#also loop hard to draw wtf

[marsh-snail]

~trauma buddies~

based on this meme

[the-somwthing]

I think a life series idv au could work really well but A) the idv lore can be confusing so I don’t really know it THAT well and B) WHO TF IS GONNA LIKE THIS CROSSOVER 😭

[tallaxia]

(For the ask game) - 5, 8, 12, 22 & 23, for jack, scott AND lon suder >:)

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Jack: Army of Lovers - Obsession

The lyrics, the unhinged video, the 90s trash...it's perfect.

Scott: The Prodigy - We live forever (and a lot of other 90s Prodigy Tracks like Firestarter, No Good or Timezone Bomb )

It reminds me strongly of the chase scene. Could be a perfect alternate music video imo!

Unfortunately, I can't think of anything at all for Suder... any suggestions?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Considering how little fanwork there is, it's hard to say. I really haven't read anything yet that I really despise.

Jack: Maybe Jack taking hard drugs? He's the only one of all the characters who doesn't smoke, neither weed nor cigarettes. He certainly wouldn't have a problem getting his hands on all kinds of pills, but I rather see him eating sweets and junk food all day long. (he should try weed though, dude needs to chill)

Scott: I totally go along with Scott being closeted gay or maybe bi, that fits SO well! But I absolutely can't picture him with Raimi or anyone from the Humanist Alliance. It's a fun crackship tho XD

Lon: Somehow I can't picture him in a former relationship. He gave up his place in civilized life and we know that even among outcasts, the Maquis, he's the odd quiet outsider. He's so off and consumed by his compulsions that he isolates himself and therefore can barely build a real relationship with anyone.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Jack's signet/logo on his shirt he sprayed everywhere looks very similar to the character in the cartoon loop at the beginning. His drawings, which are scattered all over the place, are quite scruffy, but his technical drawings of Warbeast were very clean and accurate, which means he can actually draw well. Maybe the loops are his own animations? So the mad cartoon scientist is basically his OC. Scott: Scott is quite young for a chief executive (I mean, Richard was 29...) He climbed the career ladder way too quickly and got power and a lot of money very fast. Maybe he didn't always have such a big ego and only became jaded by the industry and became such an asshole. When he's alone, insecurities and worries certainly come through, but he wouldn't show them to anyone.

Lon: I think he was born the way he is. Not necessarily that violent to that extent, but without any telepathic abilities. This cut him off from much communication with other Betazoids and he was also an open book to everyone else. Children his age could read his thoughts, but he couldn't read theirs, and that made him an outsider and despicable weirdo from the start.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

Jack: His past and probably many years in CHAANKS basement are always an interesting theme to explore, but tbh...just put this weirdo in situations and I'll feel entertained. The strange mixture of a silly cute goofball, dangerous creep and lonely socially awkward genius is what makes him interesting to me and I just like these "wtf is wrong with him?"-moments. Besides that I see him as a switch and obviously kinky AF. He can be really mean and his kink for all kinds of weapons, preferably lethal, is so obvious, but deep down he's also a sub with a mommy kink. I really love him on both sides, but have a slight preference for needy sub-jack.

Scott: He is a slimy asshole with way too much ego and I love it when someone makes him shut up. Verbally, maybe literally. He definitely needs a lesson and I just love the scenes where he's really scared: not a trace of his arrogant attitude left. A bit of backstory and stuff that happened at Chaank pre-canon is also always appreciated!

Lon: Probably the character with the most lost potential. I particularly like stories where he survives and tries to fight his demons. His death was an easy way out of a moral dilemma and I love to read about a possible future on the ship. And of course I like the twisted psychosexual dynamic with Tuvok. I don't see them in a classic romantic relationship, but they both have a very strong fascination for each other and Suder definitely has a crush. After the meld he would do literally -anything- for him. And I'm sure Tuvok is always there to help him control his remaining violent tendencies.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

It's a pity that there are no really good official pictures of any of the three... all potato quality ;_; so some nice screenshots instead~

[anderperrylover]

ART POLL

Hi Guys

So, I love picking up on art but right now I need some sort of direction on what to draw next - And Well - I could use some help

The Outsiders - My Fav December read last year and yes the MOVIE is GOLD. I read it and loved Darry so much and I cried and laughed reading it - A CLASSIC - I feel like it's drawing the DPS boys - there are similarities but so MANY DIFFERENCES -

Angust Tully from The Holdovers - MY FAVORITE GENRE OF DEPRESSING WINTER FILMS - and my favorite film of 2023 without a DOUBT - Angus is such an interesting character and Dominic Sessa stole the show

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - These three have my heart but I am a Cameron Frye stan forever - Ferris is iconic as a leading man and Sloane is QUEEN. They are legends and God I love this movie - COMFORTING but CAMERON's arc is what I love the most

The Breakfast Club - OFC they had to be on this list - I will forever hate Allison's transition and yes not a fan of John Bender either - Brian stan (kinnie) 4life - THE SOUNDTRACK IS GOLD - The ultimate adrenaline boost

Maurice (1987) - GOD I LOVE THIS MOVIE but Hugh Grant is really hard to draw. But Rupert Graves as Alec would be something of a dream to draw (he's a very expressive character) and Maurice (One of my fav characters in all of fiction)

Derry Girls - I suck at drawing women (which is why I am stuck in a loop of drawing the DPS boys except I did draw Allison once and it came out nice) Would love to draw these girls

Gilmore Girls - Guess who sat down to listen to the Gilmore Girls playlist again - FOREVER LUKE STAN

Pride and Prejudice (the movie and the television show) - I think the show is superior but that's a given (It's a show and it has room to tell the story - a movie gives you a limited number of hours and you have to introduce the conflicts but have the audience root for the couples...) I think it will be an interesting project to be honest...MR. Bingley kinnie but also Lizzie and Mary Bennet Kinney (Mr. Bingley stan for life)

The Secret History - Pretentious shits and WTF Richard Origin story (Cause I mean sure Cameron started it but Richard Papen is on this completely other level) - I would also draw it in my 1990s fancast format

Richard Papen - Robert Sean Leonard (Inspired by his audio book reading - But I mean it's RSL)

Henry Winter - Brendan Fraser (Based on School Ties - I think he'd be perfect)

Francis Abernathy - Ethan Hawke (There's this one picture that I came across on Pinterest and he looks the part)

Bunny Corcoran - Matt Damon (Him in The Talented Mr. Ripley is the evidence - and he's THE popular fancast - Literally in like 95% of the Edits)

Camilla Macauley - Gweyneth Paltrow (I don't know but it just works)

Charles Macauley - Leonardo DiCaprio (Look, I couldn't find anyone else. Do you have any recs guys?)

[henrysglock]

Do you have any thoughts about the character of Alice in the st novel 'Suspicious Minds' being the one who sees the UD first, and the demogorgon, given the other Alice(s)?

Oooooh, a good question. I haven't actually read Suspicious Minds! I probably ought to, and honestly I've been meaning to...but I know the novels are loosely canon at best. They're closer to a lightly-guided fanfiction, so I don't take too much of it into account unless the writer is someone who writes for the filmed show. (Like the Eddie novel!)

I do think it's interesting that Alices crop up all over, though, and always right away at the start of things.

Alice Creel was the first one to notice that Henry was quite literally not himself in TFS—even Virginia just thought that Henry was mentally unwell. Alice knew it was something else, and she seemed to be the first/only one to really pick up on it being an entirely separate entity.

Then, of course, Alice Creel (mother) from the Indianapolis Gazette being the first mother in Hawkins to deal with a supernatural child...and said supernatural child's name starts with an E. And Jim Hopper dated one Alice Gilbert in 1956-1957/his first year of high school, which would have been around the time of TFS Henry's flaying in Nevada, and around the time Edward Creel moved to Hawkins, per the Indianapolis Gazette. Jim Hopper then adopts a supernatural child whose name starts with E, and whose mother was in an experimental group with another Alice, Alice Johnson, per SM.

You mention Alice Johnson having seen the UD and the Demogorgon, but she also saw the Mindflayer and demodogs. Her vision of these things, per the book, were visions of the future. She, with the help of Terry and the others, faked her death to go into hiding away from the lab.

[cough]

[cough]

Which could mean nothing. Mothergate, anyone?

Anyway, Nancy Wheeler was also given visions of the supposed future, "Henry" Creel was given time-based powers (we still don't know which one is which with Edward, really), and we still don't have a concrete explanation for all this:

Because TFS Henry never draws! Ever! Not once! (Patty's father does, though. And he draws the Mindflayer. Which could mean nothing. Anyway. Who said that? Don't think too hard about how much TFS Henry and Mr. Newby parallel each other. Haha.) And TFS Henry isn't even the right age to be this ^^ Henry. So. We really still have exactly zero new information regarding wtf that little guy was drawing. Could be a vision of the future, like Alice Johnson's visions, since their stories do double up in various other ways. I've been on that time loop bullshit for forever and a half, now.

Not to mention Jane Ives' room being decked out in Alice in Wonderland stuff vs Nell Fisher's Alice in Wonderland outfit and the Alice in Wonderland paint by number that was released with Alice Creel's bedroom wallpaper in the background. And Holly's white rabbit lite-brite. And El running away from Benny's Burgers while White Rabbit plays. And Holly and young Jane being lookalikes.

Anyway. Creeler Clan, wya? It's powers time :)

[emotiandon]

OC x Canon week: Day 1 @theocxcanonweek

Prompt: Play fighting, Kuroo x Emi (Haikyuu)

Dialogue: “Yeah it’ll totally be weird if we kissed” Kiyoko x Yuri (Haikyuu)

Fashion: Historical, Xander x Seraphina (Fe fates)

Kuremi…., fuck them two. I was struggling with a pose- with picking a couple. Garry fucking oak was the runner up. But I bailed for another prompt for my boy Garry. This piece was actually faster than I Imagined (probs because I was tried and wanted to get something out). This piece was straight forward other then the previously mentioned issues and the only other problem was the fucking background like wtf why is it so hard. Thankfully Pinterest carried me and found me some good poses (ikik it's not really playfighting but uhhhhh guys playfighting poses doesn't exist Ig) and my main inspo was Miss Mai (I MISS MAI I LOVE YOU) mid piece but considering the time pretty good 6/10 Black cats

For Kiuri, I wanted to make a comic for my favourite lesbian and her straight crush. “She likes a boy” by Nxdia was on loop during this piece wile I was dying but I wanted to make this piece gay, cute, pink and the panels not scroll made (does that make sense??????) also ist apparently I can’t find (ground??????) kaebeadon so I had to use my big thinker brain. Also I changed Yuri to be Gyaru last minute just because her old hair was so hard to draw like wtffffffff. Uhhhh cute bows and hearts to spruce it up. Yeah I don’t hate it but god I wish I could have thinner line art. 9/10 lesbians

Xanderphina my love, I created the art on a whim after looking through old paintings and landing on this masterpiece

"Composer Miháy Mosonyi and his wife" By Henrik Weber, Or as me and my brother had dubbed- the Girlboss painting.

Such a slay piece- my only issue was that I could not replicate the girlbussy she has. Also I had such a hard time picking the background colours and the frame colours wtf. Miss Loola gave me the good old potrait addiction. The fashions was hopefully Victorians ish enough, I tried my best lmao 8.5/10 Nohrian scum

[russenoire]

i think this is primarily an american thing, or at the very least an anglosphere (british commonwealth and former territories) thing.

speaking as an american: i am a member of a minority group here. people of african ancestry number ~13% of the population, and this country has done its utmost for centuries to make us feel like shit for existing, to varying degrees.

i have lost count of the americans in general i've encountered who see anime characters as white unless explicitly stated, because 'white' is still considered 'default' in the US even though this hasn't been true from a purely demographic perspective for some time. i'm not even going to get into the wall street journal regularly freaking out about this, or much of the anti-abortion fervor here being driven by this specific fear. the people who draw characters as black just want to see themselves included in the media they enjoy, period. or represented in a positive light for once. my guess as to why we rarely see other racebends is because other PoC maybe don't feel as left out with respect to skin tone representation?

outside the US, this center doesn't hold; this just reads like PoC erasing representations of other PoC. asians are also PoC; their cultures are important as well.

whenever i see serizawa from mob psycho 100 drawn as black because he has extremely curly, pouffy hair...

or hear about people who claim nurugai (indigenous sanka) from jigokuraku,

or mugen from samurai champloo (indigenous ryukyuan),

or anthy from revolutionary girl utena as black,

i wonder. are y'all also reading the characters like this because you don't know that not all asians are pale-skinned with bone-straight hair? anthy actually wears a bindi.

like, how much of this is lack of awareness and how much is desire for honest representation?

in the case of nurugai, american fans took to twitter to complain for days that she didn't 'sound black' in the english dub. this whole line of protest was so unintentionally racist in so many directions that it looped in on itself: nurugai's VA, cassie ewulu, is actually black.

WTF does it mean to 'sound black'?? why savage the casting of an actual black person, who did an awesome job voicing her character, for not 'sounding black'? need i mention again that nurugai is an indigenous japanese girl that people chose to read as black because of her dark skin and pouffy hair? a real-life case of fans imposing their character headcanons on the actors who play them.

the casting of witch from mercury's suletta in english saw similar fuckery; suletta looks like she could be west asian if you squint hard enough, and fans demanded she be voiced by someone with middle eastern ancestry (it didn't happen, and her dub VA jill harris also did a fantastic job despite the initial hate). make it make sense...

white americans who lighten the skin of darker characters emphatically do not have the same aims. they already claim the bulk of media representation in the US; so often when they do this, it's about 'correcting' a supposed imbalance brought on by the presence of PoC where they 'shouldn't' be (as an example, the sheer amount of white folks in the US who are unaware of the historical presence of PoC in medieval europe is, um, distressingly large), or pushing back against calls for more racial diversity on a larger social scale ('keep your "woke politics" out of my entertainment'), or an only slightly more innocent and defensible preference for lighter-skinned characters in general. this kind of shit gets called 'whitewashing' by PoC for a reason; i refuse to call it racebending.

other races? they've been sidelined for so long in the US that they may as well not register in some parts around here. the USA touts itself as a very diverse place, but that diversity is NOT evenly distributed. there are swaths of the country, mostly rural and suburban, where the only place you'll find real live PoC is on TV. or working as unseen domestic/agricultural labor.

outside the US? it gets simultaneously more and less complicated, and can look just as problematic as black racebending in fan art for non-american audiences... especially with respect to anime characters. almost half the world's population is asian and it's just a different kind of erasure.

i would love to see more black characters in anime! but we're even more rare in japan than we are in the anglosphere, and racist anti-black/dark-skin caricatures are not uncommon (terraFORMARS, anyone? superalloy darkshine from one punch man?).

though i'm grateful for whatever decent actual representation black folks get, i would rather see none at all than... whatever ethnicity the otherwise forgettable takeuchi from mob psycho 100 is supposed to be:

i don't read him as black, for what it's worth, but his coloration and little black sambo-redolent character design are fucked. up. what were y'all thinking, studio bones??

this is takeuchi in the manga, btw:

i must add: on this website where saying something at all is frequently equated to silencing others...

my voicing my opinions does not take away anyone's rights to their headcanons. i have reblogged some racebent art! i appreciate the skill of the artist and genuinely like the art, outside of my own complicated feelings about racebending. nuance exists and contradictory thoughts can coexist in one person. so please, do whatever the fuck you want. if anyone harasses you and i see it, i will speak up for you. if i don't love your art, i won't reblog and i will keep scrolling. it's that simple.

this does not apply to cosplay. black anime fans should be able to cosplay any character they want without harassment or death threats... cosplaying someone of an ethnicity different from one's own is not racebending, and it's usually the only option black cosplayers have.

</end rant>

The automatic assumption of so many people in fandoms that every character with a darker skin color = black and every character with a lighter skin color = white. And the absolute outrage that ensues for some reason when artists draw dark-skinned Asian characters as Asian instead of black. More races than just black and white exist, people.

[sanctus-ingenium]

u guys wanna see more WIPs... similar to the last post, here are Some WIPs

all of these were started in sai before going on to procreate. before going back to sai again in the case of the strength card

so Blue Sky/Out Of Time... yeah it’s extremely self-explanatory, it’s very obvious what this scene depicts and i’m sure everyone gets it (this is a joke i’ve had multiple people dm me asking wtf this even is). the one element that absolutely NEEDED to be there was the LED digital clock with a bullshit time on it, and i decided to replace it with an AIRE warning sign instead and put the LED readouts in the bg. the warning sign in this setting serves the purpose of informing ppl when there are hostile faeries around. i knew what the colours would be from the beginning, but it took a bit for me to realise what sort of shading style i wanted (it took forever). but i did know i wanted to contrast the very sketchy black void against the cleaner and almost cartoony/comic book style rest of the drawing, to emphasise the fact that the foreground sky and background void are made of two very different things. again i used a colour shifting brush to quickly make all the shards of sky different colours, but originally i planned to have some of the shards be dark or night time (with stars or the moon etc). unfortunately it didn’t work, it was too dark and pascal got lost against it.

My Eyes Are Up Here is pretty obviously the exact same scene with the same character, in the same field, but with a different sort of atmosphere. i sketched this in sai then did the final in procreate. originally it was going to have a black background

i really like this version tbh but the blue works better. i think he looks good against dark backgrounds where it’s kind of hard to see wtf is even happening there

so about the neon signs..... i’m well aware that the sketch has way more promise than what the final ultimately was, and that’s because i found that i didn’t have the technical or artistic ability to pull off the complex neon signs like i wanted to. i couldn’t get it looking good enough so i had to scrap them. but these signs will be back, i want to draw them properly and do them justice. the gif was unplanned too but i thought it would be fun to have the flicker be very intermittent so that if you scrolled past it you might not even realise, or you’d have to stick with it just to catch it looping. i used GIMP to make the gif and change the frame rate, and this actually took a very long time because i had to preview it over and over. anyway if you WERE to get lost in the púca’s field, in this story, you would see neon signs like this encouraging you to follow them.

Strength is actually the last drawing i ever made that ended with a paint-over in sai, and the oldest drawing here. as such i actually don’t think it’s representative of my current ability but i do have a soft spot for it for sentimental reasons lol. the reason for the paint-over in sai was because i drew this at a time when i still did not trust procreate to be able to place the level of finish on it that i wanted

the background took me a thousand years to figure out. literally it was so annoying that i considered scrapping it for something simpler. but the idea was for it to be a kind of fairytale-ish lost in the woods sort of look while also appearing like the blood vessels around the human heart. the branches were also supposed to be heart-shaped in cross-section but i spent so long zoomed in painting them that i forgot to zoom out to see if all those fine details were actually visible, and it turned out they weren’t. i was disappointed that i couldn’t get félix’s tattoos to look right but that’s what i get for making a character with shit tons of both tattoos and body hair. i also got rid of the foreground branches really soon because they weren’t adding anything and muddied up the readability of his pose

the swan is from a daemon au and bears no relation to my other swan characters. i just like swans a lot

[youareinlovees]

hiii i just send you the creative writing so uh only reply to this ask if you didn't get the other one by some chance and i'll send it again :D

Thank you for your service bestie 😁 I think it might be easier if I put it under a cut but omfg I'm obsessed with it and the dynamic is so spot onnn wtf

Hiiiii I bring you a gift!! I hope it's good, I don't really post my ~creative writing~ and this is my first time writing these two so hopefully, it'll suffice. Also ironically I think they may be one off the longest things I've written. Anyways ////

-

As he approaches the Belfast rental that served as his temporary home for the next few months, he can't help but smile. For the first time since they started filming he not coming home to a vacant house. Instead, this time, he's going to be coming home to his beautiful, wonderful girlfriend.

He's been looking forward to this all day, barely able to focus on blocking and script reading with the thought of her just blocks away weighing so heavily on his mind. It certainly didn't help that he had spent so much time the night before looking through her photos at the Brits. She had looked absolutely radiant, her beautiful features perfectly accentuated by her lovely outfit.

Gosh, he's so obsessed with her. She easily occupies much of his thoughts on a near-daily basis and whenever they were together he can barely get enough of her. They've been apart a few days now and even that was slowly killing him. He needs her. Need to be near her, to touch her, embrace her, kiss her soundly. And the fact that he's about to be able to do so makes his heart swell with joy.

Opening the front door, his heart beats loudly as anticipation grows in his stomach. "Honey, I'm home." He quips.

Immediately he's greeted by a white and brown fluff ball scampering around his feet. Chuckling to himself, he bends down, scooping the excitable cat into his arms.

"Hello there Benjamin."

"Well someone missed his daddy." A warm voice floats across the room and he looks up, a grin forming at the sight of his lovely girlfriend.

Benjamin squirms in his arms and he releases the fluffy cat before striding across the room. His hands land on her arms, covered by gray fabric that's soft to his touch. "I hope he wasn't the only one."

With a cheeky grin, she presses up on her toes, lips meeting his as her arms loop around his shoulders. Her lips are warm and soft and feel like home and he revels in her touch.

"He wasn't." She breathes after pulling back slightly. Her blue eyes flutter open, looking up at him through her dark eyelashes and he's fairly certain he falls even deeper in love right then and there.

Their next kiss is far shorter, though the passion is still there. Finally, he glances around the room and then back to her, eyebrow cocked. "Bring enough boxes?"

She follows his gaze and then laughs. "It's five months, babe, I have to be prepared."

He chuckles and goes to reply when her eyes light up. "Oh! And I set up my recording gear in the guest room. How does 'Kitty Committee Studio," She cups her hands, as if miming parenthesis, "(Belfast, Ireland)' sound?"

His eyebrows shoot up. "It sounds like you've been busy."

Her shoulders bounce up as she gives a little shrug. "A bit. I'm really excited for this chapter of our lives and I don't mind having a few crazy days if it means getting to spend more time with you."

A smile breaks across his face, his heart swelling with joy. She always says the most romantic things, things he couldn't even dream of saying on his best days-- though she's quick to disagree with him, citing his stint as "William Bowery" as evidence-- the writer in her popping out in all facets of life. He loves that part of her, seeing her mind at work as she pours her heart out, representing her inner feelings with the most beautiful sounds. It means a great deal to him that she loves him enough to express it so wondrously through her music. He's not sure if he can ever repay her for those amazing sonic gifts, his platform far less diaristic than hers, but he certainly tries his best to show her just how much he appreciates and loves her each and every day.

"What's that face for?" She asks and he realizes he's been gazing lovingly at her far longer than what would ordinarily be considered comfortable.

"I love you." The words slide off his tongue easily, an outcome of saying them for the better part of almost five years now but they hold the same weight, the same truth, every time he says them.

She beams, her eyes twinkling. "I love you too."

He kisses her soundly and then squeezes her hand. "Also congrats on being a Global Icon winner, love. We should celebrate."

"Oh yes! I'll get the wine." She nods and begins to head into the kitchen when he grabs her hand. It's a gentle yet firm grip and there's an amused look on her face as he pulls her into his arms.

His voice is low, a suggestive tone to it as he raises an eyebrow. "That's not the type of celebrating I had in mind."

"It's not?" She questions, tilting her head but he can see amusement dancing in her eyes.

"You're a Global Icon now, I think I need to pay my respects." He tilts his head, moving ever closer to her until their noses bump together, lips barely touching. He can feel her breath on his skin, smell her woody perfume. She's so close yet not nearly close enough. "Can I do that?"

She nods, skin brushing against him. Desire for her courses through his veins and with that simple gesture he finally gives in to it.

Their lips crash together, caressing and pressing against each other. His hands are in her hair, long blonde strands tangling between his fingers. She sighs breathily into the kiss and then he's met with her tongue swiping against his lips, a silent question of permission which he is quick to grant.

He can feel her hands on his biceps, fingers squeezing around his muscles before loosening and running up over his shoulders and to his neck. In turn, his hands slide down her back, slipping under the loose bottom of her shirt, his fingertips gliding over her hips.

Their kisses get a little bolder, a little more desperate, and soon he's pulling away from her mouth and kissing down her neck, nipping gently at the skin there. Her soft, breathy moans serve to spur him on and he sucks roughly on her neck, causing her to groan loudly.

He spends a few more minutes kissing across her neck, down to her collarbone, trying to cover every inch of exposed skin. Her fingers tighten in his hair, gently pulling him away from where he was kissing dangerously close to her pulse point. "Babe... No more teasing."

He gives her a devilish grin and then his lips are back on hers, frantic passionate kisses until they're both absolutely breathless.

Taking a small step back, his eyes scan up and down her body. "Get undressed." He tries to command but she merely smirks and gives him a wink.

"Make me."

A devilish grin crosses his face seconds before he surges forward, kissing her once more as his fingers pull on the hem of her shirt. The second it's off of her, he can feel his heart rate spike at the sight of her lacy black bra. No matter how many times he sees her like this, it will always send a bolt of energy racing through his core.

"Gorgeous," He breathes, bending down to trail kisses right above the fabric.

She utters a soft "ding" which causes both of them to chuckle. Her laughter soon dissolves into a moan as he expertly unlatches her bra and pulls a nipple into his mouth, his hand going to cover the other one.

He massages her breast softly, hand moving in sync with his mouth as he sucks long and hard. Her fingers glide through his hair, nails occasionally scratching across his neck, causing a shiver to run up his spine. After a moment, he switches up his tactic, his teeth grazing against her nipple as he rolls her other one between his thumb and forefinger.

Her moans grow louder and louder and the next thing he knows, she’s pulling at his shirt, trying to take it off him. He obliges, his fingers going to hook into her waistband in turn.

She's completely naked a second later and he can feel his pants growing tighter at the sight. His hands wrap around her biceps, gently guiding her to the couch as her hands stroke across his now bare chest.

"Sit." He urges her and she obliges, sitting down with her legs pressed together and a playful smirk dancing across her lips.

Chuckling to himself, he kneels down, placing his hands on her knees and his chin on top of his hands. Gazing up at her, he takes in everything. Her blonde hair falling across her shoulders, the amused cock to her eyebrow, the freckles splashed across her skin. Everything about her fills him with an indescribable joy.

"I'm really proud of you." He says after a long quiet moment.

Her playful smirk morphs into an adorable, breathtaking smile as she tenderly strokes his cheek. He returns the look before turning his head and placing a kiss against her palm.

"I love you," Comes her quiet voice, laced with adoration.

"I love you too." He ducks his head, placing a kiss on each of her knees. "Now... let me show you just how much."

Sliding his hands down between her legs, he gently pushes them apart. He weaves his way between her thighs, one kiss at a time, drawing nearer and nearer to where he knew she wanted him most. And then he pauses, mere inches away, and begins to kiss back up her leg. She lets out an annoyed groan, cupping his face in her hands and not so gently guiding him back.

Chuckling, he slips his hands beneath her legs, hooking them up over his shoulders. He pauses again, looking up at her. Their eyes lock and he gives a little smile before leaning in and placing small kisses around her clit. There's a gasp, followed by a soft whimper and he can't help but grin, his kisses becoming deeper in turn.

His tongue flicks between his lips as he travels down between her folds, giving an experimental taste. He can feel himself grow harder as he realizes just how wet she is.

And it's all for him.

With that final thought, he focuses all his energy on making her feel good. His tongue continues to slide in and out of her, tasting her with fervor. Her fingers tangle in his hair, her whimpers turning to low moans as he moves.

And then he pulls away slightly, glancing up at her. Her chest is heaving, eyes half-lidded, and her lips hang open ever so slightly.

"You're beautiful," He finds himself breathing and she squirms a little as the air from his mouth brushes against her core.

If she's going to respond, he certainly doesn't give her a chance, pulling her clit into his mouth and sucking roughly.

Taylor shouts his name, her fingers clenching in his hair. He barely notes the pain, however, hand flattening on her stomach to hold her in place as he concentrates solely on her uninhibited cries of pleasure and the contracting muscles beneath his mouth.

A second later, he slides two fingers inside of her, moving slowly at a pace he knew would torture her. His fingers reach as far as they can-- which in his case are very far-- and he gives them an experimental few pumps. Her walls flutter around him and he smiles-- mouth still on her clit-- and begins to stroke her walls, still sucking on that little bundle of nerves.

Her ankles lock around his back, thighs squeezing his head, keeping him in place. He can tell she's getting close, her moans increasing with frequency so he doesn't let up. Rather, he doubles his efforts, sucking and stroking, harder and faster.

It's sexy, so sexy and he looks up, maintaining eye contact with her even though her eyes are barely open. He can hardly see the blue peeping from below her eyelashes. The whole image is enough to make him come undone and he groans, the sound vibrating from his chest.

Her heels dig into his back, a long moan that morphs into his name tearing from her lips as she comes undone. He doesn't stop, still moving in order to draw her orgasm out as she twitches and writhes above him. Eyes never moving from her face, the whole sight imprinted in his brain, memories forming to torture him in the dead of night or on long trips away from her. But he doesn't mind, the occasional distance only serving to make the reunion that much sweeter.

Finally, her body sags and he moves away, trailing soft kisses up and down her thighs and over her hips. Her fingers brush through his hair, pushing it away from his face and then trail down to stroke across his beard. He's sure he has her coated all around his mouth so he licks his lips, glancing up at her to see that she's smiling.

"I love you," are the first words out of her mouth, causing him to drop another kiss on her hipbone.

He rests his chin against her stomach, a small smile on his lips. "I love you too. I guess it was good then?"

She laughs and then beckons him upwards with one finger. Obeying, he pushes himself up, crawling along her body to hover over her.

Cupping his cheeks, she laughs again. "It was amazing. Thank you."

Now it's his turn to laugh, turning to nuzzle her hand. "Anything for a Global Icon."

She tilts her head, cocking an eyebrow. "So you'd do the same for Elton John or Robbie Williams?"

With a chuckle, he shakes his head, "No, I like boobs too much."

"Oh is that all?"

"Yep." He ducks his head, peppering kisses over her chest as if to prove his point.

She cups his cheeks again, guiding his face back up to hers. Her face is twisted in an exaggerated pout, pink lip jutting out and he half-heartedly resists the temptation to pull on it with his teeth.

"Really?" Her tone is innocent but he can see the cocky look on her face and he loves it.

They're silent for a long moment, each party daring the other, a silent dance of who is more stubborn. But the strain in his pants is almost too much to bear, her smug looks not doing him any favors, so he relents. "No," He places a quick kiss against her lips. "I like you far too much to consider doing anything with anyone else ever."

"Good," Her hands slide up from his cheeks to hook around his neck, "Because you're all mine."

"Indeed I am."

Their lips meet again, this kiss far more passionate than the last. Tongues dancing together as their hands glide across each other's skin, exploring and scratching.

Pretty soon he feels her hands on his waistband and then the button on his pants being popped. Pulling back slightly, he gives her room to pull down his jeans and then boxers, sighing with relief as he's finally released from their confines.

Kicking his pants from his feet, he returns to kissing her, hands sliding up and down her sides. He groans loudly into her mouth as he feels her hand wrap around his cock, giving him a few slow strokes just how he likes it. He has to stop kissing her to grit his teeth. God, if she keeps doing that he's going to cum any second now.

His hand wraps around her wrist, stilling her movements. "Couch or bed?"

"Couch," She says without hesitation. "I want you inside of me now."

She lies down longways and he climbs on top, hovering over her. Grabbing her thigh, he guides her leg to hook around his waist, her other one following in suit.

His dick slides across her clit, the action causing both of them to moan and a moment later he pushes inside of her. Her mouth forms an open "o" as he moves in slowly, eyes never leaving her face. She's wet and warm around him, a perfect fit. It's like they were made for each other.

He moves slowly at first allowing both of them to find their rhythm. It gives him time to suck on her neck or her chest, little ways that will add to her pleasure. But pretty soon she's urging him to move faster, thrust harder and he's all too happy to follow her commands.

They move together, him building up speed as her ankles lock behind him, pushing him in even closer. Their moans echo together, unintelligible aside from the occasionally uttering of each other's name. Her nails claw down his back, too short to leave a mark but the action still arouses him even more.

He's close-- so close he can barely think straight-- but he's determined to get her there first. Hand slipping between them, he begins to rub slow circles on her clit, the action causing her nails to dig in further.

As his hand speeds up in time with his thrusts, she yanks his head down to kiss him only to tear away seconds later as her body convulses and she cries out.

Her walls clamp down around him, so tight he nearly collapses in surprise. A few thrusts later and he's a goner, body twitching as he cums.

When he can finally see straight, she pulls him down next to her, snuggling into his chest as they lie on the couch, hot and sweaty from their actions.

"Welcome home, darling." He mutters into her hair, pressing a kiss against the top of her head.

She hums in response, tilting her head to kiss him.

He has a great feeling that these next few months in Belfast are going to be quite fun.

[littlecafe]

omg those methods are all so much better for packing the cd! the paper envelopes make me so nervous when i try to take it out. its so dumb to think about how much they could have done better. i got my album this week and the cover is just so sad, even the embossed details are really difficult to see...i wish they could have at least put their group logo or honestly anything else. even the fake group from the drama jr was a part of had actual albums for purchase, and the quality was so much better??

thats truee they were so young when they started, and they still have some time before they have to go... but aron started a podcast with his friend and they just released their first video! it looks really promising and im glad he isnt limited anymore :')

truly the group is so close with each other like always wearing each others clothes or whatever and showering each other with compliments, i dont even know how solo fans justify themselves.

oh my gosh posters for packaging?? thats an expensive piece of paper! ah noo there arent many shops near me so i order them online, which always means a random poster. i did get a group poster though which im very happy about :D and thankfully the pages werent ripped, but just the fear of the possiblity really made the experience less enjoyable that it should have been. i do think those are a decent size for posters. ah did you get your day6 one in a tube?

the albums after the merge just keep getting more disappointing the more you think about it, like romanticize with the tiniest paper photobook in a "box" that would be so easily crushed, and now a blank white cover with empty pages inside :| i miss the happily ever after album budget so much. plus their q is and canvas album were beautiful and the company was literally in debt at that time!

yes the paper envelopes are just not it, when taking it out you have to be extra careful if you don't want to fingerprint the other side....and it just feels kinda wrong storing the cd inside a paper envelope and then inside a book (the album) like it's not even a storage box type album it's literally book style i have no idea why they deviated from attaching it inside one of the covers...it's not even expensive to do like jyp does it cheap af for some day6 albums just a little foamy circle thing to hold it in place

omg the cover ugh i thought the embossing was going to be way more noticeable than that??? but it's soooo light, it's hard to pick up on camera and probably not insanely better in person i bet...the fact that only the 1 and 0 are in black (not counting that tiny ass text at the bottom) makes it the only thing really visible on the album, no group name, no album name, no logo like you can't even tell who the album belongs to it's really a frustrating design choice, also this is minor but the fact that the 1 and 0 aren't even aligned, which wouldn't be a problem at all if you could see the rest of the typography design, except you can't since the rest of the numbers are white so from further away it's just a floating 1 in one corner of the album and a slight lower 0 on the other side like wtf

plssss i saw fans talking about the fake group's album too and it really does look so much better i'm so sick how can you let a group that's not even real beat you in the album department like please do better omg nu'est was done so dirty

yes thankfully there is still some time, unless it's just unlucky drawings that have you get called earlier but i don't really know how it works exactly or what years they are up to now eep but oh wow the first episode is out? i'll have to check it out when i have the time, i've just been out of the loop lately on a lot of things since i can apparently only divide my energy between 2 things at max (rip)

honestly don't know what they are even using to justify their thoughts bc the members are so close and truly enjoy each other's company in literally every video and show i've ever watched of them it's crazy they have solo stans that are that adamant about it too

aw i see, yea kpop stores are still pretty rare and i think every online website just gives randomly but ahhh i'm happy to hear your album got to you safely and nothing is damaged!! and the group poster too omg lucky!! ot5 pictures are always a win i love that for you! oh god yea, if i knew beforehand that albums were arriving in those conditions i would've been so nervous too so i'm glad i didn't??? but also if something was wrong in my album i think i would cry like the ripped pages are really too much.....

oh i think it might be more common for stores in korea to do that, my sister bought the nu'est album physically in store so there's nothing to pack but the poster was rolled and taped by a cut scrap piece of a tvxq poster but it wasn't an official one, it lowkey looked like a press picture from ages ago and it was double sided too idk why the store has it and used it to roll up their posters SJHJDSFDS

i also remember a tiktok that cause a lot of chaos on twitter back then, the only thing i can pull up about it now is this screenshot but seems like occasionally, unsold/ungiven posters do just get crumpled or cut up for packaging ;_;

i didn't get my day6 posters in a tube since i bought them in store! they just roll it up loosely for me and put it in the bag with the album or hand it off to me~ i have bought albums online before but were bought long after pre-order benefits ended so those never came with posters for me but from unboxing videos seems like they tend to come in a tube, i think some places give you the option to have it come folded too if you don't want the tube

yea that flimsy box...what they were thinking like that packaging is so easily damaged during shipping and these albums literally get shipped everywhere!! they were clearly trying to cheap out and not give them a hard cover box but then why would u even attempt that packaging style...if they wanted to go soft cover they should just make it a slip box like this, with everything fitted to the cover so it won't get easily dented but maybe that would expose how thin the photobook was 🙄

those blank pages along with so many useless white space it's horrible, my sister said it reminds her of those testing booklets that have those white pages that say "this page has been intentionally left blank" there's literally no reason to have empty pages in a photobook 😭😭

so true...wish we had that budget back at least for this last album, happily ever after was truly their best work for nu'est imo very sad that it just got progressively worse and more money grabby as the albums went on and then the horrible quality downgrade and price increase after the merge just the bitter cherry on top ugh...exactly...they managed to make decent albums with no money before yet now they have money and this is what we get???

[anestheticrage]

Be me: Japanese honor student🎓, 15, with half a brain and even less of a plan. Hunting bitches by day and witches by night. Livin that dank only child✌️ life while mom n dad yeet all over the globe, leavin me plenty of time to forget not to make 2 lunches for myself #quirky 😜

no time for socialization or basic electronics skills ???📱??? when your best friends are an alien demon rabbit🐰👽 and the inexplicable Hole ™ in your brain. lmao, btw did i mention im ✨M✨A✨G✨I✨C✨A✨L✨

dreamin bout my 2D waifus again when familiar pink haired cancer patient dances through my brain passin out fliers: Kamihama Meguca Dating Service: Sponsored by Cult of the Magius. 250 stones per session 🤔

seems legit, Mr. Moneybags. wasn't spending my unwieldy sack of gemstones on anything else anyway. lets pull 💎💎💎

first up we have Redhead Radagast and her plethora of plants. 🌿☺️🦎

anndd, nearly dies immediately. 

well not off to a great start but i guess shes pretty cute at lea- oh FUCK its her girlfriend, Tsundere Poseidon😒🔱💦, and their exasperated, straight and single Sword Mom 😔🗡️🔥. fml gonna have to save up for the next pull. might as well play a few rounds with what i got tho. 

get in some good girl talk about things like school, color coded hair styles, body count, permanent soul damage, and our personal demon pacts. ya know, the usual 😚 . realize my dark backstory seems to be missing, so the girls take me to Ketchup Queen Sappho 🍅🥧 (wtf?) to molest my glowy egg stone. whatevs, more action than ive had since Kuroe 🖤 got added to the story anyway

the gang agrees it's time to hunt down the cutest rabbit pimp 🕶️🐇💵 in the city. >> say 🎵mukyuuu🎵 one more time and ill hug you so hard my backstory will pop right out, you adorable fluffy bastard. plz be my new best friend 💕

Form brand new friendship pact with Kyubae, and remember that my lil Sis 🐥 was always the best wingman for pickin up magic chicks, and kept her side of the room so spotless i forgot she existed. whoops 乁༼☯‿☯✿༽ㄏ Maybe if I find her i can stop paying these exorbitant pull fees.📵💎

speaking of which: hot damn this week's featured bachelorette is a 19 year old model and magical detective🔎 with massive levels of PTSD and self loathing 🥵💙💦 more likely to stab you or dramatically jump off a rooftoop than utter a single positive comment. wow, maybe i really COULD find true love…

... if i had MORE THAN A 1% FUCKING DRAW CHANCE. 😡 smh

hard to make much progress finding sis or winning the broken heart of a hard boiled detective amidst the never ending lover's quarrel of the Trident Vine Lesbians. 💔 Sword Mom tells them if they don't behave a monster will take them away. LOL classic mom 🤣

>>>HOLY FUCK IT DID<<<

declare all-out war on urban legends, starting with staircases ⚔️ to reunite the dysfunctional trio, and hope that I net a way better lineup with the next 10x pull. at least sad sleuth lady came to help out. they say combat is the best way to bond wi-   and there she goes off the rooftop again 🙄 fml

alright that got way off track, we need a fresh start, away from all the loli drama. how bout a little B&E🔓🔨🤷🏻‍♀️ at the local house of worship to clear my head. ahh nothing like the unanswered prayers of the masses to get you in the mood for another wasted pull, and the 🔥 MIGHTIEST 🔥 headache you could ask for with a side of Double Cooked Pork 🐖🍜 (meh 5/10🧾)

venture forth into the spiritual unknown with your new human flamethrower🔥🌻🧡 and ask your favorite private eye to please, for the love of Eve, trade Meguca accounts with me~~~ Head through the eastern spirit portal to meet up with hologram propaganda sis and detective crush's evil ex, who joined a dating-app cult (#fuck) and also turned into the moon?🌕?(that's rough buddy)

get ambushed by Acid Horse on Wheels 🌈🐴 and vomit up my soul so hard that its time for a crossover episode. T U R F F F   W A R R R *que operatic harmonies* 💛 Blondie with the hair drills and enough attitude and guns to fill up a noble phantasm tries to ban my account permanently, but PI heartthrob denies her admin privileges. aww babe i didn't know you cared. 😭♥️

get kidnapped by my new true love and go back to her place 😏  defs enough empty rooms to house five emotionally traumatized girls and at least two ghosts hehehe👻 XD 💚🃏💜🎸 decide to form the anti-gossip brigade and recruit my blazing sunflower after getting ambushed by the witch living in my fruit loops🥣

❌outvoted 2:1 that cults are bad. mf. fiinneee one last pull to round out the team and then I'll delete the app. cmonnn Karin 🎃~

OH HELL YEAH TWO FOR ONE.

Always wanted a daughter 💜🔨🐄 with a penchant for pissing off the local Martial Arts & Books Club and drinking suspicious liquids offered by total strangers. Well if it's good enough for her AND the sexy mayadere with enough game to seduce a mermaid, might as well get in on that myself. 

#curseddrank 🤢 0/24 would not recommend to a friend, 'cept maybe Ria

win alot of cash 🤑, blow up a fountain, meet the pied piper²🎶🖕, moon cult, monochrome feathers, something about liberation✊🏻; adopt temper tantrum cow girl. aces 💜🥩

Next up!!! skydiving with DJ Hammer! Jump to apparently-not-certain death after suicidal A.I. 💚💾🗼 tells you to rescue her hostage before they run out of Radiohead albums and have to move on to Thom Yorke's solo discography. save the invisible shield kitten 💚👑😿 from happiness and get chased through the internet by the sexiest homicidal Paint Pallette 💚🎨😈 since Caravaggio. (apparently green is the color of the digital apocalypse. i’m deleting Kako from my friend's list)

that’s it, fuck this app. 250 stones 💎 per-life-threatening-experience is more than i’m willing to deal with 😓 don’t wanna mess with the perfect nuclear family anyway. we've already got: 

✔️the two emotionally traumatized moms with memory and commitment issues

✔️the adhd daughter with anger management problems and a giant hammer

✔️the psychologically abused scizophrenic cat

✔️and the eccentric aunt with crippling anxiety

#squadgoals

now that were done hoarding bitches, its time to hunt the witches. and the bitches makin the witches. btw did i mention the witches ARE the bitches! AND WERE ALL GOING TO DIE!? 📽️⁉️💀 wait fuck lets back up a second

This is Nemo📕 and Token🧪 and they have all the answers but prefer if you only ask vague questions in exchange for vague responses so they can fill in the rest by discussing their superior intellect 🧠 at length. not to mention they built that dating app, so of course everyone in my harem decides to be a FUCKING. TRAITOR.🤬

cept waifu prime ofc 🥰💙. [PTSD > brainwashing] 'yOu CaN bE tHe LeAdEr NoW'. i have been from the very beginning you traumatized Hinedere nightmare. maybe if you weren't so caught up collecting surrogate daughters you would've noticed IM👏THE👏ONLY👏 ONE👏PROGRESSING👏THE FUCKING👏PLOT✨

rescue the rest of dysfunctional found-family™ from selves before my adorable firebender burns down Disnihama🎡🔥😱 during her weekly anxiety attack. (love the makeover T B H) 

CHAPTER 8: Magical Girl Massacre🩸🗡️

   - everyone has like, the shittiest day ever

   - the new Pope really needs to be extradited from the church

   - make friends with a really pretty tree 🌺🌲✨

i swear, if i don't finish this god damn story in time to get that free pull im gonna beat the shit out of every mirror i find in that giant mansion that i haven't even had any time to even mention yet. 🖕🏚️ let alone EVERYTHING happening with the prequel [fuck you, I'm the star] girls 💗💜💙💛❤️️ and their multidimensional melodrama. We don't need that many repetitive af episodes to emphasize that Homo-ra is a shitty person. we've all seen Rebellion. 🙄

NO, I DONT CARE IF YOU WANT SAPPHO'S BACKSTORY, I ONLY HAVE 79 STONES LEFT AND IF YACHAN FINDS OUT I HAVEN'T DELETED THE APP YET IM GONNA HAVE TO GO SLEEP IN WITH SANA 😭💎💸😠

uhhhggggg where were we… Topple a cult and burn down Hotel Denoument only to realize that Sis was fused with the dating app servers this entire madokafuckin time (told ya she was the best wingman 😊). 

Dilemma: Sis =🥚, Triumvirate of Trouble want 🐣. What do? vote now:

Help Hatch - IIIIIII

Not Do That - IIIII

What The Actual Fuck Is Going On - IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Lets just fight everyone until something good happens.

🔥🔫🔥🗡️🔥😱🔥🌆🔥😱🔥🛡️🔥💣🔥

Kill (???) the artist-in-chief of the italian reindeer murder police after teaching her the true meaning of Christmas 🎄 hatch 🐣lil Sis and realize she WAS your wingman all along🐰 MUKYUUUU! we're just gonna ignore how much trouble it would have saved if you'd just mentioned that. "yOu DiDnT aSk..." 

FUCK YOU SPACE BITCH. ONCE AN INCUBATOR ALWAYS AN INCUBATOR 🖕🐇🔪

anywho, somewhere along the lines we of course summoned the Antichrist ⚙️ because why not raise the stakes to max and still not kill off a single character. Madofuckinkami, can we PLEASE wrap this up. 😩💤

feathers (not the culty kind, tfm) rain from the sky, and the power of friendship and not having the Urobutcher 🔪🩸as a lead writer saves our peacefully sectioned off alternate reality 😇

TL:DR fuck cults, real life waifus DO exist, don't sell your soul to space rabbits, or your stones to megacorporations. Enjoy arc 2 on the JP server with your shitty translation patch you filthy fuckin weebs 

Yours Truly, 

- Thirsty Weeb Eroha 💗💎😘 

[liathgray]

yello its me writing anon 👋🏼

i was gonna honestly wait till you finished posting blackwell cuz spoilers but like im Impatient so here we are:

im not the best at writing horror! honestly if i do make an attempt i just follow my gut feeling that says im going Too Far and push it but usually everything just ends up being Weird but not necessarily Scary. do you have any tips?

as usual you dont have to answer! especially not while youre still posting blackwell, i dont mind waiting 💗💗💗

anyway i love you stay safe 💜💜💜

OKAY I CAN FINALLY POST THE ANSWER TO THIS!!!!

The is a bit long some im gonna put it under the cut.

I’m just going to start by saying I am pretty new to writing horror. At least in long form prose. I’ve written a lot of short stories, but a short vs basically a novel length story is very different and they horror of it can’t just be momentary like how it can be in flash/short fiction. 

What I will alway recommend in this particular genre is to write something that scares you. Write about things that you think about or even draw on your own experiences because then you will be able to like... really sink your teeth into the topic and write the reactions to it well.

Here’s a little list of things that I think help with long form horror:

1. The details

That instinct? in your gut saying this it too far? follow that. It’s not bad if things get a bit odd because things that are unfamiliar are also in a very innate way, scary. Describe the little tiny things that you wouldn’t normally notice. It doesn’t have to be gruesome or anything! It’s just good to have details present because it feels more alive.

2. Contrast

Pretty things are horrifying, horrifying things are pretty. It’s all the same. Blur the lines between the two and find mundane things that could be turned terrible with juusssttt a little tweak.

3. Put things where they don’t belong

What do you expect to find in a kitchen cabinet? Certainly not a jar of teeth. Having jarring moments like that to spice things up is always a good time.

4. What’s something that you find fundamentally scary? Write about it

This leads into the next point but its really important to use ideas that you think can be a fear for anyone. Even if you narrow it down later on, a good starting point is always universal spooky things.

5. Themes

This is especially important if you’re wanting to write a long horror story and also... hard to explain. Which is why im gonna use Blackwell as an example.

So a lot of the themes revolve around 1) morality and what humans are capable of 2) fear in the face of uncertainty 3) no longer being able to trust someone 4) isolation. All of these loop back into each other in ways I could write an essay on because lemme tell you I put a LOT of thought into this shit and they are all thing that I myself find really fucking scary.

SPOILER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 15

It starts with isolation and moves through the rest, shown from Roy and Ed’s different viewpoints. How they experience the themes (god does that even make sense wtf) is in juxtaposition to one another. For Roy it is his own morality and wrestling with that throughout (if you go back to the earlier chapters he has a lot go Not Good intrusive thoughts). It’s stoked by fear in the face of uncertainty and the fact that for Some Reason, Ed doesn’t seem to trust him anymore, and it compounded by the fact that they’re alone.

So he just. snaps. Thats the answer on his end. What are humans capable of in the face of all this terribleness? More terribleness. 

For Ed, he starts out feeling the pressure of being totally isolated and uncomfortable, and as things start to be revealed he goes into more of s downward spiral of what he can't and can believe. Everything is uncertain. Then the gotdamn tellers plant the seed for mistrust and in the end those suspicions are kind of confirmed. 

With horror theming, looking at what is plausible will always be what I would suggest. Even in the realm of the super natural, draw on primal fears. The ones I choose were ones that make me scared. The ideas that an authority figure, an adult, a parent, a guardian, etc. might sudden become a threat to you. Being alone. Poking around the dark underbelly of human nature. 

[rosalind-of-arden]

Sword and Pen Reread, chapter 11

Oh shit it’s the Annis chapter. There will be tears.

For the ephemera, we have a letter from the Archivist of the Library of Pergamum to the Archivist of the Great Library. They consider each other rivals. This fits with real history, it looks like. What does it not fit with? The story Jess tells in Ash and Quill. In Jess’s story, the Library of Pergamum was a rival to the Great Library “in the early days”, but by the time the Romans came along to try and loot it, Pergamum was a Serapeum of the Great Library. Here’s another of those little inconsistencies suggesting that what we know of Library history is very heavy on the propaganda.

Eskander can sense Obscurists leaving the Iron Tower even if they aren’t wearing collars. Most stuff Obscurists can do, at least very powerful ones. 

Annis hates her collar but also feels uncomfortable without it. Probably a very common feeling among Obscurists.

“Don’t tell her I said she wasn’t fluent.” There’s just... so much relationship in this line, and I am incredibly sad that canon does not allow for Eskander/Annis to become a thing.

Language stuff: There is a text essential to understanding Heron’s Poseidon automaton that is written in Assyrian. Why not Greek?

Annis is literate in Assyrian. I feel like knowledge of obscure languages would be a popular thing in the Iron Tower. WTF else is there to do but learn languages to read more stuff?

Now, Eskander just said he’d know if Annis left the Iron Tower... but he can’t locate her. Is it that locating a person that precisely is impossible? Or is this our first hint that she’s dead? Obscurist powers work with life energy, so a dead person might be impossible to find. Eskander is exhausted and busy, and when he can’t detect Annis right away, he decides it isn’t worth the trouble when Morgan can just go look. It’s probably hard to pick one person out of a tower full of people. The guilt he must feel after this. That irritability might even be covering a bit of denial: he should be able to track her, he can’t, that’s not good, but he’ll assume it’s just that he’s tired and it’s difficult.

“He’d spent too many years a hermit to gladly bear regular interruptions.” Eskander trauma effects here.

Like Khalila, Eskander has set up in an old storeroom.

Obscurists Magni. Must remember this is the plural.

ANNIS! *cries* @eli-wray had some good thoughts on the narrative value of this death in their excellent reread post that I am failing at finding on this hellsite. I’ll just add that Caine didn’t kill many (named) characters in this book. Instead, she made a small number of deaths really count. Annis was one of the few remaining side characters who was genuinely likable, and it hurts to see her die.

Obscurist power can change doors into walls. Morgan can feel this happening. It takes “expert manipulation of quintessence, and prewritten formulae” to do this. Must eventually try to work out differences in what can and can’t be done without writing out formulae.

Morgan is just so shaken in this scene. She’s struggling to accept the reality of what’s happened, and she isn’t thinking effectively. If Annis is tied to a post and dead, what are the chances she still has her knife, Morgan? That’s how hard Morgan’s brain is fighting against acceptance.

Morgan can immediately sense when a Codex has been tampered with. Because she’s made her own untraceable, too.

The ex-Archivist had distinctively “eccentric” loops in his handwriting. Also, Gregory apparently used to wave orders from the Archivist around a lot when threatening Morgan - good to know for canon gap fic.

More Eskander trauma effects: he doesn’t always answer his Codex. Why would he? He isn’t used to people talking to him and might even have some anxiety about answering.

And that gets me thinking. Who else doesn’t always answer his Codex? Thomas. Who also only very recently got out of solitary confinement.

Magic ring can transmute a gun into its component parts and put up a protective field around Morgan. It can throw people back hard enough to knock them out. But Gargi only will do this when Morgan can’t handle the fight on her own.

Evil Obscurists used silencing spells to stay hidden.

Canon gap fic I want to see: Annis investigating the ex-Archivist’s conspirators in the tower. Even knowing it ends badly, it would be nice to see Annis have her badass spy moment.

Eskander’s Translation is loud. I don’t think Translation is described as loud anywhere else. He was able to Translate in right in front of Morgan, which means he could locate her.

Eskander is better at undoing other Obscurists’ work than Morgan. She can’t even figure out how he gets the silencing effect off.

More magic ring powers: altering air density to block bullets.

Ring pulls power “from the walls of the Iron Tower, from the generations of powerful Obscurists who had been born, lived, worked, and died here.” Confirmation that the Tower is drawing energy from the Obscurists, sounds like.

Eskander has had worse injuries than this gunshot in his youth.

Eskander-Santi parallels: guilt because they trusted someone for an important job and were betrayed, resulting in the death of an important person. Eskander assigned one of the traitors to investigate the tampering with the automata.

Morgan-Khalila parallels: as adults are injured/killed or turn out to be untrustworthy, they keep stepping up to higher positions of authority.

Morgan directs people to get Eskander to a Medica. Morgan is used to taking care of her adopted family and knows they will be dumbasses and not take care of themselves.

Iron Tower layout: 4th floor is for automata control. Staffed by 50, “working constantly on monitoring and rewriting commands.” Always this busy? Or is it because this is a crisis?

Sergeant Mwangi - Morgan’s new guard, someone to bring back post canon?

Chowdry and Salk. Obscurists Morgan trusts enough to work with her on the automata. How does she know them? Met during canon gaps in Smoke and Iron? Annis’s friends/partners?

Things a mirrored book can do, at least for an Obscurist: rearrange information according to requested criteria, overlay text for comparison, flag items with a verification code.

Signs that Morgan is not ok: mentally, she’s so absorbed in working on the automata that she can’t even parse the sound of screaming.

Multiple companies are responding to the Iron Tower attack. That’s how important it is.

Mwangi makes the critical mistake of telling Morgan not to do something. We all know how Morgan reacts to that sort of thing.

More shit Morgan can do: rearrange the chemistry of Greek fire to make it harmless. 

Oh look, the ex-Archivist plots to burn something important to the Library and Morgan risks herself to stop things from burning. Hello foreshadowing.

Iron Tower has a central open space.

Artifex forges are enhanced with scripts to make fire burn hotter.

Vanya Nikolin, the ringleader of the traitor Obscurists, used to do favors for Gregory. He was someone both Morgan and Eskander trusted. Probably acts like just an all around nice guy? Really, did either of them have enough experience with the other Obscurists to know who to trust? Annis might have been able to help them a bit in that area, but still.

Vanya has removed his collar and bugged out, heading for the Tomb of Heron.

What I didn’t see in this chapter? Energy vampire Morgan. Either the ring has fixed her, Eskander fixed her again, or she’s just gotten so damned used to the gnawing need for power that she barely notices it anymore. She’s exhausted, she’s having trouble focusing and processing information, but she’s not fighting compulsions to drain people.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 217: The Same as Him

Previously on BnHA: Deku’s team beat Team MonoShin and secured the overall victory for class 1-A. Aizawa was all “hey Deku wtf was that shitshow out there” and Deku answered truthfully but vaguely and said he wasn’t sure. He credited Ochako and Shinsou with saving him, but then Shinsou got all down on himself and said that he only did it because Ochako asked him and because he knew his team would lose if he didn’t act. Aizawa was all “you bonehead, you’re being too hard on yourself” and said that no hero is born truly selfless and that that’s one of the qualities they train to learn. He and Vlad both agreed that Shinsou had more than earned a passing grade, and would most likely be joining the hero course in year 2. The chapter wrapped up with Monoma declaring that he would have won if he’d known ahead of time that Deku’s quirk would turn out to be a “dud.” This led Deku to ponder what exactly occurred when Monoma failed to use his quirk, and it also prompted Aizawa to ask Monoma to come see Eri, most likely to see if he can help her figure out how to control her quirk.

Today on BnHA: All Might, Deku, and Bakugou discuss Deku’s new OFA shenanigans in private. Bakugou points out that there must be some reason why this is happening now, and speculates on the possible connection to All for One. Later that evening, after unsuccessfully trying to draw the quirk out again, Deku heads back to the dorms ominously pondering the relationship between his power and AFO’s. Todoroki walks up to Deku and is all “dude does this make us two-quirks buddies now” and Deku awkwardly makes up some bullshit about it being an offshoot of his original quirk, which Todo buys into hook, line and sinker. The next day the faculty agrees to move Shinsou to the hero course, and Present Mic says the kid reminds him a lot of a young Aizawa. He also namedrops someone called “Shirakumo”, which immediately makes Aizawa go all stiff and hastily exit the conversation. Over at the teacher’s dorms, Monoma copies Eri’s quirk but proclaims it another “dud.” He explains that his power only copies the bare-bones of a quirk, and not any accumulated power stored within said quirk. Eri apologizes for having a “bad quirk” that’s so hard to deal with. Deku reassures her that powers aren’t good or bad and it all depends on how you use them. He realizes this applies to his own power as well, and resolves to master it no matter what.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 225, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

oh my fucking lord

holy shit. it’s Todoroki not using his flames during the sports festival all over again. DAMN IT DEKU YOU’D BETTER FUCKING TAKE ME SERIOUSLY I’LL KILL YOU

that, or they’re both actually trying to see if they can draw the quirk out again. DEKU IS THIS A CONSENSUAL SPAR. OR DO YOU NEED ME TO COME OVER THERE AND GIVE THIS BOY A STERN TALKING-TO

they do seem to be in one of the gyms, so at the very least they were presumably smart enough to get permission this time and probably All Might is there watching them

lol

on the other hand, All Might’s supervision doesn’t always mean much for keeping them in line. he has to learn to assert his authority more

oh good, my concerns were unwarranted

it is indeed consensual! Katsuki’s actually out here trying to help Izuku learn to control his new ability! let’s just stop for a second to repeat that. Katsuki is helping Izuku to get a better handle on his quirk. yes, that Katsuki. and that Izuku

though it seems like he misinterpreted the goal of the exercise a little bit possibly lol. to be fair, in his mind he probably doesn’t understand the need to try and put training wheels on this thing and probably feels like Deku should fucking own that shit

(ETA: and having given it more thought, I’m gonna go ahead and say he’s fucking right, actually. I won’t get super in-depth about this since I’ve already posted about it before, but this shows how much faith Katsuki actually has in Izuku, though. in his mind he doesn’t view the new quirk as a danger, and he seems to be of the opinion that all Izuku needs is more practice using it. what’s more, once Deku starts muttering about how he tried to lock the power away, Katsuki immediately gets frustrated and leaves, declaring the whole thing pointless for the time being. pretty sure this is because he’s already come to the conclusion that Deku will also reach by the end of this chapter -- that it doesn’t matter what the nature of the quirk is; what matters is how you use it. in other words, Deku needs to stop being afraid of it and start embracing it.)

anyways, but the point is that yet again we’re only making forward progress with these two. no regression; no jealousy over Deku powering up yet again. and god but it’s just so, so gratifying to me to not have to go through the whole one-step-forward-two-steps-back thing with these characters. once they learn their lesson, it’s learned. this might be my single favorite thing about BnHA tbh

anyways so let’s continue with this chapter which I’m only one and a half pages into and am already in love with!

so Deku’s looking at his right arm appraisingly and confirming that the quirk isn’t activating

he says its “presence” has complete vanished

and now we’re getting a flashback to what I assume is earlier that afternoon, after the training exercise but before this little get together

and OH MY GOD BUT YOU GUYS

KEEP KACCHAN IN THE LOOP 2K19

DEKU LOOKS SO HAPPY TO HAVE HIM THERE THOUGH. AND LOL DID HE JUST INVITE HIMSELF IN OR WHAT. YOU JUST TRY AND HAVE A MEETING WITHOUT HIM AFTER THAT SHIT YOU JUST PULLED DEKU

All Might says that Katsuki is sharing this secret with them now, after all

AND WHERE WAS THAT ATTITUDE DURING LUNCH EARLIER TODAY, THOUGH. WELL WHATEVER, I FORGIVE YOU NOW ON ACCOUNT OF BEING SO HAPPY I COULD CRY

so Kacchan is asking if All Might knew about the whole black quirk thing

fffffff so would that be the Shouto-looking one in the trenchcoat, then? godfuckingdammit, they really did only give us one female wielder of OFA and then fucking went and killed her ass

Bakugou please share some more bonding moments with All Might and Deku so I can take my mind off of this please

also sure would hope Shimura was unaware of it, otherwise lord only knows what she was thinking not telling you. though you were likely only a year older than these two when she passed away, so maybe she just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. that is, if she takes after you and waits ten million years before telling her successor anything

again, not even a hint of ill will toward Deku for being so amazing. and after all, why would there be? he already sorted out his feelings on that on the night of the provisional exam. he knows what he has to do and he knows what Deku has been tasked with doing. so if anything, Deku getting stronger is only a good thing, because he’s All Might’s chosen successor and so he should fucking get stronger already

and I love that All Might also caught that as soon as the question was answered he didn’t waste time pondering it and immediately went to the next logical step in the deduction process. he is an official member of the Scooby Squad now

and also lmao at “don’t call people trash,” but I wonder if he’ll actually listen though. listen, at this point there is no Bakugou character development that would surprise me. he is crushing it; I wouldn’t put anything past him

Deku says that all Hellboy said was that “the time has come,” but I’m inclined to agree with Katsuki though that there was some sort of external trigger. what was it that triggered his dream last night? and I’m still not convinced it’s a coincidence that Shinsou has had some involvement with Deku both times that this Vestiges shit happened

oh SHIT

FUCKING YESSSSS OH MY GOD

this. this is the kind of shit I’ve been waiting for THIS WHOLE TIME

how many meetings like this have All Might and Deku had together, though? they’ve discussed all kinds of things about One for All, and yet this is the one topic that they’ve never once addressed, aside from all the way back in chapter 59 when All Might first told Deku about OFA’s origins. they’ve just kind of skirted around this shit. and I mean, I understand why; obviously AFO is a huge trigger for All Might in general, and it’s just easier for both of them to pretend like he’s no longer a threat now that he’s safely tucked away in prison

except that both of them know that is some bullshit, though. because unlike Katsuki, these two clods know about Nighteye’s prophecy, for one. and there is a reason why there’s been a fire burning underneath Deku’s feet ever since the end of summer, and it’s not just because of the conversation the three of them had at Ground Beta. he knows. deep down some part of him knows he can’t afford to sit on his hands. there’s been an urgency in the back of his mind for quite some time now

and as for All Might, he’s been to visit AFO in Tartarus and he’s seen for himself what that situation is like. AFO’s total lack of concern over his current predicament, and his gleeful talk about the “machinations” he’d put into place and about how everything was going just like he’d planned. and we saw for ourselves not too long ago that even the guards over at Tartarus are fearful of AFO and he puts them on edge and they don’t appear to be at all confident in their ability to hold him if shit hits the fan

basically what I’m saying is that both All Might and Izuku have been walking on eggshells when it comes to this topic even though the situation is unavoidable. so I’m really fucking glad to see Kacchan bring it up almost immediately because yes!! thank you!

OH MY GOD

KATSUKI IS A DAD FOR ONE THEORIST CONFIRMED. oh you really are my son aren’t you

smdh fucking look at this shit

and there we have it. he was thinking it as well but wasn’t going to say anything about it

two conversations in and I’m already fucking over the moon at Kacchan’s dynamic with the two of them and the refreshing change he brings to their plot pow-wows with his blunt and straightforward approach. I swear to god Katsuki if I could make you my favorite character all over again I would

so now we’re back in the gym, and Katsuki’s arguing with Izuku. “I’m tellin’ ya, you need to feel more like you’re in danger!”

I like how confident he is that he’d still be able to kick Deku’s ass even with the new quirk activated sob

(ETA: and in fairness to Bakugou, @addermoray made a really good point a few days ago about his ability to keep up:

this is an excellent take and I completely agree, actually. doesn’t really matter how many quirks Deku gets if Bakugou’s one single quirk gives him near-unparalleled firepower, speed, and agility. he can already pretty much do it all, and the one thing he is still lacking (experience) he’s gaining more and more of with each passing day. so good on him; the rivalry remains alive and well.)

and truthfully, his theory isn’t wrong. we all know that the next time Deku’s back is really against the wall OFA is gonna do some crazy shit again

meanwhile Deku is looking thoughtful and says that if the quirk really does respond to his feelings, “then, at the time...”

DFLKHSLDKJ YOU DON’T HAVE TO REMIND ME WHAT YOUR FEELINGS WERE AT THE TIME DEKU HOLY SHIT IS THIS CHAPTER REALLY GONNA GO THERE TOO!?

aww damn we’re going in a different direction lol

you need to make up your damn mind son. do you want it or not. how about you imagine yourself unlocking it and having total control of it?

meanwhile Katsuki is fed up and walking away since they’re done with the plot talk and the fighting part and now it’s just Deku standing there pondering

(ETA: and as I said in the earlier edit, it’s clear that right now Deku isn’t on the same page as him as far as mastering this. I’m hoping to see more rival training sessions in the near future now that Deku seems to have come around as of the end of the chapter, though.)

so All Might’s saying they’ll call it a night then, and he’s asking Deku if he’s all right, and then dropping him off at the 1-A dorms

and there is yet another shot of Deku staring at his hand. he’s been doing that a lot lately

but! this time the panel is actually extremely intriguing though!

okay two quick Dad for One things here

Deku staring at his own hand and thinking “All for One’s power” is the most blatant fucking foreshadowing I’ve ever seen though

look at the way his face is lit, half in shadow and half in light. that shit is intentional, make no mistake. Horikoshi knows exactly what he’s doing here. good and evil. light and darkness. the son of AFO and the heir to OFA. I am officially bumping up the likelihood of this theory from 30% all the way to 40%. closing in on fifty-fifty odds now guys

anyway, so believe it or not we’re only five pages into this chapter and already it’s a fave. god I love BnHA’s in-between chapters so fucking much

oh damn

Tetsutetsu what are you doing here in the 1-A dorms

and they’re having a conversation that is just impossible to translate to English free from any innuendos

I feel for poor Turk over there at Mangastream, I really do. he’s just trying his best

out of curiosity I went to go check the Viz translation to see how Caleb handled it, and I gotta give him props

that must have taken some doing

lol so anyway then we get this panel

KiriTetsu is the purest ship in this entire canon and I will fight anyone on that

also, “everyone”, huh

oh wow

lmao Ochako’s seemingly-disembodied head in the bottom right corner weirded me out for a sec, especially with her being right next to Hagakure

and jesus christ Toadette, mere hours ago you nearly killed this dude and now you’re hounding him for photos of Hawks that would more than likely get him in trouble to share even if he did have them. please be more considerate

I ship MomoKendou, and seeing Momo with her hair down is so nice. she so rarely does it. she usually has like an Ariana Grande thing going on

I don’t know what the hell Mina is doing to Mineta there but I support it

(ETA: apparently this is a reference to A Clockwork Orange. as previously stated, I support it.)

is Kacchan eating by himself. by my reckoning there are still 17 other people unaccounted for so probably not. but I don’t see Monoma and I’m wondering if he’s gonna go bother him. I actually wouldn’t mind. it wouldn’t feel right if Monoma didn’t go bother someone

oh shit

A WILD TODODEKU MOMENT APPEARS

(ETA: I was so excited about him coming to interrogate Deku that I completely glossed over the fact that this line confirms that Shouto also officially has two quirks. Viz’s translation confirms this (“I didn’t realize you had two quirks, too.”) so Deku and AFO aren’t the only multi-quirk users running about.)

oh shit, again

gotta say, he’s been getting a lot better at passive-aggressively throwing shade lately. got some good practice in with the recent chats he’s had with his pop

ffffffff Deku is Struggling

quirk deprivation! that’s right! look it up! it’s totally a thing and he definitely didn’t just make it up right here on the spot!

asdflskj

oh like you’re one to talk, Mister “It Took Me Ninety-Four Chapters to Put Two and Two Together Even Though Deku All But Told Me Outright Back in Chapter Eleven”

but yes he is super trusting though sob

Deku says that Shouto was amazing too and he’s gotten a lot better at using his flames

but Shouto says he still has a long way to go

ooooooh

hahaha I’m sure people are going to love this

“please excuse me for a moment, this is a very important text from my estranged son”

and what the fuck is with that laughter though. does. does he just not know how to laugh. because it honestly wouldn’t surprise me. “oh look, the corners of my mouth are turning upward and there are these strange rapid breaths of air bursting erratically from my chest.” should probably go get that checked out, Endeav

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ngl I kinda wish this projector screen was more high tech. you sent fucking hologram acceptance letters to every kid in the school for fuck’s sake

also this better mean he’s gonna be in class A! let Aizawa teach him!

oh shit. well we had BakuDeku, KiriTetsu, and TodoDeku so WHY NOT SOME ERASERMIC AS WELL

-- OKAY HOLD THE FUCK UP

what was that?? we have never seen Aizawa react to a topic like that before. Mic barely gets the name out and Aizawa is suddenly all “please shut up fast now”

also, so Mic calls him by his surname, at least in public. what’s up with that?? BUT MY FANFICS lol

well this Shirakumo had better be revealed in the upcoming arc then, and not dragged out for a hundred chapters as these mysteries so often are. well actually, they’re either dragged out for ages or explained not three chapters later lol. rarely a middle ground with this series

MY BABY GIRLLLLLL

lol that’s right, she had a previous encounter with him and Mirio was not too pleased

cotton-headed ninny muggins

so does Mirio fucking live at the teacher’s dorms for the time being or does he just commute here every day in order to have Mary Poppins adventures with his baby sis

now Aizawa’s walking up and apologizing for calling Deku and Mirio over

(ETA: which in hindsight confirms that Mirio’s not just there 24/7. aww.)

he says he has a request for Monoma, but he didn’t want to traumatize Eri by having the two of them interact unmediated

oh shit

he’s got the horn though lol

so is this a fairly common thing with his quirk, then? strange that some of these quirks he’s able to control with ease mere seconds after acquiring them for the first time, but then with others he can’t do anything at all

ah, he’s explaining it now

so pretty much what I thought. except I wasn’t aware that Eri’s quirk accumulated power too

although wait, that’s probably what the horn is. oh shit, so that means that even though she’s super powerful when she’s all charged up, it takes her months to recharge afterwards. so if she’s not able to decrease the recharge time as she gets older, that’s going to be a really effective limiter for her power then

LMAO

I legit burst out fucking laughing. you almost exploded. sure dodged a bullet there

if he seriously thought that was a possibility, maybe he could have, idk, fucking warned the guy before their match started that his quirk was off-limits for Monoma’s own safety though

(ETA: I guess it just didn’t occur to him that Monoma might try it, what with them thinking he had a 3-quirk limit and him most likely copying his teammates’ quirks instead.)

and now Mirio’s asking why Aizawa wanted Monoma to try and copy it

Aizawa says that he thought if Monoma copied it, they could get a better idea of how it works so it might be easier to control it if it gets out of hand again. “but I guess it won’t be that easy”

Eriiiii

(ETA: holy shit is Monoma elbowing Aizawa for making her tear up?)

IT’S NOT A BAD POWER IT IS A VERY GOOD POWER THAT SOME VERY BAD PEOPLE TRIED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF

and speaking of, the fact that we’re bringing this up again now makes me hope we’re going to segue to the League sometime soon! because as we all recall, Shigaraki Tomura was last seen some 57 chapters ago taking the Quirk-Be-Gone serum from Overhaul’s very overrated and now nonexistent hands. it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen our antagonist, Horikoshi, and the people are getting restless

(ETA: well, then. lol.)

anyway, so Deku is crouching down and telling Eri her power doesn’t just hurt people, and that she saved him

and he’s comparing it to a knife -- it’s dangerous, but you can also use it to make delicious food lol

and he says he thinks her power is wonderful

awwwwwww

DO YOUR BEST ERIIIII

and you too, Deku. I believe in you. the journey’s not gonna be easy, but you can do it kiddo

so that’s it for this chapter. but damn, that was a hell of a lot of content packed within just 13 pages, though. this is definitely an insta-fave for me

(ETA: it’s in my top ten for sure. so much good stuff, oh man.)

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man Life Story #1 Thoughts

Well...this was odd.

I have profoundly mixed feelings about this story.

That is owed to this comic being a collision of so many different things.

It is a period piece. But period piece that only half uses the period.

And I mean that on two levels.

It’s a period piece in the more general sense because it is set in the 1960s. But it is also a Spider-Man period piece because it uses 1960s Spider-Man continuity.

And it only half uses both in both cases.

Basically this issue was Chip Zdarsky’s Spider-Man AU fanfic that is a giant what if deviating from the Romita era...that is also set in the 1960s.

That is honestly the only way I could sum up this story. And by the looks of it things are going to get MORE complicated next issue because we move into the 1970s which implies each issue will be set in a different decade and this is confusing because if Spider-Man’s history played out in real time starting in 1962 then modern stories would only maybe be in the early 1980s.

Basically I guess this is more a general What If series that each issue will be talking up topical issues from each decade.

Which is seriously NOT how this mini was advertised to readers so that sucks hard.

But okay AS what it actually is trying to be...is it any good.

The answer is...kind of.

There is more good than bad.

Now you all know I do not like Zdarsky’s work on Spider-Man, so when I say there is more good than bad I’m not damning with faint praise.

On a general sense, the pacing is REALLY good. A lot of story happens in one issue. Granted it’s extra length so maybe that is why. The dialogue is perfectly fine, nothing rings untrue to the characters’ voices (except Gwen but we’ll get there). There is a respectable amount of introspection and exploration on Peter’s part and this is THE best Mark Bagley art in a very long time.

IIRC Mark Bagley once said that when he did the Ultimate Clone Saga and got to draw Richard Parker, he modelled him upon Gil Kane’s take on Peter Parker from the 1970s, and felt he got closer to that than he was trying to do in his 1990s work. You can very much feel that here now that he’s drawing Peter in literally the same setting that Kane drew him in.

Okay lets talk about other things that worked.

·         Flash’s characterization and Peter’s relationship with him. It felt very realistic in spite of not being how things played out in the original comics

·         Norman Osborn was very much in character in being devious and frightening

  What didn’t work.

·         Peter’s quick assumption of Norman’s amnesia. He kind of just presumes Norman has lost his memory on the basis of little evidence. Now granted his spider sense later corroborates this, but it’s still...kind of lame. Especially compared to the original story in ASM #40 wherein Peter figured Norman lost his memories because he was referencing an event from his past that he’d just finished relaying to Peter.

·         The blurb at the start of the issue says Peter was 15 when he got his powers in 1962. And then we cut to 1966 where Peter says that this happened 4 years ago. On the very next page he claims he has a year left of collage. Er...what? Maybe I’m out of the loop on the American college system (in the 1960s) but if Peter was 15 in 1962 and it’s 4 years later then he’d be 19. Collage lasts four years meaning Peter wouldn’t be graduating for another 2-3 years (depending upon how close he is to turning 20). He should be in his FIRST year of college,  1965-1966, and would be graduating in 1969, the school year beginning in 1968. WTF?

·         Gwen. Zdarsky has constructed a conundrum for himself here. This is the Romita era Gwen but with shades of Ditko Gwen but also shades of more modern revisionist versions of her and Emma Stone and also he’s now taking her in a MASSIVE deviation from the established Spider-Man history. It’s all a mess, and speaks to where Zdarsky’s shipper flag is planted btw.

·         Peter’s attitude to Flash at his leaving party. In the original story, ASM #47 Peter in a wonderful moment of maturity held no grudge against Flash and wished him well sincerely. There was no ‘triggering’ on his part.

·         The focus upon other superheroes like

·         Frankly the fact that this is not clearly either a What If deviation from established history or a true blue period piece using the established lore.

 And really that is THE big dilemma with this story. It’s not really committing to being one of those things or the other and is as a result kind of compromising both things.

 It’d be one thing if Spider-Man’s history was going in starkly different directions as a RESULT of Zdarsky using the historical setting, like if Peter was drafted for example.

But that isn’t what happens. Gwen finding out Peter is Spider-Man and Peter turning in Norman Osborn are things that could have happened in any contemporary What If issues (if What If was around back then).

And it’s not that these are uninteresting deviations to explore, but they feel undercooked because the book is also examining Peter’s introspection about joining up to fight in Vietnam. And THAT stuff is really interesting too, the discussion with Flash and Captain America serving as opposing arguments for Peter’s decision is REALLY good.

But again it feels undercooked because we’ve got this plot about Norman Osborn knowing Peter is Spider-Man brewing.

And the thing is I can’t decide if it’s a case of the story itself being at fault or the advertising for it being flawed.

Let’s put aside discussions about whether the story being Spider-Man’s history just presented in real time would’ve been better than this or not.

The fact is it WAS sold to readers that way so when you view it through that lens all the What If deviations seem weird and out of place, like distractions.

But hypothetically if this was just advertised as a What If mini ‘What if Peter turned in Norman Osborn and Gwen found out he was Spider-Man before she died’ then the focus upon Vietnam would’ve felt much the same.

But I don’t know if the series advertising EXACTLY what this mini seems to be would’ve mitigated this sensation from the reader. Or if the story itself is just really just two types of stories glued together.

I suspect it actually is the latter though for two big reasons.

The Vietnam plotline places a lot of focus upon Captain America and Iron Man. Their conflict is in fact the shocking cliffhanger of the entire issue. So you know...something that isn’t about Spider-Man himself. That felt more like Zdarsky trying to do Watchmen but in the Marvel universe. Which gets complicated because that opens up a whole can of worms for the relative realism of the MU, not least of which being how could the heroes ever allow things in the war to get to the point that it did.

The other reason is that the deviations from established history aren’t done the way of a traditional What If, wherein the in-universe history is identical up to a certain point then a single change sets off a new direction.

Here Zdarsky is just remixing various different elements from Romita Spider-Man to create an impression of that era and then deviating from the ‘general knowledge’ of that era.

Norman dropping Harry off at school cribs from ASM #39, Norman’s amnesia cribs from ASM #40, Flash’s party cribs from ASM #47, the Scorpion and Spider Slayer stuff treats ASM #20 and #25 as big parts of the past but the threat of Jameson’s  exposure cribs from Stern’s 1980s run. Norman wanting Peter as his heir cribs from Revenge of the Green Goblin in the 2000s.

But these elements, much like Spider-Man: Blue, are not remixed in a way that chronologically line up with how things happened. They’re all jumbled together so now Norman found out who Peter was (somehow?) but kept that in his back pocket to bring it up at Flash’s party and then announced he wanted Peter as his heir.

It’s all so...weird.

Look it isn’t an uninteresting what if but it’s also like...just a fanfic basically.

Not badly written fanfiction but it’s also like...what point is there to this really besides BEING Zdarsky’s fanfiction?

Another problem is that this story, along with not fully committing to the period piece aspect, simultaneously plays things with an intrusive degree of hindsight and imposes revisionism.

I’ve already spoken about this with Gwen but it’s also true with Harry and Norman’s relationship being cribbed from the Raimi movies the incredibly obvious ‘Norman will kill Gwen!!!!!!’ foreshadowing along with the ‘Professor Warren is a bad guy’ stuff; to say nothing of how Warren’s character design is inaccurate to the period.

That stuff imposes a present day hindsight of the Romita era whilst also overlays that with truisms brought about by adaptations being in the zeitgeist.

This applies to the Vietnam war stuff too. The book frames the war in a way that we look back upon it as opposed to framing it the way people in 1966 America probably actually viewed it. The final page is the biggest example of this.

Finally...didn’t we JUST see this from Zdarsky with his time travel arc in Spec?

Like wasn’t this a very similar idea. Spider-Man’s history but deviated because Norman Osborn’s identity is exposed differently and Peter and Gwen wind up as endgame?

Over all I can’t say that I disliked this. But nor can I say I was that thrilled with it. It’s not what we were promised and honestly...what we were promised sounded a lot more compelling. Moreover there are much better examples of period piece superhero stories out there.

·         Spider-Man Blue frames the early Romita issues the way they might’ve happened in the 1960s as they existed rather than Marvel universe 1960s

·         ASM Annual 1996 is DeFalco, Frenz and Romita Senior presenting an untold tale so good it could be downright mistaken as being MADE in the 1960s

·         Busieck’s seminal Untold Tales of Spider-Man series as a whole

·         The last 2 issues of Webspinners by DeFalco and Frenz which serve as a lost arc from their 1980s era

·         X-Men: Grand Design

I think this is something you just gotta pick up and taste for yourself, but again...just be aware this isn’t what it was advertised as.

[changji]

Wow you really went off the other day but at least it was worth it 😪 I normally look at the scenery when I’m on a road trip, but then I get bored of it and decide to sleep bc there’s nothing else to do. Motion sickness must suck :(( do you take gravol or something to help with it? Coffee literally drains the life out of my funds it hurts me

Yes omg pls make me cookies I love them. Maybe you can even open a bakery with pastries and sell some good /cheap/ coffee. Ilyt my dear baker 🥺 ye I’m not the biggest fan of my bday either but gotta celebrate anyway!! One year closer to death woohoo 🎉🎉 your birthday is the most important day of the year!!! You can’t fight me on this I’m right

Pearls are so good. Like most places I go to don’t add anything to the pearls so it’s just bland squishy balls but the place I frequent adds I think honey to sweeten them. It gives the pearls life istg. It tastes so good 🤤 hollering is a funny word. For some reason I always associate it with yodelling which makes me laugh

Ksks you must be op if you can make a joke in the wall with a door slam. I can’t relate my arms are literally sticks and I have no strength in me. Chrome books are terrible in general. Add my schools terrible wifi and you get one big recipe for disaster. I’d never fight u either (unless it’s for your bday) ily too much for that 🥺🥺🥺

Hahah I think it’s me. I haven’t heard anyone say “go ham” except for the people who go to my school. I find it really funny tho so I try to incorporate it whenever I can LOL easily burnt? Can’t relate but apparently I easily tan. There’s this one diagonal stripe on my shoulder that separates pale me and tan me which ??? How did that happen and what was I wearing for that to happen??

It’s all fun and games until you go outside and see a mountain of snow waiting for you to be shovelled. But there are some good aspects to winter, like skating and skiing and all that fun stuff. Snow is so heavy?? Or maybe I’m just weak but after I finish shovelling I’m beat. Gardening is not my thing. There’s too many bugs involved flying around 🥴

Kind of? I always thought it was short for cappuccino but I could be wrong. They don’t taste like fraps tho, they’re sm better. I was always a frap hoe until I discovered lattes. My old elementary school was close to a Starbucks so whenever frappy hour was happening, my friends and I would go almost every day LOL

I heard that dunkin coffee is really good. Oof there’s so many things that the us have that Canada doesn’t. But apparently you guys don’t have ketchup chips?? How can one live without them? You know that’s what soulmates are, we’re stuck together forever and I don’t mind that. I’d never leave you 😌😌

YES OMG LATTES ARE SO EXPENSIVE. I pay around the same amount and my wallet cries every time. If you ever yeet yourself off a bridge I’d come visit u in hell and bring u iced coffee 💖 we really are soulmates wtf I get almond milk in my lattes as well!! I used to get normal milk and was like “I’m a bad bitch milk can’t hurt me” but that didn’t really work out. Sigh what we do for coffee 😔

Washing dishes is disgusting. I hate doing them but yk someone’s gotta do it and that someone is me 😤 I’m acc lazy when it comes to smoothies, I usually ask my mom to make them LMAO. Pancakes are pretty much made of flour if you think about it so technically when u eat one plain ur eating cooked flour,, how barbaric. Waffles are Built. Like. They have a 20 pack 😪😪

I love angst personally so pls go ham but not too ham I’d like to keep my heart. Honestly at this point my last brain cell has given up on me. But yes I love angst and I love torturing myself with heart wrenching angst that leaves me crying into my pillow at 3am (I’m talking about this one haikyuu fic that I forgot the name of. I was literally dying inside jalsjwo)

Pls do send me peet’s I’ll send you an iced capp in a cooler so it’ll be somewhat melted and probably spilt everywhere 🤪 tumblrs probably gonna block me again, I’m looking at how much I’ve typed rn and it’s a lot lmaoo. Yes I managed to save myself. I redid the whole last with less detail bc I was not Having It but it turned out better?? How is ur drawing now?

I start after labour day in September. But starting in 3 weeks?????? On a Thursday?? I could never wtf. When do you end? I’m so confused with these ap and honours thing, like there’s none offered in my school nor majority of the school district. Are they just advanced classes or something? It is 7 classes a semester or the whole year?

Stan talent i think you meant yourself??? Jsjsksk I am not only ur coffee soulmate I’m not #1 fan as well and I support u bc ily 🥺🥺 the read more tag had me laughing for a hot minute. Like we really could make an essay out of all of our replies. I don’t have any pets (besides fish does that count?) unfortunately bc my moms allergic to fur 🥺 hbu?? (I can’t believe tumblr blocked me again they can fight me)

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i didn’t even pay LOL i freeloaded off my cousin 🤧 i like to look @ scenery sometimes but like i can’t bc my head hurts LOL and the scenery is always the same for me, mountains and fields with cows. i try to take dramamine but it makes me so drowsy that i’m just basically dead,,, i live off of my cousins money so i’m okay 🤪

tbh i use nestle toll house pre made cookie dough, like that shit actually slaps. it’s the best it’s so good omg, perfect for lazy hoes 🤧 death here we go ! the order is ur bday, then skz debut date, and then christmas i don’t make the rules sorry sis 😤

pearls are Dangerous, i once drank a smoothie and there were pearls in it and i couldn’t see them bc there were like. only 3 and they were Buried under the smoothie but i choked and almost died but i chewed one of them and it’s like. so weird. HOLLERING AND YODELING IM- i once went to some public yodeling class and left in 2 seconds bc it was a bunch of white boys dressed like the kid from walmart 😪

it’s not even strength i’m actually rly weak,, i always think the doors are closed but they’re not and so i like slam them open and the walls are thin so it’s just. a sad hole. terrible wifi,, my school has pretty good wifi tbh but we have like three connections, one for the chrome books only, one for the teachers & staff, and one for students and guests. like it works rly good but everyone has a VPN bc of stupid social media restrictions 😤 & ilyt 🥺 u would probably win in a fight tho LOL

go ham is so interesting. the first time i heard it i thought it meant go pig and i was so confused but ig,,, i live lathered in sun screen whenever i go somewhere with the sun. ppl are like “i smell sun screen” and im just there like 🙃 it’s me u got a problem u burnt chicken nugget ??? i wish i tanned easily, i have a tan friend and when i showed her when my legs got tan she was so confused. i thought i was tan tho? bc during marching band season my sock tan becomes So Bad i’m basically white. she said she was blinded when she saw me pull my sock down and i laughed so hard LOL & i hate those dumb random tan lines like. where u @ bro? where u come from??

snow is fun for like a day and then i get tired LOL i csn only handle wet socks and a red nose for so long 😔 i tried skiing one time and i did so bad that the instructor had to hold me down and walk with me down the slope. i fell so many times i think he hated me 😳 i’m also rly bad at skating? i went w my friends once and i held both of their hands and still managed to bring both of them down when i fell. a cute guy once helped me when i was struggling to walk so 🥴 not my brightest moment tbh,, trying to walk in skates while on ice. do u enjoy skiing/skating? also gardening is. gross. worms and dirt and the sun i’m not here for it.

u: cappuccinos! me: ...ice bergs,,, now that i think about it fraps kinda suck,,, i used to think i was So Cool for drinking starbucks but now i’m like. wow. i used to think there was coffee in a frap but it’s just. sugar and ice LOL also speaking of tmrw is bogo fraps here,, idk if it’s all over the world but myb u should check it out 😪

dunkins okay it depends on what you get, i once got an iced latte and it was good but my dad got an iced coffee and he like. hated it so we had to switch and it was so bad like. it was coffee crime. it was horrible and not strong it was basically milk 😤 also,, ketchup chip? i just googled what that was and. that’s literally so weird. fun fact i hate ketchup and all other condiments i can only eat bbq sauce and i tolerate steak sauce

UR LITERALLY SO CUTE OKAY UR MINE NOW HHHH

i mentioned this in the other ask but. we going broke bitches club 😪 when u come visit me it’ll be old town road the one w mason ramsey on a loop. nothing will top the og remix but no, i’ll be stuck listening to some 5 year old rap for all of eternity

I USED TO BE SUCH A GOOD KID AND DRINK MILK EVERY MORNING ever since i got to middle school i preferred sleep over waffles and milk and i hardly drink milk but when i do. my stomach does not have it.

my mom made me wash dishes today and she just stared at me when i put ziploc bags on my hands bc we didn’t have gloves but i just painted my nails and i’m not abt to put myself thru chipped nails. not yet 😤 waffles are so good like i love waffles and lattes only 🤧

well i’ll go very ham (am i doing it right LOL) 😤 the angst ending is a lot better than the open ended or happy ones LOL i’m so excited for it 🥺 i’m rly tryna get it out before the end of this month bc the edit says july and it’ll make me Mad if i don’t get it out before the end of this month

i wanna start in september 🤧 and i usually end in the first week of june. also on a wednesday LOL it’s gross. stupid. ap means advanced placement so it’s just. a college level class. lowkey mad bc i’m taking ap euro (as a sophomore 😒) and other schools take it in their senior years? apparently this is normal? and honors are just faster paced classes with more weighting so,, idrk oops 😬 some people take 7 classes in a semester but i took it for the whole year! this year i’m dropping orchestra i’m Not for that spit in the carpet life

the only talent in this house goes by ada and jisung. i don’t make the rules. i’m ur #1 fan 🥺 as soon as u post anything i automatically smash that rb button LOL also put a read more here bc like. we’re really out here writing a whole ass essay. i’ll look @ all our convos bet it’ll be like. a lot. i don’t wanna say smth and be off so i’ll just not. i have a dog! he’s the cutest in the world and i love him sm 🥺 tumblr can fight me first like. what’s this ask limit bull hhhhh