#do you understand me.

[theminecraftbee]

Here is how to slowly, completely, and irrevocably fall into having someone know your soul as well as you do theirs:

First, be enemies, but of circumstance. Neither of you were really on opposite sides so much as connected to them. You think he loved them, though, that side that was only your enemy by virtue of not being your ally. He loved them, even if he didn't spend as much time with them. You mock him for this. For calling their leader 'king'. (Later, you'll hold onto mockery like it's all you have. You know it's not a game and you know he was really king, but without your ability to make fun of what's happening, you won't be much at all.)

You have a best friend then. This, too, is almost an accident, although to explain all the ways it's also on purpose will take longer than you have to explain. He's wonderful, and loyal, and going to die. So you die fast and young first, before him. You die in front of your friend. You die in front of him.

You don't regret it, the dying young, because it means you die before anyone else can die for you.

Second, watch your best friend fall in love with him, although that phrase feels both too pedestrian and too much like it's overstating the thing that really happens. You have your own drama for too long to really understand how it happens, of course. You're too busy facing a betrayal that will scrape the inside of your soul forever. (To tell the truth, you've already forgiven him for it, but there's something easy about being each other's enemies, so you keep going, orbiting around each other in betrayal betrayal betrayal. But that's someone else who knows your soul, another story.)

Then your best friend dies, as does nearly everyone else. You sit around a campfire with him. You tell him that your best friend trusts him; you'll trust him too. He stands by your side near the end, the two of you running together, another man's memories on your lips.

You're not sure what you regret, then, but you know there's something that won't undo that's a part of you now.

Third, learn the value of choices, as the universe tries its best to take yours from you. In this one, the people you're by the side of is at once familiar and strange. The finalists who'd protected you last time are now an ugly mix of your chosen soulmate and your enemy by making that choice; you attempt to hold on to your ability to choose even as blood makes it clear you can't. (The universe tried to pick someone who would fit you well, you realize later. More people who know your soul that this story isn't actually about. You care for him too, is the thing; you care for choosing more.)

You don't see him much, this time. You respect each other, though. It's hard not to respect each other after everything that's happened. Still, you don't see him, and he doesn't see you. Instead, you see the end of the game. You nearly hold it in your fingers.

You regret. You regret deeply. You are so tired of watching people die, you think, and you regret more than anything else that you couldn't stop it.

Fourth, become enemies, but this time intentionally. Enemies, maybe, is a strong word; you're assigned co-parents, except bad, divorced ones. There's something hysterical about the whole thing, in both the comedic sense of the word and in the original, more concerning sense, especially given the way you all have thought about your best friend-now-son in the past. (Family ties are a thing you'll come to value; it's just that what the names are don't count, really, not when you do this again and again and again. Plus, it's nice to be able to have an excuse to yell.)

It's almost fun again. Maybe it's almost fun. You trade barbs with each other, and try to kill each other, and this time the consequences are light enough that you try to help each other, too. You see each other a lot. You're enemies, of course, but you see each other a lot, as you are: scared, and tired, and not as frightening as you appear, and happy, despite it all.

You don't regret much. You die fast and young, alongside your allies. You see his face before you do though, and you think he's the one with regrets.

Fifth, trip over him as you run across the first session of a new game. You don't know yet what this one will be, if it will be betrayals, or more stolen choices, or family, or fun, or anything else, but you look him in the eyes and make a choice. You will be friends this time instead of enemies. And it's nice. He and you fit together oddly now, but well, despite the oddities. You've had time to learn to, from a distance, and then closer and closer. (People seem baffled you're friends now. You wish you could explain that that's how these stories go sometimes.)

You're pretty certain he'll leave you when the time comes. He says he's a runner, and not a protector, and yet, when the time comes to betray you, you both know he won't hurt you, and you're both surprised anyway.

"You might regret this," you tell him quietly. You both have scars.

"You might regret this," he agrees. But you also both have choices.

"Okay," you say. "Have you ever fallen in love?"

"Cleo," he says, brushing your hair aside, and he doesn't answer.

"I don't think I have," you say honestly. "I think it's something else. Have you ever accidentally given someone a piece of your soul?"

"All the time," he says, and that's that.

The end is coming soon. You'll find out if you regret it.

#secret life smp #secret life spoilers #zombiecleo #ethoslab #a bee fic #trafficshipping #<- YEAH OKAY THIS IS A LITTLE MORE BLATANT THAN I NORMALLY AM. #you can read this platonically if you WANT but. it's. yeah it needs the tag. #anyway etho and cleo are soulmates but they're soulmates who very slowly and almost accidentally slid into being it #who built their way up to soulmates over time #do you understand me. #...also it DOES strike me the irony of tagging shipping on the fic where the lead SPECIFICALLY SAYS she hasn't fallen in love but #YOU KNOW. ITS THE VIBES.

[autoraton]

Riz pulling so much weight for everyone and securing votes vs Kristen being the closest to failing out of school thus inadvertently screwing him. plus her inadvertently bringing Kalina back, who as it stands serves as an antagonistic and deeply painful force in Riz's life. there's just something really ripe and tragic about their friendship rn (even moreso if you wanna throw in the meta that the narrative was steered towards Riz running against Kipperlilly) and it's neither of their faults. I feel like I'm watching a disaster in slow motion.

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #kristen applebees #riz gukgak #fantasy high junior year #it's inevitable don't you understand it's inevitable #riz was always going to be deeply selfless and work himself to death to help his friends. he was never gonna say no. #kristen is put into a continuous series of deeply unfair situations and has to deal with the consequent pain of so much failure #do you understand me. #said all this in the tags of a funny gifset i was reblogging #before realising i can just make a post. i have a blog. #anyways i hope this didn't come off critical of kristen because i dont feel that way at all. literally this sucks so bad girl im sorry #chatter.txt

[bonefall]

Does Gorseclaw look like a little business man? Give him a tie at the very least. Maybe a watch?

No but for some reason I decided eons ago that each of the major characters in Ripplestar's Rot would have suit themes. So far Ripplestar is hearts, Larkstripe is currently diamonds, Spottedpelt is clubs, Gorseclaw is spades.

I might change the suits around though, to mark bloodlines. Like, make both Lark and Ripple have hearts, Spot and Gorse get spades, Marshscar takes diamonds, etc. Unsure, I've gotta play with it.

So. You could say. You could say he has a business card.

#BB!Gorseclaw does have the vibe of like... a character with bottle glasses #Those tiny black OO-shaped lenses that just cover the eyes #Person who is kinda unintimidating and hides their emotions #But in your soul you know those little peepers have seen fire reflected in them and their grimmace was tombstones #Do you understand me. #Funny enough it is not the same vibe i have for the brokenkin family #They remind me more of dexter laboratory lmao #ALSO ALSO im gonna try and push a design for cloudstar later

[carry-on-my-wayward-gays]

Pure vibrating and foaming at the mouth w the unlocked potential for rancher fics now that Saint Jim is a thing

#shadow says a thing #rancher duo #team rancher #DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME. #RATTLING THE BARS OF MY CAGE PLS SOMEONE GET IT

[stonerzelda]

gotta say every time i leave and come back its like way easier to understand that it is true when ppl say 80% of the bullshit people will be arguing abt on here and throwing fckin like. Lexicon ass words to sound smart about does not in fact mean or say anything at all

#its like whiplash like my god we live like this. i lived like this #you GOTTA care and have compassion yes ofc. however in fact Not everything is that deep as it doth turn out #do you understand me.

[stewyonmolly]

i just accidentally convinced my mamma to watch salò… possibly one of the worst things i’ve ever done to her.

#like i wail and weep and like carp while watching it. the incredible pain of my people whatever whatever but my mom’s parents literally #lived in occupied italy like her father watched bombs drop as a child. she wants to watch it to understand the lives of her grandparents and #im like yeah ma that’s why i watched it but you shouldn’t watch it. but i did but you shouldn’t #do you understand me.

[wallace-wells]

love bugs -- harley poe // other people's tongues -- the dan emry mystery band

#lyrics #harley poe #the dan emry mystery band #do you understand me. #🖍️

[irl-morros-account]

I'll tell you one thing. I will and can become a cowboy.

When you am become cowboy

#do you understand me. #morro irl account #irl morro #ninjago #answering asks #askingbelleysprouty-help

[hotchocolat6]

the only time i like to draw them is early in the morning after i’ve pulled an all nighter i can only capture their true essence when sleep deprived

#dronpa #danganronpa #drv3 #drv3 chapter 5 spoilers #kokichi ouma #kaito momota #oumota #pee #sorry if these look insane to you guys im very tired and emontianal about them #emotional #for someone who hasnt got past ch3 yet i am so crazy over these two and ch5 #htats a bit funny to think about right. ive been into this game since i was 12 and have never finished it #because at first i didnt feel like playing the game so i just spoiled aeverything for myself #idk why i did that. ir egret it so so much #ok well enough abiut rhat #theres also hxh if you squint. i drew them as leopika #theyre nothing like them but theyre also so like them #do you understand me.

[dogmotifz]

men who I need to get pregnant vs men who I need to eat whole and pick his armpit hair out of my teeth

#do you understand me. #nsft

[futuresafe]

#my posts #i feel the brainrot returning. #it's activating my tisms again #you don't understand how much of my Me goes back to ninjago #i started drawing bc of it. #i even started writing bc of it. #do you see. #do you understand me.

[loveoaths]

sith obi-wan is fun because you get to explore what he’d be like if he turned his back on his beliefs and leaned into hedonism, while still retaining his obi wan-ness and being posh and genteel and a passive aggressive bitch.

jedi maul is fun because he is the EXACT SAME only for the good guys now.

#do you understand me. #I mean if I’m being honest maul is only the same if he’s brought in late like when he’s 10 or ABSOLUTE MAX of 12 and he’s fighting against #what’s already instilled in him #but jedi since infancy maul is… interesting #because from what I’ve gleaned (without reading his books yet) he was actually kind of a sweet child? #had trouble accessing the dark side all the way up until 17? #desperate to be loved? inchresting #not to be extra but an au where maul is situated opposite to anakin somehow (idk fudge the ages) is very interesting to me too #I think they’d play against each other very well #walkie talkie.

[motherearthsplantasia1976]

shes transfem To me.

#do you understand me. #i think more people should hc whatever character to be transfem/masc/whatever and use different pronouns for themlike this #its fun :*] *looks at my friend smelther

[localvoidcat]

still thinking about ruth and dave. btw

#they do each others eyeliner and bully thatcher. she pretends to lose to clack in arm wrestling matches. they do each others hrt shots #do you understand me.

[poryphoria]

why isnt zira a tumblr sexywoman is it bc she's a quadrupedal lion. or is it because no one knows that the lion king 2 was a movie. she should be a tumblr sexywoman anyways just don't be weird about the fact that she's a quadrupedal animal

#sexywoman in spirit i guess #do you understand me. #pory turgles

[babydarkstar]

no man is heath ledger’s joker but every woman is margot robbie’s harley quinn

#put this on a t shirt and call me a genius #do you understand me.