#this is the price i pay for a character development | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

iwasbored777 · 2 years

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Hello Queen of Marinette sugar ! I've been following you for a while and I love what you d :) So I wanted to ask your opinion on something. You've probably already answered this question before, but I wanted to know if you think Marinette and Adrien's classmates are good friends to Marinette ? I also wonder what you think of Alya reguarding her friendship with MArinette, is she such a good friend and ally to her in season 4 ? Do the bible spoilers for season 5 (which I haven't fully read) show Marinette's friends in a good light or not ? For my part, I am aware that Marinette's friends have evolved into very good people, but the lack of faith confidence they have in Marinette eerytime her crush with Adrien or Lila are involved, and the fact that they left her alone against Chloe for years before Season 1 leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Personally I would rather be buddy buddy with people like that, but certainly not friends. Am I too harsh on them ?

(ANSWER CONTAINS BIBLE SPOILERS)

I always try to explain myself over that and I always write big posts on that but I don't have to. I explained a lot about this already but if you want to know according to bible (BIG SPOILERS!!!!) Kagami will believe Lila that Marinette is a manipulator and the class will apparently vote Lila for the class president and Marinette will no longer be in that position.

I really REALLY hate it even more and I hope this will change but apart from bible spoilers, I think they are good friends and this is the only thing that's wrong about them and the only thing I don't like. I really don't and I can't pretend that I do. But otherwise I think they are good. But I'm still waiting for that apology now that Adrien confirmed that Marinette was indeed right about him.

The reason why I'm salty over this us not just my personal experience, it's not just my love for Marinette, it's my policy that if the third person is causing trouble in your relationship (whether if it's friendship or romance) that means your relationship was never that strong in the first place because if it was your friend/lover or whatever they would be on your side and no one could separate you because they wouldn't surrender that easily. I'll NEVER forget one time in school when my classmate accused me of something really bad and the whole class was angry and he said that to our teacher and my teacher didn't even blink before saying "do all of you REALLY think she would do such a thing?" and everyone got quiet and one of our classmates was like "but he (that classmate of mine) said that she did it" and my teacher was like "so what if he said that?" and OH MY GOD ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE IN MY LIFE WHO DESERVE AN AWARD! I can't explain the feeling! I thought I'll get punished but she knew me for years and she was the only person I could really trust at the time. Also another example: when that cousin of mine who ruined my childhood told my mom I did something bad to her (that cousin and I used to argue a lot so it was kind of believable) and my mom was angry and I said "how come you trust her but you don't trust me?" and my mom took a few seconds and asked "did you really do that?" and I told her the truth - that I didn't - and she took my side. And I don't know it just made me feel a lot better to know that I'm not alone even if they don't have a material proof - they have me - I am the proof.

And I'm so sick of post like "Alya is not Marinette's guardian dog" I'm not asking Alya to kill Lila nor do literally anything about it, just trust Marinette. That's all I've been asking from her and the rest of Marinette's friends. And I know everyone is like "BUT THEY LISTENED TO MARINETTE THEY GAVE A HER A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN HERSELF" and when she explained they still didn't believe a single word so that's equivalent to nothing.

So like I said before, I don't hate them and everyone makes mistakes, but this mistake is happening in every season and every time it hurts more and more because Marinette trusts them more and more with each episode but they still don't trust her fully. But otherwise they are better friends than mine were that's for sure but this is just something that I hate about them. You can't like everything about every character.

#Just like when I'm accused of not liking Marinette #Because I didn't like certain stuff she did #And I'm like that's normal #You can't like everything #But now she got character development #So I'm telling these people to suck it #Cuz she went through so much #And she even faced consequences for literally everything that happened in this show #So how am I supposed to hold her accountable for those two or three scenes #When she payed the price #Learned her lesson #Apologised #While her friends are stuck in season one #And they don't plan on getting out of it #Marinette reveals Chat Noir's identity and she gets killed #Nino reveals Alya's identity and it ends with Alya having to apologise to him #Where is the justice in that #And y'all still want me to hate Marinette #No thank you #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #Ml class #ml ask #ask and answer #Ml analysis #Personal post #I'm gonna turn these tags into a post one day #ml bible leak #ml bible spoilers

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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

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What kind of bubble is AI?

My latest column for Locus Magazine is "What Kind of Bubble is AI?" All economic bubbles are hugely destructive, but some of them leave behind wreckage that can be salvaged for useful purposes, while others leave nothing behind but ashes:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

Think about some 21st century bubbles. The dotcom bubble was a terrible tragedy, one that drained the coffers of pension funds and other institutional investors and wiped out retail investors who were gulled by Superbowl Ads. But there was a lot left behind after the dotcoms were wiped out: cheap servers, office furniture and space, but far more importantly, a generation of young people who'd been trained as web makers, leaving nontechnical degree programs to learn HTML, perl and python. This created a whole cohort of technologists from non-technical backgrounds, a first in technological history. Many of these people became the vanguard of a more inclusive and humane tech development movement, and they were able to make interesting and useful services and products in an environment where raw materials – compute, bandwidth, space and talent – were available at firesale prices.

Contrast this with the crypto bubble. It, too, destroyed the fortunes of institutional and individual investors through fraud and Superbowl Ads. It, too, lured in nontechnical people to learn esoteric disciplines at investor expense. But apart from a smattering of Rust programmers, the main residue of crypto is bad digital art and worse Austrian economics.

Or think of Worldcom vs Enron. Both bubbles were built on pure fraud, but Enron's fraud left nothing behind but a string of suspicious deaths. By contrast, Worldcom's fraud was a Big Store con that required laying a ton of fiber that is still in the ground to this day, and is being bought and used at pennies on the dollar.

AI is definitely a bubble. As I write in the column, if you fly into SFO and rent a car and drive north to San Francisco or south to Silicon Valley, every single billboard is advertising an "AI" startup, many of which are not even using anything that can be remotely characterized as AI. That's amazing, considering what a meaningless buzzword AI already is.

So which kind of bubble is AI? When it pops, will something useful be left behind, or will it go away altogether? To be sure, there's a legion of technologists who are learning Tensorflow and Pytorch. These nominally open source tools are bound, respectively, to Google and Facebook's AI environments:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/18/openwashing/#you-keep-using-that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means

But if those environments go away, those programming skills become a lot less useful. Live, large-scale Big Tech AI projects are shockingly expensive to run. Some of their costs are fixed – collecting, labeling and processing training data – but the running costs for each query are prodigious. There's a massive primary energy bill for the servers, a nearly as large energy bill for the chillers, and a titanic wage bill for the specialized technical staff involved.

Once investor subsidies dry up, will the real-world, non-hyperbolic applications for AI be enough to cover these running costs? AI applications can be plotted on a 2X2 grid whose axes are "value" (how much customers will pay for them) and "risk tolerance" (how perfect the product needs to be).

Charging teenaged D&D players $10 month for an image generator that creates epic illustrations of their characters fighting monsters is low value and very risk tolerant (teenagers aren't overly worried about six-fingered swordspeople with three pupils in each eye). Charging scammy spamfarms $500/month for a text generator that spits out dull, search-algorithm-pleasing narratives to appear over recipes is likewise low-value and highly risk tolerant (your customer doesn't care if the text is nonsense). Charging visually impaired people $100 month for an app that plays a text-to-speech description of anything they point their cameras at is low-value and moderately risk tolerant ("that's your blue shirt" when it's green is not a big deal, while "the street is safe to cross" when it's not is a much bigger one).

Morganstanley doesn't talk about the trillions the AI industry will be worth some day because of these applications. These are just spinoffs from the main event, a collection of extremely high-value applications. Think of self-driving cars or radiology bots that analyze chest x-rays and characterize masses as cancerous or noncancerous.

These are high value – but only if they are also risk-tolerant. The pitch for self-driving cars is "fire most drivers and replace them with 'humans in the loop' who intervene at critical junctures." That's the risk-tolerant version of self-driving cars, and it's a failure. More than $100b has been incinerated chasing self-driving cars, and cars are nowhere near driving themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Quite the reverse, in fact. Cruise was just forced to quit the field after one of their cars maimed a woman – a pedestrian who had not opted into being part of a high-risk AI experiment – and dragged her body 20 feet through the streets of San Francisco. Afterwards, it emerged that Cruise had replaced the single low-waged driver who would normally be paid to operate a taxi with 1.5 high-waged skilled technicians who remotely oversaw each of its vehicles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/cruise-general-motors-self-driving-cars.html

The self-driving pitch isn't that your car will correct your own human errors (like an alarm that sounds when you activate your turn signal while someone is in your blind-spot). Self-driving isn't about using automation to augment human skill – it's about replacing humans. There's no business case for spending hundreds of billions on better safety systems for cars (there's a human case for it, though!). The only way the price-tag justifies itself is if paid drivers can be fired and replaced with software that costs less than their wages.

What about radiologists? Radiologists certainly make mistakes from time to time, and if there's a computer vision system that makes different mistakes than the sort that humans make, they could be a cheap way of generating second opinions that trigger re-examination by a human radiologist. But no AI investor thinks their return will come from selling hospitals that reduce the number of X-rays each radiologist processes every day, as a second-opinion-generating system would. Rather, the value of AI radiologists comes from firing most of your human radiologists and replacing them with software whose judgments are cursorily double-checked by a human whose "automation blindness" will turn them into an OK-button-mashing automaton:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/23/automation-blindness/#humans-in-the-loop

The profit-generating pitch for high-value AI applications lies in creating "reverse centaurs": humans who serve as appendages for automation that operates at a speed and scale that is unrelated to the capacity or needs of the worker:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

But unless these high-value applications are intrinsically risk-tolerant, they are poor candidates for automation. Cruise was able to nonconsensually enlist the population of San Francisco in an experimental murderbot development program thanks to the vast sums of money sloshing around the industry. Some of this money funds the inevitabilist narrative that self-driving cars are coming, it's only a matter of when, not if, and so SF had better get in the autonomous vehicle or get run over by the forces of history.

Once the bubble pops (all bubbles pop), AI applications will have to rise or fall on their actual merits, not their promise. The odds are stacked against the long-term survival of high-value, risk-intolerant AI applications.

The problem for AI is that while there are a lot of risk-tolerant applications, they're almost all low-value; while nearly all the high-value applications are risk-intolerant. Once AI has to be profitable – once investors withdraw their subsidies from money-losing ventures – the risk-tolerant applications need to be sufficient to run those tremendously expensive servers in those brutally expensive data-centers tended by exceptionally expensive technical workers.

If they aren't, then the business case for running those servers goes away, and so do the servers – and so do all those risk-tolerant, low-value applications. It doesn't matter if helping blind people make sense of their surroundings is socially beneficial. It doesn't matter if teenaged gamers love their epic character art. It doesn't even matter how horny scammers are for generating AI nonsense SEO websites:

https://twitter.com/jakezward/status/1728032634037567509

These applications are all riding on the coattails of the big AI models that are being built and operated at a loss in order to be profitable. If they remain unprofitable long enough, the private sector will no longer pay to operate them.

Now, there are smaller models, models that stand alone and run on commodity hardware. These would persist even after the AI bubble bursts, because most of their costs are setup costs that have already been borne by the well-funded companies who created them. These models are limited, of course, though the communities that have formed around them have pushed those limits in surprising ways, far beyond their original manufacturers' beliefs about their capacity. These communities will continue to push those limits for as long as they find the models useful.

These standalone, "toy" models are derived from the big models, though. When the AI bubble bursts and the private sector no longer subsidizes mass-scale model creation, it will cease to spin out more sophisticated models that run on commodity hardware (it's possible that Federated learning and other techniques for spreading out the work of making large-scale models will fill the gap).

So what kind of bubble is the AI bubble? What will we salvage from its wreckage? Perhaps the communities who've invested in becoming experts in Pytorch and Tensorflow will wrestle them away from their corporate masters and make them generally useful. Certainly, a lot of people will have gained skills in applying statistical techniques.

But there will also be a lot of unsalvageable wreckage. As big AI models get integrated into the processes of the productive economy, AI becomes a source of systemic risk. The only thing worse than having an automated process that is rendered dangerous or erratic based on AI integration is to have that process fail entirely because the AI suddenly disappeared, a collapse that is too precipitous for former AI customers to engineer a soft landing for their systems.

This is a blind spot in our policymakers debates about AI. The smart policymakers are asking questions about fairness, algorithmic bias, and fraud. The foolish policymakers are ensnared in fantasies about "AI safety," AKA "Will the chatbot become a superintelligence that turns the whole human race into paperclips?"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/27/10-types-of-people/#taking-up-a-lot-of-space

But no one is asking, "What will we do if" – when – "the AI bubble pops and most of this stuff disappears overnight?"

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/19/bubblenomics/#pop

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

tom_bullock (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tombullock/25173469495/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

#pluralistic #ai #economics #business #hype #bubbles #bubblenomics #residue

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scamperin-shroom · 2 years

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your bm au hurts so good

We live for angst here 😌 /j

#thank you so much haha #i do my best to give the twins happy moments as well as heart crushing moments #gotta pay a price :D /j #pk anxietychild asks #my asks #everything is for character development. i promise :)

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 months

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I love that The Ghost and Molly McGee's forced cancellation isn't just frustrating to fans of the show but to people in the animation industry as well. They're just as sick as we are about how much studios disrespect animation. They keep looking for the next Spongebob, Simspons, or goodness forbid Family Guy, but instead having faith in the creators and their content, they just...wait. They wait to make a profit and do the bare minimum to market their shows and make them available.

Let's look at Gravity Falls for example. I remember that when Gravity Falls was still airing, you would be able to find out a new episode was coming out based on coming across a commercial by random chance or by the people working the show promoting it online. Add that with the fact that it was on a different channel that required you paying MORE for your cable to get it. It WAS available through Disney Channel, a channel more available at a cheaper price, but the entire of Season Two got moved to the more expensive Disney XD, where Disney shows go to die, because...REASONS. With no warning or announcement. I think I found out about Gravity Falls moving to Disney XD because the trailer played during a commercial break. And that's just the START the show's problems. Mixed in with poor marketing, the show would have a crazy inconsistent schedule, where we'd have four episodes a week, a few months of NOTHING, a few more episodes a week, nothing for a few months, a random episode playing between that nothingness with next to no promotion, and all of that happening to the rest of the show until it finally died a slow death with its series finale where four episodes got stretched out for six months. That...is NOT okay. And it doesn't stop with Gravity Falls.

Steven Universe, OK KO, Ducktales 2017, Amphibia, The Owl House, and now Ghost and Molly McGee are all shows that had similar and sometimes WORSE treatments as Gravity Falls did, where the networks gave next to NO marketing, the creators had to promote their own shows themselves, and the airing schedules were so inconsistent with wildly long hiatuses that only the most dedicated fans were willing to keep watching. General audiences (mainly kids) weren't willing to keep up with shows that had ongoing stories if the episodes stories kept being too spaced apart and never had reruns as frequent as other shows like Teen Titans Go or Big City Greens (Or whatever's constantly on network TV nowadays. I don't know. I mostly watch shit on streaming).

The people of the animation industry is catching onto all of these tricks, and they're getting sick of it. They're getting sick of inconsistent schedules. They're getting sick of trying to bend over backwards in every possible way to make the show they wanted. By either making serialized content as episodic as possible so the network could air it more or by condensing their stories as much as they can, already expecting that forced cancellation to happen sooner than later. And in some cases, they don't even get the luxury of being told their show is ending. Did you know that Inside Job and Paranormal Park both had seasons that were already in development before Netflix pulled the plug shortly after releasing new episodes of their shows? Did you know that The Ghost and Molly McGee was already working on a Season Three before Disney shut that down so they had to force out a series finale that would still be good despite the cancellation? Because it's true. It's ALWAYS true. Creators want to make MORE, but the studios won't let them because they didn't profit off of it. Except they WOULD HAVE if they treated it better.

I want kids to grow up with characters that stick around through their childhood, just like I did with mine. I want kids to have their own Ed, Edd n Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door, Phineas and Ferb, or Kim Possible. I want kids to watch shows that last more than two-three seasons, stick around for years, and leave an impact as if they have all the time in the world because to them, it feels like they do. I want kids to have a show that ends on a high note because the creators wanted it and not because the networks demanded it. But the unfortunate thing is that it doesn't seem possible nowadays. Because if a mostly episodic show like The Ghost and Molly McGee fails, despite being charming and inoffensive and something most kids will love, the what hope IS left.

#the ghost and molly mcgee #gravity falls #steven universe #ok ko #ducktales 2017 #amphibia #the owl house #disney #cartoon network #netflix #animation #rant

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fabulouslygaybean · 2 years

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hi y'all. im sorry ive been off tumblr lately but im here. also i just finished the final ep of stranger things 4 and i have heavily mixed feelings

#HI. IM GONNA RAMBLE IN THE TAGS BECAUSE I CAN.#GOD i have such mixed feelings on the ending!! tbh i have mixed feelings on the season as a whole!!#i know everyone absolutely loves s4 and ppl are calling it the best season and i definitely enjoyed it but like...#i dont feel like it even comes close to being the best season? like dont get me wrong. it was cool. i liked most of the characters they -#- introduced. i liked the concept for the story. the visuals were super cool and the writing was solid.#but it just feels like its kind of beating a dead horse y'know? there were so many plotholes and so many unanswered questions #not in like a cliffhanger kind of way. but just in a We Tried Putting Way Too Much Into One Season And It's Paying The Price #also like. apparently they're planning on doing a season 5?? what???#i love the series as much as the next guy but.. that's just too much. there's only so much you can do with a series like this.#idk. i loved the first ep or two of season one but it kind of dropped off for a while until the final few eps #its hard to type out my thoughts but ive been rambling to myself loudly in the living room bc my mom passed out like half an hour ago and -#- i swear my thoughts are more cohesive irl. i have SO much to talk about but there's not enough room to type it out and i feel really -#- stupid for rambling out when no one cares online but it's no different than rambling to someone who's passed tf out so idk #okay. back to my rambling.#for a lot of the characters it just really felt like they like. went backwards with character development at first.#the character had the exact same growth in season 3 except it made sense then. now they're just doing it over again.#mike goes from being an immature and kinda self centered dude to a caring and mature boyfriend for el.#steve pines over nancy but steps back because he's more mature than he was and doesn't wanna ruin her relationship with jonathan #robin faces her insecurities to help her friends #will ambiguously pines over mike and doesn't want things to change but relents because change is inevitable #lucas wants to fit in with the 'cool kids '' more than his friends do but he still chooses his friends over anyone else #dustin is the nerd with a heart of gold who plays a big part in the success of the team #el tries to fit in and lead a normal life but realizes that that's bullshit. also she saves the day at the end as usual.#jonathan is kinda shitty towards the start but tries to make it up by the end and mostly does that. nancy is conflicted bc of steve so -#- jonathan kind of knows and he can't really make it up entirely to her.#nancy is badass who loves jonathan but also kinda loves steve and she's emotionally shut off so she just lets it sit and it bleeds out -#- into her interactions with others. the trauma doesn't help either. she still comes through tho bc she's a loyal friend who deeply cares #it just feels so similar to s3. idk. they've already gone through this development once before so seeing it again just feels stale.#im about to hit the tag limit but i wanna keep going so i might make more posts i think. idk.#we'll see how it works out tonight! im so sorry y'all for the brainrot

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temiizpalace · 6 months

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☆┊”CAN I COPY YOUR HOMEWORK ?”

SUMMARY: you forgot to do the homework before your next class.. excellent job prefect. no problem. you can just copy off your classmate! what’s his response to “can I copy your homework?”

CHARACTERS: all dorms (+ grim)

GENRE: crackfic, but could be considered fluff

WARNINGS: cursing

reader gender is not mentioned, reader is yuu

“i’ll help you with it!”

i mean, you COULD copy.. but how will you understand the material? if you copy then you might not understand it later! that’s not good at all! instead of letting you copy it all together, he helps you and walks you through it like the angel he is. he’s explaining everything in detail but in a way you could comprehend it. totally should be your teacher. even if you already understood the subject, he still wants to lock it in and make sure you truly do get it. (after that you felt like albert einstein)

riddle, trey, jack, ortho, rook (he already knew you weren’t paying attention so he got ya covered), silver

“yeah, sure”

you wanna copy his homework? yeah, sure. why not? you’re the overworked prefect of ramshackle dorm, or some may say “crowleys assistant.” you deserve a break every once in awhile right? maybe they do care about your wellbeing and want you to rest as much as possible. you already work your ass off every day. you study, care for grim, do crowleys work, and deal with some random dorms shit almost 24/7. hell, why not let him write it for you?

it’s that or he just doesn’t give a shit. 🤷🤷

epel, lilia, malleus

“bold of you to assume i did the homework”

you’re both in the same boat. well sort of anyway. he’s a busy guy, he doesn’t have time for that. life is short, and he should be doing things he wants. not sit in a classroom all day and write, just to sit down in his dorm room and write for the rest of it. oh no. he probably has like 10 missing assignments right now. long story short: his ass did not do the homework cause he didn’t wanna.

ace, leona, floyd

“lol nope”

damn you didn’t do the homework? well good luck with that. listen, he did the homework. he’s on top of it. you on the other hand chose not to do it. what’s that? oh you were busy? that sounds rough. he wishes you the best and hopes that you’ll listen next time. alright? bye 🫶🫶

idia, jamil

“wait, we had homework????”

there was homework? THERE WAS HOMEWORK? oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. he messed up. now he’s scrambling to get it done before his next period, panicking and triple checking his answers. poor baby was so caught up in his life he forgot all about class assignments. now you both are sitting at the cafeteria with pencils and eraser shavings everywhere. those sitting around you both were losing their appetites because for some reason their meal tastes like led or graphite. best of luck to you both 💔💔

grim, deuce, cater, kalim

“sure you can copy it! for a price of course.”

yeah he’ll let you copy it. one teensy weensy detail though, what’ll he get in return? well it was your fault for not working on it during your free time. it’s only fair right? he worked so hard to get these answers, why should he give them away for free? haha. that’s just how the world works, prefect. it’s nothing personal really, he just wants to benefit.

azul would definitely try to upsell you into getting one of his study guides. capitalist.

ruggie, azul, jade

he scolds you.

you didn’t do the homework? *sigh* perfect, oh, prefect. that’s a horrible habit to develop, really. why didn’t you do it? now you must scramble to finish it. you see not doing the homework once is alright, but if this happens again he will know about it. he’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again third time. now he’s giving you a long ass essay on why doing your homework ON TIME is the right thing to do, and why copying others homework is the road unsuccessful students go down.

but his lecture went on for hours. im sorry it won’t happen again just please let me copy it 🙏🙏

riddle (scolds then lets you copy), vil, sebek

A/N: I do all my homework stay safe guys 🙏

my second writing tada! lately I’ve just been going off of alignment charts and how I see them fit. hopefully this is good enough.

date written: 11/24/23

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psuedofolio · 8 months

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This week for my "Characters everyday" thread, was more characters for "A Good Boy From Another World" otherwise known as "Dog Isekai." I have ideas for this as a series but not really a lot of time or enough energy to develop it into a real story.

The overall shape of the story is pretty simple where we have a dark high fantasy world where no one is actually "good" getting interrupted by the appearance of a small dog that is just "a good little guy" and it changes everyone's life, hopefully for the better. But the dog has to get home, there's someone waiting for him.

I don't have the time right now to make it, but I certainly can make up some new characters. That's always fun!

Flavor text for each image on the original thread: 1. In the years after the King's War, Arris earned his freedom but lacking other skills he found work as a bounty hunter. He earned a fearsome reputation, never losing a mark and rarely bringing them in alive. Strange then that first and only companion would be so... small.

2. "What was it about my 'stabbing you' that you didn't understand, good sir?"

3. "This... fellow. They say their name is Marshmallow. The rest are images I don't understand. Glass towers. People in foreign clothes. Loud machines. But there is a child, I believe it is Marshmallow's friend. They are foremost in the little creature's mind."

4. "Everything has its price. Whether I pay you for the creature or pay another to take it from you, is no difference to me."

5. "He may stay where he is."

#a good boy from another world #dog isekai #psudo comics #character design

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angelfoxx · 9 months

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┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° “…US?”

…in which their feelings for you become apparent.

FEATURING: simon “ghost” riley, john “soap” mactavish, & keegan p russ I AM SALIVATING

WARNINGS: suggestive, but nothing nsfw. yet 😇 also so sorry i write k**gan’s name and i just get fucked up. i just can’t behave myself. so i lose my mind a little in his section eek

NOTES: excuse my rather small starting lineup; i’m still new to the game and all of its lore and i’d rather get to know the characters first rather than make horrible headcanons based off of their fanon interpretations. you know, like making a six foot ten war criminal dresses in a fucking executioner’s hood a little uwu baby

— SIMON “GHOST” RILEY.

✧ Everything I see on TikTok regarding this guy makes him seem like a fucking demon in the sheets. I really don’t get that vibe. Especially not at the start of a relationship.

✧ The first time you meet, he thinks you’re attractive. And then he pushes that thought aside, because he’s a soldier. He’s actively at work doing a high-risk, high-stress job. You’re attractive, yes, but he’s not going to pursue you. This is not the right time for that.

✧ Things develop after…like, a long ass time. And it’s not sexual in the start. It’s, like…you’re cleaning your gun down after a mission, and you get a clean rag thrown into your lap. You look up into those hollow soulless fucking eyes and Ghost just shrugs, not meeting your gaze but instead just vaguely gesturing at your gun. “Your rag’s dirty. You’re rubbin’ dirt int’a the thing.”

✧ It’s small things like that. Things that are helpful but always laced with a comment that could be considered sort of rude or abrasive. He doesn’t notice; he only realizes that he’s coming off as rude and probably pushing you away after he makes a comment on your form being lazy and Price, sort of quietly laughing, asks why he’s so insistent on snarking on you. He replies that mistakes like yours could get you hurt. Which, they could. But so could everyone else’s, and he doesn’t make comments about them. So…?

✧ Phase two of him trying to…hit on you? Exist with you? Who fucking knows. Anyways, he just stops talking. He’ll still throw you clean rags, but he won’t make a comment about how using a dirty rag is ruining your gun. He’ll still make a point out of sweeping fallen food and shit off of your spot at the table after you eat, but he doesn’t grumble and scoff at you not to waste anymore. He resorts to silent acts of service to the point where it gets annoying. He’s always quiet, but now he’s unnervingly quiet and honestly, is it still him if he doesn’t catch you for random things every now and then?

✧ The silent stage can go on forever, so a catalyst really saves you. The catalyst comes when a new recruit gets a little too aggressive; a small argument about your ability on the field turns into a minor brawl. Aforementioned brawl immediately ends when the recruit dares to put their hands on you and shove you and Ghost, like some six-foot-one demon cast from the pits of hell, appears behind you and gets very up close and personal with them. Asking what the hell they think they’re doing, asking if they think that’s a good way to have a team on the field, et cetera, et cetera. Basically, he makes the recruit feel like absolute shit. Oh, and he doesn’t look at you the entire time.

✧ So, obviously, now you have a weird situation at hand. You’re getting ready to go to sleep and everyone’s sort of looking at you funny, because there’s no reason for a fucking lieutenant to jump in and break up an argument like that—pulling people apart, sure, but not so suddenly and not so aggressively. The recruit hasn’t spoken to you. Ghost hasn’t spoken to you. So, anyways, you pay him a visit.

✧ You go down to say thanks, and for some fucking reason, the guy can’t take a compliment. Or gratitude. He says you were slower than the other recruit, that it’ll get you killed on the field, et cetera. He can’t just shut up and take the thanks.

“I’m telling you, I…I came down here to thank you, of all things. Can you cut the criticism one time and accept it?”

Ghost stiffens. It’s not a thousand-yard stare anymore. It’s just a wide, pissed-off glare. For a long minute, he’s silent. And then…

“Welcome.” His voice is grumpish. “Happy?”

“Sure.” You manage a little smile. It’s sort of funny; he can’t just take your thank you and drop it. “It’s improvement.”

Ghost nods once, albeit stiffly. “Okay.”

“…so, you gonna tell me why you did it?” You ask it as a joke. You aren’t dumb. You know he wants you gone. You’re expecting a harsh “get out” or something of the like. You aren’t expecting an answer.

“Disrespect makes ignorance. Ignorance makes casualties.” Oh. An actual real, reasonable answer. Surprising. Ghost himself seems a little surprised; he blinks owlishly again, and he doesn’t say anything else. He’s just a big guy standing in a little room with a skull mask on.

“Oh.” You swallow. “That’s…rational.”

“Were you expecting irrational?”

“No. I wasn’t expecting anything.” You scoff. “You’re not exactly chatty.”

“I don’t waste words.” Ghost’s eyes narrow. “I’m not dumb.”

“I didn’t call you dumb.” You shrug. “I’m just surprised you gave me an answer that wasn’t bitching at me.”

“I don’t bitch.”

“You do.”

“I’m not a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, recruit. I don’t bitch.”

“Even Price thinks you bitch. At me, at least. All the time.”

✧ Price thinks he bitches at you? And he’d told you? Oh, no, no. Externally, Ghost is stiff and stoic. Internally, Ghost is shitting bricks. Price had told you that? Straight-up told you that? Oh, no. You and Price talk and he comes up in conversation? Oh, no, no, no.

✧ He addresses this with Price, obviously. Storms in all puffed-out and pissy and asks what the hell he’s doing gossiping about his soldiers and Price just sort of laughs him off, asking what he’s talking about and then why he’s so upset that he’s bringing up one of his best men to one of the recruits.

✧ Oh.

✧ Ghost swears up and down it’s not like that. He swears and he bangs the side of his hand on the table and he curses on his own heart that it’s not like that but the whole time Price is laughing because in all of the years that he’s known Simon, not once has Simon broken through Ghost. But now, he has. The stumbling over words, the defensive aggression, the way he’s pacing so furiously—oh, Simon Riley is melting down inside that big mask and it’s equal parts heartbreaking and hilarious.

✧ Cue Price becoming a wingman. Ghost swears he’ll kill him every time he puts you two together to spar or puts you two on cleanup duty or god fucking forbid you’re in the doghouse doing some foul task and Ghost has to watch you. God fucking damn the captain, because he knows Ghost will grumble and complain but with you, he’ll eventually stop that in favor of helping you. And it’s sort of heartwarming for him to do his nightly rounds and it’s all quiet but there’s voices coming out of the kitchen and he can hear Ghost in that gruff, grumbly tone telling you how to mop and you snidely telling him that if you can’t do it right, then maybe he should do it instead. And he objects, of course, and then within ten minutes Price watches Ghost’s shadow come up to yours and he hears the mop change hands.

✧ It takes you a long time to realize that you’re really being assigned to Ghost’s side for every fucking thing you do. It takes you an even longer time to realize that Price tends to pass by you two on occasion, and every time he does, he’s smiling. And it takes you a ridiculously long time to realize that Ghost isn’t always radiating heat; whenever he takes the mop from you or takes the gun you’re cleaning from you, whenever he finishes off a task that you’ve started, it’s not that he’s always that hot. It’s that, under that mask, he’s flushed.

✧ It takes you a very, very long time to realize that the legendary Ghost has taken an actual liking to you.

— JOHN “SOAP” MACTAVISH.

✧ Thank fucking god this guy is next. Slow burn ass Ghost makes me want to rip my eyes out. Just have passionate angry sex and talk about your feelings after. Christ.

✧ It’s not exactly a secret that the minute you arrived on base, you gained an admirer.

✧ Soap isn’t someone who rarely gets hooked on someone else. The guy’s a walking heart eyes emoji. The difference with you was that it wasn’t the kind of attraction that had him sweet-talking you over drinks that night.

✧ This was different. Rather than chase, Soap wanted to impress — and, well, he tried. He tried his fucking hardest. He tried so hard the other higher-ups noticed. How embarrassing.

✧ Every time you’re in the room, he somehow gets even chattier. His voice drops. If he’s working out, he starts loading weights onto the bar he’s using to an almost comical degree. He loses his fucking mind. It’s like he short circuits. Which is ridiculous, because he’s a fucking soldier. What the fuck is he doing trying to lift five hundred pounds on a Tuesday morning? Why is he freaking the fuck out?

✧ The thing is, right, is you’re not exactly hovering over the guy. You have your own agenda to adhere to and also, it would be really weird if you just started laying praises on him, so you go about your day as regular and poor Soap is left heartbroken and also achy-armed because you literally could not care less that he’s lifting double, triple his body weight.

✧ Literally every higher-up notices. They make jokes about it and he borders on threatening friendly fire. It’s just a little crush. That’s all it is. Yeah. And so when you’re all doing team sparring and you keep winning, he’s just watching you like a lovesick puppy because it’s just a little crush. That’s all.

✧ Price can’t have his soldiers slacking off. Of course not. He can’t have them getting lazy — so he orders Soap to go up against you. Because, you know, he seems out of it and you’re the best of the recruits, so you’ll go against someone better. Yeah. That’s why he calls him out.

✧ God bless the poor guy. He panics for like three seconds and then makes a very thickly-accented taunt about how it’s unfair to you to go up against him. You, of course, in the spirit of good fun, reply to his taunt and tell him to prove it.

✧ He goes into the circle with you. He goes into the circle with you and he fucking falls apart.

You’ve quickly learned that talking is Soap’s weakness. If his mouth is moving, his feet fall behind.

“Get enough sleep last night, MacTavish?” You dodge a flying fist. “You look a little sleepy.”

“Got plenty.” A wry grin crosses his face. “Don’t worry about my beauty sleep.”

“I have reason to. You need it.” You wrinkle your nose. “Bad.”

Soap’s jaw drops slightly, and — there! — he hesitates. Probably out of surprise, but it’s enough. Deftly, you lunge in at his knees, swipe them out, and…hm. Simple. Almost too easy, actually, to pin him.

Soap’s heart is pounding under your hand. His chest is flat against the ground, but you can feel it through his back, which is wild in and of itself. He grunts when his cheek hits the ground; he mumbles something akin to “bloody hell”, but you can’t quite make out the words.

Grinning, you sit back and kick your heel up against his neck, keeping his head pinned down. The cheering you receive mostly comes from recruits who are impressed with your skill.

The minority is higher-ups, exchanging amused glances. They seem awfully humored with the sight of one of their own being pinned so easily by a new recruit. Hmm…

✧ From that point on, Soap somehow manages to watch more of your sparring sessions. He usually just watches, rather than critique; if you ask, he’ll just say you certainly seem to be doing fine. If you ask for help, though, he’ll help you. Christ, he’ll help you. He’ll genuinely spend time assisting you on whatever is troubling you.

✧ Eventually, after a long training day, you decide to ask Soap to join you in the ring. You genuinely just want to see how you stack up to a “better” opponent; you’ve apparently pushed beating him to the side. Or you just want to do it again. He doesn’t think of that, though.

✧ He’ll come in (after teasing you just a bit) and he will spar with you, just giving you advice and pointers mid-action. He’s whipped, but he’s also still a trained soldier. He knows what he’s doing, and once he gets through the brain fog you seem to weigh down onto him, he is genuinely helpful.

✧ Still, after you’re both hot and panting and finished and resting on the sidelines, you have to ask him why he helps you so much. You have to ask if it’s because he thinks you’re lacking, or bad, or if it’s some sort of personal vendetta for that one time in front of the recruits and the higher-ups.

✧ Soap just laughs and, rather awkwardly, rubs at his neck. He avoids eye contact, and he bites his lip, and he tilts his head around before he dares answer you, tone sheepish. “Consider it a, ah, personal interest.”

— KEEGAN P RUSS.

✧ SHITS MYSELF VIOLENTLY. SO SORRY

✧ i love this fucking man so very much and i don’t know jack shit abt him because i need to play ghosts and get the first hand experience like I don’t want to spoil his character but I URRRGHHGGGGG

✧ imma try to do him justice but sorry if im missing on important lore

✧ He’s not as uptight as Ghost, but he’s not as whipped as Soap. He’s somewhere in the middle; he’s aware that you’re attractive but he does push it aside. He’s working. You’re working. He doesn’t have time for that, and it’s also a safety concern. He remembers what they did to Ajax, and god fucking forbid they try to pull that shit with anyone else to use as bait.

✧ When he’s at base, he’s busy. He’s devoted to his work and he doesn’t cut corners to chit-chat. The most social he’ll really get is at dinner; he’s the kind of person who will eat with the group, but rather than talk, he’ll really just listen. he’s me fr fr

✧ Getting to know Keegan is sort of awkward because he’s just not super outgoing. He’s attractive (if your radio is on and you don’t buckle at the knees the first time you hear his sexy deep pantywetting voice over the thing, are you even real?) and he’s got the whole mysterious quiet guy thing down, and yet when you approach him to try and strike up a conversation with a simple question (“So how was your day?”) he’s prone to just looking at you and raising a brow and answering sort of flatly. (“Same as every other one. What, did something happen?”)

✧ Most of your bonding actually occurs when it’s just the two of you. You’ve bumped into him late at night before — sometimes he’s at the range shooting targets and fiddling with a variety of weapons, or sometimes he’s in the kitchen scouring the shelves, or sometimes he’s in the gym working out when nobody is there to bother him and ogle his fine ass fucking body holy shit his thighs. He’s a little easier to talk to at night, actually. Maybe it’s the lack of a crowd, but the first time you stumble into him making himself a pot of fucking tea at damn near midnight, he actually seems friendly.

“What are you making?” For a moment, you panic, thinking that you might’ve just scared the shit out of poor Keegan by speaking so suddenly and from behind where he’s standing beside the sink, a little humming kettle in front of him. His shoulders god his fuckinf shoulders i want to lick them don’t so much as twitch, though — and then you remember the guy’s entire job is stealth and observation. Hell, he probably heard you across camp.

“Tea.” Yeah, he couldn’t sound less concerned. His voice is as low and gravelly as usual; he sounds a little more relaxed, actually, not so brash and shout-y. “Chamomile.”

“Sergeant Russ drinks chamomile tea?” You laugh a little, sort of tentatively. You two aren’t strangers, but you’ve only had a few conversations…if you can call brief exchanges conversations, of course.

“…yeah?” Keegan actually sounds confused; it’s dark in the kitchen, but you can make out the outline of his head turning over his shoulder. “What, you got a problem with that?”

“No. No, sir. No problem.” You shrug. “I just didn’t peg you to be the chamomile tea type.”

“Didn’t you?” The short scoffish bark Keegan lets out is a brief laugh. “What did you peg me for?”

“Dunno. Black, I guess.”

“Are you calling me boring?”

“No.”

Keegan hums in response to that. He busies himself with pouring his tea and thank fucking god your eyes have adjusted to the dim light in here because god, his fucking hip to waist ratio under that gear is something wicked and you let your conversation slip. You’re in here for a snack, but you don’t want to bother—

“You come in here for somethin’ other than staring?” Oh. Good. This is the Keegan you’d expected after hearing him sass half of his team on comms. You can hear the edge of a grin in his voice; there’s a shuffle as he turns around and then a wooden groan as he leans against the counter. A short second later, you hear the almost exaggerated slurp of tea.

“Crackers. I’m hungry.”

A wooden scrubbing sound. He’s moved over, presumably to let you open the cabinet housing boxes of sort of dry, not particularly good crackers. He doesn’t say a word; he just keeps drinking his tea and pretends to ignore you as you make your way over, crouching down to fumble for a bag of crackers. Pretend, because you can feel that he’s watching you. His presence on the field is invisible; his gaze in the kitchen is not. Still, he doesn’t bother you; he lets you get your crackers and retire to the edge of the counter across from him to snack, and he doesn’t say a word.

“Are you always so quiet?” You gesture vaguely at the slight shape of him. “Is it just part of the job?”

Keegan laughs, more to himself than in response to you. “Sure.”

✧ He is, generally, pretty quiet. His usual demeanor is laid-back and observant; if he’s not under stress, though, and you start talking to him, he’ll respond almost always with something mildly sarcastic. You come to learn that he isn’t actually boring. He’s got a quick sense of occasionally-dark humor. Sometimes he laughs at his own jokes—usually after he’s started to walk away from you. He’s fiercely protective of the Ghosts and any recruits training near or with them. He also doesn’t seem to mind you.

✧ You’d hesitate to say you two were friends — it always seemed like there was something in between you, though you couldn’t name what — but you were friendly, and it was nice.

✧ During group dinners, he’d stand against the wall behind you. Or across from you, though usually doing that meant that he’d make a game out of trying to get you to squirm under his constant staring. He’d run into you late-night in the kitchen and make casual, not uncomfortable, small talk. Hell, at one point he offered you a drink post-training and made a sort of point to always offer you one whenever you had returned to base and were lingering around in the later hours.

✧ After a particularly long day, you find him in the kitchen, just drinking straight from the bottle. He offers you the thing — he seems more than a little tipsy, but when you decline (he’s been drinking directly from it, and…the fuck does army hygiene look like?) he sort of half-laughs and says, sarcastically, “What d’you look so horrified for? Too good to share a bottle, princess?” and then he immediately excused himself afterward.

✧ You know that saying, “drunk words are sober thoughts”? Yeah. Yeah.

✧ i need the fatty part of keegans thigh in my mouth right now i need to bite it i need to bite it and go rrrrrahrhrahrah like a fucking rabid dog

#cod smut #cod x reader #call of duty smut #cod ghost #simon ghost riley #ghost x reader #cod soap #john soap mactavish #soap x reader #cod keegan #keegan p russ #keegan x reader #IIIII NEED HIS HANDS IN MY MOUTH #IIIII NEED KEEGANS HANDS IN MY MOUTH NEEEEOWWW

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klmp11s · 2 months

Note

I loved the first years realizing they have a crush on a guy for the first time post!!

I’m not sure if you’re open to repeats but could I get the same one with second years?

(I’ll wait a bit before requesting the third years but the prompt is so cute so if you’re open to repeats let me know !!! )

HELLO, it's you again 🫶!! I am very glad that you are sending another request, I can write later for the third year, just send me a request! (English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes)

part 1

Summary: second years realizing they have a crush on a guy for the first time (you) and how they go about that Characters: Riddle Rosehearts, Ruggie Bucchi, Azul Ashengrotto, Jade Leech, Floyd Leech, Kalim Al-Asim, Jamil Viper, Silver Warning: male!reader, ooc(?), hcs

Riddle Rosehearts

This definitely happened after his overblot

Like, yes, he heard about you, but he had no need to start communicating with you. And now? You spend a lot of time together.

You definitely give him a sense of calm, he doesn't feel like he has to be in control of the situation.

He didn't pay attention to how he felt around you. You're his friend, obviously he loves you and wants to spend more time, doesn't he? You're definitely in his dorm a lot more often than you are in yours.

Also, you have already developed the habit of constantly coming to Riddle for tea.

I think he didn't notice his feelings for a VERY long time. Yes, you are a good and interesting friend, and you are also very handsome, but that doesn’t mean anything, does it?

Until at one point the students of the third year began to tease him because he constantly goes with you, invites you to tea together and constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY talking about you.

When this was pointed out to him, at first he did not understand at all what was wrong with it. Until they told him that he doesn’t behave with anyone except you. He even forgives you for breaking the rules! Seriously?

Okay, now that's all he can think about. He may be softer with you than with others, but he's just trying to be polite! That's all!

The next time he meets you, he becomes more observant. He is sure that you do not evoke any other feelings in him other than platonic ones and he wants to make sure of this

Although, you don't even know if you can call it "observation" when another person is just staring at you. If you point this out, he will simply turn away from you, and while his whole face is burning, you will hear a quiet apology.

Okay, maybe they were right and he's in love. Now he's starting to feel awkward. Have you noticed yet? What will he tell you? What if you don't like boys at all?

I think he might decide to be a gentleman to you and court you, but he would definitely also ask the third year students for advice. He is also DEFINITELY recognized first. He won’t allow you to do this, he also wants everything to go perfectly and will most likely invite you to a tea party, where you and he will be alone

THIS WILL BE A SPEECH, a rather long confession. But believe me, the boy is trying so hard to show his best side and look you in the eye, you know?

Okay, now you have an absolutely red cute boy whose only desire is for you to be his boyfriend. Not bad, right?

Ruggie Bucchi

This will become obvious even before he realizes that he is in love with you.

Does he follow you around, spend all his free time with you, share lunch?? Literally the boy looks at you like a puppy in love

But if you even hint at his feelings for you, he will look like this: 🤥😾

He can literally even flirt with you until you start doing it back. HE CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN'T!

If you ask, he can even let you touch his ears, but of course for a certain price, right?

He touches you all the time. Always when you are near. A hand on your shoulder, a back, a head on your shoulder, holding you by the elbow - he does all of this.

He'll know he's in love with you when he's been told for a while that he smells just like you. For a while he didn’t pay attention to it, but he began to notice that he absolutely always tries to be close to you. Even if you are with your other friends, he can come to you and quite calmly take you with him

Maybe now he understands. But I'm not sure that he will make big romantic gestures - first of all, he is not completely sure what you like and does not want to lose his friendship with you.

Therefore, now he will joke with you much more often, make hints, flirt and tease you

He may be waiting for a confession from you, but most likely he will accidentally confess to you on a completely ordinary day.

And only after a couple of seconds he realizes that he said absolutely the wrong thing. Now the blushing and nervous hyena is explained in front of you.

He's definitely trying to make it a joke. Ha, did you believe it? Of course he doesn't like you, pfft.

At some point he starts STUTTERING and just goes silent. Okay, you caught him, now what?

You can just kiss him and he will be completely lost. OK IT WAS GREAT now he obviously wants more and you won’t leave him because 1. You are now in a relationship with him 2. He just wants to snuggle with you for the rest of the day.

Azul Ashengrotto

He just wanted you to sign the contract and now you can come to him and he won’t say a word against you if you distract him from work.

He realized that he had feelings for you when the Leech twins once again teased him about the way he treated you and he simply agreed that they might be right

He regretted it. Very much. Now these two are teasing not only him but also you

Floyd even directly told you several times about Azul's feelings, but you decided to listen to him, because this is literally Floyd.

But when Jade started hinting to you that your octopus friend feels something for you, you didn’t find it funny at all

Now he tries to immediately lead you away from these two.

He's praying that you don't say anything about it. Otherwise, you will have to deal with a completely red, worried and stuttering octopus.

He also started inviting you to his dorm a lot more often. What's wrong with him wanting to spend time with his FRIEND?

Now he is absolutely in a panic and has absolutely no idea what to do. He is ready to look after you, but what if you are not interested in him?

Now his insecurities may make it a little difficult for him to confess his feelings to you, but he will eventually be able to do it. Obviously, not without the help of the twins, they literally pulled him out of this state and forced him to confess to you, because they were tired of constantly hearing about you.

If while he confesses his love to you, you tease and flirt with him, he will simply DIE. He stands completely red and your only solution is to tease him?? You can kiss him on the cheek and he will just look at you without saying a word.

Perhaps even so he did not fully understand that you also like him, but you have a way to prove your love to this cute octopus, right?

Jade Leech

I'm torn between being completely shameless and being a completely embarrassed eel.

On the one hand, he may not even deny his feelings for you if you ask, but on the other hand, he may even be afraid to talk to you since this is his first love and he doesn't know how to behave at all

He's definitely trying to act normal around you, but he literally can't act confidently around you, so that you even understand what you did to him?

Again, Floyd could have accidentally told you about this and Jade looked completely calm, although inside he was literally about to die

He also began silently courting you, trying to make a good impression on you.

I think he fully realized his love for you when you began to be interested in his hobby, how his club time went and everything like that. Is it really important for you to know this? Hmm, interesting.

Now you see him much more often, many of your friends were even worried, are you sure that he won’t do anything bad? HE LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE THIS IN YOUR EYES: ☺️😸

You're not even sure if it's a genuine smile, but you decide not to think about it. Is he happy to see you? Why not reciprocate?

Definitely admits first, but he definitely needs to make sure you like him. In general, if you respond to his advances or even flirt in return, his romantic gestures will speed up by 100%

You're literally dating someone who has the personality of Gomez Addams, how could you be any luckier?

Floyd Leech

He literally doesn't hide it?? In my opinion, absolutely everyone knows that he has feelings for you, even you. I also think he realized them completely calmly.

"Hm? And I really like him, it’s cool,” and at that very moment he goes looking for you to spend time with you.

I can congratulate you, a huge eel with mood swings is in love with you 🙉

I even feel a little sorry for you because no matter what happens, the first person he goes to is you. Did Azul give him something to do? He's coming towards you. Club time? He is coming to you to take you with him. You're going to see how cool he is, right? Is he angry, upset, happy? You'll be the first to know about it

CONSTANT PHYSICAL CONTACT. Literally lying on top of you, holding you, squeezing you, biting you, messing up your hair, picking you up and holding you in his arms - he does it all.

He may not consider it an important detail to confess, so most likely the first confession will be from you. He simply considers it unnecessary. He is interested in you, and you are interested in him, what else do you need?

This person can definitely find something strange in some store and give it to you because “it reminded him of you.” How lovely, right? I think this is the second stuffed monkey lmao

Okay, does he have your number? Now it becomes YOUR problem. This person will text and call you simply because he is bored, good luck

But let's get back to the confession. What if he confesses to you? It will definitely be something light, completely different from traditional confessions, but that’s what you love about Floyd, right?

HE WILL BE HAPPY because now he can bite your lips and now he has an official reason to leave anywhere. Sorry, his boyfriend wants to see him, who is he to keep him waiting? 🏃

Kalim Al-Asim

He won't understand that he's in love with you 😭 not because he denies feelings for you, but because he thinks that you are his friend and of course he loves you

Apparently Jamil has to listen to you 24/7. Kalim can literally bring any topic down to you. Did he meet your friends today? I wish you were with them. He came to class and you weren’t there? He is already writing to you that he would be glad for you to come. It’s already evening and he’s in his dorm? He's already invited you to a sleepover.

He is also very often around you and I think you are so used to him constantly hugging and holding you that you wouldn’t even notice if he just kissed you on the cheek.

Okay, now you and he do this all the time. All your friends and acquaintances are already so sure that you two are in a relationship that sometimes they even asked you when you will have a wedding.

Remember when I said that Floyd likes to give you something that reminds you of you? Multiply that by 100 - that's Kalim. Are you just looking at some store window? Okay, he's ALREADY there.

If you tell him that he is all you need and he doesn’t have to give you anything, he will start crying. You're so gorgeous, you know that?

If you flirt and tease him, he won't quite understand what you mean, but he might be a little embarrassed. Yes, he loves you and it looks like you know it too?

He definitely took you with him to ride on the magic carpet. HE WILL CONFESS TO YOU THE MOMENT when at night he invites you to ride on the magic carpet. (apparently Jamil told him to do this.)

It was one of the most romantic dates of your life. And how beautifully he confesses his love to you made you smile very widely. You are the happiest person in the world, what did you do to deserve such a wonderful boyfriend?

Okay, now you have a guy with the wild energy of a golden retriever who adores you.

Jamil Viper

He doesn't have time to have romantic feelings for anyone. Pass. (Mr. Denial #4)

He agreed to be friends with you, yes, but he definitely didn’t plan to fall in love with you. What did you do with him?

Now he is SCATTERED if you are nearby. I can convince you that his eyes now involuntarily stop at you. Always.

Does he think about his affairs related to Kalim? He's already looking at you. Is he thinking about club activities? He's already staring at you.

You can 100% stare back and only after some time will he notice it. Okay, now he's sitting in the hood and HAS TURNED AWAY FROM YOU.

You can tease him and all you will hear is one (1) request to stop. If you ignore it, he won't say it to you again.

THIS IS SO UNCLEAR TO OTHER PEOPLE, BUT I AM SURE THAT KALIM UNDERSTANDED IMMEDIATELY. Like, how long has he known Jamil? I literally swear to you he can see his displeased faces, obviously he will notice that something is wrong.

Now Jamil is panicking. He doesn't even know what to do, start ignoring you or pretending that nothing is happening.

I think he would not decide to court you, but rather do small favors for you. He is still not sure that he can love you at all and that you will love him in return, so he tries to behave as normally as possible.

But I think that in a few months it will be HE who will admit it, not you. (If you are patient)

Because during this time he could obviously notice whether you are interested in him, what you like romantically and how best for him to confess to you.

Okay, now he has a person with whom he can be himself and who loves him in any way, and you have a househusband 🥰

Silver

I have one question.. how did you do this??

Please can I have a tutorial?

I think for a long time he did not understand that he was in love with you and confused these feelings with the love he feels for family members.

His group from Diasomnia definitely knows about you, they can also find you constantly near Silver.

Lilia would definitely tease you and him, but Sebek would literally stand there: 😾😤 (Malleus is out and about again, lmao)

I think you have a talent for constantly finding the place where he sleeps and you can’t imagine how grateful he is to you if you wake him up.

He realized his feelings when at one point Lilia joked that he would soon have another son.

HE IS LIKE THIS AT THIS MOMENT 🤨😲😨😳

Well now he understands that he likes you and wants to be in a relationship with you

Firstly, now his group from Diasomnia is helping him look after you, and secondly, it would definitely be funny for you if you saw HOW they do it.

You know, Silver would definitely want to stick to traditional courtship when these three are literally inviting him to conquer the country for you

He doesn't listen to them anymore

Now you notice that he is trying not to sleep next to you. I swear he's trying. I think he might also fall asleep next to you and when he wakes up TO YOU he will definitely start apologizing to you. How about a confession for you? Obviously it will take place somewhere quiet. Just you and him. NO YOU DON'T SEE THREE OF THE DIASOMNIAS YOU SEEM TO BE

Forgive him, he can't control them, but he really wants to give you the best date possible. If you agree to date him, he will definitely be ready to do anything for you.

The characters do not belong to me, they belong to their rightful owners, please do not edit, translate, repost my works on other platforms, also without my permission and @

#twst x reader #twst x male reader #twisted wonderland disney #silver x reader #silver x male reader #riddle rosehearts x male reader #riddle rosehearts x reader #ruggie bucchi x male reader #ruggie bucchi x reader #azul ashengrotto x male reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #jade leech x reader #jade leech x male reader #floyd leech x male reader #floyd leech x reader #kalim al asim x male reader #kalim al asim x reader #jamil viper x male reader #jamil viper x reader

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lucid-loves · 4 months

Text

Taste Like Venom ~ Simon "Ghost" Riley Part 3

Pairing: Ghost x assassin!reader (fem!reader, no use of y/n, callsign “Hex”)

Word Count: 3.7k

CW: angst, violence, blood, strong language, scars, enemies to friends to lovers trope, slow burn, fluff, clear attraction and sexual tension, smut later on, reader POV and ghost POV, minors dni, Soap lives in this AU

Let me know if I missed any CWs.

Story Synopsis: After Makarov gets away once again, Laswell decides to force a favor from you, the world’s greatest assassin and best-kept secret. You are now expected to help the 141 with taking down Makarov in addition to playing nice with them. It’s hard to play nice when you have always worked alone. It doesn’t help that one of the team members, Ghost, gets curious about you in each interaction.

Chapter Synopsis: The great 141 road trip is fine in the beginning, but being on the road for eleven hours clearly gets to everyone, especially you. For once, Ghost tries to show you some genuine compassion without any ulterior motives.

A/N: Thought that this would not only be a fun part to write, but also a breather to get to develop more character dynamics. Feel free to comment what you think each member of the 141 favorite music genre is! Including your own~

Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Part 7 ~ Part 8 ~ Part 9 ~ Part 10

Such a long drive was new territory for the boys. They were so used to helicopter rides, armored cars, and jets to take them where they needed to go fast. For their size and stature, the minivan was cramped, slightly rough on the road, and just plain weird. It took a few seat adjustments before everyone was as comfortable as they could be. Save for Gaz. He just prayed that a pit stop was coming soon and someone would be willing to switch seats with him.

For the first hour, the ride was noisy with conversation. Conversation that tried to reel you in. Price, looking through the front windshield, asked you a question. “How do you know where you’re going, Hex?”

“I’ve spent time memorizing road maps around the area. We’re taking a back road. A scenic route. Any other cars on the road would further see this minivan as a family road trip through the country.” You elaborated, your eyes steady on the road ahead. There were a lot of twists and turns on this route, but you knew that it would pay out in the end.

“Hidden in plain sight.” Soap added, his tone showing that he was a bit impressed with the logic of it all. Perhaps you knew what you were doing after all. Without you meaning to or doing anything extraordinary, the group was slowly starting to trust you and your judgment as evidenced by your creative planning. You were becoming quite the leader as well. But, you weren’t completely out of the woods yet. They still kept some of their guards up, just in case.

“There’s a method to the madness. Don’t underestimate the power of assumptions.” You advised, a word of advice that would hopefully stick with them after all of this was over. If they listened, perhaps some problems the world was facing could actually be solved.

Soap pulled out his phone with the intention of making this trip more enjoyable. Making sure that his VPN you required was turned on, he began to browse through songs using his music app. Once he added his favorite songs, he passed it to his captain. “Whatever you want, Cap. No genre limits.”

Price took the phone and rubbed his chin for a second in thought, his brick-brown beard moving with his fingers. Eventually, he added some songs to the playlist. Once he was satisfied, he passed the phone to Gaz who lit up at the idea. “Now it’s gonna feel like a real road trip!”

A few more songs were added before the phone was passed all the way up to Ghost. Hesitantly, Ghost added his own favorite songs. His teammates knew him decently well. They’re even seen his face before under the mask. However, there were still things they were learning about when it came to his personal life. One of which was his favorite kind of music. Thankfully, he was willing to share that information, trusting his team more and more with each passing day.

He looked at you when he was done, wondering if he should even offer. Having watched the interactions from the mirror, you decided to stay out of it. When Ghost was done, you just shook your head for a silent “no.” Simon imagined that you were rejecting the idea in your mind based on the warning look you gave him. Don’t even try. That made him really wonder what kind of music you liked. The records back home were incredibly diverse. But what was your favorite? Jazz? Metal?

The phone was passed back to Soap. It was quite a diverse playlist. He didn’t realize that his team had such different tastes, but it just made him excited to give it a listen. He connected it to the car’s bluetooth and hit the shuffle button. Ghost went ahead and switched the car to bluetooth mode for him. Almost immediately, the car filled up with music, starting with one of Price’s songs.

Instead of tuning out, you tuned in. Very much so. Small details, even favorite songs, could say a lot about a person. You were learning about the men now. Not for the sake of potential friendship, no. For the sake of information for potential future manipulation if things went sideways. You always prepared for the worst, even when times seemed like the best.

The discussion carried forward, now with the ease of real music in the background. Gaz decided to take the plunge and ask you a question. “So. . . Hex. . . You lived a long time out in the woods. How did you survive on your own? There doesn’t seem to be a grocery store for miles around.”

You adjusted your sitting position, trying to get comfier in the driver’s seat. If you were going to deal with this for most of the trip, you might as well get as comfortable as you can. You answered, one hand on the wheel and one arm resting near the window. “I have an acquaintance who’s a farmer that gives me whatever I need. In return, I pleasure his wife, which helps save their marriage.”

His eyes got huge, not expecting the answer. He nearly tripped over his words. “Really?!”

“No, Kyle. You really think I would do such a thing?” You scowled. Internally, though, you were cracking up at his bewilderment. Soap and Price began chuckling in their seats. Even Simon was cracking a smile that no one could see. Kyle’s embarrassed blush that matched the falling red leaves outside made them even more amused. Who knew you had a sense of humor? A crude sense at that.

He muttered an apology. At least he was a good sport about it. A part of him found it quite funny too. After the chuckles died down, you answered his question truthfully. “Kate does supply drops for me. Not all the time, just when I need more meat than the woods can provide. Everything else I grow.”

It was an answer that made sense and didn’t reveal much about yourself. Nothing too fascinating about it. At least, to everyone save for Ghost. He took note of your truth, pictured you growing fruits and vegetables, hands in the dirt and sweat dripping down your temple. He imagined you hunting too. A heavy rifle and camo. Patience, aim, fire. He thought that some of the foods he had from your kitchen tasted a little gamey.

“Didn’t you ever get lonely being out there all by yourself?” Soap inquired, not afraid to ask the question that was on everyone’s mind. All eyes were on you as you took a deep breath.

“No, Johnny. Never.”

This was partially a lie as well as partially the truth. There were times where you did feel alone. Like the only human left on the planet. Kate’s calls every now and then help curb it a little, but it wasn’t the same as actually being in the same space with someone physically. Yet, when you were surrounded by people on a classified mission or watching disaster after disaster on TV, it made you glad that you weren’t a part of any of it. The flurry of different emotions coming from all different sides when with civilization was often too much for you. You needed control. More control than what you could usually get when you were on the outside again.

Simon was watching you carefully now, trying to pick up any indication of a cracked resolve. A twitch, a change in breathing, anything to read into further. There was no way you never felt lonely. Yet, you said it with such conviction that it startled everyone. Ghost just couldn’t believe you.

Having killed the conversation, the boy awkwardly tried to change topics. Now excluding you. Good. You preferred it this way.

A few hours in and the car was quiet. Light, easy music played now from the car speakers as everyone took a nap. Except for Ghost, of course. Fortunately, he did keep himself occupied by reading the book you lent him. The first couple of chapters were a miss in his opinion. After a couple more, it started to get good. It didn’t take him long to actually get invested in the story, reading between the lines as you had done when you read. You had good tastes.

Enjoying the quietness of the trip was something you didn’t think you would be able to do. Especially with Simon in the front. Surprisingly, he was being good which you hoped would like for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, you jinxed it in your head. Out of the corner of your eye, he bookmarked his spot and took a break. Now, he wanted to talk to you.

“You didn’t play your own music.”

“So?” You shrugged, wondering where he was going with this. Nothing good probably.

“Why not?” He simply asked, himself not knowing what the big deal was. It was just music. You could have even lied. Picked out music you hated. Instead, you just opted out, not even willing to risk three minutes of any particular melody.

You suppressed an annoyed groan. Not this shit again. “What part of ‘leave me alone’ do you not understand, Simon?”

There you go again, saying his name with such disrespectful ease. It still made his heart beat faster hearing it from you. It still made his muscles tense in vexation as well. You noticed this from how the grip on his arms got tighter, his arms crossing his chest. “How much could music taste actually reveal about you as an individual?”

“A lot! God damn it, when are you going to drop this stupid shit? Quit playing your stupid fucking game?!” You spat, trying to keep your cursing at a low volume lest you wake up the rest of the team. Your knuckles were turning white with how hard you were gripping the steering wheel, desperately trying to keep your cool.

However, he didn’t drop it. He didn’t want to, so he wouldn’t. Simon could be just as stubborn as you which made you want to punch him. Have his teeth fall out of his mouth and get caught in his skull mask. “You mean to tell me that you’ve learned a lot about us based on our favorite songs alone? That’s just ridiculous, Hex.”

He could use your name as a curse too. Anything to get you to keep talking to him. Anything to keep your attention. To figure you out. As much as you didn’t want to give him what you wanted, you did anyway out of sheer aggravation. “It’s called Music Psychology, you fucking ass! Do they do anything besides tell you what to shoot in that god forsaken military?! Do they really keep you all fucking braindead?!”

“Watch your mouth, Hex! You don’t want to say anything you don’t mean.” Simon warned, his voice low like a bass about to snap its strings. He had to remind himself that you weren’t like them when it came to combat approach to cool down. The 141 employed leadership, strength, swift execution. An assassin like you employed other values, one being the art of psychology apparently.

He wasn’t going to let you badmouth his team and those back home that don’t deserve your slander, though. Many people back home were plenty capable with their own skill sets. It wasn’t fair to put them all in one box just because they followed the orders of the government.

“Watch my mouth?! Have you even heard the shit that’s coming out of yours?! Or is your head so far stuck up your own ass that you can’t hear what you say?” You antagonized further, making the situation worse with each passing insult.

“Why are you so fucking defensive?! You cracked a joke earlier, but now asking about your music tastes is too much? You don’t make any fucking sense, Hex. What the hell are you so afraid of?” His own voice was rising with volume as he spiraled out of control as well.

You were practically yelling at this point like the rest of the world didn’t exist except for you and Simon. A personal bubble where you could really try to rip him a new one. You didn’t hold back. “I’m not afraid of anything, Ghost! I just want you to leave me the fuck alone! Why are you so desperate to know me?!

“You’re part of this team, whether you like it or not! Whether you want to be an enemy or not! Part of that is trusting us with your life. All of it!” He argued, trapping himself in this conflict bubble with you.

Your temper was boiling over to the point you could cry. Why was he doing this to you? Why couldn’t he just let this go? “Why can’t you understand that I am never going to be part of your team?! I never can and I never will!”

At that he paused. There was something about your last retort. Never can? It was oddly specific. What did that mean?

Just then, the light for gas lit up on the dashboard. You clenched your jaw, cursing more profanities that would have anyone blush. A couple miles down was a gas station. A wave of relief washed over you. Now you had an excuse to exit the car to get away from Simon.

You didn’t realize it before with how provoked you were, but the 141 in the back was awake and clearly heard the two of you bickering. The tension thick enough to choke on made it hard for them to interfere. This pit stop would hopefully let things settle down again.

As soon as the car was parked near an empty pump, the doors slid open to let the men out. It felt good to stretch their legs and breathe in some fresh air. It was about time Gaz was relieved of the back seat too. Price, Soap, and Gaz headed into the convenience store for a moment to pick up drinks and snacks, something that was essential for their road trip experience. You leaned against the car, waiting for the gas pump to finish. The entire time, Ghost sat silently in the front doing his own breathing exercises to get his temper under control. God, you were venomous. Troublesome, irritating, infernal, a million other words. Yet, you were beautiful when you were pissed. He couldn’t understand it.

Finally, the car was loaded up once again, now complete with drinks, snacks, and a full tank of gas. The seating arrangements changed, Price now in the back to allow Gaz a chance to let his legs stretch out more. Besides that, he didn’t really want to be up front with all of the conflict. He would normally break it up, but he still didn’t know enough about you to feel comfortable doing so. It was better for this to just play out. It wasn’t like Ghost couldn’t hold his own.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Soap ripped open a bag of chips followed by a joke. “Looks like mom and dad are fighting again.”

The smirk on his face was quickly wiped away as a pair of keys jingled right near his ear, embedded in his head rest. You had turned from your seat as soon as you registered his distasteful joke, thrown the car keys like a knife, and narrowly missed pinning his ear against the fabric. The car was dead silent as you stared daggers into him. Despite being a strong man with plenty of experiences with danger along with close calls, this experience had Johnny near pissing himself. If looks could kill, he would have been six feet under already.

What was worse was the fact that you missed on purpose.

“Shut the fuck up! You are not to insinuate that again. Ever! Now, I don’t want anyone trying to talk to me or talk about me for the rest of this fucking trip. Talk to each other, I don’t give a shit. But no more dragging me into any conversation. Are we fucking clear?!”

You were met with quick, obedient nods followed by Soap gingerly handing you back your keys. Before you all knew it, you were back on the road like you didn’t just nearly kill Soap.

Simon was speechless, not expecting you to be so. . . dangerous. His feelings about what just happened were conflicting. On one hand, he wanted to fight you to defend his trusted sergeant that meant no harm, even if he didn’t really like the joke either. On the other hand, he’s never been more attracted to a woman in his life.

The car ride was silent for the next several hours.

Your muscles ached from your stiff position. You’ve been driving this whole time, only allowing gas breaks to be your time to stretch out. The boys have rotated seats every stop, now including Ghost who was finally giving you some space by being in the back. Last stop, though, he moved right up to the front with you once again.

You were getting the dreaded road trip tunnel vision. After so many hours of driving, you couldn’t see anything except for the road ahead. You weren’t so much as driving anymore. You more like just looking out the front windshield, barely keeping up with the surrounding area that passed by. What you normally would recognize as trees, road signs, and roadkill were now just a big blur.

“You’re tired.” Simon commented, treading very carefully. He didn’t want to start another fight. Far from it. He just couldn’t bear to see you so exhausted from driving.

“I’m fine.” Your voice strained, having lost some of it from the screaming match earlier in the trip. You weren’t used to talking so much as you have been for the past week, let alone fighting with words. A warm cup of tea with honey sounded so good right now.

Ghost took a deep breath in before he gently settled his hand on your shoulder. The fact that you didn’t shrug his touch away was very telling that you were really out of it. “Come on, Hex. Just for a bit. Pull over and I’ll take over the drive. We can switch back after you recuperate.”

It took you a minute to agree. Pulling off to the side of the road, you switched places. The room to stretch out in the passenger side was very much needed. Your bones cracked as you really gave yourself time to take it easy for a moment. “Just an hour. Then, we’ll switch.”

He nodded, finally agreeing with you on something out loud. “Just an hour.”

You ended up dozing off for longer than intended. Despite the agreement, Simon let you rest. The trip was already almost complete anyway. What was two more hours to add to your much needed rest?

When the car slowed to a stop, the gang woke up out of their naps, eager to exit the minivan and head into the average-looking hotel you had designated as the new checkpoint. It was nearing dinner-time, the city bustling with people heading to enjoy their meals. Price was ready for something other than chips. Soap and Gaz were already discussing potential food spots as if they were tourists.

As they unloaded the car to carry their things into the hotel, you stayed asleep. Dead asleep. The deepest sleep you have had in what felt like a lifetime. The men were careful to not wake you up as they unloaded luggage after luggage out of the trunk. When everything was squared away with checking in as well as bringing luggage up to the rooms, you were still snoozing away, much to their surprise.

Price opened up your door, ready to wake you up to get a move on. However, Ghost stopped his hand from touching you. “I’ll take her up. Just go ahead and grab some grub.”

Well, John wasn’t going to say no to that offer. He would rather not be bit by such a feral woman. Though, he did feel like he had to warn Ghost of what he was really doing, having observed just about everything he was trying to do in regards to you. “You’re playing with fire, you know.”

Ghost unlocked your seatbelt and picked you up out of the minivan in a princess carry. Miraculously, you still didn’t wake up. “I know. . .”

The hotel staff were concerned with him carrying you into the hotel. A large man with a skull mask carrying an unconscious lady certainly didn’t look good. In order to avoid interference, Simon had a lie ready for when a bodyguard approached. “I know the mask is scary, but it hides some burn scars. I’m just taking the missus up to the room. She fell asleep in the car.”

Not being paid enough to question the lie, he allowed the both of you to pass by.

You were heavy in his arms, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He could feel the softness of your skin, the firmness of your muscles. He could make out each individual eyelash that just barely kissed under your eyes. As much as you drove him crazy, you truly were beautiful.

The ding of the elevator reaching their floor knocked him out of his trance. Using a room key, he headed into your space for the next couple of days. The room was pretty basic. A bed, a dresser, tv, bathroom, nightstands, a desk. The only thing that really made it stand out was the original art of the wall made by local, Italian artists.

He settled your sleeping body down onto the queen-sized bed, brushing your hair out of your face as you settled into the mattress. Looking at you like this was a breath of fresh air for him. He didn’t think he would be able to see you like this so soon.

Sleeping around others was a sign of trust. Were you just really that exhausted? Probably. Ghost would still take this as a sign of victory anyway.

For a few moments longer, he studied your features. The sound of his stomach grumbling for a meal encouraged him to leave you be for now to which his brain protested. Then again, you probably wouldn’t like it if you found out that he watched you sleep.

Before he left, he took one last look at you, burning the image into his mind. “You said you didn’t sleep, kitten.”

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zvaigzdelasas · 8 months

Note

"it was made by a person" does not absolve the image of sin, because by that logic every piece of ai art is ok actually. because obviously the ai could never just make art, the people using it to generate book covers so they don't have to pay an artist are actually typing in the description for what they want the ai to make. so it's ok !! a human told the ai to make that ❤❤❤❤

I mean. Other than the moralizing ("absolve of sin", "so it's ok!" etc)...Yes? Of course AI art is made by people?

Do you think AIs have agency or something? Do they find their own data and train themselves without a human telling it to? How does the AI pay for electricity?

If AIs have agency why can't they be Artists?

You're undermining your own position and actually fundamentally agreeing w the silicon valley tech bros lmao

If someone pays a human on Fiverr $5 to make a book cover in order to avoid paying someone a more reasonable price....thats basically the same moral situation right. If that guy on Fiverr is just choosing between 10 different templates he already has (and maybe copied from the internet!) and just changing the text on it, he is "typing what they want to make". What's the difference to paying someone $5 on Fiverr to generate a book cover for you using AI. Where's the moral difference, what does the tool have to do with anything.

AI doesn't have any agency, people do. AI is a tool. AI being used to lower prices is an economic choice made by humans.

A useful analytical framework to understand why this is the natural result of competition is actually Historical Materialism, which understands the social world as fundamentally existing of Humans, Human action, and Human relationships. Instead of trying to act like things like AI - spectral reflections of human labor - are "creatures" themselves, and tilting at windmills. Historical Materialism teaches not only why this happens, but how to overcome that process entirely.

In machinery, objectified labour materially confronts living labour as a ruling power and as an active subsumption of the latter under itself, not only by appropriating it, but in the real production process itself; [...]In machinery, objectified labour itself appears not only in the form of product or of the product employed as means of labour, but in the form of the force of production itself. The development of the means of labour into machinery is not an accidental moment of capital, but is rather the historical reshaping of the traditional, inherited means of labour into a form adequate to capital. The accumulation of knowledge and of skill, of the general productive forces of the social brain, is thus absorbed into capital, as opposed to labour, and hence appears as an attribute of capital, and more specifically of fixed capital, in so far as it enters into the production process as a means of production proper.[...]

In machinery, knowledge appears as alien, external to [the worker]; and living labour [as] subsumed under self-activating objectified labour. The worker appears as superfluous to the extent that his action is not determined by [capital's] requirements.[...]

Fixed capital, in its character as means of production, whose most adequate form [is] machinery, produces value, i.e. increases the value of the product, in only two respects: (1) in so far as it has value; ***i.e. is itself the product of labour, a certain quantity of labour in objectified form***; (2) in so far as it increases the relation of surplus labour to necessary labour, by enabling labour, through an increase of its productive power, to create a greater mass of the products required for the maintenance of living labour capacity in a shorter time. It is therefore a highly absurd bourgeois assertion that the worker shares with the capitalist, because the latter, with fixed capital (which is, as far as that goes, itself a product of labour, and of alien labour merely appropriated by capital) makes labour easier for him (rather, he robs it of all independence and attractive character, by means of the machine), or makes his labour shorter. Capital employs machinery, rather, only to the extent that it enables the worker to work a larger part of his time for capital, to relate to a larger part of his time as time which does not belong to him, to work longer for another. Through this process, the amount of labour necessary for the production of a given object is indeed reduced to a minimum, but only in order to realize a maximum of labour in the maximum number of such objects. The first aspect is important, because capital here -- quite unintentionally -- reduces human labour, expenditure of energy, to a minimum. This will redound to the benefit of emancipated labour, and is the condition of its emancipation.

Nature builds no machines, no locomotives, railways, electric telegraphs, self-acting mules etc. These are products of human industry; natural material transformed into organs of the human will over nature, or of human participation in nature. They are organs of the human brain, created by the human hand; the power of knowledge, objectified. The development of fixed capital indicates to what degree general social knowledge has become a direct force of production, and to what degree, hence, the conditions of the process of social life itself have come under the control of the general intellect and been transformed in accordance with it. To what degree the powers of social production have been produced, not only in the form of knowledge, but also as immediate organs of social practice, of the real life process.

Marx [PDF link]

#other choice quotes in here but i figured thats enough #marx could easily explain ai

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pizzaqueen · 1 year

Text

Pre-slash (but they’re flirty) / about 1k of another ~oh moment for Steve / T

Someone drums on the counter and Steve looks up from the forms he’s sorting into Eddie’s grinning face.

“Hey,” Steve says, “you on a break?”

“Nope. Letting the kiddies fend for themselves.”

Steve snorts. “You’re gonna get fired one day.”

“Pfft. The arcade is a cakewalk. I spend most of my time reading in the backroom. The punters take care of themselves.” Eddie shrugs. “And if I get fired, I can always get a job here.”

“You think so, huh?”

“Sure.” Eddie folds his hands on the counter, resting his chin on them. “I happen to be on good terms with the manager.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m really going to hire you when I know how many times you’ve walked out in the middle of your shifts.”

“If I worked here, I wouldn’t need to skip out to come see you.”

“Hm.” Steve leans one hip on the counter. “What do you want, anyway?”

Eddie straightens up. “Wanna know if you’re free tonight.”

“Nah, thought I might start charging.”

“What’s your going rate?”

“Five bucks an hour?”

“Oof. That might be out of my price range, dude.” Eddie turns out his pockets like some kind of cartoon character. “The arcade might be a cakewalk, but it doesn’t pay much.”

“Well, maybe I can make an exception. Give you a freebie.”

Eddie waggles his brows. “Lucky me.”

“Okay,” Steve says on a laugh, “it depends what you want to do.”

“Just hang out.”

“Hanging out, I can do for free,” Steve says. “I’ll come by yours after work?”

“Excellent.” Eddie drums his hands on the counter again, bopping his head to an unheard tune. “Oh, and bring a movie.”

“Got one in mind? We’ve got a few to choose from.”

“Surprise me,” Eddie says with a wink.

Steve rolls his eyes. And then his gaze is caught by two girls coming in—Amy and Laura, he thinks—and he straightens up a little, runs a hand through his hair. Eddie follows Steve's line of sight, shaking his head when it lands on the girls.

"What?" Steve says.

Eddie shrugs. "Didn't say anything." But his lips twitch.

Steve's brow furrows, but he says, "We could try for a double date?"

"Mm. I'll pass."

"Whatever," Steve says, and watches the girls, running through a few different lines to pull out, though with a little less creativity (and enthusiasm) than he used to. When Laura comes over to the counter with a copy of Cocktail, Steve says, “Cocktail, huh?”

“Yep.”

Steve takes her membership card, punching in the number. “You know, this is a pretty good date movie.”

Eddie makes a derisive noise; Steve ignores him.

Laura nods. “Uh-huh.”

“If you don’t have anyone to watch it with, I’m always available…”

Another tape is slapped on the counter and Amy says, “We’ll stick with Tom Cruise. Thanks.”

“Right.”

“Well…” Laura gives Eddie a coy look. “What about you?”

Eddie presses a hand to his chest, turning to Laura. “Me?” When she nods, he adds, “What about me?”

“Are you available?” Laura asks, leaning into Eddie’s space a little.

Eddie opens his mouth but, before he can say anything, Steve blurts, “He’s married.”

Three disbelieving looks turn Steve’s way. He shrugs.

“You’re married?” Amy asks Eddie.

There’s a moment of silence and Steve waits for Eddie to call Steve’s bullshit so, when Eddie says, “Yep. Super married,” he gapes a little. And then Eddie adds, “Five kids, big house, dog. The works,” and Steve tries not to smile.

Amy’s eyes narrow, but Laura says, “Oh, that’s a pity,” and… She didn’t actually believe that, did she?

"Good ones are always taken right?"

“Yeah, well, I—” Steve starts, but Amy cuts in with:

“Since when is Eddie Munson married?”

“It’s a recent development,” Eddie says.

“And you’ve got five kids?”

“Never said we had them all after we got married, did I?”

"And who are you married to?"

“Hey, this is a video store, not the records office or whatever,” Steve says, waving his hand. "Do you want to rent the movies or not?"

The girls roll their eyes in unison, but they take their tapes and leave, whispering to each other in annoyed tones.

Struck out again, Harrington. Whatever. Plenty of fish in the sea. Or, so Steve’s been told. It weirdly doesn’t sting as much it usually does, even if he made an idiot of himself in front of Eddie. At least Eddie played along.

“So, I’m married, huh?”

Steve winces, but he recovers quickly, saying, “Yeah, heard you got five kids, a big house, the works.”

“And how, pray tell, did this happy event come about?”

“Well, sometimes when a man and a woman love each other very much—”

Eddie groans, letting his head fall back. “C’mon, man, you know what I mean. Why’d you tell those ladies I’m married?”

Yeah, Steve, why’d you do that? “Well… You weren’t interested in a double date, so I figured you wouldn’t be into a single one, either.” Steve lifts his shoulders. “Hey, if I was wrong, then I’m sorry, man.”

“You weren’t wrong.” Eddie bites his lip. A glint comes into his eye and he adds, “So, you weren’t jealous or anything?”

A strange heat shoots through Steve. “What, no— Why would I be jealous? I mean… I suggested a double date in the first place.”

“Thought you might want the ladies all to yourself,” Eddie says around a grin.

Steve blinks. He’d thought Eddie meant…

A kid comes running in, yelling out for Eddie, something about one of the games eating their quarters.

“Well. Duty calls,” Eddie says, giving a little salute as he saunters out of the store, following the kid. "Pick a good movie," he calls back. “Maybe Cocktail,” he adds with what Steve can only describe as a cackle.

Numbly, Steve watches Eddie leave, frozen to the spot. It’s a good few minutes before he can shakes himself out of it. That was weird. What the hell?

It’s not until later, when he’s shelving a copy of Cocktail that it hits him: Steve doesn’t want to keep the ladies to himself. He wants to keep Eddie to himself.

Well, he thinks, taking the tape off the shelf again, and shoving it in his backpack, shit.

Part two

NOW ON AO3!

#steddie #Steve x eddie #Steddie fic #Steddie fanfic #might tidy this up and maybe add a second part for AO3 if anyone’s interested?#pizzaqueenfic #singletakenpining

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