#this describes literally every political struggle going on right now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mabeysomeclasspecting · 1 year

Note

Hi, I was wondering if I could get classpected? I really love your analysis and I’m struggling with my own.

*I most often get heart, space, and void as quiz results (I have taken most existing aspect quizzes at least twice). I usually get mage, knight, and page on quizzes.

**this is essay length I’m really sorry about that

Hobbies/interests:

I really like my creative hobbies. More often than not I'm sewing, sculpting, drawing, etc. I also really enjoy those really long video essays on video games and such but I also listen to more political stuff when I can handle it. When my anxiety is less obnoxious I like to take walks in the middle of the night- I can go outside and be completely alone with my thoughts (and my maladaptive daydreaming lol). I do a lot of writing about fiction and only actually write fiction sometimes. Ideas are always more complete in my head and I can’t do them justice in meatspace. I do a lot of armchair philosophy but it’s all probably just something I regurgitate forgetting somebody else said it first and better. You will literally never see me without my earbuds in regardless if anything is playing in them. On that note I can’t play an instrument or compose or anything but I want music to swallow me whole like a snake.

Me about myself:

I think I’m weird but I don’t particularly care that I’m weird. I hate that other people think I'm weird and guilt me for having genuine interests? My self esteem isn’t great but as I’m getting better at being an adult I feel less like a fish flopping around on the floor. I feel like I’m never going to have a proper self concept because something is always changing and I can’t keep up with that. The self hatred is mental subtext instead of text, ya feel? I want to say something in a way only I can say it, like perfect a message in a way only my art could portray it. It would be a cool thing to have a legacy even though it’s totally meaningless. Like, if somebody thought about me the way I think about Toby Fox I’d feel like I succeeded. Local strider kinnie. All of the striders. Every iteration. In middle school I was obsessed with Dave and now (college) I'm obsessed with Dirk. It’s The Existentialism. Spice that with a little Jake English style social awkwardness. My problematic trait is thinking empathy is a conspiracy (I’m ((probably)) just on the spectrum). I have serious self-control issues and will eat a whole cake by myself. I reread homestuck in less than a month and barely managed to get my assignments in because I hyper fixated so hard.

Others about me:

When I was younger I was the scapegoat of my friend group, like the Tavros to someone else’s Vriska. Classic page behavior. Now that I’m older I’m mostly just super reserved because I got burned so bad I can’t take positive feedback. I have one friend who tells me that I’m super talented and cool and shit and I feel so weird about it. He’s not flirting with me or anything, he's just a genuinely good dude. I feel dirty and evil existing in his presence. I’ve also been described as a cryptid in the past. “Quiet and kind of scary until you open up then you’re unhinged” “Mad scientist” “Introverted artisan” (this person then called me out on “looking for that passing validation” and he was right but I hate it lmao) (the conversation has gone on and I am now realizing he is. Talking about trans shit,,,, which is also right and I hate it) (I’m literally going to copy paste this next one it’s too good) “You’re the type of dude that gets dragged on for the ride tho… the one that’s like ‘maybe we shouldn’t be breaking into a haunted house’ in the movies” “You’re not the Lame little piss baby that they drag around , you’re the one that’s there cuz someone wants to hand the white boy a blunt and see you take a large chuff” (oh my god he’s such a gem lol) “You’re still also a dork and I’ll probably still label you as gay boy mentally tho”

How I interact with people:

I keep forgetting I can’t just rely on my imaginary friends to meet my social needs so I go bug one or two people for a few weeks before I start feeling like it’s too risky because if I go too hard I'll burn out and hate them or something. If you know someone too well it’ll break any infatuation (platonic) you have with them. The thing with characters is that they learn and grow with you in your mind, like a family member that will only hate you if you’re having an off day. Tldr I’m scared of other people because intimacy and honesty about things is Not My Style. All of my secrets keep spilling out whenever somebody gives me crumbs and then I regret it and like. Soft ghost them? I recently ditched a group of friends and while I feel guilty about it I was in a kind of codependent relationship with one of them and I needed out. I tried to force myself to be more open and loving and shit but I was totally repulsed by myself and them by the end of it. Anyway if I could just like, have a good friend and feel comfortable with them and Mean It that would be pretty sweet. Unsure if I’m aromantic or just scared of vulnerability and commitment of any kind. I want to be helpful and cool and reciprocal to the people I care about but I feel like I’m lacking in anything I could use to help them- they always need something I can’t give them. When I help it starts coming off as patronizing.

What do i value:

My inner world is what’s keeping me alive. See in there I'm not really obligated to bend to expectations (which are usually pretty reasonable I think, I just don’t like them) and I can live out the fantasy of Being Loved without needing to be vulnerable. They’re in my head of course they know me I don’t need to tell them anything. Politics are important but I mostly listen to other people talk about it. I'm really burnt out with the state of the world. I think finding some kind of reason to live and love in the meaninglessness of it all is really really important, I'm just bad at it. I just kinda wanna live in the abstract and undefinable because everything is like that, but people have to put things into categories and words to understand them. Having a body to take care of and whatnot is a curse. I honestly forget I have one because i’m so zoned into whatever it is that I'm thinking about.

Ideal self:

In an ideal world I get over all of my pseudo intellectual bs and just like. Feel my feelings. Enjoy being with people and making little trinkets. I might actually be less aware of what other people think of me and I could just say things without feeling like every bit of it was silly or pointless. I would be able to accept positive feedback instead of thinking everybody was lying to me. I’d also understand on a fundamental level that other people are real, actual, intelligent beings and we just communicate very differently. If I could be comfortable in my place in the world and not panic because it doesn’t matter I’d celebrate that instead. Nothing matters but with sunglasses this time. In theory every little thing means something, but sometimes I don’t need to know what it means, Y’know? Knowing just puts more weight on my shoulders and makes me an anxious goddamn wreck. I would be able to take action without other people nagging me to do something with myself.

Bonus stuff that I think is relevant:

I’m scared shitless of most “voidy” stuff, like the dark and just like, the concept of oblivion. My worst fear is my mind completely slipping off into nothing. Caves, oceans, etc- they all scare me. I considered space for a long time because of my creativity but I literally have sensory processing disorder and while I think a space player who lacks spatial awareness is funny I don't think that’s all that viable. I think I have a lot of knight hallmarks but really I'm way too outwardly cowardly and self serving to think I deserve that title? Idk im just spitballing now i'm so sorry for ranting.

Thanks for reading my doomer bs - 🏳️‍⚧️🎃♊️

Hello! No need to apologize for the length, the more you tell me the more accurate I'll (hopefully) be :)

Aspects: Mind, Heart, Doom

Classes: Prince, Knight, Page, Mage

Out of these I think either Prince of Mind or Knight of Heart suits you best! But Page of Doom and Mage of Mind might be ones to consider too

I hope this was helpful! And I hope you're doing well :)

#homestuck #classpect #classpecting #asks #requests #prince of mind #knight of heart #prince #knight #mind #heart #anon

5 notes · View notes

winderlylandchime · 7 months

Note

We are on 3x06! 1/2 ‘HE IT PUTTING THE DRUGS IN THE TUSHY AGAIN!’ ‘Wait why are cops outside the clu- EW EW EW EW EW EW EW WHY WOULD THEY SHOW ME ETHAN AND JUSTIN IN THE TUB?!’ He put his hands over his face and fake gagged, now he knows how i feel. ‘I know another cool game you could play Justin, it’s called GO BACK TO BRIAN! Please tell me this concert is the thing that takes him OUT OF MY LIFE. Oh god *pauses tv fast* what if he stays around for another season?! I CANT DO THAT. He wishes Justin could be there? Why cant- oh right he’s straight now..A RING?! HE GOT HIM A RING?! Justin wipe that look off your face, Brian got you school tuition’ ‘what the fuck Brian? HES WORKING WITH A COP? Why are we getting so political? Ha brian hates it! Just like i do! Call him a twat and move on, HES ACTUALLY GOING TO WORK WORK WITH HIM?’ He paused the tv and went out to smoke. He is clearly feeling a certain way about Stockwell/Brian. ‘MY ASS he built model airplanes as a kid. (Stockwell says he doesn’t mind the truth even if Brian uses it as an assault weapon)…oh damn that’s actually kinda good description of him at times but i don’t wanna agree with a cop so fuck you. DUDE STOP HELPING HIM WIN VOTES! WHAT THE FUCK? I get he loves money and power and its his job or whatever but this is just ew. There’s no way he’d help him, i mean he hates *points to himself* heteros’ ‘AH ITS BRI AND JUSTIN!! no he saw the ring, BRIAN I SWEAR IT MEANS NOTHING! HE KNOWS ROMANCE, he just struggles with it.‘ ‘fuck even Bens intervention is boring. MIKE DONT FALL FOR THIS BULLSHIT.’ ‘BRIAN CMON WHY ARE YOU HELPING A COP? I mean i know we all have our flaws but i thought we agreed his was dancing?! (Brian tells the camera guy to keep filming stockwell bc abs) ha! His whole work strategy is “make it gay” respect. (Stockwell looks back at Brian after he calls him tom cruise) Is he gay? He gives of a *does the gay wrist bent thing* certain vibe’ Justin and Daphne show up during the interview ‘COUSIN?! GIRLFRIEND?! COUSIN?…Daphne hate him even more now, please. YES DAPHNE, BRIAN NEVER DID THAT! YES HE DID HAVE HIS ENTIRE FUTURE CAREER AT- ARE YOU DUMB?! DID WE FORGET PARTNER, VERMONT?! Go Daphne!! HE ALMOST DIED!!! YES DALHNE HATE HIM! BURN HIS HOUSE DOWN!’ ‘AH JEN! MY GIRL JEN! She’s so pretty, why cant i get more of Jen? (ted and ems neighbor describes the neighborhood) fuck, I wish Brian was here, he would actually vomit at the idea of living in a place like this.’ ‘Okay who cares about Ben, give me Brian!’ Literally a second later stockwells ad shows ‘OH COME ON! I cant have a god damn thing going for me on this show! HE IS LITERALLY DESCRIBING BRIAN! THIS MAN WOULD HAVE A HEART ATTACK IF HE KNEW THE REAL BRIAN! BRIAN CANT YOU SEE THIS BULLSHIT, oh please turn him into a joke Bri! bullshit! How can he not see that he is literally against what and who Brian is’ the scene where Ben pushes Brian is about to happen! ‘Oh Benny Ben, you got caught! Wait why did his dad say 3 times 7? He made him do math? What an ass. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?! HE JUST PUSHED HIM! AND CALLED HIM A WHORE AND IS ANGRY THAT HE ISNT POSITIVE?! DUDE FUCK YOU! DONT SLUT SHAME! We’re all just vibin *does that surfer/thumb-pinky finger symbol with his hand* and you are ruining the vibes! WHY WOULD THEY IMMEDIATELY AFTER SHOW ME ETHAN BLOWING JUSTIN?! SO I GOTTA SEE BRI GET HURT PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY? *mocks Ethan in a childish voice* it was the interview. Well congratulations sherlock! You sure are one step away from being the new cop in town (justin asks if from now on itll be lies and immediately pauses tv)WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! I thought that was some shit only Brian could do, oh wait no. Bri AWAYS TELLS IT HOW IT IS! please go on a world tour, i will literally buy all the tickets just for you to go. HE HAD AN AMAZING LIFE WITH BRIAN! He is so jealous of Brian, its sad. I swear he competes with him every second of his day. I get Justin needed a new boyfriend or whatever for some reason that im sure is *waves his hands* somewhere BUT DID IT HAVE TO BE ETHAN?’

Justin wipe that look off your face, Brian got you school tuition IS SUCH A MOOD. Tuition >>>> cheap tacky ring

I am living for his reaction to Stockwell. He's so right.

Even Ben's intervention is boring - LOL

His reaction to Daphne is everything. We love Daph.

HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?! HE JUST PUSHED HIM! AND CALLED HIM A WHORE AND IS ANGRY THAT HE ISNT POSITIVE?! DUDE FUCK YOU! DONT SLUT SHAME! I couldn't have said it better myself. I have probably screamed the exact same things at my screen.

Did it have to be Ethan - YES! this exactly. They were cruising for a break up, fine, I get it, story arc etc. But Ethan is so unbelievable. Also your brother screaming about how Brian always told the truth. I am dyinnnngggg about it.

#ask winderlylandchime #dear sweet anon #queer as folk #a straight man watches qaf us 2000 in the year of our lord 2023

1 note · View note

spiritualgrowthuk · 2 years

Text

Religious Growth - Just what It and How can It Affect People?

spiritual growth nottinghamshire

For most people, life can be described as series of repetitions together with coincidences, a daily, 7 days a week, yearly and even life time struggle to make sense associated with circumstances and scenarios we find us. For most people, too, lifetime is a bitter distress because our email address details are neither tangible or explainable to an comprehensible level. The concern begs - The simplest way is this also possible? Can a single thing under this sunrays ever be learned?

spiritual growth nottinghamshire

Gladly, it's not for the answers. It's of a whole different canine - knowing ourselves. See, if you have an understanding of and know you, then you will routinely have control from what goes on in your speedy surroundings. And this in return ripples through each and every "larger" aspect of lifestyle. "Larger" in prices because, from reality's standpoint, there is NOTHING larger than you. Well, at the very least until you allow it to be.

Just what I'm saying is normally that everything commences and ends for you - your body, your thoughts, and spirit are under your manipulate as a "human increasingly being. " As you might be being human, most people "make" life take place accordingly by your day by day feelings, thoughts, and additionally actions. Note that virtually no human affiliation, christian or political, can be afore-mentioned!

1 . MAJOR SPIRITUALITY

Now I'm sure this is some definitely precarious territory were venturing around, just what with the myriad of your own ideas or dogmas on what this is, tips on how to live the life, as well as its relationship to you in addition to I in the grander scheme of items. But I will possibly not hesitate to start simply by saying "Life is definitely WHAT you make it. inch I am not at all claiming that "life events" affecting human race are self-engineered, using the same measure I'd be a fool to not ever agree that our response to these "life events" are without a doubt, self-engineered. Why altogether different would two people looking at the same exact happening react differently? Today that's spirituality.

Make it possible for me to sort deeper. Whatever function life brings in you is not and definately will never be up to anyone. You found your own self in this world and as your human being you are made to adapt along with thrive. Naturally. Most surely, even that is as many as your personal choice. Everyone respond to life whenever you see fit, contingent on what's INSIDE of people. An interesting definition I discovered once of spirituality is "that approach to realigning your feeling of self along with something you may do not have thought was in just you. " Curtly, spirituality is a voyage of self-discovery. Is it doesn't path to enlightenment. This approach journey is Larger than us, and offers beyond our births and deaths. It can be, indeed, as broad as consciousness. And it's also called "growth" due to the fact all that is possible is actually growing into larger levels of it with out end goal other than enlightenment, which also is boundless in its mother nature.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS AROUND SPIRITUALITY

One of the earliest things you can do to grow spiritually is to let go of any sort of preconceived ideas you may have about spiritual increase.

1 . Being religious is being religious and pious:

Spirituality is simply not religion - is it doesn't knowledge and the right application of common laws that are for the reason that real as they are generally invisible. Let me describe. "Religion" as a message is said to originated from the Latin expression "Re-ligare" or "Relegere, " which inside of it has alternate symbolism depending on grammatical location in language together with who's talking.

The earliest, "to bind/tie/hold again, " literally will mean that - to keep an individual in a certain spot and/or prevent a particular from moving forward by using something, or to continue to be within a certain border of conduct to get a specific reason and also purpose. Used in such a manner, religion as an occurrence tends to hold a back from their non secular journey.

The 2nd ideas at the act with "going over booklets, or re-reading, inches which still makes one in a express of repetition and additionally doesn't imply move on - rather, indoctrination. A probable inference would be that the two definitions are having a debate about stagnant being, with regard to lack of better provisions. Of course, it could set off both ways in such a. One could be surely "held back" coming from negative actions in addition to living, or in a wrong way rooted in that bad state of mind that suppresses personal self-discovery, spirituality. Religion, having its key purpose as a fetter, will sufficiently maintain some from massive doubts, just as well as it might hold others rear from their inner advancement and knowledge, subject to what doctrine or even discipline one makes a decision to allow into his/her life. Either way, it is actually up to you to evaluate whether your religious beliefs (if you have one) is helping you or simply keeping you out of discovering yourself which consists of "guidelines. "

Your third scenario, which originated later from Roman philosophy and anthropology, denotes it like "re-attach" or "re-link" oneself to a excessive power and along the way find oneself just as before. This throws in a very twist - can there be a true kind of bond which helps you getting? Is there a incorrect religion that could along with would keep everyone from discovering whom you really are together with what your motive is in life? It's possible to be entirely religious and yet not really spiritual whatsoever. Your diligent piece of facts for those ascribing so that you can Christianity/Judaism can be found these.

2 . Spirituality offers an end/ finish set:

Spirituality as a mission is NOT targetable : you can NEVER come to be fully spiritual. This really one of the biggest markers involving someone who has no hint it's a journey. It may not be a destination. So that you can't possibly claim you are satisfied/content using yourself as a person because you know most people always have room to raise and better one self. And so long since you have that truth of the matter in mind, you will never hook yourself being "self-righteous" and self-sufficient; even if it's just the most successful someone in life might dare say which means because there's always an item "missing"!

Now for the small dose associated with reality. "Enlightenment" is termed as being "very seasoned at holding and additionally radiating light. inch It is not a place anyone reach where people stop growing and they are perfect. No matter precisely how high you get there are higher in addition to higher levels you'll be able to reach. Being educated simply means you have got tools and means to handle all the efforts of life so that you add readability, harmony, and lightweight to everything available you. Since power is ever-changing, there may be then NO LIMITATION to the growth that is definitely possible!

On an additional note, there are MANY driveways and walkways to enlightenment, remembering there is ONE location - finding all by yourself and your place in existence and the universe most importantly. Choose the path which can be most joyful for you and in aiming with YOUR values. At this point you may choose 1 path at one time along with another one at a further, or many driveways concurrently, but travel toward those clinical disciplines you are drawn to. Do not feel like you must stick to something that doesn't tempt you just because people say it is the "right" way to grow.

Spiritual growth calls for Religious activity:

Because you may be able to align you with a positive faith that helps you by means of proper tools together with resources for self-discovery, it is not necessary to be capable of do these things to remain highly enlightened. Its possible you have heard that enlightenment, the destination from spiritual growth, requires having past-life memory, ability to meditate all night, ability to live in areas of continual paradise, among others.

However , several highly spiritual people have no past-life feelings, don't spend your days meditating, and have absolutely no "superhuman" skills. On the contrary, you will find some of them working in every likely area to boost the condition of humanity, bring up consciousness, and deliver more light to their areas of service. They've been doing many efficient things with their lifestyles and creating a lot of positive results. Their operate acts as their particular meditation and provides their own opportunities for psychic growth. They have uncovered to focus upward whereas they are focused facing outward in service. They don't have superhuman abilities to attain their higher objective, and neither would you.

Spiritual improvement is Difficult:

Here is a huge navicular of contention. This has been said that the system can be quite painful, contemplating as we mentioned before the idea involves letting proceed of preconceived creative ideas that you may have about what that involves. Again, "life is what you ensure it is. " If you are from the religious, cultural and politically "correct" viewpoint, then it definitely is the elephant in your living room since you have to find out about you from a better perspective. You may effectively be harboring "layers upon layers with old beliefs, lifestyle and thought shapes that are toxic… bringing down walls. inches If this is everyone, facing those "demons" can be quite a heinous undertaking which will most likely hurt to you as you beginning and even further all the way down the journey.

It's ultimately your choice the method that you will grow although. You can choose to develop with joy ınstead of struggle! Your mind is often a wonder - genital herpes virus treatments believe, you receive. Would you believe that growth hails from struggle? If so, you can expect to create crises that to grow. So complete yourself a huge enjoy and dissolve every negative pictures you've got about growth. Make yourself permission to own valuable and advantageous things, such as ones spiritual growth, are provided easily. It takes much less expensive time and energy to grow as a result of joy than by way of struggle. Understand that you don't need to work hard almost all the time, feel exhausted, and also surmount incredible possibility and obstacles to experience worthwhile achievements and additionally grow spiritually.

Some individuals worry when elements get "too painless. " As you boost your vibration, important things WILL get easier. The battle, truly, is not around how hard issues are, but in the way in which expansive you can make ones own vision and what can be accomplished along with economy of delight, energy, and inspiring intent! If you have a position in your life right now that's less joyful compared to you want it being, realize that is is usually teaching you fundamental lessons - its possible how to reach within the deepest part of a being and developing a new strength in addition to courage. You can love to learn from these coaching and gain a lot of these qualities with pleasure. Just comfort your own self in the notion this things may not shift overnight, but they Determines.

Once you begin the journey - seeking, grasping, exploring the greater getting you are, and exposing the mysteries for the universe - you'll never be the same. Chances are you'll stop for a while or even decide to slow down, nevertheless after you experience the bliss of growing no one will want to stand nonetheless for long. Actually , as many of that you are aware, you may for no reason want to stop!

Spiritual growth can be a step-by-step process:

Zero, it doesn't have to be. It usually is instantaneous. Think of certain quality you would like to have got right now, such as intrinsic peace, greater concentrate, or more self-love. How many years do you think you'd must wait to acquire these kind of qualities? Say to one self, "I accept even more of this quality straight into my life. I am AT THIS MOMENT more peaceful, aimed, and loving to be able to myself, " or simply whatever fits required to you choose. As you express these AFFIRMATIONS most people increase your connection with these qualities.

Recognize that your subconscious your head does not know your difference between what exactly is true and that which you THINK is true. Which means use the present tenses in your affirmations -- "I am at this moment peaceful" instead of the upcoming "I will be beautiful, " so you can reprogram your subconscious head to accept these opinions as your truthfulness. As it does it can create changes for you to match this inside reality.

Non secular growth is on the planet ? to & isolate from everyday life:

Nothing at all can be further through the truth. Spiritual progress is discovering YOU. That in itself is actually reality in certainly no better terms. Actually making your everyday activity work is an vital part of your faith based growth. Paying a person's rent, taking excellent care of yourself, along with being self-sufficient usually are as important to ones spiritual growth since meditating.

Growth meant for humanity comes from being life fully, not necessarily from avoiding everyday life and going out of to a cave to help meditate all day. You might be here to learn with each person, each position, and every obstacle you have. You are the following to learn to be entirely present and concious of what is happening approximately you, adding much more clarity, harmony, together with light to all you are doing.

Spiritual growth is normally learning to make your daily routine work in every location, from your relationships to the career. As you insert your spiritual gentle into everything you accomplish, bring awareness and additionally love to all your fun-based activities, and turn each and every experience into the opportunity for growth, you will be indeed being ones own spiritual self. Originally you might just give attention to it occasionally, although as you continue on right onto your pathway, it will become an extremely important part of your daily life.

1 note · View note

buffalowingsfortwo · 2 years

Text

8/6/22 12:26 am

ash to faith

theres no way to be calm about this. ive had too much caffeine tonight, and i saw your letter probably 4 hours ago. the only way to describe what im going through with this is to compare the situation to a new friendship or a middle school crush where person A texts, person B responds days later, and person A thinks "oh, i'll wait [x amount of time] to text back so they know im just as distanced from this as they are." humiliating as it is, its my brand at this point, and i have to show strength through consistency. so im sorry. but im back.

i get what you mean when you bring up the idea of "what do/don't you know" and i struggle with it every time i write. i do like the idea of speedrunning the past year or whatever and just hoping some of it sticks. i dont know. i just like to talk about myself, probably.

relationships at a weird point, but its probably fine. ill be honest, they do hear about you a lot, so i feel like i should be bringing them up to you. im not sure if youve seen them recently, but if you havent, they look the same in every way but they grew their hair about as long as mine used to be, and they have facial hair. we look different and we are different. i have an overwhelming addiction to buying them things and making them wear my clothes. our families havent met yet, but everyones pushing for it which i hate, so much more than i can explain in words. their family is really cool though. they have a mean sister that literally hates me, but another sister and 2 parents that love me. i have a really good relationship with their mom which feels better than i could even explain. i joke around with their dad, their nice sister gives me hugs and tells me shes always happy to see me. jaxx loves my siblings in return, and theyre polite with my parents.

my family is pretty much the same as it used to be, but also not really at all. i cant remember if you were here for this or not, but shawn moved to pismo beach with our cousin tanner and his family. shelby graduated from ucla with a degree in environmental science. charlies living with us right now, and we spend most of our free time together. my mom and i are friendlier than ever, but we do annoy each other a lot. we dont yell like we used to, though. pauls paul, not much to say there. toby and emily have grown so much, and we do fight a bit, but i love them more than anything and i really am proud of who theyre becoming. michael has caused more drama than i could ever explain in one letter. hes a really long story. id love to tell it someday. anyways.

ive told shelby, shawn, and charlie, about our current standing. i think its okay to be honest at this point and admit that its hard to stop myself from talking about it. before this, they knew we fell apart, and they knew that we both sucked (which i think is a point of agreement but do correct me if im wrong), and they knew that i was over it. but obviously i never was. as far as my parents know, there is no story. we just stopped going by each others houses. i just stopped including you in plans, and i just stopped celebrating your birthday, and i just grew up. or something like that. im glad they never asked. even at our worst, i wouldve defended us to them. some lines i wont ever cross.

i wonder all the time what your family thinks of me. if they thought that i was evil, if they thought that i was sweet, if they missed me, if they were glad i was gone, if they never noticed at all. but maybe its better if i dont know. the scariest thing about us coming back together is the idea that ill (hopefully) have to talk to your mom again someday and acknowledge that i was gone. i think of when i came to you with flowers and cupcakes one day and she thanked me for always being there. i dont know that i can buy her, or you, enough flowers to make up for it. but i do plan to try. if i need to, ill plant a full garden for you so the supply never runs short.

"make me up, make me up, youre the reason im alive. this is how you remember me now, and just out the door is killing me." - schoolboy by grouplove

0 notes

softluci · 3 years

Text

aggressive affection, i think

(part two here!)

[ @yourlocalsinnamonroll (hi!) sent me an ask to do more gen z headcanons and i started working on something for her, except it isn’t actually a set of headcanons, but rather a really long...one-shot? but anyway, i thought of actual headcanons that i can share now, so i can return to my ROOTS hopefully this will do in the meantime. ]

i’m not sure if this is something unique to younger people, but i am one hundred percent sure that younger people do it a lot, just going off of the behavior of my friends and i. (i’m gonna tell you now that this isn’t entirely sfw, so minors dni please and thank u)

but i’ve found that it’s pretty common for friends to be, like, aggressively affectionate with one another, for lack of a better phrase. if not aggressively affectionate, then just really flirtatious, often for no reason, and it is still meant entirely in a platonic sense. some examples of this that i have experienced include, but are not limited to:

“i’m gonna eat you,” “do u wanna make out,” “just remember, no matter WHAT happens, i will ALWAYS wanna make out with you,” “i have literally wanted to fuck all of you at some point,” “let’s have sex,” “stfu before i kiss you,” [points to lap] “is this seat taken?” “every day i’m like, ‘wow, [name] is so cool, we should make out,’” and so on and so forth.

so you can imagine the fun i’m about to have.

lucifer

“blindsided,” does not even begin to describe what you’ve done to this man. while his recovery time was quick, he was still so, so confused.

all he said was, “you look nice today,” why did you threaten to kiss him? was that even a threat?

he doesn’t know because you said, “stop before you get kissed on the mouth,” but it doesn’t matter because you failed to consider that he is obsessed with you in dire need of a kiss on the mouth, and you, silly thing that you are, just provided conditions under which he can get one.

that said, have fun trying to explain to this man that you were joking while he’s holding you against him with the most smug look on his dumb little face. if you don’t wanna kiss him, okay, but by the time he feels like letting you go, your face is gonna be scorching and you will have properly learned not to do that again. unless you enjoyed yourself, in which case—

by the way, if you believe in a higher power, you had better pray he doesn’t do this to you because now that you’ve planted the idea in his villainous little brain, he’s just biding his time. so the next time you compliment him innocently, and he says, “be quiet before i kiss you,” like the monster he is, assert your dominance by kissing him first, it’s the only way to maintain your dignity.

mammon

why would you do that to him. he is literally in love with you, you can’t be doing this. he knows he’s an attractive person, but you can’t tell him that, and you especially can’t do it by flirting with him, it’s embarrassingly disarming. especially since he was going to make fun of you once he saw that you were looking at the issue of majolish with him on the cover. he had a plan and everything, and you ruined it. he was gonna say something dumb cool, after which you would be embarrassed , and he would laugh.

but then you looked at him, said, “i’m gonna eat you,” and his entire plan was thwarted. now you have to stand there and watch him struggle to form a sentence while his face gets red. you should take this opportunity to bite him, give him a little nom on the shoulder or something, just to razz him. it’ll be great, i promise.

luckily, he can’t even think about doing this to you without having to lie down, so you should be safe—unless, of course, he catches both you and himself by surprise. so if you get nommed on, you had it coming.

levi

you menace. you absolute villain. you’re laughing.

levi was about to go into a match he was nervous about, and then you said, “it’s okay, no matter what happens, i will always wanna make out with you,” and then he dropped his controller and blacked out, and you’re laughing.

you’re terrible. absolutely awful. acquaint yourself with shame while you blow cool air into his face and shake him awake.

when he does wake up, and he reminds you that he’s the avatar of envy, do nawt be surprised.

try to explain to him that you were kidding and let it slip that you say these types of things to everyone and you’re getting a tail around your waist. no matter how much he might stutter while he makes his point, the fact remains that he’s the only one you’re allowed to say these things to now. you can do it to the others while he’s not around if you feel so inclined, but he’s going to find out eventually, so good luck explaining yourself while he doesn’t keep his tail still when he uses it to hold you in place.

your only saving grace here is that he is physically incapable of doing it to you, but, you know. that probably gets overridden by how possessive he’s gonna get.

satan

you’re deranged. or just really confident. or a fool. it doesn’t matter, you fucked up. he said a normal thing, and then you threw him for a loop.

you were nervous about an exam the next day, he said, “you’re a capable person, you have nothing to be worried about.”

and then you, evidently forgetting that he is not one of your human friends, said, “flattery will get you made out with,” and tried to walk away.

first of all, how was that flattery? he was stating a fact. second of all, who said he didn’t wanna make out with you🤨. he never said that, you are making assumptions about him and his character.

anyway, he has no idea where you think you’re going, but you didn’t make it very far before he caught up to you anyway.

when he repeats what you said back to you in the form of a question, with that deceptively polite look on his face, know that he is being rhetorical. do not bother trying to explain yourself, it’ll be difficult to do so in a convincing manner while he’s backing you up to the nearest wall. do not be surprised when he takes this opportunity to blindside you with praise, directly into your ear, with that fatally smooth voice of his. and do NAWT be surprised when he pulls back and says, “why am i not being made out with?” with a dumb little smile. it brings him a lot of joy to see you squirm.

you don’t even have a saving grace here. this man is ruthless, he’s gonna do this to you literally whenever he wants, and he won’t even let you look away, let alone run away, so find joy in the monster you have created.

asmo

listen. unless you are genuinely empty headed, there is absolutely no way you did this on accident.

he wasn’t even doing anything out of character either, it was the middle of self-care night, he was putting moisturizer on your face for you, and he went, “you’re even cuter up close,” which is a normal, tame thing for him to say.

so unless you just have uncontrollable knee-jerk reactions, no way did you say, “so make out with me then,” to this man, by accident.

you’re lucky he has some knowledge of the fact that you sometimes say things that aren’t smart, so he didn’t just immediately jump on you; however, you are by no means in the Clear.

you blinked and he was nose to nose with you and basically in your lap. now you have to deal with his wandering hands while you try and explain yourself—that is, if you can even overcome how flustered you are, which you probably can’t. luckily, he knows you probably didn’t mean it, but he’s still asmo, so he takes it upon himself to be respectfully heinous like the gentleman he is.

so when he somehow manages to get even closer to you and says, “honey, you should really get a handle on those impulses of yours, unless you plan on following through,” like the bastard he is, know that from that point forward, whatever happens is on you.

here is another man with whom you have no saving grace; now that you’ve given him the idea that he can be more explicit with you,,, well.

beel

you’re a heathen. why would you do something like this. well, you know what, maybe you aren’t that much of a heathen, considering that you did bake cookies for him. that was really sweet of you, so he thanked you and complimented your skill, like a regular person.

so why, exactly, did you say, “i only accept thanks in the form of kisses, preferably with tongue,” ? something is genuinely not right with you.

now you have this man standing there, confused and red in the face. he’s trying to do the math, and nothing is adding up. like, it’s definitely doable, he can definitely do that, but, like, why would you make this request so suddenly?

this is probably the only instance in which you can coherently say, “i was kidding, you don’t actually have to do that,” and it almost doesn’t work.

you absolutely should not have been leaning against the counter because now he’s standing in front of you, and you have nowhere to run.

however, the thing about beel is that he is someone who flusters people without meaning to, so he has no idea of the effect that his, “are you sure?” has on you.

luckily, you’re still mostly coherent because you know that beel isn’t heinous like his brothers, so you manage to tell him that he doesn’t have to kiss you if he doesn’t want to because you were kidding.

you have every right to be surprised when, all of a sudden, you’re sitting on the counter, and he says, “why do you think i don’t want to?”

do you have a saving grace with this man? kind of. he would never say what you said or something similar, but the next time he compliments you and you choose to be normal and say, “thank you,” he’s gonna ask if he should kiss you, so try not to collapse.

belphie

now. he isn’t the Worst Person you could’ve done this with. but by god you are out of your mind.

your first mistake was choosing to lie down next to him, not because you had plans to be a menace, but because he is always a menace and has a thing for reminding you, which he can do more easily when you’re in proximity to him.

so when he said, out of nowhere, “are you ticklish?” you should’ve just rolled away, which wouldn’t have worked, but it would have been less chaotic then saying, “you are legally required to make out with me before you try and find out.”

you said it so casually that he was almost stunned into staying still, but his recovery time was excellent.

the next thing you knew, you were laying underneath a very smug, very menacing man, who seemed entirely too prepared to listen to what you had to say for once.

“legally?”

okay, so, maybe you should’ve chosen your words more carefully, but he was seconds away from tickling you, so you didn’t exactly have time to defend yourself. you can never backtrack with belphie anyway, so it makes sense that you went headlong into your claim, telling him that yes, this is, in fact, the law of the land.

“i was never one to pay attention to the law, but since you’re being so insistent, i guess i don’t really have a choice—”

leave it to him to pretend like you’re a burden as if he isn’t literally head over heels in love with you like everyone else fond of you. bastard.

there is absolutely nothing to save you from this man. he isn’t tactful enough to wait for an opportunity to do this to you, like satan or lucifer, so expect to be Just Sitting There when he tells you that you’re required to make out with him right this instant—it’s the law.

#obey me!#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor

684 notes · View notes

ggreactionsandscenarios · 3 years

Text

Soojin x Reader

Requested by : anon

Library Peace 🔞

There was no word strong enough to describe how you hated having to do group projects but there was one for how much you hated the partner you got paired with : to death.

Soojin was definitely your worst nightmare since the really beginning of times. She was the type of person to think her opinion was better than other's just because it was hers. You were polar opposites in all aspects and weren't eager to interact or even acknowledge each other's existence.

There was literally nothing you could rely on in her that would make her more likeable in your eyes. And even if there was you weren't sure you wanted to see it, you were fine with hating her, it was helping you be better at everything. Because everything was a competition of ideas and values between the two of you.

As you entered the library, you didn't know if you were glad she wasn't there yet or pissed because she was already wasting your time. After waiting few minutes, your foot shaking from impatience, you decided to just go ahead and do the work on your own.

If this girl didn't care about marks and bonus points you sure did and weren't about to loose any for her.

You started looking for the books you'll need, rummaging through the shelfs to get every book out. It's only when you got to the last section that you understood why you were struggling so much to find what you needed.

Soojin was standing there arms full of books, some even opened at some specific pages, she was looking for the last like you were about to.

Saying you were pissed wasn't even a quarter of the truth, you were fuming. The bitch literally made you wait like a fool while she was right there doing everything by herself.

Yes you did attempt to do the same but you had the decency to pretend to wait for her, you tried when she clearly didn't, it probably didn't even cross her mind.

Busy reading two books at the same time, Soojin didn't even spared you a glance until you shut one of your books close and even then her glance was fast and unbothered. Her eyes got back to the paper as fast as they took a look at you.

"Someone else took the last book, we'll have to start without it."

Soojin's voice was surprisingly calm and almost gentle, not that you would know how her voice normally sounds like, you tend to avoid listening to anything that could pass her lips.

The realization that she was actually ready to co-operate was making you feel slightly guilty to have judge her actions that you knew nothing about, so easily. Yet you were fast to remember who you were talking about and how annoying she has been in the past. A single slightly polite act would never change how irritating she was.

You ended up following her because even though you'll love spending your time cursing her in your mind you still had an essay to write and you weren't ready to let her get a better grade than you.

In the end having twice as much books as needed was the minimum because you couldn’t imagine how it’d went if you had to share and get closer to Soojin to be able to read.

Maybe you talked too fast and karma is indeed a bitch because not even fifteen minutes later the librarian was making her way to the both of you and asking you to give back the extra copies because other students needed them.

Seeing that Soojin wasn’t willing to move, you were the one making the sacrifice, giving her the books.

You tried to work only using your sheet of paper and what you already wrote but of course you couldn’t just passed out on writing the quotes and understanding the context. After a minute you abdicted.

“Could I borrow one of your books please ?”

Soojin took her time finishing to write her sentence before looking at you in the eyes and answering simply.

“No.”

Even though you knew she wasn’t someone nice on a regular basis you were astonished by her answer, she clearly didn’t give a fuck about doing the work as a pair. You were ready to just leave when she added somehing.

“But you can sit beside me. I won’t bite you.”

You sighed, but did stand up to sit beside your rival.

“If that sigh was about the no biting part, I’m all about changing it, I wouldn’t mind biting down that neck.”

That was unexpected, you thought and terribly sexy in a way. You wouldn’t deny that Soojin was extremely beautiful and exactly your type, long black hair, dancing skills given by god, overflowing confidence, tattoos and so on.

Without you knowing your cheeks had reddened at the thought of how physically perfect Soojin was, that lustful glance Soojin was giving to your exposed neck wasn’t helping your horny mind either.

You tried to remember why you hated her so much but when her fingers met your tigh your mind was suddenly blank. She wasn’t even doing much but you were already embarrassingly wet.

On the other hand Soojin was perfectly and terribly calm, way too calm compared to how crazy this situation was. She looked unbothered and even when her hand got from above your knee to your inner tigh, she didn’t even look at you as if it was completly normal for her to touch you that way.

As much as you internly claimed that it was crazy, you had no intention in stopping her. Sure she was your ‘ennemie’ but maybe the ‘hate’ you seemed to feel towards her was nothing but frustration because you were sure you couldn’t have her.

Her hand making her way inside your panties was telling you otherwise though. Seems like you actually could have her but this realisation hit you enough for you to grab her wrist and stand up, making her turn to you.

“What are you doing ?”

Soojin looked at you confused before answering.

“What does it look like I’m doing ? Because I thought it was pretty clear until now.”

“Well yes I know what you’re doing but why ? Aren’t we suppose to hate each other ?”

Soojin escaped a laughter and stood up, taking a step closer to you in the process.

“Oh yeah ? I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

“Well you did get back at me everytime I say something though.”

“I thought we were just flirting.”

“Oh...”

Saying you were shocked would be an understatement, she didn’t hated you. You didn’t get to think much more, stopped by lips crashing on your own. The gentle kiss didn’t last long, Soojin breaking it to look at you. Her arms were on both sides of you, caging you between her and the bookshelf.

“Can we go back to what we were doing now ?”

“Yes.”

The word escaped your lips before you could process anything and you couldn’t think about it after because Soojin’s tongue was asking entrance in your mouth and that was way more captivating than thinking right now.

Soojin didn’t even needed to fight to be the one dominating the kiss, everything seemed way too unreal for you to take the lead. Yet you weren’t mad about it, her tongue was dancing the sexiest dance ever with yours.

You were wondering if someone could see you even though you were in a pretty secluded area. A thought that was cut off once Soojin’s mouth began traveling down your neck to your colarbone, letting a moan escape your mouth as she bite you.

The hell did you care about being seen, right now the only thing that mattered was Soojin fingers playing with your clit while her mouth was playing with one of your nipple.

You didn't even remember when she unbuttoned your shirt but she sure did and was now enjoying seeing and touching your breast.

The rhythm of her fingers over you clit was terribly slow not letting you reach orgasm the slightest bit. Well that was until she finally decided to slip a finger into your dripping core earning a loud moan from you.

She stopped her movements to scold you.

"We are in a library, you should know that you cannot scream here baby. I'm the only one who can hear you moan and whimper under my touch, understood ?"

Your mind was messed up, you just wanted to cum so you nodded wanting her to keep going at all cost. Which she did.

Not even minutes after she got back to pleasing you, she had to muffle your voice as you cummed all over her fingers.

Her hand circled your waist keeping you from falling while she was putting your shirt back on and straightening your pants.

She didn't talk until your breathing calmed down, wanting you to be able to respond to whatever she was about to say.

For some reason now that you were looking at her you noticed how she wasn't that confident anymore.

"I.."

You cut her off by kissing her, something you madly wanted to do since earlier but didn't had the chance to.

The kiss took her by surprise, shading her cheeks in pink. You didn't know what the sudden shyness was about but you did find it cute that after giving you the biggest orgasm your friennemy was suddenly becoming shy.

"What was that about ?"

"I thought that was pretty clear what it was about, I kinda like you."

Hey, here it is finally ! I made it slightly longer than expected but I had to put Soojin's duality in it, hope you like it 😁🤞 Give feedback. -Ael

#(g)idle soojin #girl group #kpop girls #girl group scenarios #seo soojin #soojin #soojin smut #soojinxreader #soojin x reader #(g)idle #(g)i-dle #(g)i-dle smut #soojin scenario #soojin imagine #seo soojin x reader #(g)i-dle scenarios

309 notes · View notes

spanishskulduggery · 3 years

Note

Hi, I'm the anon who wanted to learn some basic Spanish and I'm looking for grammars

♡♡♡

So my first recommendation is for www.studyspanish.com/grammar because they have a really good intro to the basics of pretty much all of the grammar (minus some more advanced things)

Also I would recommend: https://tildesites.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/ats/

And I can't go over every single piece of grammar in Spanish but I will do a very bare bones overview of the major tenses/moods that you'll find in Spanish and a basic explanation of them

If you're a beginner a lot of this may go over your head until you're there but I'm not totally sure of anyone's level so!

Strap in everyone, it's a long post again and I'm going to explain like a solid 65% of the most important Spanish grammar concepts including tenses and moods, and even I think I need a read more for this one.

I didn't include things like concordancia "agreement (between nouns/adjectives)" and other fundamentals because I assume you probably are aware of those and so I'm focusing more on verbs and tenses/moods, but if you are a total beginner I'm more than happy to discuss the fundamentals in more depth

As always if anyone has any questions on anything I've mentioned here specifically, please let me know. I have no problem delving deeper into specific concepts but this is just a general overview of most of the big grammar concepts you're going to come across as you learn Spanish.

First things first, they don't totally teach you this in Spanish, you kind of just have to figure it out yourself or delve into it later on by yourself but there are tenses and moods. I mean they teach you that there are tenses, but they don't totally explain the idea behind tenses and moods and I think it helps to know them to keep them straight.

It's not required learning but it is helpful for overall concepts. It is required learning if you're going more into the linguistics side of things though, but practically speaking you don't really need to know what a mood is to use subjunctive, but I find it helps.

What is a linguistic mood?

In Spanish a mood [modo or "mode"] refers to the ways in which grammar should be used. The moods encompass the tenses themselves.

There are three moods, and really you only need to worry about two.

There's the indicative, subjunctive, and the imperative.

Getting imperative out of the way real quick, it's commands. Commands are very easy to spot because they boil down to affirmative commands ["do it"] vs. negative commands ["don't do it"]. There are some things to mention with imperative but I'll do that towards the very end for miscellaneous grammar concepts

Indicative mood is hard to explain linguistically. It's honestly mostly defined as "not subjunctive or imperative". This is default explanation of things. Most of the tenses are indicative - present, preterite, imperfect, future, conditional.

Subjunctive mood is harder to explain but really important. It doesn't totally exist in English, at least not in a noticeable way so it's something that people really struggle with. Subjunctive mood is usually described as the mood you use for desires, wishes, polite requests, imposition of will, hypotheticals etc

You usually find that subjunctive is 1 of 2 things. It's usually either a kind of imposition of will, where it's one subject making a wish/request or imposition on another subject like quiero que hables "I want you to speak"....... or it's subjunctive clauses. Subjunctive clauses tend to be kinds of conditions, that something will happen once a condition is met; "until", "unless", "so that", "as long as", "provided that", "even if", "as if it were"... Those are kinds of subjunctive clauses.

Some subjunctive clauses make more sense than others for English speakers. It can be its own sort of topic.

...

A Tense on the other hand [tiempo or "time"] in Spanish refers to the time in which grammar is used.

A mood is used to explain the way in which Spanish gets used, but a tense determines if you're talking about it being past, present, or future... or something in between.

You can usually divide the tenses between past, present, or future. There are some "in-betweeners" which I'll mention in miscellaneous but in general it's like this:

Present [things happening now at this very moment] = Present Tense, Present Subjunctive

Past [things that happened or things started in the past (either completed actions or ones that may still be going on)] = Preterite, Imperfect, Imperfect Subjunctive

Future [things that will happen or have the ability to happen] = Future, Conditional, Future Subjunctive [*obsolete now mostly], Imperfect Subjunctive [sometimes] .......also ir + a + infinitivo expressions are somewhere between present tense and future, it's a thing, we'll get there

Again, tenses don't have much to do with the imperative mood because a true command is always "do it" or "don't do it" at that moment. If you're saying "I want them to do it" or "I wanted them to do it" that becomes subjunctive.

Present

The present tense is probably the most important tense because it encompasses a lot of things and it isn't always talked about fully. Plus it's the tense you use the most.

The present tense as the name implies talks about things happening now. Most of your declarative statements are things happening in the present. "I am", "you have", "we are here", "it is blue", etc tend to be present tense

The other facets of present tense are what make it more important than most tenses. In present tense there are two other important functions: "continuous present" and "short-term future"

Continuous present is synonymous with the gerund/progressive forms which I'll talk about more below in miscellaneous. What continuous present means is that you may be translating it as the -ing forms in your head. For example: leo may be "I read" as a present tense declarative statement like leo mucho "I read a lot"... or it could be leo "I am reading" depending on context. It's very subtle but something like leo el libro could be "I read the book" OR "I am reading the book". If you knocked on someone's door you would hear ya voy "I'm coming (right away)"

With the gerund forms, you are specifically talking about something happening right at that moment. But it is a function of present tense as well. Both are correct, mostly synonymous, and useful in their own ways but I mention it because it isn't often mentioned

There also exists a facet of present tense that is understood as "short-term future". There exists the possibility to use present tense to talk about things you plan on doing shortly or things that will happen in the very near future. This is somewhat different than ir + a + infinitive forms since those can be in any tense. It's just something to be aware of.

Preterite

Preterite tense (also called simple past) is nice and easy. It exists only in the past tense and it's for completed actions.

The hallmark of preterite is that they're actions rather than descriptions, and often involve set time phrases like ayer "yesterday", antiayer/antier "the day before yesterday", anoche "last night" or they include things like times, dates, days, or implied time frames

Think of preterite as "I did it", no muss no fuss

Imperfect

Imperfect tense is all muss and fuss

In linguistic senses, "imperfect" means "not yet completed", or "not yet past". You see it used for description rather than concrete actions and so it is very commonly used for narration and description; telling time in the past, talking about something's appearance or moods, and uninterrupted actions

In the context of preterite vs imperfect the very basic (possibly too reductionist, even) is that the imperfect tense is often used to set up a situation while preterite marks the action that interrupts the setting

In other words; dormía y sonaba el teléfono "I was sleeping and the phone was ringing" is all imperfect and it seems to imply the sleep was not interrupted. Saying dormía y sonó el teléfono is a mix of preterite and imperfect "I was sleeping and the phone rang". It stops being description and marks an "interruption" and if I read that, I would assume either "I" woke up, or we're paying special attention to the fact that the phone rang, and that it's not just casual description

Just like present tense, imperfect tense can be used as "continuous past"... saying leía could be "I read" [past] or "I was reading" [past continuous]. You could also say leí "I read" for preterite, though that's a completed action. Saying leía "I read" sounds more like description to me

You will also find that imperfect tense is used for "used to" to describe habitual things. This can be done with the verb soler [which only really exists in present tense as "to be in the habit of" or in imperfect "used to"]. Imperfect is a simpler way but it is important to note.

So for example: iba a la playa could be "I went to the beach" [description], "I was going to the beach" [continuous", OR it could be "I used to go to the beach" [habit that may or may not continue]

You often see this "used to" with certain time phrases or something qualifying it like cuando era niño/a "when I was a kid" or something like that. It's just important to note because saying something like vivía en Londres could be "I lived in London" or "I used to live in London"... If you saw it as vivía en Londres cuando era joven "I lived in London when I was young(er)" is more specifically a "used to" sort of phrase.

Future

Future tense is exactly what it sounds like

Actions that will happen in a long-term setting. Things that WILL happen, that imply more certainty.

You'll also want to note that it means "shall" as well. It's less common in English to say that, but in older texts and especially the Bible you're going to see future tense like that... no matarás is "thou shalt not kill", literally "you will not kill"... same with no robarás "thou shalt not steal"

Depending on tone, you might see no volveré translated as "I will not return / I won't return" or "I shall not return / I shan't return". Future tense has a sense of finality to it, very much like preterite does in past.

In general I would say that the future tense is unremarkable and kinder to non-native speakers, but do note that there are Spanish speakers who sometimes use future tense the way English might use present tense; serás idiota for example is a way to say "you're an idiot" rather than eres idiota (present tense)

I would say think of that particular expression as "stating the obvious" or "it's a foregone conclusion"... I only mention it because in some countries, especially Spain, you will see future tense used like that sometimes

Present Subjunctive

Present subjunctive is subjunctive mood that takes place either in the present, or the short-term future. It carries that same continuous and short-term future vibe

Again, subjunctive typically works with a set of 2 clauses [that is, two different subjects and verbs] with an imposition of will in some way... or subjunctive clauses. These just happen to be in present

So for example; quieren que (yo) hable con ella "they want me to talk to her"... has two clauses [ellos/ellas quieren and then yo hable] with a kind of imposition of will

This is common for polite requests or someone giving orders; exige que hagamos la tarea "he/she demands we do the homework"

Subjunctive clauses in present are more straightforward once you know the clauses: sea lo que sea "whatever it is / whatever it may be", or para que sepas "so that you know", or antes (de) que te vayas "before you leave"

Conditional + Imperfect Subjunctive

These two are often taught together and for good reason

The conditional tense is indicative, but it talks about something that will happen... as long as a condition has been met. It can be a little harder to nail down, but in "if/then" statements, conditional is the "then"

Conditional talks about things in the future and that can make it difficult for English speakers because we use the same conjugations for multiple things.... podía hacerlo "I could do it" is imperfect so it's past, it means I had the ability to do it... and podría hacerlo "I could do it" is future, so it talks about something you do have the ability to do, but you haven't done it yet

Though I do need to say that "should" is usually either in present tense or conditional: debo decir "I should say" or "I must say"....

But then no debería haberlo dicho "I shouldn't have said that". That kind of should is very often conditional and that can be weird for people

The main thing to know is that conditional isn't unlikely or doubtful, it just hasn't happened yet... but it COULD.

Imperfect subjunctive on the other hand is a very wide topic. What you need to know for this to make sense is that once upon a time in Spanish imperfect subjunctive was used for the past tense subjunctive [imperfect being "not yet complete", again]... and then you had a separate branch of subjunctive that was more future and that would have been your hypothetical situations and contrary to fact statements

Today the same tense pulls double duty so that's why it's a big topic

You'll see it for past tense subjunctive: querían que hablara con ella "they wanted me to speak with her"

But you'll also see it for more nebulous or doubtful futures. This is the kind of imperfect subjunctive that gets used with conditional tense.

In "if/then" statements, imperfect subjunctive is the "if". And that's what we mean by hypotheticals and "contrary to fact statements"

si fuera jefe/jefa "if I were the boss" is your if statement. I would call this contrary to fact. It implies "I" am not the boss

The "then" would be in conditional because you're talking about some condition being met... si fuere jefe/jefa, no lo haría "if I were the boss, I wouldn't do it"

Or, si tuviera dinero, viajaría en el extranjero "if I had the money, I would travel abroad". You can translate it as "if I were to have".

But don't hate on Spanish for doing this. English does it too. We say "if I was president" and "if I were president" and they both mean a contrary to fact future.

...Oh also I should mention that if you look up imperfect subjunctive conjugation you'll find two forms. So like you'll see hablara, hablaras, hablara, hablaran, habláramos... and you will see hablase, hablases, hablase, hablasen, hablásemos

Both conjugations are correct, but there's a lot of history involved in this that I can't totally get into without it being a big discussion.

Suffice it to say, it's historical, and Latin America tends to use the -ara and -iera forms for both. Spain makes more of a distinction, where they'll use -ara/-iera for past subjunctive, but use -ase/-iese more for the hypothetical subjunctive

So just as an example: both Spain and Latin America would say querían que lo hiciera "they wanted me to do it" because that's past subjunctive

But Latin America would say si tuviera dinero, compraría una casa "if I had money I would buy a house"...

And Spain would more often say si tuviese dinero, compraría una casa "if I had money I would buy a house"

Again, both are totally fine, but I personally don't use the -ase/-iese forms very much in my own life. I see and read them more than I use them myself, but I'm also in the United States and not Spain.

And that's your bare bones overview of the tenses and moods

I'll also just include some other key miscellaneous grammatical concepts real quick:

Silent Subject (sujeto tácito)

This is very basic and not talked about often, but in English we're taught that we always need to put the pronouns in our sentences. It's always "I do this" and "you do that"

And that makes sense for us because our conjugations have less variation; "do" could be anyone

But in Spanish, it's not as common to include the subject because the subject is often implies by the verb. If hablo only exists for yo, and hablamos is always nosotros/nosotras... then mentioning the pronoun seems irrelevant because it was implied

However, habla and hablan are different; habla could be "him" or "her" or "it" or even usted. And hablan could be multiple people but is it ellos or ellas or ustedes?

It becomes more common to mention the subject if there's a chance you'll be misunderstood

The general rule is you mention your subject and the verb... and you continue on until your subject changes and then you mention a new subject so no one's confused

As an example; ella habla con Marco y siempre menciona sus amigos y familia, pero Marco no habla mucho sobre su vida personal "she talks to Marco and always mentions her friends and family, but Marco doesn't talk much about his personal life"

When it's obvious like yo [except in certain tenses], you rarely mention the subject. Saying something like yo hago la tarea, yo limpio la sala, yo leo el libro doesn't come across as "I do the homework, I clean the room, I read the book"...... it comes across as "I am the one who does the homework, I am the one who cleans the room, I am the one who reads the book"

When you mention the subject over and over when it's obvious it sounds either like bragging like "look at all the things I do aren't I great!", or it sounds like complaining "I'm the one who did this, I'm the one who did that, not you, it was me"

When it's obvious you tend to keep the subject out. But you can put it in when you want some emphasis! Such as yo mando aquí "I'm the one in charge here / I give the orders around here"... which is kind of like if you'd italicized or bolded the "I/I'm" there

Infinitives

Infinitives are the dictionary form of verbs, you probably know that already even if you didn't know what they were called

They're unconjugated so the show up ending in their -ar, -ir, or -er forms... hablar, vivir, comer for example

By themselves you read them like... hablar "to speak/talk"; that's what I mean by dictionary forms

When you come across multiple verbs together, one is conjugated and the other tends to be in either infinitive (or gerund but that's next)

So, quiero aprender "I want to learn", quiero nadar "I want to swim", or quiero aprender a nadar "I want to learn to swim" for example

Also be aware that infinitives can be used as the noun forms of verbs. That is, they are "the action or result of a verb". In English we tend to translate them as the progressive forms, but in Spanish the gerund is a verb conjugation implying motion or continuation

For example: errar es humano, perdonar es divino "to err is human, to forgive divine".

Or hablar es fácil pero escuchar me cuesta "speaking is easy but listening is difficult for me"

Gerund/Progressive

The gerund form (also called progressive) is the equivalent of the -ing forms in English

In Spanish they usually end in -ando, -iendo, sometimes -yendo, and there are a few weird ones here and there because of irregular verbs

They're different somewhat in that in Spanish, gerund is a form of motion or movement in some way, so we don't use them quite the same way that Spanish does - see above with infinitive

You're using this when you're specifically talking about something in the moment.

Very often you're going to see gerund forms either by themselves, or you'll see them with the verbs estar, ir, andar, seguir, continuar or some kind of verb of motion or continuation

As an example teniendo esto en cuenta "keeping that in mind"

Or... estoy aprendiendo "I am learning", voy aprendiendo "I'm learning" [as in "it's a process and I'm in the middle of it" or "I keep on learning and I am making progress"], or sigo aprendiendo "I'm still learning".

Additionally you can see infinitive and gerund used together in some cases: quiero seguir aprendiendo a nadar "I want to keep learning to swim"

Past Participles

The past participles are other conjugations of verbs

While the infinitive is the noun form of a verb, a participle is the adjectival form of a verb

These mostly end in either -ado or -ido... although there's a whole host of irregular ones that you need to memorize

By themselves they can be just straight up adjectives and can lead into the passive voice... or just used by themselves

dicho eso "that said / that being said" where dicho is the past participle of decir

Or something like limpiado "cleaned" is the past participle form of limpiar "to clean"; and you could say el suelo limpiado "the cleaned floor" or la ventana limpiada "the cleaned window"

Past participles lead straight into passive voice, or the perfect tenses

Perfect Tenses

Speaking of the perfect tenses, these are "tenses" that are sort of their own thing but they use forms of the verb haber + past participles

The perfect tense is like a time traveler. It can exist in any tense and any mood (minus imperative). It's function is to make everything just a little more past tense

Again, if "imperfect" means "not yet completed"... then "perfect" means "already completed", since it literally means "done thoroughly"

The perfect tenses make use of haber and you most frequently are going to see present perfect and the pluperfect [sometimes called pluscuamperfecto which is "more than perfect"... aka "past-er than past"]

These follow very closely with English.

he hablado is "I have spoken/talked" (present perfect), and había hablado is "I had spoken/talked" (pluperfect)

The goal of perfect tenses is to make everything a little bit past tense while still keeping the impact of it in the present which is why I say it's a time traveler.

Instead of hablé "I spoke" you're saying he hablado "I have spoken", which means that you're now reporting on what happened once you did it. Maybe you're saying "I've talked with them and this is how it happened" or "I've already talked to them and it made no difference". Either way you're reporting on a past event but it still has bearing on the present.

Pluperfect is the same just more past. You're using the imperfect form of haber + past participle and it's very common in 3rd person narration. This is something that someone "had done". It's still got some bearing on the present but the action took place further in the past

había hablado con él antes "I had spoken with him before" makes it sound like you're reaching further into the past, but you're still going to report on how it went

But like I said, they could be used in any tense or mood except imperative; si lo hubiera/hubiese sabido, no lo habría hecho "if I had known, I wouldn't have done it"

Indirect Commands

Indirect commands are the murky space between the subjunctive and imperative moods

It's very simple though. It's basically you're telling someone else to have something be done. Kind of like delegating a command.

que canten for example is "let them sing", but it could be translated as "sing" as a plural command... it's sort of like pointing to someone and being like "I want them to sing" or "go tell them to sing"

Indirect commands are more polite than regular commands. A command can be rather brusque and impolite, depending on how it's said or phrased. Indirect commands are just nicer.

Instead of hazlo "do it" you might soften it with que lo hagas "go ahead and do it"

Indirect commands can be more impersonal and distant however. They can be used as a more... patronizing tone almost? For example: que así sea is "so be it". Literally that's "let it be so"

"We" Commands

The "we" commands are technically imperative mood but I mention them separately because they show up a lot as "let's"

For example hablemos con ella "let's talk to her"

Or something like seamos amables "let's be nice"; no seamos crueles "let's not be cruel"

It's a less common type of command, where you're part of the nosotros group, but also issuing a command to everyone else in the nosotros group

Sometimes the "we" commands are done just with present tense, but there's always the option: nos vamos could be "we're going" but may be "let's go"... while vámonos is "let's go" specifically

Oh did I mention you can stick object pronouns and reflexives onto these? Because you definitely can; hagámoslo "let's do it" or hagámonoslo "let's do it (for ourselves)"

The next ones are bigger and more confusing so I'm just going to attach my tags and other things that might help if that's okay because they are important but they're big and confusing:

Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

Indirect Objects

Direct Objects

Reflexives / Pronomials Additional reflexive stuff Dativo ético which is very advanced and confusing but involves reflexives so I will include it but just be aware it's like advanced advanced stuff

This is also not including spelling changes for stem-changing verbs and verbs with certain endings like -car, -gar, -zar.

And I also didn't mention irregular verbs just in general so they're really that's more of a linguistic thing. I can just tell you some verbs are irregular and require memorization so you get the spelling right and so you sound smart

I also didn't include por and para because good lord that is a huge topic and very confusing for people so really just better for me to link to more info on it rather than try to explain it because it's hard to do briefly in a way that feels complete and makes sense

Also I didn't include different verbal expressions like tener expressions. Those are important but sort of separate grammar concepts in my mind. If you've studied other Romance Languages you probably have seen them and are familiar, but it's more of a translation thing because English speakers are more likely to say "I am hungry" rather than "I have hunger" for example.

#Spanish #learning Spanish #reference #langblr #language #languages #la gramatica

98 notes · View notes

hyunjilicious · 3 years

Text

body shots [bucky barnes]

A/n: I word vomited this in 20 minutes and I fucking need this in my life. This is literally just a college AU with minimal plot + shy!innocent!bucky with a twist

Summary: you’re the popular girl and Bucky is the nerd no one talks to. What happens when you finally confess you have a crush on him? 2.1k

Warnings: ok, I always try to not describe the reader at all, but in order for the things in this fic to be able to happen, the reader has to have boobs that aren’t... you know... non-existent like mine lol. Language, alcohol and I think that’s it?

“Come on” you giggled, your tormenting gaze consuming the whole of Bucky’s being. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, eyes awkwardly avoiding yours, in a pathetic attempt to get himself out of his situation. You followed his gaze, looking over the sea of people, but nothing caught your eye. You turned to him, frustration curling your brows, “Please, Bucky”

“No” he whined, throwing his head to the side as the softest of smiles danced at the corner of his lips. Deep down, judging by his pink cheeks and glossy eyes, you knew he wanted to let loose. It was probably the surroundings that inhibited him, that kept him tied to the corner of the room, one red cup of beer in his hand. “I’m not-” he cringed, gesturing towards the tens of already inebriated young adults around the two of you, “I can’t. I’m not one of you guys”

“You can be” you giggled seductively, grabbing his hand into yours. He stiffened against your touch but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he watched you closely, his perfectly innocent blue eyes curiously watching yours, looking for confirmation. Were you really hitting on him? He was oblivious to the moon and back, but even so, your intentions were a bit too obvious.

He contemplated it for a second. You raised your eyebrows, sending him a wordless question and he actually thought about it for a minute, his mouth popping open before he regained himself. Bucky shook his head, chuckling with embarrassment, “Are you making fun of me?”

Your heart broke. “No” you squeezed his hand tighter into yours, “Of course I’m not” you added, Although your tone was somewhat stern, your voice almost cracked as you failed to hide just how much his question hurt. “Why would you think that? Bucky, if I ever did anything-”

“No” he cut you off. Your sudden change in attitude worried him, and now his words drowned in guilt. “You never did anything wrong. I’m sorry.”

“What is it?” you questioned, dragging him by his hand to a nearby table. You put your own glass down, and turned to him, “Tell me”

“It’s nothing” Bucky shook his head, silently laughing as he stared at your shoes.

“Why don’t you want to dance with us?”

“I don’t like dancing,” he shrugged.

“See?” you smiled, wrapping both your hands around his. “If you had told me that from the beginning I would have dropped it. But you told me you don’t think you’re one of us. What does that mean? And you asked me if I’m making fun of you. I would never, Bucky”

Despite the speakers blasting music loud enough to make the windows shake, silence settled between the two of you. You awaited his answer, softly rubbing your thumb across his knuckles.

“I feel stupid” he shook his head, “I don’t even know what I’m doing at this party. No one wants me here anyway”

“I want you here”

“You’re just saying that because you’re a nice person”

“I’m not nice enough to go around and make sure everyone feels welcome”

“Then why are you here with me?” he scoffed.

“Because I like you?” you hesitated despite it being the truth, and felt your ears burst into flames. In some way, you felt a deep pain in the depths of your chest as you spoke the words, but as soon as they left your mouth, you actually felt relieved. “I liked you for some time, but I had no idea how to approach you, so I thought maybe you’d want to dance with me.”

There was nothing but confusion on his features. His eyes studied yours, looking for the lie. He gawked and all but gasped when you maintained the eye contact and sent him a sweet, reassuring smile. “You like me?” Bucky asked, “Why?”

“Don’t be like that” you frowned, “You’re amazing”

“You don’t know me”

“But I want to”

He bitterly chuckled, the disbelief in his tone sounding almost condescending. “No, you don’t”

“Listen” you said, “If it’s really dancing that you don’t like, we can do something else. We can, I don’t know, talk, do shots? Race down the street or sit down on the porch and roll the joints for these dumbasses. But if it’s me that you don’t like, tell me and I’ll go now and won’t bug you again”

“You’re not bugging me,” Bucky said, his voice barely audible.

“Really?” you beamed almost not able to believe your ears, “Do you wanna-”

“Let’s, um” he laughed, “Let’s dance.”

You weren’t going to object - it was what you came to this shitty party for anyway. Keeping your hand tightly secured around his, you dragged him through the room, searching for a darker corner of the dance floor. You knew he was already somewhat uncomfortable and didn’t want to make everything worse by having him end up in the middle of a mosh pit or something worse.

“Hey there!” Clint’s voice reached your ears. You stopped dead in your tracks and cursed under your breath before turning to face him.

Bucky looked confused and cornered while Clint was as smug as ever.

“This is a party, not a nerd fest, Y/n. The fuck’s he doing here?”

Nostrils flaring, you swallowed your anger and stared him down as you wrapped an arm around Bucky’s frame, “Why are you such an asshole?”

“It’s ok” Bucky tried to butt in.

“No, it’s not” you objected.

“How come the princess of this campus is the one with the balls in this relationship?”

Feeling Bucky tense, you took a deep breath, and decided to ignore the erroneous assumption. “He’s just too polite to sink to your level. But I’m not. So beat it, Clint.”

He pretended to turn around and leave, but stopped and faced you one more time, his expression hazardous. “I just wanna know. Were you his first kiss?”

You all but lunged at him to slap his cheek. And you would have done it had Bucky not stopped you at the last moment.

“Wow!” Clint exclaimed, and turned to Bucky. “How the fuck did you land that piece of ass?” he asked, nodding towards you, “You can even hold you ground”

Bucky scoffed, and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He looked around the room, slightly amused as you waited for his reaction. “I can very much hold my ground.”

“Prove it,” Clint taunted. “Prove you’re not a pussy”

“God” you rolled your eyes, but he continued.

“You two. Body shots” Clint commanded, eager to see Bucky chicken out.

“Oh, jesus christ!” you scoffed, “What are you, 14?”

Just when Clint was about to laugh and claim the win, Bucky nonchalantly accepted the challenge. “Sure”

“Bucky-” you turned to him, “We don’t have to do this, who cares what Clint has to-”

“You don’t wanna do it?” Bucky asked, looking down at you, his eyes cold and determined, nothing like they were before. He smiled lewdly, a smile that hid a lot. The hairs on your body stood up, yet you agreed through a simple nod.

Much to Clint’s surprise, Bucky led you to the bar, his grip strong around your waist as he guided you across the room. “Who goes first?”

“I don’t… I don’t care” you mumbled, amazed and still in shock following his sudden change of attitude.

“Come on” Bucky smiled, and fisted the back of his collar, elegantly pulling his sweater over his head. He handed it to you, and for a second you wondered why he was wearing both a sweater and a shirt, but this thought was wiped from your mind, literally obliterated, blown to pieces, fucking erased when your eyes landed on his naked top half.

The music had been turned down, everyone around you watching carefully. Girls who otherwise would have never looked in his direction gawked and giggled to one another, unable to look away from him. And frankly, neither could you. From his chiseled and defined abs, to his tan chest and the unearthly, bloodcurdling scars that littered his frame, you found yourself struggling to function properly. Who was this guy?

Bucky sat on the bar, a slice of lemon in between his fingers. “Where do you want it?” he asked, waving the salt around.

“Wherever you want it, Bucky!” you shook your head, enthusiastically smiling from ear to ear, “You got it”

“It’s your turn to choose” he urged you.

“Fine” you grinned, “Lean back”

With a side smirk, he laid down on the bar, his chest and abdomen on full display for you and everyone else in the room. You moved to stand by his side, your left hand on his massive thigh as you peppered salt in on the dips in his abdomen. His whole frame rose with every breath he took, and by the second, your need for him grew stronger.

Bucky placed his warm hand on your hip. “Whenever you’re ready”

“Oh, I’m ready all right” you giggled, grabbing your shot.

Before slipping the lemon slice between his teeth, Bucky sent you a wink, and you pussy didn’t fail to respond in an instant. All eyes were on you, whispers and gossip all over, but you drowned them out as you leaned down and licked your way up his body. His abdominal muscles clenched under your tongue, yet somehow off his skin, the salt tasted sweet. You downed the tequila and moved towards his face, your teeth gently grabbing onto the lemon slice as your heart beat out of your chest. And of course he didn’t let go too easily.

Close to bursting into nervous laughter, you opened your eyes, finding his blue ones menacingly staring at you. You were ready to pull away without that damned slice in order to just breathe, but then he unclenched his jaw. You exhaled with relief, his lips brushing against yours before you managed to stand up.

And when you did, you felt disheveled. The amount of tension that tortured your mind during these seconds compared to nothing you had ever experienced before. Every part of your body burned and you sucked on that poor lemon slice for too fucking long in order to pull yourself back together.

“Your turn” Bucky teased, sitting up. You met his eyes and chuckled. “You don’t have to take your shirt off if you don’t want to,” he announced but you rolled our eyes and scoffed.

“Yeah, right”

After ushering Bucky off the bar, you watched him dress himself back up. When he was ready, you took his spot and salaciously grinned at him as you pulled your top over your head, your breasts inches away from his hungry eyes.

“Lean on your elbows, doll” he said, and you almost burst into flames at the pet name.

You did as told and lowered yourself back.

Tens of people watched you, yet the only eyes you cared about were Bucky’s. He stared at you as if he was going to eat you alive, and frankly, at this point, you were willing to beg for it.

“Take this” he said, placing another slice of lemon between your teeth, before grabbing the salt and pouring a healthy amount across your breasts.

As he lowered himself over your body, you heaved in anticipation, your chest nearing his face with every tortured breath you took. And when it happened, it felt like pure electricity attacked your body. His devilish tongue brushed against your skin, around the curve of your tits, his breath hot and wet as a smile was visible at the corners of his mouth.

You continued to watch him as he straightened his back to take the shot, and almost choked on the slice between your teeth when he leaned down again. He didn’t hold back, his lips crashing against yours, the aggravation of his movement making the lemon juice drip down your chin. And this could’ve gone so much differently, but he had a task. Bucky ripped the slice away from your teeth, pulling away as he munched on it.

You were lost. Completely and utterly in pure awe with this man. In a matter of minutes he went from a cute nerd you were soft for, to a sculptured man who you were fucking weak for. And judging by his proud expression, he knew it.

“Ok, ok, fine, fuck it” Clint called, his voice pulling you out of your thoughts. “I fucking take everything back. Though you, Buck-” he added, “Could fucking ditch the dweb attire and maybe… I don’t know, stop being fucking weird., cause man-” he whistled, looking Buck up and down before turning around and leaving without another word.

“Oh my god” you laughed, and so did Bucky.

You wanted to stand up, but he was quicker, grabbing your waist and helping you to your feet. “Got some shit I need to tell you about me” he confessed, his voice low, right against your ear.

“No shit” you scoffed, slapping his chest.

“Your place or mine?”

“Whichever is closer”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes smut #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan smut

627 notes · View notes

mejomonster · 2 years

Text

while i’m on a thai drama binge, some recs:

1. the gifted

Lots of familiar faces if you watch GMMTV, ensemble show of found family friends made up of kids who’s mutant powers are awakened, as said kids get caught up in the power struggle of the inequality in their school, the perpetuators of the system that awoke their powers and is trying to use them, with gratuitous allegory to make some bigger social commentary. Very X-men esque - particularly if you liked the New Mutants comics, X-men Evolution but want a more mature tone, literally what I’ve wanted from an X-men film/show adaptation for decades. Including a dynamic between Pang and Wave very reminiscent of Professor X and Magneto. Pang is helped by being a bit less ‘I know best’ than Professor X, in part because its a lesson he’s got to learn - that he does NOT know what his peers want enough to choose for them, that he’s better with a group, that just because you could make something Happen doesn’t mean you know what’s Best (and oh the parallels to the perpetuator of the system). There’s intelligent meta out there on this show which I intend to read, and The Gifted Graduation is wholly welcome as its sequel show. If you like Nanon’s acting, mutant premises, shows about corruption that are making a fucking point, this is Phenomenal. The Gifted season 1 is also perfectly self contained if you just want to watch season 1 and wait a while before looking into The Gifted Graduation. I WISH someone had recommended this to me years ago right back when I watched Sotus and was looking into thai dramas more. Also, wow do I love the music and Unique Vibe this show creates.

2. 3 Will Be Free

do yourself a favor and just watch it. Gunsmile, Jennie, Mild, Tay, Joss, Toptap, Pod. its a dream. It has a very specific aesthetic feel, I’ve never watched anything like it but I sure wish there was more stuff like this now and will definitely be checking out future projects with similar elements. You might notice, I really love when shows have a very distinct identity. Neo is a stripper dating a mob boss’s wife, all hell breaks loose when hitmen go to ‘take care of him’ and the wife dies instead. He’s on the run, saved on accident by Shin (mob boss’s son) who he has a history with, and Miw (hostess). Together the three of them go on the run, fall in love, and grow a lot. Very Bonnie & Clyde feel to it, suspenseful and grounded, found family poly relationship at the heart of it all. Better in execution than I could ever manage to describe, you just have to watch it to see what I mean. Well handled character arcs which I won’t spoil. On the flipside of our protagonists is hitman Phon (Max), his best friend and fellow hitman Ter (Gunsmile) who loves Phon a lot, and Phon’s girlfriend who he wants to leave this dangerous life and go build a future with (Jennie). In a way this trio is just as influential to the plot, and I love that the plot centers two very well developed trios that seep into your heart. I fell in love with every main character

3. Not Me

It’s barely out, I’m still reccing it. By far the most impressed I’ve ever been with a bl premise plot, the script is aiming at political and succeeding, the protagonists are vigilantes. There’s a dash of supernatural in what is otherwise mundane grounded reality (one of my favorite premises for stories), White is pretending to be his brother Black to figure out who hurt his brother Black and put him into a coma (hello Comically Bad Secret Identity Shenanigans), character arcs are clearly plotted out and protagonist White is a disaster bi who was raised in privilege planning to work in the Ministry for the good of people, only to realize reality is not as shiny and functional as the life his father’s raised him in. Through living his brother’s life, meeting his brother’s friends, he realizes what’s corrupt and what he can really do to effect change. The entire extended cast is Be Gay Vigilantes and I cannot understate how excited I am to see how this plot plays out. Its got the whole deal: mystery, action, solid characters, grounded plot, political commentary, bi protagonists, Off and Gun in the most serious series I’ve seen them do together and its clear the story is going to show off their skills along with the entire extended cast of solid actors. If your jam is more Manner of Death, History 3 Trapped, Beyond Evil, rather than sugar coated fluffy romcoms, this is going to make the cut. I’m extremely excited to see where this show goes. It is also stylish as fuck - like 3 Will Be Free, it has a Very Distinct aesthetic which makes it stand out just at a glance.

4. A Tale of A Thousand Stars/1000 Stars

Just saw this recently, it already makes it as a rec. This poster is misleading - overall the show’s ‘aesthetic/feel/tone’ is less storybook, more grounded reality very in line with the feeling of Crash Landing On You kdrama. Tian is a rich kid dying from heart issues that’s partying what’s left of his time away recklessly, the son of a man willing to bribe to get his son the heart transplant he needs - the heart turns out to be from a woman named Torfun hit by a car, who used to work in a rural town as a teacher. After Tian’s life is saved, he looks into who’s heart saved him, finds out, and ends up becoming a teacher too to try and live a life worth living the way this woman seemed to. In the process, he works through his own guilt and family issues, figures out what he wants in life, and falls in love with the man Torfun had loved. A lot of the main conflict in this has to do with Tian’s personal guilt - which I won’t spoil, and Tian growing as a person. The majority of the romantic conflict will feel familiar if you’ve seen Crash Landing On You - these are two people from different worlds, an impossible couple that shouldn’t be able to find a compatible life together, that somehow manage to in the end. It is intensely satisfying to watch play out. A lot of the themes of the show are about living a good life, deciding how to live ones life, corruption, trust, lies. It has a large ensemble cast of villagers, friends, family, and all of them feel fleshed out and alive (again very similar to the extended cast of Crash Landing on You). Tian is the most interesting protagonist I’ve seen for a show like this in a while - and while the leads of this do remind me a lot of CLOY’s couple in their dynamic and what they’re going through, the lead characters of 1000 Stars are unique in their own right. Its a simple romance of two people who care, in a world where them being together seems impossible and yet with them, of course they would love each other.

5. Theory of Love

Look up each episode poster if you have time - each one references a famous romantic movie. If I had to pick a single college setting thai bl to rec, it would be this one. The story is about a group of friends studying film - Third fell for his friend Khai and hasn’t told him for years. Khai is a playboy who goes through girls and frankly takes advantage of Third as an emotional relationship to lean on since his romantic relationships are shallow as a puddle and Third loves him and gives him that emotional support. Third finally is rightfully fed up, decides he’ll tell Khai he loves him. A mess ensues, and includes Khai realizing what a dick of a friend he is, losing his best friend Third, and learning how to be a better friend. First half is Third pov, second half is Khai, this is one of the most angst heavy romances I’ve watched - they love each other, but they both have to grow to get to a place where they can be together. Third has to grow to stand up for himself, and Khai has to grow to treat other people with care. Meanwhile friend Two ends up in a bi dilemma between the crush he has on an old friend and the rival who’s eye he’s caught, and friend Bone ends up crushing on someone it will never work with and learning to make more responsible choices. The entire friend squad goes through their own character growth arcs, all in the midst of a stylish loving homage to so many romance movie references, the characters shooting films and personal projects that serve as parallel to their own lives in fun ways, every fluffy romcom trope you are desperately hoping for all grounded in the most painful case of best friends in love who CANNOT have this happy fluff be their real situation until they fix things, and relatable college experience. Third is gay and that’s covered before the show starts so there’s no coming out necessary, Two is bi and likewise already figured that out in his life so his plot just Unfolds no explanation needed, Khai is bi and he is an absolute mess but god does he grow so much. Sexuality is handled as if characters already figured themselves out (except Khai who honestly Needed to do some self-introspection lol so its justifiably part of his arc). I won’t sugarcoat - this is romcom like 10 Things I Hate About You is, in that there’s heavy moments (and of all the bl I’ve seen this Will cut your heart to pieces if you’ve ever been in a situation like Third, and mend it later after a lot of satisfying hard work is paid off). It looks as saccharine as 2gether but its absolutely not, and you will be crying as bad as Third eventually, until people grow and things get better. Its probably the most tragedy emotionally I’ve seen in a romance, because really, loving a best friend who uses you as a partner but doesn’t date you? That’s painful, and that’s our premise. (Very Jennifer’s Body of Theory of Love lol). Unlike 2gether, its stylish aesthetic is grounded in purpose - them studying film is critical to the setup of pretty much everyone’s storyline and the events that play out. The cute fluff is under-pined by some heavily realistic emotions every character is dealing with. Off and Gun show off just how well they can carry a show together, and the rest of the friend group shine with enough focus that this feels like an ensemble show of friends in film college which again, gives it a very specific identity and feel. Its fun to watch and catch all the references, there’s literally a 10 Things I Hate About You confession on a sports field! Its amazing watching OffGun in a story they can thoroughly flesh out with a pov that lets us see both leads biases, and Two’s side story is so good it won me and most watcher’s main attention (its the most relatable story to my own college experience, nice to just see bi characters living their lives - also its White and Earth which is a dream team acting combo). If you want Friends to Lovers that doesn’t go shy on how angst heavy that situation can get, this is The drama.

6. Dark Blue Kiss*

I highly recommend this. Its not A Favorite of mine, but it is a lovely show and its good enough I still feel like re-watching. The only reason I recommend it with an asterisk * is that the main couple Pete/Kao is from a previous shows Kiss Me and Kiss Me Again. If you’ve seen those shows, Dark Blue Kiss may be more satisfying. I have Never seen the previous shows, so I went into this as a standalone show. A strength of this show is that the main couple Pete/Kao are already an established couple and the issues they go through in this series are largely very grounded situations lgbt people deal with navigating their families and society in a long term relationship. As such, this show feels more like watching a realistic plot then some pulp romance (so more like 3 Will Be Free in tone). Pete and Kao are also a very stable relationship so there’s very little stupid jealousy drama or ‘oh we might break up’ bullshit. It definitely made me want to check out the shows this couple originated in. Another big appeal of this show: the ‘big’ side couple (which is basically the other 50% of the plot) are a realistic take on ‘coffee shop au’ romance. A coffee shop owner (Sun) has a brother, who is friends with a bit of a miscreant Mork. Mork ends up needing help and working at said coffee shop, chemistry ensues. Like the main couple, these two’s sexualities and that affecting their lives is a more grounded realistic approach - Sun just is into men, that’s established before the show and not a plot point, and Mork likes men but not jerks like he thinks Sun is lol. There’s also commentary on external homophobia. This show does a lot to say gay rights, marriage rights, accept your lgbt family members, hate crimes need to be fucking addressed. Due to Sun, Pete, Kao all being pre-established as into men, we start the show with a mostly clearly lgbt main cast which gives this a The L Word vibe in a way, rather than the very ‘college people not sure who they are yet’ that some bl shows main characters start at. The premise also ensures very little college setting, very little school plot. Its about adults living their lives, navigating love. Its got all the charming fluffy flirtatious scenes you want couples to have, along with a grounded atmosphere that makes it feel very kind to real life and not ‘unrealistically saccharine.’ This is the closest to ‘mainly romance genre’ I watch, and it was worth the watch. Its absolutely refreshing to see a realistic setting with grounded feeling characters, having romance in a story caringly told. A bonus, everyone on the main cast is a solid actor if you go on to check out other stuff they’re in.

7. He’s Coming To Me*

I’m recommending but I have only watched to episode 8, so asterisk * just in case this show suddenly dives in quality. Like 1000 Stars, don’t judge based on the poster - this show is shot in a way that makes me feel its just like... a person living their life if that makes sense? Its not flashy and stylized like Theory of Love or 2gether, its not vibrant neons and dramatic appeal like 3 Will Be Free. It has a slight old-fashionedness to the toning that makes you feel you’re watching the slight past, and goes well with the ghost character who’s 20 years past the decade he died in but that still shapes his personality. They use a lot of 90s songs in this, adding to the mix of old era and newer, and they use very natural colors so it looks more like ‘some real person’s life’ the way the coloring of Sotus did. Everyone’s styled to look like regular people, and so it feels very grounded slice of life. A ghost waits for years until one day a human sees him - he makes friends, and one day that friend comes to see him and offers to take him back home to live with him. The ghost moves in, and they try to solve the question of how this ghost died so that he can move on. In the process, falling in love. I’ve been assured this has a happy ending* (thank goodness! but I have no idea how it will get there). The ghost’s life connects to his friend’s more and more, as they find out how he died. It feels very slice of life in a way these college settings rarely do - because the problems are realistic. The group of friends are going through crushes, wondering what’s wrong with their friends, sports, dating versus friends, family obligation, secrets, grades, life goals. It’s also very ensemble - the side characters feel fleshed out and you’ll be invested in them and the surrounding tapestry of connected lives going on as much as the main romance. And the main romance... Ohm leads as the human who makes friends with a ghost, his character arc is handled very well. This is a supernatural meets mundane slice of life premise, one of my favorites, and it does it superbly well. I wish I hadn’t taken so long to watch this - I wish I’d watched this as soon as I’d finished Sotus years ago. If you liked Cherry Magic, this may be your kind of thing, with a cast of characters you want to love and to grow and be okay, a supernatural thread sparking a very human connection, with a touch of something heavier like (the lightest Touch) of Beyond Evil with whatever is going on with the mystery of how the ghost really died. Its slice of life meets murder mystery all wrapped up in the 90s meets the Now, and a cast of characters coming to terms with who they are and what they want. This show won me over and convinced me Ohm has Solid Range, and the supporting cast is so solid I’m over here rooting desperately for the straight side characters to get together and heal their little hearts. As a bonus, it is a bl show with the Most Solid Justification for so little physical intimacy, since its HARD for a ghost and human to manage to touch, okay? And Yet despite that this couple feel more intimate and comfortable with each other than a number of ALL Human bl romance pairs. I imagine part of that is due to solid acting in this show. Another bonus, like Theory of Love, this show feels very slice-of-life about a group of friends without any of that sad angst, these friends are full of love and good intentions and for the most part manage to make sure things turn out okay. I feel like if you liked Cherry Magic (or any supernatural slice of life premise), you’d like this. It feels like a warm embrace.

#rec list #the gifted #3 will be free #dark blue kiss #hes coming to me #theory of love #1000 stars #not me

21 notes · View notes

wisehq · 3 years

Text

Mission Debrief: Chapter Forty-two

...It's all coming together.

I'm just going to come outright and say it; I had no idea what to write for this review- not because there wasn't anything to discuss, but rather this chapter gave us so much that I didn't know what to focus on first. Chapter forty-two has single-handedly thrown open the doors to a hundred different theories, and believe me when I say that after a whole night of redbull and theorizing I couldn't come up with any clear answers (the folks over at the Strix discord group can attest to that).

So here's what we're gonna do; I'm not going to focus on the chapter itself.

It was cute. Cardshark Anya is hilariously awesome. Damian is a little shit (whom I adore), and the chapters where the kids can just be kids are- in my opinion- the best.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter. For the rest of this review, I want to go over all the facts we know so far about the story and setting. All of the things Endo has been slowly building up in the background and the pieces that we can stitch together from them, starting with this chapter. Two key things stuck out to me.

In the entirety of the story up till this point, this is the first time we have heard mention of a royal anything- and not only that, but this chef is a former royal chef. This of course implies that a) said chef was fired (not likely given that Eden wouldn't likely associate with someone who was disgraced like that) or retired, or b) that there is no royalty anymore. Ostania is a totalitarian state and the main power of the government- from what we've seen- lies with the ruling political party, i.e the National Unity Party, a.k.a Desmond's party. Such a political structure would have no room for royalty in a governing capacity, and therein begs the question; is there still a royal/noble class- albeit in a non-governing sense- or was it abolished sometime in the recent past?

Classical language is not proper speaking and diction like I had originally thought. Classical language is a specific term typically used to describe a dead language or dialect (think Latin, or Hebrew before it was revived). I find this particularly interesting because under no circumstance would a child as young as Anya know anything about a dead language unless- as Loid points out- she was exposed to it as a toddler. It would have had to have been when she was very young, as she herself doesn't realize she knows this information. This would mean she likely learned it from her birth family; Anya was old enough to remember the lab and scientists, meaning she became Subject 007 later on in life- otherwise she would have remembered knowing classical language.

These two concepts are incredibly important to keep in mind, both now and later on as the story progresses. We now know that a royal class plays a factor in the political game that Twilight and everyone else is playing, and we know that Anya knows information that she shouldn't know otherwise (even with her mind-reading powers). So where does that leave us?

Honestly, for the first time...I'm kind of stumped?

Let's look back at the story and see what else we can piece together- maybe there's something in there we can extrapolate for our purposes. Another clue to point us in the direction that Endo is seemingly funneling us towards.

From chapter forty-one

Franklin Perkins was a man who believed in making his country a better place to live. In his eyes and from what he saw, Ostania wasn't going in the right direction- but why? He blames his lack of money for his mother's death, and we see him hold resentment towards the government over socialistic policies. Wealth is something to be shared with others, not hoarded for ones self. That seems to be where Ostania's moral compass is pointing towards, but is that really the case?

From chapter 39

Mr. Green mentions that people have been fleeing to Westalis; from the way he says this it sounds like this is happening currently- not in the past- and people are going so far as to travel through a third country just to get to Westalis. Such a journey isn't without its perils, so anyone attempting to crossover from Ostania would likely be taking a huge risk in doing so. Not only that, but most of what we've seen in the story is Ostanians loathing Westalins...so what would compel people to do this in the first place?

From chapter three As Anya reads the minds of people gathered at a politcal rally near the start of the manga, we see their disgruntled thoughts behind her. There's multiple mentions of losing jobs and not having enough money- some people are even hungry. Most of these people blame Westalis for their troubles, though not the leader of the rally, ironically.

Also from chapter 3

We find out (and often forget) early on that there are multiple political parties in Ostania. Donovan leads the National Unity Party, whereas the political rally we see here is hosted by the Nationalist Party. The latter preaches peace with the west, but many of the people gathered reject this outright. This is important; the N.U.P is the most successful political party in Ostania, which means a majority of the country's citizens approve of their platform. If we're to assume the Nationalist Party's platform is to advocate for peace with Westalis, then we must also assume that the N.U.P stands for the opposite; direct aggression with the west.

From chapter 31 The Zacharis Dossier, though ultimately a bust, hinted at rumors that have permeated East and West since the start of the cold war. We know for a fact that human experiments did indeed take place in Ostania, so it also stands to reason that there is at least a kernel of truth to the claims of P.O.W (prisoner of war) massacres conducted by the west. It's a heinous crime, and also one that leads to another question; why would any country go through with it in the first place? In addition, piggy-backing off the former point;

From chapter 19 While Loid details Project Apple, he uses the word 'regime' to describe the former Ostanian government. The literal definition of a regime is a government, especially an authoritarian one (Oxfrod Dictionary). I won't highlight all the specifics of what is and isn't authoritarianism, but essentially the point I'm trying to make here is that the current Ostanian administration is still very much a regime. Donovan acts as the authoritarian ruler (or would-be ruler; we don't know if he's actively in charge or is looking to usurp power for himself) and continues on the legacy of the former government. We know for a fact that this is the case because Anya is only at most 6 years old, likely even younger. That would mean the experiments being run on her had to have been recent, which fits with the time frame that we established at the beginning of this rabbit hole- it also aligns with what we know about what Donovan has been doing on the back end of things. Those who have kept up with my reviews know what I'm talking about; gloom pharmaceuticals, the truth serum, OSO-R, etc. All of that, which then leads us to...

...right back where we started. So...what then? What can we conclude from all this? At least a few things;

Anya is tied to Desmond- either directly or indirectly.

Anya's past is also Ostania's past; she's familiar with a dead language that's no longer spoken, and there's definitely a reason why no one speaks it anymore.

Ostania is in a period of political and economic turmoil. This also comes on the heels of a (possible) former monarchy, and the struggle of a country willing to embrace authoritarianism so long as it means staying alive.

WISE and Westalis are not innocent in this game of chess with Ostania and the SSS, and more than likely have committed atrocities that may or may not be directly tied to Ostania and- possibly- Anya's past.

And...this is as far as I can go. I've hit a wall, as have other people I've talked to. We're still missing pieces to the puzzle. Endo will of course provide us with more clues and theory fodder as the weeks and months progress, but for now this is as far as I can go on my own. On the one hand I feel defeated because I can't come up with a meaningful explanation for everything and present it in a neat little bundle for you all to read, but on the other hand I'm thoroughly enjoying this. I'm more engaged with this manga and story than any other I've read before; I'm at the edge of my seat every week, and I'm sure most of you are, too. For now, I'll leave the review here. I find it fitting to leave it open ended, just as Endo did with Loid's self-imposed question. Hopefully, like him, we can find answers in the near future.

Also, BONUS...

...No fun panel with a snappy comment this time. Instead, I’m going to humbly ask for your help.

If you have any ideas about where you think the story is going, theories as to how everything fits together, or just really want to discuss the manga with other fans- please check out our forum and share with us. We’d love to hear what you all think; not only that, but a lot more heads makes theorizing both more productive and a whole lot more fun. Check it out if you have the time, or- if you don’t feel like clicking on any links- you can always leave a comment either on this post or send us an ask or message. Anytime, any reason, we’d love to talk SxF.

Again, thanks for reading, and we’ll see you all next chapter!

#spy x family #chapter forty-two

199 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 3 years

Note

Hi! You've talked about Brother Blood a lot so I was hoping you'd know. I saw a post where some people were saying that Dick being brainwashed was a retcon done just to make him look less jerky. Is that true?

Eh, yes and no?

Like it depends on what you consider a retcon to be, I guess. If you view any story moment that contradicts or alters a previous one to be a retcon, then yeah, I suppose you could call it that. Personally though, I consider retcons to be later additions to a story or continuity that create a REPLACEMENT for an earlier story moment, that people are meant to refer back to from then on. Dick's brainwashing, to me, was simply a reveal. It altered the way his previous behavior was viewed, but it was deliberately led up to, like that WAS the story.

Now, to be fair, the specific way the brainwashing was explained, it made things ambiguous enough that you could make USE of the brainwashing to excuse or explain away pretty much anything you didn't like about his behavior between the first Church of Blood story (when Dick was still Robin) and this one. So I suppose in that respect, it is a retcon.

But what makes me scrunchy faced when most people write off or ignore the brainwashing as a retcon (and why is it that people are so willing to accept SOME retcons but not others, I would really like to know, like 'but it was a retcon' seems to come up ANNOYINGLY often in Dick's narratives in particular, with that line being used to try and invalidate Dick being fired, Robin being his mother's name for him, that he was brainwashed in the Church of Blood stories, etc. Yeah they were retcons, but so were eighty million other things people just accept. Like.....I'm just saying).

BUT I DIGRESS.

Anyway, what makes me go eh about people going 'oh the brainwashing was just a retcon to make him seem like less of a jerk' because yes, I have heard that argument too.....is that the things people cite as what they feel are examples of the behavior they think this was a retcon FOR, like.....just do not work as such.

Because the big ones are the ways Dick behaved on Tamaran and with Kory's political marriage, and then his fight with Donna upon his return to Earth.

And I just want to point out the timeline involved here:

Dick's big blowup with Kory over her political marriage? Was in New Teen Titans #18. His fight with Donna, was in #19. The reveal of his brainwashing, which led him to lash out due to the mental and emotional turmoil he was in fighting against the conditioning, as Mother Mayhem termed it, was in #22.

That's a span of less than five months from the biggest jerk moment people cite as what was being retconned with the brainwashing....til the brainwashing moment itself. And there's a couple of things to keep in mind here.....first, that comics - especially back in the eighties - take TIME to produce. Even if there had been a huge reader backlash at the time of #18's publication, with readers calling for Dick's head, the idea that this could lead to inserting the entire brainwashing plot setup as a fix-it retcon is dubious if not outright impossible. Issue #22 was on the SHELVES not even five full months after #18's publication. In the 80s, the way comics were produced and published, they needed to be completely finished and shipped off to retailers a couple months before their on-shelf date, and it took weeks to print everything, and the lettering and inking and every step of the creation of each issue was done by hand.....

How exactly, do people propose that DC even had TIME to note any sizable need to correct or fix Dick's behavior in something like #18....and actually DO so by #22?

Not to mention, every issue in between them lays another brick into place on the road to REVEALING that Dick was brainwashed this whole time.....because in #19, when he had that big fight with Donna, he was actively shown questioning himself on his OWN behavior after the fight was over. Asking himself why he said the things he did, like....he was second-guessing his own behavior, which I don't see how that could have possibly been put in to lay groundwork for a retcon AFTER #18 was published....because #19 and #20 likely should have been already completed and off to the printers by the time #18 even hit stands.

And then AFTER #19, in #20 and #21, we saw Dick actively infiltrating the Church, or THINKING that was what he was doing, even though the Church was on to him the whole time, because his conditioning was actually just....directing him to basically walk right back into their clutches. Again, works as set up for the REVEAL that he was brainwashed, but impossible to have put into place to enable a RETCON.

So no matter how you look at it, even IF the decision to introduce a brainwashing retcon to 'fix' some of Dick's behavior had been made due to story elements from BEFORE #18.....

The events of #18 themselves, as well as #19-#22......still do not work as things that are just conveniently retconned by the brainwashing.....they have to have been written with the specific intention in mind of laying groundwork for the idea that Dick was 'lashing out due to his mental struggle against his conditioning.'

The timing just does not work for them to be anything else.

So it doesn't work for me at all, to cite those issues as things retconned by the brainwashing reveal, when HOW Dick acted on Tamaran, plus his fight with Donna, were very clearly written as DELIBERATE moments where he was behaving in a way that can literally be described as out of character, because they were meant to post-reveal, be viewed as examples of how he wasn't himself, how his mental and emotional state themselves were being impacted by external influences. (Not just in terms of external events but like, external mental conditioning).

And I just don't think it works to use moments that are written WITHIN a narrative to be DELIBERATELY out of character.....as examples of his characterization or proof of the necessity of a retcon for his character, lol. That makes no sense to me.

And lastly, I also have to point to the fact that like......good old Marv is not actually the most aware guy out there? And I question the idea that just because people TODAY may look at various things Dick said or did in stories leading up to the reveal and think oh yeah, of course they'd want to course correct that.....I don't exactly think that means that back in the 80s, Wolfman viewed those same things as even NEEDING a retcon to correct. Especially when you consider things the other characters around Dick were doing, without any kind of retcon for their worst behavior? Why would it be only Dick that he saw a need to retcon his behavior or actions, especially when Dick's worst ones literally ONLY happen in the actual narrative buildup to the brainwashing reveal, mere months before the issue revealing it hit the stands?

*Shrugs* Anyway, YMMV, but to me its always clearly read as all of that was just a story where writing Dick acting increasingly out of character in ways that isolated him from his closest friends and allies so there was no one around TO stop him from walking himself right back into the Church's grasp....like, that was pretty clearly the POINT of that entire narrative, and the literal reason those fights he had even happened.

Writing it off as a retcon just to me seems an unnecessary tangle that doesn't serve any real purpose and complicates things needlessly. All it accomplishes is more of the usual 'oh Dick's not so great, look at THIS stuff he did, and how DC did this and this to make all that go away.'

Like.....DC doesn't even see a need to retcon away BRUCE'S worst behavior - then as much as now - and if they don't do it for BATMAN why are people so sure they're invested in doing it for Dick Grayson?

Sometimes a story reveal is just a story reveal, if you ask me. Which you did. So yeah. That's my answer. Nah, it wasn't actually a retcon, it was a planned plot twist.

Edit: Actually one last thing to point out -

Wolfman wrote brainwashing and possession storylines all the time. ALL THE TIME. Like, he LOVES that shit. 99% of those other ones don’t seem to have ‘need to retcon this character’s behavior’ as a reason for them being written, so why does this particular storyline need a reason for existing beyond ‘Wolfman wanted to write a brainwashing story. Again.’

38 notes · View notes

easily-infatuated23 · 4 years

Text

Hidden Kiss

a/n: this is based on a concept from the 2003 live action peter pan movie and I had so much fun writing this!! if you want this kind of situation with other characters let me know, i’d love to make this like a head cannon or something. I also have some requests i’m working on so don’t worry those are coming!

pairing: Platonic!Harry Potter x Gryffindor!Reader, Fred Weasley x Gryffindor!Reader

word count: 3.2k

warnings: mentions of death

summary: There is something in the corner of the readers mouth, and it’s powerful

The day had been ordinary. Meals, classes, all as normal as they could be. When Professor Flitwick asked Harry to tutor a fellow student, he thought nothing of it. “Who is it I’ll be tutoring Professor?” Harry asked. “You will be tutoring Y/F/N Y/L/N. You will have access to my class room. She’s agreed to meet you here at 7 o’clock today”. Harry nodded and left the classroom to make his way to his next class. He didn’t know Y/N very well, or really at all. He knew that she was a Gryffindor in his year, and that was all. At dinner he asked Ron and Hermione about her. “Do either of you know Y/F/N Y/L/N very well?” The two shook their heads. “I do”. The three looked over at the voice, it was Neville. “She’s quiet but really nice. She also has the most amazing smile.” The three laughed a little at what they thought was Neville inferring he had a crush on Y/N. “No seriously, if you ask anyone who knows her they all say the same thing. There is something about her smile that makes you want to stare.” With that, Neville went back to his Herbology book. “Thats odd” Harry said. Hermione shrugged. “Speaking of, it’s 6:55 so you’d better get going” Ron said. “Yeah alright. I’ll see you guys later” Harry said. He left the Great Hall and made his way to the Charms classroom. When he got there, Y/N was waiting for him.

“Am I late?” he asked as he entered the room. “Oh no,” she began, looking up from her book “I’m just always early to things”. As Harry approached her, she smiled. Neville was right, she did have an amazing smile…but it was more than that. As the session continued, Harry kept looked at her lips. “Are you ok Harry?” she asked. He pulled his gaze up to meet her eyes. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about something”. “Ok”. She shrugged and smiled again. There was definitely something in the corner of her mouth. Every time he thought he saw it, it disappeared. When the session was over, the two walked back to the Gryffindor common room together. “Thank you for helping me Harry. I’ve been really struggling with this unit for some reason” she said as they climbed through the portrait hole. “My pleasure. Let me know when you want to meet again” he replied. When they walked into the common room, Ron and Hermione were sitting on the couch together in front of the fire. The two greeted Harry and then Y/N. “Do you want to join us for a bit?” Harry asked. She politely declined and left to go study more. “How was it?” Hermione asked. “It was good” Harry replied. “Did what Neville said about her smile hold up?” Ron added. Harry wasn’t sure how to respond to this. Her smile was definitely special but he still wasn’t sure exactly what he saw. He simply chuckled and nodded his head.

As the tutoring sessions continued, and as Harry got to know Y/N better, the thing in the corner of her mouth became more constant. He had also started to notice that nearly anyone who talked to her would glance at her mouth multiple times throughout the conversation, as if they thought they saw something too. It didn’t seem to bother Y/N. Harry wasn’t even sure she noticed it half of the time. He still hadn’t told Ron and Hermione about what he thought he saw. It was bad enough he was seeing and hearing things because of Voldemort, he didn’t want to add another thing to the list. After seeing more and more people stare at her mouth, he finally felt confident enough that he wasn’t the only one seeing something, so he asked them.

“There’s something different about her, have you noticed?” Harry asked. “Well I mean she always wears the same pair of shoes but I don’t think that’s-” “No I don’t mean like that. Have you ever noticed that whenever she smiles or talks or does anything really that there is something in the corner of her mouth?” Hermione and Ron looked at each other. “You mean like food?” Ron asked. Harry sighed in frustration. “No it’s like- there’s something hidden. It’s staring right at me but I can’t figure out what it is”. “Are you sure you aren’t imaging something?” Hermione asked. “No I’m not. Next time you see her look at the left corner of her lips, trust me.” Ron rolled his eyes.

They wouldn’t have to wait too long to look because moments later she entered the common room. “Hey guys, did you happen to write down the due date for the Charms essay? I sort of tuned out the last few minutes of that class accidentally” she said with a chuckle. “Oh yeah it’s due next Tuesday” Hermione replied, trying not to make it obvious that she was staring directly at Y/N’s lips. “Brilliant, thanks Hermione”. She smiled sweetly before turning and ascending the stair case to the girls dormitory. But, before she turned, they saw it. Hidden in the left corner of her lips was…something. It’s hard to describe what it was. “Did you see it? Right when she smiled, it was there” Harry said as he pointed to the left corner of his mouth. Hermione and Ron looked at each other again, this time not to judge Harry for seeing things, but realizing he was right. “It’s almost like an invisible sparkle” Hermione said. “Yeah it sort of draws you in” Ron added. “I’ve never seen or read about anything like that” Hermione said, nudging Ron slightly to break him out of his dreamy haze. “Maybe we should ask Luna, she knows about all sorts of weird things that don’t make sense” Harry proposed. It was decided. Tomorrow, the group would ask Luna if she knew anything about things hidden in the corners of peoples mouths. Harry had to admit, it sounded daft. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it was there.

The next day on their way to breakfast, the trio found Luna. “Hey Luna! Can I ask you about something that seems impossible?” She gave Harry an airy smile. “Nothing is impossible Harry Potter, just uncommon” she replied. Hermione couldn’t help but roll her eyes a bit. “It’s about Y/N, there’s something in the corner of her mouth and-” Luna stopped him. “Ah yes, her hidden kiss.” “Her what?” Ron asked. “Her hidden kiss. My mother had it too. It’s a special kiss that hides in the corner of your mouth. Only someone incredibly special to the one who has the kiss may receive it. It’s a powerful thing”. With that, she skipped away towards the Great Hall. “A hidden kiss? That sounds bonkers” Ron said. “It does but it also kind of makes sense” Hermione said. “How do you mean?” Harry asked. “Well, remember how Dumbledore said that your mother’s love protects you from You-Know-Who, maybe it’s another form of that. The one who receives the kiss, is protected by that persons love”. As unlikely as it seemed, the trio couldn’t help but feel like this had to be the truth. “We could also just ask her” Harry said. “But, maybe she doesn’t know she has it” Hermione suggested. “This is all a bit too mad this early in the morning, I’m going to go get some sausages” Ron said, making his way towards the Great Hall. Hermione gave Harry a slight smile and followed after Ron. Harry, however, wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more answers and now he had somewhere to start. He decided to go to the library and see if he could find some books on hidden forms of magic. When he got to the library, he flipped through as many as he could before his first class of the day. Nothing. He found nothing.

Once classes ended for the day, he decided to go back. When he entered the library for the second time that day, she was there. “Maybe she doesn’t know she has it” Hermione’s voice chimed into Harry’s head. He shook her voice away and decided to walk up and ask her. “Hey Y/N”. She looked up from her book and smiled at him. The hidden kiss sparkled. “Hi Harry. What brings you to the library for a second time today? If you keep this up, people will think you are up to something” she said jokingly. “How did you know I came to the library already today?” “You didn’t come to breakfast. Luna said you went to the library to look up hidden magic. It’s a very interesting topic” she replied. This was his chance. “Do you know much about it?” he asked, sitting down next to her. “I know a little. I know it usually occurs by accident and can sometimes be passed down or remain present through blood” she said, looking back down at her book. “Was there something in particular you were looking for?” He swallowed. It was now or never. “Yeah um… have you ever heard of a hidden kiss?” She blushed and then closed her book. “I see you’ve discovered my little secret. Although, I guess when it literally stares people in the face it’s not a secret”. He chuckled. “Yeah it’s a bit hard to hide. Luna told me a little about it but what exactly is it?” he asked. “Well, a hidden kiss isn’t necessarily magic in origin. I know some muggles who have it. It’s a special kiss that’s reserved for the one the bearer of the kiss loves the most or for an important moment.” “What do you mean by important moment?” She sighed. “Well, for example say someone you love is dying or has just died. If you give them your hidden kiss, it can revive them and bring them back to you. Even if you don’t have romantic feelings for someone, the kiss will still work if you feel a great amount of love for them”. “How did you get yours?” Harry asked. “I’m not sure. I was orphaned as a baby and and when I was brought to the orphanage I already had it. I’m guessing my mother gave it to me but I don’t think I’ll ever know.” She looked down at the desk and fidgeted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…but I understand” Harry said. She looked up at him and smiled slightly. “I know. Let’s just keep this and the kiss our little secret.” He nodded. “Do you want to come back to the common room and hang out with me Ron and Hermione?” he asked, feeling badly that he had made her sad. “Yeah, I’d like that” she said.

When the two entered the common room, there were eruptions of laughter. Fred and George Weasley were telling jokes and simply being themselves; and the whole room was cracking up. “I guess we’re late to the party” Harry joked. “Harry!” the twins said in synch. “And you’ve brought a new friend. Who’s this?” Fred asked. “Fred, this is Y/N”. “Nice to meet you” she said with a bright smile. Fred froze. Her smile was something out of this world. Harry and Y/N made eye contact and laughed. Harry walked away, patting Fred on the back as he went. Y/N laughed again. Fred still hadn’t moved. He was just staring at her. She waved her hand in front of his eyes. “Hello? Earth to Fred…” He snapped out of his daze. “Oh sorry, hi there it’s nice to meet you. Come join us” he said, taking her hand and leading her to the couches where most of her year was gathered. The group was very lively. Everyone was talking and laughing, but Fred couldn’t focus on them. He only saw her. It was like everyone else had disappeared and there was only the two of them. She hadn’t noticed his staring. She was telling a story about the time she thought she was feeding a stray cat that turned out to be McGonagall. She had never been this out going before, but she loved it.

The group started to thin as people left to go to bed until there was only Y/N, Fred, George, and Harry left downstairs. Harry was saying something to Y/N about Charms class for tomorrow when Fred whispered in George’s ear. “Hey can you take Harry and go upstairs. I want to talk to Y/N alone for a bit” he said. “Yeah sure, so long as you can actually get yourself to speak! I saw you earlier, that was embarrassing” George joked. Fred pushed him slightly as George got up. “Alright Harry, come on. Even the chosen one has to sleep” George said. “Oh shut up George! See you tomorrow Y/N” he said, getting up from the floor. “Night George, night Harry” she said. The two boys climbed the stairs and left Fred alone with Y/N. “You were quite popular tonight” Fred said, scooting closer to her. “I know right, it was so weird. I don’t think half of those people even knew I existed until tonight. I had a lot of fun though.” She smiled at him. Before he could think it through, he found himself reaching out and touching her face. Specifically, he grazed his thumb over the left corner of her lips. She held her breath. “Oh sorry, I don’t know why I did that” he said, retracting his hand. “You would be surprised how much that happens or almost happens to me” she said. He smiled slightly, not feeling as self conscious about his actions. “Maybe they can’t help themselves because you are so beautiful” he said. She felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. “I have to ask-” he started. She chuckled and shook her head. “Yes there is something in the corner of my mouth. I’ll tell you what it is someday.” She cupped Fred’s face with one hand and placed a light kiss on his cheek. She stood up from the couch and made her way to the stairs. She stopped at the bottom and turned back to face Fred’s blushing face. “Goodnight Fred”. Fred turned back to face the fire and smiled. There was something different about this girl. Something that drew him in and made him feel like everything would be alright.

Over the next few weeks, Y/N got closer to the Weasley twins, Fred especially. What had previously been a chaotic duo, became a slightly less chaotic trio. Y/N balanced Fred and George out perfectly. She liked to follow rules and managed to use her good standing with the Professor’s to get the two out of trouble multiple times. Fred and George managed to get Y/N to let loose and have more fun. “I wish we had all become friends sooner, I feel like I am finally the best version of myself and it’s all thanks to you guys” she said one day, pulling them in for a hug. “We love our little stick in the mud” Fred joked. She scoffed and laughed as she pushed him. “How dare you I am not a stick in the mud, George back me up here!” she said. “This is between you two, I’m getting out of here before it gets ugly” he joked, walking away. “There’s only one way for you to prove you aren’t a stick in the mud any more.” Fred said, taking a step closer to her. “Oh yeah and what’s that?” she asked, matching his step. “You agree to go on a date with me where we forget about rules and do whatever we want”. Her jaw dropped and she pretended to look around in awe at a fake audience. “Oh my goodness did the Fred Weasley just ask me on a date?” she joked. “Yes he did” Fred replied, taking another step closer to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. “Then I accept” she said. One date turned into two, turned into five, turned into a loving relationship still going strong two years later. Y/N was certain that Fred was the person she would spend the rest of her life with.

As the inevitability of a war crept up on the wizarding world, Fred and Y/N felt like their relationship was the only thing that was stable. With Snape as Headmaster of Hogwarts and Fred not there with her, Y/N felt hopeless most days. That is, until, the day Harry Potter returned. When the trio climbed out of the portrait hole behind Neville, Y/N could barely contain her happiness. This was something to hold onto. This happiness only grew when McGonagall got rid of Snape, and the Order of the Phoenix entered the Great Hall. As soon as they could, Fred and Y/N ran to each other and embraced. Fred held her so tightly she thought she might pass out, but it would be worth it. To have the man she loved back by her side was all she wanted. This reunion was cut short however, preparations had to be made and a war had to be fought. Y/N fought harder than she ever had. The battle was brutal. When the break in the fighting came, she ran to the Great Hall to find Fred. And find him she did, lying dead on a stretcher.

When George saw her approach, he ran to her and hugged her close. “He’s gone Y/N, what are we going to do?” he sobbed. She knew what she was going to do. She pulled herself out of the hug and ran towards Fred’s body. “Everybody stand back” she said as she lowered herself down next to him. “Darling I’m sorry but he’s gone, there’s nothing we can do” Molly Weasley said, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at her. “Trust me” she said. Y/N turned back to Fred and whispered in his ear. “This is, and always will be yours”. She then pressed her hidden kiss to his lips, giving him all the power she could muster. Everyone couldn’t believe what happened next.Their lips, still locked together, began to glow slightly. The wind outside the Great Hall picked up suddenly. Everyone was looking around trying to figure out what was causing this. She pulled away slowly and laid on his chest holding him as closely as she could, her eyes squeezed shut. The wind whooshed into the room and began to swirl around Fred. It was so forceful people had to hold onto each other to stop from blowing away. Fred’s colorless skin began to turn pink. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind disappeared. Everyone held their breath. “Come back” Y/N whispered. Then, she felt a small rise from his chest. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly, staring at Fred. His eyes fluttered open. “Hello love, miss me?” he said. She exhaled happily and hugged him closely as he sat up a bit. The family was amazed. They rushed in and all hugged Fred, crying now of joy and not sadness. “What was that?” Ron asked from the hug. “That, was her hidden kiss” Harry replied knowingly.

#harry potter x reader #platonic!harrypotter #fred weasley x reader #harry potter au #fred weasley au #fred weasley imagine #hogwarts #gryffindor!reader #gryffindor #george weasley #ron weasley #hermione granger #neville longbottom #freds not dead #fred weasley fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction

362 notes · View notes

whatifxwereyou · 3 years

Text

Firestorm Part 2: Determination

Fandom: Mortal Kombat 2021 Liu Kang x Reader

A/N: That plot getting real again tho. It's funny to me how different the plots for both sides have become just from one little decision. Thank you guys for the support.

If you would like to be tagged for Firestorm when I post, let me know. I'll start a tag list.

The Oncoming Storm Part 1 Part 3 Chapter Index

“What else can you remember?” Feng tapped his fingers against the charcoal. He’d done several sketches of the demon-looking creature that you’d seen in your visions but none of them had come out quite right. It was like the image that had once been clear had become jumbled up when you tried to describe it. It was deeply upsetting honestly. To think that someone’s power over you could be so strong that they could literally twist images in your brain. You felt betrayed by your brain.

Feng had the patience of a saint for dealing with your confusion. You were no artist either, so describing the creature had been exceptionally difficult. You had five portraits to work from and each of them was startlingly different. You hoped that at least one of them was accurate enough for Raiden to recognize.

“The horns were different.” You struggled to remember and rotated your pained shoulder. It had been heavier that day for whatever reason.

“Are you okay, Y/N? Do we need to stop for today?” Feng set the sketchpad down in his lap with concerned eyes.

“What?” You hadn’t realized that you’d been cradling your arm to your chest. Oops. You let it go but it ached in objection. “No, I’m fine. We can keep going.”

“Okay…” He drifted off nervously and began to alter the horns on the sketch. Then he stopped again with a heavy sigh. “Maybe you should go get that looked at,” he whispered as though others could overhear even though you were very much alone. You stole a glance at the mark that spread from your shoulder to your chest. It was red, enflamed, and swollen.

“It’s probably just all this rain.”

“I’d feel more comfortable if you got it looked at.” Feng bowed his head politely. You sighed heavily again. He was worried about you, yes, but you knew your limits. You were tired of being treated like you didn’t, but you also understood his concern. It wasn’t just that he was worried about you, either. The latest ‘tea’ was that you were dangerous and unpredictable. “You seem distracted. We can pick it back up after you’re less pained.”

“If that’s what would make you comfortable, then fine.” You wouldn’t argue with him anymore. It wasn’t worth it. Feng went about gathering his art supplies and you focused on your shoulder. The crack ached deeply, like someone had run a hot knife through it while you’d been sleeping. “Thank you for the help, Feng.” You yelled after him when he practically ran from the room.

People had taken to treating you like a ticking timebomb. You’d played into it a few times because it had been ridiculous. You tried not to let it bother you but on and off it had. Your shoulder was bad today so maybe Feng was right. You should stop by the infirmary. Plus, you hadn’t seen Chen yet today and it would be nice to chat with someone who wasn’t afraid of you. As much as you wanted to sit around and enjoy the storm, when left alone with your thoughts, you couldn’t stop thinking about your conversation with Liu Kang from the night before.

The infirmary it was.

“Oh, good!” Chen stomped angrily toward you as you approached the infirmary. You looked behind you to make sure that there wasn’t someone there that deserved this much of Chen’s wrath. You’d never seen Chen that aggressive before. In fact, you had been certain that nothing bothered Chen enough to make you stomp around. Oh, how wrong you were. “I need to talk to you about those boys.”

“Could you be any louder about it?” You didn’t turn red this time. You’d grown tougher skin since the last time Chen had teased you. “And can you look at my shoulder first? Or during? I don’t care when as long as you look at it.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Uh… it’s swollen and it hurts.” You couldn’t believe Chen’s attitude. Chen grabbed your wrist and pulled you into the infirmary. With a twist of your wrist, you were forced to sit down. You held your hand then protectively away from Chen who wasn’t being at all gentle. “If you aren’t going to be nice to me then I will ask one of the other monks to help.” Your shoulder was now throbbing after Chen’s pulling. Your stomach churned like you’d eaten something bad.

Chen seemed to consider then and then sighed. “You are kind of gray, I suppose. What did you do to upset it? Did you overwork it like I told you not to?”

“Why do you assume that I did something wrong?”

“You have a track record, Y/N.”

“I think it’s the weather. Feng practically fled from me because of it.” You held your arm protectively against your chest as Chen reached for it. “Are you going to be nice? It hurts. I don’t need you tugging on it unnecessarily.”

“Yes, I promise. I’m sorry.” Chen took a breath and finally smiled. “After we took a look, we are discussing those boys though.”

“Quieter, please.”

“Oh hush, Y/N, everyone here knows what’s going on and I have a lot to say. I can’t be blamed for my tone right now.” Chen tugged your arm free, and you yelped and saw stars. You fanned your face with your other hand when it became way too hot very suddenly. Your lips were tingling.

“Chen, you’ve got to…”

“I overheard those two sneaks talking and…”

“Chen?” You scooted to the edge of the bench and spoke with urgency. Your head was spinning. You might vomit. Oh no. It was too hot in there. Had it been that hot in there when you’d arrived? Were you just now noticing?

“Don’t avoid the topic, Y/N.”

“Chen, I think she’s being serious.” One of the other monks came over to you and clasped Chen’s shoulder. Your ears were ringing. You saw the two of them arguing. The monk was pointing at you while he argued with Chen. Then you fell forward, and everything went black before you hit the floor.

***

Stone was hot beneath your body. Burning. You sat up, rubbing the sore spot on your head from hitting the ground but every movement was like you were stuck in molasses. The wind was whipping at you, and your hair flew wildly around you. The air was red hot and instead of rain fell embers.

You were atop a mountain. How had you gotten outside? Lightning struck all around you and the stone beneath you began to crumble. You could see it falling on top of the buildings below. People were screaming. A thousand voices overlapped, crying in pain, and calling for help. You managed to crawl to the edge of the crumbling mountain but was thrown back as lightning struck too close to you. Flames raged from below.

The temple was on fire. You tried to make your way over the edge, but your shoulder felt as though hooks had been driven into it, hooks that were attached to weights.

The storm! You realized, deafened by the roar of fire and the grumble of thunder what this was.

It was going to damage the temple.

People were going to die.

You had to do something, but the weight was too much. It dragged you down. You could barely move. People were screaming over the thunder, over the fire. You could smell burnt flesh. There was no escape from it, and you sat in agony, helpless amongst the fire and the death.

***

You sat up with a start and a gasp. The infirmary spun. You were on the floor and spotted Chen about ten times as the world spun. You were coated in a thin sheen of sweat and your body was trembling.

“Oh, oh no… no lay down, Y/N. Lay down.” Chen carefully urged you to lay back, but you fought her. Then you stopped and gulped, feeling the burning of nausea in the back of your throat. “Please! Lay down, Y/N.” The other monks were gathered nearby but had left a wide berth around you just in case. There was no ink that you could see, so there was that.

“I need to talk to Raiden, it’s urgent.” You muttered, pushing Chen’s hand away from you. Chen grasped your pained shoulder and you hissed in objection. “Chen!”

“You had a fit, Y/N. You need to lay down. Take it easy. Did you have a vision? There wasn’t any ink, you just collapsed and smacked your head on the floor.” Chen was checking your pupils and you were trying very much to escape the death grip Chen had on your shoulder.

“I had a vision, I need to…”

“Lord Raiden?” One of the monks spoke in surprise. Then they were all bowing as the god entered the room. Chen relaxed her grip on your shoulder in surprise and then stepped back and bowed low to the floor. Raiden had known that you needed to speak with him.

“What is it, Y/N?” He crouched low by your side. His presence was more imposing than ever, but you felt so afraid by what you’d seen that you weren’t intimidated.

“I saw something. There’s going to be… an accident.” You held your head in frustration as you struggled with words. There was a knot right on the side of your head above your ear from where you’d fallen. Why couldn’t you just say it? There was going to be a collapse! A fire! Lightning would strike the mountain and there would be devastation. The words were there but by the time they reached your mouth they were gone. You couldn’t seem to translate the images into words, and you had never been more frustrated. “Ugh.” You held your head in your hands and grasped your hair in annoyance. “It’s important but I… I can’t…”

“Can you show me?”

“I…” You hesitated. The infirmary was filled with people, and you were terrified of putting them in danger. Nothing good had ever happened while you were sharing visions with Raiden. What if they got hurt? It was one thing to hurt Liu Kang, a trained warrior who had put himself in harm’s way. This was another thing entirely. You suddenly realized just how dangerous you truly were.

“I will take you somewhere isolated.” Raiden seemed to read your mind. Either that or your expression had said is quite plainly. Before you could add that it was urgent, Raiden grasped your arm. Lightning crackled and you had returned to the chamber you’d referred to mentally as his. Raiden helped you get to your feet and then urged you to take a seat on a bench near the wall. “You’re pale.”

“I don’t… that��s not important. What I saw, Raiden. It’s urgent.” You didn’t care that you were sick or dizzy or pale. Whatever. If what you saw was going to happen during the storm, then it would be happening soon. You needed Raiden to see what you saw and interpret it for you. It occurred to you that not all visions would be accurate. Some of them could have been that creature screwing with you, taunting you.

“Yes, of course.” Raiden looked hesitant though you couldn’t say why. This was urgent.

“Please.”

Raiden placed his hand atop your head. Then with a crushing pressure you were gone. Like a light had been turned off inside of you. There was nothing. No pain. No struggling. No visions.

Just darkness.

Then you woke up.

The room that spun around you was one you didn’t recognize. Location didn’t matter anymore. At least you were awake. Your heart was racing like it was going to take flight, as though you had spent hours running beyond exhaustion. You sat up with a grunt but then Chen was pushing you to lay back down again.

Ugh.

“Relax, Y/N. You’re safe.” Chen reassured you but her expression betrayed her. She looked exhausted and worried. She was stuck on Y/N-duty again. Poor Chen. You bet that she regretted getting close to you now with all the extra work she had to do. “Please listen to me for once. I need you to lay and relax. You have a fever but you’re okay.”

“My heart.” You patted your chest nervously to mimic the beating of your heart.

“It’s stress but you’re okay. It’ll calm down.” Chen assured you but picked up your wrist and took your pulse anyway.

“What happened? Is everything okay? Did…” You drifted off as you forced yourself up on your elbows. Your whole left side was tingling and numb. Chen frowned at you disapprovingly.

“Raiden saw. It’s okay, Y/N. Lightning struck the mountain on the other side of the ravine but…” Chen then held her finger up to silence you so she could count. You held your breath, hoping that Chen would tell you more. Then Chen swatted you for holding your breath and you pouted.

Raiden’s presence made you both turn your heads toward the doorway. “Leave us.” He ordered in a stern tone but then bowed his head as if realizing he’d spoken too harshly. Chen sighed, frustrated, and then gently squeezed your hand.

“I’ll find you later.”

“Thank you, Chen.” You carefully pushed yourself so that you were sitting upright. Your shoulder throbbed and your left arm felt numb and useless. You cradled it to your body with your other hand. Raiden sat down on the edge of the bed, hands on his knees.

“You saved a great many people today.”

“I didn’t do anything, I don’t…”

“You did.” Raiden looked to you from the corner of his eye. “I was able to see your vision and minimize the damage. Lives were saved.” He then bowed his head. “The devastation you foresaw was tremendous. Because you were able to communicate your vision to me, we caught it before it happened.”

“I didn’t do anything. I don’t- I don’t want that credit.” You frowned. You really hadn’t done anything worthy of praise.

“You saw.” Raiden’s expression was serious. You felt again like a little girl who had disobeyed her father, so you didn’t object. “That creature told you that you would not see, and you saw anyway. You were meant to see, Y/N.”

You hadn’t thought of it that way.

You hadn’t thought about the fact that you were terrible at this was because of that creature. He stifled your ability to see. Duh. But you’d seen anyway. Raiden had said it with such pride that you felt a little proud. Even though seeing had kicked your ass, it had been worth it.

“We will find a way to separate you from this curse. You will see clearly. You will see and you will fight.”

You teared up.

You stuttered, wanting to thank him for his help, for his belief in you but no words came out. You wiped your eyes. Much to your surprise, Raiden hugged you. It was a fatherly hug, something that you hadn’t felt in so long that you weren’t sure how to emotionally respond to it. You had never been close with your father. In fact, he’d frightened you. He’d never hurt you but he’d been imposing.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you.” He let you go and you pulled back, adjusting to sit against the wall behind you. You were exhausted but at least the feeling was returning to your arm.

“Oh no, no Raiden. I’m not. You had to. I was… out of control.” You hadn’t blamed him. You had hurt Liu and the ink had been filling the room. You’d needed to be stopped and he’d done what he thought was right.

“I hurt you more than I intended. I’m still sorry.”

“It’s okay. I have more than forgiven you.”

“I’ve moved the artifacts somewhere safe. I’m hoping that the distance will offer you some relief.” Raiden got up and was back to his usual composed and intimidating self. You tried not to smile. It had been exceedingly kind of him to reassure you. Sweet, even. “If we can get control of your visions and your arcana so that they are at least less destructive then it is a step in the right direction. I want you to work on that when you’re feeling a little better. You must survive long enough to discover who has done this and why. Why you? What motives could they have other than to stifle your visions? And why is it that you have these visions? They are unrelated to your arcana.”

“I’ve thought about that more than you know. I’ll do my best to get some control over it. I’m going to fight, Lord Raiden.” His belief in you had given you strength. You’d been teetering on having faith in yourself for so long that it was nice to feel determined. You had needed that push. Even though you felt like absolute garbage after having your vision and sharing it with Raiden only moments after, you still felt better than you’d felt in a long time.

“Good.” He turned to face you again. “Thank you, Y/N. You saved many lives today and I am grateful. Get some rest.” He bowed to you and then left the room. Chen returned through the same doorway only seconds later in a huff. She seemed overwhelmed and you couldn’t blame her.

“What did he say to you? I tried to listen in but I think he knew I was listening. I couldn’t hear a single word!” She pouted in frustration, as if she had failed at being a gossip.

“Good. It wasn’t your business, Chen.” You teased but then rested your head on Chen’s shoulder with a sigh. Chen slipped her arm around you in a hug.

“You doing okay, sweet pea?”

“I don’t like that.” You laughed, sitting upright, and holding your sore shoulder. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me.”

“When you stop collapsing all over the temple then I’ll stop worrying.” Chen scolded. “I can’t keep reassuring you when you keep doing things to worry me.”

“I know, I really do. I’m working on it. I’m sorry to have worried you.”

“Don’t be sorry. I just want you to be okay.” Chen furrowed her brow. You felt lucky to have her. “Why don’t I help you back to your room so that you can get some rest?”

“That’s probably for the best.” You tried to roll your shoulder but your body wasn’t having it. “Wait, you were up in arms about something earlier. Weren’t you? Or was I imagining you being mean to me?”

“For another day, Y/N. Right now I want you to rest.”

“Are you worried about stressing me out because of the heart thing?”

“I absolutely am.” Chen giggled and then helped you to your feet. Your legs were wobbly but once you were on them, you were fine. Chen insisted upon helping you back to your room regardless. You didn’t want to sit and listen to the storm for the rest of the afternoon. Earlier you would have been happy to but after talking to Raiden, you were motivated.

For the first time in your life your visions had been more than a burden that deteriorated your health and made people call you names. You’d seen the potential destruction of parts of the temple and it had saved lives. Raiden had been the one to save those lives but without you he never would have known it was coming.

You didn’t want credit for it but it did feel good to have done something other than destroy and maim.

41 notes · View notes

piratewithvigor · 3 years

Text

Eldritch Horrors Anonymous: A Wrestler Fic

Dr. Shelby's led plenty of support groups before and helped plenty of people in them. But these people aren't exactly people...

(I spent the last two days binging matches and assorted other videos to try and get the characterizations right, so let's see how this goes)

Plenty of bad crack below

When Dr. Shelby had been approached with the idea of running this group, he’d been… unsure. Possibly even apprehensive. He’d led groups for violent individuals before; anger management was the most memorable, but the coordinator nearly begged him to start this one. She’d had some of these individuals in other groups, but none of their problems truly seemed to stem from the focus of the groups they tried. They had a unique problem. A unique struggle that needed support from others just like them.

It was the night of the first meeting and he wasn’t quite sure what the outcome might be. The community center had been advertising it for the last few weeks and he’d heard about some interested parties, but the exact number was a little unsure. He’d been told a ‘handful’, which wasn’t frustrating as an imprecise number until it came time to set up the chairs in the room. Six seemed like a good number. A couple, but not too many. Colder drinks were set out on a table along the edge of the room. Nothing too hot. A lot of those coming had problems with heat. As well as with machinery. Some of them had habits with… well, with making it explode.

God, he hoped nothing exploded during this meeting.

The flyer stapled to the bulletin board said the meeting started at 6 and it was 5:55 when Dr. Shelby sat down in his chair opposite the semi-circle. The noticeably empty semi-circle. A part of him was disheartened that the room was empty, but a much more selfish part was deeply relieved. He’d spent a few days reading articles about these individuals and how best to help them. Unfortunately, not much research had been done besides describing the pain they inflicted in such gruesome detail that Dr. Shelby had felt the need to make himself a cup of tea.

But those were laboratory settings. This was a friendly support group. No one was being forced to be there, or even being paid. They were coming because they wanted to.

By 6:03, he was tempted to just start packing up. Maybe no one was coming. Maybe the group was a bad idea in the first place. He’d been told to wait until 6:05 for people to arrive, but even just two more minutes seemed like too many to just sit there.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the large metal door on the other side of the room creaking open slowly. A hand gloved in black leather wrapped around and Dr. Shelby tensed for a moment until the owner of the hand appeared. A pleasantly-dressed gentleman in a neat sweater, a short beard and his hair pulled back looked around the room before spotting Dr. Shelby and seeming to relax.

“Excuse me, is this Eldritch Horrors Anonymous?” He asked, smiling warmly.

“Uh, it’s supposed to be,” Dr. Shelby nodded. If anyone had shown up, he wanted to add, but bit his tongue back.

The man’s smile widened and he turned back from the room to call over his shoulder. “Found it, guys! We’re supposed to be in here!”

Guys? There were more?

Maybe the night wouldn’t be such a bust after all.

The man stepped inside the room and pulled open the door politely. Dr. Shelby couldn’t see the people until they entered, but it didn’t truly matter; no amount of time could have prepared him for the group joining him.

The first one to nearly skip through the door looked like a child at first glance. Definitely not an eldritch horror. She wasn’t much taller than one and with her long blonde hair pulled into pigtails and a doll clutched to her chest, she looked even more like one. She paused long enough to thank the man holding open the door before taking a seat in the middle chair of the semi-circle, directly across from Dr. Shelby. It wasn’t until she was fully seated that he got a proper look at her face. Her strikingly icy eyes were surrounded by thick black rings and every time the hairs in front of her face moved, Dr. Shelby swore he saw black liquid dripping from her scalp. The chill that went down his spine was either negated or enhanced by her wide, jubilant grin. He wasn’t sure which.

The man who sat beside her also seemed confusingly normal at first glance. A plain black t-shirt and leather jacket. Perhaps a little more… edgy than Dr. Shelby would have preferred to dress, but he seemed like an equally charming young man.

Unfortunately, a pattern of three seemingly normal people did not necessarily mean the group would be.

The next one to enter the room had to quite literally duck to pass through the door. Dr. Shelby guessed him to be seven feet tall, give or take a few inches. He was wearing a black suit that covered most of his body, save for his face, which had its own covering of a deep red mask. He didn’t smile like the others had so far. Not even a polite half-smile of acknowledgment. Just sat down in one of the chairs that looked like it might prove to be a little too small.

Dr. Shelby had been so focused on keeping his expression steady while watching the masked member of the group that he hadn’t noticed one final member sneak in through the door and sit on the other side of the circle. He had an oversized alarm clock clutched in one hand, a paper bag in the other and a steady, intense smile in Dr. Shelby’s direction. Though his face was just as covered in red, he seemed to be the exact opposite of the stoic masked member.

“I think that’s everyone,” the man holding the door declared, taking one last glance down the hall before starting to let it go. He was intercepted by a gloved hand pushing back against the door.

“I’m so sorry I’m late.” A final member slid in, face covered in white and black paint and a long leather coat stretching to his ankles. “All the hallways here look the same.”

“We had that problem too,” the man holding open the door nodded. “Kept walking around in circles trying to find the room. And it didn’t get much easier after the flyer got a hole burnt through it right where the room number was listed.”

“I said I was sorry,” the masked member grumbled.

Oh God, he burnt things unintentionally?

“Don’t worry about it, you’re all on time,” Dr. Shelby interjected, hoping to avoid any conflict between the members before the meeting had even technically started.

The final two men took their seats. Six? Not a bad turnout. Might as well get started.

“Welcome everyone, my name is Dr. Shelby.” A collection of polite nods came his way. “Now, you’re all here because you face the same struggle every day and you wanted to meet people like you. Am I right so far?” Everyone nodded again. “Good. I’ve led a lot of support groups just like these and almost everyone in them has felt major improvements knowing that they have a safe place to share their feelings every week. Why don’t we go around the circle and introduce ourselves and share what brings us here?”

It was always a risky move. Especially with brand-new groups. Some of them were bound to be a little more shy or wouldn’t really want to participate until they felt more comfortable with the other members. Dr. Shelby hoped there would at least be one outgoing one amongst them.

Dr. Shelby knew he wasn’t masking his fear very well. He’d perfected the perpetual smile; it was necessary when leading support groups, but he couldn’t always control his eyes.

The group all looked amongst themselves before the man in the sweater held up his hand.

“I can get the ball rolling,” he smiled, standing up. “My name is Bray and for the last few months, my body gets periodically taken over by my dark half named The Fiend, an entity whose sole objective is to cause as much pain and suffering to those around him as physically possible.”

“Thank you, Bray,” he tried to say with as even a voice as possible. “Who’s next?”

“I’ll go,” the girl smiled, standing up with a flounce. “My name’s Alexa and this is Lilly.” She spun the doll around to reveal the most grotesque face Dr. Shelby had ever seen. He wasn’t certain from across the circle, but it looked like the teeth sewn into the mouth were real. “The Fiend showed me the way into the darkness, and Lilly took it from there.”

This is normal for them. It’s not going to help anyone here if you start looking like you’re scared.

But darn, is that doll ever creepy.

The man with the red face paint stood up next.

“I’m the Boogeyman!” He grinned with wide eyes, looking around at each member of the circle erratically. It was only as he began to move around that Dr. Shelby noticed the paper bag he was clutching seemed to be dripping some kind of dark liquid.

“Thank you for introducing yourself… Boogeyman. If it’s not too personal, do you mind if I ask what’s in your bag there?”

“Worms.”

“Worms?”

Boogeyman unrolled the bag and pulled out a handful of dirt-covered, very much alive earthworms before shoving said handful into his mouth. No one around the circle seemed all that disgusted. Like it was a regular Tuesday evening for them. Except for the man with the white face paint who seemed like he was as pale as a ghost underneath.

“I’ll, uh, that’s fine for this week, Boogeyman, but I’ll please ask you to leave your… worms at home next week. We’re not really supposed to have food in this room to keep it peanut-free,” Dr. Shelby explained, holding back the sick feeling knotting his stomach. “But if anyone is thirsty, I’ve got bottles of water and juice boxes on the back table. Feel free to help yourselves.”

Boogeyman nodded and carefully put his worms back into his bag as he sat down. The man with the white face paint immediately raised his hand.

“Yes, your name is…”

“I think I might be in the wrong place.”

Dr. Shelby looked him over. He didn’t look eerily normal like Bray, and he didn’t seem to have brought a bag of worms as a snack. Looked like he fell somewhere in between.

“You seem like you’re in the right place. This is Eldritch Horrors Anonymous; I don’t know where else you’d be tonight.”

The man’s expression changed from nerves to sheepish understanding. “I thought this was Troubled Goths Anonymous. I couldn’t find the flyer and followed Boogeyman in. My mistake.”

Dr. Shelby nodded understandingly. “Right room, wrong day. Troubled Goths Anonymous is Monday nights.”

The man stood to leave with his hands up apologetically. “It was great to meet you all, but I don’t belong here. Best of luck to you… eldritch horrors.”

“Oh, be careful when you come back on Monday. That’s also when they host Troubled Punks Anonymous. Very similar groups, but people seem to have very strong preferences of one over the other.”

The man nodded and left the room as Dr. Shelby turned back to the remaining members. “Some of you came here from those groups, right?”

“Troubled Punks Anonymous kicked me out a few days ago,” Bray sighed, his perpetual smile dropping for a moment. Everyone murmured their sympathy and Alexa patted him on the knee. “It’s alright, though," he continued. "You all seem like a much better fit so far.”

“That’s the point of this group,” Dr. Shelby smiled. “Now who’s next?”

The man in the leather jacket looked towards the man in the mask before shrugging and standing.

“M’name’s Finn. Sometimes the rage o’ battle brings out the Demon King Bálor from within me ‘n with the openin’ o’ his great eye, enemies are laid to waste a’ his feet,” he explained, about as casually as one would talk about what they did over the weekend.

“Glad to have you here, Finn.” It was getting easier to digest the stories of the people around him as he heard more. Maybe he’d even be able to hear the last one without faking the comfort of his smile. “And last, but certainly not least…” He turned towards the masked man expectedly. There was no smile, polite or otherwise. But he also didn’t seem like he was hesitating because he was shy. Just… grumpy.

“You don’t have to introduce yourself if you don’t feel comfortable, but we’re still a small group and as far as I can tell, all very friendly,” Dr. Shelby pushed a little further. The other members nodded in agreement. Even Boogeyman, who had snuck another worm from his bag into his mouth.

“Fine,” he grumbled, standing up. “I’m Kane. I’m the devil’s favorite demon. I grew up in a basement, suffering severe psychological and emotional scarring when my brother set my parents on fire. From there, I shifted around a series of mental institutions until I was grown, at which point I buried my brother alive... twice. Since then, I’ve set a couple of people on fire and abducted various co-workers. Oh, and I once electrocuted a man’s testicles. Years ago, I had a girlfriend named Katie, but let’s just say that didn’t turn out so well. My real father is a man named Paul Bearer who I recently trapped in a meat locker. I’ve been married, divorced, broke up my ex wife’s wedding and attacked the priest and for reasons never quite explained, I have an unhealthy obsession with torturing Pete Rose.”

Okay, maybe they can get weirder.

“Thank you… Kane.” He paused a moment before remembering back to the list that he’d been given a few days before. “That name sounds familiar; I think I was told to expect you, but they said you might be coming with your brother.”

“Probably won’t happen.”

“Why not? Is he not an eldritch horror?”

“He is. He just won’t come. Has better things to do.”

“Like what?”

“He said ‘watching paint dry’.”

“Maybe when you see him again, you can tell him we’re more fun than watching paint dry,” Alexa suggested, bouncing Lilly on her lap.

“That’s right. And that goes for all of you,” Dr. Shelby mentioned. “If anyone knows someone who might need a support group like this, go ahead and invite them. This isn’t Fight Club; it doesn’t have to be secret.”

The group chuckled a little at his attempt at a joke. Even Kane cracked a small smile.

Dr. Shelby relaxed a little in his seat. These people might dress strangely and have bizarre interests, diets and backstories, but deep down, they were just like anyone else. Maybe he could help them after all.

#WWE #Alexa Bliss #Bray Wyatt #Boogeyman #Finn Balor #Sting #Kane #Writing #This was a fun experiment and if people want more I can be easily convinced

29 notes · View notes