#god i hope they learned. something. or i changed some opinion. they seemed to have a more positive view of autistic people at least

[andromedasummer]

i ended up having a like. 30 minute conversation with some of those "freedom convoy" people. was at the bus stop. they were wearing trump hats. i ended up roped into the conversation because i was so taken aback at seeing one in public i was just. staring at it. ive never felt more depressed about someone elses life and beliefs than when i talked to them.

#they fucking. tokd me about the litterboxes in schools for kids identifying as cats and i had to #break it to them that that wasnt true and explained that. also explained. what its like yo be autistic. how i find it joyful #and also discussed how they believe trump has been spoken to by god and chosen to lead and how they arent christians or catholics like they #used to be but instead talk directly to him and have him inside them #and also apparently how 15 minute cities in china are used to keep people imprisoned where they are #and we arent a democracy anymore. which was so funny considering. they are participating for a party #running in the election #i gave them my perspective on being transgender and gay and watched them have like. 3 or 4 ''are we the baddies'' moments #explained what puberty blockers actually do. that surgery is paid out of peoples own pockets. that we literally only have #one doctor who can perform these surgeries and hes abt to retire #and at the end of the convo they were like ''youre so pleasant. youre really smart young lady'' and i was like ''ty? i just. read a lot' #god i hope they learned. something. or i changed some opinion. they seemed to have a more positive view of autistic people at least #i just like. fuck dude. these fuckin right wing grifters are ruining these peoples lives. #the lady has been unemployeed since covid cos she got sucked into this antivax stuff and now theyre both financially unstable #perfect targets for tamaki and the freedoms people who were known for squeezing money out of people through bogus religious stuff #those two have been twisted into just. hateful and scared and are saying the most. insane shit and they dont even realize it. #and the worst part of it was the amount of young people there. so many people my age just deluded into this nonsense. #and kids JESUS CHRIST so many kids holding signs about ''protecting the kiwi way of life'' like bro every single thing #you are getting upset about an imported culture war. you arent threatened by this shit. #youve latched onto american culture war stuff because youre insecure in your whiteness and existence in a colonial country #its so fucking evil.

[preet-01]

Maxiel Political AU

Word Count: 1243

Summary: Max Verstappen only had one goal - to be President. It's all he's wanted since he was just seven years old and all that he's worked towards. But bachelors don't get elected as Presidents, for the most part. Enter Daniel Ricciardo. Daniel's the ideal candidate for the country's most prominent and stressful unpaid job: the President's loving partner, a pretty bauble for the country to fall in love with and look towards. In secret meetings, contracts are signed and a marriage is arranged. Max and Daniel must convince the American people that they are a loving couple and perfect for the White House

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Chapter Two

In the political campaign business, there are certain names that everyone knows regardless of party lines or election levels. Campaign managers, press secretaries, and speechwriters became household names for politicians and politician hopefuls over the years. 

One such name is Sebastian Vettel. 

The German-American from Philly had entered the political scene fresh out of college and had carved out a space for himself. 

From local campaigns to presidential campaigns, he had worked on everything and anything. But his most notable career achievement was approximately four years ago when he was on the Hamilton presidential campaign as the press secretary. 

Now, years later and with many successful campaigns under his belt, Sebastian was looking towards another presidential campaign to put his name on. 

Max Verstappen, by all accounts that Sebastian had heard, was the next big thing after Lewis Hamilton came onto the scene. And by rumors that he’d heard from his contacts, Max Verstappen would be running for President in 2028. 

“You’re barely finished with your first term as a Senator,” Sebastian states when he finally has a meeting with Max Verstappen. The young senator is ambitious, but he does have the results to back it. Though Sebastian would not tell him that just yet, perhaps after they’ve won the presidency. 

“The election is still four years away. Plenty of time for any inexperience to become experience,” Max states. He has no doubts in his abilities. The next few years will be enough for him to fix any shortcomings and build an electable resume for himself. 

“Indeed, I do not doubt that. Your record so far speaks for itself,” Sebastian says, though he seems to be holding back on something. 

“But?” Max inquires. 

“But there are things outside of your work record that will influence your presidential campaign,” Sebastian replies. 

They leave it at that, despite Max wanting to know more about it. Sebastian says it is a matter for a later time, and that he needs to work out some things in the background before it becomes a pressing issue. 

While Max would like to know more about Sebastian’s pressing concerns, he does have committee meetings to go to, and- his train of thought is broken by a text he gets from one of his colleagues. 

S.4398 is going to the courts for constitutional violations 

Plaintiffs hired Ricciardo from Thompson and Lancaster. Should be an easy win 

Max is confused because is he supposed to know who Ricciardo is? There were too many lawyers in the district to know everyone.  

____

“Are you wearing a signet ring?” Oscar questions. When they said that he could get an intern, Daniel assumed that he would get a helpful intern eager to learn and do whatever Daniel needed. He had been like that, taking whatever scraps he could get. Instead, he received Oscar. And while Oscar was very polite at first glance, in Daniel’s opinion the twenty-three-year-old was a menace to society – well mainly to Daniel, but he was society. “Oh god, you’re one of those lawyers,” he groans. 

“It’s a family ring and my grandfather is in town,” Daniel sighs. He hadn’t worn the family signet ring consistently since they’d found out he was a carrier, but his grandfather was in town and he couldn’t get away with it. “Have you filed the McKinley documents?” he asks, changing the conversation from his family to the newest case that Daniel had been chosen as the head lawyer. His record of winning had made it an easy decision for the bosses and plaintiffs.

“Filed them this morning,” Oscar replies, “Vergne was sniffing around about the case when I was filing.” 

“Of course he was. Boss man’s not been very subtle that this case could potentially make me partner,” Daniel sighs. His once close friendship with Jev had suffered with both of them at the same firm and Daniel’s promotion potential being greater than his. He was sad about it, of course, law school would have been hell if it wasn’t for Jev’s friendship. But Daniel wanted to become partner and he’d do whatever was needed to achieve that. 

“We’re meeting with McKinley tomorrow morning, I want you there,” Daniel tells Oscar. Oscar had been his intern for months now, but he hadn’t sat in any of the meetings so far. 

“What?” And for probably the first time, Daniel is able to surprise Oscar. 

“I think you’re ready and it is the next step,” Daniel replies. 

The rest of the day goes by without a hitch. Daniel can avoid seeing his grandfather until it’s time to leave the office. 

His grandfather is waiting for him in front of the building with a town car. “Daniel,” he greets with a nod and motions to the town car. Daniel sighs as he enters the car. All he wanted was to go home and just be a blob in his bed as he contemplated some innocuous decision that he’d made. But when Joseph Ricciardo shows up at your job with a town car, you get in the town car. 

“How was your trip, grandfather?” Daniel inquires. 

“It was adequate,” the older man replies. “I spoke with your friend, the campaign manager,” he says. 

“Sebastian? Why?” Daniel questions. As far as Daniel knows, there was no reason for his grandfather to speak with Sebastian. Daniel knows that his grandfather had gotten acquainted with Seb when Seb worked on the Hamilton campaign the first time around and he endorsed Lewis Hamilton. But since then, as far as Daniel knew, Sebastian hadn’t worked on a campaign that would require an endorsement from his grandfather. 

“He is taking on a new presidential campaign for 28,” Joseph says. “A Senator from New York,” he adds. Daniel knows one of the Senators from New York – John Robbins – they’d gotten coffee a handful of times over the years. He doesn’t think John is a presidential hopeful and he isn’t the type of candidate that Seb likes to work with. No Seb likes younger politicians, not those over the retirement age. 

“Robbins?” 

“No, the other one. Verstappen,” Joseph answers. 

“Verstappen?” Daniel tries to think back to what he knows of the young Senator from New York. Relatively new to the Senate, younger than most of his colleagues, the same party as Lewis, unmarried, and not as established as other 2028 presidential hopefuls. “He’d never win. Not yet anyway,” Daniel says. The voters didn't like unmarried newcomers they barely knew. Politics was a game of strategy and name recognition.

“Hhm, at his present state, he would not win, but should his situation change and he gets more established support, then he does have a strong chance,” Joseph says, handing him a file. “Sebastian compiled a file on him. He will be contacting you soon to discuss a potential, mutually beneficial agreement for both parties involved,” he says. 

Daniel knows what a mutually beneficial agreement means. This wouldn’t be the first time that Daniel had gotten such a file from his grandfather. His cousin’s aspirations were more in line with the videogame industry than politics, so a presidency was far-fetched. Therefore, the attention had returned to getting Daniel hitched to some Senator or Governor who could take the Ricciardo name to the highest office in the country. 

Usually, he ignored them and found one reason or another to deny them. But this was someone that Seb would be working with and that intrigued him. 

He’d meet this Senator Verstappen.

________

I feel iffy about this chapter, but it's a necessary step to get to the first meeting in the next chapter

Updates will be every other week

#political au #maxiel #the beauty of their dreams

[edenmemes]

game of thrones (book) starters

❝ a mind needs books like it needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. ❞ ❝ a lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep. ❞ ❝ nothing burns like the cold. ❞ ❝ i've angered you. that was never my intent. ❞ ❝ do the dead frighten you? ❞ ❝ the day will come when you need them to respect you, even fear you a little. ❞ ❝ did i offend you? my pardons...but you are scum. ❞ ❝ folly and desperation are offtimes hard to tell apart. ❞ ❝ you must put your dreams aside. they will only break your heart. ❞ ❝ a man in your place should count himself fortunate that his head is still on his shoulders. ❞ ❝ every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson makes you better. ❞ ❝ life is not a song. someday you will learn that, to your sorrow. ❞ ❝ once you’ve accepted your flaws, no one can use that against you. ❞ ❝ the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. ❞ ❝ make no mistake. i fought for you, but i do not love you. ❞ ❝ some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word. ❞ ❝ fear cuts deeper than swords. ❞ ❝ if i look back i am lost. ❞ ❝ your mind is as deft as your blade, it would seem. ❞ ❝ i cannot think of anyone whose company i desire less than yours. ❞ ❝ sleep is the great healer. ❞ ❝ when you play a game of thrones, you win or you die. ❞ ❝ most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. ❞ ❝ the things we love destroy us every time. remember that. ❞ ❝ death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities. ❞ ❝ what, lost your taste of adventure? ❞ ❝ i have seen dead men with more humor than you. ❞ ❝ there are times when you give me cause to wonder whose side you are on. ❞ ❝ what good is it to wear a crown? the gods mock the prayers of kings and cowherds alike. ❞ ❝ the gods have fashioned us for love. that is our great glory, and our great tragedy. ❞ ❝ i have a tender spot in my heart for broken things. ❞ ❝ laughter is poison to fear. ❞ ❝ love is the bane of honor, the death of duty. ❞ ❝ we need men of your courage. ❞ ❝ my crimes and sins are beyond counting. ❞ ❝ perhaps i was wrong to distrust you. ❞ ❝ do you always find murder so amusing? ❞ ❝ i will not soften the truth for you. if you lose, there is no hope for any of us. ❞ ❝ every flight begins with a fall. ❞ ❝ oh, my sweet summer child, what do you know of fear? ❞ ❝ the man who fears losing has already lost. ❞ ❝ the things i do for love. ❞ ❝ all the grief has been burned out of me. ❞ ❝ i make no threats. that was a promise. ❞ ❝ spare me your empty little compliments. ❞ ❝ i will not forget the help you gave me. ❞ ❝ let them see that their words can cut you and you’ll never be free of the mockery. ❞ ❝ a lord must learn that sometimes words can accomplish what swords cannot. ❞ ❝ you wear your honor like a suit of armor...you think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down. ❞ ❝ a dead enemy is a thing of beauty. ❞ ❝ you look well, but...tired. ❞ ❝ love is sweet, but it cannot change a man’s nature. ❞ ❝ if you tell anyone, i’ll kill you. ❞ ❝ minds are like swords. the old ones go to rust. ❞ ❝ there’s something wrong here. can’t you feel it? listen to the darkness. ❞ ❝ everything’s better with some wine in the belly. ❞ ❝ grief can derange even the most strongest and most disciplined of minds. ❞ ❝ in life, the monsters win. ❞ ❝ damn it. you might at least humor me with a smile. ❞ ❝ why is it when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what’s on the other side? ❞ ❝ if you must hate, hate those who truly do us harm. ❞ ❝ tell me again what you saw. all the details. leave nothing out. ❞ ❝ what do you think might’ve killed these men? ❞ ❝ you are too hard on yourself. you always were. ❞ ❝ such eloquence. i never suspected you had it in you. ❞ ❝ if i need instruction, i will ask for it. ❞ ❝ if there are enemies in this wood, a fire is the last thing we want. ❞ ❝ what is it? you’re shaking. ❞ ❝ i am out of wine and out of patience. ❞ ❝ i am pleased to see there are still men of sense in this city. ❞ ❝ i do not mean to frighten you, but neither will i lie to you. ❞ ❝ we have come to a dangerous place. we have enemies who mean us ill will. ❞ ❝ you have the wildness in you. ❞ ❝ i can only stomach so much ineptitude in any one day. ❞ ❝ what you are is weak. ❞ ❝ why, that almost sounds like praise. ❞ ❝ none of us wants trouble, but i fear these are troubed times. ❞ ❝ keep out of matters that don’t concern you. ❞ ❝ i trust you as i would my own blood. ❞ ❝ just where do you think you are going? ❞ ❝ give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and i’ll sleep more soundly at night. ❞ ❝ i am in no mood for your insolence today. ❞ ❝ you weren’t supposed to be here. no one was supposed to be here. ❞ ❝ you are shaking. do i frighten you so much? ❞ ❝ there is small honor in tricks. ❞ ❝ we who presume to rule must do vile things for the good of the realm. ❞ ❝ should war come again, how many soldiers will die? how many towns will burn? ❞ ❝ it is one thing to be clever and another to be wise. ❞ ❝ even in a place like this, one never knows who may be watching. ❞ ❝ forgive me. i am tired. ❞ ❝ if friends can turn to enemies, enemies can become friends. ❞ ❝ all alone, are you? ❞ ❝ we are about justice here, and what you seek is vengeance. ❞ ❝ i promise you, no harm will come to you. ❞ ❝ you will dishonor yourself forever if you do this. ❞ ❝ we all need to be mocked from time from time, lest we start to take ourselves too seriously. ❞ ❝ open the door. we need to talk. ❞ ❝ come share my fire, the night is cold. ❞ ❝ make certain i never look on your face again, or i swear, i’ll have your head on a spike. ❞ ❝ you dare give commands to me? to me? ❞ ❝ we all need to be mocked from time from time, lest we start to take ourselves too seriously. ❞ ❝ you do not love me and you do not want me here. ❞ ❝ nothing was harmed save my dignity. ❞ ❝ be strong. the gods are cruel. ❞ ❝ have you no shred of honor? ❞ ❝ something’s wrong. something’s very wrong. ❞ ❝ i want to be by myself for a while. ❞ ❝ do you take me for a servant? ❞ ❝ i never asked for this. ❞ ❝ i did warn you not to trust me. ❞ ❝ duty, honor, friendship, what’s that to you? ❞ ❝ i hope you are not thinking of doing anything stupid. ❞ ❝ save your pity for yourself. i want none of it. ❞ ❝ i think i will try to sleep. wake me if we’re about to die. ❞ ❝ never show them you’re afraid. ❞ ❝ i am doing the right thing, so why do i feel so bad? ❞ ❝ you must not do this. don’t die on me. ❞ ❝ it is not for you to tell me what i cannot do. ❞ ❝ it stinks. the stick of death. ❞ ❝ you are as fair as ever, a welcome sight in troubled times. ❞ ❝ there’s someone out there, isn’t there? ❞ ❝ can’t say i’ll be sad to see the back of this place. ❞ ❝ travel by night and hole up by day, avoid the road while we can, make no noise and light no fires. ❞ ❝ mercy is never a mistake. ❞ ❝ i don’t wish to hurt you, but i will if i have to. ❞ ❝ i swear it, you will have your vengeance. ❞ ❝ i bow to serve you, to obey you, to die for you if need be. ❞ ❝ a man who fights for coin is loyal only to his purse. ❞ ❝ we have won a battle, not a war. ❞ ❝ do i look like a liar too? ❞ ❝ more than once, i have dreamed of giving up the crown. ❞ ❝ distrusting me was the wisest thing you’ve done. ❞ ❝ poison is a coward’s weapon. ❞ ❝ how many times must i tell you to hold your tongue? ❞ ❝ you have done all i could have asked of you, and a hundred times more. ❞ ❝ i have made more mistakes than you can possibly imagine, but that was not one of them. ❞ ❝ sometimes the gods are merciful. ❞ ❝ go ahead, call me all the names you want. ❞ ❝ not now. you have no time for grief. ❞

#rp meme #rp starters #roleplay meme #roleplay starters #im more than halfway through the book > : )

[urarakasdiary]

- THE ETERNAL FOUNTAIN OF LOVE

Plantonic Dabi with his little sister! that suddenly turns yandere? sorry, I can't write anything cute.

First of all, Im so sorry for this long ass hiatus I wanted to get back to writing but I was going through some shit for the past year and a half 🥲 Im gonna try my best to get back to writing from now onwards. Enjoy! <3

Dabi never really liked you ever since his parents brought you home that day. He didn't want to admit it, but he wanted all the attention his dad could give only to himself. The attention was already torn away from him because of Shoto, you coming into the picture would make him invisible in the eyes of his father, which enraged him.

Of course, you were adopted; Rei could not handle another pregnancy. The day you came home, everyone noticed it. Touya's even more unusual behavior. He was staring daggers into your soul, cursing under his breath. He had thought why was he like this to you? Was he jealous? no way. You were just annoying. At least to him.

His father was a busy man, he would not visit the home often. Rei was sent away after the incident, Natsuo would go to school, and so would Fuyumi. That would leave him and you alone. He didn't think he would like spending any time with you alone, but you were actually kind of cute...and sweet? maybe even a breath of fresh air from his wild family? maybe it was because you were adopted, all his siblings tried their best to be kind and gentle with him, often keeping opinions about him to themselves and not pointing out his mistakes in fear of pissing him off. But you? god you ran your mouth so much with no hesitation.

You would be the first person to point out something wrong or mean he did or said. And you did it with no fear of him whatsoever. Growing up, he realized he loved you. You were the only partially sane person in this household.

"I will burn you so bad that even hell's fire will feel better than my flames"

"Touya-nii don't say that! that's mean. You should start taking classes on how to speak to people without making them piss their pants."

You were also the reason why he stayed home that cursed day. (The day he 'died'). You needed help with homework and asked him for help. He had not gone to school, ever. But since it was you who was asking, he learned it from YouTube just to teach you.

When you were in middle school some bullies learned you were adopted, and from then on they started picking and cursing at you. Some days the bullying was mild, somedays they would flush your face in the toilet bowl. You stayed quiet hoping they would change one day or another. But you could only handle so much.

Mental breakdowns were a familiar thing to you now, maybe even a friend who would visit often. Touya had picked up on your odd behavior, he shook it off for some days thinking it was a bad day or shit. But when the 'bad days' seemed more frequent, his worry grew.

He had you explain everything that was going on in detail. How could he have just shaken off your odd behavior? He didn't deserve to be your brother.

Maybe he was obsessive over his sister, but he was just looking after her.

Bullseye. He found them.

"Heard you girls love calling my sister names?"

"3 girls found dead at local playground, burned to death. Investigation launched on the 8th of April, no evidence or traces left behind, police suspect..."

He didn't expect the reaction you were giving from the news. He thought you would be happy, instead, you were crying yourself a river.

"Don't cry [name], come here"

You embraced yourself in the warmth of your brother, unsuspecting of anything.

"I'll always be there for you."

#bnha #mha #dabi #dabi x reader #touya #touya x reader #yandere #platonic #platonic touya x reader #todoroki family #yandere platonic dabi #yandere platonic touya #urarakasdiary #bnha x reader #what did i just write #yandere platonic touya x reader #yandere platonic dabi x reader #platonic yandere

[atths--twice]

Practical College Applications

A college AU, in which Mulder and Scully meet and get to know one another as they apply college courses, to real life scenarios.

I first posted this story nearly five years ago. I searched for it, in order to add the new chapter to it, but I could not find it. So... I am just going to repost the whole thing. Perhaps it will be new to some and perhaps it will be a reread for others. Either way, I hope you enjoy it. 💓

Chapter One

Botany 101- A Nice Trip To The Forest

Fox Mulder, known to everyone as Mulder, as he hated his first name, shifted his backpack for what felt like the twentieth time in the last half hour. It had not been problematic when he had worn it at home and around town, as he had gotten used to the weight of the things he would need for this weekend away, but now it felt as though his items had been replaced with rocks. 

He had been looking forward to this trip since the class began. It was one of the main reasons he had signed up for a botany class in the first place - the eventual excursion into the forest it had promised. 

School had been keeping him busy and unable to escape the noise and the fast pace of the city. Since he had transferred to the University of Maryland, he had been working harder and buckling down. He had saved enough in the past two years of working to not have to worry about anything but his studies. 

Torn between which electives to take for the year, he had settled on botany. He had always enjoyed nature and discovering new things within, so it seemed perfect. The class was not too full from the offset, and it had dwindled down to even less soon thereafter. Mulder however, found the class intriguing and enjoyed the lectures. The professor was funny and kept the class entertained. 

There was also, though Mulder would not freely admit it, a woman in the class he found very beautiful. He had not spoken to her, save the occasional hello as they passed each other, but she captivated him. This was actually the second course they shared, and though he enjoyed the more intimate class size, he knew he would appear a fool if he spoke to her. His words got tripped up by his tongue when he was around her. 

“Hey, Mulder,” said a voice, and he sighed as he saw Kyle Dale walk up beside him. He really did not care for Kyle. He was very rich and made sure to let everyone know it. “You know there’s only the two girls here, and there are us six guys. We need to be the ones to make a move, the other guys are losers.” Kyle nudged him as he raised his eyebrows, and Mulder adjusted his backpack yet again. 

“I’d recommend you don’t let the women hear you say that, Kyle, not girls. In fact, maybe don’t say that at all. This isn’t some bar, it’s a college course. We’re all here to learn and you know, I haven’t seen either of them show any interest in you at school, I can’t imagine the woods will change their opinions,” Mulder said, glancing at the two women and then back to Kyle. “Just, let them be.”

“Jesus, you’re such a fucking downer, man. Do you ever get laid?” Kyle shook his head and walked away, catching up to Brian Harding and glancing back at Mulder as they both laughed loudly. 

Assholes, he thought, shaking his head. He looked back at the women again and watched the one he found attractive, hoping he was not being too obvious. 

She laughed at something her friend Hannah said, tossing her long red braid over her shoulder. God, he was such a sucker for redheaded women. He had been since third grade, when Jenny Lipton had moved into town halfway through the year. She was introduced by his teacher, and when she smiled at the class, his hands got sweaty. He shyly brought her dandelions at recess, and she took his hand, pulling him to the swings. He pushed her for as long as she wanted, not caring that he never even had a turn. 

This woman though, she was on another level. Her smile made his heart race and when he heard her laugh, he always wanted to hear it again. She also smelled amazing. She sat across from him in class, and every time she moved her hair, he caught a whiff of flowers and clean soap. It drove him wild and sometimes caused his attention to wander from the lecture. 

Yes, Jenny Lipton had been his first real crush, but she could not hold a candle to Dana Scully. 

“Class, we’re going to stop here for a bit. I want each of you to take out the journals you were to bring and identify the plants of the area. You should have your guide pages with you as well. We’ll be here for about forty five minutes and then we’ll be moving on to the campground,” Professor Morrow said, taking his pack off and setting it on a rock. He was about forty, a hippie with long blond hair and a full beard. He was a kind teacher and cared deeply for the subject he taught. “Break into teams or on your own, whichever you prefer.” 

Mulder glanced quickly over at Dana and saw her and Hannah, slip off their backpacks and take out their journals and guide pages. She stretched and rolled her neck as she picked up her things and walked with Hannah into the woods. He took off his backpack, took out his own journal, and headed into the woods behind them. 

An hour later, they all met up to collect their packs and move on. Mulder put his things away and put his pack back on, adjusting the straps so it sat better this time. They trudged on for another hour, before arriving at the campsite. A round fire pit sat in the middle of a clearing, thick round tree stumps encircling it. 

Everyone sat their bags down and Kyle loudly announced he would make a fire. He walked away to gather some wood and the others began to set up their tents. Mulder had a one man tent, as he had no intention to share one with anyone. He had it set up quickly, and as he pounded the stakes in to secure it, he heard Dana laughing. He looked up to see her and Hannah struggling to get their tent up, laughing as they did. Dana was bent over, clutching her side, and then her head was thrown back as she laughed. Watching her, he missed the stake, and hit his thumb. 

“Fuck,” he seethed under his breath, sticking his thumb in his mouth, the pain sharp and throbbing. He glanced up quickly to see if Dana noticed, but she and Hannah were still struggling with their tent and laughing. 

Finished with securing his tent, he tossed his backpack inside, intent on setting out his sleeping bag later. He stood up and brushed off his hands, swallowing hard, as he walked closer to the women and cleared his throat. As Dana turned around and looked at him, he was struck again by the blue of her eyes. 

“Uhh … would you … do you need a hand?” he stammered, and she smiled at him, making his heart race. 

“I think we got it, but thanks, Fox,” she said with another smile. 

“Mulder,” he said without thinking, realizing he would not mind his hated name being said by her. She tilted her head and stared at him. 

“Really? You go by your last name with everyone? It’s not just a guy thing?” she asked. “Do you really not go by Fox? No one calls you Fox?” Her eyes twinkled and he felt he would let her call him anything, if she kept smiling and looking at him that way. 

“Uh … my family, but not really anyone else,” he said, even as his brain screamed at him to shut up and walk away. “Whatever you … either is fine.” He turned and walked away, exceedingly embarrassed, wishing he could disappear. 

“Thanks for the offer of help‍ … Mulder,” she called after him, and he turned quickly, her dancing eyes on him, her red hair shining in the sunlight. He nodded and turned around again, walking aimlessly away from them, shaking his head at his idiocy. 

He walked around for a while prior to heading back to the campsite, needing time to recover from his own stupidity. He headed over to the fire pit and watched Kyle trying to build a fire. He was doing it all wrong, laying the wood haphazardly as he added kindling under it. Mulder shook his head, stepping closer to show him how to do it correctly, when he heard a voice behind him. 

“You’re not doing that properly.” He turned and saw Dana standing there, her hair down and wavy from the braid. She was looking at the fire pit, but cut her eyes at Mulder, causing him to smile slightly. “You need to build it like a chimney so the oxygen can feed through the kindling and the wood -”

“Excuse me, sweetheart,” Kyle said, looking up at her with a sneer. “I don’t need help from you on how to build a fire, okay?” He went back to trying to get the fire burning and Dana stepped closer to him. 

“If our warmth and the ability to eat tonight is dependent on you, sweetheart, then I’m going to have to insist that you either build the fire properly, or get out of the way so I can do it,” she said, in a low controlled tone that made Mulder both afraid and highly aroused. Kyle stared up at her and then stood up, towering over her. She did not back down or show any fear, and soon Kyle stormed away, claiming he needed more wood. 

Dana glanced over at Mulder and rolled her eyes as she pushed up her sleeves and restructured the fire. She had it lit within minutes, stood up and brushed off her hands. She looked at Mulder with a grin, and he smiled back, nodding at her appreciatively. 

“Make sure he doesn’t overload it with wood, okay? I’m going to find Hannah. I wasn’t going to stop and help, but he was being an idiot about it,” she said as she walked away. He grinned and watched her before turning his eyes back to the fire. 

Hours later, after everyone had eaten, they were discussing the plant life they had found that day. Kyle sat quietly, still stinging over the fact that a woman, a younger woman at that, had shown him up, The other guys kept razzing him, which he was not taking well. 

Mulder sat to the left of Dana, with Hannah on her right. As the others discussed the plant life, he knew they were mistaken with their findings. Not only did he know, but he heard Dana repeatedly muttering, wrong under her breath. He huffed and she looked at him with a grin. 

“Well, they are wrong,” she whispered, and he smiled. “We had the guide papers, I don’t know how they could be so mistaken.” She shrugged and he coughed to cover up a laugh as she turned around and watched the fire. 

Not long later, everyone headed off to bed, the fire dying, but not out completely. Mulder watched Dana and Hannah walk into their tent as he was going into his own. Laying his sleeping bag out, he changed his clothes, adding an extra zip up hooded sweatshirt to take away the chill. 

Getting inside the sleeping bag, he rested his head on his backpack but quickly pushed it aside, finding it too bulky to be used as a pillow. Putting his arms behind his head, he wished the tent had a mesh top so he could see the stars, but he would make do with the sound of the crickets and owls in the trees. 

After the day’s activities, he should be tired, exhausted even, but he was wide awake. Sighing, he decided to go sit by the fire for a little while. Putting his boots back on, he opened his tent, stepped out, and zipped it up again, to avoid allowing in any unwanted critters. Hands in his sweatshirt pockets, his head down, he did not notice that he was not the only one with the idea to sit by the fire. 

“Oh!” He heard and looked up in surprise. Dana was standing there, poking at the fire with a long stick. “I didn’t wake you, did I? I wasn’t too loud?” 

“No, not at all. I … uh … I wasn’t tired, surprisingly, and thought I’d check on the fire. Guess you beat me to it,” he said and she smiled. He walked closer and stood beside her, the fire still burning low and giving off heat. 

She added another few small pieces of firewood and stirred at the fire as she sat down on a stump. Mulder sat beside her and they quietly stared at the fire as it began to slightly grow. He glanced at her and then back at the fire. 

“So, did the fact that we all went to bed, in the middle of a forest with a fire smoldering, bother you a bit, too?” she asked him quietly, and he laughed softly. “Or were you also a dumb idiot, who forgot to pack an extra sweatshirt, thus needing to seek out the warmth of said fire?” 

He turned his head to look at her and realized she was definitely not dressed for the cold night air. She had a long flannel on, but it was absolutely not enough to keep her small body warm. He watched her wrap her arms around herself, and he stood up, already unzipping his sweatshirt. 

“Oh no,” she said, putting up her hands. “Please don’t think I was implying I expected you to do that, I was just making conversation. I can’t take your sweatshirt from you. It’s my own fault for forgetting an extra shirt. Please … no.” She shook her head and pushed at the item he offered her. “I can’t.” 

“You can,” he said, holding it out to her and staring at her. “It’s an extra. Well, I mean I have two shirts and this long sleeved one as well. I’ll be okay without the sweatshirt. That flannel won’t keep you warm enough. Take it. Please.” He held it out and she finally accepted it, standing up to put it on and zip it up. It was big on her of course, but wearing the flannel under helped it to fit better. 

As she pulled her hair from inside it and tossed it back, he was treated to the most wonderful scent of flowers. She kept her head down for a second before raising her eyes to his. “Thank you,” she said quietly, and he nodded at her, seeing the flames from the fire reflecting in her eyes. He smiled and sat back down, as she sighed and did the same. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes and watched the fire, when she suddenly stood quietly, and walked to her tent. She did not look back, but stepped inside and zipped it shut. He was left wondering if he had done something wrong, but then he smiled slowly, as he realized she was still wearing his sweatshirt. 

He sat by the fire until it burned down low enough to not be a hazard, and then headed to his own tent. Laying down inside the bag once again, he smiled, imagining her sleeping comfortably because of the warmth his sweatshirt provided her. Closing his eyes, he was asleep in minutes. 

_______________________

The next morning, Mulder woke with the dawn, dressed, and rebuilt the fire. He shivered as he waited for it to warm up, his eyes flicking towards Dana’s tent, hoping she had been warm enough last night. Stirring the fire, he stood with his hands extended, feeling the warmth beginning to build. 

Not long after the fire was burning steadily, others began to emerge from their tents, happily seeking the warmth of the fire. Each person thanked him as they stood around it, warming their hands and backs in turn. A few of the guys started to prepare some peanut butter sandwiches for the group. Brian handed one to Mulder, who took it with a nod. 

After nearly everyone had gotten up, Dana and Hannah finally came from their tent, ready for the day. Dana glanced his way and then looked down, walking over to grab a sandwich from Brian. Hannah continued on to speak to Craig, a quiet guy who Mulder actually got along with. Dana stood on the fringe and then came closer to him. 

“Your sweatshirt is in the tent. I didn’t want to bring it out in front of everyone,” she said, glancing up at him, her eyes begging him to understand. 

“You keep it for tonight, just in case,” he shrugged, and she shook her head. “You can.” He repeated his words from last night to her again and she sighed with a nod.  

“Thank you,” she whispered, and then walked away. 

The tents were taken down and packed up as the sun began to rise higher in the sky. They left on a trail and Mulder followed behind Hannah and Dana, listening to their conversation while trying not to appear too creepy. They discussed dating and Dana admitted to Hannah that the last couple of dates she went on was a while ago, with one of the men standing her up. 

Mulder scoffed at the stupidity of whoever that man was, and Dana turned around quickly and looked at him. He stopped walking abruptly and stared at her, embarrassed beyond belief. He saw her lips twitch as she turned around and began to walk again. He fell back a few paces, intent on that not happening again. 

An hour or so later, they came to a shallow but wide stream they needed to cross. A log had fallen, creating a natural bridge, and they took turns walking across it carefully. Mulder had almost neared the end when his foot slipped and he fell into the stream. He luckily had not broken or sprained anything, but everything he was wearing was thoroughly soaked. 

Everyone laughed, including Dana, but she was the only one to come over and help him, as he spluttered and tried to stand up. She reached for his backpack, and he handed it to her, rising to his knees and then his feet. 

“Shit,” he muttered, unbuttoning his flannel shirt. He took it off and the one underneath, leaving him in a very wet tank top, cargo shorts, socks, and boots. He glanced up and found that Dana had turned her head, his backpack held in her hand, as it dripped steadily into the stream. 

“I’ll take that back now,” he said softly, and she nodded, glancing at him as her eyes quickly moved up and down his body, before she turned and walked away, running her fingers through her long ponytail. He smiled as he watched her, not seeming to notice how wet he truly was. 

Up another hill, they came to their camping site. A large fire pit was surrounded by small, single occupancy cabins. Everyone exclaimed at the sight of them, each of them going to check them out. Mulder set his wet pack on the step and walked inside. There was a cot, a small table made from logs, a lantern, and an oval hooked rug on the floor. It would be warmer than the tent, and for that he was relieved. 

Stepping out of the room, he began to unpack his bag, shaking his head at the sheer wetness of everything. His clothes inside were soaked, but they would hopefully dry soon. It was warm out and there was still a few hours of sunlight left. He laid out his clothes and reached for his sleeping bag, thankfully finding it still dry. 

He put it on the cot and checked the rest of his things. His snacks and other first aid items were okay, but his notebook was wet, his inked words running together. Shaking his head, he set it down. It would be easy to redo the work, he had it memorized. Taking out his spare shoes, a pair of old flip flops, he took off his wet boots and socks, again shaking his head. 

Picking up his clothes, he went to find a place to hang them to dry while the sun was still shining. His shoes … well they would hopefully dry, but he doubted it would happen by the time they journeyed back to their cars tomorrow morning. 

Clothes laid out in the sun on a bush, he walked back to the fire pit where everyone had gathered. He glanced down at the empty pit, and then looked up, catching Dana’s eye, as he raised his eyebrows. She smiled and covered her mouth as she laughed softly. He grinned as he looked toward Professor Morrow. 

“All right! Congratulations on making it here unscathed, well, most of us anyway,” he said, with a glance toward Mulder and everyone laughed. He shook his head and smiled. “Tonight, as well as food that we’ve brought, we’ll be gathering edible plants to add to our meal. Berries, plants, whatever you find that you’re sure is edible. So be double, even triple sure that you’re correct. We don’t want to poison our friends.” Everyone laughed again and soon headed off, each one with a container to collect items. 

Mulder found himself near Dana as they walked into the woods. He could hear her humming and he smiled, happy she was enjoying herself. They spread out, foraging the bushes for food. 

“How can you just walk away from me? When all I can do is watch you leave?” He heard, and turned his head to see Dana singing quietly as she cleaned a bush of its berries. “So take a look at me now, well there's just an empty space. And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face …” She looked up and saw him watching her and she grinned. 

“I’m a little obsessed with Phil Collins right now. Sorry to expose you to my horrible singing voice,” she said, with a laugh. He shook his head and continued gathering items. 

“It’s not horrible,” he told her, his eyes downcast. 

“Liar,” she called, and he looked up to see her smiling. He looked back down, smiling as he continued his work. 

Fire warm and food eaten, even the items they had all collected, of which Mulder and Dana had brought in the most, everyone sat around that night laughing and talking about many things. Mulder saw Hannah speaking to Craig once again, a huge smile on his face. 

Mulder glanced at Dana as she put another log onto the fire, debating whether to speak to her. As he was contemplating it, she walked over to him, standing close and crossing her arms. She glanced at him and smiled and he smiled back. 

“So, we’re obviously the smartest ones in class, we definitely need to stick together from now on.” She shrugged and he laughed. They both looked at the fire and were quiet, Mulder constantly feeling tongue tied around her. 

“So you —” he started to say, but was cut off by the professor telling them all to head to bed, warning of rising early in the morning. Mulder glanced at Dana again, but she was busy smothering tonight’s fire, the area they were in more heavily wooded. 

“Can’t take any chances,” she said, and he began to help her. Nodding her thanks, she caught his eye, and headed to her little cabin. 

Making sure the fire was completely out, he took out his flashlight, and gathered all his items from the nearby bushes he had laid them on earlier. Finding them to be relatively dry, he walked into his cabin, took off his shoes, and changed his clothes. He lit the lantern on the small table and laid down on his cot. 

Sighing, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A knock sounded at his door and he sat up in surprise, his brow furrowing. Standing up and crossing to the door, he opened it to find Dana standing there, a flashlight in her hand, her long hair down, his borrowed sweatshirt pulled tightly around her, and a worried expression on her face. 

“Hi,” he said simply, his surprise undoubtedly evident. 

“I need you to look at something. Please,” her voice shaky and scared. 

“Uhh … come in,” he told her, stepping aside to let her inside before he closed the door. She hurried past him and stood in the middle of the small room in his large sweatshirt, a pair of shorts, and her boots. 

“I was changing my clothes and … I felt something, on my back. It was itchy earlier, but now it feels worse. I can’t see it and I need to know what it is. Can you look at it, please?” she stared at him and he nodded. She turned around, moved her hair, and dropped his sweatshirt down past her butt. His breath caught and he froze in place. 

She was not wearing anything under the sweatshirt, clearly whatever she found, had scared her badly enough to forego extra clothing as she hurried to his room. 

“Mulder? Fox? What is it?” Her worried voice snapped him into action, and he reached for the lantern, turning it up to see her back better. Stepping closer to her, he held the lantern as he knelt down. “It’s down on my lower back.” 

As soon as he was close enough, he saw it- an angry looking rash covering a good sized area of her lower back. He touched it gently and she hissed and then she groaned. 

“Sorry,” he said, feeling the heat even without touching it again. “Stay like that for a second.” He turned around and grabbed his backpack, rummaging around until he found the container of salve he had brought with him. “Okay, this might hurt a little bit.” 

“What?” she asked, but he did not reply, instead taking two fingerfuls of the salve, and gently rubbing it across her back. “Oh my God, what is that? Mmmm, oh Mulder, that stings … ohhhh … no it feels good. What is it?” He rubbed in the salve and smiled as he listened to her finding relief from the comfort it provided. 

Wiping his hands, he put the lid on the salve and stood up. He brought his sweatshirt back up her body and placed it on her shoulders. She grabbed at it and zipped it up. Letting her hair fall, she put her hands in the pockets of the sweatshirt and turned around, looking up at him. 

“Seriously, what is that? And what’s on my back?” she asked, reaching for the container in his hands. 

“It’s a rash, probably from a plant you touched unknowingly,” he told her, reaching in his bag again, taking out a bottle of aspirin and handing two of them to her. “It’s pretty hot and inflamed; this will help it feel better.” He handed her water from a canteen bottle he had and she took the medicine, just as a huge crack of thunder sounded, causing her to jump. A second later, rain began to fall, hard, on the tiny cabin. 

“Whoa,” they said simultaneously, looking up as the rain pelted the roof from above. He looked back down at her and turned to the door, opening it and looking outside. She stepped closer to him and they watched as the rain obscured their vision beyond anything not directly in front of them. 

“I … “ she started, and then stopped. 

“No, you can’t,” he finished for her, knowing she was going to suggest she make a run for it. “You’d be soaked through, that salve will wash off, and you’d be in pain. Best to stay here, at least until it lets up a bit.” He closed the door and turned to find her right behind him, and his mouth went dry. The one person who seemed to short circuit his brain was now going to be sitting alone with him in a small room during a rainstorm, for the night possibly. 

Her expression was unreadable as her eyes seemed to search his face. He waited until she nodded in agreement and stepped over to the bed, sat down, and took off her boots. She looked at him and he gave her a small smile as he picked up the lantern off the floor, set it on the little table after turning it down a bit, and then sat on the floor facing her, his back against the wall. They were both quiet as they listened to the heavy fall of the rain on the roof, thunder rumbling and then cracking loudly. He saw her jump again and he smiled slightly. She obviously did not like thunder. 

“Tell me a story,” she said, just loud enough for him to hear her above the deluge of rain, as though she was not sure if she should be asking for something like that. 

“A story? About what?” he asked, looking at her in surprise. She shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. 

“I don’t know, anything, I’m not picky,” she said. “I don’t really like thunder and I thought maybe a story might take my mind off it. You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” She shrugged again, looking down and touching at her back lightly over his sweatshirt. She hissed and closed her eyes. 

He watched her for a second, thinking of stories that would not only interest her, but help to loosen his tongue. Leaning his head back, he knew she would not be looking for some silly fairy tale to be retold to her, and so he thought back to the science fiction and weird stories he loved to read and know more about, until he had a perfect one. 

“Have you ever heard the story of the star-crossed lovers, Maurice and Lyda?” he asked, lifting his head and watching her, hoping she would say no, as he knew this story by heart. He could recite it from memory, thus making it easier to speak to her. 

“The only star-crossed lovers I know of are Romeo and Juliet,” she said, shifting on the cot. He smiled and nodded as that was the case with most people. 

Clearing his throat, he began his story. “Christmas, 1917, it was a time of dark, dark despair. American soldiers were dying at an ungodly rate in a war-torn Europe, while at home, a deadly strain of the flu virus attacked young and old alike,” he began, and then he forgot about her as he closed his eyes, lost in his own story. “Tragedy was a visitor on every doorstep while a creeping hopelessness set in with every man, woman. and child. It was a time of dark, dark despair.” 

“You said that already,” she said, with a smirk, and he opened his eyes to find her now lying on her side facing him, leaning on her elbow, one eyebrow raised. He grinned and then chuckled. 

“But,” he continued, “at 1501 Larkspur Lane, for a pair of star-crossed lovers, tragedy came not from war or pestilence, not by the boot heel or the bombardier, but by their own innocent hand.” He stared at her and waited, seeing if he could get that skeptical eyebrow to go down. 

“Go on,” she said, both eyebrows going up, and he knew he had piqued her interest. 

“His name was Maurice. He was a ... a brooding, but heroic young man, beloved of Lyda, a sublime beauty with a light that seemed to follow her wherever she went,” he said, waving his hands around slowly, and she laughed softly. “They were likened to two angels descended from heaven whom the gods could not protect from the horrors being visited upon this cold, grey earth.” Again he paused and stared at her, waiting to see what she would say. 

“And what happened to them?” 

“Well, according to legend, driven by a tragic fear of separation, they forged a lovers' pact so that they might spend eternity together and not spend one precious Christmas apart,” he said with a shrug and a half smile, his tongue loosened now from a story he had always enjoyed. 

“Wait. They killed themselves?” she asked, frowning as she stared at him. 

“Yeah, and supposedly their ghosts return to haunt that house every Christmas Eve,” he said, and then shivered. “I just gave myself the chills.” He stared at her with a grin and she frowned with a smile. “What?” 

“Do you really believe that story?” 

“I don’t know. Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of hard not to believe it when it —”

“Sounds so believable?” she cut across him, with a tone of disbelief. 

“You don’t believe in ghosts?” 

“Does that surprise you?” 

“Well … yeah, a little. I thought everybody believed in ghosts,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“Like that slimy one in Ghostbusters?” she teased him and he shook his head. 

“No, not like Ghostbusters. What a joke that movie was at portraying ghosts. They are benevolent entities … well, mostly. I have read stories of places where ghosts have done horrible things and people —” He stopped talking as he looked at the barely contained grin on her face. It spread as she tried to stop it and he saw a dimple in her cheek. 

God, he was in so much trouble … 

“You believe it all, don’t you?” she asked, with a huge grin. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked back, shrugging his shoulders. “I haven’t seen it disproved, so …” He shrugged again and she laughed as she shook her head. She laid down on her back, and he looked at her profile. 

So much trouble … 

“Umm … I should check your back again, just to be sure the salve is helping,” he said, getting up and picking up the container again as he knelt down beside the bed. She looked up at him, her eyes so blue, he knew that if she asked him to do anything, no matter how questionable, he would. “You need to turn over.” 

She nodded and did as he asked. He lifted his sweatshirt over her butt and up just enough to expose her back. It was looking better already and felt cooler than earlier. Still, he would apply another layer and have her lay on her stomach for a while, let it soak in better. 

“It looks better, not completely gone of course, but better than earlier. I’d say you had an allergic reaction to something. Obviously not poison oak, you would’ve been smart enough to avoid that, but at least it’s topical and nothing serious,” he said as he slowly put more salve on, both to make sure it was applied well, and because her skin was so soft, he wanted to touch it forever. She had a freckle just above the rash and he had an overwhelming desire to bend forward and kiss it. 

“What is that stuff?” she asked again, her voice muffled in her arms, hissing and then moaning, as he applied it. 

“It’s a homemade salve my mom has made for years. My sister and I were always getting scrapes and rashes as children and so she made this natural stuff because my sister cried with the stuff from the pharmacy,” he told her, rubbing slow circles across her back. 

“What were you two doing to meet such catastrophes?” 

“Well, we grew up in Chilmark, and spent a lot of time outdoors. Climbing trees, baseball games, races, playing widespread games of hide-and-seek. Inevitably, one of us would come down with some ailment and so my mother kept this on hand at all times. She called it the “Super Salve,” as we were both into superheroes then. Plus, it works really well, so …” He smiled as he thought of those days spent outside, no care for anything but being home on time for dinner. He finished applying the salve and closed the container. “Stay like that for a few minutes and let it really set in, it will help a lot.” He wiped his hands on the shirt he had worn earlier and leaned against the bed. 

He heard her turn her head and he looked at her over his shoulder. “You’re a Vineyard boy, huh? And here I thought you were all right,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. 

He laughed and she turned her head back, sighing as she did. “Well, whatever she puts in that, it’s like magic. Please tell your mother that I can't thank her enough. It stings for a second, but then … ohhhh …” she said in a low voice, and he was glad she had turned her head away. Her moan shot straight to his groin and he was horrified at its betrayal in such tight quarters as the rain fell down, preventing any chance of escape. 

“Tell me more about your family,” she said and he smiled, thankful for the distraction. 

“I have a sister, she’s twenty-one. Parents still married, still live in Chilmark. My sister is living in Europe with some friends right now, for “life experience” as she calls it,” he said, looking down at the floor. 

“A single trip to Amsterdam ought to take care of that for her,” she said, and he laughed. 

“You seem awfully ... normal for growing up on the Vineyard, if you don’t mind me saying,” she said, once again turning to look at him. He raised his eyebrows at her and she smiled. 

“What exactly are you implying, Dana?” he asked with a smile. She stared at him, her face serious and then she smiled softly. 

“I think that’s the first time I've ever heard you say my name,” she said quietly. “In this class or the last one we had together.” He stared at her and he knew she was correct. He had been nervous to speak to her, in both classes, and now he was seeing how ridiculous that was to do. Besides being smart and beautiful, she was easy to talk to, and funny. 

“Yeah, I … uh … I’m not really a … I don’t hang out with many people and I don’t really engage in many conversations,” he said, and she nodded. 

“I don’t like it.” She shook her head and he frowned. “You saying that name, I mean. I just think that if you insist on being called Mulder, you should call me … Scully.” She shrugged and he stared at her, trying to decide if she was teasing him. She smiled and he knew she meant it. 

“Okay … Scully,” he said, and she grinned wider. He smiled back and she nodded. 

“Scully. I like it.” She smiled, and he cleared his throat, looking down at the floor. “And to answer your question, Mulder, I wasn’t really implying anything about Vineyard people. I was just teasing.” 

“I know … Scully,” he said, looking up at her and she smiled at him again. “I know what people think about those of us on the Vineyard and I understand. My family does belong to a country club, I went to cotillions when I was younger, and my sister was even a debutante, but only because my mother insisted on it. My sister didn’t want to do it, and in fact, the night of the ball, she left about halfway through, changed out of her ridiculous dress and gloves, and came back in jeans, a Rolling Stones t-shirt, and black Converse high tops. My mother was nearly apoplectic, but my sister just shrugged and kept dancing.” 

“I like her. She sounds like someone I’d like to know,” Dana laughed, and he nodded and smiled. Samantha was definitely someone he could see her befriending. 

“What about your family?” he asked, and she shook her head, moving to lay on her side, facing him, but keeping his sweatshirt up above her rash. 

“I’m not terribly interesting,” she said, waving him away. He stared at her as she licked her lips, biting the bottom one, and he wished he could taste them. “My parents are married, my father is in the Navy. We’ve lived in a lot of places, but have been here for the longest length of time. My older brother is also in the Navy and he’s stationed in Germany. My younger brother is starting college this coming year. I have an older sister, but I don’t really know where she is right now. She’s kind of flighty and the last time I heard from her, she was in Colorado. I think she was anyway. She’s always on the move, ‘following the wind and the sun,’ she says.” She paused and sighed. He looked at her again and she shook her head. 

“What?” 

“I don’t know,” she sighed, looking down. “I’m still not completely sure what I want to do with my life. I have always loved science and pursuing answers that are not readily available. But I know that’s not a field most women enter into, as if it’s odd a woman would find science interesting.”

“Pssh!” Mulder said forcefully. “It’s incredibly hot and sexy when women are interested in science.” Realizing what he said, his face became flushed, and he fell silent as he chanced a glance at her. She smiled, her own cheeks pink, as she looked down. Thunder cracked again and this time he jumped. 

They were quiet for a few minutes and she sighed again. “I just wish that I was more like my sister sometimes. She’s not afraid to do anything. To just up and leave, follow her passion, live in a cabin with some guy she just met and make jewelry to sell at swap meets. She’s flighty, yes, but she’s also passionate and caring, and doesn’t care how she’s perceived. She’s ballsy and tough, despite her hippie outward appearance.” She fell silent and he looked at her, wanting to tell her she was all of that and more, but he worried it would scare her, so he tried a different tactic. 

“Every person is given the personality that’s right for them,” he said, looking at the wall across the room. “We see in others what we imagine we are lacking, and yet it’s there, just perhaps not right at the surface. Every person is exactly who they are meant to be.” 

“Wow, you and my sister would get along really well,” she told him with a quiet laugh. “Dare I say, even make a good couple.” 

“Hmm, what’s her stance on science?” he asked, watching her out of the corner of his eye. 

“The whole idea of it?” she laughed. “I wouldn’t say she’s against it, but she’s more prone to believe in the healing power of crystals than modern medicine.” 

“Oh, well, then I'm sorry, I’m gonna have to pass. A firm grasp in the belief of science is high on my list. I’d put it at top five, easily,” he said, turning his head to find her staring at him. She did not blink for a few seconds, holding his stare, until thunder cracked again, and she jumped. 

“It’s late,” he said quietly. “You should try to get some sleep. Is your back feeling better?” She nodded, staring at him again, as she pulled his sweatshirt down and covered her back. She got inside the sleeping bag, glanced at him once more, and then turned toward the wall. 

“Good night, Mulder,” she said softly. 

“Good night … Scully,” he replied with a smile, shifting until he was lying on his back on the floor, his arm behind his head, listening to the rain falling unrelentingly on the roof. A few minutes later, he heard her soft breathing and he smiled again, as he himself fell asleep. 

________________

Mulder woke early, wanting to be sure Dana was out of his cabin and back in her own, before anyone else was up and about. No need for anyone to suspect anything, especially as it pertained to her. 

She walked to her cabin, slipping in the mud a bit, as she arrived at her door. She turned and looked at him as she walked inside, an odd expression on her face. He hoped it was not one of regret or worry over what they had shared last night. Then just as the door was about to close, she poked her head out and smiled at him, and his heart pounded wildly against his rib cage. 

The campsite was a muddy wet mess that morning. No chance for the warmth of a fire, as the fire pit was full of water, and every piece of wood in the forest was wet regardless. 

Once everyone was up, and that discovery was made, the grumbling began. Foul moods abounded, but Mulder was not fazed by any of them. He could not stop grinning, remembering Dana’s laugh and the beautiful blue of her eyes. 

He saw her speaking to Professor Morrow, showing him her back, though not in the same manner she had to him last night. He could not hear them speaking, but the professor glanced his way and nodded, telling him without words that he had done the right thing. 

Bags packed and everything ready, they began the long hike back down. The weather made it harder, but they were meant to be back that day, so everyone kept a steady pace. As the car park came into view, Kyle slipped and fell, much to everyone’s amusement. Covered in mud, he swore and yelled, trying to wipe himself clean, and failing. 

Gathering by all the cars, Professor Morrow reminded them to finish their workbooks and to write a 2,000 word essay about the weekend and what they experienced. Some groaned and others grinned. Mulder saw Dana smile softly and he wondered what she was thinking about. 

People began to leave and soon it was just a few of them. Dana walked over to him, his sweatshirt in her hands, and a smile on her face. He stared at her, feeling Hannah’s eyes on them, making him feel awkward. 

“Thank you for the use of your sweatshirt, Fox … Mulder.” She handed it to him and he took it, laying it over his arm. 

“You’re welcome, Dana … Scully,” he said and she grinned. They stared at each other, and the desire to kiss her was stronger than anything he had ever felt. Her eyes flicked to his lips and his mouth went dry. Looking back into his eyes, they continued to stand there, staring at one another. 

“Dana! Come on, let’s go!” Hannah called from across the car park, causing Mulder to jump, and Dana to sigh. 

“Okay,” she called back, looking at her over her shoulder. She looked back at Mulder and smiled sadly. “See you in class.” 

“Yeah,” he said quietly, feeling deflated and low. “See you in class.” She stared at him, waiting, and he stepped back with his head down. He heard her sigh again and then the crunch of her boots on the gravel of the car park. 

Looking up, he watched them drive away and felt like a complete fool. “You are such an idiot. So stupid.” He threw his backpack in the backseat and then got in the car, heading for his little apartment off campus, berating himself the whole way, knowing he had completely missed his chance. 

Arriving home, he went around back and sat on his porch, dumping out his backpack, making sure no little creatures had hitched a ride home. He looked through everything, made piles of things to put away and to be washed. He looked at his sweatshirt and shook his head. Dana’s naked body had been inside it, but he still needed to wash it. 

Taking off everything but his undershirt and shorts, he walked barefoot to the front door and unlocked it. Coming through his small one bedroom apartment, he opened the back door and began to bring things inside. Once that was done, he stripped, tossing his clothes outside, and took a shower. 

Changed and feeling better physically, but still like an idiot, he scooped up his pile of clothes from outside, grabbed the laundry soap and some quarters, and headed to the laundry room. He opened the lid, added the quarters, and started to put his clothes inside. Taking the time to go through his pockets, he found a rock and some small pieces of dried leaves, which he threw away. 

His sweatshirt was last, and he sighed as he reached inside the pockets, and frowned as he touched something. Taking it out, he saw it was a folded piece of paper. Opening it, he grinned and then laughed as he read the words written on the page. 

How could you just let me walk away? Just let me leave without a trace?

Scully 

[phone]

P.S. I’m working on those hidden personality traits. 

He threw the sweatshirt in the wash, dumped in the soap, closed the lid, pushed in the quarter tray, and ran upstairs. Slamming the door, he grabbed the phone and dialed her number. His heart pounding, breath ragged, he waited. Two rings and then her voice made him stop moving. 

“Scully.” 

“Hey, Scully, it’s me.” He grinned as he moved again and walked to the couch, flopping down on it. 

“Well, it’s about damn time, Mulder,” she teased. 

“I’m inclined to agree.” He laughed, sitting forward and shaking his head. She joined his laughter and then they fell silent. His heart began pounding, but if she had been braver than usual, then he could be too. “I … I wanted to kiss you.” 

“I know,” she said quietly. “Me, too.” The honesty they expressed, left him tongue tied once again. Just hearing her voice in his ear made his body feel warm. 

“So, Mulder … do you suppose that house on Larkspur Lane is haunted only on Christmas? Surely it could do with a scientific investigation, just to see,” she said, and he could hear her smile. He sat back with a grin, ready to discuss haunted houses, or any other damn thing she wanted. 

For the next ten minutes, an hour, or for the rest of his life. 

#the x files #alternate universe #college au #msr #happy #getting to know each other #college classmates #trip to the forest #camping #rain #sharing clothes #discussions #flirting #teasing #laughter #hiking #thunderstorms #1980s

[nerdygaymormon]

Any thoughts about last night's devotional? I've heard some stuff about it but didn't watch it so I was hoping you could provide some insight and opinions (if you saw it).

Elder Oaks encouraged young adults to get married...soon! He lamented that the average age of marriage has gone up significantly since 1970 and that people are having fewer children.

He acknowledged that the cost of education and housing have increased tremendously (and wages haven't kept up), but reminded everyone that pioneers left their homes and possessions and encouraged young adults to forego material comfort and start a family.

Sister Oaks, who didn't get married until she was age 53, chimed in with some better advice. "Prepare yourself for life — by education, experience and planning. Don’t wait for happiness to be thrust upon you. Seek out opportunities for service and learning. Most importantly, trust in the Lord."

As a queer Latter-day Saint, let me point out that he put a lot of emphasis on getting married, he put it as the first thing he chose to speak about. He will later say marriage is only between a man & and a woman, which excludes many queer people. This is a typical example of what queer members of this church experience, having marriage praised but also that it's denied to us. There is a dissonance.

—————————

Honestly, I am tired of commenting on Elder Oaks' queerphobic statements, but he keeps choosing to make them and so I keep responding.

Elder Oaks decided to share a letter he received. He receives thousands of letters a year, and instead of choosing any that express their discomfort at his queerphobia (I guarantee he gets many), Elder Oaks chose one complaining that church members aren't queerphobic enough.

I honestly thought Elder Oaks was going to use this to agree, I mean, why else would he choose THIS letter to share. He didn't agree or disagree (although choosing this letter was quite a choice).

Elder Oaks reiterated that the church only approves of marriage between a man and a woman and encouraged trans people to follow the church's rules.

He used the story of the woman caught in adultery who was brought before Jesus. Jesus refrained from judging the woman. Likewise, we should refrain from judging others and instead should examine ourselves.

Let me point out that adultery betrays the person to whom they've made a commitment and is called out as a sin repeatedly in the scriptures. Gender diversity is not a sin and there's no scripture saying that it is. Therefore, I don't think it's a great use of this scripture story, but I appreciate that Elder Oaks is saying even if we think the other person has done something wrong, we don't condemn them, but treat them with love. Unfortunately he also added we should tell them about God's law and then to "Go, and sin no more."

A few years back, Elder Oaks came up with a novel approach by saying the 1st and 2nd great commandments were in conflict and encouraged us to prioritize love of God by being careful not to love our LGBTQ neighbors too much. But at the 2023 young adult broadcast, he changed this.

Elder Oaks admitted that his tendency is to emphasize keeping the commandments and he gives less attention to loving his neighbor. He finds it easier to judge someone by how well he thinks they keep the commandments.

"I now believe that goal to be better expressed as trying to live both of these commandments in a more complete way. Anyone who does not treat individuals who face gender identity challenges with love and dignity is not aligned with the teachings of the first and second great commandments."

I'm not thrilled that he refers to this as "gender identity challenges" or as "issues of confusion of identity," because that implies challenges can be overcome and identities can become unconfused. However, saying saying that loving your queer neighbor is not in conflict with loving God does seem to be progress. In my opinion, he could have apologized for his past statements and the consequences they had, but he didn't take that opportunity.

Then he followed that up by saying "we need to remember that God has revealed again and again that He created male and female." Elder Oaks just can't help himself. Let me add that God also created the transgender, genderfluid, nonbinary, and intersex people.

Now that he addressed trans people, time to move on to people experiencing same-sex attraction. He warned that we should be careful not to label ourselves (in other words, probably avoid calling yourself gay, lesbian, or bisexual) because these labels won't lead us to eternal life in the Celestial kingdom.

What I find from this broadcast is that mere crumbs are being offered to queer people by Elder Oaks, when Christ would offer us a seat at the feast in the banquet hall.

#elder oaks

[darkandstormydolls]

Decided to try sharing one of my story excerpts!

This is from my Undercity story. It’s from Ashling’s POV after he’s had a long week and explores a bit of his complicated and unusual relationship with religion (which is one of my favorite parts of his character)

Without further ado:

I recognized, somewhere in the back of my mind, that lying on my clean sheets in dirty and mud-splattered clothing was something that my future self would resent me for, but after days of fighting, running from people, trying to squish myself into too-small hiding places, and falling off of roofs, everything hurt too badly for me to care overmuch about the inconsequential opinions of my future self.

I’m not much of a religious person, but I was praying. Eyes closed, lying in bed, counting off on my fingers the way my mother had taught me when I was little and she didn’t trust me with her prayer beads. She wasn’t Undercity-born, but she’d taken to their saints quickly enough. Most people ask saints to pray for them to have another voice in God's ears. In the Undercity, we do it because there’s no way God will listen to our prayers otherwise. He doesn’t care about people like us.

They say desperate people find faith, which I’d say is fair. I only seem to come back to God and saints in my worst moments. The moments when it helps to think that there’s someone out there who actually cares about me for more than what I’m worth as a tool of the trade. The times when I need to lean on the only tie I have left to my mother.

Our saints, the crooked saints, all have ties to the Undercity, but some run darker and deeper than others. I start with the one’s I’m expected to pray to; Saint Aino, patron saint of spies, Saint Alora, patron of the city itself, Saint Mora, patron of liars, Saint Tameni, patron of revenge. Thinking of Arin, I say a quick set of prayers to Saint Maran, who, along with executioners, jailers, bounty hunters, suicides, and judges, is the patron saint of murderers, and Saint Endar, patron of traitors and turncoats.

Then I switched to the other saints, the ones Phantom would tell me I didn’t need anymore. Saint Solen, patron of orphans. Saint Mika, patron of the children of the Undercity, the ones who, through no fault of their own, just so happened to have the misfortune to be born here. I’ve long ago lost my right to ask Saint Alessen, patron of children and innocent victims, for help, but I still pray to her for the sake of every other child in this viper’s nest that calls itself a city, in the slim hope that they wouldn’t end up like me, Arin, or any of the other children that this place has foraged into cruel, heartless monsters or killed far too early. I pray to Saint Tanor, patron of the abused and manipulated, and, to cover all my bases, Saint Ono, who, along with his much better known patronage of weavers, is the patron saint of illegitimate or rejected children. I suppose it says something about the Undercity that we have so many crooked saints for such things, and well-known ones as well, but even the more religious of us would probably have to think to tell you the patron saint of love.

Well, there are many. For most people, Saint Maila and Saint Aster, well-known twin patron saints of young love and marriage, respectively. But in the Undercity, it’s Saint Lia, who jumped into the Emori river after her lover was killed by the Lord of Spies because she couldn’t bear to live without him.

Considering I was the heir to the current Lord of Spies, I doubted I would find much favor with her.

I did have things to do. Rather important things. I needed to finish putting all of the things that I’d learned into writing. Check in with the other people who’d been waiting for my report. Take an assessment of how injured I was and if actual medical attention was required. Changing into clean clothes and washing the mud out of my hair would also have been a good idea, or even taking the things that were poking me in the side out of my pockets before lying down again. But those things all required getting up and moving, I was tired, and worn out, and in pain, and I had a feeling that as soon as Phantom returned, I would be a lot more of either some or all of those, depending on the mood she was in. And so I stayed in bed, eyes closed, taking refuge in my crooked saints for as long as I could.

#writing #story excerpt

[deadbydad]

My Opinion On The Kuai Liang is Scorpion Thing

So there has been a clip going around of the developer or the creater, which one I don't really remeber, accidentaly slipping out a hint that Kuai Liang is Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 1.

And I want to give my opinion on this, not just as a fan of Hanzo and Kuai, but also as a SubScorp fan and shipper.

A lot of fans are confused or just down right angry and pissed at this, but I am honestly not shocked and like this idea and am very curious on how this is going to work out. I also think that some of these people who are angry and pissed because of this, not all just some, are kind of overreacting.

Let me explain why I think this.

Mortal Kombat 1 is a reboot, a new timeline that the Fire God Liu Kang had created, also NetherRealm did this as well but that doesn't matter right now. But Liu Kang decided to change things up a bit, and with this he made Kuai Liang Scorpion and not Hanzo Hisashi like he originally is. And I personally can't wait to see what they do with this, but I will say that I am excited for what that will be.

And my opinion for all of the people who are mad about this situation, I get where you're coming from, but Hanzo has been through so fucking much that honestly he deserves a damn break from being Scorpion and instead he now has the chance to have a happy life. To have a wife and son that aren't murdered, he won't have to be under Quan Chi's spell, and he can be happy. He deserves that, and I definitly think that he is going to be in the game, but not as a playable character.

And I think that's a good idea.

Liu Kang gave this guy a break after he was fucking murdered in Mortal Kombat 11, and I am okay with that.

Some people also have to realize that just because Kuai is now Scorpion doesn't mean you don't have to stop shipping him with Hanzo. It just won't be as Sub-Zero and Scorpion. You also, in my opinion, should give this a chance before really judging it because we don't really know the whole story and if Hanzo is even in the game. This could be a good thing and it could work if NetherRealm does it right, and by looking at this game it seems like they might be going in the right direction. Don't let one tiny thing that you don't even know the whole story about or where it's going with this descision until you've fully grasped, witnessed, and learned the whole reason and backstory for this idea that was made.

It's a reboot, not everything is going to be the same, and judging something and hating it just because it doesn't fit what you like or don't like is stupid.

In my opinion.

What happened to not judging a book by its cover?

Sometimes this fandon makes me mad, but that's going to be a different post on a different day.

I'm just saying that while we don't know if Hanzo is going to be in the game or not, I believe that people should witness Kuai Liang as Scorpion fully and learn why they made this descision before actually judging it and either hating or loving it.

Again, you shouldn't just decide to hate on the game just because you don't like one thing that doesn't fit with your opinion when they game isn't even out and when there is still a lot of stuff we don't know.

I think that that is just being stupid and ridiculous.

Now hate me all you want, but this is my opinion and I hope you can respect it. I respect everyone elses opinions and what they're feeling, and I think you shouldn't hate me just because I don't agree with you. That's being childish.

Thank you.

Edit: "Some people also have to realize that just because Kuai is now Scorpion doesn't mean you don't have to stop shipping him with Hanzo. It just won't be as Sub-Zero and Scorpion." Let me rephrase that.

I meant that just because Kuai is now Scorpion, doesn't mean that you have to stop shipping him with Hanzo. This reboot is just basically Liu Kang restarting the timeline, and there are other timelines that still have Kuai Liang as Sub-Zero and Hanzo Hisashi as Scorpion. There are multiple timelines in Mortal Kombat.

But still, you can still ship them even in this new timeline, it just will be different.

It's not the end of this ship.

#kuai liang #hanzo hasashi #subscorp #mk scorpion #mk sub zero #mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #liu kang

[anonymergremlin]

HI! If you haven't done it yet for the alphabet thing....kindly requesting D, I, and J for Carlo and Romeo!

(Love me some Carmeo but damn I want them for myself too hahaha)

Cheers, friend! (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

(Hey Chikirya! Sorry to keep you waiting, finally kicked myself in the butt to finish this. Hope you like it)

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?) Yes, yes, yes and yes. It may come as a surprise to some, but yes, I think Carlo would like to settle down. The reason? So he can have something better than what he had, aka a family with you who will be there for one another. Also, I think he is really dedicated to all the bonds he has formed (No offence! I respect all my Carmeo shippers, you guys are awesome, but in general I think Romeo is a brother to him). As for cleaning, well, he can do that. Cooking however… please just kick him out of the kitchen. It's not that I think he is awful at it sees smoke coming from the kitchen … He is worse. He doesn't have the, I don't know, golden cooking thumb.

Romeo, oh dear Romeo. Are you going to settle down? Oh, yes, please. Does he clean the house? Oh hell yes, he is especially good with the high spots. Does he cook? Yes, he makes you Italian/French goodies (in my opinion Krat is probably French/Italian mixed). In general Romeo seems like someone who is patient enough to learn new things and doesn't mind a few mistakes at the beginning. He will probably not be a god at cleaning and cooking, but he does his best and he does it with his whole heart.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?) You can find Carlo right here

Well, even though Romeo is the most romantic person in the LoP universe (Fight me, I will not change my mind aaaaahh! Ò_Ó), he takes some time to say it. Reason? Well, it is a powerful word, one that makes it clear that the relationship is getting very serious, VERY serious (Not that it never was serious, I hope you get my drift). It is a sprout that needs to be taken care of, and there is one thing that will make it blossom quickly: "I love you". However, it is meant for a true 'flower'… He wants to be sure that you both are what the other is looking for, and when the time comes, he will tell you these beautiful words with a big smile on his face.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?) Points to the same link again.

Honestly, I can't imagine Romeo getting jealous for real. He's really secure in his feelings for you, he trusts you to talk to him if things change or something happens, and most importantly, he's really confident in himself. The boi believes in your relationship, but if you really want to see him jealous… well… maybe when someone gets way too touchy with you. In… an annoying way… Allow me to describe it with a few words without going into detail… "I feel sorry for the poor fool who makes Romeo jealous".

#answered #lies of p #sfw alphabet #chikirya

[summercreolefanfictioner]

Well, I can understand how's that Jigokuraku anime-only watchers jump into the assumption that Gabimaru and Sagiri would end up together. I mean, their dynamics are strongly exposed episodes to episodes. In the current episode, they seems already understanding each other. Meanwhile Yui only appears in Gabi's memory. Although Gabimaru still mentioning his wife like always, it gave the "okay, something isn't right with our MC that he's overly obsessed to his wife, there must be something fishy about his wife" vibes. Moreover, in the opening theme we saw a scene where Yui is bowing and multiple doors slam right before her. Also that scene where Yui and Gabimaru are standing face to face, then suddenly Yui is replaced with Sagiri. That's dragging people to conclusion "so the wife is going to disappear?" "Ohhh sure they will get seperated". It must be spend years to get all the episodes animated. I hope people would take their time to read the manga since it worth reading (and remove their bad thought about Yui's existence).

(tbh I agree with you on the last part since I would love if people would just read the manga but alas some of them have no patience)

in my honest opinion, I like both ships (gabiyui and gabisagi). it's just that I don't ship sagiri and gabimaru romantically and I know well they won't develop any romantic feelings for one another (I have canon evidence for this). and even if I didn't read the manga, I would be aware that gabimaru is fixated on being with yui as soon as possible and this is evidenced by episode 1 up until episode 6 (I am writing this in a time where episode 6 is the latest ep)

episode 1 already hinted abt yui being closed off from the public after gabimaru was arrested. she doesn't talk to anyone. she doesn't eat the meals prepared for her. she is basically locked up in the house she shared with gabimaru in iwagakure, waiting for his return bcos she knows he will return to her. remember, they already had this one convo that if ever he wanted to leave the village and stop killing, she will stay and follow him.

and gabimaru, realizing that she was still out there waiting for him (as per sagiri in episode 1), decided to embark on this whole shinsenkyo journey. hence why this toasted marshmallow of a guy (huhu I am sorry) is like "let's go find the elixir" "I can't waste more time" "I need to return to my wife" to the point of almost killing sagiri bcos he has to get the elixir before the other iwagakure ninjas make landfall. in short, as much as possible, gabimaru wanted this shinsenkyo trip to end quickly (as evidenced in episode 6). the only time he made a stop on rushing their journey is when sagiri fainted due to her injuries and inhaling poison (w/c was gabimaru's fault so yeah nothing romantic there)

and I don't think there's anything suspicious abt gabimaru thinking or mentioning his wife or something. dude has nothing after all other than yui. remember, the only good thing in iwagakure that gabimaru has is his wife and with her, he learned a lot of things (like saying thanks, praying to gods, cooking like a normal couple, emotions called love and hatred and weakness).

as for sagiri, well she has a lot on her plate given how men always look down on her being a samurai and that she should just be a woman and go home and bear children from the next yamada head. hence why she was always in a constant "I am a samurai and I will not back down just bcos you see me as a woman" thing. but hey episode 6 has highlighted her in a new light so yeah I am glad people are now changing their opinions abt sagiri bcos she ain't weak as what they deemed her to be. plus given how she's has not been sent off to the battlefield before shinsenkyo, it makes sense why some people look down on her.

I know there's a lot of emotional development and learnings gabimaru and sagiri have with each other throughout the series, but I don't think it's something that will turn romantic (even Mappa emphasized in the ending song abt sagiri's wish for gabimaru and yui to be reunited and this also speaks abt the song). one thing abt Hell's Paradise that I like is that they make all romantic ships SO OBVIOUS AND STRAIGHTFORWARD. like viewers won't have to think "I think this person will fall for this person" or "there's sexual tension" bcos the show will let you know if there is romance blooming.

besides, just bcos two people develop emotionally together, doesn't mean there has to be something romantic between them. you can grow emotionally through a reliable mentor, a close friend, a stranger, a scene from a movie or drama. in short: NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO DO WITH ROMANCE.

plus I take Hell's Paradise as gabimaru's redemption arc but also sagiri's new beginning arc. bcos after this trip, gabimaru will finally have his happy ending while sagiri will embark on her own journey (they just met in the middle to teach each other an important lesson)

and I didn't know people take the opening like that hehe. tbh yui bowing with the doors closing kinda signifies gabi's journey in kotaku tho. like there are 3 sliding doors and kotaku has like 3 areas??? that they all need to bypass before getting the elixir. and getting the elixir means getting the pardon which is equal to being free and being with yui. that also seems to be the case with yui being replaced by sagiri like he has to face this trip first before meeting her. again this is MY TAKE on the opening.

maybe we should just ask Mappa why they animated it that way so we won't have further assumptions.

bottom line: while I do get annoyed at gabisagi shippers who think of the pair romantically, I get uhh 'sadder' than 'annoyed' bcos some of them tend to romanticize stuff just bcos a guy saved a girl or they comforted each other. the thing is, if people always romanticize every interaction between gabimaru and sagiri, then they are missing the whole point of these two characters' self journey.

(but if you still ship gabimaru and sagiri romantically without accepting canon evidence and basing everything on all your delusional beliefs, then uhh idk bout that)

#jigokuraku #hell's paradise #gabimaru #gabimaru the hollow #yui jigokuraku #yui hell's paradise #yamada asaemon sagiri #sagiri #gabiyui #admin summer #gabimaru x yui #gabimaru and yui

[oldcoyote]

thetimesinbetween replied to your post:

(1) please feel free to utterly disregard any/all of this!

(2) i saw this and my heart & soul squeezed because that fucking SUCKS, that breaks my heart, and i want to. like. stuff you in a burlap sack and throw you over my shoulder and take off running. GET OLDCOYOTE OUTTA THERE <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

(3) your brain might be straight-up, like, panicking/sabotaging your happiness in hopes of re-establishing whatever emotional state it has decided is safe. (the vibe: “oh, you’re feeling HAPPY? don’t you know it’s NOT SAFE to be happy? if you’re HAPPY, what NEXT? if you’re HAPPY, then you’re CAPABLE, you’ll have to DO [SOME SCARY THING]. AND you’ll have to do [WHATEVER] and in order to do [THAT THING], you’ll have to BE VULNERABLE.” and so on and so on.)

(4) to be clear, i could absolutely be wrong about this!!! it’s your brain!!! *my* brain loves to do this shit and in my opinion IT IS THE FUCKING WORST.

(5) ok i am currently in a DBT skills group. (this is where me and like 8 other people who are also Severely Struggling and #mentallyill all get together and learn from our 2 intrepid and deeply gay instructors how the fuck to cope, in practical ways, with being alive. and perhaps even. like. build lives we enjoy.) anyway, so, in this group, i learned about a (frankly sort of mindblowing) mechanism called “opposite action.” which is basically a way to decrease the intensity of an emotion.

important caveat: opposite action only really works when (a) you yourself WANT to decrease the intensity of the emotion in the first place, (b) the emotion in question isn’t, like, totally aligned with reality in the first place OR, even if it is aligned with reality, acting on it still wouldn’t help you. (like, imagine this sort of thing: ’ugh it totally makes sense that i feel this way, and it totally makes sense that feeling this way makes me want to do X, but doing X is really REALLY not gonna help me right now, fuuuUUUUUCK.’)

wow. i am not an expert. this is hard to explain. i looked for youtube videos on this for like. half an hour minimum. and they all sucked. YIKES. ✌️sdfsas;kjsasdfs. so, if you are fascinated and/or this seems useful, here is a uhhh fuckin pdf full of charts and bulleted lists: static1.squarespace.com…

if you start on p. 251 of the PDF (“Overview: Changing Emotional Responses”), that should actually properly explain what i’m talking about. I wish I could beam knowledge that I have directly into your brain bc opposite action is very cool actually, and i have done it multiple times and found it helpful, but i am literally linking you to a textbook rn i am so sorry lmao. again please feel free to ignore this :’) <3 <3

(6) in conclusion, absolutely fuck anything sabotaging your joy. you were HAPPY!!! you LOVED doing this thing!!! i want to be like, “i bet you are not stupid actually and also i remember liking your writing, way back when, and i bet it is not bad so THERE,” but like. that doesn’t even matter!!! you could write and then never reread it and never share it, and if it made you enjoy being alive, that’s already Everything.

loving something you are doing while you are doing it…that’s the juicy fucking meat of life!!!!! i am glad you had that & i hope you will have it again & i trust that you will. and just generally i’m rooting for you <3 okay goodnight <3 /end

bless you for all of this, and for the link, i will absolutely check it out and see if it works for me! it sounds SUPER useful and god might be exactly what i need because these emotions are Not Serving Me at all and i want them taken out and shot fjkdls i just want to feel like i used to feel about all this but i don't think that will come until i can write, and publish, and have people read it and be like This Is Not Awful Actually but in order to get there i have to be brave enough to put it out there and I am NOT right now i am a snivelling mess

anything that can help me get out of the snivelling mess stage is more than welcome <3 and beyond that, just, thank you so much for taking the time to say all this it made my day and makes me feel so much better already

#thetimesinbetween #replies

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Thank you for your queer undertones analysis of tog, i really love it! If you don’t mind, can i ask your opinion about the korean and English translation of tog? It seems like you already said that the English version watered down the queer-coding and the gay subtext in tower of god, is it ok if you tell me some examples of that? I don’t know Korean so i hope this won’t bother you too much. Another question is about Bam growing his hair out again. He even said that he would like it longer, so that’s something he really wants to do. How do you think about that? What’s the reason behind that? And the last question is, could you please do more analysis about the queer subtext in tog? You did amazing job and it will be so great to see more of your analysis. English isn’t my language and i don’t use it daily so sorry if the grammar is too bad. Thank you for reading this and i hope you have a really nice dayyy!!!

Thank you for the ask! I hope you also have a nice day, and your English and grammar were perfectly fine!

1) About Korean, I don’t know any (I just learned how to type with a Korean keyboard) so I don’t know exactly how the translation differs, especially when it comes to the queer lens. I’m also not that knowledgeable on how queer society is seen in South Korea (but I’ll definitely be researching into that later). If anyone here knows even baseline info (but make sure it’s credible) then feel free to share it. From what little I know, LGBT issues in SK are still seen as taboo and kept in their niche subcultures.

2) The growing out or cutting of hair is usually synonymous with a change in character when shown in media. Bam’s hair style at the beginning of Season 2, showed how he isolated himself from others, covering his eyes with his bangs. What struck me upon the start of S3 was that Bam’s hair looked somewhat similar to Khun’s, and that he had a more confident and snarky personality that was subdued in the first two seasons. I don’t think Bam will go back to his FUG hairstyle, but instead gain a new one, one that frames his face better but shows a clear maturity. Bam might start braiding his hair, which would add another similarity to Khun, but I think he’ll just stick with a ponytail for the foreseeable future.

3) Finally for the queer analysis, I’ll probably get up to more of those shenanigans now that we’ve entered the marriage arc. I’ll probably do one over White in the near future. I might also do an analysis over the princesses and how SIU showcases the unrealistic standards women are forced under in an oppressive patriarchy

#vibrating at high speeds about shoe metaphors #thinking so much about Jahad’s shoes #tower of god #tog

[daidonzo]

Chapter 3 - We rise, and shine, and crawl, and fall [Chishiya x Reader]

"Chishiya, look!" You said, full of delight, holding a bottle of sriracha you had found while looking for something to eat in an abandoned supermarket. Was abandoned redundant? Maybe, yes, since there was no one in the city except for other players and you didn't really see many of them during the day. Only at night, and close to the game areas. "It's still full! No one got to it yet!"

You were met by a look that you interpreted as "Are you serious?" but that could mean anything from "You are really really stupid" to "I'm going to kill you." but you didn't care because in your opinion you had found a treasure and had it clear you were taking that bottle of the spiciest and most delicious sauce with you, no matter what happened.

"I thought we were looking for food."

"This is food! I mean, well, no, not technically. This is…" You struggled with the word, frowning.

"Sauce? Condiment?"

"Maybe, I don't know what any of those mean." You shrugged, and he smirked. And when he smirked, you felt your knees became weak and you had to shake your head slightly to focus on the task at hand: your defense of the hot sauce. "The important thing is it will make our meals taste good, even if they don't. We could also just burn our taste buds with it and it will solve the lack of proper food in this god-forsaken land."

"Thinking about mutilating yourself now? I knew since your personality changed from night to day that you would have a mental breakdown eventually - didn't think it would happen so soon."

You stuck your tongue out, directed at him. He smirked again, and you knew that was the closest to making him laugh you would get, so it made you smile.

But he was right. You had become a completely different person since you had allied yourself with him… Or not so much, but you had become who you were before this world forced you to change. You were still playing the dumb, innocent girl in games when it was needed, either to learn information or to get help from someone more capable, but when you were not playing… You were nice again. You were soft. You were vulnerable, sweet and playful. You felt safe, or safer, and you liked having someone around you, even if it was Chishiya, who was the closest thing to a brick wall.

Little by little he had been opening up, though. Not much, you still did not know anything personal about him, or about his life prior to the Borderlands. But he did not longer asked you to shut up when you would ramble on about something you were passionate about, he even smirked and made jokes! Sometimes! Not many, but it seemed like today he was in a good mood, so you were hopeful.

Your smile felt as if it was glued to your face while you kept looking for food. You found some things - a can of beans here and there, instant ramen, water bottles - and put it all in your backpack.

That was another thing that had changed immensely. You no longer wore skimpy clothing - again, only to games, when needed - and had changed into much more comfortable clothing. Clothing one could survive the apocalypse in without flashing anyone.

"Are you ready?" Chishiya asked from the entrance of the shop. He probably had been waiting for you for a while, but that was another thing that had changed about him… He now would let you indulge in the little things that made you happy. Like going to the grocery store.

"Coming!" You exclaimed, cheerfully, as in song. Chishiya seemed amused by you and your good mood.

"Has anything happened that I don't know about?"

"Nope, just woke up in a good mood." He looked at you, an eyebrow raised. You raised your shoulders slightly, still smiling.

"Fair enough." He conceded, after a while, and you both started walking towards the building that had been what you denominated secret base for the last two days.

It had been Chishiya's idea to occupy and apartment building and it seemed pretty logical - why would you sleep out in the cold, with the wind, and the rain, when you could sleep in a warm cozy although quite dirty from neglect bed?

When you finally arrived, you were in such a good mood that you prepared what you thought was a feast for the both of you - instant noodles braised beef flavor, canned fish (some people would say those two don't really match but you were hungry and you were, after all, a college student with an art for putting multiple foods together and calling it a heartwarming meal) and a lot of sriracha sauce on top. In fact, you even got a little bit creative and drew something with the sauce - a spiral on your plate and a heart on Chishiya's, which was not intentional and made you blush intensely as you realized.

You gave it to him without much ceremony, just putting it on top of the table where he was building some kind of machine (you didn't know what for) with electronic parts he had found in a store you visited prior to the supermarket this morning, hiding your face with a curtain of your hair.

He seemed to find your little weirdly-drawn heart funny, because he chuckled slightly. And you froze, and felt as if your own heart was ready to sing and dance just from hearing that soft laugh. Which, you had to admit, was not completely normal but didn't really think too much of it. Making a guy you found handsome laugh (or chuckle, but in Chishiya's case those two were equivalent) and feeling butterflies about it must be something that happens to everyone, right? Even more so in this world, where hot guys had probably been reduced to what? A dozen?

"What are you making?" You said, sitting down on the floor with your legs crossed, to eat.

"A taser."

"A what?"

"It is a device that gives electroshock."

"Electroshock? Like bzzzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?" As you made that sound, you pretended to be electrocuted.

His eyes lifted from the machine he was building, clearly entertained by your theatrics. "Yes. Like that."

"Ah." You didn't know what else to say, but couldn't help thinking he was incredibly smart and your intelligence rivaled that of a potato compared to him. "I know what a taser is, I just didn't know the word in this language."

He nodded, his attention back on his inventions. "I know."

You sighed and ate your noodles in silence, knowing you probably wouldn't get much out of him at that particular moment, as he was concentrated on something else.

After some time just staring at him, like an absolute creep (how could he not notice?), you picked up a gossip magazine from four years ago, wrapped yourself in an old blanket that did not seem to have been attacked by moths just yet, and relied on knowing about other people's lives to keep entertained.

He looked up after a while. "Done."

You reacted a little bit too quickly for your own taste, seemingly thirsty for companionship. "What do you want a taser for?"

"It's never bad to be prepared."

You nodded, admitting that was a good point. A great one, even.

"By the way…" He started, and you focused all your attention on him. Was he going to tell you something about his life? Compliment the food you had made for him and he had almost not touched? Asked something to try and get to know you a little bit better? "Tomorrow we should play a game. So that we can have more days in our visas."

"Ah." That was it. The games. You tried so hard to forget about them, but how could you? When literally the whole point of being here and being alive were the damned games. You nodded, absentmindedly, disappointed you had been almost crawling for his attention the whole afternoon but got nothing in return other than the anxiety of having to play another game. He seemed to catch on your change of mood, but said nothing.

"Bring the revealing clothing. Might prove useful."

You nodded again, feeling a bit sad, because you were remembered once again that the only reason he was keeping you around was because of that - you were useful. You were not his friend. He didn't have any feelings for you. He did not care. He tolerated your company and maybe, to an extent, didn't mind you as much or was getting used to you. But that was it.

You sighed, and nodded again, standing up, the blanket falling off your shoulders and to the floor as you did so. "I will go to sleep. Good night, Chishiya."

"Good night."

Until that day you both had been sleeping in the biggest room, you on the bed and him on the couch. Basically, because the other room had a broken window and a bit of air came through. Not enough that you would be extremely cold, but enough that it would be somewhat chilly. However, since that night you couldn't really stand to be in his presence and you knew it would be really, really hard for you to fall asleep, you went to the smallest room, which seemed to be that of a little kid.

You lied on a bed which was, clearly and as expected, too small for you. To be fair, calling it a bed was being generous, because it was little more than a mattress and a pillow. Whatever, you forced your brain to shut down, to stop thinking about how extremely lonely you felt, and were, and ended up falling asleep.

Whatever, you forced your brain to shut down, to stop thinking about how extremely lonely you felt, and were, and ended up falling asleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you woke up the next day, so much light was coming through the broken window that you had to shield your eyes with your hand. But that made you feel a bit colder, as you were wearing nothing but a t-shirt and that movement exposed part of your skin, so you wrapped yourself more tightly in the blanket you were covered with.

Wait a minute… You had left that blanket in the living room. You were one hundred percent sure that when you arrived at the room, there was nothing on the bed other than the mattress, and the pillow. You would have bet your pinky finger on it, you even remembered feeling slightly pissed off about it, but the slight anger was washed out by the sadness and the numbing feeling of loneliness.

But now… What was that blanket doing here? You sat up and looked around you. And what you saw made you feel like a million butterflies were living in your stomach. No, scratch that, those were not butterflies but very badly tempered wasps. Not only were you wrapped in the blanket that certainly, had been left in the living room, but Chishiya was sleeping there in that small room with you, on a rocking chair that looked far from comfortable.

You felt your lips twisting into an honest, sincere smile.

There was a song that went something like "Just like the moon does, we rise and shine and fall."

And over Chishiya, you rose, shone, crawl, and fell…

Only to do it all over again.

#chishiya #chishiya x fem!reader #chishiya x reader #chishiya fanfic #chishiya angst #chishiya x y/n #aib chishiya #chishiya fic #chishiya shuntaro #chishiya alice in borderland #shuntaro chishiya #chishiya x you #Spotify #as much as you want

[curatoroffiction]

I really liked this prompt @Jackalope08, so I wanted to take my time with it. The beginning is clunky because it was hard to set the setting. Still, I hope you like it! Thank you for sending in a request! -----

It wasn't often that you found yourself at odds with someone so quickly. It often took poking around in their business for them to make up their minds about you.

For Jamil, it just took one incident.

Granted, it was one helluvan incident.

And in your defense, it was Ace and Grim's fault.

You told them not to get cocky when divvying out the powdered bristleroot, as it's known to over-react with one of the other ingredients, so you only need a little - But they didn't exactly listen.

Especially when they added the first bit and nothing happened immediately.

Jamil wasn't blind to your scuffle, but it seems he was expecting you to reign them in, since you're a dorm leader and all. Jokes on him, you'd never been able to reign in Grim.

And you'd never been able to get Ace to stick to a recipe without it blowing up in his face first.

So when your table's potion began to breathe.. The liquid inside the cauldron heaving and exhaling… You already knew what was coming.

"GET DOWN, SHE'S GONNA BLOW" You called out, throwing yourself to the floor before the potion exploded.

Jamil ended up getting a face-full of the failed potion's ingredients - It's a good thing he was at least wearing all his lab equipment, because it coated him like a slime.

While Crewel was pissed, Jamil apparently took some very personal offense with your behavior that day. --- It wasn't until you two ended up having to work on a project together that you even learned that he didn't like you. And THAT came about because you kept trying to do your share of the work, and he kept taking work from you.

"I'll take care of the presentation materials."

"No no, it's okay, I'll take care of the presentation materials."

"But you're already taking care of the presentation speech. I can take care of the presentation slides and reading materials."

"Can you?"

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" --- Needless to say, his opinion of you didn't change even when you did the work. --- It seems someone's first opinion of you is hard to rewrite. Which sucks, because you actually thought Jamil was cool until he showed you how little he thinks of you.

Once he showed himself to be the kind of person who writes you off without getting to know you, you found yourself not giving a shit about his opinion.

When Winter Break came around, he thought he could just control you like a pawn to get his desired result. Unfortunately for him, when you set your mind to something - Even if it was a conclusion he forced your mind to come to - You do it.

So when you got it in your mind to free the students from their plight, you did as you always do and made the best of it with your resources. Unfortunately for Jamil, he underestimated you, and he underestimated just how… perceptive you were.

When you learned who was behind Kalim's behavior.. Jamil had to.. contain you.

And you didn't take well to containment. --- His overblot would have been surprising, if you'd still had respect for the guy, but when you were the one to pull him out of it and get his dorm back in order, Jamil found himself.. embarrassed.

You weren't a leader.

Not really, right?

And yet you were the one helping him come out of the darkness - And when you did, he saw the passive look on your face.

The look of someone who had no respect for him.

"I- … Did I just overblot..?"

"Yeah, dumbass. You went full blown cartoon villain mode and started mind-controlling your whole dorm. Good luck cleaning up THAT mess!" You waved him off as you started leaving, laughing at how much he fucked himself over. It was cathartic to see someone who thought so lowly of the people around them get their just desserts.

God, he hated you.

The way you walk around without responsibilities.. You only have ONE dorm member to take care of, while he's balancing the care of an entire dorm on his shoulders and getting NONE of the credit.

He found himself bitter that you seemed to think you were somehow better than him when you obviously had fewer hurdles. --- It wasn't until your second year at Night Raven College that this bubbled over.

You two passively grew to hate each other, assuming the worst out of each other, because you only gave each other your worst.

You were paired together on a project - The first time in a long time that you had to work together. But it wasn't just any project…

You'd both been chosen for the Starsending Festival. --- Jamil starts off the meeting with "Us three have been chosen as Starsenders - That means we have to work together-"

Only for the third member of your group to groan. "We're never going to beat those guys from last year! They had an insane lightshow because one of them literally went to space! None of us can do that."

"I've already spoken with Ortho and Idia and they're willing to help with the presentation of the final dance and the showcase of the star wishes." You toss this out off-hand, mostly tuned out from the meeting. You don't want to be here, and you don't want to listen to Jamil go on and on about how irresponsible the two of you are and how he's going to have to carry the whole show.

Jamil looks at you with surprise. Talking to Idia and Ortho was already on his list to accomplish today.

Your third team member, a student from Savanaclaw, raises his eyebrow at you. "Oh yeah? You got proof?"

You tug your phone out and call Ortho. His chipper voice comes through on the phone. "Hey Ortho, I'm with the other Starsender representatives at the moment, and they wanted to make sure we're on the same page - You and Idia are gonna help us this year, yeah?"

"Yes!! I'm so excited to take everyone's wishes to the stars again this year~! My brother is going to help me with some boosters and stabilizers, so the show can be even more spectacular this year! We're thinking about setting up a planned fireworks show that can end when I reach the correct altitude for the stars to fill the sky!"

"Thank you, Ortho. It sounds like you're doing well more than your fair share, so please let me know if there's anything I can do to help you."

"Of course! Thank YOU for letting us help!"

You hang up and look to the Savanaclaw student with the most smug 'I told you so' expression- Only to find that he's genuinely excited, which catches you off-guard and makes you laugh.

"Oh man, oh man! If we've got those guys, then we've gotta get practicing the dance!! And collecting wishes!!" The Savanaclaw student seems rejuvenated that he actually has a chance to do better than last year's team.

You briefly remember that Savanaclaw's students tend to not be motivated to strike unless they can see assurance of their goals in front of them.

Jamil cuts in. "With that out of the way, we have to choose who will be performing the dance, and who will do drums-"

"I WANNA DO DRUMS!" The Savanaclaw student jumps up excitedly. "I don't wanna do the dancing! I wanna rock out on the drums!"

Jamil sighs. "You can't just play whatever you want, there's a proper drumming beat-"

"I WANT THE HARDEST DRUMMING SCRIPT WE HAVE, I'LL MASTER IT. If you try to make me dance, I just won't do it. The drummer really stole the show last year, so I wanna be the drummer!"

Jamil glances at you. He really doesn't want to dance with you, but the other student just won't budge. He sighs, but you decide to speak up. After all, you're not thrilled about the idea either, and you needed something to get the Savanaclaw student on-board with collecting wishes from the other students.

"I think we should have a competition for the position of Drummer." Both of them look at you, confused. A competition? You continue; "Whoever collects the most wishes over the next three days gets to choose which part they'll play. That way, we don't lose much practice time, and we'll have plenty of drive to get as many wishes as possible right at the beginning, which gets the most boring part of the work out of the way."

Jamil's.. Briefly impressed with your fix. You obviously don't want to dance with him, so it seems you've got three people vying for drummer. He looks to the Savanaclaw student who seems to be weighing the options in his head.

"So… whoever gets the most wishes from the other students wins?"

"You have to cross them off your list, or it doesn't count. We have to be able to tally every student who has given their wish so we can verify the results are good."

"So.. I take their wish, cross their name off the list, and then when I have the most, I can be drummer??"

"If you can beat both me and Jamil."

"OH YOU TWO ARE GETTING SMOKED, GIMME A LIST RIGHT HERE AND NOW." --- And so it was decided that you three would battle it out for the position of drummer. ----- Part 2

#submission #Jamil #Jamil Viper #Fighting #Enemies to friends #Enemies to lovers #Open interpretation #Twisted Wonderland #Fanfic #Fic #Twst #Starsending Event #Starsending

[arcplaysgames]

Oh yeah, coming home to fucking NOTHING sucks. God, that fucking blows. It's so quiet. If you check the fridge it's just like "It hasn't changed." We are in the holding pattern portion of the game, like P3P after Ryoji's ultimatum.

god does every persona game do this bit, the simulacrum of despair?

Killing time until the next story beat, there's been some mumblings around town that honestly reminds me of Apathy Syndrome from P3P? Like the higher density of shadows is making people mean and not wanting to do anything. It's definitely not something I wanted the reminder of now.

AIN'T NOTHING MORE DEPRESSING THAN TENDING TO THE VEGGIES ALONE. Like oh my god I'm kind of surprised Reverie's pals don't start coming over? I guess, out of universe, this is a chance for the player to wrap up and grind SLinks they haven't had time to focus on, but in universe, it's baffling that, like, Yukiko and Yosuke and Teddie aren't trying to show up every night and coming up with excuses to bring dinner.

Speaking of neglected social links.

DEVIL SOCIAL LINK: GET. which i only got bc i needed just a little Courage boost to finally fucking unlock

FORTUNE SOCIAL LINK: GET. god the threshold for Naoto is ridiculous, not only is he locked to the late game BUT there's a massive Courage check needed to even spend any time with them. Bonkers.

Naoto, when I look at you, I hear "Modern Girls and Old-Fashioned Men" in my head, I don't want to hear any lip from you.

So far, Naoto's slink is about a break-in at the Shirogane Estate and their room getting robbed. Naoto tries to play it off because what's going on in Inaba is obviously more important, but also a master detective getting robbed is an insult to her pride too, and so there is an almost childish petulant desire to get revenge for the insult.

the what thief now

Next we'll meet a character called the Joker who kills people with rumors and the timelines will collapse.

I am genuinely hoping this slink picks up a bit bc right now I don't have many strong opinions on it actually. SHRUG

Over in the Aeon Slink, which I am abusing the omikuji box to powerlevel, Marie is starting to remember stuff but as soon as she does it keeps slipping her mind again.

The bamboo comb keeps coming up, which sure is convenient since I haven't forgotten Edogawa's lecture on Izanagi and Izanami. I don't think Marie is Izanami, but she's tied into it all somehow.

I mean, logically, signs do point to her be Izanami. However, her arcana is the Aeon and that alone makes me feel like the figure who said "I'll kill 1000 every day" doesn't really fit. That dog don't hunt. However, I don't know which one does, so.

Marie's pretty fun. I like her agony over the failure to remember anything subsiding when she realizes she goes have memories, the ones she's making now. Renewed hope and determination after an event of pure desolation seems to be the Aeon's modus operandi in both P4 and P3P. Or, that is my assumption, basically, as I'm not familiar with the card myself.

There is a whole fucking lot of nothing to do as I grind SLinks and wait for the next plot beat. I do like that P4 actually gives you opportunities to talk to the links you've maxed out rather than leaving them complete with nothing to add.

Also Yosuke, someday we gotta do drag again but take is seriously. You'd look amazing, I am completely certain.

also hey adachi hey remember when we were talking about Persona and you didn't know what that was, so hey I made you one special, just for you

i think it might help you cause like

it'll help you, like

learn how to give a shi--

#persona liveblog #p4

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Hi! I adore your analyses.

If it isn't too much to ask, I would love to hear about your general approach to analyzing works. I wanna learn how to analyze things better from other people, and I really like the way you methodically break things down.

In other words, pls sensei teach me your ways HAHAHA

No trouble if you can't, though! Your blog is always a joy.

Have a wonderful day!

Sensei... 🫢

Ah, thank you, this is really flattering! I don't think I really do anything that special. Honestly, all it is was that I got misinterpreted a lot when I was younger and it made it difficult for me to express myself - so I ended up creating something of a system which I found seems to make things clear to others!

I can do a quick overview of it, for sure! I hope it helps! (It's under the cut :D)

Tip 1: Analyze things you love.

Look, this isn't school and I'm not a literary critic. I don't bother forcing myself to analyze things I'm just not feeling. Sometimes, I'll really enjoy something, but have nothing to say about it in particular. (Ex. Akutagawa. I adore him but for some reason don't feel compelled to analyze him as much... even though he's this blog's pfp...) That's not a commentary on the character/media nor my engagement with it. No need to analyze something you don't particularly care to - these write ups take a fair amount of time and effort, so you'll want to have enough raw energy at the start to sustain yourself. You should want to talk about it, is what I'm saying.

Tip 2: Understand the core themes of the story.

I cannot stress this enough! It's so important. The best stories will have their characters, plot arcs and settings all serve to enhance the major themes of the story in some way - figure out what these themes are, and keep them in the back of your mind. I think of themes like a filter - it should change the way you look at the story, and with any luck, draw a lot of seemingly loose threads together in interesting and surprising ways. There are typically about 2-3 major ones (Ex. BSD - living through uncertainty, good as a choice / Trigun - morality and autonomy, life after loss / Hatoful - love as salvation or corruption / there are other themes of course, these are just examples). From this point on, assume you have your "themes filter" active for completing the other tips.

Tip 3: Pick a small detail and think about "Why" and "How".

See, I used to go too big when doing analyses. I used to try and analyze everything there was to examine in one go, and it would become unwieldy and just have far too much information for me to juggle and process. So, it's better to start small. What's something that caught your attention? What was something you liked? Was there anything that confused you? Pick one thing... then ask yourself why and how. Why did I like this? Why did this character act in that way? How does this aspect of the story work? Etc. This will be your topic!

Tip 4: Read other people's thoughts.

I know we all hate going into tags and seeing some of the worst takes out there... so I don't actually do that. I only look through meta and theory tags, and most of those are done by people who put a lot of time and care into their theory crafting, so they at least usually bring the receipts. It always helps to read other's opinions. This is just a good thing in general - you need to open yourself up to different views. Even if you don't agree, you might be better able to articulate why you don't. There's some god-tier stuff in these theory tags, you just gotta look. :)

Tip 5: Pay attention to context and setting.

For most of the stories I analyze, the characters do not exist in a world or situation that is comparable to mine. Asking yourself "where did this character come from?" "what's the overall state of the world they inhabit?" "were this character's experiences different or similar to the rest of the cast? different or similar to their childhoods?" - this is really going to help you understand motivation, far more than core personality traits will alone. (Ex. remember that BSD is a newly post-war society. Tensions are still high. People are being hired at young ages. A lot of people grew up in the slums, and violence is common. How did the different characters interact with this world? What sides might one character have seen to this world that another didn't?)

Also, it's good to at least be somewhat aware of the author and the context they created their story in. Many of the works I analyze are from Japan. It's good to know where a work is from - typically you're going to see at least some expression of cultural values, and I find this is helpful to keep in mind. Some decisions made in story will make a lot more sense when you remember the story's place of origin.

Looking at author influences is also helpful! BSD has a great built-in source of background info, since the entire premise incorporates classic literature. This can be an excellent supplementary source!

Tip 6: Tell a story with your analysis.

Again, I'm doing this for fun. I'm not a literary academic, so I try to use conversational flow. I tend to write like I'm speaking - in fact, this is very much how I talk in real life. It's up to you the tone you set in your writing - just make it something that flows naturally. You can always go back and re-read it if something seems unclear.

What I mean by story is to break your analysis up into chunks. There's no hard and fast rule on how to do this. You can see a clear example of it in my "Dazai Likes People" post, which was long enough that I bolded the sections. It should have a beginning, middle, and end, roughly - beginning where you say what you want to analyze or lead into it somehow, middle (which I typically break up into individual topics), and the end, which honestly is just a rephrasing of the beginning (or sometimes I just leave it out). Sometimes, to break things up I'll add quotes or images that help me with my points; these serve as visual interest so the reader is not faced with a continuous wall of text. Bolding and italicizing key points can also do the trick.

A good way to see if the analysis flows is to see if you can say "so then..." between each paragraph. (Ex. Point 1 -> "so then..." -> Point 2 -> "so then..." -> Point 3, etc.) Each point should flow into the next - I try to make something of a narrative out of it. (It's why the word "so" pops up a lot in my analyses haha.) I'm sorry, I feel like this is the part that's the hardest to explain in a way that's easy to follow. It's mostly practice, really. It's also subjective how you want your analysis to read.

Tip 7: Fact check!

I hate spreading misinformation. Mostly because it's frustrating to have constructed a theory only to get called out that it's based on something misremembered, but also because, as a science student, I'm really mindful of keeping track of my sources. Always have your sources on hand! I spend at least three re-reads of my analyses consulting books, episodes, and manga to ensure that everything I've added is correct. (I might go a bit overboard with it sometimes... I can be a bit paranoid about this...)

And finally, my Golden Rule: ✨Explanation, not Justification!✨

If you have no other takeaway from this post, please remember this! Every character in the story should have their actions be explainable! This does not mean justifiable! Explanation is not just logic, and should always take into account character values, emotions, and situation. This will help prevent analyzing characters only from the perspective of relatability, and is very useful when analyzing antagonists/villains.

Character analysis is always about drawing a throughline between motivation and action. It's not about whether you would do the same, or whether you agree, or whether it is a choice you would forgive.

Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do. This is true in fiction, and it's also true in real life. I try to always keep this in mind.

I hope this was helpful to you, or to anyone who might want to read it!

#what do i tag this as...? #analysis writing reference #thanks for the ask! #storyrambles #thank you again!!!