management is harder than it should be? I'm coming up on two years as a nurse and I feel like I take it personally when I am too busy to adequately manage my patients pain. I'm also coming from a newly unionized hospital where the ratios are still horrendous (I do 1:10 on med surg) and I'm hoping once we can enforce our staffing grids it'll be better but idk I'm burning out and I love my job so much and I really respect your nursing philosophy? I guess. Sorry for the word vomit it's been a crazy shift.

I've been trying to think of how to answer this since I got it. It's just such a horrendous ratio. With ten patients a shift, that's like six minutes an hour for each in a fantasy world where there's no charting and everything is exactly where you need it to be. I feel like I don't have great insight into this because the most med surg patients I've had assigned is five. Ten patients to one nurse is just a raw deal for everyone. Like christ no wonder you feel like you're burning out! I'll give you what thoughts I have and hopefully other people can chime in if they have suggestions. But that's such a hard patient load.

When I've been super swamped, I've found that's when being really explicit about your thinking with the patient helps. Like if I have to dash into a room and then dash back out, I'll make sure the board is updated with the next medication time and that the patient knows when the medication is going to kick in. I'll also provide call light parameters. I have a lot of success telling people, "the med should be doing something by 5:30. If I haven't checked in with you by then, and the pain is unchanged or barely changed, hit your call light and we'll try the next step. Also hit your call light if you feel any sudden change, like now you're nauseated or you have a headache or the type of pain changes or something just feels very wrong. Is there anything you need before I step out of the room?"

I like to be explicit about when to call me because I think there's two directions call light usage can go wrong: someone calls all the time, or someone never calls. With someone who calls all the time, I find that telling them when I'll be back and that I want them to call me if I'm not takes away some of that anxiety that can causes some people to call frequently. Often those patients are afraid that if they aren't on the call light, they're gonna get ignored.

For the other type of patient, the one that doesn't call, I want to make explicit that it's GOOD AND NORMAL TO CALL YOUR NURSE WHEN YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS. We've all had that patient at the end of shift who goes, "btw the gnawing pain in my leg is now a 10/10" and you're like "what gnawing pain sir?? you've literally never mentioned it before now?? I don't have any meds for that lemme page super quick????" These patients can get into pain crises easily because they don't ask for help until something is unbearable. In addition to pain crisis bad, it takes a lot more time to deal with something unbearable than it does to deal with something uncomfortable.

On that note, are you spending your very limited time efficiently? To me, that actually means spend more time talking with patients, at least up front. Manage expectations, make sure people know what to expect. Having conversations with patients that are like, "You just had surgery, it's not gonna happen that we get you completely painless. We want to get you to a manageable pain level that allows you to do whatever it is you most want to do this shift." (For me on nights, that's usually sleeping at least a little, but sometimes the realistic goal you make together is that you will feel at some point better than you feel right now.) "You have this medication scheduled, and you have this one available every X hours when your pain is severe. Is there anything you know that helps you deal with pain?"

Also establish if patients want to be woken up for certain prn medications or if they're sleeping, to let them sleep. With some patients, I will advise them to get woken up for pain medication because I know that they're going to need consistent control to avoid a crisis. (Crises take so much time!)

When I'm crunched for time, I'm fond of bringing in an ice pack and being like "if it works, great, if it doesn't, just take it off, either way here it is." Sometimes I'll do the same with a warm blanket. If I know my patient needs to take pills, I'll bring a cup of water with me into the room. If there's a basic prn like melatonin or tylenol that I think they might want, I'll pull them in advance. If the patient doesn't want them, I return them next time I'm in the med room. (Obviously, don't do this with controlled substances. It's super easy to forget to return them, and not returning opioids is one of those whoopsies people get fired over.)

Decision making takes time. Walking to go get stuff takes time. I want to save the time it takes to assess if the patient needs those things and then walk off to fetch them by just having the things already. If your tightest resource is time, be liberal with resources you can spare. If you're stuck with a patient, do you have anyone you can delegate a prn med pass to? Do you know how to do the absolute minimum charting you need to? Do you have flushes and alcohol wipes and whatever other most common things you need? And since you can't hoard time, if you've got some to spare, ask yourself if there is anything you can do now that will save you time later. If you have five free minutes now and an incontinent patient, getting them up to the bathroom now can save you from taking the time for incontinence care and a bed change later on when they've also sundowned and decide they hate everything but most of all you.

So much of this answer I realize is investing as much time upfront as you can, which I realize is so hard when you are so busy. It sucks immensely that prepping takes much less time than not being prepared does when you don't always have time to prep. Plus when you invest that time to pain plan with patients and do small preventative interventions, I think it also provides some psychological comfort that helps with pain. You're letting them know you're invested and you care and you have a plan, even if you don't have all the time you'd like. That can mean better pain control, which can mean needing to spend less time in that room overall, meaning you can save six whole minutes at some point and maybe even, if we're feeling crazy, get a chance to indulge in that greatest of indulgences: just a real leisurely on-shift piss.

#nursing tag #i hope this helps at all i know how much it sucks to end a shift like 'cool. i didn't help my patients. feel great about that.' #it sucks when you don't have enough time to take care of people because you have too many people to take care of #anyway also thank you re: pain post compliment. and also thank you re: getting to talk about pain mgmt again #marge simpson holding potato voice: i just think [nursing process and symptom management] is neat!

[theambitiouswoman]

Hey!

Can you give tips on being confident?

Taking care of yourself will help you feel better about yourself. Make sure to get enough sleep, eat healthily and exercise regularly.

We all have our unique strengths and talents. Try to figure out and focus on what you're good at, and practice those things regularly.

Become aware of how you talk to yourself. Negative self-talk can undermine your confidence. Try to challenge negative thoughts by replacing them with positive affirmations.

Setting small goals that are achievable can help you build confidence. Break down your tasks into more manageable goals. Celebrate yourself for each accomplishment.

Start standing up for your needs and expressing them (in respectful way).

Learn how to prepare and organize your tasks. The more prepared you are the more confident you will feel.

Learn new things. Knowledge makes you more confident. The more you know about something, the more comfortable you feel discussing it.

Stand tall, maintain eye contact, and offer a firm handshake. Acting confident can help you feel confident.

Picture yourself achieving your goals. You have to see it in your mind before you can see it in real life.

Decide on the person you want to be. Every detail about them. Then start moving how they would move intentionally.

Start accepting compliments. If you don't see yourself getting compliments, start giving them to others.

View failure as a learning opportunity. Everyone fails. The key is to learn from those experiences and move forward. If you don't learn, you don't grow.

The more you think about something, the more you can talk yourself out of it. If you've prepared, trust yourself and take the leap.

Affirmations in front of the mirror daily!

Help others.

Work on your grooming and appearance. The better you look, the better you feel and the better you will get treated.

Occasionally ask for feedback from people you are close to and care about. Don't explain why you are asking, just use it to measure what you can improve on or understand how you are being perceived and deciding if that is the result you want.

Do not compare yourself to other people! Everyone is on their own journey. Comparing yourself to others can sometimes be detrimental. Instead, focus on your progress.

Accept yourself for who you are, including your strengths and weaknesses. Accepting yourself removes the barrier for improvement that so many people create. It also creates a sense of awareness and understanding of where you currently are, and can logically and honestly help you determine what you need to do to get to where you want to go.

Do one thing every day that is outside of your comfort zone. Even if you are terrible. The point is to prove to yourself that you actually did it <3

Remember, how we do anything is how we do everything. Every small change we make, be it external or internal creates a ripple in our life and starts shaping a new reality.

#self confidence #confidence #personal improvement #personal growth #personal development #self help #self improvement #self love #self care #advice

[takeme-totheworld]

Aziraphale and Forgiveness, Pt. 2: The Source of Salvation

This series is now complete! Here's where you can find the other parts.

Part 1 here. Part 3 here. Part 4 here.

(This post ended up being way longer than I intended, oopsie! And no fun GIFs to break it up this time. Hope you like reading lots of words!)

So why would Aziraphale, an angel who has not fallen despite bending/breaking the rules many times, have so much emotional baggage around the topic of forgiveness?

Some disclaimers:

Disclaimer 1: I've seen enough of tumblr already to know that "does Aziraphale really have religious trauma?/how much does it motivate his actions?" is the subject of Discourse around these parts. I don't want to have that argument here. Aziraphale's experience with Heaven has strong parallels to my personal religious history, and those specific parallels are what I'm here to talk about.

Disclaimer 2: I am not a bible scholar or religious historian, if I mention specific church doctrines or bible verses it's only to illustrate the experience of growing up in my church. My actual biblical/theological accuracy may be sloppy.

Disclaimer 3: I haven't read Good Omens the book. I know there are differences, but I'm not addressing them. All my thoughts are about show!Aziraphale and show!Heaven only.

Okay. Here goes.

The next point I want to make is that Aziraphale has spent his life inside a system that has weaponized the concept of forgiveness. Because Heaven, in the Good Omens universe, operates a lot like a particular flavor of toxic Christianity that I happen to be very familiar with.

In the version of Christianity I was raised with:

Your only purpose is to serve God's will. Our own needs, wants, goals, etc, were all understood to be secondary to that purpose.

The specter of eternal punishment is always present. Like any self-respecting Evangelical church, we believed that if you weren't "saved" before you died, you would go to Hell and be punished forever. How do you make sure you're saved? Well...

The rules are not clear or consistent, so you're always left guessing. We were a Protestant denomination, so a foundational doctrine was "sola scriptura." (We weren't fancy enough for the Latin, though, we just called ourselves "bible-based.") The basic idea is that the bible is the word of God, it's infallible, and it's the only authority we need to follow. But the bible is a cobbling-together of texts written thousands of years ago, that have been translated multiple times. It's not self-evident to a modern reader what any given passage means. It contains internal contradictions all over the place. So...the bible is the only authority we need to follow, but it's confusing and needs interpretation. Enter pastors and other church leaders to help us interpret. Only...they each have their own pre-existing biases and preferred scholarly interpretations, so even within the same church, different pastors might have different ideas about things.

So, to summarize: Follow what the bible says! Don't understand what it's telling you? Ask your pastor! Different pastors give different answers? Ugh, you're thinking about this too hard. Go pray about it or something. Just figure it out.

New ideas and experiences are, at best, begrudgingly tolerated. Because doing God's will is your only purpose, remember? And the Bible (and your pastor) are the source of the only wisdom you need to fulfill the only purpose you have. So really, you don't need anything outside what the church has to offer you and it's all a distraction anyway. (...okay, if you really must, here's a watered-down, church-approved version of the thing, now shut up.)

This isn't just the church being a buzzkill. It keeps you dependent on them and ignorant of the outside world to whatever extent they monitor and censor outside influences. My church was not even that extreme about this, relatively speaking, but it was still enough to profoundly impact me and leave me confused and floundering in the larger world after I left.

No matter how hard you try to measure up, you're ultimately at God's mercy. So you spend your life trying to follow a bunch of confusing, opaque rules in the hopes that you can be "saved" and avoid eternal punishment. But here's kicker: none of it truly matters anyway, because we were also taught that everyone falls short in the end and that the only real salvation comes from God forgiving you for your sins. All you really have to do to be saved is accept his free gift of forgiveness...by...believing the right things in the right way and praying the right prayers about it. And then spending the rest of your life still trying to follow all the convoluted rules, because doing so is proof that you were sincere...in your acceptance of God's forgiveness...which you accepted by following even more instructions regarding what to believe and how to pray to ensure that you were accepting it correctly.

How do you know if you've done any of this right? You never can, truly, until you die and find out. Because God's not actually talking to anyone. So in the end, no matter what you do, you end up in the same place: at the mercy of God, who decides whether you're forgiven or not.

If you're thinking that sounds like an incredibly confusing and exhausting way to grow up, you are correct! It also has a lot of parallels in Good Omens.

If you are an angel working for Heaven in the world of Good Omens:

Your only purpose is to serve God's will. This one is obvious. If you're an angel, it's literally the only thing you were created for.

The specter of eternal punishment is always present. The eternal punishment that can happen to an angel is falling. We know it's a punishment, because we know Crowley's fall was painful and because we can see that Hell is a miserable environment for the demons. This isn't The Good Place, where demons gleefully sit around eating snacks in conference rooms and brainstorming new fun ways to torture humans. Hell in Good Omens sucks for everyone there. And we can assume falling is meant to be permanent, because if it wasn't Crowley and Aziraphale wouldn't have been so gobsmacked by the Metatron's offer to restore Crowley to angelic status. Because there's no precedent for that. Crowley himself says that being a demon has automatically rendered him unforgivable. As far as anyone in this universe knows, "fallen" is a permanent state.

So how does an angel avoid eternal punishment? How do angels make sure they don't fall? Well...

The rules are not clear or consistent, so you're always left guessing. Was falling a one-and-done mass exile of everyone who rebelled, right after the war? The way both Heaven and Hell talk about the fall and the "casting out" of the demons would seem to suggest so. But fear of falling is obviously ever-present among the angels, so they clearly don't know for sure one way or the other. And what would cause an angel who wasn't part of the original rebellion to fall? Aziraphale thought he would fall for lying about Job's children. The archangels threatened Aziraphale with falling for "consorting" with Crowley in S1. Gabriel expected to fall for saying no to Armageddon the Sequel in S2. But none of those falls actually happened. Clearly even the angels in the highest positions of authority don't know exactly what the rules are about falling. And who decides who falls? Gabriel says the demons were "cast out" after the war, but who did the casting out? Did God handle that directly? Was it the Metatron? Did the transformation just sort of...happen, leaving everyone unsure about the details? And what about present day? The Metatron said that Gabriel would have his memory wiped instead of falling, but does that mean the Metatron gets to decide if an angel falls, or was he covering for the fact that he doesn't know how it works either?

We, the viewers, don't know the answers to any of these questions. But it's fairly clear that the angels also don't know.

New ideas and experiences are, at best, begrudgingly tolerated. The angels know little to nothing about the world or humanity and are disdainful or outright suspicious of earthly experiences. In the case of the ones who have never been sent to Earth, this makes sense, although it begs the question of why there are so many angels who have never once been sent to Earth, the planet that is supposed to be central to the Great Plan.

It's obviously, at its core, about control and keeping the angels ignorant of anything that would broaden their perspective. But listen to how the angels themselves talk about it. When Gabriel sees Aziraphale eating sushi, he asks, "Why do you consume that? You're an angel." (Subtext: You don't need to eat, so what's the purpose of indulging in this experience?) When Aziraphale suggests he try the food himself, Gabriel starts talking about sullying the temple of his body or whatever. (Subtext: It's not technically forbidden but it would be a deviation from my function as an angel so I'm suspicious of it.) And look at Aziraphale himself. He lives on Earth for many hundreds of years before he can be persuaded to even try human food, and Crowley has to work at convincing him it's okay. He seems to know it's not forbidden but he's deeply distrustful of it anyway. (I have a theory that a holdover of this mindset is why he's so set in his ways, behind the times, and still more ignorant of humans that you'd expect in the present day, but this post is already too long.) The attitude cultivated among the angels is These things are not meant for us, we don't need them, and they are a distraction from our higher purpose, so it's better if we don't.

No matter how hard you try to measure up, you're ultimately at God's mercy. So, if you're an angel, you're meant to be doing God's will, and if you fail badly enough you can be punished forever by falling. But the rules are unclear, the way falling works is unclear, in most cases you're kept ignorant of everything but the bare minimum you need to know to do your job, God isn't talking to anyone, and the (seemingly) officially appointed Voice of God is also pretty remote and mysterious most of the time.

So the only time you'll ever know for certain that you've crossed the line is once you've already crossed it, when it's too late to do anything about it. At that point, the only thing that could save you from falling would be if God just...decided to be merciful, to grant you a pardon (i.e. to forgive you) and not do the casting out thing.

Believe it or not, I had to work really hard to keep this as short as it is. If you've read this far, I salute you. Now, what's the point?

Aziraphale and the other angels are part of a system where they understand very little, they have no real power, the stakes are eternal, and their only hope of escaping endless punishment if they fail is the possibility that God will decide to show mercy and forgive them.

Yes, in the real world this is all just bullshit spread by religious leaders to scare and confuse and manipulate people into compliance and in the world of Good Omens it's actually real. But the emotional impact of feeling that confused and powerless and at the mercy of a higher authority is going to be the same. Of course Aziraphale has some Big Feelings about the subject of forgiveness. Of course it's one of his favorite things. It's not just a nice thing you do for people. It's powerful enough to rescue someone from eternal punishment when nothing else can. Powerful enough to wield as a devastating weapon by withholding it. It's a tool of control in Heaven, but it's also the source of salvation.

I was going to segue from here into what I think the specifics of Aziraphale's mindset are, but it took me so many more words than I expected just to lay out the parallels between GO Heaven and (my experience of) real-world toxic Christianity so I'm gonna stop here. Next time I'm going to dig into what I think is happening in Aziraphale's head when he forgives Crowley, and also when he does things like shelter Jimbriel (a very forgiving action, even if the words "I forgive you" don't accompany it).

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 spoilers #character analysis #aziraphale #religious indoctrination #religious trauma #forgiveness #i forgive you #i'm very normal about this #this post is so long i apologize

[eldritch-spouse]

Prevarication

[Reader can be assumed neutral.]

TW: Body image issues; Yandere.

Hudd sits quietly in your vacant room.

He's not meant to be here, of course.

He has better things to do, now more than ever. This is utterly beneath him, every aspect of it.

In fact, ever since he met you, the historian has been tumbling down a flight of endless stairs leading him to an abyss of ruthless indignity. Truly, the demonoid believes that, if he doesn't miraculously find his footing amidst each painful tumble, it will only end with his pride shattered in a million microscopic pieces.

What's left of it anyway…

Hudsyn knew he didn't have much to begin with by the time he approached you. Because who even approaches a human for help? They're such helpless creatures on their own, almost entirely devoid of use in most situations. Stupid. Pointless. Active sophists, denialists, mendacious, perverters of truth-

It was a fool's gamble.

And Hudd tried before, past the wounds of people calling him insane at every turn, he tried to keep his chin up and hope that someone of minimal value would open their eyes, come to see that he pursues nothing but the most noble of goals.

Hope is fleeting however. He supposes he was also bankrupt on that by the time he had ventured to the surface. The surface… As much as it is filled with wondrous sites to explore, it's also deeply bothersome with its intense daylight. Days in Hell are a lot less visually stressful. Probably because there's no standard sun around the annexes, only magical imitations of a day cycle- Meaning the light Perdition inhabitants are exposed to is a lot less intense than raw sun rays. Past the shock of it, Hudsyn has to keep an even closer look on his robes, because it's hard to project facial features when a more potent source of light drowns out his own.

And, frankly, he looks garish enough, the last thing the demon needs is to look totally faceless to strangers.

Nevertheless, in retrospect, if Hudd had to guess what led him to you, it was probably a combo of hopelessness, physical stress, lack of self-respect… And, naturally, your vapid musing out loud.

He wanted to believe, desperately, for a second, that someone actually gave half as much of a shit as he did. In that moment, it didn't matter if you were human, demon, gargoyle- Fuck, you could have been a barely strung together ghoul, he would have still sprinted and sat beside you like a fumbling buffoon.

He regrets that day so much.

For fuck's sake, he's talking about it like it happened years ago when it hasn't even been a measly week… So why does it feel like Hudd's known you forever?

Sure, you said a few weird things to him that kind of put the historian at edge, you're a little weirdo, he has to concede, but you're what he's been desperately craving for all this time. A pair of functioning ears with a decently working brain between them- Someone who respects him! Who cares, who's minimally knowledgeable, critical of everything that's taken as gospel or, at the very least, willing to learn better. Willing to understand that his time is valuable and his findings even more so.

You're a gem.

Hudsyn knows he disappeared on you the day you met. And even if what you did weirded him out, on its own it wouldn't be enough to make him leave. He's seen weirder people with much less harmless quirks. No, he was nervous then. Anxious. He needed to leave sooner or later, because there was too much on his mind.

There's always too much on his mind.

But that was a different type of information. One Hudd couldn't neatly file away in organized categories, picking and plucking and flipping at it to crack secrets out. That was personal, deep, hit him in places he didn't really know how to handle. It was chaos. You made him feel chaotic, impulsive and intense in ways that had exactly zero in common with the hysteria he can sometimes fall into in the midst of his work.

It took mountains of effort for the demonoid not to reach out and touch you. In fact, he had been trying to put space between you all that time to keep himself grounded, even when you seemed receptive to more contact, when you tried to start flirting, for whatever reason. Why would you flirt with him? In truth, Hudsyn just wanted to feel your hair. He wanted to touch your cheek and place your hand in yours. It's small. You're small. Small enough to hold, he's sure of it. He would have liked to. Maybe kiss you. His mouth… Well, you wouldn't enjoy it.

Point is, you remind him of how lonely he is. Sure, better alone than with bad company, but now that he's met someone whose company is not just tolerable but enjoyable, he doesn't really want to be apart from you anymore. It's depressing.

Hudd knew what was happening to him by the time he got over his own shaking to seek you out again. He had deviated from his work just to speak with that little human again… He knew, he knew he was falling into something destructive- But he also had to, because if the demonoid didn't, then he'd just be thinking about you day and night in a rut, brain muddled and knotting itself into a ball.

He doesn't regret it.

You were… So nice to him.

Offered him tea.

Said his eyes were pretty. You idiot, they're hardly eyes to begin with.

Said he was well-spoken.

Said he was cultured.

That you could listen to him for a whole day.

And his heart just fluttered so incredibly hard that Hudd could feel his fur stand on end. It wasn't the only thing that wanted to stand, given your choice of wardrobe, but that's beyond the matter.

Was that a date? Was that your first date? Sure, Hudsyn invited himself into your living space, but you reacted so well, you looked at him so enraptured by his speech… That was a date. Some kind of date. And it went very well. Enough so that he can feel himself smiling at the thought of repeating the experience.

He hopes you smile at the concept too.

As memories flood him, the historian feels himself shiver again. It's more of a rattle, the short fur on his form bristling with the sincerity of his emotions. Hudd wonders if you'd ever willingly invite him into your bedroom, or if he's just continuing to poke where he doesn't belong. He's always been good at that.

How different would that bizarre night have been if he had gotten over his own trance and said something bolder? If you had taken him by the hand, or even the horns, and led him to your bed? Which he coincidentally sits upon now.

Would you say you wanted him?

Maybe it's far-fetched, but Hudsyn likes to imagine you would. After all the rules he's broken and the punishments be carries, Hudd desperately wants to think you'd look at his body and call it beautiful. The same way you described his eyes. Or, at the very least, that you'd look past his blemishes and accept his affections.

He's not pretty like you.

He did look good before, but those days are gone, shelved, covered in dust and cobwebs and all the resentment his heart can hold- He hates beauty in others.

But it's tolerable in you. Because your beauty is the perfect type. The natural one. It shows in all parts of your human figure and he's sure the envious must burn to a crisp at the sight of you, the ones that can decipher that perfection for what it really is.

Hudsyn gets images of you sprawled on this very same bed, your hair disheveled and the same pajamas you wore that night slipping away from your soft skin. You don't care that it's revealing, don't care that you're teasing him, you're just that comfortable. He sees his own pale, bleached hands dragging the fabric down further, greedy for more- And his imagination is so vivid he swears he feels the heat of your skin on his knuckles, the pliant molding of your body as you stretch lazily and part your legs, giving him a view that-

Hudd groans.

His robes shift, and the fantasy dies immediately.

Because if you can't get over his blemishes then you'll certainly never come to accept his genitals. Just feeling his exterior protrusions -He doesn't know what to call them, they're not claspers or tendrils, but they move and swell- Pulse is a painful reminder that he's packing something very weird, and not just by human standards. You wouldn't want that. But that doesn't mean he can't fool himself.

By the time he feels his cock unfurl and poking at the top of his slit, the demonoid huffs, resigning himself to his self-inflicted predicament and lifting his robes out of the way. His dick emerges faster than ever before, probably because he's been in a dry spell for way too long- He likes to keep track of things, but as the years passed, Hudsyn grew a little too embarrassed to keep doing so in this regard.

It's a dark grayish member that curves firmly upwards, thin but long enough to make some men jealous. Hudd pulses, it's not a throb, he can see his own member contract and dilate as if he's going to lay something. But Hudsyn doesn't lay eggs. Maybe he was meant to, and something went wrong, he's not sure. He doesn't care. Beneath his strangely flexible dick, his clit perks and his pussy clenches, starting to make a mess of your sheets.

Yeah, a human might say he's uh- Kinda fucky.

Beyond his own self-awareness, the historian entertains the idea that you might, by a small miracle, react positively to his package. That you'd reach out, on your knees -Because really, that's a human's place in the end. Since the dawn of time, your race has been nothing but a toy- And use your mouth to show your appreciation towards Hudd. Because his time is valuable, and you're a generous little human, aren't you?

What part of him would you want first?

Maybe you'd go for his cock, he hums while looping a hand over his own length, tugging it leisurely from root to tapered tip, imagining it's your small hand, that you'd tongue at his end and try to take him into your throat- Failing, naturally. He's too much for most, but you'd keep attempting anyway, gagging and drooling viscerally, just to please him. Hudsyn shudders, panting in the quiet of your room.

Or, perhaps, you'd service his cunt. It's been so long since he's had anything inside him, your sweet tongue would do just fine, your fingers, your perfect unblemished digits curling into all those wonderful spots while you suck his clit and pump his cock and pop back just to moan how happy you are that he gave you the time of day-

Hudsyn makes a raspy croak of pleasure, arching on your bed like a slut in heat, eyes closed, one hand fisting his shaft furiously and the other filling his pussy. Who is he fucking kidding anymore? You could bend him over in two, he might almost beg for more.

It should be him thanking you.

For listening to him.

Finding him interesting.

Letting him converse with you even when he invaded your home.

Hudd needs to thank you for making sure his pride doesn't wilt completely. Beyond all his denial, all his mixed feelings, he knows that to be the truth.

He feels accomplished around you. Apt. Intelligent.

Wanted.

And fuck, he wants you ten times more. He wants his sweet mentee right at his side. Forever.

The image of you mouthing a tender "I love you" against his soaked cunt and moving up to kiss his length, lacing your hand with his, hits Hudd like lightning.

He doesn't know what shape he's contorting into, horns tearing into your poor sheets and that stump of a tail swatting around as his thighs flex and he orgasms harder than he could ever expect, snarling.

Thankfully, most of the monster's cum falls on his own stomach and robes, this pearly white mess that's going to matt his fur if he doesn't take care of it soon. Still, all Hudd's worried about is riding out the last of his high, fingers still pumping and dick twitching, oozing.

When Hudsyn's minimally coherent, he can only bask in his own shame, clarity chiding him. Mild panic rises in the demonoid's chest when he notices the very suspicious wet spots on your bed.

Fuck.

Now what?

The sound of keys turning has the historian almost squealing in distress.

Hudd jumps off your bed, still exposed and dripping and trembling with aftershocks. He strips his robes fully, crumples them into a gross ball, then throws them out your window.

Just before you can push the door to your bedroom open, he whimpers and vanishes into thin air.

…

It smells kinda funny in here.

#Hudd oc #pinnie's art #yandere monster #yandere teratophilia #terato #terat0philliac #monsterfucker #monster boyfriend #not sfw #nsft #minors dni

[ddostoyevskyy]

↭ 𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄...

❝a person who is attracted, whether it be sexually, romantically, or otherwise, to intelligence or intelligent people rather than to the physical appearance...❞

↭feat. Diluc Ragnvindr, Kamisato Ayato, Kaedahara Kazuha, Albedo, Al'haitam, Tighnari, Kaveh.

𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞... I already saw someone doing this with SAPIOSEXUAL. And, I thought I’ll do it with Sapiophile, instead. EMOTIONALLY, POLITICALLY, POETICALLY, ACADEMICALLY Intelligence. And, I’ve already put the four men (Albedo, Al’haitam, Tighnari, Kaveh) all in one, so, I hope you won’t get confused.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬... Nothing much. Just these men being attracted to a person with brilliant mind and soul.

MASTERLIST.

Request open!

✗↭... 𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐑, 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐔𝐂; The Darknight Hero.

For someone who is strong needs someone who is smart.

Although, Diluc is also a smart man, I think, he needs someone who is emotionally smart. Someone who can understand and emphatize with his hidden feelings because I don’t think he’s a person whose quick to attached to someone.

Since, Diluc is rather an opposite to his burning vision, he’s outmost personality is intimidating and cold. Most of the time, I always see him as someone whose having a hard time dealing with his own emotions.

At times, he’s really just hard to read and oblivious at some point, yet his body language seems to disagree with this words.

If you knew him well enough just by looking at him, and he trust you enough to show what he really feels, he respect your judgments and what your perspectives in some sort of situation where, maybe, he’s being to insensitive, he’s being to ignorant or abrasive — but, he’s never arrogant.

Being emotionally smart is equivalent to being emotional too (I’m emotional, yes). So, when it comes to arguments with him, he’s actually careful with which words he’ll be going to use — he’s actually concern when you’ll avert your eyes away from him whenever an argument is starting to get heated. He’s aware enough to hold your hand whenever you’re getting emotional — or when you look like you’re about to cry.

And having a partner whose emotionally intellectual is surely what he craves for.

✗↭... 𝐊𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎, 𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐓𝐎; The Yashiro Commisioner.

He’s a menace in society.

Politically smart is not only talking about the politics itself — it is also discussing about how an individual will handle such leaderships — which Ayato executed perfectly. A partner who is such a great leader and has a strong beliefs and ethics in able to reach their designated goals in life is what attract him the most.

Moving on, I think, Ayato will be attracted to someone whose politically smart.

A person whose enable to strive with their own talents and can argue politically and financially and a selfless leader is his ideal. Although, he want someone loyal — as long as his partner is loyal to the public and honest is what he desire of.

And, having someone politically smart as his partner — that just mean you’re always with him in social gatherings.

He always watch how you interact with people whose trying to negotiate and interact with the Yashiro Commissioner himself. Although, he’s not meeting or conversing with people if they are not approved by you — he’s always wary with people, so having you is an advantage for his position and for his safety.

Although, when the same thing happens to you, he’s there to protect you when the time comes. You’ve been awfully smart around his own business, practically helping him out on his own paperworks and now, it’s his time to prevent your reputation to be ruined from something that is a false accuse.

He’s a menace in society, so he want his partner to be someone like him too.

✗↭... 𝐊𝐀𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀, 𝐊𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐇𝐀; Scarlet Leaves Pursue Wild Waves.

This pretty boy. I love him. He’s attracted to someone with brilliant mind. And, when I say brilliant mind; those who see something or the world more deeper. Basically, someone who likes to double meaning. Kidding aside, Kazuha is one poetic man. And, someone who view the world and everything like how he sees it is what he admire the most. Having the same perspectives in life with a person you’re attracted to is ideally. He’s a passionate lover, and he’s more open about his emotions unlike, Diluc. So, I don’t think, Kazuha still needs someone emotionally smart — maybe, someone whose wide with vocabulary and loves to express their emotions and thought like a poet is what he’ll love the most. He would love a partner whose carefree and loves to travel just like him. Discovering more and more to the world while you’re spending time with each other is very ideal too. While you’re out there telling him how was your day and what happened after a long day without seeing him with using foreign words or you’re literally acting like you’re in a theatre stage; all expression and with a smile on your face, he will silently listen while holding a pen and paper; jotting down some of your words of wisdom in his pocket notebook, so he can reread it again and again. He’s calm as a breeze, and having someone with wise words that would swoon him over like the calm waves in his roaring seas is what he desire the most.

✗↭... 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐄𝐃𝐎; Kreideprinz, The Chalk Prince. 𝐀𝐋’𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐌; The Acting Grand Sage. 𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐈; The Avidya Forest Watcher. 𝐊𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐇; The Renowned Sumeru Architect.

These men are SMART, SMART. They have the certain knowledge with how things works, especially in the medicine and architectural field. Although, Kaveh’s prototypes amd sketches is a little too weird, yet too modernized in the literal world. They don’t seek for common sense, rather they seek for more knowledge that will gain them for their own or their daily lives. They will want to have a partner who will help them strive for their future (although, Kaveh and Al’haitham is already graduated, Albedo is literally a walking chemistry, and Tighnari is a master on his own field), they will eventually learn from someone whose academically smart. For Al’haitham, he’s got a little care for the world — always has his eyes on his book. But, when he found your own book which you carry around — he found way too many sticky notepads and doodles which he found way too messy (but, he’s a mess himself), although he found those sticky notes really useable in a some sort of a way — he started to be more eager to know about you and how you seek for knowledge by just reading a book. Although, he, too, loves to read. He found comfort in your book which has those sticky notes plastered in every pages. Albedo — oh, he’s one hard opponent when it comes to science and he loves to sketch! So, imagine him having a partner who loves science too — but with anatomy. He saw one of your sketches in his laboratory — left unattended and open which is quite rare for you to do — you always has your sketchbook as close as possible, because your sketches is quite... sketchy for other people. When he found out what your sketchbook really contains, he’s flabbergasted at first. Seeing muscles, bones, cells, skins, female and male anatomy — and, oh, what is that? Is that his arms...? With his gloves? He found your sketches rather strange.... although, it was quite a very detailed drawings, he can’t help, but to be fascinated rather than creep out. And, he admired you more than before. For Kaveh to be such a burnout architecture with an engineer partner is a quite interesting pair. Imagine, both of you pulling an all nighters just to finish a single design which will be rejected later. Kaveh loves to watch you sketch, completely forgetting about his own work when you are currently sitting by his side, eyes glued to the work that is due the next day. You still look amazing, despite not sleeping for days and he envy that (although, he himself is a beautiful man). He admire the way your fingers graze across the canvas and how the sound of the pencil scratching on the paper reaching his ears. Often time, you would help him with his work, making sure that his work will surely be approved by the engineers (which is you, yourself) and he admire how you pointed out such mistakes on his own canvas. But, the only mistake he ever did is not listening to you and just staring at you the whole time you tried to explain some possible changes on his work. Tighnari is a very intelligent man. He’s very wise with his words. He’s very logical, especially with plants and a promising physician (whennnnn will it be my turn to be oneeeeeee). So, having someone in the same field of work will be a challenge for him. Someone better than him? You knew so much about medicines and herbal methods which he has yet to conquer. Although, it fascinates him how you work within the field and the forest, despite always being stuck in your own work room — you always find yourself being treated by him, despite being an own doctor, yourself. Are you purposely getting yourself hurt, so you can slide through his office and get treated? Although, he doesn’t mind. As long as you will tell him some of your medicine secrets and knowledge, it doesn’t matter! At the end of the day, all of that information vanished — only left by your lingering scent on his office that had his tail wagging and cheeks flushed.

Disclaimer; This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All Rights Reserved 2023 ©ddostoyevskyy. Do not repost without permission or plagiarized.

#genshin impact x reader #[❤️; niko’s genshin headcanons] #genshin x you #genshin fics #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact #genshin headcanons #genshin diluc #genshin kazuha #genshin albedo #genshin alhaitham #genshin ayato #genshin kaveh #genshin tighnari #albedo x fem!reader #tighnari x reader #diluc x reader #kaveh x reader #alhaitham x reader #genshin ayato x reader #kazuha x reader

[mochidolls]

𝜗ϱ : just kids.

n : based on this request by anon, i took it more into the childhood friends to lovers direction!

warnings : slight mention of negative body image / mentions of injury

click for palestine / how you can help palestine

it was fourth grade when you realised it. your crush on lottie to be specific. the two of you had been the closest since the day both you lost your first tooth. swinging on the monkey bars, one at each end trying to get to the middle the fastest which ended up with the two of you colliding into one another and out came the first tooth. since then you two were inseparable.

the moment your crush had really solidified had been when the two of you just won your first football national game. you both were on a high from the victory, celebrating at lottie’s home. you two were changing in order to go bowling that same evening along your parents and siblings, lottie’s parents unable to attend due to ‘unexpected’ circumstances at their respective workplaces. everyone knew that it was complete utter bullshit though.

“can you hurry up? your parents will be here soon!” lottie groaned as she watched you fiddle with the hem of your soccer kit, the number 4 written across the back. you were reluctant to change in front of lottie, sure the two of you had been close for years but you were a teenager now it was wayy different from when the two of you were 6 or 7.

“just give me a sec jeez.” you huffed turning your back to face her. if you do it quick enough, she won’t see. if you do it quick enough, she won’t see. a constant mantra you repeated to yourself under your breath which to lottie sounded like:

a. you were either going insane.

OR

b. chanting some sort of spell.

“you okay?” lottie asked slowly, getting up from her bed and approaching you.

“‘m fine.” you quickly tugged down the shirt before crossing your arms over your chest. oh. lottie knew you all too well, especially the cues to signal you were uncomfortable.

“i can go to the kitchen or something while you change.” lottie offered softly.

“it’s fine. i’m okay.” you mumbled back in response, taking an inhale. just change already, don’t be dumb.

quickly you took off your football kit, and your back was shown to lottie, all the scars from your falls while playing displaying themselves to lottie, and although they weren’t something to be shameful of, your teenage brain hated the imperfections that littered your body. lottie took note of that, like she always did when it came to you.

after changing into a much cleaner and comfortable top, you turned to face lottie who had a weirdly odd soft gaze in her eyes.

“what are you looking at?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

“nothing, you’re just pretty.” lottie shrugged and how could she? shrug so nonchalantly as if she hadn’t melted your heart completely right there and then.

“thanks.” jesus, talk about being awkward.

you fell out of love with football. more so actually playing the sport. it wasn’t much of your thing anymore, more lottie’s. however as the years passed, your crush for lottie grew stronger.

you watched lottie progress in her soccer career and you had been so very proud of how far she’d come. wanting to still be involved in soccer (and close to lottie) you decided to be the team's physio of sorts. alongside misty you learned first aid as well as other skills to equip you fit enough for the position. every game you’d tend to their calves and potential injuries that would arise. you enjoyed it. more than you anticipated.

today had been training, so you weren’t expecting anything serious needing to be attended to. or so you thought.

you had been seated on the sides, watching the girls play when the disaster struck. in true to playing her position, lottie had tried to defend a goal incoming by jackie. however in trying to get the ball, came a heavy collision, leading lottie on the floor with a groan and she clutched onto her ankle. instantly you sprung into action, running over to her ssessed her ankle, noting the slight swelling and her grimace of pain.

"lot, can you move your ankle?" you asked gently, your voice laced with concern.

lottie winced as she tried to move it. "it hurts," she admitted, her voice strained.

you nodded, your mind racing as you recalled your first aid training. "okay, i’m going to support your ankle and help you sit up slowly," you instructed, slipping your arm under hers and carefully lifting her into a sitting position.

once she was settled, you reached for the first aid kit you always kept nearby during games. with practiced efficiency, you wrapped an ice pack around lottie's ankle to help reduce the swelling, all the while trying to keep your own nerves in check.

as you helped lottie to her feet, a rush of emotions flooded through you. the worry for her well-being mingled with something else, something deeper that you had been trying to ignore for far too long.

with lottie leaning on you, you guided her off the field and towards the team's locker room, your heart pounding in your chest for an entirely different reason now. as you walked, you stole glances at lottie, her hair slightly disheveled from the game, her eyes filled with a mixture of pain and gratitude.

once you reached the locker room, you helped lottie settle onto a bench before sitting down beside her.

as you tended to lottie's ankle, your worry was palpable, etched across your features making it all too easy for the girl in front of you to know your current mental state and lottie, couldn't help but tease you.

"i’m not going to die, y'know?" she teased, a playful glimpse in her eyes as she watched your grim and overly worried expression.

you couldn't help but chuckle, rolling your eyes at her remark. "fuck off, this could’ve been serious" you replied, your tone light despite the worry gnawing at your insides.

the tension broke into laughter, the sound filling the air and momentarily easing the worry that had settled between you. but as the laughter subsided, a silence fell, heavy with unspoken words.

you found yourself gazing into lottie's eyes, your heart fluttering in your chest as if it were trying to escape the confines of your ribcage. for a moment, it felt as if the world had faded away, as if it were reserved for the two of you only.

but then you shifted your gaze away, focusing on lottie's swollen ankle as if it held all the answers you were searching for. "just keep the ice pack and apply a bit of pressure, okay?" you instructed, your voice soft and gentle.

lottie nodded, her hand reaching for the ice pack as you retracted yours, your fingers grazing against each other in a fleeting touch that sent shivers down your spine. your gazes met again. and then, in a burst of courage fueled by the warmth of lottie's gaze, you blurted out words you had kept hidden for far too long.

"lottie, i..." you began, your voice trailing off as you searched for the right words to express the feelings swirling inside you. but fuck, was it difficult.

she looked at you, her eyes filled with curiosity and maybe something else, something that mirrored the emotions swirling inside you. "you what?" she prompted, her voice soft and encouraging.

you took a deep breath, gathering your courage like armour against the vulnerability of your confession. "i care about you. more than just as a friend. like way more than a friend should honestly." you confessed breathlessly, your heart pounding in your chest with the weight of your words.

for a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath, the air heavy with anticipation as you waited for lottie's response.

“look, it’s okay if you don’t like me that way, i just—“

and then, with a smile that lit up her face like the sun breaking through the clouds, lottie reached out and took your hand in hers, intertwining your fingers in a gesture that spoke volumes without a single word.

"i love you you too. more than a friend.”

oh.

#lottie matthews x reader #lottie matthews #yellowjackets x reader #yellowjackets lottie #lottie x reader #lottie matthews fluff #yellowjackets

[writingquestionsanswered]

How Much World Building is Too Much?

Anonymous asked: This question is on behalf of my cousin who came to me for advice. When he has an idea, he writes the most detailed worldbuilding EVER, designs the characters and has a general idea of how the story will go, but then when he starts writing he does maybe 2 chapters and it dies. I, on the other hand, do ZERO worldbuilding ahead of time (I don't need much) and end up finishing 80% of what I start out to write. How do you know how much worldbuilding is enough? How do you keep from spending so much time planning that by the time you get to writing, you don't know where you're going with the actual story? I want to help him but our styles are so different, I don't know where to start.💔

(Ask edited for length...)

I identify with your cousin a lot, because this is often how my stories go. I'm first inspired by a place, or the idea of a place, and everything sort of grows out from there. In my early days, I would also pour everything into world building and character creation, only to find myself falling flat with the story. And a big part of that, I learned, was that I didn't really understand how stories worked. It was easy to build a world and set up characters, but since I didn't understand story structure, I didn't understand how to flesh out the nugget of a story idea I had to go with that setting.

So, one thing you might do is try to get a feel for where your cousin is in that respect. You can start by asking pointed questions about the potential plot, and if he doesn't have answers already, it will help guide him in that direction. Some questions I would ask:

1 - Who is your protagonist? What is their "normal world" life like before things are turned upside down with the inciting incident?

2 - Who and what is important to your protagonist? (Stakes)

3 - What past experiences have led to them being who they are now?

4 - What needs to change about your protagonist's life, beliefs, or values?

5 - What happens to turn your protagonist's world upside down? (Inciting incident) Who (or what) causes this to happen? (Antagonistic force)

6 - How does this affect your protagonist specifically, and what goal do they decide to pursue in order to resolve the problem?

7 - What steps does your protagonist plan to take in order to reach their goal? What knowledge, skills, resources, or help must they acquire in order to achieve their goal?

8 - What obstacles does the antagonistic force create that the protagonist must overcome on their way to the goal?

9 - How do the events of the story help to change your protagonist's life circumstances, beliefs, or values for better or worse? How will they change by the end of the story?

10 - How does your protagonist face off against the antagonistic force, attempting to defeat them once and for all in order to reach their goal? Are they successful? What is the aftermath and how is the character's world/life changed--for better or worse--as a result of these events?

If your cousin can answer these questions, they'll have a reasonably well fleshed out plot that should help carry them through the story. How little or much planning of the plot ahead of time they need is something they'll need to discover over time, but if the above isn't enough to help them get through the story, they might want to go back and flesh out the specific plot points. You can point them in the direction of my post Creating a Detailed Story Outline, which suggest several different story structure templates they can look at to help them coax out the specific plot points of their story. And, bear in mind that story structure templates do not have to be followed exactly. They're just a guide to help you flesh out the story. Many writers like to combine different elements of different plot structures as a loose guide as they write their stories.

I hope this helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[elisela]

‘this is my husband/boyfriend/partner etc.’ + NurseyDex

that's mine nurseydex, alternating pov

.

Nursey goes flying. Headfirst into the goal, arms flailing, Will thinks he hears a yelp sort of flying. He only resists the urge to roll his eyes because Bitty’s looking right at him and he doesn’t want a lecture. 

Still—when one of the assholes on the other team barks out a laugh and says, “Who was that, Bambi?”, Will can’t help but sigh.

“That’s my teammate, asshole,” he says, and cuts over to check him against the boards. 

—

Derek misses the days that the frogs were wide-eyed and respectful in the Haus. These kids—he’s going to need some sense knocked into them soon. They’re loud, rowdy, and far too interested in integrating into the group by joining in on the teasing, which is a right they have not yet earned.

Like now, when they’re giggling to themselves and looking at him.

“So—” one of them starts, smirking, and never finishes.

“So,” Derek repeats, jerking his thumb at Dex, “that’s my roommate.”

The laughter grates on his nerves, but not as much as pretending he doesn’t care about sharing a room with Dex.

—

Nursey is … singing? Will thinks that’s what he’s trying to do at least, and he’s heard him sing almost every day in the shower so the warbling coming out of his mouth is surprising. He’s not saying Nursey is good by any means, but he can sound decent with the right song and this … this is not the right song.

He doubts the fact that all the words being slurred thanks to being absolutely trashed is helping.

Will stays at the bar until the song is done, resolutely facing away from the somewhat dimly-lit karaoke stage so he doesn’t get dragged into participating. Luckily—or not, considering Ransom and Holster seem to have disappeared so the drunken idiot is now his responsibility—Nursey doesn’t say anything when he comes crashing up to the bar except, “Tequila shots?”

Will can barely understand him, but the look on his face—the one that appears whenever Nursey thinks he’s had a particularly good idea—speaks volumes. “Water,” he says firmly, sliding a waiting pint glass over. 

He really doesn’t understand whatever Nursey mumbles then, but he has more pressing problems, because his lap—previously empty of everything except his coat—is now occupied. “Jesus,” he mutters, trying to wiggle away. “Dude—Nursey—”

“S’comfy,” Nursey says, and Will tries once more to get him to move to his own seat with no avail.

The bartender, when she returns, gives Will a raised eyebrow. “He bothering you? I can get him out.”

Will sighs. “He’s a friend,” he says, and adds, “so he pretty much bothers me all the time.”

“Ya love me, pretty boy,” Nursey says. He starts to laugh—at what, Will has no clue—but it makes him wiggle in a way that Will isn’t sure he’s entirely comfortable with, and Nursey goes sliding to his own seat after another shove.

“Shut up and drink your water,” Will says, and motions to close their tab.

—

“That’s Jack,” Derek says, nudging his grandmother and pointing at the television, where Jack is leaning on the boards and chatting with the coach. “He’s on the Falconers.”

“I’m rooting for them,” she says, and tuts when Derek makes an aborted noise. “Hush, you don’t get to choose who I like. Is he a defender?”

Derek’s been playing hockey most of his life and every time he watches a game with his grandma it’s like she’s never heard of the sport before. “No, he’s not a defenseman,” he says. God help him, he’s never going to get through this game alive. 

The shot switches to a close-up and she hums. “Handsome.”

Derek shrugs. Jack’s fine, he supposes. A bit too bland for him, nothing that really stands out, not like—”And that’s Dex—Will—over there, in the white. Will—he’s my—” he swallows a bit too hard.

“If you think I haven’t figured out you like men and women, Derek, we’re going to need to have a conversation regarding your assumptions about my intelligence.”

He wonders if God would actually strike him down if he prayed hard enough. “He’s my boyfriend, Gram,” he says, staring resolutely at the television.

She hums again. “That Jack is more handsome though, don’t you think?”

It’s going to be a long game.

—

Will’s trying to hide. Table at the back, hat still on and pulled down low, black hoodie and black jeans. Anything to make himself blend into the background, because he doesn’t want to be caught dead here.

He also doesn’t want to be involved in any conversations, not that the girls at the table next to him have picked up on that. He’d made two fatal errors: being cordial when one of them had said hello, and admitting he’s never been to an open-mic poetry night.

They haven’t stopped talking to him since. 

“Okay, this guy—I’m not sure he’s your type, you know? Not that you aren’t like, super intelligent—I mean you’re here, right, so obviously—but he has a lot of heavy themes in his work if you really dig in and you really need to hear them a few times to peel back the layers. I’m hoping he reads the tree above the grave again, it’s—”

She cuts off, finally, when a cough sounds from the front and Derek begins to speak. There’s utter silence while he recites words that Will’s heard a hundred times over in various iterations, tweaked and stressed and polished until he could probably say them in his sleep, then an excited outburst of conversation among applaus when it’s over.

“Amazing, right?” she says, and keeps talking while Will nods. “Have you heard of him before?”

Will looks at her. “He’s the one I came for,” he answers honestly, grinning for the first time all night when he sees Derek making his way over. “He’s my husband.”

#'this is the only fic i'll write' i said #ha #what an idiot i am #nurseydex #missanniewhimsy #eli writes #omgcp

[sehodreams]

ofc character toxification is fine! 💣

TW and Tags: toxic!conservative!riize, sexist behaviors and thoughts, don't know what else to put.

Thank you, this was interesting hahaha, it kind of became in a list of sexist ideas and behaviors, but still hope you like it.

From this question:

Most

Eunseok

Wonbin

Sungchan

Seunghan

Shotaro

Sohee

Anton

Least

Eunseok is definitely the kind of guy who wants his girl to be 24/7 for him, you have to be his good little doll waiting at home all the time, you have to look pretty, nod to everything he says and be dumb all the time, smart girls talk too much and he doesn't like that at all. Don't even think about working outside either, your place is right there cleaning his house and in the kitchen cooking for him. It wouldn't be a surprise that he's one of the guys who would actually talk to people about how they have to keep their girls in check, making sure they're not acting like little sluts out there and do their only job in this world, stay at home satisfying their needs, and he'd even preach about it in front of your face, you nodding after he brainwashed you.

Wonbin is such an asshole with all the female population, he thinks they all have to meet society beauty standards to deserve his attention and respect as human beings, and wouldn't say much in front of them, but behind their backs he'd talk about how disgusting they look if they don't shave, wore makeup or kept a neat look. Also, I don't know why, but if you were his wife he wouldn't care that you're in an important point of your career (he doesn't mind you working), if he wants you to stop and have his children, you will.

Sungchan feels like the bro that wants children from you yes or yes, he'd practically see you as his own incubator instead of his wife, and would also always talk about it, how many BOYS he wants to play with, and how a little girl would be perfect to complete the team (but just one, not more), he wants children so much that would forget that you're a person with feelings and that you should be the one deciding how many you want too. On top of that, he'd really complain about how low the birth rate is, saying how sad is that women have lost the desire of fulfilling their role in the world as mothers.

Seunghan is the kind of guy who wants his girl pure, and that means, virgin. Just the idea of you opening your legs for someone that's not him makes his blood boil, like, where's your respect to yourself? Oh, and don't even dare to tell him that he has to be a virgin too, he'd firmly affirm that it's not the same, even trash talking about divorced women because they're already "used". He'd also convince you, to not say gaslight you, into thinking men can't only be with one woman since it's in their nature to cheat.

Shotaro has this artsy vibe, he's a dancer, he's grown up in this free of judgment space, I just don't think he'd ever judge a woman about her career goals and her choices about family, unless she's his girlfriend. He'd pressure to look pretty and skinny, making you lose weight with sutil but hurtful comments like "uhmm, are you sure about dessert?", making you always judge how you look and compare yourself with the girls he works with. Also, like I said, he wouldn't mind if you worked, however, he'd totally hate that you didn't take care enough of the house if you worked too much, he doesn't care that the two of you have exhausting jobs, when he arrives he wants his dinner hot and his bath ready.

Sohee wouldn't have any problem with you working and not having children, but he'd support the idea of women taking care of the household, he'd wash the dishes and leave everything else to you (from buying the ingredients, cooking, to serving the meal), and he'd affirm to everyone that he's always helping around the house. It's not that he doesn't how to survive on his own, but if you were his wife, he'd just leave most of the work to you, and would probably choose to marry you with that in mind too (the idea of having practically a servant). Also, he'd hate if you earned more money than him, probably making you quit or convincing you to have an "easier" job that paid you less just to not feel his position as the house head in danger.

I don't feel nothing from Anton, he'd love a bad bitch with thick makeup, a different style, that felt passion for her career and never cooked. He's still dumb with household chores, he wouldn't be able to survive on his own, but he'd never pressure you into doing everything on your own, and he do wants children, but if you don't then there's no pressure neither, your body your choice.

#riize x reader #dark!riize #anton x reader #shotaro x reader #eunseok x reader #seunghan x reader #sungchan x reader #wonbin x reader #sohee x reader #riize x plus size reader #(💣)

[munson-blurbs]

Eddie X restaurant X chopsticks lol

Couldn't decide if I wanted lovesick Eddie or mischievous Eddie, so I went with both 🤷‍♀️

Warnings: mentions of smut (but nothing actually happens), reader has shitty parents

WC: 1.4k oops

--

Laying in the back of Eddie’s van, head resting on his bare chest and intertwining your cherry-red nails with his jet black ones, you should feel completely at ease. The hazy post-sex glow envelops you both, and you snuggle in closer to him, trying to alleviate the anxiety bubbling in your chest.

“What’s going on, Sweetheart?” he murmurs into your hair, pressing a tender kiss to your scalp. You’ve only been together for three months, but he already knows when something’s eating you. There’s no point in trying to lie to him.

“My, um, my parents want to meet you,” you mumble, feeling your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “When I go home in a few weeks.” You’d only moved to Indianapolis, a short forty-minute drive from your hometown, but it’s far enough that you don’t get to see your family very often.

Eddie breathes a sigh of relief. “‘S that all?” He rubs your shoulder, nuzzling into your neck so that his curly hair tickles your shoulders. “Jesus, I thought you were breaking up with me or somethin’.” He kisses across your collarbones, sending shivers of pleasure down your spine. 

“They’re just so…pretentious,” you tell him, rolling your eyes. “Like, we can’t just order pizza at home; they want to take us out for sushi.”

“Sushi?” Eddie wrinkles his nose. “As in…raw fish? And seaweed?” He puffs out his cheeks. “You’re lucky ‘m so crazy ‘bout you, baby.”

Somehow, that sentiment isn’t comforting. Because you know that Eddie would do damn near anything for you, even endure a sushi dinner with your high-strung parents, but you can’t promise that they’ll treat him with the respect he deserves. They’d always imagined you being with some well-to-do trust fund city boy, not a guy from a trailer park in Hawkins, Indiana. Eddie came to Indianapolis with just his guitar and a dream, and while his goal of being a rockstar hadn’t quite taken off yet, he was one of the hardest working people you’d ever met. Working at the record store during the day, playing bar gigs at night, and making time for you in between. You didn’t know how he managed it. And through it all, he never once made you feel like an obligation or a burden.

And so, weeks later, you and Eddie sit side-by-side in your Toyota Corolla as you pull into the restaurant parking lot. Eddie offered to drive his van, but you knew that just hearing the way the gears grind would unnerve your parents. Instead, you made some excuse about your car getting better gas mileage, and he’d gone along with it.

“We’re here,” you announce through gritted teeth, killing the engine. You grip your boyfriend’s hand, calloused from years of guitar playing. “God, I feel like I’m leading you into the lion’s den.” 

Eddie’s quiet for a moment—a rarity for him—before he finally asks the question that’s been wracking his brain since you’d told him about this dinner. “If your parents don’t like me, are you gonna…” He can’t even finish the thought, looking down at the floor mats, a pinkish tinge coloring his cheeks. 

“Oh, Eds.” Your heart splinters at the mere thought of leaving him. “No, I would never. I love my parents, but I hate their snap judgments. I know who you are, and I love who you are, and that’s what matters.” You manage a smile and start to open your door. 

“Wait!” Eddie suddenly exclaims, leaping from his seat and running to your side of the car. He holds the door open, waiting for you to unbuckle your seatbelt. “Allow me, m’lady.”

You can’t help but giggle as he takes your hand and helps you out of the car. “Thank you, kind sir,” you reply with a small curtsy. 

Eddie looks around, checking if the coast is clear before giving your ass a light smack. You gasp at the sudden contact, but he just chuckles. “Had to sneak one in before I gotta be on my best behavior.”

Walking into the restaurant hand-in-hand, you find your parents sitting at a booth by the window. “Mom, Dad,” you start after kissing them both ‘hello,’ “this is Eddie. My boyfriend. Eddie, these are my parents.” While you know Eddie will pick up on the strain in your voice, you hope your parents will remain oblivious. 

“Nice to meet you both,” Eddie greets them, extending his hand for your dad to shake. But the older man just looks at it and frowns. 

“Is that nail polish?” he asks, furrowing his brows. “A bit girly, don’t you think?”

Off to a great start. 

“It really completes his stage image,” you jump in, desperately trying to save a flustered Eddie. “He’s an amazing guitarist. Even has his own band!”

This piques your mom’s interest. “Oh,” she says, smiling politely. “What kind of music do you play? I’ve always loved The Beatles.”

“Um, mostly metal,” Eddie shrugs. “Ozzy, Dio, Metallica?”

Your mom’s expression falters. “I can’t say I’m familiar with their work.” She makes no attempt to continue the conversation, and you each stare at your menus in awkward silence. 

The waiter’s arrival is a welcome disruption. You order a tuna roll and a California roll for you and Eddie to share, trying to keep the discussion light. Your parents ask about work, and you give enough detail to satisfy them without warranting further questions. 

“So, Eddie,” your dad asks, making direct eye contact with your boyfriend, “what do you do for a living?”

Eddie grins proudly. “I manage a record store. Worked my way up from stock boy; now, I basically run the place.” He glances at you and gives you a look that says, Nailed it. But you’ve been down this road before. 

Your father considers his response. “Hmm,” he finally says, “I didn’t know they hired people with tattoos for managerial positions.”

You cringe as Eddie’s face falls. “Um, Mom,” you stammer nervously, picking at an invisible hangnail, “how’s Grandma?”

Temporarily reprieved from the interrogation, Eddie leans back in his seat and discretely squeezes your hand. You squeeze back, making a mental note to apologize profusely for your parents’ behavior. 

When dinner arrives, you only have a moment of calm before the next crisis presents itself. Eddie unravels his cloth napkin to reveal chopsticks. Fucking chopsticks. A man who could—and had—eat spaghetti with his hands, and you’d forgotten to warn him about the chopsticks. 

“If you need a fork—” you start in a hushed whisper, but Eddie shakes his head, expertly using the utensils to pick up a piece of the tuna roll, gently coating it in soy sauce and popping it into his mouth. 

What the fuck?

The rest of the meal is filled with mundane chatter, and you’re just grateful that your parents stopped grilling your boyfriend. The boyfriend who suddenly has the ability to wield chopsticks like he’s been using them his whole life. 

“Eddie,” you hiss under your breath as your mom excuses herself to the restroom and your dad tries to flag over the waiter for a drink refill, “since when do you know how to use chopsticks?”

Eddie gives one of his signature mischievous smirks. “Been ordering Chinese takeout everyday for lunch this week, just so I could learn.” He presses a chaste kiss to your cheek. “Impressed?”

You nod enthusiastically. “Very.”

“Good.” There’s a twinkle in his eyes, and he lowers his voice to whisper in your ear: “Because I’m gonna need a reward for sitting through this dinner, and I’d like to show you what else these fingers can do.”

Your eyes widen. “Okay,” you turn towards your father, “Dad, we’ve gotta go. I forgot I told my boss that I’d turn in a project by midnight tonight,” you babble, reaching for your purse. 

“It’s only 6:30,” your dad protests, glancing at his wristwatch. 

“Yeah, well, it’s a big project. Massive.” You awkwardly hold your arms out wide to emphasize your point. It’s not until you hear Eddie stifle a laugh that you realize the implication you’ve made. “Well, bye. See you soon!” You take Eddie’s hand and practically sprint out of the restaurant. 

“So,” he says once you’re back in the safety of your Toyota, waggling his eyebrows teasingly, “massive, huh?”

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