#if you live in a world you should know how it works

[shootingstar-scuderia]

shoot an arrow through my heart

max verstappen x reader

there's something you need to hear max say, but you're not sure if he's actually going to say it. you do know one thing though, it was always gonna be you and max.

a/n: started this longer ago than i'd like to admit but here we are! a big thank you to my fave beta reader K and to @scuderiahoney who helped me figure out all the banner image stuff. based on prompt #966 from this list.

masterlist

It starts with Lando. Because doesn’t it always? 

Lando says shit he doesn’t mean, Lando says things just for the sake of saying them. Lando says things as if they are fundamentally truths when they are in fact are lies.

And so, one moment you’re hanging out with Lando, letting him talk you down from buying the little trinket of the week you’ve fixated on, and the next he’s saying that Max is in love with you, saying it like it’s a truth, and then moving on as if he hasn’t just tilted your world on its axis.

And then, before you know it, you’re banging on Max’s front door trying to figure out if it’s true or not. 

Trying to figure out if your best friend is in love with you.

“Max! Open the door.”

He doesn’t.

You honestly don’t know if you want him to, or what you’re going to do when he does. Or if he even will, Max doesn’t know you’re here and you don’t even know if he’s home.

You’re just about ready to search for the spare key, the one you told him to hide in the firehose down the hallway because having a fake rock in front of his door makes no sense when he lives in an apartment building, when the door is flung open and a very grumpy looking Max, headset in hand, is giving you just about the most fed-up, unimpressed, stare you’ve seen in your life.

“Are you in love with me?” You can’t help it, the words foreign on your tongue but there’s an urgency to get them out and into the space in between you. You’re so desperate to hear him say it back.

Max blinks at you, bewildered at your words. You can see the gears turning in his head trying to work out what you just said and if you’re being honest you don’t know if you should be offended at the fact that the answer isn’t an immediate yes.

His brow furrows and his lips purse, “what?”

A beat passes, and then another, and then the idiot actually has the audacity to close the door.

You roll your eyes, even if he can’t see it you know that he knows that you’re doing it. As you push the exasperation out of your lungs you knock again.

“Max, nuh-uh, that is not going to work, open the door and answer my question.”

Nothing.

You bang your fist on the door one more time for good measure, “Max, you know I know where your spare key is and we both know that I’ll let myself in if necessary.”

It’s true and he knows it. 

There have been many nights where you’ve verged on the edge of too far gone and walked from the club to his apartment. Nights where you didn’t want the fun to end so instead of going home you go to Max’s where you can cuddle and coo at Jimmy and Sassy and sit around in comfy clothes and watch as Max putters around doing whatever it was he was doing before you came over.

It’s true. He knows it. But still, he doesn’t open the door.

You sigh and softly thump your forehead against Max’s front door, through the absence of your knocking you can hear his nervous shuffling on the other side. The inquisitive meows from the cats, the faint scrape of the peephole cover as Max checks to see if you’re still there, if you’re still waiting for him. 

You would wait for him for forever, but that’s just for you to know really.

Max opens the door again, just the barest amount. Just enough so his eyes, wide and disbelieving can lock onto yours. 

They’re so blue, you don’t know how you never noticed it before, so classically storybook blue that you’re really starting to wonder if this is all some kind of weird dream where you’re standing at his doorstep begging to be loved by him, like some kind of cheesy romcom star. Because after all, aren’t you just a girl standing in front of a guy?

“You’re in love with me.”

The words stretch the impossible distance between the two of you. Even when he’s halfway around the globe he’s never felt this far away.

And still, somehow, you feel too close to him. Like somehow all the other versions of you and him have been false proxies to what you’re reaching for right now. Like all of a sudden, somehow, he’s been molded into your every contour of your soul and you don’t want anything else

The door edges open a little wider.

“Are you asking me that or are you telling me?”

He’s stalling, you both know it. But, you can’t really bring yourself to do more than give him a fondly smile and roll your eyes at him. Because you know, if the roles were reversed, if he was the one throwing pebbles like some kind of suave Dutch romeo, demanding to know if you were in love with him, you would be doing the same thing.

“You and I both know how much you like being told what to do.” With a sigh Max opens the door to his apartment a little wider once more to let you in, “and yet, you’re still here telling me to open my door.”

You can’t really fault him for that one can you?

You make your way to the living room where you settle down on your spot on the couch while Max flits around the living room. Sassy is meowing at Max, desperate for a taste of the outside she only ever gets when the front door opens, and even though he knows she’s not going to make a run for it he still takes the time to half-heartedly shoo her away.

Max does this, dragging his feet, until both of the cats have curled up next to you on the couch and it is only then that he makes his way over to you. Coming to stand behind the armrest on his side of the couch, putting a little too much distance between the two of you for you to not feel spurned by him.

You can hear it in silence between you, you can feel it in the way your body seems to ache from having him in the ways you have him now and not in the ways you want to have him.

You’re not ready to have this conversation.

There’s a part of you that almost wants to say nevermind and forget that you even said anything in the first place. But deep down you know that the two of you have been putting on this elaborate dog and pony show for far too long. You’re only delaying the inevitable.

“So,” you say, nervously running your fingers over the fabric of the couch. “Is it true?”

You try to catch his eye as you say it, not only to try to make sure he doesn't chicken out but to see the reaction he gives. You want to see his soul and know that he means whatever he says.

But Max doges your gaze at every move in a way that makes him look like a kicked puppy. And you’re not really sure what it means but you can feel the way the dynamic has shifted. All of a sudden the two of you are on shaky ground, not sure where you stand with each other. Even though two hours earlier you would have called him your best friend with your entire heart.

“Well?”

“Please,” he says your name, strained and with a weight to it that you don’t quite want to acknowledge, “don’t make me say it.”

You’re not above begging, you really aren’t, but something about the way he sounds makes you falter. Just a little.

“Max,” you say his name softly, “I think you and I both know what your answer is going to be.”

“Then why do you need to hear it so bad?” His words bite, tinged with an anger that you know he doesn't really mean. “So, I can say it back!” Your words match the sharpness in his and you can see how much they throw Max off kilter.

He blinks at you and then rocks on his feet, first a step forward and then a step back like he’s blown away by the force of what you said. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you never tell me?”

You cross your arms and shrug your shoulders, “it was a personal issue.”

“You being in love with me kind of also involves me.” 

You really don’t want to admit that he’s right on with that one.

You huff and shrug your shoulders again, “well it goes both ways, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I asked first,” Max shoots back.

You groan at his response and launch yourself up towards Max in a play attempt to strangle him. “Argh, you’re so!” You drape your arms over his shoulders as you slump against him, head resting in the spot where his shoulder meets his neck, “God I hate you.”

Max laughs underneath you, his arms coming up to wrap around your waist, “you evidently don’t.”

“You're so silly,” you sigh, tilting your head up to look at him. "You want to hear me say it so bad."

Your nose nearly brushes against his, he’s so close you think you could count every single one of his eyelashes if you tried.

Max makes a noise that’s somewhere between exasperated and surprised and you know that you’re toeing the line with your teasing

You always know when to give in when it comes to him.

“Okay, yes, I love you! I love you,” you say, “do you love me?”

“Yeah, I do,” Max says as he moves to cradles your jaw in his hands. “I love you.”

You grin, “good. Now kiss me please.”

And he does. He does and it feels like all the cliche things people say. It feels like coming home, it feels like fireworks are going off in the background, it feels like you were meant to be, that he was made for you just as much as you were made for him.

And you just know. You know that there can never be anyone else but him. That there was a version of you before Max and now there’s going to be a version of you that’s with Max, but there’s never going to be a you after Max.

“I love you.” Softer, quieter this time.

You don’t dare look him in the eye, instead choosing to press your cheek against his and stare out the window of his apartment. Your gaze settles somewhere in the distance as you try to memorize the feel of his body pressed up against yours.

You curl your fingers around the hair at the nape of his neck, tugging absentmindedly as you say, “I’m glad that worked out, I didn’t even know you were home.”

He pulls away from you to fix you with a look that is so quintessentially Max, “you have my location on your phone, you’re always stalking me,” he says, punctuating his words with little jabs to your shoulder.

It’s true, and you honestly don’t know why you didn’t try to check his location in the first place, your logic getting lost somewhere in the panic of knowing that he loved you. 

“Mhmm.” You shrug noncommittally, trying very hard to ignore the rushing feeling of warmth in your chest that comes with the realization that Max was so ingrained in your life and you in his from the start. 

You try not to think about the fact your toothbrush sits next to his in his bathroom, about the fact that your hand automatically gravitates to his favorite spoon in your cutlery drawer, the one you can identify solely based on the weight of it in your hand. You try very hard to think about how you couldn’t separate the love from the friendship.

It was always gonna be you and Max. 

There’s a silence between you for a moment. You try to match your breath to his and let the sounds of outside filter through your ears. And for a moment you can hear how the rest of the world keeps turning, even when your world has stopped spinning on its axis.

“So, what now?” Max asks, turning his head to press kisses to your hairline, his hand squeezing your waist. You can feel his nose brush against your temple as he makes his way down, lips featherlight on your skin. The intimacy of it makes your blood sing with electricity. 

You pull “Mhmm, you could take me to bed?”

It’s half serious, half a joke. You’ve waited so long to have Max like this that now that you finally do you want him in all ways possible. But still, there’s some young and girlish part of you that wants it to be special.

Max pretends to think about it for a little bit and it’s so impossibly silly that you have to resist the urge to strangle him again for it, “it’s three in the afternoon, I think it’s a little early for sleep.”

“You know that’s not what I mean, stop being a smartass.”

Max smiles, taking your hand in his and lacing your fingers together. “Well,” he says, “how about I send you home so you can get all nice and pretty for me and then I’ll come pick you up and take you to a nice dinner, hmm?”

You flush, not just from the way he pours honey, slow and sweet, into your ear, but from the way it feels like this was always meant to be. Like you were always meant to have this, always meant to have him. 

“And then,” he says, dropping your hand to pull you in by your belt loops so your hips are press flush against his, “after dinner, that’s when I’ll take you to bed.”

#max verstappen x reader #max verstappen x you #mv1 x reader #mv33 x reader #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen fic #mv1 fic #mv33 fic #mv1 x you #mv33 x you #max verstappen #mv1 #mv33 #f1 fanfiction #f1 fanfic

[emphistic]

Greedy

A/N: requested by @charbunxxi — i did something a little different, lmk if you would rather me repost a more accurate version to your request

The first thing Sukuna thought about after getting off his shift was you. You were the only thing he thought of while working, too. And, on the drive home, he almost crashed his car due to the fact that you were the only thing on his mind.

Some might say he's obsessive. Some might say he's deranged. Some might say he's a man deserving of nothing.

But then there's you, who says he's just a man in love.

He's a man who makes you breakfast and coffee — the way you like it. He's a man who draws you baths and washes your hair. He's a man who carries your bags after having gone shopping — with his card, obviously. He's a man who arrives at the apartment and — even then, still looks for home. He's a man who looks for you.

However, this time — unlike all other times, after slipping off his footwear and coat, he is unable to find you.

Maybe you were taking a shower? No. Maybe you were watching TV in the living room? Nope. Maybe you were doing laundry? Not even close.

When Sukuna finally succeeded in his search for you in your shared bedroom, he facepalmed. "'m so fuckin' stupid," he grunts out, as he crawls into bed.

You had fallen asleep while trying — but failing — to stay up in order to greet Sukuna after he returned home from work; but, he had had a longer shift than usual, and forgot to tell you.

He didn't mean to wake you. After all, it's not his fault that your pet cat just had to let out the world's loudest meow, announcing his arrival.

"You've got to be kidding me," he whispered, glaring at the little nuisance laying in the bed, cuddled up in your loving arms. The loving arms where he should be, not some ugly, good-for-nothing feline.

"My bad, baby. Swear, didn't mean to wake you—" He goes in to place a kiss on your cheek, but you simultaneously swerve away from him.

"No," you softly whine, shoving your head into the pillow.

"The fuck you mean 'no'? You seriously gonna deprive me of my well deserved kiss? After working a twelve hour shift?"

"No kisses." You mumble, your voice muffled.

Sukuna blinked at you, once, twice, thrice, until he finally concluded that you weren't just fucking around with him, and you were actually denying him of something totally essential to his well-being.

How was he meant to go on without your kisses? How would he live, breathe, eat, sleep, without your affection?

He tried to remove you from the pillow, but you instantly shoved your face back. "Noo."

"Sweetheart, I love you, y'know that already. And I wouldn't force you to do anything against your will. But, you don't understand, baby. What you're doing is completely and utterly cruel. This is wrong, on so many levels." He tried, again, to peel your face away from the pillow. And he succeeded, this time. But this time, you had a nasty pout on your face.

"You wanna know what's cruel? The fact you haven't showered, and yet, still have the audacity to crawl into bed. I'll have you know, I just replaced the bedsheets, and now here you are — dirtying them up."

"Babe, please—" He started.

"You are stinking up the whole goddamn apartment, Sukuna."

"You don't gotta be this way. We can talk it out."

"Sukuna—"

"C'mon, pretty girl. Just one? For little ol' me?"

You grumbled, but complied, albeit begrudgingly. "Fine, only one. But you have to take a shower after—mmph!"

Sukuna grabbed your face in his hands and tackled you down onto the bed, smashing his lips against yours so zealously that even the cat jumped out of your arms and off the bed.

-

It, indeed, was not just one kiss. But, it wasn't a total loss. Sukuna did end up taking that shower. And he gave you a reason to, as well.

Taglist: @beyond-your-stars @sad-darksoul @mochimoee @r0ckst4rjk @lillycore @deepchromatose @yinyinyinyinyinyin @fivehoneyharg @desihopelessromantic @taiyakii @hannas16 @acroso @msvalsius @call-memissbrightside @kelerina-ballerina @emikokomura

#sukuna x reader #ryomen x reader #sukuna x you #jjk x reader #jjk x you #sukuna fluff

[lovelybrooke]

Letters Never Sent (Yandere Malleus x Reader)

---

A letter wrote by Malleus Draconia, never sent to the object of his desires. Why don't you open it up and see what's inside...

masterlist

---

Dear My Child of Man,

I am writing this letter with no intention of you receiving it. 

Maybe this is "silly" as you would describe it, but I find myself slowly losing the restraint on my emotions as the days go by. My heart fills with unfamiliar feelings as I think of you, mixing together into an ever present sense of desire that makes me near shameful. 

I find myself thinking of you always, from the moment I wake, to the moment I fall asleep. You seep your way into my dreams, where for but a moment I can relish in the fantasy that is you. I dream of your soft voice, your comforting gaze, your addicting presence. You are so captivating that I often forget I'm dreaming, until I awake with an aching feeling I've come to know as longing. 

I long for you, I've learned.

I long for your voice, for your gaze, for your presence. I long for every essence of your being to be directed towards me. Some may call me a fool, scoff my way and paint me a madman, but I am nothing without my love for you, so it bothers me none. I often wonder if you think of me as intensely as I do you. I have to admit it is exciting, the mere thought of you reciprocating my feelings warms me so. It is intoxicating, even as a fantasy, simply imagining a life with you is enough for me. Somedays, I imagine gifting you with an unending dream, one where it is just us, away from the rest of the world. Away from duty, and work, and anything else that could distract us from each other, from our love. We would be together and we would be happy until the end of your days, and even after you're gone, I would continue loving you. 

You were always so opposed to the idea, immortality. I remember the look on your face when you realized just how long I had lived, the sadness, the remorse, the pain. At that moment, it was not something I feared, more accurately not something I thought much about. It was not until I met you that it dawned upon me that at some point, you would leave this world, and that it would keep moving. Time would progress, people would grieve, but they would move on, plants would sprout and grow and wilt and eventually grow again, but I would remain stuck. Stuck with my dreams and fantasies. Stuck with the memory of you so present it would be like you never left in the first place. 

Even now, I fear what the world would be like without you. Not much fills me with fear, my Child of Man, but I've found myself scared lately. The thought of you leaving, of going back to your home, and never returning scares me. It is almost comical in a way, I find myself dreading the thought even while writing this. You should be proud, how easily you are able to terrify me is an excellent skill, one many would love to possess. 

You were my first true friend, did you know that? I have Lilia and Silver and Sebek, but I've always been treated as above them, as something untouchable. You were the first person to treat me like an equal, to bless me with the wonderful feeling of friendship. I often find myself racked with guilt, why should I desire more from you when you've already given me so much already? It is selfish, to seek out your love so desperately when I've already taken so much from you. You are my friend, and I should value our friendship above all. 

But that is why I fear, because my love for you goes beyond the boundaries of friendship. I would even say it goes beyond the boundaries of love. It is a longing so deep I wonder if I'll ever be the same again, all while knowing that I am too engrossed in the feeling that is you to ever go back. A longing so deep I yearn with desire unexplainable to man, desire so profound and raw that I am sure you have changed something within me. A longing so deep the closest word to describe it is obsession, but even obsession doesn't explain the hundreds of letters, all unset, pilling away, all centering you. 

Fear, love, what do distinctions matter if every single one of my thoughts center you. 

I have no desire to send this letter, my Child of Man, but I hope with every meeting, every passing day, every time we are together, you are able to feel the love I hold for you. I hope my longing, my devotion, my never ending, boundless obsession is clear to you, my love. 

Because I fear what will happen when I run out of paper.

---

A/n: here's to me hoping that this will break my writers block.

#yandere x reader #soft yandere #platonic yandere #twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst malleus #twst x reader #yandere twst #twst

[strawberrymori]

Cloudy days clear nights

summary: When you grow up in a home where your parents are emotionally absent it affects your life, when your mother wasn't prepared to be a mother and throws all the traumas and insecurities she had at you it's not easy, a father who doesn't know how to apologize and lives drunk and has aggressive tendencies isn't easy to deal with, and reader relapses on a bad day that leaves you stuck in thought and she doesn't tell Natash, leaving her worried.

warnings: angst with happy ending , angst to fluff, use of Y/N sometimes, suicidal thoughts, mention of self-harm and scars from self-harm, Be careful if this triggers you, don't read if you know you can't deal with triggers, you are not alone and don't be ashamed to ask for help.

All the ghosts of the past follow me to this day, they all live in my mind and make me tremble like a child, today in particular was a difficult day, one of those reminiscent of school days.

The day had started well but the mission had gone wrong which had resulted in intrusive thoughts questioning whether she was really worthy of being there with the Avengers, then there was the meeting with Tony where he made a point of reminding her of the mistakes she had made.

At lunchtime there was the problem with the rain and the first phone call from her mother, the more the phone rang the more her appetite went away, there was no putting off the call for long.

The unpleasant voice came from the other end of the phone, things like "why are you still working there?" "you've been in newspapers all over the world, do you know how hard it is to have a daughter who doesn't do anything useful?" "did you really try to do something? of course not, you've always been worthless".

the voice yelled and screamed for a few minutes before hanging up, before Y/N could say anything or defend herself her mother's voice didn't stop and when it did it was because she hung up the phone.

To make matters worse, for the rest of the day her girlfriend, Natasha, was stuck at work until later, when Y/N was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling, she spiraled into a spiral of negative thinking.

she saw herself in high school again, being bullied by her classmates, she saw herself at that time taking out all the anger she felt on herself, she saw herself as the useless girl she had felt all day.

Y/N didn't know when she started crying but she felt the tears dripping from her eyes. She went into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, her hair messy with tears and her eyes red.

-How could Natasha like someone like me? - she asked herself, she had scars all over her thigh and wrist, she wasn't even that pretty.

-"Maybe I should just disappear... she wouldn't even notice," she muttered to her reflection in the mirror and sat down on the bathroom floor.

When the redhead returned home in the early hours of the morning, she felt a strange air hanging over the apartment. She walked into the kitchen, where the lights were off and a cold plate was on the sink.-Baby? - Natasha called out as she walked to her room. The light in the bathroom at the end of the corridor was on, which made her follow her there.

-"Honey, are you all right? It's me," Natasha said, trying to open the door and failing. "Honey, open the door," she said in a tone where she was almost begging her girlfriend to open the door.

The lack of response worried Natasha, who began to try to force her way into the bathroom. When the door opened, Natasha almost fell into the bathroom. She saw her girlfriend lying in the bathtub crying.

-Bear?- she said, running over to her girlfriend in the bath and kneeling down outside the bath - Look at me, darling, are you all right? What happened? - she says worriedly, putting her hand on Y/N's cheek.

The woman in the bathtub looks at the redhead and tears fall more than before -You shouldn't see me like this - she says as she looks away from her girlfriend.

-"Sweetheart," the redhead says as she steps into the empty bathtub and pulls her girlfriend onto her lap, "talk to me," she says as she strokes her girlfriend's hair. It took a while for Y/N to finally talk, she looked at Natasha and felt like crying even more.

-Today was so stressful...I made a mistake during the mission and Tony wouldn't let me forget it, so my mom called me...and - Y/N stuttered through her tears - I feel so useless, like I don't deserve this life - Y/N's comment made Natasha's heart sink, the redhead continued stroking the woman's hair in her lap and kissed her forehead.

-"Sweetheart, mistakes happen, life isn't easy but we can't let mistakes consume us, you fought to be here and you deserve all of this, I love you so much," she said, wiping away her girlfriend's tears, "come on, let's go to bed, so I can hug you properly," Natasha said, getting up and helping her girlfriend up too, she held her girlfriend close as they walked to the bed.

-Thank you Tasha - Y/N says as she looks at her girlfriend changing to lie down next to her.

-Thanks for what? - the redhead says, looking at the girl sitting on the bed.

-"For taking care of me...not letting me give up." The girl on the bed says looking at her scarred left arm, Natasha walks over to her and sits down next to her, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers.

-Thank you for what? - the redhead said looking at the girl sitting on the bed.

-For taking care of me...don't let me give up - The girl on the bed said looking at her scarred left arm, Natasha walked over to her and sat down next to her, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers.

-"Honey, you're my girlfriend and I love you more than anything, I'm not going to let you just fall apart, how many times have you helped me, huh? we're a couple, in good times and bad," Natasha says as she pulls the girl close and kisses the scars on her arm. "Those scars just show how strong you are, baby," Natasha says, looking into the eyes of Y/N, who was almost falling asleep in her arms.

-I love you Natasha.

-I love you too Y/N.

#natasha romanoff #natasha x reader #natasha x you #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #x fem!reader #x female reader #lesbian #sapphic fanfic

[heyftinally]

April 30th is the Day of the Homeschooled Child

I was one of the 1.7 million children homeschooled in the USA.

I am also one of Homeschool's Invisible Children.

I was heavily restricted at home - I was barred from nearly everything that my peers were connecting with. I had incredibly limited access to movies and TV, even more restricted internet access, and was even barred from many of the same toys my peers played with. This on top of my academic isolation made socializing very hard.

I didn't relate to my peers socially.

Children younger than me were more academically advanced than me.

I was socially unaware, and frequently missed jokes or made faux pas comments because I didn't understand how to interact with peers.

My ADHD went untreated my entire childhood.

And the issues were not only social. Despite living in a state that boasted some of the most rigorous checks for homeschooled students, I was missed. My portfolios every year were falsified - much of what they claimed I had learned I had little to no understanding of.

By the time I graduated high school "with honors" (that I did not earn and were entirely false), this is a brief list of some of my academic failings:

I had never written an essay, and did not know how

I did not know how to do a critical analysis of a piece of text or media

I was incapable of math above a 4th/5th grade level

I could not tell time on an analog clock

I could not identify more than ~5 states on a map of the United States

I could not identify more than ~5 countries on a map of the world/globe

I could not spell above a ~6th grade level

I did not know that there was proof of life on earth prior to dinosaurs

I did not know that the lymphatic system was real

And so much more.

I entered college woefully unequipped for both the academic and socal demands that were placed on me. At 18, I was closer to as 14 year old, social/emotionally. Academically I was much worse.

I had to work three times as hard as my peers to achieve the same results, battled my still-undiagnosed ADHD as well as my academic and social neglect.

I didn't fully know who I even was as a person, due to spending so many years being expected to fit a specific ideal that was enforced upon me 24/7 through the isolation of homeschooling.

This April 30th, I'm wearing green for Homeschool's Invisible Children - for children like me.

If you are a child experiencing homeschool neglect, please know that you are not alone. There are resources available to you, and your future is not doomed just because your guardians failed to educate you. I'm listing some resources below that may be of help to you.

Homeschool alumni/survivors who resonate with this story: we deserved better. We deserved education. We deserved freedom. It's okay if you're angry at your past. It's okay if you're grieving the life you might have had without homeschooling. It's okay if you're conflicted. I hope you're able to find closure and healing in whatever form that means for you.

And, because I know it unfortunately needs to be said, if you're an ex-homeschooler or a homeschool parent who feels the need to jump on this post and defend yourself, I need you to step back, sit down, delete your comment, and sit with why you feel so attacked by our truth.

This is not a personal attack on you - this is abuse survivors speaking up to prevent further abuse. It is not your place to tell us we should be silent.

"But homeschoolers test better and are more successful!" I'm sure you're dying to say. To wave your statistics at me.

And you would be wrong. Because here's the problem with those statistics.

Let's pretend we have ten homeschooled children and ten public schooled children.

All ten of the public schooled children take a school assessment. Because some excel at different things than others, the public school students average out to an 85.

Only four of the homeschooled children take the assessment. Of the other six, one is traveling with their family during the assessment, two are not permitted because their parents know they aren't up to grade level and fear backlash or judgement, two are mentally or physically disabled and so their parents don't feel the test will adequately display their knowledge, and the last hasn't received any kind of education in years because their parents keep them at home either doing chores, working a job, caring for siblings, or they are simply neglected and spend all day hungry and scared.

Of the four homeschooled children that do take the assessment, they do quite well, as their parents knew/suspected they would. Their average score is a 98.

A 98 is better than an 85, yes. But just because 4 out of 6 homeschooled children were above the public school average does not mean homeschooling is automatically better. If you tested the top four public school students, they might very well score a 98 as well.

However, if you included those other six homeschooled students, the average homeschool score would very likely be something closer to a 45.

So when we talk about Homeschool's Invisible Children, we're talking about those six that never got the chance to take an assessment. Those six who never had a chance to tell a teacher "I'm ten and I don't know how to read". Those six who may not even realize how far behind their peers they are. Those six who deserved to have access to supports so that they could learn in ways that actually met their needs.

So while your statistics look good on paper, they are not honest. They do not present the full picture of homeschooling. Listen to the homeschool survivors who were one of those six kids who never got to make their voices heard. We have a voice now - don't try and take it from us.

Resources for current homeschool students and alumni:

Khan Academy - basically free online self paced K-12 classes. They have fantastic explanation videos for the lessons, you can review them whenever you want, and you don't have to stay in the same grade level for every subject - great if you're trying to catch up and you're in 6th grad for English but 2nd for math. They have courses besides just core classes (math/english/science/etc), too! They run on donations, but it's completely free to use. Also, this site is used in my local public school system to supplement the existing curriculum, so it's not just for homeschoolers!

Coalition for Responsible Home Education - actively fighting for more oversight and restrictions on homeschooling in the USA. They mostly do awareness and advocacy, but they also have resources on their site for things like what to do if you don't have a high school transcript. They run on donations, but the information is freely available.

Probably the most famous resource on this list. Videos that give you a "crash course" (aka a condensed overview) of a wide variety of topics. These are best used as supplement to more structured lessons like Khan Academy, but they have a lot of merit on their own if they're all you can manage. Knowing a bit about something is better than knowing nothing about it!

#homeschool survivor #homeschool abuse #homeschool alumni #homeschooling #homeschool #day of the homeschooled child #homeschool's invisible children #coalition for responsible home education #crhe #make homeschool safe

[loriannbowman]

Honkai Star Rail X Arknights | Yandere!Sunday X Sankta!Reader | Part Three

Sunday sits you down in a room that you can only compare to a conference space. You had walked through a long corridors littered with sparkling windows, golden statues. There was a room with a mini city in the centre. You didn't get a chance to look around though, Sunday was insistent that you follow close to him.

The room was round with an evenly round table, place eerily perfect in the center. Tall bookshelves that reach the ceiling cover the walls, some having library ladders next to them.

"Make yourself comfortable," Sunday says casually, running his finger tips across the top of the table as he makes his way to his seat, "We might be here for a while."

You uncomfortably shift within your seat, the cushion beneath you not as comfortable as you'd expect. Your poor ass.

"Now," Sunday interlaces his fingers, "Where should we begin, hmm? We already had polite introductions, what should we do next?"

You can't help but feel a bit uneasy; his casual demeaner is so off putting. You leg begins to bounce rapidly, a nervous tick you picked up.

You attempt to clear your throat.

"Well... let's go over what we already know," you say, trying to regain control over yourself.

You scoot a little in your chair, straightening your back and folding your hands.

"I am (Y/n), codename: Lamplight. I am a combat specialist and medical researcher in Oripathy. Uh... I'm from the region of Laterano, species: Sankta. I currently work under the association 'Rhodes Island' under the direction of Doctor Kal'tsit, Doctor Loriann, and Amiya. Uh... there's nothing really else that comes to mind... Oh! I am also highly dangerous as I am infected with Oripathy."

Sunday sits quietly, his lips lightly pursed, eyes closed as he takes in all this sudden information. All of these things... he's never heard of a single one of them. Sunday takes a deep breath before letting it go through his nose.

"Alright. Thank you for your introduction. Let us first go deeper into these statements. In return, I will explain as much and equally about me and the world around you. Does that seem fair, Lamplight?"

You nod your head, eyes slightly wide at him referring to you by your codename.

"Good. Then let's start with this 'Oripathy' you speak of. You say you're a researcher in this field while also being... infected?"

Your hands fiddle with one another, once again shifting uncomfortably in your seat. You clear your throat again.

"You just had to start there, huh...?" you say with a somber tone, "Alright, I'll tell you everything I know."

You begin to explain your home, how a powerful and dangerous material, 'Originium.' You explain the usages it has... and the horrible, deadly effects it has on the human body. You even roll up the pant sleeve to show a small collection of black crystals forming on the side of your shin. You even told him how you became infected.

"I was on a mission with Doctor Loriann when I got pierced by a Originium lump. Luckily, The Doctor was right there and was able to immediately slow and contain the growth of the Oripathy. I'm glad that I don't use Arts, or the growth would be a lot faster. You don't know just how lucky I am to have my Oripathy growth so slow. Other infected would kill to have theirs infection be so well maintained. I just hope it gives me enough time to live a somewhat fulfilling life."

Sunday's gaze during the whole time never left your form, and once you showed your leg, his eyes never stayed from the crystallin chunks that speckle your skin. He attempted at one point to touch, but you quickly grabbed his hand.

"I wouldn't, not unless you want to be infected too."

It was more of a warning than anything, of course, but you could never be too sure. You would never forgive yourself if you got an innocent person infected.

"I see... Well, let's continue our conversation, shall we?"

#honkai star rail #star rail #crossover #arknights #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere x y/n #yandere x oc #sunday #yandere sunday #sunday x reader #sunday x you #sunday x y/n #sunday x oc #yandere sunday x reader #yandere sunday x you #yandere sunday x y/n #yandere sunday x oc #sankta #halovian #hsr #hsr x reader #yandere hsr x reader

[the-witchhunter]

So a lot of what I’m about to say has to do with my preference for character driven storytelling and is pretty much just me putting down my thoughts. Feel free to leave your thoughts on this but don’t take this too seriously

I think a lot of the side characters from Danny Phantom are hard to incorporate into a DP x DC crossover, especially on their own

Because most of them are pretty normal teenagers and are harder to fit into a superhero story. They tend to be somewhat flat and their interesting traits tend to be how the relate to Danny or each other

Like, I’m not inherently interested in Paulina just being in DC because she’s a pretty shallow popular girl stereotype. There’s not a lot to her that makes her an interesting addition on her own to the setting, which is probably why a lot of people default to essentially make being from amity Park a superpower. I don’t think it adds a lot personally, but that’s a completely different rant

Dash being in DC on his own isn’t that interesting because he’s the archetype of a jock and a bully. So to compensate you see people make him insanely competent like the rest of Amity Park, or actually give him a superpower.

But the thing is, their actual character gets neglected to make that happen, which is kind of disappointing

I just think it would be nice to see who they are as a person matter more. Paulina, spoiled former popular girl now living in the real world on her own for the first time? Coming to terms with her popularity no longer mattering? Or chasing that high by trying to get famous because she needs that external validation

Dash, jock and former bully. He’s living a life where the fact he played high school football doesn’t matter, he doesn’t get the specialized treatment that it used to give him. Or he’s playing at a higher level and where he was really good before he now is dealing with the fact that everyone else is just as talented. He’s no longer THE star quarterback. Or he’s unpacking his baggage regarding his former bullying. Internalized homophobia and coming to terms with his own sexuality? Actively trying to change for the better? Seeing his old behaviors in others and trying to do the right thing?

I just think who they are should impact the story if they’re involved. If you could change the name and I wouldn’t be able to tell who it is, then why should it be this character? What about the character makes them different in this role than inserting any other character? How does who they are affect their situation for better or for worse?

Let’s take an example: Paulina becoming a reporter in metropolis. Regardless of how good she might be at the job, what character traits does she have that might affect how she does. Well, first, she was popular, that’s her big thing. She knows how to interact with people, make them like her when it suits her interests. This probably means she turns on the charm when doing interviews but is maybe a little bitchy the rest of the time. Based on her personality in the show she would probably gravitate to the society pages, wanting to cover stories involving the rich and famous, galas and all that.

See, in this example, she can still be good at her job but her character traits affect how she does things. She’s a more complicated character, and she might not handle things the same way Lois Lane does, but she can still use her abilities to get the job done through charm and manipulation. This could also lead to conflict because she can be rude to people she doesn’t need anything from, which if she does that to the wrong person, putting on the charm and batting her eyes at them isn’t going to work

Again this is largely based on my preference for character based storytelling. Characters and who they are matter and are what drives the plot. This is in contrast to plot based storytelling which is events happen to the character without their thoughts and decisions impacting the story. Plot based storytelling is an older style which you see a lot in old legends and fairytales, where things just kind of happen to the character. It’s not inherently better or worse but modern taste overall leans more towards character driven stories

#dp x dc #dpxdc #ramble #had some thoughts #idk what do you guys think?

[anemoiashifts]

how to detach for reality shifting.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ stop putting your dr on a pedestal.

we’ve heard this before but really. i mean it.

im going to assume if you’ve wanted to shift you’ve asked people what it is, asked shifting creators other questions, looked into theories. you were trying to expand your knowledge by looking for answers outwardly. looking for information isn’t a bad thing, but obsessing over what shifting is / isn’t can make shifting harder because your focused on the “what-if’s” & not living as you are. deciding to set out & rationalize shifting & policing others can be detrimental in your journey. this is why i say, i don’t care what shifting is because it’s something. & that should be enough.

the truth is, there is no 10000% concrete proof that shifting is this or that. there is no experiment that solidifies one theory or another, demeaning it as “correct”. they’re all just theories for a reason. so stop trying to rationalize is. find comfort in the unknown. in my opinion, that is the first thing needed in detachment. the letting go & elimination of overthinking how something works & just allowing it to work within time.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ “ill shift & things will be better. ill be happy, ill accomplish this. ill be better.”

your reality is a mirror of your thoughts & internal world. if you’re someone who thinks “this world is awful” you will subconsciously search for things that affirm those beliefs. i saw this example before & i think it really drives this thought home. if you see yourself in the mirror & notice your lipstick got on your teeth, you’re going to wipe it off your teeth. meaning, the mirror didn’t change. you did.

looking for external validation may unintentionally self-sabotage because you are not in the feeling of having it. you are searching for it which is you reminding yourself you do not have it yet.

don’t put off your happiness. allow yourself to feel everything you’re expecting in your dr at this moment. neville goddard once suggested the practice of living your life & imagine what it would be like if you had your desire. continue your imagination with the mindset that you’ve already shifted / manifested / achieved everything you’ve ever wanted until it shows in the 3d, when you are in full alignment. you are focusing on your desire, thus you will recognize it more & watch it show itself in your exterior. the 3d is a mirror to the mind.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ so how do we detach ?

there is no step by step, how to guide. in its simplest terms detaching is accepting & not obsessing over an outcome (when it comes, how you will achieve it) because you know it’s yours already. detaching doesn’t mean not caring or not thinking about our manifestations or —in this case— our desired realities. it means not overthinking your desires.

detaching is ultimately trusting yourself & the universe. that everything will work out in your favor no matter what.

you must change yourself before anything else. once the concept of self is changed, everything else in your life will follow. you decide what you are worthy of. you decide what life you want to live. you are the only one who can truly define yourself. every one else, every other person you have come across, only has their assumption & interpretation of you.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

i want to take a moment to speak about timing. there is no set time your manifestation will come. everyone attracts at different rates. it takes some people days to shift for the first time, it takes others months and some it can take years. patience & persistence is vital in manifesting.

example. some people are able to solve math problems really fast & get every answer correct on exam. while others need more time to preform at the same rate as the students who are able to complete their work faster. the quality of the work is the same. vs if the person who needed more time on math exams rushed through every single problem resulting in getting the answers wrong. everyone goes at their own pace & that’s okay.

a second example. let’s say your baking a cake. you put in all the ingredients correctly, you have to correct sized pan. but when it comes to baking it — let’s say 45 minutes — you keep opening the oven door to check on it every minute. it’ll never cook. you have to give things time & the seeds you’ve planted time to grow.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

#reality shifting #desired reality #shifting #shiftblr #shiftok #shifting motivation #shifting realities #shifter

[tcfactory]

Been thinking about MoShang and the question of how they would handle SQH ascending, because depending on how the world works (which we don't really know based on canon tbh) the heavens might be a completely separate plane of existence you can't easily come back from if at all. Also what about BingQiu? Bingge or Bingmei, he would raze everything to the ground, kill everyone and salt the earth if he got separated from his Shizun.

I know the easy answer is MBJ's teleportation powers or SQH pulls some author nonsense, but hear me out:

Heavenly demons are called that because they were originally kicked out of heaven. Probably primordial deities of sorts. So technically it should be possible for them to ascend again.

So clearly the best way to make MBJ eligible for ascension is to turn him into a heavenly demon. Do they borrow the heavenly aspect from LBH who can ascend either as a heavenly demon or just a regular cultivator? Do they go through a bunch of wacky hijinks ft. TLJ? (“It’s a bit like mold, divinity. You only need to give a little and if the target cultivates the right way it will spread and he will become a proper heavenly demon over time. I’ll help him get started!”) Who knows, I haven't thought that far, this idea starts and ends with 'what if heavenly demon MBJ ascending with his husband?' actually.

Also if they decide that LBH should ascend through his heavenly demon ancestry, then he would need to actually better himself and sort out all his insane neuroses which sure would be An Event. Shen Yuan trying to very belatedly instill Good Morals (any kind of morals, really) in his husband would be a trashfire. MBJ can cultivate towards detachment or something, he has the temperament for it, but LBH can't and it would bug him so much that MBJ is beating him in something. All the while TLJ is giving Advice (Wrong Answers Only) from the sidelines because he put off trying to ascend until ZZL gets reincarnated, but that doesn't mean he can't be involved in the proceedings and have fun.

And once they are all gods there can be some extra shenanigans, because I always thought that it must be one hell of a time to sort the twelve peak lords/new gods out and this batch comes with two extra. Transmigrator and Airplane reveal? Sure, why not. Shen Jiu waiting for them there because he lived Shen Yuan's life (got all the therapy he needed, bettered himself and worked off his karma) and then the universe short circuited and he got pulled back here ages ago and he's kinda pissed that his martial siblings took this long? Hell yes (QiJiu are my blorbos, Do Not Separate).

Just a whole pile of "We ascended to heaven and it was only a medium-sized disaster, actually".

#svsss #tc writes

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #19 – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the third book I’ve picked up as part of my whole aspirational ‘read a piece of non-SFF capital-l Literature every month’ New Years resolution. Of those three, it is the second I opened only to discover it actually is science fiction and/or fantasy after all. Which is just a very funny thing to happen twice, and also meant the book was significantly less outside my comfort zone than I’d expected. Which did make it quite a pleasant read.

The story follows Klara, an AF (Artificial Friend, a companion robot for children) in a broadly sketched and mildly dystopian future America. At first it just follows her life in the shop where she’s kept, observing the world around her and interacting with the store manager and the other AFs, but the meat of the book is her life with the family who buys her. Over time you learn that Josie, her child, suffers from severe and increasing health issues as a consequence of being ‘lifted’ (genetically enhanced, in some unclear way) in the womb. Klara, being solar-powered and having quietly developed a one-robot religion underpinned by a firm belief in the power and benevolence of Mr. Sun (and a moral opposition to Pollution, which obscures and drives him away) does her best to invoke his help in nourishing and restoring Josie. At the same time, she learns that her job is not just to comfort Josie but, should she die, to be her mother’s replacement goldfish and imitate her perfectly.

The setting is broadly sketched and never really exposited upon – it’s just not something Klara is particularly interested in – but it’s a very modern sort of dystopia. Much of the populace, even among the American professional elite, have been left ‘post-employed’ by robotic automation. The remaining meritocratic elite have embraced novel and risky genetic enhancements for their children, as the only possible way of ensuring they get into a good school and one of the few good careers left. There are fascist militia compounds off in the distance somewhere. The overall feeling is that of a society dimly aware it’s midway through collapsing, but with no ideas of how to arrest its fall. But since Klara has no interest at all in either politics or economics, we only see this as it directly intrudes upon the story, with nary a lecture or manifesto to be seen.

I’ve only ever read one other book by Ishiguro, so I really don’t know how much this generalizes, but the similarities to Never Let Me Go really were striking. Both books are set in really rather horrifying societies, but portrayed in an utterly normalized way by someone who never even thinks to question the real rules they live under. Which is even more striking because in both cases the protagonist is seen by society as only quasi-human – like a person, but existing only in relation to and for the benefit of the people who really matter. And in both cases the story follows the protagonist who lives their life moving through the role they were made for without ever really resisting it, let alone changing it. Not that the roles of ‘friend to sick child’ and ‘mandatory organ donor’ are exactly comparable but, you know.

A definition I’ve always kind of liked for what makes literary fiction, well, literary is that it’s as or more concerned with the beauty and presentation of its prose than it is on the information the prose is conveying. Not at all true in terms of how the term’s actually used (genre is marketing), but it works for me, and lets this book count as literature quite handily. The whole story is told quite tightly from Klara’s point of view, and it’s a pleasure to read. Even if it took me more than a few pages to really understand how she described scenes, always foregrounding the ways they were divided by grids or patterns of the sun’s light.

Portraying the normal human society through the eyes of a naive and somewhat alien narrator to get away without explaining everything is a classic sci fi trope for a reason, but it’s overall used really well here as well.

I’m still not entirely sure how to interpret the sudden intrusion of magical realism with the ending. But otherwise, really quite a good read.

#book review #klara amd the sun #kazuo ishiguro #sff #literature

[sitp-recs]

Hi Liv!!! I’ve seen you have an draco injury/disability reclist but I was wondering if yoy knew of any fics where harry had an injury/disability??

thank you!!

Hi anon! Yes definitely, here are some hurt!Harry for you:

Wield Me by @tackytigerfic (E, 10k)

Draco Malfoy, blacksmith, is renowned through the magical world for his skill and exquisite creations. He could quite easily spend the rest of his days making pretty trinkets for the fae court, and being handsomely rewarded for the privilege. But why take the easy route when instead he could get involved in a dangerous mission with Unspeakable Harry Potter (who also happens to be Draco's... well, he's something, isn't he?). A little story about learning to strike while the iron is hot.

The Snitch-Maker by Omi_Ohmy (T, 21k)

Draco is content with his Snitches, with the tap tap tap of his hammer, and the tiny gears and sharp scent of metal in his workshop - until one day Harry Potter appears, asking for help to solve a rash of Snitch-tampering in the Quidditch world.

Fearful Trill by @vukovich (E, 29k)

Harry should have come out and met someone when he was younger. He should have seen a doctor about the pain in his hip while youth was still on his side. Now, he's made his peace with dying young, but maybe not with dying alone.

If an Injury Is to Be Inflicted by @shealwaysreads (E, 45k)

Harry Potter disappeared a year after the Battle of Hogwarts, and with him went all hope for true change in magical Britain. Three years later, Draco indulges himself and attends his first Dog Fight—the infamous underground fights with no rules, no referee, and no points system bar blood on the floor. The game was simple: you win, or you die.

fly like paper, high like planes by @harryromper (M, 47k)

Harry Potter, Head Coach of the Appleby Arrows, is very content leading a quiet life. He has a doddery old house-elf who makes his breakfast, a team of players who love Quidditch almost as much as he does, and a Kneazle that curls against his damaged leg at the foot of his bed at night. The absolute last thing he needs is a fit, tattooed, and wildly talented Draco Malfoy back from living his life on the margins.

Harry Potter and the elusive day off by pleasebekidding (E, 71k)

Auror Potter needs a fucking break. He is wiped. He is exhausted. He probably didn't intend to put himself into a magical coma but these things happen. And who cares, really? He is comfortable in a house where he has hidden away all the shit he can't deal with.

Merlin Works in Mysterious Ways by lordhellebore (M, 82k) - cw: major permanent disability

When Harry is forced to form a Blood Bond with Draco Malfoy under threat of death, he thinks his future will consist of a cold home and sexual frustration. But when a group of left-over Death Eaters decides to stir trouble, their lives change completely – and it takes them both some years to figure out whether it’s for better or for worse.

Balance, Imperfect by @bixgirl1 (E, 91k)

When Harry sustains an injury in the line of work, he no longer knows how to navigate the life he loved, and finds help and solace from the most unexpected source.

Any Instrument by @dictacontrion (E, 131k)

Draco Malfoy wouldn't go back to England for anything less than an exceptional case. Being asked to figure out why Harry Potter can't control his magic might be exceptional enough to qualify.

The Ordeal of Being Known by @lou-isfake (M, 146k)

When Auror Potter is anonymously cursed with silence by being forced to hide his own voice inside his mind, there's unfortunately only one person in the country with the qualifications to fix it: Certified and Licensed Healer Legilimens, Draco Malfoy, specialist in Mind Curses and Afflictions. It's obviously a terrible idea, a disaster waiting to happen, but Draco's never been able to back down from a challenge... especially from Potter.

#asks #anon #Drarry reclist #hurt Harry #disabled Harry

[bunnliix]

The Invisible Strings that Bind Us - Chapter Eight

This is a week late, but here is chapter eight!! This was really cute but also sad to write, because reader is heading home temporarily to pack up her life, so she can come back to Stray Kids and Korea to stay.

masterlist wc: 4.2k warnings: crying, the boys and reader being sad, cute fluffy moments but that's not really a warning? Basically this is a cute but also kinda sad chapter

A few days have passed since the boys’ studio day, and between then and now, it had been decided that y/n would head home the next morning. She still had to get her life in order back home, so that she could come back here to live with them. The tickets had been bought, and it had been decided that a week back home should be enough for y/n to get everything she needed to move halfway across the world, as well as ensuring that her bunny could indeed come with her, and that she could smoothly finish off the rest of her degree online. She had also worked with the older boys and the few staff members they trusted to get her a temporary soulmate visa, that allowed her to stay in the country for the moment, as well as allowing for a smooth return once she came back. 

Neither she nor her boys were happy about her leaving, and oh were they vocal about their protests. Once she had announced her return to Canada, the younger ones were all over her, begging her not to go. Binnie and Chan had to pull them off of her, that’s how much they were clinging to her. Seungmin was surprisingly just as clingy as the others, and he looked adorable, even if he denied it ever happening once he realized what he had done. The boys had torn apart their closets, looking for clothing she could take with her, to remind her of them, since they’d all be feeling the strain of being apart so quickly after they had bonded. It wasn’t recommended for soulmates to be long distance once they had their first contact with each other, since it placed a strain on the soulmate bond, and eventually, the soulmates themselves. The boys weren’t as worried about themselves as they were y/n, since she would feel the strain of eight soulmate bonds, instead of just one.

This is also why, despite her protests, they hired one of their North American bodyguards to meet her at the airport in Canada. They were worried about the toll her body would be under, and because of that, wanted to make sure she’d have someone to take care of her should she need it. She didn’t think she would, but she gave in, knowing that it would help them feel better about her being so far away, even if it was only for a week. 

These last few days, the boys have taken the time to make sure they all spent as much time as she could, meaning that y/n went almost everywhere with them, when they had to leave the house. This led up to where they were currently, y/n in the middle of the couch with the boys huddled around her as much as they could be, watching some rom-com that Hyunjin and Felix had argued over for almost 30 minutes.

“Why do you have to leave? It’s not fair. Stay here forever with us.” Felix whined.

“You know why I have to go, and it’s only for a week Lixie pixie. I’m packing up my life back home, so I can come here and stay with you all, okay?” She replied, ruffling the blonde man’s hair as he sat in front of her. 

“Still not fair.” The sun god of a man mumbled, pouting.

“I’ll be back before you know it. And are you really going to spend our last night together for a week pouting the whole time?” She questioned him, to which he pouted more, before sighing and dropping the pout from his face.

“Nooo.”

“Good. Now, what’s the plan to spend my last night here before I fly tomorrow morning?” She asked, addressing all of the boys.

“Well, since we can’t all accompany you tomorrow to see you off, we decided on a sleepover here in the dorm so we can all spend the night together.” Chan told her.

“‘Cause only Chan-hyung gets to go with you tomorrow, company’s orders.” Changbin said, upset.

“You know it would be a bad idea for the entirety of Stray Kids to show up to the airport. Plus, once I’m back here, you can all welcome me back to the dorms, and maybe convince the company to let a few more of you welcome me at the airport.” She said, putting the idea into their heads, knowing it would placate them for the moment.

It worked, since the boys then looked forward to that instead of being upset about not being able to see her off in the morning. The boys had lent her suitcases to take back home, plus they may have snuck things into said pieces of luggage, not that y/n knew that. They didn’t want her going back, even temporarily, without a piece of them. Felix may have slipped more than a couple pieces of his clothing, without the others’ knowledge.

They spent the rest of the night setting up the living room for a sleepover, dragging out mattresses, pillows and blankets from the various rooms, plus the other half of the boys bringing their own bedding over from their dorm. The floor of the main room was covered in mattresses, but it made for the coziest sleepover y/n’s ever had. She was once again pushed to the middle of all of them, though there was a vicious fight over who got the spots next to her. Minho just slid in on one side of her while they fought, and once Jeongin realized, he took the place on her other side before the others realized, sparking a round of yells once they finally saw the two men on either side of y/n. 

“Yah! That’s not fair!!” Changbin yelled at the two men on either side of their only female soulmate. 

“You should have decided not to play fair then. Tokki is mine now, tough luck.” Minho told the younger man, wrapping his arms around her as he talked to Binnie.

The buff rapper pouts, falling onto the mattress next to the maknae, laying face down and not looking at anyone. Chan chuckles, laying on top of the man, who starts to protest but doesn’t win as Chan showers the rapper in love and affection, and the others, including y/n, coo at the cute moment between the two men.

Despite the original plan being to watch movies, that doesn’t happen because of Stray Kids’ shenanigans.They instead spend the rest of the night going from playing around to to cuddling up together to many many hugs and cuddles. The amount of physical affection, minus kisses, could not be understated. Y/n felt as if she couldn't escape the physical affection from the boys, not that she minded in any way, she really enjoyed it. She lived and thrived off of physical affection from others, and coming from her soulmates, that feeling was amplified by 1000. 

Y/n fell asleep first, once again, both feeling exhausted from all the planning she’d have to do, plus the urging from the more responsible members to get sleep because she’d need it for the next morning's activities. The eight soulmates gathered around her, all of them touching her in some way as they curled around her in a protective circle. They weren’t ready to let her go, even if it was only temporary. They were scared she’d go home and not want to come back, even after she’s voiced her excitement to be moving here to be with them.

As the boys settled down, trying to be quiet so as to not wake their sleeping soulmate, a couple rounds of yawns passed through the boys, sleep starting to try and claim them. And it did, slowly they settled into whatever position they found comfy, most of them laying on top of each other in a bid to try and get closer to y/n, even in their sleep. This time Chan wasn’t the last one to fall asleep, Seungmin was. The vocalist stared at his sleeping soulmates, happiness in his eyes and his heart felt full once more, and he whispered his love for them into the silence that surrounded him, only for his ears to hear. He laid down, breathing deeply as he closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep, feeling safe within the arms of his soulmates.

Time skip to the next morning...

The alarm to wake up y/n and Chan went off too early the next morning, it felt like barely any time had passed, let alone that anyone got a great amount of sleep that night. Chan jumped out of the makeshift bed after seeing what time it was. He quickly moved to his room to get dressed, before coming back to wake up y/n and the others, knowing they wouldn’t want to miss seeing off their soulmate.

“C’mon guys, time to wake up. Y/n, you have a plane to catch in a couple hours, you have to get up and get dressed.” He said to everyone, directing the last sentence to their newest member of their not so little group.

The boys groaned, unhappy that they had to get up, and y/n sat up quickly wiping the sleepiness out of her eyes. She groaned as she stretched, untangling herself from the pile that was 7/8ths of Stray Kids, and moved to head to Jisung’s room, where her luggage and clothing for today had been stored. Thankfully this bedroom still had a bed to sit on, since they hadn’t pulled Han’s bed for the mattress pile that existed in the living room. She quickly rid herself of the comfy clothes she had slept in, changing into the, admittedly, comfy airport outfit that the more fashion forward men had put together for her. From the look of the outfit, she wasn’t expecting it to be as comfortable as it actually was, but damn, she may just have to steal this outfit for herself now. They couldn’t take any of it back. Nope. It was hers now.

She was almost ready to head back out to the main room when a knock on the door stopped her. 

“Yes? Come in, I’m decent.” She told whoever was on the other side of the door, which turned out was the owner of the room, Jisung.

He trudged into the room, clearly not ready to be up at this hour, falling onto his bed and nearly busting his head open on one of the suitcases. She winced, moving to check on him, only to be waved away and assured he was okay, it was just way too early to be awake right now.

“But if you weren’t awake right now, you wouldn’t be able to see me and Chan off to the airport this morning.” She reminded her birthday twin, who she could see pout at the reminder of why he’s sacrificing his beauty sleep.

“Why do you have to leave so early in the morning?” Jisung whined, dragging out the last syllable of morning.

“Because this will allow me to get a flight home at a decent time. You forget I don’t have just one flight. I have a connecting flight to catch after my flight back to Canada.” She informed her soulmate, sighing afterwards.

“You’re gonna be so far away. Why do you have to be so far away?” He asked, or well really whined yet again.

“Because that’s how it is Ji baby. I’ll be back before you know it.” She told him, leaning down to kiss the top of his head as he still laid on the bed.

What she couldn't see was that her words and actions left him blushing and slightly malfunctioning once again. He heard her leave the room, letting out a groan once she was out of earshot. Why was he so affected by her, he’s usually not this flustered by simple things like pet names and kisses. Sure, sometimes he does get really flustered like this, but fuck he feels like a teenager again getting flustered by being called ‘baby’ by her.

Back to y/n, she’s pulled her luggage out to the main room, finding half of the men there, while the other three were in their rooms in this dorm. They smiled at her when she returned, though their smiles were sadder than she had seen.

“Why are you four so gloomy and sad?” Y/n questioned, a frown appearing on her face.

“Because you’re leaving us.” Minho answered for the group of them.

“I’ll be back soon though, and I’ll message you all every day I’m gone. I promise.” She told the four of them, moving to sit near them all as they were spread out across the mattresses and couches. 

The five of them chatted, and when y/n talked about food and such that she’d miss from her home once she moved here, which then got onto the topic of nostalgia and then back to some of them begging her to bring her favorite snacks home with her. She laughed at their insistence, promising that she’d bring home a lot of snacks for them to try.

Chan walked out to the living room, the missing three following behind him, a frown on his face. Somehow, without him saying a word, she knew it was time to go. It was time to leave her soulmates for a week. Sure, she was coming back in seven days, but that’s seven days without being able to hug and cuddle and be around her wonderful soulmates. She sniffled, feeling tears starting to collect in her eyes as she looked around at the eight men she’s spent the last almost week with.

“Oh babygirl. Don’t cry or we’re all going to cry.” Chan said, kneeling down in front of her, wiping away the tears that escaped.

“I can’t help but cry. I don’t want to leave you all yet.” She said, sniffling. 

“It’ll be okay tokki. The sooner you go, the sooner you'll come back to us.” Minho reminded and reassured you as he came to sit next to you.

“I wish we could sit around and talk more about this, but we really do have to go now.” Chan said, sighing as he stood back up, arms reaching out to pull you up off of the mattress.

As soon as you were standing up by yourself, Hyunjin came over to hug you, burying his face in your neck, whispering to you how much he would miss you while you were gone. You wrapped your arms around his waist, holding him close, one hand rubbing his back as you comforted him. After a couple minutes, he pulled back, looking at you with tears in his eyes, and you moved a hand off of his waist to brush them away.

“It’s okay Jinnie, I’ll be back before you know it. We can facetime any time you want.” She told him, before pulling back from his embrace.

“I’m gonna miss you, you better be safe while I can’t protect you.” He told her, looking directly into her eyes, his expression and voice conveying the seriousness of his words.

“I’ll be safe, don’t worry Binnie.” She replied.

He kissed the top of her head, and only when Minho came to stand next to both of them, did he let go of y/n, who was immediately swept into the butt hunter’s arms. Though this time there was no butt hunting, just Minho holding her close as he rested his chin on her head. 

“Come back safe to us.” He whispered to her, kissing the top of her head before he pulled away, moving away quickly.

Felix and Han both approached her, tears falling down the sunshine duo’s cheeks as they looked at her with such sad eyes.

She opened up her arms for both of them. “Come here you two.” She said, tears bubbling up in her own eyes at seeing the two of them cry.

They almost collapsed into her arms, crying and begging her not to leave. Tears trailed down her cheeks as she listened to their tears and cries. She pulled them closer, resting her head on their shoulders, trying her best not to break down.

“It’ll be okay my sunshines. You know it’s only for a little bit. I’ll be back with all of my things and my bunny, and we can be here together for the rest of our lives. Now please stop crying or I’ll never be able to leave.” She comforted her two darlings, trying to do her best to make them feel at least a tiny bit better.

The two ‘00 liners had to be pulled away by the older members, so that the remaining two members, who wouldn’t be taking her to the airport, could say goodbye. Jeongin came up to her and engulfed her in a hug, then very shyly kissed her forehead, not being able to look her in the eyes after that.

“Be safe noona. Come back to us and bring us lots of snacks please.” He told her, a blush clearly painting his cheeks.

“I will, be a good baby bread for your hyungs, yeah?” She told him, before pulling away from him, but not before leaning up and kissing his own forehead.

She turned to look at Seungmin, the last soulmate she had to say goodbye to. He opened his arms for her, a soft look on his face even as he tried to appear strong in front of everyone. She walked into his embrace, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned his head on top of hers, his arms pulling her close to him.

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but come back to us safe and in one piece, please? I just got you, I don’t want to lose you already.” He told her, voice soft.

“I promise you that I’ll come back home safely, okay? I couldn’t bear not being able to return home to you all now that I’ve met you.” She told him.

He held her close, before leaning down to place a kiss on her cheek. She felt herself blush, and once the slightly younger man pulled away, saw that he was blushing as well. She quietly laughed at him, and made him smile slightly. He pulled away from her, and she reluctantly let him go.

“It’s time to go now babygirl. No more delaying it, or we’ll be late.” Chris told her, and she sighed sadly, moving to pick up her carry-on bags as the oldest member grabbed her other luggage. He guided her to the door, where Felix helped her slip on her shoes, smiling sadly up at her after he finished tying her shoelaces.

Chan opened the front door, leading her through it and letting her wave goodbye to the rest of the group before leading her downstairs and out of the building, straight to the car that was waiting for them. Y/n slipped into the back of the car, as Chan and the staff member accompanying them helped pack her luggage into the trunk. Chan slipped into the car, which then quickly left the apartment building. 

“We’re going to miss you, even if it’s only for a week. I’m going to miss you. I really wish I could go with you.” Chris told her, reaching out to hold her hand, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. She smiled at him, telling him that she knew, and that she’d miss them just as much.

They spent the ride to the airport in comfortable silence, mostly just taking this time to enjoy this alone time with each other, something that the two of them had yet to have. They talked occasionally, but mostly just leaned on each other, intent to remember these moments until y/n returned to Korea again. It felt like no time at all had passed when they arrived at the airport. 

Chan had to don a hat and mask to try and lessen the risk that he’d be recognized, but he was intent on accompanying you as far as he could, knowing that it’s not a stress free process, when you consider it’s a long flight and y/n was leaving her soulmates for the first time after meeting them, which is stressful enough. He pulled her bags behind him as they walked to the check in counter, y/n carrying just her carry-on bags despite her insistence on taking more, getting denied as Chan wouldn’t allow her to take either of them. Once they got her checked in, and Chan took care of any baggage fees, he slowly led her over to security.

“Call me or one of the others once you land, okay? We’ll be watching the flight tracker but call us anyways, once you land after each of your flights. I’ll be worried otherwise.” Chan told her.

“I promise I’ll call you, or text you if I’m unable to call at that moment, okay? I’ll be okay Chris, I promise. It’s two flights and then I’m back to my home in Canada. Please don’t worry about me too much?” She replied, looking up at him.

“I can’t promise you that, babygirl. I’ll worry about you until you’re back here in my arms. And I think it’s time for you to go through security before the line gets any longer, okay?” He said, looking down at her, a tear falling from his eye before he was able to wipe it away. 

“I don’t want to leave. But I know that I’ll be back and you all can meet my bunny and it’ll be okay. Only seven days and I’ll be back home with you all.” She reminded both him and herself.

Chan pulled her into one of his hugs, those hugs that she’s seen the others melt into, that she herself is melting into, holding onto him as if the minute she lets go, he’ll disappear. She felt him kiss the top of her head, and mumble something she couldn’t quite make out, but then he pulled away, tears brimming in his eyes. 

She couldn’t just let him go like this, and pushing aside any fears, she pulled down his mask and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. She closed her eyes as their lips connected, trying to convey just how much she was going to miss him through the kiss. She felt him kiss back after a moment, his arms wrapping around her back and holding her close. Sadly, she had to pull away once she was running out of air, but she looked up at him with so much love and care for him in her eyes, unable to tell him how she felt just yet, but wanting him to know that she already cared for him, and the others, so much that she would never be able to fully convey those feelings with words alone. 

“Baby, you can’t just kiss me like that before you leave. I’ll want to keep you here forever.” He spoke, breathless and in slight shock after what just happened.

“Well, then return the kiss when you come back here to pick me up in a week, then you can really keep me forever.” She told him, kissing his cheek before pulling out of his arms.

He whined at her leaving his arms, but she only smiled and giggled, moving in once more to pull his mask back up to hide his identity. She grabbed her bags, and looked at him again.

“We’ll be standing here in this airport again in only seven days, think of that instead of me leaving. See you soon, Christopher Bahng.” She said to him, smiling through the tears that were brimming in her eyes, before she turned around and walked into the security area.

Chan watched her until he couldn’t see her anymore, and then he left to head back home to the remaining seven soulmates.

Y/n finally made it through security and headed towards her gate. Thankfully, and she praised the airport gods, her gate was close to the security area. She quickly arrived at it and found an empty spot by the window to sit down and watch the planes land and take off. She waited there until the call came for her to board. The boys had made sure she’d be comfortable during her flights, buying her first class tickets even though she protested she didn’t need it for her second flight home. The long halt flight back to Canada, she wouldn’t argue against having more room, however. It would be great for the 14-hour flight. 

She passed through boarding quickly, settling down in her window seat and getting prepared for take-off. Thankfully it wasn’t long before the rest of the plane was boarded and they set off. She watched out the window and waved goodbye to South Korea and her soulmates as she started her journey back home to Canada.

Prev | Next

Taglist: @queen-thiccness @k-k-kn1v3s @ihrtlix @calisnewworld @lailac13

@thegingerthatwaited @hyunmikim

#skz x reader #stray kids x reader #skz imagines #ot8 x reader #bang chan x reader #lee know x reader #lee minho x reader #changbin x reader #hyunjin x reader #han x reader #felix x reader #seungmin x reader #jeongin x #bang chan #lee know #lee minho #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #kim seungmin #yang jeongin

[kankuroplease]

I know that these take a long time to make Hc and also a drawing (sometimes we all just don't want to draw a character 😭) and yet I want an Hc for each child of Ringo and Wolfgang. 😭😭 ...but couls you at least do Wolfgang's first child before leaving Konoha?Asahi right ?

At least you acknowledge that it’s a lot of work 😆 Asahi is a good pick to get to know~

His birth was a big deal as his mother is the baby of her family having her first baby, a child Wolfang swore he’d never have, and he’s also the first grandchild of Ebba, Sara, and Kane.

So that meant there was a lot of excitable Uchiha, Senju, and Inuzuka to welcome Asahi into the world

His name made Sumi frown a bit as she knows Ebba only suggested it because of Asako

The Senju brothers congratulated their cousin on joining them in fatherhood with a healthy boy

The Uchiha brothers threatened him about being a good father to their nephew

He was a super fussy little one, so Sumi had to help Ringo find what soothed him best (which happened to be being walked for hours on end)

Asahi would cry almost non stop on Wolfgang but became instantly content when Kawarama, Hashirama, or Tobirama held him (which was annoying to poor Wolfgang)

But his first world was calling for his father, so it made those first few hellish months seem like nothing

Once he got adjusted to the world, they realized he was a shy little boy

Preferring to stay by his parents sides verses playing with his many cousins

When his own siblings started popping up, he finally made some friends

He was the socially awkward one of the bunch, but he tried to be a good big brother

Growing up, he was often confused for being a girl and it didn’t help that he was smaller than a lot of boys his age

Which lead to him training with his mother and father to have something to go all day

He was really only able to make friends with the other outcast, Ivan. Who happened to be blind (which was more of an inconvenience than a problem if you asked Ivan)

They spent a lot of time talking about what they’d like to do one day and Ivan thought Asahi how to listen more carefully to what’s around him

He was rather impressed with how his friend could identify sounds so well

Wolfgang gave him the all black wolf pup he named Kage

He almost got in serious trouble with the village leader for beating up his sons who were bullying him and Ivan

That was until Ebba brought up that the village leaders psycho brats didn’t just injure her grandson, but also his ninken and thus they should’ve been punished worse than a few bruises and a broken nose by their own laws

Even though no punishment came to Asahi and many villagers sided with him defending himself and his ninken, he chose to withdraw from most of the world

Instead focusing on training Kage and helping train a dog for his friend to be able to navigate the world with

He even was able to convince his father to train Ivan to use his wind release to further improve his performance

He eventually found that his sense of smell was abnormal even amongst Inuzuka and that, along with Ivan’s training, helped him win hunting competitions.

Ivan’s father took notice of the skills Asahi possessed and how much he helped his son without expecting anything

He offered him a job as a bounty hunter. It wasn’t a job most people would wanted their kids in, but he saw potential in Asahi (mainly because he heard of the Uchiha’s sharingan and wanted to see it in action)

Asahi knew his parents would disapprove, so he asked his grandmother what he should do

To which he was given her earrings and told to live his life how he wants to. His parents can’t live it for him and she can’t tell him what to do as he was nearing an age of independence

So he joined us friend and his father on a “hunt” and found that he liked the trill of bounty hunting

Wolfgang eventually caught on to what his oldest was up to and tried to talk some sense into him, but Asahi argued back that this is no different than what he did in the land of fire

The only difference is that his friend’s father only took them on bounties that didn’t require them to kill anyone

He also argued that with how big their family was, this insured they could buy enough grain for the winter

It was also during that heated argument that his parents learned he had awakened his sharingan and hid it from them

It actually awakened after that fight with the village leader’s sons when he was worried about Kage’s injuries

His rebellious personality slowly started to seep out as he shed his once shy persona despite him still having that sweet boyish smile

Not having to hide his bounty hunting anymore allowed him to take on much more dangerous hunts

earning him renown and many admirers

Even more so when he hit his growth spurt and stood slightly above his father’s height

Despite his new found popularity, he still kept to himself, Ivan, and his family

Kuri was always annoyed with how secretive he was and swore she hated his stupid friend (Ivan) for turning him into this moody guy

He knew Rickrack was trying to keep up with him, and he allowed it to an extent. but he also told him he had to be good. Their mom didn’t deserve two headache inducing sons

The triplets were always in his stuff and demanding sweets, which was annoying to him

Elke? She was a good mellow kid whole would give him her dessert if the triplets took his

Arashi was always breaking his things and that was even more annoying

As the grew into young men, they stayed good friends with Asahi attending his best friends wedding to his sister, Kuri 🙃

His big jobs allowed him to take more time off and rebuild the relationship he almost destroyed with his own father pursuing his career

The biggest controversy he had was a few years down the road when paying off a fiery red haired girls debt, thus freeing her but her following him home despite him trying to ditch her multiple times

Somehow everyone assumed he purchased her and as she still had a collar on and was sleeping in the chicken coop

He eventually got out of her that she had no place to go and didn’t even know how to get home

he reluctantly agreed to let her stay at his home as long as she didn’t get in his way

he worked on getting that horrid collar off and made sure to tell her to tell people he was not her master and she could leave whenever she wants

He found out her name was Kichijo (Kiki for short), and she was an Uzumaki

She just didn’t want to (there’s plenty to eat, it’s warm, he doesn’t require her to be in his bed, and he can speak her language. It’s a dream deal) and Kage didn’t want her to leave either

Four legged traitor

Most days were spent in a comfortable silence, but he’d occasionally come home to hear her singing or humming while cooking

It puts a smile on his face for a brief moment

When they do argue, it’s usually about him blowing off his family’s invitations to dinners

Because it’s none of her business what he does with his family

And because she would give anything to have her own family back and he doesn’t seem to realize or care how special that is

When they do argue over these things, they call a truce instead of actually apologizing

Thus he has a non wife wife

#ask #kpz naruto founder au #knfau 🖼️ #Wolfgang x Ringo

[dramarising-replacement]

Most of you have no idea how making a living with art actually works Your experience begins and ends with watching a generic popfur smut artists get 10k a month in passive income via patreon subs and cashapp donations and it shows In the professional art world if you take 40 hours a week to produce 1 digital piece you will be replaced laughably fast. Being expected to yield something after a 40 hour work week is not crunch culture, that's an average full time job. People I've worked with who make an income exclusively through art are capable of producing 6 12x12 water color landscapes a week and that's on the slower end. Hobby commissions =/= art as a full time job It's unreasonable to expect fully lined and painted art from a commissioner online to be done quickly. That's a completely different standard for completion time since most people who do commissions are only doing it on the side and aren't looking to enter professional spheres The site credits almost 20 artists. A significant few being "contributors" im not sure if they were hired on a one-off contractual basis to do one or two drawings and no more than that, but nearly all of them address themselves as active members of the art team so Im counting them as well. A lot of the apparel is copypasted, rotated and flipped. There is nothing wrong with this but it's a simple fact and it's efficient. I'm not sure why users get so angry about acknowledging this but I'm not arguing this point because it's obvious with the barest amount of looking. Undel sketched and lined a dragon in 5 hours in a stream where she was heavily distracted by chat and kept forgetting how to use her tablet. They dont' color by hand, they run it through a coloring program. All of this adds up to a system that should be more efficient than it is If this site can't manage to get a modern done more frequently than 1 every 5+ years then it's a sign of either gross mismanagement or they need to hire more productive artists "the artists are already bogged down/there's too much apparel" yet they release a new ancient every couple of months which increases their gene bloat and errors and decided it was a good idea to add 2 genes a month to the festival items. Those are not the choices of a struggling team. Nobody adds a few gallons to the tub when they're already drowning.

It's fine to think that the pace that they produce art is acceptable. If your standards and opinions line up with their output then you're entitled to feel that way. At least try to admit it's based on your personal preferences and opinions rather than a professional standard you clearly don't know anything about

#Flight Rising #Art #Long post

[dominimoonbeam]

Soo... Darlin accidentally electrocute themselves / drowned and is in dire need for mouth to mouth from the vamp they just started seeing.. 👀

Just a suggestion. I love your work and know you're really busy so no pressure with that.I hope you have a wonderful day! ❤️

❄️

ANON! Thank you so much for this ask! I went with electrocution... This definitely got a little angsty but how could it not with these two? I hope you enjoy it! <3 <3 <3

Darlin/Sam

tags: near death experience, cpr, angst, fear of loss, idiots in love, first kiss

You Taste Like Life

He came over at sundown to help out with the remodel. Darlin bought a place, a dump, and wanted to fix it up. He’d warned them it was too much work but only half-heartedly because he was hoping they’d ask him to help.

They did.

It was the first time since he became a vampire that he had a friendship with no connection to his life before or his turning. It was… real, in a way nothing had been since. They were friends. Real friends. Friends that flirted sometimes…

He went back out to the truck to grab the rest of the painting supplies. They were finally done with the repairs and onto making at least a couple of the rooms livable.

A light flicked inside the house and he froze. It was like they’d plugged in the big spotlight lamp and the bulb had burst.

But it was the silence that hit him first, incomprehensible and yet instantly registering. It was a shock to his system, jerking his body upright and turning even before his hearing caught the sound of their body crumpling to the floor inside.

Sam hadn’t realized how entuned he’d become to them—to their heartbeat, until it went silent.

He hadn’t known he loved them like that, until the idea of them being gone rocked him.

He dropped the paint cans and was back inside the house in a flash. The living room was moon lit but his eyes took in everything. A scorch mark up the wall from the light socket, the scent of that burn still in the air, and their body on the floor beside it, hand still gripping the melted plug of the lamp.

“No,” the word fell out of him, not even a whisper. He was on his knees next to them, hands hovering. Their eyes were open but they weren’t seeing him—they weren’t there. It was like the life inside them had just been turned off. “Oh god, no.” He touched their sides, gently rearranging them on the floor on their back. “Please.” He didn’t know he was talking. The words streamed across his mind in a flood of panic and heartbreak he had never prepared for.

“Wait. Wait.” He wanted to heal them, to lean back on those powers, but there was nothing to heal when they were just… dead. He tipped their head back, thumbed their jaw down and leaned over them. Lips to lips, he blew air into their lungs and then sat up, hands together and pressing down on their chest.

“Come back. I’ll heal everything else. Just come back,” he pleaded, unaware of any of those words. He blew another breath into their lungs and then did compressions, cringing when he heard a rib crack but didn’t stop. He’d heal it. He’d heal it after they… After they…

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been doing CPR. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop. Someone would have to find him and tear him away. He couldn’t just let them go. He couldn’t…

Darlin came back to life with a gasp, arching off the floor and then jerking to the side to cough hard. Their heart was a rampage in his skull, his hands always on them. He knew he should say something, should tell them they were okay, but his own mind needed those seconds to catch up. It felt like his whole world had ended and now it just wasn’t.

They groaned, hanging onto the arm he had around them. “Fuck… What…” They croaked and winced, pulling the lamp plug from their hand, plastic and skin melted. “Damn it!”

He could heal that. He would. He just…

“Sam?” Their voice was rough and their eyes, one red where it should be white, turning up to him and filling with panic. “Your crying… Are you hurt?” They sat up, pain a flicker across their face at those broken ribs but it didn’t stop them from reaching for him with their good hand, eyes quickly scanning him for injury.

“I… No… I… You…” He closed his eyes. Fuck. He had to get himself together, but his heart was pounding and his emotions rampaging in all directions. “You were dead.”

They were still for a minute, sitting there on the floor facing him. “I was?”

He sighed and opened his eyes, really hating how unbothered they were about the fact, still just worried about him. “Darlin…” When he opened his eyes, they had a little smile he hadn’t been expecting.

They reached up slowly and thumbed the tear off his cheek with their good hand. “Did you save me, cowboy?”

He sighed, leaning his face into their hand. “I broke your ribs.”

Darlin shrugged. “That one always breaks. Not your fault.”

He frowned reaching out with the same slowness that they had—giving all the time to be stopped—before his fingers touched the hem of their shirt, sliding up under it to palm their naked side underneath. Their heart beat faster, their eyes on him. He poured magic into them, gently healing the delicate bones he’d broken inside their chest.

“Thank you,” they said. “And for saving me…”

He winced and shook his head, not sure he could talk about that yet. His hand moved slowly from their side to their arm, sliding down to their wrist and easing more magic through his touch to heal their palm. They shivered and sighed.

He hadn’t wanted to be left behind when he faced a world without their heartbeat. That was a lot to unpack. “Darlin…” Their hand had settled on the side of his neck, their eyes fluttered shut from the magic in their system. A little tug and they were sitting in his lap. Their heart beat faster and their eyes opened, one still violently red. He needed to explain how scared he’d been, how this changed things, but could only stare back at them and hope they got it.

A funny smile played at the corner of Darlin’s mouth. “Did you kiss me?”

He touched their temple, more magic, healing their eye. “I gave you CPR.”

“That sounds like some bullshit excuse for a kiss, cowboy.”

Sam sighed, inches between them, their body practically melting into his now that they had magic rolling through their muscles. “Are you really complaining?”

“I’m just saying… I would have liked to remember being kissed by you,” they countered in a mumble.

It was his heart that skipped beats then.

Their eyes opened again, meeting his gaze and waiting.

Sam had missed a lot of moments in his life—and his death. He had a habit of hesitating and letting things pass him by, of overthinking and talking himself out of things. But if he let it happen now, if he didn’t kiss Darlin the way he wanted to so badly… they’d think he didn’t want to. They’d accept that, of course, and they’d continue to be friends, but he would have hurt something he could never heal, no matter how much magic he burned. And life was so fragile. One second they were there and the next they were gone.

Fuck that.

He touched the small of their back, bringing them that inch closer to his chest and sealing their lips in a kiss. He felt their surprise melt away, arms curling around him and lips parting.

How could someone that had just been dead taste so much like life?

#redactedverse #redacted asmr #fanfic #fic prompts #first kiss prompt #dominimoonbeam #<3 #darlin/sam

[destinygoldenstar]

Ninjago Dragons Rising Season 2 - Is It Good Or Nah?

So, I'm late to the party, aren't I?

Well I've had so much work that I think I'm having an existential crisis. So I had to wait till I had a free day to watch this season because I wanted to watch it with my GF.

We got to Episode 6, and then what did my boss do?

Slap me in the face with long work hours several days of the week.

I feel like I'm in a spiral of work after work after work with no purpose to life besides failure cause I can't trust myself to be capable at anything-

ANYWAY. We finished it now.

You know what the insane part about the season is? That it got the show trending on Tumblr.

That's an INSANE level of hype right there.

So I seriously had to ask myself "What the actual f**k happened in the show that caused THIS much hype?!"

So... here are my thoughts on the season.

SPOILER WARNING

Okay, so this may be a factor of my judgement, but due to my schedule, I was forced to watch only 6 Episodes one day, and then the last 4 Episodes today. Keep that in mind.

When it came to the first half of the season, was it good?

Yes. Obviously.

Was it living up to the insane level of hype?

Uh... not really for me??

Now, don't take that as a negative. This season is still REALLY good.

After the first season took awhile to get started as it needed to set up its characters and this new world, it makes sense for this season to throw the punches immediately.

The season gets started with its main plot right away with Ras immediately putting his plan into action, and by Episode 2, it's very clear the threat level he opposes and it's believable that we should be intimidated by what he wants.

Even though in Episode 2's fight, while AMAZINGLY choreographed, I was just screaming at the screen "HIT THE PERSON HOLDING THE GONG."

Like seriously, more than one of the characters in this fight can use projectiles with their powers AND they have a blaster in the Bounty, and the show never says that Ras has some sort of armor defense preventing him from getting blasted. He's literally standing out in the open. And the gong is clearly what's giving Cinder power. So HIT THE PERSON WITH THE GONG.

GOSH.

Anyway, that's not important. What's important is that this season's fight choreo is genuinely AMAZING. I am obsessed with the way the camera moves with the characters in these fights you have no idea. I was genuinely blown away by the last episode's fight in particular. But more on the ending later.

What also shocked me was how BRUTAL some of the stuff that happens here is, which caught me off guard.

I mean, Episode 2 has Euphrasia getting ambushed and crashed off the Cloud Kingdom with clear injuries, and Wyldfyre getting her leg SHATTERED. Like, WHAT?! HOW OFTEN DOES THAT HAPPEN?!! (Even though the latter's healing was unrealistic. Like, it would realistically take months for an injury like that to heal. Not a critique, just saying.)

Ras body slams Jordanna at one point. He puts Arin in a CHOKEHOLD. And also beats him up so brutally... like OMG this guy does not mess around.

The Fear Cave Trial also REALLY got me tripping. Not only was it such a visually appealing moment, but it also, as the same suggests, showed several character psyches that were insane.

Except Kai for some reason. That's gonna drive me NUTS until I get an answer. WHAT DID HE SEE-?!

Then we get to the dragon mentors, and...

Yeah the season kinda loses me in the middle.

Don't get me wrong, I love the character bits here as much as anyone. But with how dyer they made the threat of Ras before, Ras and his forces take a backseat in the middle portion of the season and we're mostly just sitting at these training grounds talking. And for four episodes of it? It's a little grating, even if it is important.

The middle is mostly where most of my issues with the season stand. And here's where I get all my negatives out of the way:

Like I said, because this season is so long, there's an awkward pause in the conflict on the dragons plotline to learn this Rising Dragon Technique. Which I wouldn't mind if it wasn't FOUR EPISODES of it.

With the exception of the attack at the Land of Lost Things ONCE, Ras's army doesn't go after the ninja at all. I can kinda get the dragons group since they didn't have Bonzle, but he has to know that they ARE a threat, right? They're obviously trying to figure out how to stop you.

And even with the group that has Bonzle, what they NEED, the forces that go after that group is the Administration and the one off magician man villain, the former really didn't need to be in this season even if it was for a compelling Jay cameo, and the latter has overstayed his welcome at this point and I just rolled my eyes when he showed up on screen.

I'm all for Cole being a badass as much as the next guy, but WHY this magician man, who at this point, is so disconnected with the main antagonistic forces that he serves no purpose?

Why not, I don't know, use this screen time instead to explain what in the world happened with Cole when he left?

Seriously, the first season had this huge cliffhanger with Cole's character and him going after Wu's ghost. I wonder what's gonna happen to him and what he's gonna find out-

Oh. He's just back.

That to me is a huge disappointment. What was the point of him leaving the Lost Family in the first place if this journey was basically nothing? He doesn't even talk about it! COME ON NOW.

Also I think Zane should get slay pass on the Administration guy that called him equipment. What do y'all think?

I don't like Egot. Or whatever his name was. He's very condescending and cryptic and talks down to his only hope of the world being saved. But I think I'm supposed to dislike him for it, and there's gonna be more of his characterization revealed later, so don't take this one as a critique. The female one is great though.

The sorceress lady was... a choice in the narrative. My one critique for the ending was the potion shenanigans. Not because they were bad, but because they just felt so out of place among everything else. Like, "Oh, this finale is too dark and intense! We need to occasionally cut to wacky shenanigans with this sorceress's magic to prevent kids from feeling too much dread!"

I don't know, for me, I would've placed this stuff with the Administration instead, and instead have the group fight Jordanna, lose, and have her get away and flow that to Arin getting to her. Especially since the Administration posed such little threat to them and they even say such.

(I also have a theory that this sorceress is Wyldfyre's birth mom. I have no evidence to back this up besides "They both have red hair and similar facial structure")

With Cloud Kingdom getting taken over and Euphrasia captured, I thought she would have more of a role to play in this since this is, you know, her HOME and she's their guardian.

But nope. She does next to nothing up until the very end and plays prisoner and waits for the ninja to save her.

For gosh sake girl, you're the master of wind. FLY.

And finally, my last critique, Cinder.

Yeah I'm sorry, I'm not buying this character so far. Not that I don't think he'll have anything to do in the second part, but for how threatening he was in Episode 2, that threat level kinda vanishes in the middle and only comes back at the end. He does next to nothing and we learn nothing about him other than "He likes power". Jordanna is probably more unlikeable, but at least she has conflict going on with Ras and her magic, and she still serves more of a role in the plan besides being a foot soldier.

And... yep. That's all my critiques for this season. Which all seem pretty minor.

You know what this season is real good at? Characters.

As though that wasn't obvious already.

I did NOT expect Bonzle to play any major role at all, I thought she was just gonna be the dry and cynical side character. But no. She has a history. She has a life. She has emotions. All of which REALLY shine through at the end when you hear her voice have more range in it. The VA killed it. I ended up feeling so bad for her.

Especially considering what happens to her.

They're also not even hiding it anymore with Geo x Cole. They're just NOT. I love them and I hope we see more of their relationship in the future.

I genuinely don't understand the critique of "Geo is so selfish referring to him as Cole's family when it's obvious Cole has other people in his life."

Well no shit, you ever heard of a character flaw?

But it's also a completely understandable flaw. You guys aren't forgetting the part where Geo was abandoned for being a mixed race, right? Of course he's gonna cling to someone as compassionate and encouraging as Cole.

The Jay cameo was nice. I expect him to play no role in this season, but it's really compelling what they showed and I was satisfied with it.

Lloyd's conflict was handled very well in my opinion.

What's it called when it's PTSD, but it's about future events rather than past events? Foresight Traumatic Stress Disorder? FTSD? Yeah let's go with that.

For a kids show that glosses over trauma, (That's not a Ninjago problem, that's a kids show problem), it was really refreshing for them to not do that for once. It's actually explored and talked about and Lloyd is given advice on how to cope with it, and he freezes up in panic attacks when these visions happen and-THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR NOT IGNORING HOW HARD SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS.

Seriously, as someone who is going through stuff like this, minus the magic element, it spoke to me a lot. It really shows that this show grew up with me, and I both love and hate that.

I do think this sort of arc is going to hit hard for adults much more than kids.

Are kids constantly terrified of the future and getting paralyzed with these fears and finding it difficult to cope with the traumas that is time and human life?

No?

Kai is also a standout in this, especially towards the end. This is by far the best Kai has been in a long time in terms of quality. I love how one of his most significant flaws gets addressed here, that being his overreliance on himself and his own abilities over the others, who he feels responsible to protect.

And the way he grasps with that and learns to let loose like he did as a child back in the old days through what he loves the most, that being his family. And the flashbacks with him and his sister. And the whole sequence of him learning Rising Dragon - AUGH ITS SO GOOD.

How poetic is it that the character most devoted to family since childhood is only cocky and angry because of his own desire to be the one with power to keep them safe, gets power by letting that go, being a kid again, and joining the same roots as his own family?

AND THEN HE GIVES UP HIS LIFE FOR THEM-

And finally, Arin.

Oh you poor sweet, sweet child.

First of all, yes, I am completely subscribed to the theory that the show is building up Arin turning on the ninja and becoming a villain. It's all there. It all fits. The amount of times they say how sweet he is as though that's gonna get lost. The dragons, the creators of the world, the gods basically, telling him he's not good enough. Ras confronting him. Sora's stunt even after she's been the most encouraging of him, like the BETRAYAL there. It's all there. And I will be posting my theory scenario on this don't you worry.

BUT, I don't think that's the route they're gonna go. Kids show and all of that. They wouldn't do that to one of their main characters. Unless you're Star Wars. At most I think Arin will be tempted by Ras's master's power in an episode and even do it, but then with the power of love and friendship, it'll get fixed.

So instead I'd rather say that Arin, by far, has the BEST power crisis arc of the entire show so far.

I LOVE that he doesn't get powers. That's something the original show would've done. I LOVE that he doesn't figure anything out in the end and his inner doubts get proven correct. That's something the original show would not have the guts to do.

I liked Arin in the first season, but he didn't interest me too much. Mostly because Sora had the lion share of focus in the first season. Here though? He might just take the crown for THE most relatable character. And I both love and hate it so much.

Like, seeing everyone else succeed in mastery while you can't even figure out your own thing. You get told you have a natural talent and a lot of potential and that you're good at a lot of things, only for that to be put to the test in the real world and you end up letting everyone down. Even when your loved ones encourage you that you are good enough and you're special in your own way, you can't get those voices out of your head and you mess up again and again and again to try and meet the world's expectations. Then those in charge tell you you're not good enough and wasted potential. Then you try everything out in the real world anyway and you FAIL, and those that doubt you and your own insecurities get proven correct as you're left a broken mess of a young child who doesn't know what the hell they're doing-

I'M IN THIS SHOW AND I DON'T LIKE IT.

I probably love Sora more as a character, but I will admit I grasp towards Arin more right now. Sora's a great trans allegory in a world that hates trans people. But I'm not trans so I relate to it a bit less. Arin's a great autistic allegory in a world that doesn't know how to help autistic people. And I am autistic so I relate to it more. That's just a me situation.

I am so invested in where Arin's story goes from here. Evil or not.

So yeah, the season was good, but didn't completely live up to the insane hype, which, to be fair, is a high bar.

UNTIL THE LAST FOUR EPISODES.

And then all of a sudden, I AM SHOCKED AND SHAKEN TO MY CORE.

These last four episodes are an absolute emotional roller coaster that left me shaking and screaming the whole time.

I actually SCREAMED at multiple occasions.

I actually screamed so many times watching this that I am now HOARSE.

THAT'S how hard it hit me.

The story goes from 0 to 100 the moment the Blood Moon shows up. Which was what the whole season was building up to. And it did NOT disappoint.

The race to try and protect Bonzle. The intense visions and paralysis Lloyd suffers from. Ras and the army coming back to the plot to be absolute powerhouses. The last episode of DREAD the entire time to desperately try to stop this ritual.

HUMAN SACRIFICES?! AM I WATCHING A KIDS SHOW RIGHT NOW?!?!

I was begging for Arin to succeed at getting Bonzle to safety, even though I knew he stood no chance against Ras. "Come on Arin! You got this!! YOU GOT THIS, SWEETIE!!"

And then Ras just goes to TOWN on the poor boy and taunts his utter failure, which HURTS SO BAD MAN.

The entire fight with the army, Cinder, and Ras. The destruction of the mechs which knocks them unconscious for a bit. Kai figuring out Rising Dragon again when his family gets put in danger. The way Nya avenges her brother afterwards.

When Bonzle was getting morphed back into spell form, BEGGING, I was begging too.

But they still do it!

And KAI?!?!

I couldn't even process what happened other than me screaming. From the moment Ras alluded to sacrificing Kai against his consent, I was screaming "NO. DON'T DO IT."

AND THEN THEY SACRIFICE HIM.

LIKE HOLY GOSH THIS FINALE DID NOT MESS AROUND.

I predicted a while back, in the first season actually, that Kai was gonna get sacrificed at some point. Who's laughing now? I DID NOT WANT TO BE RIGHT.

Like, usually in Ninjago the character would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the others. But here? This is without Kai's consent at all. Ras might as well have killed him right here.

It definitely felt that way with the way the others react and BEG for his safety. The way Nya avenges him.

And Kai giving up his shot at escape for the sake of his family? BRO. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

It hurts even more when you realize that when the Merge happened, Lloyd was ALONE thinking only he survived. He only gained hope again because of his reunion with Kai. His beloved surrogate brother!

AND NOW HE'S GONE.

NYA AND LLOYD LOST THEIR BROTHER.

WYLDFYRE LOST HER SURROGATE FATHER.

THEY THINK HE'S BASICALLY DEAD.

BRO. THAT'S SOUL CRUSHING.

And then Sora?! Why you gotta betray Arin like that?!

The most encouraging friend towards Arin, the person who held onto hope and praises for him the most, betrays that hope and doesn't trust him enough to get the winning blow himself. Then LIES about it.

GIRL. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

That's going to be SO compelling once that gets outed. Like, morally, that was messed up and she was definitely in the wrong, BUT it led to the best possible outcome for them at the moment. They WON because she did NOT believe in Arin's abilities. Which only proves that the doubts about Arin's said abilities are correct.

And I have a gut feeling she's gonna learn Spinjitsu on top of that. And once that happens... double ouch.

Again, Evil Arin Theory.

I really hate to say it, but this reminds way too much of Arcane. If you know what I'm talking about.

I am totally imagining a situation similar to that in my head, that being a rescue mission for Kai, they decide to leave Arin out of it because of the lack of faith in him, he tags along anyway and he ruins their plan and Kai stays trapped there, Lloyd and Sora lash out on him for it, and before they can apologize they get thrusted back by something and Ras and Ras's master find Arin and take him in-

Again, I'll make a post about that.

The finale was by far the best part of this season. It has been a long time since Ninjago has made me HOARSE from being too invested.

That has not happened to me since Sons of Garmadon.

Because, yeah, I actually have NO IDEA where any of this is headed. How are they gonna save Kai and Bonzle? Why did some of Lloyd's visions not come true? What in the world is going on with Ras? Will the Administration help with that? Will the source dragons help with that?

What I probably do know is that Part 2 of this season is going to turn this into the best Ninjago Product since Tournament of Elements. Maybe even top it depending on my rewatches if my problems are still problems.

So... yeah. Good or Nah? Good. Obviously.

The hype is a little overblown to me, but it still deserves the hype.

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #dragons rising #dragons rising spoilers #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago sora #ninjago wyldfyre #ninjago kai #kai jiang #kai smith #ninjago nya #nya smith #nya jiang #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago arin #ninjago cole #cole brookstone #ninjago ras