#once I get a good first scene or two then I’ll commit to the rest

[cha1cedony]

Need to get back into my longfic series bc writing longfics is so fun (albeit stressful lol, but that’s mostly just be putting pressure on myself)… I love getting excited comments on new chapters and reading people’s theories and emotions hehe :3 And writing multiple chapters gives me more motivation to keep writing… hm

[magnusstan]

Nico about Kevin: “I always felt it was the small details that made the difference. He pushed me, and I pushed him. It was a great partnership and a lot of fun.”

Oh my this article: the girls are actually great friends, Netflix was following KMag for the weekend, Haasbands compliments.

Translation below the cut (sorry if it’s rough).

Kevin Magnussen’s Netflix-Staged F1 Farewell: One Last Time with “Balls”

Kevin Magnussen says goodbye to F1 and teammate Nico Hülkenberg: Not only have the two Haas drivers bonded, but so have their families.

By Frederik Hackbarth, Co-Author: Oleg Karpow · 10/12/2024, 6:39 PM

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Kevin Magnussen’s likely final lap in Formula 1 on Sunday was also his fastest—a little reminiscent of Daniel Ricciardo’s swansong in Singapore this past September. The Haas driver bows out of the premier motorsport class with a fastest lap, though it ultimately yielded no points, finishing 16th at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Magnussen downplays the feat, saying, “It’s easy when you’re the only driver on fresh tires with low fuel.” He adds, “I think what I really enjoyed was the first lap.” Indeed, Magnussen managed to gain several positions early on, though his progress was later undone by a botched pit stop and a collision with Valtteri Bottas.

Still, the Haas driver is pleased with his bold final first lap in Formula 1. “I wanted to do something special to make up for qualifying, and I did—just ‘balls to the wall!’” he says with a grin.

From “Suck My Balls” to Friendship

Magnussen’s “balls” catchphrase takes on extra significance in light of his infamous 2017 clash with current teammate Nico Hülkenberg in Hungary. As Hülkenberg reminisces about their relationship, he marvels at the transformation: “From ‘suck my balls’ to good friends—it’s quite the turnaround, but that’s life,” he says with a laugh in Abu Dhabi.

Hülkenberg explains that their bond started to form in earnest in 2022 when he temporarily replaced Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin. By 2023, any lingering tension had vanished. “We were really on the same wavelength, at very similar points in our lives—personally and professionally. We shared a commitment to the team and a common goal,” says Hülkenberg.

A Family Affair

Hülkenberg’s remarks are underscored by the familial atmosphere at the track. After the race, as both Haas drivers give TV interviews, their respective wives and children wait nearby: Magnussen’s wife Louise and daughter Laura stand alongside Hülkenberg’s wife Egle and daughter Noemi Sky, who sports her dad’s #27 in glitter on her back.

Magnussen reveals that even the children have become close friends. “Yes, they’re really good friends! It’s amazing how much my relationship with Nico has evolved over the years. It’s been fantastic to have our families here because there’s a real connection between them. It’s so much fun.”

This dynamic didn’t go unnoticed by the Netflix crew, who shadowed Magnussen throughout the weekend. The farewell scene—Magnussen walking hand-in-hand with his wife and daughter by the marina—was a picture-perfect moment for the next season of Drive to Survive.

Emotional Moments Before the Race

For Magnussen, the most emotional moments came before the race: “It was great to share those moments with my wife and daughter, even just sitting on the grid. My daughter won’t remember it when she’s older, but I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life. She was so excited and proud to be there, supporting me. That means a lot.”

However, Magnussen isn’t overwhelmed by farewell emotions: “I’ve been here before. The emotions get old after a while,” he jokes. He adds, “I’ve already been through this once, so it doesn’t feel like the last time. I’m just grateful and at peace. Coming back to F1 for these past three years was a challenge, but also a privilege.”

On to New Adventures

With F1 behind him, the 32-year-old heads off for a family vacation in the Maldives before embarking on his next chapter in 2025 with BMW in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Before leaving, he receives one final compliment from Hülkenberg: “It was so much fun. The stats may look a bit one-sided, but it never felt that way to me. I always felt it was the small details that made the difference. He pushed me, and I pushed him. It was a great partnership and a lot of fun.”

[madamejadex]

Oh my lord, this was a lot harder than I thought it would be 🙈 I apologize in advance if some parts don’t make sense or add up; I tried my best to fit it to each of your “povs” while keeping it roughly the same🥹

I would love to be dominated by you and Miss Willow. Your presence and the power you hold over me alone would make my brain go fuzzy as I’m sandwiched between the two of you. I want your hands to map across my body like you’re trying to commit every curve to your memory. I want to watch the two of you kiss while I lose myself to the softness of your touch, feeling as though we’re becoming one with each other.

I told her I wanted her to guide me on how to please you, and I imagine that your eyes would grow even darker as I tell you that I want you to do the same.🙈 There’s an element of surprise in having someone else guide your pleasure, like being blindfolded without the physical deprivation, because the pleasure is not coming from your thoughts. You’re left wondering what the other person has up their sleeve, and it’s all I’ve been able to think about recently.

I want you to whisper every dirty little thing you want me to do to her in my ear. My skin would feel hotter with every word said, and I would feel nervous at first, but the desire and need to be a good girl for you would make any worries I had disappear.

I’ve left how you would play with me up to each of you (our kinks are pretty much the same🙈), but I did tell her I like to think that with every praise I receive, you would create a new mark on my body. I want to wake up the next day (maybe there’s a reason I woke up🤭) and be reminded by the many marks on my body of how well I did for the two of you.

And in the event that she believes I’ve earned it, I want to watch her dominant role slowly slip away as you praise her for how well she guided me in pleasing you. I want to praise her for how good she was to me, softly kissing whatever exposed skin my lips can reach as your hands gently caress her body. I would be so mesmerized getting to watch your dynamic.

I imagine that once we’ve all been thoroughly pleased, had our shower, and gotten something to eat or drink, we’d cuddle up in bed with you in the middle, my and Willow’s hands clasped together and resting on your stomach, and eventually, we’d let our bodies succumb to sleep.🙈

~🌻

Oh, sweetheart… you really outdid yourself with this one. I know it took me a while to reply, and I’m sorry for that, but when something this delicious shows up, I don’t want to rush it. I like to savor every word, every image you so carefully painted all for me. And you really did pour yourself into this, didn’t you?

And you wrote this so thoughtfully, and incredibly erotic. I could feel your longing in every sentence, the way you want to please, to be guided, to fall deeper under our spell. You captured the shifting dynamic between softness and control so well, and that moment where you're watching us while melting under our hands? That had me purring.

And that little scene at the end, curled up together, hands resting over my stomach, warmth and satisfaction humming in the quiet... you truly have a gift for adding intimacy and heat into something irresistibly sweet.

I loved reading this. You made me feel wanted, craved and even more than that, trusted. That’s such a beautiful thing to give. So thank you, sweetheart.

I’ll be keeping this one close for a while... just like I’d keep you. 💋

[anothermansjeans]

Read Your Mind

aaron hotchner x fem!reader

a/n: hello babes! i had originally posted this on patreon but wanted to share it with tumblr as well (ik i said it’d take like 2 weeks but here she is)! i’ll be writing the smut scenes to this fic and those will be patreon exclusives so if you wanna become a member it’s in my bio :)

wc: 1.1k

cw: implied sex, dry humping mention ?? i think that’s it!

inspiration: read your mind by sabrina carpenter

++

To say Y/N was frustrated would be an understatement. The constant mixed signals she has received from Aaron would make whiplash seem less painful, and she wasn’t being over dramatic.

When she first developed what was once a small crush— and is now almost what she thought was love— for her boss, she wouldn’t have ever thought he’d have even an ounce of any sort of romantic feelings for her, but after a drunken night out with the team and coming to the realization that they lived not even two buildings away from one another, confessions and heavy petting were exchanged. The next morning after mutual hungover groans were exchanged throughout the bullpen, Hotch called her into his office and made it very clear that lines were crossed… but also stated he had enjoyed himself. The confusion had begun there. Knowing he wasn’t typically one for physical contact, the feeling of him placing his hand onto her hand that rested on top of his desk sent a shock through her system. She enjoyed it, she really enjoyed it, but within thirty seconds of that contact he had also said how he needed her to get back to her desk— he needed to be alone to work.

Y/N brushed it off after that. Nothing was going to happen— Aaron liked what they did, but clearly didn’t want to pursue anything. That was understandable, and it would’ve stayed understandable if he kept up with the professionalism. Lack of said professionalism happened during a case in New York. Everyone had to share a room with someone except for one, and when it came down to pairing off Emily and JJ went off with each other, Derek and Spencer assumed they’d be the second pair, and Rossi claimed the solo room for himself. That left Y/N and Hotch with each other. It was very awkward for the first hour, but they slowly warmed up to each other again.

If anyone told Y/N that she would be having sex with Aaron that night she would’ve laughed in their face, and if anyone told her that they’d wake up in each other’s arms and bask in the warmth, she would’ve sent them to a mental institution. But it happened. After one too many glances they inevitably gave in, and that morning was a lot less awkward than the morning after their drunken dry humping.

But the cycle with Hotch continued after that. They’d share secret kisses, he’d tell her very sternly to get to work. They would spend the night with each other, he’d say they shouldn’t see each other for a while just to call her in the next night or two. At this point, she figured he was lonely but didn’t want to commit. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could play this game with him, and she would continue to mull it over in the early hours at the office before anyone else was there, stirring her coffee in the kitchenette until she felt a strong pair of hands touch her waist.

“I miss you.”

His voice was raspy, like he woke up not too long ago and just came in. She knew his statement was referring to the small break in seeing each other he had suggested, and the thought of it made her upset, causing her to place her coffee on the counter and turn around, crossing her arms.

“I can’t read your mind.” Her statement caused him to lift an eyebrow, forcing her to elaborate. “I’m a profiler, and for the love of God I cannot read what the hell is going on in your mind. You say that we need to stop and then you call me whenever you deem it’s a good time. You know we’re crossing a line here, make that very clear, but still see me in a romantic setting. I can't read your mind.”

His hands had dropped from her waist, and he took a step back. “There’s nothing to read here, Y/N. I thought we were together.”

She scoffed, causing him to wince, “then why the fuss, Aaron? Why are you saying things but doing the opposite? Why the mixed signals?” She waited a minute, staring back at him, waiting for him to say something, but when he didn’t, she grabbed her coffee and started to take off.

“Wait.” He hooked his hand around her elbow, causing her to turn back to him. “You’re right. I’ve screwed up. I don’t know what I’m doing half of the time— I don’t typically date, but Y/N, I’m not lying when I say that there is no one else I would want to be experiencing this with. I was actually hoping that you’re it for me.”

A small part of her wanted to laugh in his face. After countless days trying to read what the hell was going on in his mind, this wasn’t even on the forefront of the mental list she compiled. The biggest part of her wanted to believe him. She really did, but she had nothing to go on. “I need you to prove it, Aaron. I feel like I’m clueless here and I just—”

He swiftly cut her off by tugging her towards him and smashing their lips together. This kiss was a lot different than the secret or drunken ones they’ve shared. It felt like the real deal for Y/N, and she could’ve stayed there forever if it wasn’t for the small crash as well as the exclaimed “oh!” they heard.

Breaking apart, they turned their heads to see a very frazzled Penelope standing there with her hands in a surrendering position, lips in an “oh” shape, and a broken mug on the floor. No one spoke immediately, but once everyone was fully aware of the situation at hand, Penelope went down to the floor and started scooping up the broken pieces. “I am so sorry sir… and Y/N! I’m uh— I‘ll just—”

“It’s okay, Garcia,” Hotch’s voice was gruff, “I’ll clean it up. Just get ready for the briefing.”

She had slowly gotten up and wiped her hands across her dress. “Yes, sir,” she spoke quietly, but once she turned around and scurried away Y/N could hear a quiet “I am so telling Derek I was right.”

Surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward afterwards as they both pitched in to clean the broken glass. Their slightly heated faces and hidden smiles were enough for them to both understand what the other was thinking— this thing between them was real, and they had to practice avoiding the rest of the team for anything other than case related things.

[feuqueerfire]

4Minutes Ep 1 - 4 Live Blogging

I’m in Chicago and hanging out with friends but also, I’m awake while the others are sleeping/busy. So maybe I’ll start watching this hmmm. Ideally I’d binge/watch each episode in one go, then go through archives and posts for that episode, then move on to next episode but the rest of the week once I get home is also going to be chaotic, so I don’t think I can watch the episodes with my full attention then either. I wanna be caught up for Friday’s episode, so here we go on my ipad. I saw a bunch of stuff for the first two eps and some stuff for the third ep; most of it was Fuaiz character with Bas or Jjay so I kinda don’t know what’s going on with our main couple except Bible’s character sees visions (including having sex w the other guy).

Ep 1 (Aug 11/12)

Great? in the hospital and dying. Tyme wandering around while shot and dying

beautiful shots

Korn works in his father’s company and has been given a new position… Investment but also referred to as “the secret operation” by his dad when he can’t hear

oh Great is gonna take over Korn’s old transportation overseeing stuff soon

Are Great and Korn cousins?

Great hit a woman while speeding in his car?!?!

hit and run?!?$?$?!!!!!

I heard some people say that none of the characters are good but I didn’t expect our main character Great to quite be this bad

ohhhh his first vision four minutes into the future, that was cool

the hospital setting does remind me of Triage - another Sammon creation. like the never saying free in the ER thing

oh Tyme is still a student? i mean med students get to be older toward the end of their studies. but he’s a doctor already i thought

the secret operation investment banking is online gambling done by a bunch of people on computers

who is that woman at the gambling place?

[Linguistics] Phi, nai between Korn and Tonkla

everybody was awake and around by the time I got to Korn-Tonkla on the couch… will pick it back up when I’m alone again heh

Korn gives money to Tonkla (though Tonkla still works)

very explicit sex scene that goes on for a little too long for me, so I started skipping toward the end. but not bad yknow it’s just that i find it awkward looking at so much nakedness. my friends are on the other side of the room, so I’m also not fully chill

Also the “can you fuck me raw?” was indeed crazy. I think there’s supposed to be a “does it hurt?” but i missed that one probably bc i skipped some parts

Great and Korn are brothers. I thought Great was that aunts son but is the dad’s son actually

Great telling Korn about his future vision lol how would he believe you

ohhh okay the reason Korn called Great’s mother aunt is because he has a different mother but same father. I finally understand lol

Tyme and his grandma. also he will become a surgeon soon but isn’t one yet

going up the elevator is okay but going down is not

Bible giving flowers to a patient in a hospital reminds me of Vegas giving Porsche a flower basket

I wonder what the future vision’s purpose was this second time

so true, this is a BL where the main characters must meet. Almost forgot lol

heh visions of him making out w Tyme

hmm when the woman had a heart attack and was stuck going through her life so far again, she could see 4 minutes into the future. Is Great in that hospital bed at the start and is seeing 4m into the future for the past

Interesting first episode, lots of things happened and my interest is piqued. What’s up with the woman who ran in front of the car and her mysterious son that’s Great’s age? How are the characters’ paths gonna cross? What’s the 4 minutes thing even? exciting. Well shot and the sex scene going so far startled me even though I kinda knew about it. Gotta wait until Tuesday to watch eps 2 and 3 rip.

Ep 2 (Aug 13)

murderrrrr

kinda looks like Fuaiz face and the cigarette hmmm. I wonder if he’s killing his brother bc ik that happens from spoilers or if it’s a future thing

oh, son committed suicie. wonder if it has anything to do with the gambling

Title is so annoying and not in a fun morally gray way. he's just ewwwwww without anything interesting about him. Similar to the same actor playing Top in DFF actually

ofc and Great's just chilling with this weirdo kidnapper agh

Great literally just originally watched his weirdo friend beat someone to death with a rock wtf...

stupid... Tyme literally fixing his hair and clothes and flexing him arms to go check up on Great lmfao

Tyme practically flirting while Great experiences visions of them having sex

I wonder what about Great intrigues Tyme so much

oh, Title died? This is a field by the river where Great left Tyme right but he'd only hit Tyme once with a rock. I didn't realize he was the one who was Tonkla's brother who apparently died but whew, that's good, I don't wanna see his face bruh

Title is Tonkla's nong? that's wild

Why don't they show the brother's face? Is it not Title?

aghhhh ofc it wasn't Title, a misdirection. no wonder they've not showed his face at all. but did that mans die at the same place Title brought Dome to kill?

damn, Great is not good at fighting at all lol but that tracks

now where did Tyme come from?

The calculations going on in Tyme's head during this conversation with Great lol

everything is so 11:00 related

Did she crash the sites?

oof, Korn fucked up and was a reason a hacker could do this

yaas okay the het sex is way less explicit but still exciting. should've shown more kneeling from Korn imo

yaas one side of the couple cheating (though I'd guess that Korn actually with the woman/is expected to be with the woman/does this often and Tonkla is actually his side piece sugar baby) and another side being set up for the cheating later on (Win coming to see Tonkla)

hmm who is she working for and giving the information to? It looked like Tyme for a second but I doubt that doctor's involved in this. so idk. but that would actually make sense why Tyme was so interested in Great, especially after seeing his name (surname)

Ep 3 (Aug 13)

Last episode before I have to wait just like the rest of them :') Just 4.5 weeks or so until the finale though.

Two murders in a similar way... So somebody killed Tonkla's brother and Tonkla killed them with the stone similarly

We've moved on from 11:00 to 11:01 last ep and it's showing up plenty this ep. There were some theories that Great has until 11:04 in the current timeline where he's in the hospital bed to change the stuff in his past, which could be interesting

seeing 11:01 when it's actually 9:30 ahh. real time vs past

"Can you forgive me, Great?" visions hmm

Great smiling so much around Tyme hehe

[Linguistics] Going from Doctor -> P'Tyme

hanging out and doing claw machines, cute

aw poor lonely rich kid Great. but okay so is his dad his bio dad or his stepdad?

oh, almost kiss already?!

nooo she got captured at the gambling den. did she send that info to Tyme?

damn, the case got transferred to the corrupt chief

"Deep down everybody knows who did it" omg?

"I shouldn't do this. you must still be grieving" cut to them making out shirts off and progressing lol

Tonkla's so funny, asking Korn before and now Win to fuck him raw

skipped through this sex scene too ngl like it's too explicit for me T.T

Tonkla got off and is no longer into the kissing lol and also interesting how in Eo 1 he was all about pleasing Korn and being like oh i don’t need to finish while I don’t even know if Win came (Tonkla did though! jizz on his damn chest omg)

ah, Win saying Tonkla can call him anytime for whatever reason, a sharp contrast to how he still hasn't been able to reach Korn

okay, so this happened in Great-Dome-Title's school and year because the girl who commented about the dead guy was in their class. but nobody is currently dead in their class... so is this indeed in the future like some people were theorizing? like Tonkla's storyline and Great's storyline aren't happening simultaneously?

11:02 already

ohhhh I'd seen the gifs of Tyme taking off his mask but was so confused. I get it now. yeah it was Tyme that Nan was sending all the gambling evidence to.

but why are him and Nan doing so many scary things by themselves, no backup, no nothing oof

I'd seen the 2 timelines theory but I wasn't sure if that would actually work because Korn and Great were at that dinner with their parents at the same time. And I thought it was after Great started seeing the future and Korn got assigned to the new thing, which we had mentioned to Tonkla.

I wonder why Great had seen the 4 minutes future this episode? Usually it's a significant event, especially ones where he made a cowardly choice, but that time, his heart started hurting and he dropped his drink?

Ep 4 (Aug 16)

I just happened to be working from home today so I can start watching during my lunch hehe and not have to wait ~6.5 hours until its release

oh, Tonkla matches the DNA of fingerprints on the rock?

Dr. Den just giving away where Tyme is to Great while Tyme's in the middle of surgery lol c'mon

move in with Tonkla?! girl you're a side piece of the side piece, you can't move into Tonkla's place that's likely running on Korn's money

no way Tonkla actually brought Win home lmfao I thought the promo pic for this ep was Tonkla and Korn in bed, when's that gonna happen. and Tonkla is trying to get it on with Win again, I like the tension when he's dragging his finger over Win's clothed chest

...and Korn arrives right then lol

Win having to hide without his pants is killing me lmfaoo

agh, Korn not backing off of Tonkla until the 4th time he pushes him off with a lot more force D: he submits to the woman + the other higher-ups in the business, so he comes to throw his weight around with Tonkla

that's crazy, Win didn't even put on his pants this whole time lmfaooo

Tonkla's switch up in personality between Korn and Win and the way he has Win under his control is crazy. it's mostly because how much he loves/gives a fuck about Korn vs Win ig

oh, Korn and Tonkla are ~4-5 years apart since I'm guessing Tonkla's a freshman and Korn is a senior in this flashback. I thought they were a decade apart at first lol

oh yeah, Tonkla's parents are dead so his nong can't be Title.

did Tonkla's nong kill the cat?

also is this the black cat Tonkla saw in ep 1 or 2 that was eerie? ig because it's supposed to be dead.

ah, the start of Tonkla and Korn falling in love. their start is so much more romantic than I expected, like their first time seems so romantic, a stark contrast to how Korn was pressuring Tonkla today

"I love you" from Tonkla already?

oh, his parents were still alive back then and probably his dad killed the cat.

omg? Korn saying he'll tell everybody that Tonkla's his bf once he takes over the company?

oof, sad Win in the bed while Tonkla's sitting and thinking about how he met and fell in love with Korn but I mean you now know that Tonkla's with somebody and are still having sex and sleeping in the bed.

Ah, the brain can survive w/o oxygen for 4 minutes. Thus the fandom theory that Great's going through the last 4 minutes of his life right now in that hospital bed and making different choices and such, hopefully to change the future

oh, she saw Great in that room?

Den really is so endearing somehow

the cut to Nan being slapped startled me fr

ok at least Great deleted the msg from Korn's history bc I was like lol what if he doesn't

omg the guy actually killed Nan in the other timeline, that's crazy

lol in what world would Tyme not get shot on sight? They're already grabbing at and pointing guns toward Great, the son of their boss + that guy shot Nan through the head in the other timeline, Tyme should've been dead by now but it's okay ig. lol they're even letting Tyme just walk away and go, that's wild

lmfao please Great high on adrenaline rn after the rescue. hopefully some thoughts about how shitty his family is will come into head soon

[Linguistics] "Not yet": 'yang' ยัง at 47:38 at Great is smiling. anytime I hear this I'm reminded of Pete are you satisfied and Vegas from his chair, grinning wide, saying ยัง after having tortured Pete in the basement. similar ยัง with a wide smile from Bible but different emotions and vibes lol. pretty much every time I hear ยัง I'm reminded of Vegas, so it's funny that it's a different Bible character this time

Tyme and Great first kiss hehe and they're so cute

they talk and giggle so cutely as they're taking their clothes off ahhhh

so Dome is Tonkla's nong fr? but how does it make any sense? because Tonkla's nong died - Korn was thinking about Tonkla telling him to get out while he met Great which was in the present

ohhh okay two different timelines not in the future sense but in the sense of parallel universes where Tonkla's in the original timeline still but Great's actions have saved Dome but in... a different timeline. and they kinda merge... kinda don't....

heh, I'm so glad I got to watch this ep right after it aired but now I've gotta wait for a week + some few hours because I'll be at work on Friday next week :<

Some progress on the TymeGreat front but it feels a bit strange how shallow? it seems because they've hardly spent time with each other and know nearly nothing about each other but Great is betraying his brother for Tyme and risking his life etc. Maybe because he has the visions of the two of them together and so is trying to speed up the romance? it just feels like their relationship is unearned/lacking which is a stark contrast to how in-depth and complex they're getting with Tonkla's relationships. So is the TymeGreat thing on purpose?

I'm curious how they'll deal with the 2 timelines stuff because the butterfly effect is kind of happening but not really???? The merging of two timelines where Tonkla is in the original one and Great is in the redo one but they bleed into each other (or rather maybe the redo is bleeding into the original one?)

Also I was wondering if the cold opens are from the future but it seems not, right? So does Win know right know that Tonkla is a murder suspect as he sleeps with him after finding out he already has someone and Tonkla's cheating with him? Win grow a backbone and stand for something. Letting himself be used as a side piece by a murder suspect, girl.

Thoroughly enjoying this, need the next episode right now.

[writingmaz]

Hello I love you’re writing tips!

I have a question.

I would like to ask what’s a good way to start my book? I’ve been making my story board but I just can’t think of any ways to get started on my book and plan out the entire plot. That’s what I’ve been having trouble with.

Thankies~

Hi there! Thanks for dropping an ask. I’m so glad you enjoy the writing tips!

My first recommendation is going to be very simple, probably more simple than you’d like — just write. Don’t worry about the perfect way to open your story because, truthfully, you’ll probably change it by the time you’re done editing anyway. You can start writing in the middle of the plot or just start writing random scenes. The more you write, the more details will come to you, and the more you’ll figure out what you want your layout to be.

Of course, I’ll give you some more ideas than that because that’s not very helpful to your direct question. But it’s something to consider. You don’t have to write your story in order. Your writing process is your own. Nonetheless, here are some ways to start your story!

✧

Writing Tips

Story Openings

➸ danger: drop the readers right into action with something dangerous; don’t worry if they don’t understand what’s happening yet because the whole point is to get them hooked

➸ dialogue: drop your readers right into an important conversation

➸ flashback: give the readers a glimpse into the character’s past, especially if it’s something that will heavily affect the character development; it’ll build the readers intrigue

➸ foreshadowing: let the readers in on what’s about to happen; something as simple as “if only he knew…” will add suspense and intrigue

➸ historical context: tell a story of the culture or some historical turning point to jump into world building

➸ mystery: have your character do something unexplained; it’ll make the readers want backstory

➸ normal day: start with a normal day… until it’s not; write your characters daily commitments (something to show who they are) and then have it all suddenly change; this can be a good way to express the main character’s lifestyle, introduce side characters early on, and world build — but be careful because it can also be rather boring

➸ onomatopoeia: start with a sound that moves into an action for a quick way to hook the reader (boom! crack! crash!)

➸ perspective: give a point of view from a side character (this can be especially intriguing if your main character is an unreliable narrator)

➸ prophecy: start with a compelling prophecy to keep the readers wondering how it will connect later on

➸ question: start with an important question and let the rest of the scene answer it

➸ secret: give your readers something only they know or something only one character knows; it’ll initiate suspense

✧

Tips

➸ avoid info-dumping: you spent all this time building this world and you want your readers to know it… I get it… but they’ll figure it out as the story goes; don’t throw a bunch of information at them right away or they won’t retain it and they’ll get bored

➸ don’t overdo descriptions: readers have an amazing ability to fill in gaps; they don’t need to know every detail of your setting or character appearance; give a prominent detail or two and let them fill in the rest

➸ don’t tell everything at once: your readers need to wonder what will happen or they won’t want to read more

➸ establish the character’s voice: your readers should have a decent idea of who the main character is by the end of the first chapter

➸ keep it moving: the plot should always move forward, even in the start; even though this is an ‘introduction’ chapter, it should flow into the second chapter with ease

➸ know what you want your readers to know: list the details you want established from the very beginning and brainstorm the best way to describe a majority of these while still moving the plot forward

[shotorozu]

encountering a ‘pick me’ girl

character(s) : kirishima eijirou, todoroki shouto, bakugou katsuki (bnha)

warning : PICK ME GIRL, misogyny (?) pick me girl makes an off handed comment about your body but it’s not detailed at all

PART TWO — PART THREE

legend : [Y/N = your name] afab! reader, but they/them pronouns used, quirk not mentioned

headcanon type : fluff, angst if you squint

note(s) : i made 2 versions of this post so,, if you’re reading this— then i probably decided that i liked this one more than the other one i made,, anyways, i used real life examples 💀

»»————-　♡　————-««

kirishima eijirou

i’d imagine that eijirou would have an idea of what a pick me girl is— i mean, there were probably 2 of those girls in middle school

but has he experienced it first hand? nahh.

though, eijirou didn’t think he’d encounter one when he was already in a healthy and committed relationship!

eijirou is practically friends with everyone— and yeah, even the most unexpected. so, he’s bound to accidentally befriend a pick me girl

him, being the nicest one out of all of the characters in this list, will still be nice to said pick me girl, despite wanting to snob them to the core

because really— you can’t really fight fire with fire in some cases

but, he can be everything but lenient when the pick me girl starts insulting you for doing certain things, and for absurd reasons too

like,, how you laugh, and how you take care of yourself (for example— if you wear makeup, or how you style your hair)

which is odd! everything about you is everything but the things the pick me girl has stated so.. he cannot stand by.

SCENARIO

the girl giggles to herself after that snide comment leaves her lip gloss coated lips. eijirou shifts uncomfortably— honestly taken aback by the anything but subtle insult that was thrown at you

“like.. seriously! it’s honestly quite superficial if you look at it like that. who the hell would put that much effort infront of your boyfriend? i’d assume they’d see everything AND everything but.. i guess not.”

you blink. superficial? now that’s a new one. the girl infront of you has been babbling insults sugarcoated in boasts the entire time, and you’re just wondering if it’s about time you guys leave but—

“well that’s unfair,” your boyfriend laughs, “i put the same amount of effort as this cutie right here,” eijirou pokes at your cheek, earning a quick laugh from you— which he can only thank the heavens for that

“but that’s different. it actually looks put together when you’re doing it, eiji.” the certain glint in her smile makes you want to wipe it right off with a dirty mop, “it’s impossible to look put together with expensive clothes, but being built like a—”

the sound of the sliding of a chair is quicker than your actions, and it easily cuts her off.

“i’m sorry, but we gotta go, it’s totally not cool of you to say those things about Y/N!”

“what? but i mean.. it’s true, right? i’m looking out for them! they’re literally out here l—”

“bye!” eijirou waves her goodbye with your hand, dismissing the sour expression on her face— as he dashes off with you

you’d question how he’s just so nice to people like that, but when he turns around, you could see the distaste in his eyes

“so that’s what a pick me girl’s like,” shaking his head, his expression lights up with such a quick manner “i’ll never make friends that are like that again!”

safe to say, eijirou’s friend list has been a a person shorter ever since that incident

bakugou katsuki

oh, so that girl’s bold bold.

if she thinks she could get away with being a not so subtle pick me girl infront of bakugou katsuki, then she couldn’t be more wrong.

it’s absolutely revolting— i mean, he hasn’t displayed any romantic feelings towards ANYONE that isn’t you.

also, they’re quite gutsy if you ask me. so congrats for having guts??

i don’t think he’d be friends with a pick me girl. he’s very selective of who he’s befriending, so it’s probably your friend that’s the pick me girl in this case

he wouldn’t know what a pick me girl would be, but he’d probably know the description of one.

over some time, he’d grow some resistance to insults directed at him, but when someone insults his s/o

oh boy. that’s not good. remember when i said that katsuki was almost like your scary and intimidating dog

this is what i mean

knows he can’t make a scene, so his first option is to be dismissive asf— but if said pick me girl literally can’t get it, he won’t be afraid of shoving some explosions into her face

because his hands are rated e for everyone

SCENARIO

“so you wanna be picked or something, is that it?” he hates how you literally have the resistance of a rock— which is something he always liked, but in this case hated. if it weren’t for you— he would’ve blasted explosions into her sorry excuse of a face until it’s beyond recognition (that wouldn’t be hero like, is what you’ve said in the past, but he disagrees.)

but seriously? ugh. he just wants to leave this horrid place, and make some dinner with you in the comfort of his home. why are you even friends with her anyway? she’s not even trying to be slick at this point.

“p-picked? i’m not understanding, katsu.”

“it’s bakugou.”

“right,” her laughter is like nails on chalkboard, “i’m just watching out for Y/N, y’know? there’s no point in wearing all of that.. on their face.” and she’s obviously referring to your obviously very well done makeup

“it’ll make your skin terrible in the long run! and really— i couldn’t really understand on why someone would wear that much, when you could survive with i dunno.. lip gloss at most?”

you would’ve actually said something as a rebuttal, but your boyfriend is quicker, and a lot more direct than anyone else in the area.

“just say you can’t do makeup and fucking scram,” katsuki’s ice cold glare finally breaks out of the act he’s been trying to hold together for you

“their makeup is fucking bomb as hell, compared to your ridiculous spider lashes, lady. come back when you’ve watched james charles’ entire fucking channel.” he harshly states in similar bakugou fashion, despite the lack of screaming.

and if you squinted hard enough, you could see tears welling up in her eyes. but katsuki tugs your hand before anything else could be said

“let’s fucking go, you need better friends.”

he makes you cut ties with all of them, and he practically scolds your terrible choice of friends— but he goes quiet when you tell him that you’ve been friends with her since middle school

“good fucking riddance. next time, i’ll punch them as soon as they say something outta line, got that?” and next time (hopefully, there won’t be a next time) you’ll actually lash out— or maybe,, you’ll let him loose for once.

todoroki shouto

now shouto might be,, socially unaware sometimes. but he can tell whenever someone’s trying to insult his s/o

like,, right away.

now— you both run into this person after a pleasant date, and she eagerly presented herself as your friend

so, her attitude catches him off guard because who’d have anything rude to say about you and towards shouto’s face? especially when it’s about something normal.

like,, wasn’t she your friend?? why is she even like this?

his hostility is very well known, so they should be scared.

he gets detached from the conversation, and he’ll immediately go cold— and shouto would probably go as far as walking away with your hand in his

doesn’t matter if he properly says goodbye or not— if a girl’s being rude to his s/o, they obviously don’t deserve his usually polite attitude. nope, that’s a luxury.

oh— and what more when they’re seeking for his validation. newsflash! said pick me girl won’t be get any from him.

SCENARIO

shouto couldn’t stop the bitterness bleeding into his mouth, when the girl in front of him continued to babble and take up the valuable time he had left with his s/o

initially, she presented herself as your friend from middle school— but as of now? she seems to be more interested in him more than you, despite knowing you first.

she’d ask him a string of obvious questions with very obvious answers, like ‘is she treating you well?’ ‘is she acting correctly?’ and questions of the sort

“oh, sorry! i’d hate to cut this conversation short, but—” you finally decide that it was about time to leave, while shouto looks pretty,, deadpanned right now, you could tell that he was gradually starting to get irritated by your friend’s words.

“wait. thats.. kind of controlling, don’t you think? do you ever let shou make decisions?”

“uh.. controlling? since when??” you question at the accusation. this girl knows nothing about your relationship dynamic, and she’s already jumping the gun and making conclusions.

your gaze snaps back to shouto, who looks just as surprised as he could possibly be.

“yeah! it clearly looks like he still wants to talk” which is an obvious lie, shouto just wants it out of here “i wonder how you managed to snag such a guy like him,” she comments with a smile that looked anything above suspicion (yet, it makes your stomach churn)

you could see the way her hand gets gradually closer to him— and frankly, you’re not sure about what she was planning to do next, “you wouldn’t need to dress all expensive and fancy, if you’re with a girl with an already classy appear—”

“i think this conversation is over,” shouto grip is firm on the wrist that was attempting to grab his shoulder, shouto makes no attempt to even look at the girl infront of him “i don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not humorous. at all.”

“what?” she stammers, drawing her hand back “i-it’s obvious they don’t know how to take a joke! this is why there are barely any good w—”

shouto’s next actions knocks her speechless, his hand rests at the small of your back, before gently guiding you forward— “love, what movie are we watching later?” he says, making an effort to press a quick, yet intense kiss on your lips

“oh,” you breathe out, surprised by this action. “don’t be so tense, love.” shouto comments on how tense your shoulders have looked, ever since she started running her mouth, “now.. what movie do you want to watch tonight? comedy? thriller?”

“you pick,” you laugh at the quick shift of topic. and when you look behind you, you could see shame and defeat welling up on her face. shouto finally feels like he could smile again, the bitterness dissipating from his mouth

after shouto questions you if that was what a pick me girl was, he makes sure that you guys won’t ever encounter such thing again

“you.. don’t have more friends like that, right? if you do— we could always do another friend list cleansing.” this statement makes you laugh but shouto is anything but joking

but being reminded of his reaction to that ‘pick me’ girl does puts a smile on your face.

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

[maoam]

WHY HINATA IS NOT A GOOD CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION

I wanted to take a deeper look at Hinata’s character, considering there are a lot of claims about her out there, that she’s strong, that she’s kind, that she’s complex and relatable, that she’s the perfect woman and that she’s at least better than Sakura. I don’t really think so, and I’ll explain why. I’ll be focusing on canon, so no fillers or novels will be included in this post. I’ll say this as a warning, if you’re a fan of her character this probably won’t be something you’ll like. This will be tagged with the anti tags and put under read more so please do not complain if tumblr somehow puts this in the normal tags, it is not intentional. Also Sakura stans please don’t write lengthy comments about Sakura under this, I’m not a fan of her either and I’ll write about her later. Make your own post instead.

”HINATA IS STRONG AND THE BEST KUNOICHI”

Hinata is generally really bad as a shinobi and I’m not sure where the claims that she is strong come from. Hinata's entire character revolves around her being weak. This could have been fine if she actually developed, or if she found some other area for herself, yet she's mediocre at best and a waste of panels at worst, because she never becomes good or strong at anything. She’s not only physically weak from start to finish, but she’s also the equivalent of a damsel in distress. Everytime Hinata attempts to do something, she ends up failing, getting beaten up and having to be saved. She lost to her sister who is five years younger than her, which is what marked her as a failure in her clan. She tried to fight Neji in the chunin exams and ended up coughing up blood and losing her consciousness, and Naruto had to beat Neji for her. After Kabuto heals her fully, she spends the rest of part 1 either sleeping or missing in action. Very underwhelming.

If this had been only the beginning, it would have maybe been fine, but it’s a reoccuring pattern with her character. She throws herself in front of Pain, managing to do nothing but get one-paneled and almost killed. Even at the start of the war she had to be saved by Naruto. She tried to run to Naruto and tripped over a rock. Actually, she’s so weak she got Neji killed, when he had to jump in front of her so she wouldn’t get impaled. Why is she even in the front lines when she can’t fight? Even in Naruto the Last movie she had to be saved multiple times. In Boruto the movie she is still useless and reckless, leaving her daughter’s side to help Naruto, ending up defeated and having to be healed by Sakura once again.

I can’t say she’s mentally strong either. She has the personality of someone who hates conflict and tries to avoid it as best as they can, to the point of agreeing with others on everything, as Neji pointed out. Even without him saying it out loud, most of Hinata’s moments that aren’t her thinking about Naruto are her doing exactly this. This is not the personality of someone who is strong mentally. It’s the personality of someone who is too weak to have their own mind, someone who will go with the flow and is easily led and convinced. It can be dangerous the more you think about it. Hinata is also the bystander who never stands up for Naruto despite liking and admiring him. If she’s a compassionate girl, why isn’t she showing this by reaching out to Naruto and befriending him? Why doesn’t she show he’s not alone? Why is she only drawing inspiration from him? I don’t normally watch fillers, but there was one filler scene unrelated to Hinata where this girl says if you only look at the loser and do nothing, you aren’t much better than the oppressors, which probably wasn’t meant to be a call out for Hinata, but ended up being so anyway. Another thing that’s annoying is how she is berating herself often, yet doing nothing, it comes off as self-pity. Even in the Last movie, she is talking about how she must be a bad sister for knitting a scarf when her sister is in danger. Then why are you doing it and not stopping? Of course everytime this happens Naruto must cheer her up because she just can’t stop moping around and doing something herself.

Aside from all this, from the very beginning Hinata’s honor needed to be defended by Naruto because she couldn’t stand up for herself. Of course, after Naruto’s words she did stood up for a moment, and that was good, but it should have been a wake up call which altered her course. Instead, she kept doing the same she always did. If we take the Last movie into consideration, she’s still not strong enough to do anything even about her crush on Naruto. She needs genjutsu and Sakura to do the work for her. So even when it comes to the only thing she cares about 90 % of the time, which is Naruto-kun, she can’t do anything about it. That’s really sad.

”HINATA IS KIND AND SELFLESS”

There’s one mistake I see people make often, and that’s assuming characters that are quiet and shy are automatically kind. I wouldn’t say Hinata is as kind as the fandom makes her out to be. She simply comes off that way because you don’t really see her have her own opinions or disagree with the other characters. Hinata’s shyness on the other hand is most of the time a fetishized quirk to appeal to certain subset of fans. Her shyness doesn’t stop her from taking exams or hanging around Shino and Kiba, or talking to characters other than Naruto. She also has enough attitude to rub Neji’s status as a house slave in his face during their match, but because she stutters Naruto-kun every five minutes she’s supposedly kind. Kindness is shown through actions, not through standing around and stuttering. For comparison, we see Ino befriend an unpopular kid like Sakura, and give her confidence. That’s an act of kindness. Did Hinata ever cared about helping the branch members in any way? No.

She's supposedly "kind" but like I mentioned before she never shows this kindness by standing up for Naruto, or reaching out to him. She simply stares at him behind a tree and draws inspiration from his suffering. The only time she can actually stand up is to selfishly confess her love and die. She even said she felt like being selfish, and like I said she knew there was nothing she could do, she was told she’d only be in the way. She came there only to confess and commit suicide. This actually reminds me of another anime where this female character, after being unable to receive a male character’s love killed herself in front of him and said ”now you’ll never forget me”.

In the end, she cares about nothing but her own hormonal urges. Hinata tried to help Naruto cheat to pass an exam at the risk of disqualifying her whole team. This is the first individual action we see her character take. Did she consider Shino and Kiba during that moment? No, she didn’t even have an inner conflict on whether she should do this, whether it’s right towards her teammates. Even Naruto considers he might get Hinata, Sasuke and Sakura all in trouble if he accepts Hinata’s offer, which is why he doesn’t do it. Then when Hinata wonders if she can cheer for Naruto during his and Kiba’s match, she thinks Kiba might get mad. It’s more about how Kiba views her rather than whether she should cheer for Kiba because they are in the same team and should support each other. During the Pain attack, she left an injured shinobi, who couldn’t move, to go to Naruto, even when said shinobi told her she would only be in Naruto’s way. She didn’t try to save people, she simply wanted to confess and act in front of Naruto. This is about a threat to the entire village, which includes her comrades and her sister and she’s thinking only about her romantic feelings towards a guy she had maybe two conversations with and who barely remembers she exists. How is she better than Sakura? War arc really was the icing on the cake that Hinata’s character is only about Naruto. We should not forget the infamous ”Naruto-kun’s hand is so big… so manly...” is that really the right time to be thirsty? When Neji just died? Shikamaru mentions that he could help out Naruto as a right-hand man and then Hinata thinks “I-I want to be by Naruto-kun’s side too.” Then there’s of course the scene where she starts running to Naruto, leaving her post and teammates, even when Naruto is a mile away and already in the hands of medical ninjas, and even that ends up her pathetically tripping over a rock. Kiba has to remind her to use her byakugan because she is too busy gushing about Naruto. Eventually her only last line is “Naruto-kun”, when everyone is put into IT. It’s like a parody by this point. She doesn’t have any concern for her sister, her father, her teammates, Kurenai or her baby. It’s just “Naruto-kun” like it always is. Even in the Last movie, she is knitting a scarf for Naruto during the mission where they’re supposed to save her sister. Who brings a scarf on a mission? Why is she thinking about her romantic gift to Naruto so much she has to take it with her on a mission which focus is saving her sister? She even looks more devastated when Toneri tores the scarf apart than she ever does for Hanabi’s sake. It’s just silly and selfish.

”HINATA IS A COMPLEX CHARACTER”

Is she complex though? Her development goes from standing behind a tree looking at her crush she never talks to, to committing suicide for feelings that could never be reciprocated, to… waiting that a genjutsu and Sakura guilt trip Naruto enough for him to be with her? Like I already mentioned her character revolves entirely around Naruto, she has no hobbies or interests we know of aside from him. She has no motivations aside from being by Naruto’s side. She once had an interesting goal and backstory, but that was never fully explored, and it turned into her wanting Naruto’s attention and thinking about him. Her clan plot was irrelevant, she showed no interest in wanting to be a leader or even wanting to make things better for the branch members. It’s funny because immediately after the ending, no one cared about the Hyuuga branch and how the storyline was dropped and had no resolution. It was only when Hinata was being attacked for not showing to care did her fans start to over-analyze all the panels looking for the tiniest little clue that might hint at some changes.

It’s possible to be both shy, anxious and quiet and also to be strong, motivated and have interests and dreams. Hinata is never strong for herself, she’s only strong to be with Naruto, to die for Naruto, to motivate Naruto, to have Naruto look at her even for a moment. All the while Naruto doesn’t pay much attention to her unless she’s literally dying in front of him or she slapped him. Even when a big climax is happening, what’s on her mind is always her romantic feelings and her crush. I saw someone say if she were a male character, and she pulled this pointless sacrifice and theatrical confession in the final fight of an arc, she would’ve been universally mocked. Actually, I think even if it was Sakura who did this instead of Hinata the former would have been mocked, because their stans are unable to see the same flaws in their own fave as they see in the other girl. Naruto is a battle manga, characters are supposed to contribute to the defeat of the villain in some material way. The only reason people praise Hinata for what she did in the Pain arc is because they either pity her or because they’re men who think women killing themselves for a man is great because it boosts their ego.

I also notice many Hinata fans don’t notice the vanity in their own fandom. They call Hinata “princess”, ”heiress”, ”Konoha’s first lady” and draw fanart glorifying these concepts and how it makes Hinata good, because they like the superficial status, what they don’t care is the titles are unearned. I thought Hinata’s appeal was that she’s the underdog and a loser? Or maybe her real appeal is the idea of getting everything you want without doing much in order to get it?  Another claim is that Hinata is the perfect woman, which you might see from men. This is what I might dislike the most. Men judge Hinata’s worth and whether she’s a good character based on what kind of woman they want and think is the right kind of woman. Hinata has big breasts, she’s submissive, she has no other interests than the man she likes, and she’s the only girl in her class who didn’t go for the popular guy. Many men hate Sakura, Ino and Karin for being fangirls but praise Hinata for being a fangirl. Basically to them if a character is a fangirl of the wrong guy, she’s a stupid slut. If she fangirls their self insert, she’s wife material and the ideal woman. If Sakura has to be saved, she’s useless. If Hinata tries to kill herself for Naruto, she’s ”so kind”. Rin is a one-dimensional character, but Hinata saying Naruto-kun for the 50th time is depth. Hinata is also claimed to be better than the other girls because she had more kids and thus is more ”fertile”. It’s like feminism never happened and we are back to the 16th century. Why are we judging women’s worth on how many kids they have and how much they can please a man?

I could also talk about how Studio Pierrot turned Hinata into a hentai bait for otakus, which also plays a part in her popularity, but I don’t think it’s necessary, so I will just offer this picture which speaks for itself.

END NOTE

Hinata is simply just a sexist stereotype, a shadow of a real woman, with not much depth, and who is certainly not better than Sakura either. Both of them are fangirls whose characters revolve around men. It’s wild to me how there are women who genuinely act like one must be a misogynist if they reject Hinata’s superficial, one-dimensional and boy crazy character. Her character itself is misogynist for crying out loud. And honestly, what does it say when even the creator himself assumes that Hinata is someone’s favorite character because he must like big boobs?

[memryse]

many thoughts about Scar in Last Life

We all know Scar is one of the standouts of Last Life; he’s always been one of the key players ever since 3rd Life, driving conflicts and shaping the course of the server. His chaotic nature lends itself perfectly to 3rd/Last Life, and he seems to have only refined it in the hiatus between seasons.

In 3rd Life, Scar was more of a subjective villain. From his own perspective and Grian’s perspective, he wasn’t scary at all! The two of them were just having fun and causing problems – sure, they threatened people, but their dumb antics together made them just feel like two friends messing around; their POV was lighthearted until the final session, really. From other perspectives, however (particularly Dogwarts’ POVs), that was not how the two of them came across. They felt malicious, scary in how casually they approached such a bloodthirsty game. They’d laugh as they took lives, showing no care for anybody but themselves �� they’d betray their allies in a heartbeat without an ounce of remorse, and the rest of the players knew it. Scar wasn’t someone to fear from his own POV.

Since Last Life began, however, Scar has become very openly malicious. Even watching his own POV, it’s hard to see him as anything but a villain – his own comment section is full of people commenting on how scary he suddenly seems. I want to expand on some of these villainous moments, because holy fuck, Scar.

In session 1, Scar is certainly a prominent figure, but we mostly get to see his classic silly Scar antics. Sure, he plans on “selling souls”, but it feels like the equivalent of his reputation points in S1. We still don’t get the sense of him going full villain arc yet. He allies with Joel and commits a crime, and we all expect another lighthearted Scar scam which definitely does not go to plan.

And that is what happened… sort of. He’s immediately caught by Scott and Pearl, etc etc etc. The two of them cheerfully agree a scheme to try and kill Jimmy, but that casual discussion of murder is as bad as they get.

Session 2, Scar is chosen as one of the two boogeymen, alongside Joel.

Things go decidedly not to plan immediately. The two of them had agreed last session to try and kill Jimmy, and were supposed to be trusting enough to tell each other if they’re the boogeyman – and yet what does Scar do? Immediately try and push Joel into lava. He’d betray Joel without a second thought – already a contrast to 3rdLife, where upon turning red Scar threw flowers at Grian and asked if they could still be friends. He doesn’t succeed, of course, and Scar and Joel realise they’re both boogeymen, before parting ways.

Scar heads to the nether, where he immediately decides to deceive Etho and Bdubs into thinking he’s weak and has no food, so that he can get close to them nonthreateningly or something. I’ll talk about this more later, but here we get to see what a good liar Scar actually is. People want to assume that he’s all bark and no bite, that he’s a schemer who poses no real threat – when Scar plays into this, he can be reallyconvincing.

The next big moment I want to talk about is, of course, Joel’s trap. The first thing to comment on here is that Scar cries “Joel, are you trying to kill your best buddy?!”, and I can’t work out whether this is Scar acting to diffuse suspicion, or genuine surprise that he’d pull the trap when Scar was right there, but either way it definitely has the former effect. None of the Southlanders suspect Scar in the slightest. Until Scar murders Mumbo in a matter of seconds.

What’s really horrifying about this is that Scar had been begging Mumbo to ally with him just last session. And yet here… not only does he go for Mumbo without hesitation, his reaction afterwards is downright chilling. He just laughs, and tells the others “Welcome to Magical Mountain!” – it’s really quite like a movie villain in how little he seems to care. He doesn’t actually say a word about killing Mumbo; again, despite having desperately wanted to ally with him. To Scar, this was nothing more than an opportunity. Or maybe it’s all a show to him. Maybe it’s both. Scar doesn’t actually care about winning this game – to him, it’s more fun to put on as good a show as possible, and drag as many people down with him as possible (which is definitely a “cc!Scar being a good entertainer” thing, but it translates very well into being a LL!Scar character trait too).

He then hands Joel some supplies, and with the exact same level of nonchalance, tells him to go burn Scott and Pearl’s house down. I’m… getting the sense he enjoyed burning down Etho’s castle in 3rdLife.

Not much of note happens during his subsequent conversation with the Southlanders beyond him failing an initiation spectacularly – after this, he heads back to Joel. They chat from opposite ends of a broken bridge, which is quite a poetic scene honestly, representing the gap between their lives, the destruction of their alliance, etc. I’m just here to talk about Scar’s villainous moments, though, so let me point out one specific line from this conversation.

“I did avenge you, to be fair - Mumbo, I burned him to death, which was enjoyable. I heard him cry, so it was- yeah, that was a thing.”

Just… what the fuck, Scar? What? I know he tried to push the “red lives are psychopathic and feel nothing except a small sense of happiness when people die” in 3rd Life, but this was definitely a lie or at least an exaggeration, because 3l!Scar definitely had a much wider range of emotions than that. Either way, here he doesn’t even have the excuse of being a red life; this is just active malice, pure and simple. Bdubs had a similar level of pride in his boogeyman kill, but I never got the sense that he enjoyed it like Scar did.

Scar goes off to visit Scott and Pearl, and figure out whether they have the enchanting table or not. Note the emphasis on simply figuring it out, not actually getting the enchanting table. Here’s where I want to talk about Scar being a great liar: he fully convinces them into thinking that he was willing to trade lives for the enchanting table, and then he convinces them that he’s so desperate to get the table that he’ll lie about Joel burning their house down. The thing is, Scar had no intention of ever getting the table at that moment – he wasn’t going to trade lives for it to begin with. He’d try his luck at threatening them, but nothing more. He got exactly what he wanted out of that situation: proof. Meanwhile, Scott and Pearl were left believing they’d outwitted him, that they’d called his bluff and bullied him into leaving. They never saw his true intentions, never saw him as an actual threat. Scar is much smarter than people believe, which only makes him all the more threatening.

And finally, he goes on to prove this intelligence even further. He figures out that Scott and Pearl planned to trade for the enchanting table simply by seeing Scott ask Lizzie if she’s home in chat. He then goes to visit Lizzie, and she tells him she declined their offer. What’s notable about this scene is how much less belligerent Scar is than usual: he readily accepts what Lizzie says for once in his life and leaves without being too annoying about it. He later talks about lulling the others into a false sense of security, letting them think he’s not after the enchanting table anymore; that makes me think his visit to Lizzie was purely to confirm that the offer was even made, and he’s now certain that she accepted it. It’s not hard to work out, especially if he noticed her life count.

So, all in all, if you’re not scared of Scar in Last Life, you most definitely should be.

Did I forget to mention he’s currently tied for the highest life count on the server?

[tuiyla]

Ranking Once More, With Feeling songs

Eyyyy let’s go. Separating songs that were part of a medley, for the most part. Going out to @rachelberryy​​!

Not part of the ranking:

The Mustard: wouldn’t feel fair or necessary to include it in the list. Still, as well executed as the rest of them and a fun La La Land feel wayyyy before La La Land actually happened.

Bunnies: I find Anya to be ridiculously delightful, including the bunny running gag and this was a shocking but funny and appreciated interruption in the middle of I’ve Got a Theory. The rock opera was a fun genre to bring in and yeah, Anya’s just cool.

The Parking Ticket: again not necessary to include in the actual ranking but a fun background (foreground) moment. Man it really reminded me that basically all of these songs have a CXG “equivalent”.

Dawn’s Ballet: fully instrumental so excluded for that reason. But eyyy, Zach Woodlee! Even if we don’t see his face. Again proving that playing around with genres and committing fully to the musical episode is fun.

14. Dawn’s Lament

Despite technically ranking last I actually really like this short song. The fact that it’s so short is the only reason it’s so low but even in just two lines of lyrics I think it sums up Dawn’s angst and, well, lament really well and makes me wish she got a full feature. It’s my understanding that Michelle Trachtenberg asked not to sing too much so that’s understandable. But yeah, I think it’s good that she had this much, especially because, as I understand, despite Dawn’s behaviour being understandable she gets a lot of shit from the fandom.

13. What You Feel (+reprise)

Nothing against Hinton Battle who of course does an amazing job but the real strength of this episode is revelations about our beloved characters, not the monster of the week song. Not that this number isn’t as fun as the rest of the episode but it simply can’t compare to main cast’s solos, duets, and group numbers. The reprise shouting out the episode title is extra fun, though.

Best part: ironically in many ways, Dawn’s parts. Particularly “see, my sister’s the Slayer”

12. Something to Sing About

I feel like a lot would consider ranking this so low criminal. And in a way I do wish it could be higher but musically, I just don’t much vibe with it. I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind it, it’s a powerful scene and includes the big revelation about Buffy having been in heaven. The backup bit is amusing and Alyson Hannigan acts her butt off in the background as the reveal is going on but I simply can’t put it higher when I know this won’t be the song I listen to the most. I much, much prefer Buffy’s other solo. It’s also just, a bit long oops.

Best part: Musically, the beginning, but thematically probably Spike’s ending verse.

11. Where Do We Go From Here

I’m not sure how to justify ranking this above the previous one. I guess I’m just a sucker for group numbers and I think it has the appropriate balance of drama and levity. It feels a bit funky that Sweet leaves and yet they sing this afterward but whatever.

Best part: Giles’ solo line: The battle's done and we kind of won

10. Coda

As you’ll see further down this list I love a good reprise and this mash-up of Buffy and Spike songs only to culminate in the first step towards their relationship, it’s really chef’s kiss. Very very brief and closes by going back to the previous song but still, a good coda.

9. I’ll Never Tell

This is pure fun for Anya and Xander and a great performance. Harsher in hindsight, now that I’ve seen Xander leave Anya at the altar. But I keep being a sucker for Anya shenanigans in particular and this was very fun as that. I don’t care for all the lines but I appreciate all the effort that went into this number in particular.

Best part: His eyes are beady!

8. If We’re Together

It’s heartfelt and maybe a bit cheesy but hey, I love cheese and the power of love, found family and all that. It fits BtVS to have something like this, it simultaneously makes fun of the show and also emphasizes that yeah, this is the strength of the Scoobies. I also enjoy the double meaning behind Buffy’s what does it matter lines. We support our girl in her depression era.

Best part: Hey, I’ve died twice

7. I’ve Got a Theory

This is just that quintessential first group number with the lighter tone and everyone involved. It feels different enough to separate from If We’re Together and slightly ranking above it for the fun factor, including Xander’s ramble about witches. Points for being the song with the most Willow in it

Best part: Honestly, Xander’s ramble.

6. Under Your Spell

I kinda wish I could rank this higher. And it is good! It begins a new tier on our list and there’s much to appreciate. Amber Benson’s voice (even though I would prefer more chest voice but shhh okay okay) and the fairy tale vibes, and just the fact that the big love song went to the lesbian couple. The sentiment is lovely even with the darker undertone of Willow’s literal spell from the previous episode, but more on that in a bit. It feels apt to give Tara, usually a quiet and reserved ch a solo in the musical episode to express her feelings fully. I’m in awe that this was on television in 2001 and was quite shocked that they went there at the end lol. What do you know, they sure had the cojones and I appreciate that.

Best part: as cheesy as it is, the willow tree line

5. Rest in Peace

I debated putting this below Under Your Spell but I gotta appreciate the rock vibes, the angst, and the sheer over the top poetry of it. It’s really the perfect song for Spike and as much as I think the metaphors and puns are over the top, again it just fits him. Plus, I have to admit, it’s just more fun to listen to than Tara’s solo (still with love to her of course). God Spike would make such a dramatic lesbian.

Best part: If my heart could beat it would break my chest

4. Standing

Anthony Stewart Head really went for it and this song was perfect for both his voice and Giles’ character. I do think the sentiment felt a bit, hmm, off, but that’s a convo for another day. Giles’ fatherly love for Buffy is the very DNA of this series and him realizing that he has to let Buffy go, just after getting her back, hits all the right emotional places. If we had to let go of ASH, as a main cast member at least, this was as good a sendoff as we could get. Also curious that this is the only song that seems to be in just once of the characters’ head? Whatever, it’s musical logic.

Best part: the way he delivers Wish I could slay your demons

3. Under Your Spell/Standing Reprise

Ohh okay, so yeah I love an apt reprise and this mashup was incredibly powerful. Under Your Spell gains its darker meaning as Tara realizes what the audience had known and to parallel her sense of betrayal and, though it will take her another episode to truly admit, realization with Giles’ is so cool. To parallel a young woman’s queer love for her girlfriend with a middle aged man’s for his daughter figure. For both to realize, albeit for vastly different reasons, that they can’t be the ones helping their loved ones anymore. For Giles, it’s to help Buffy grow. For Tara, it’s the realization that she can’t, even inadvertently, continue enabling Willow. It’s such a cool thematic concept and executed beautifully musically, and cinematically as we see the shot of Buffy and Willow talking, ignorant the difficult decisions their loved ones are making. Well done, show.

Best part: Wish I could stay (but they can’t. and doesn’t that just break your heart?)

2. Walk Through the Fire

Here we go, the best group number of the bunch even though the other ones all have their strengths. It combines so many excellent parts. Buffy’s depression, even Going Through the Motions making a brief return. The Scoobies’ realization that yeah, they should help. Spike’s own realization that he’ll always come back to Buffy’s aid. The ‘villain’ parts. ASH once again delivering his solo bits very well, particularly the Dawn line. Beady-eyes is right, we’re needed! It combines funny and deep and heartfelt and really, that sums up the show well. Plus yeah, the small reprises.

Best part: I think this line's mostly filler. Pls, that’s too funny.

1. Going Through the Motions

Okay listen at first I was like, can I? Can I actually rank this first? But why not. What an excellent song to start us off with. A few minutes into the episode and this already had me so hyped. The composition, the flow, how fun the demons are in this, Buffy’s attitude, SMG’s voice to be honest. The fact that this is her I want song! The very first song! This is just such a fun and yet meaningful song. It’s funny how SMG turns inexplicably British in it (heaRt has an R, surely) but I don’t care, she does a great job and this song really embodies my love for season 6 Buffy. So good!

Best part: How can I repay...? Whatever. This was SO funny. The rhymes throughout the episode can be a little too simple but when they work they just work.

So that would be the list, hope I didn’t shock and upset anybody. I knew going into this that people heralded Buffy’s musical episode as not only an OG but one of the, if not the ultimate best and you know what, yeah. And if anything it really proved to me that jukebox musicals are not where it’s at - if you’re gonna do a musical, put your whole pussy into it. Write those original songs! Make them relate to the characters and reveal interesting things about them. That’s the whole point and it’s why, though the villain song was fun, others were far superior. Not that I didn’t love this series before but Once More, With Feeling well and truly cemented my love for BtVS.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[bestiesenpai]

Timorous - Itadori Yuji

I love hybrid au’s for the fact that I can google deep dive animal research for hours lol and speaking of research I went with a bunny, breed being a French lop with speckles. also this is a college au my guys, gender neutral reader! 6k words

A bit of a size difference thing here? Itadori is a tiger and tigers are bigger than rabbits...so I made him bigger and by that logic he’s bigger than you...tiger big rabbit small...I hope that makes sense lol and both reader and itadori are adorably skittish in this :) at least I think it’s adorable

To say Itadori had a problem would be both an understatement and an over exaggeration, depending on who you asked. Megumi said he was blowing things out of proportion while Nobara agreed that this dilemma he had was probably the biggest problem of their generation.

He had a crush on you, a rabbit hybrid. A soft, wonderful little thing with long ears and cute speckles all around your body. And it wouldn’t be such a problem if not for the painful fact of who Itadori was: a tiger hybrid. A predator nearly directly above you, much larger and stronger than you could ever hope to be.

He laid eyes on you during your first year of university, back in a prerequisite class for the major both of you had chosen. Seeing you walk in surrounded by other rabbits and sitting at the front of the class, he could barely take his eyes off you and when you said your name, he committed it to memory.

Everything about you was perfect, everything Itadori could ask for in a partner and more, but he knew there wasn’t any hope out there that he could approach you, at least not alone and especially not in your first year. So he waited patiently, almost too patiently, for the right opportunity to talk to you.

He waited so long it was now almost the end of your second year.

“Alright everyone, I’d like you to think about who you want to pair up with for this project and report back to me by the end of the week. Anyone that doesn’t have a partner by then will be paired up.” The professor announced at the end of class, closing up the textbook you’d been pouring over for an hour. This was the perfect opportunity for Itadori to get close to you.

Lingering in the classroom, Itadori packed up his things slowly and watched as the usual people you were with left class while you hung around to ask the professor a question. Holding his breath, Itadori walked out of the classroom at the same time as you.

You didn’t look in his direction at all, keeping your head down and ears framing your face. Itadori could smell the subtle unease rolling off you in waves and it disheartened him enough that he watched you walk away.

“H-hey (Y/N)!” Mustering up the courage to say your name, Itadori rushed over to your disappearing form. Looking over your shoulder, your eyes went wide seeing Itadori running toward you.

“What uh, what can I help you with?” This was the first time you were speaking to him and your voice was trembling. Your fingers were pulsing from how hard you were holding onto the strap of your bag, and you only briefly made eye contact with him.

“I was wondering…” Itadori’s tail twitched nervously and a lump began to form in his throat the longer he looked at you. You were just so cute it physically hurt him and all Itadori wanted to do was bundle you in his arms and nuzzle your fuzzy ears.

“I was wondering if you want to be partners for that project in class?” Seeing you flinch when he raised his hand up to scratch at the back of his neck, Itadori winced and tucked both hands behind his back.

“Uhm…” Worrying your lip, you took a look up and down the halls. There was a decent amount of people milling about, giving you a little more peace of mind. Even though Itadori was an arms length away he still took up a large portion in your field of vision.

“Y-you don’t have to give me an answer right now!” Putting both hands up in surrender, Itadori gasped as you stumbled back, clearly frightened by the sudden movement and his long claws. “Sorry! Sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Now he really felt bad. He scared you bad enough that you were pressed against the wall behind you, slightly crouched like you were ready to run away. Taking a generous step back, Itadori once again tucked his hands behind his back, idly grabbing onto the base of his tail as well.

“Can I give you an answer later?” You whispered, slowly coming to a full stand again.

“Of course! We actually have a few classes together later, so you can tell me then if you want.”

“Okay…”

“Itadori! M-my name is Itadori!” Blushing lightly as he told you his name, he watched you think it over.

“Okay Itadori.” Nodding curtly, you pressed your lips into a thin line and started to shuffle down the hall. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Bye!” Waving at your retreating form, Itadori felt a trickle of hope. Even if you didn’t say yes to being his partner, at least now you knew his name.

“Excuse me, Itadori?” Two classes later and you approached his desk, keeping a fair distance away.

“Yes?” Looking at you with hearts in his eyes, Itadori sent you a beaming smile with all his sharp teeth on display.

“Why do you want to be my partner?” The question was unexpected, at least for him, and his smile fell.

“Well I- I just thought it’d be nice?” Panicking as he saw confusion flash across your face, Itadori sat up a little straighter in his chair. “N-nice to get to know my fellow classmates! We’re in the same major, so why not get more acquainted?” Stretching his mouth into a tense smile, Itadori let out a breath the same time you did.

“That’s actually a relief. I thought you wanted to be my partner to make me do all the work.” He visibly watched your shoulders relax, the unease in your stance somewhat gone.

“No, never! I would never do that to you! In fact, I’ll do all the work if you want me to! Just say the word, (Y/N)!” Bolting up from his chair, Itadori slammed his hands on his desk. It was probably a good thing you weren’t close to him, you didn’t flinch as hard at his sudden movements.

“We can work on it together.” Laughing under your breath, Itadori’s chest tightened up at seeing a soft smile grace your face.

“So you’ll be my partner? For the project?” Nearly running around the room when you nodded, Itadori forced himself to take a deep breath instead. “That’s great!” His tail swayed happily from side to side, and Itadori had a silly smile on his face as he looked at you.

“So uh, I’m going to take my seat now.” You said slowly, unnerved by his unmoving smile. “But we should meet up later? To discuss what we’ll do for the project.”

“Good idea!” Ripping a piece of paper out of the corner of his notebook, Itadori scribbled his phone number down and held it out to you. “Text me anytime, I’ll answer!”

“Good to know.” Chuckling softly, you took the paper and Itadori swore he would never forget the way your fingers brushed against his. With one last final goodbye muttered under your breath you went to your seat.

Itadori watched you for the rest of class, just waiting to see you take out your phone and text him. He hadn’t seen you do anything with the paper he gave you except tuck it away into your pocket.

Keeping his phone clutched in his hand for the rest of the day, Itadori experienced the highest of highs whenever he got a notification, and then the lowest of lows when it turned out not to be you.

At seven pm, just after eating dinner, Itadori finally received the message he’d been waiting for all along.

(Unknown number): Hello, Itadori? It’s (Y/N) :)

(Itadori): HI HELLO HOW ARE YOU

He immediately cringed after sending the message. What kind of person replied like that to someone they’d just met?

(Y/N): I’m good lol I was wondering when you were free to meet up? I don’t have any classes tomorrow if you’re free

(Itadori): yes yes I’m free whenever tomorrow!

(Y/N): that’s great, how about we meet at the north library at 1?

(Itadori): I’ll be there!!

Itadori could hardly close his eyes let alone calm down enough to go to sleep that night. Much to the chagrin of his roommate Megumi, Itadori got up several times during the night to pace around the room and rummage through his closet to choose the perfect outfit.

He was nearly late meeting up with you, having properly gone to sleep just before 4am and sleeping through his alarm. Stumbling through his room, Itadori just barely remembered to grab his bag before he sprinted out of the room and to the library.

“(Y/N)!” Screaming your name as he got closer, he caught a lot of stares from people and from you.

“Did you run all the way here?” You asked, looking over his breathless, sweaty body nearly collapsing.

“Were you waiting long? I’m sorry I was late!” Fumbling to grab his phone, the time read 1:10pm.

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it!” Your cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. Not only had he ran all the way here just to meet you, but he had made quite a scene while doing it. You were eager to get inside and away from all the people passing you by and looking curiously between the two of you.

“Let's...let’s go inside…” Itadori panted, light headed from the run but still making his way to open the door for you. Slumping into the first available seat at the first table he saw, Itadori let his dry, narrowed eyes look over you.

It was a warm spring day and you’d chosen the cutest outfit, one that showed off the speckles on your ears and skin. Itadori always liked them, likening them to his own tiger stripes on his ears and tail. He wanted to compare markings with you, trace a line with the dots on your body and learn more about them.

“Have you had a chance to go over the list of topics our professor gave? A few others have already chosen their topics, so we have to cross some out.” Pulling out the assignment, you showed Itadori the ones you’d crossed off and the ones you marked having interest in. Even your handwriting had Itadori wanting to coo at you.

“Whatever you pick is fine.” He replied dumbly, staring at the way you’d written your name on the top of your paper.

“You should have some say in what we choose!” You pushed back, slightly shaking your head.

“No, whatever you want is fine, I swear.” Looking up at you with rosy cheeks and a dry mouth, Itadori watched the gears turn in your head before you looked away and back to the paper.

“If you say so.” Shrugging your shoulders, you looked over the list more seriously before circling a topic and showing it back to him. “Is this one fine?”

“It’s perfect.” Just like you, Itadori almost said. Pulling out his laptop, Itadori put it between the two of you. “We can start researching and making a rough draft, I was actually looking some stuff up last night about the different topics.”

Not using a private browser last night was Itadori’s first mistake. His second mistake was opening Google with you right next to him, where you saw exactly what he’d been looking up during his sleepless night.

French lops, French lops with speckles, French lop ears, how do bunnies get speckles, what do rabbit hybrids like to do for fun, rabbit hybrid favorite food, favorite things to give rabbit hybrids, how to befriend rabbit hybrids, can prey and predator hybrids be friends, what to do if you’re a predator that has a crush on a rabbit hybrid-

Letting out an indistinguishable noise from the back of his throat, Itadori slammed his laptop closed. His face was bright red, not that you could see much of it because he had slammed his face into the table in shame.

Your soft giggle was immediately picked up by him, and Itadori nearly melted from the chair and onto the floor, dissolving into a puddle of nothing but embarrassment and regret. He thought about switching classes or switching majors entirely, anything to save him from having to face you again after this.

“All of my spots grew in by the time I was five, in case you were still curious, Itadori.” He actually was, almost more than he was last night. The internet had given him answers, but just as many questions he still wanted to ask you.

“Really?” Smooshing his cheek against the table, Itadori turned to look at you. You didn’t seem phased at all from what you’d seen, not if the small smile on your face was anything to go by.

“Mhmm.” Opening up his computer again, you took a brief glance at some of the questions he’d looked up. “And I’m assuming from your research you learned I’m a strict herbivore? My favorite type of food is fruit, mangoes and melons especially.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Still hanging his head low, Itadori pulled himself up from the table. He had wanted to get to know you more naturally, not have you find his obsessive search history.

“I want to! And It seems like you want to know, too!” Gesturing to the screen, you giggled when he hit his forehead against the table again. Patting him on the back for a few seconds revitalised him, the fact that you initiated physical contact enough to have him sitting straight in his chair again.

“I do, a lot! I’m really curious about-” Meeting your eyes for a second, Itadori screwed his eyes shut and forced the next words out of his mouth. “I’m really curious about you, (Y/N). I really want to get to know you more.” Nobara and Megumi were going to be so proud of him for finally saying those words to you. He’d been lamenting about wanting to befriend you for nearly two years, it was time to act on that desire.

“You can ask me any question, Itadori.” A soft warmth settled over your face and you tilted your head forward, blocking out your view of the world with your ears. Truth be told, you’d never had a predator show such genuine interest in you before, and it had your heart bumping hard against your ribs.

“My first question is: can we be friends, (Y/N)?” There wasn’t a doubt in Itadori’s mind that you hadn’t seen the last question he looked up, about having a crush on you. He almost wanted to address it, wanted to get his confession out of the way. But it wasn’t the right time or place, and there wasn’t a doubt in Itadori’s mind that if he confessed to you right now you wouldn’t reject him.

“What did your search say about that one? Is it possible for us to be friends?”

“100% possible.” Itadori said with no hesitation.

“Then yes, we can totally be friends.” There was a brief pause between the two of you, one filled by your nervous laughter and Itadori’s relieved sigh.

“Alright then friend, let’s get started on this project.”

Itadori tried his best to focus on the project, he really did. He typed up everything you said, bookmarked everything you wanted and even went back and forth between the stacks to get the books you needed for the project. But his mind was wrapped up in the new title of your relationship, and the greed he felt deep inside himself to make it something more romantic.

By the time you left the library it was well past five pm and the sun was already beginning to dip behind the campus buildings and to the horizon. Helping you clean and pack up, Itadori was astounded at the amount of time that passed; it barely felt like an hour had gone by.

“Man, I’m starving!” Itadori exclaimed as you left the library, throwing his head back and inhaling the fresh air.

“Me too.” You agreed, fatigued from all the work you’d just done and still needed to do.

“You wanna head to the dining hall together?”

“Sure.” Following his lead, you walked through campus. You still kept your distance from Itadori, not quite able to shed how nervous being around him made you, but with time he hoped it would come to pass. Someday, Itadori hoped to hold your hand in his.

Sitting down at a quiet table together, Itadori wasn’t sure how to make conversation with you now. At the library it was easy, there was the project he could talk about and keep a conversation going with that. But here, he was drawing blanks.

“So Itadori, what-”

“Yuji!” Just as you’d started to speak, the familiar voice of Nobara cut in all the way from across the dining hall. Both of you turned to see Nobara waltzing in with a big grin on her face and Megumi trailing after her.

“Oh god.” This was the one time he didn’t want his friends to come and sit with him. But there they were, already collecting food and coming to sit down at the table.

“Found you!” Nobara giggled behind her hand, her own tiger ears relaxing flat against her head.

“Yup, you did.” Speaking behind tight lips, Itadori took a glance at you. Megumi had taken the seat next to you and he easily dwarfed your smaller body. All of them did, it almost looked like you were a child among adults.

“Nice to see you again, (Y/N).” Making sure his large fluffy wolf tail wasn’t brushing against you, Megumi gave you a polite nod and you returned it.

“W-what?! You two know each other?” In all the time Itadori has been crying over you, he never knew of Megumi's connection to you.

“Yeah, Tsumiki and (Y/N) are roommates.”

“Really?” Itadori gasped loudly, exaggeratedly turning his back to you.

“Mhmm!” Picking up your utensils, you began to eat. “Having a wolf as a roommate was kind of scary at the beginning, but we get along great now!”

Itadori was floored. Positively flabbergasted. He could have gotten to know you this whole time by using the excuse of being Megumi’s roommate and best friend as a reason to drop by and ‘check in’ on Tsumiki and see you by extension.

Sending a sharp, pointed look to Megumi, Itadori began to eat in a huff. He would have to grill his friend later on why the connection was never brought up.

“Have you two been here long?” Nobara asked, tapping her long claws against the table.

“No, we just got here.” Your voice only sounded a little meek when you replied, only able to meet Nobara’s intense gaze for a moment before looking down at your plate again.

“Yeah, we just came from the library. We’re partners on a class project.” Mumbling childishly, Itadori snorted at the surprised looks on his friends faces.

“You are?” Nobara almost gasped. “Who asked who?”

“I asked.” Itadori raised his hand.

“And you agreed, (Y/N)? Just like that?”

“Well, not really.” Giggling softly behind your hand, you took a glance at Itadori. “I told him I’d think about it first. I know we’re all in university now and should be adults, but I still get so scared around predators, I needed to weigh my options.”

“Did Yuji say he’d do all the work?” Megumi chimed in.

“He did! It was pretty funny, I thought the desk was going to fall over.”

“Sounds like Yuji.” Snorting, Megumi gave Itadori a look before eating his food.

“Hold on, I still got a couple questions.” Rapidly tapping the table, Nobara flicked her fingers between you and Itadori.

“Can’t they wait until we’re done?” Itadori already had food stuffed in his mouth, his cheeks were bulging out quite a bit. You had also started to eat the mountain of vegetables on your plate.

“Alright, fine.” Heaving a sigh, Nobara grabbed the juice she’d gotten. “But don’t think I’ll forget!”

It was a blessing that Nobara ended up forgetting that she wanted to grill you and Itadori because there would have been no avoiding all the awkward questions she was sure to ask. As your meal progressed, she got onto the topic of beauty products for tiger hybrids and that was all that occupied her mind for a good while.

“(Y/N).” Catching you by the elbow as you walked out of the dining hall almost an hour and a half later, Itadori looked up at the dark sky. “Let me walk you to your dorm.”

“You don’t have to, I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way! Nobara and I can walk back together, we live in the same dorm.”

“Ha well, uh actually…” Scratching the back of her head, Nobara grabbed onto Megumi's sleeve. “Actually, Megumi and I are going to go to a…” Swatting him on the back, Nobara fell silent.

“My father sent Tsumiki and I some more things and I promised to give Nobara some old books.”

“Yup, books! Exactly! So you two walk together and we’ll see you later!” Grabbing onto the back of Megumi’s shirt, Nobara sprinted away, her orange and black tail the last thing you saw before she turned the corner.

“Let’s go, (Y/N).” Itadori tugged on your sleeve gently, bringing your focus back to him. Walking side by side, the night time didn’t seem as scary compared to if you had been alone. You generally tried to avoid being out alone at night, but with Itadori it felt like the sun was still high in the sky.

“Are you cold?” Itadori broke the silence that had settled over you.

“Huh?”

“You just shivered.” Right as he said that, another gust of wind went through the air and blew your ears back, making a strong shiver go up your spine. “Here.” Itadori was already taking off his thick hoodie and pushing it into your arms.

“But you’ll be cold!” Looking at the long sleeve he had on underneath, surely it couldn’t be enough to keep him warm.

“Nonsense, I’ll be fine. Put it on.” It was a miracle that Itadori hadn’t fallen onto the ground from how lightheaded he was. He had given you his hoodie in the spur of the moment and now his actions were catching up to him.

“Okay.” Giving him one last look, you put it on. Swimming in fabric and with the scent of Itadori all around you, it was truly a sight to behold. “How do I look?” You chuckled, trying to adjust the giant hoodie onto your body.

“You look good.” There was a high lilt to the end of his sentence, and Itadori slapped a hand over his face and turned his back to you. If he looked any longer, he would pass out from how cute you looked.

“Thanks Itadori, it’s really warm!”

“N-no problem.” He seriously couldn’t look at you, and seeing your sweater paws out of the corner of his eye had him tripping over his own feet. Thankfully and tragically, the walk to your dorm wasn’t too long, so Itadori didn’t have to deal with it for too long.

“Thanks for walking me back.” Giving him a smile, you began to take off the hoodie.

“K-keep it, keep it on.” Planting his hands on your shoulders, Itadori looked down at you. “I have a million, so just keep that one.” The mixture of your scent and his that was wafting up to his nose was going to be ingrained into his mind forever.

“Wow Itadori, you’re so nice! We should have become friends way sooner!” Patting him on the arm, you shuffled closer to the front door. “Text me when you get back to your dorm, okay?”

“I will!” Waving at you until you went inside, Itadori let out a breath he’d been holding in. The feel good chemicals in his brain were all flooding in at once; the day had gone from good, to great to perfect. Seeing you in his hoodie was one of the things Itadori had wanted for so long it hurt, and now that goal was finally reached.

His happiness turned to adrenaline, making his hands shake and body tremble from how excited he was to see you tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. He was so excited for the future that he ran all the way back to his dorm, letting out cheers and excited screams as he went.

(Itadori): made it to my dorm :)

(Y/N): have a good night!

(Itadori): you too! See you tomorrow!

Clutching his phone to his chest, Itadori threw open the door to his room and immediately made eye contact with Megumi.

“You!”

“Now let me explain-”

“Save it, wolfy! Tell me all about your relationship with (Y/N)!”

As days turned into weeks, Itadori noticed a subtle change in your demeanor around him. You slowly started to walk closer to him, sometimes close enough to occasionally brush shoulders. The fear that was so pungent before was now gone, only replaced with some unease whenever Itadori threw his hands around too much or chewed with his mouth open. All in all, Itadori felt like you could call him a true friend.

And what did friends do? Invite each other to parties of course! Being so personable and easy to get along with, it was only natural that Itadori got invited to a lot of events around campus, and he wanted you to join him.

Which is how you found yourself at probably the biggest party of the season, people pouring out of the doors and spilling into the yard around the university house chosen for this night.

“I’ve never been here before.” You mumbled to Itadori as you approached the house, flanked by Nobara and Megumi. Sure you’d been to parties before, but none this size.

“That’s okay, just stick by me!” Over the past few weeks the level of physical contact in your relationship with Itadori had risen high enough that he was able to put an arm around your shoulder and pull you a bit closer to him.

“Yeah (Y/N) we’ll make sure you have a good time!” Nobara chimed in, her words just a bit slurred. She had pregamed on the way to the party, the flask she kept offering you tucked snugly against her hip.

“Let’s find Maki and the others.” Fushiguro was the first to step into the house and take the lead on where to go. Pushing through the crowds of people for you, Itadori made sure you stayed close by his side.

Meeting up with Maki and a few other upperclassmen, you felt safe among the group. There was a plastic cup in your hand mixed with god knows what, the music was loud and overbearing, but you had been welcomed into the fray with open arms. No one looked twice at your floppy ears and tense body, they just launched into conversation like you’d always been there.

“G-gotta go bathroom.” Your words were slurring more than you expected after finishing your second cup of horribly mixed liquor. Standing away from the wall you’d been leaning against, the world was spinning.

“Need help?” Itadori held onto your elbow tightly, helping keep you stable.

“No.” Shaking your head slowly, you pushed him away. “I got this.”

“(Y/N), lemme show you where the bathroom is! I’ve been here like a million times!” Swooping in between you two, Nobara took confidently drunk steps with you under her arm.

“M’kay!” Giggling, you gave Itadori a wave and stumbled away with her.

“I’ll stay out here and keep guard!” She announced to not only you but to the people around you as well. Throwing open the door, you gave her a big thumbs up before slamming it closed and locking it.

Doing your business as quickly as possible, when you opened the door, Nobara was gone. You could hear her voice echoing throughout the house and when you turned a corner she was at the dining table playing beer pong and losing horribly.

Looking up and down the hall, you were at a loss at what to do. You didn’t remember the right way back to the group and Nobara was too ensconced in the drinking game she was a part of to be of any help.

Dragging your feet down the hall, you ended up at the front of the house, a far cry from where you wanted to be. There were so many people pushing past you to go deeper into the house, or yelling for others to come to them, some of them didn’t seem to care when they bumped you against the wall or nudged you a little too hard.

“Hey little bunny, you look a little lost.” You could smell the fox hybrid before you could see him appear before your eyes, cornering you against the wall as another wave of people walked by.

“I- no, I’m fine.” The lie was evident in your voice and he caught it right away.

“You sure? A little thing like you shouldn’t be all alone.” His voice was condescending, mocking you in plain sight. His soft red fur gleamed under the light of the house and while you would probably admire it from afar, now wasn’t the time.

Nodding instead of speaking, you looked down the hallway again. Surely someone would come looking for you and Nobara.

“Who’re you looking for, bunny? I could help you find them.” Leaning more into your space, the unnamed fox gave you a once over, flashing his teeth once he met your eyes. “Or maybe you were looking for me?”

“No.” The alcohol in your body was making it difficult to string together more than a few words or thoughts in your head, but you knew one thing for sure: you didn’t want to be around this guy anymore. The party was overwhelming enough as it was and adding him into the mix, a predator directly above you, was only making it worse.

“Aw, no need to be shy! All your dreams have come true!” Chuckling to himself, he grabbed onto your wrist. “Let’s go get you a drink, I’ll introduce you to some friends.”

“No.” You said a little louder, but he just ignored you. Trying to get your wrist free wasn’t working either and you quickly found yourself being dragged away from the wall. Digging your heels into the ground, you kept looking for a familiar flash of pink hair. “Itadori!” You shouted, voice mixing with the others in the air and hopefully travelling to the person it was intended for.

“You’re lookin’ for Itadori? Why, I know him! He’s my best friend, I’ll take you to him!” The fox hybrid sent you a sleazy grin, running his free hand through his hair.

“(Y/N).” A familiar heavy hand landed on your shoulder, preventing you from going anywhere.

“Who the hell are you?” The two men shared a sneer, sizing each other up. Finally getting your wrist free, you attached yourself to Itadori’s side.

“I’m their boyfriend. Now get lost.” Wrapping an arm around you, Itadori gave one last glare to the other man before turning and walking away. Getting you to the kitchen, he quickly got you a glass of water. “Drink this.”

“Thanks.” Downing it immediately, the growing tension in your body subsided just from having Itadori next to you.

“If anyone else gives you trouble, tell them I’m your boyfriend. I’m in sports clubs with a lot of the people here, they’ll know who I am.”

“Thanks.” Repeating yourself like a fool, you were overcome with sudden emotion and hugged Itadori. Burrowing your face into his chest, you muttered thanks over and over.

“S’no problem.” He grunted. Itadori was glad you couldn’t see the bright blush on his face right now; he’d only dreamed about hugging you almost every second of the day. Hugging you back, he let his hand come up and stroke your ears and your fur was just as soft as he imagined it to be.

For the rest of the night, Itadori was like your second shadow. He made sure you didn’t drink anymore alcohol, filling you up with water and snacks until you were as sober as he was. He also introduced himself as your boyfriend whenever the need arose, like constantly shouting ‘boyfriend coming through’ as he pushed through crowds for you.

“I hope you had fun, (Y/N).” Itadori said at the end of the night with Nobara passed out drunk being carried on his back.

“I did!” It was nice to meet some upperclassmen, a couple you learned were in your major as well. Fushiguro was walking with them a few feet in front of you, talking animatedly to them.

“That’s good. I was worried that the whole ‘boyfriend’ thing was making you uncomfortable.” A bashful blush coated Itadori’s face as he gave you a sideways glance. Your own cheeks got warmer as well.

“I uh, I kind of liked it.” You said quietly, hoping that he wouldn’t catch it.

“You did?” Of course he heard it. Stopping in his tracks, Itadori’s mouth hung open slightly. Biting his lip, Itadori checked to make sure Nobara was truly out before speaking again. “Well then, can we maybe make it official?”

Maybe it was the lingering energy from the party that was giving him the confidence to ask or maybe Itadori had finally lost it, either way there was no backtracking from what he had just said. Taking your lack of immediate answer as skepticism, Itadori quickly spoke up again.

“If you want, I can take you out on a proper date first! Truthfully I already have everything planned in my head, I’ve wanted to take you out on a date for a while now. B-but you don’t have to if you don’t want to! I just- I want you to give us a chance, but don’t feel pressured to say yes!”

His face was completely flushed, adrenaline pumping through his body. Whether you said yes or no, Itadori was just glad to have finally gotten it off his chest.

“I want to go on a date with you too.” You smiled gently at Itadori, playing with your fingers nervously. “I just have one question.”

“Yes?”

“Did you also Google best first dates to take a rabbit hybrid on?”

“(Y/N)!” Laughing breathlessly, Itadori felt the tension in his body release.

“It’s a fair question!” Laughing along with him, you started to walk down the street again.

“For your information, no I didn’t look that up.” A comfortable silence settled over you as the laughter died down. As soon as Itadori could get a second alone with you, he would. There was actually a lot to discuss for the date that he’d been planning since the first year of university.

“Mmmm…” Nobara groaned and both of you looked at her curiously.

“Nobara? Are you awake?” You asked, brushing the hair from her forehead.

“Kiss...kiss each other.” Her words just barely made sense and Itadori nearly dropped her once he made sense of what she’d said.

“Go back to sleep!” He shouted, nudging her with his shoulder. The blush that had managed to subdue itself was now back tenfold.

“We’ll kiss each other later, Nobara.” You added, fixing her hair and letting her relax onto Itadori again.

“Promise?” She sighed.

“Promise?” Itadori echoed.

“Yeah, I promise.”

[meruz]

once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

[ncssian]

A Favor: Part Twenty-Four

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: a short update resolving where we left off last week, to be soon followed by another gwynriel bonus scene. after that i am never going off the tracks of my fic outline ever again.

***

Nesta is going to commit murder. She really is.

Gwyn is the first to hop out of bed, rapidly tugging her T-shirt down to cover her bare girl parts. “I can explain—” she starts.

“You.” Nesta points at Azriel, who’s still sitting shirtless and confused. “You. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Be more specific.” Azriel slides off the bed and picks up a pair of panties from the ground, trying to hand them to Gwyn. Gwyn smacks his hand away, but the sight enrages Nesta all the same.

She nods to herself, her thoughts whirling. “Actually, I’m really glad you’re here,” she says. “I was considering sparing you, but now my mind is made up.” She rushes at Azriel without warning.

“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Gwyn jumps in front of a wide-eyed Azriel, arms outstretched to fend Nesta off.

Nesta reaches past Gwyn’s shoulder and jumps, trying to grab Azriel, hit him, anything. “My sister and my best friend?” she seethes, batting at him. “My sister and my best friend?”

“The hell are you going on about?” Azriel snaps over Gwyn’s head.

“You really have no shame, do you?” Nesta succeeds in pushing Gwyn out of her way, and comes up chest to chest with Azriel, all fiery glares. “You think you can get away with whatever you want because you’re the cool uncaring one, and you probably can, but not with me. We’re the same person, jackass.”

Before Azriel can respond, slim arms grab Nesta around the waist and start dragging her backwards into the hallway. Gwyn lets go of Nesta and slams the door shut after them, leaving Azriel inside the room alone.

“This is way too much for me to be doing without underwear!” Gwyn yells at her. “Will you please explain yourself?”

“What do I have to explain? He should be explaining himself!” Nesta flings her arm toward the bedroom. It’s not like Azriel is any random hookup of Elain’s. He’s also Nesta’s friend, and Nesta expected better from him.

Gwyn drops her head and rubs her freckled temples in exhaustion. “It’s not like I wasn’t there, too. Are you even going to ask why we were together? Do you have any questions at all, or are you just going to break into my home and assume he took advantage of me?”

Nesta shuts her mouth. She didn’t ask any questions, did she? She hasn’t even considered Gwyn’s part in this.

She clears her throat, her voice strained from shouting. “I thought you were at work.”

“Clearly I’m not.” Gwyn crosses her arms, then immediately drops them to readjust her short T-shirt.

Nesta bites. “Why? How? Since when did you guys even talk to each other?” Even after catching Azriel flirting on their ski trip, Nesta couldn’t have predicted that he and Gwyn would end up here. It’s far too much of a leap.

“It’s really not what you think it is.” Gwyn twists a piece of ruddy hair between her fingers. “He’s just… helping me get back into the dating pool. We made an agreement, and he’s doing me a huge favor.”

Nesta’s jaw drops. “By eating you out?”

Gwyn’s teal eyes meet hers. “I can’t ever have a chance with Max if I freak out when he eventually tries to take my clothes off. Especially when I want him to take my clothes off. So I decided after the ski lodge that I needed to get comfortable with sex again, and I… recruited Az to help.” She shrugs like it’s nothing.

Nesta is left with more questions than before. “So,” she holds up a hand, “the thought of doing it with Azriel doesn’t scare you? Not even a little?”

Gwyn scoffs. “If I didn’t know him from elementary school, then it probably would. Unfortunately, I’ve firsthand seen the guy shove crayons up his nose.” She casts a glance toward the bedroom door and lowers her voice. “And I honestly don’t have any proof that he doesn’t still do it.”

That’s—unfortunately understandable. It also explains why Azriel has been comfortable with Gwyn from the start, though Nesta doesn’t know why Gwyn didn’t tell anyone about their shared history.

“Look, Nesta, I know he’s your roommate,” Gwyn continues, “but I think you overreacted a little back there.”

Right. Does Gwyn even know about Azriel and Elain? “It wasn’t because of you,” Nesta tries to explain. “It was because—”

Before she can finish, the door clicks open and Azriel comes out, thankfully clothed in his shirt and gym shorts. He slides his hands into his pockets and says, “I’m joining before any more unflattering things can be said about me.”

Nesta’s lip curls into a sneer at the sight of him. “I wouldn’t let you run away from me anyway.” She crosses her arms and faces him down. “You agreed to teach Gwyn how to get comfortable with sex?”

The hallway is crammed now with Azriel’s height taking up most of the space, but he doesn’t seem to care as he leans against the wall and answers, “Hell yeah.”

Nesta is more than suspicious and untrusting right now, but she pauses to wonder: does Azriel know why Gwyn has such trouble with intimacy in the first place?

It’s none of her business, she decides. Except now she’s even more wary. “What do you get out of this little deal, huh? Or do you just volunteer to have sex with my friends out of the goodness of your heart?”

“I’m getting guitar lessons out of it,” he says without hesitating. “But it’s also the goodness of my heart.” He smirks.

Gwyn throws a surprised look in his direction. Nesta is more than ready to smack the smirk off his face with her bare hand, but she settles for her words instead. “What would Elain say if she knew, Azriel?”

Azriel’s face goes cold. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“I wish she didn’t,” Nesta says. “Explain why I have to comfort her when she wonders why you abandoned her without even a text message while you get to play around with my friends without a care in the world?”

Azriel might as well be made of stone. “You talked to her?”

“You’re a coward,” she hisses. “Do what you want, but know that you’re a coward until you explain yourself to her.” Nesta lets out a ragged breath and drags her stare to Gwyn.

Gwyn shakes her head quickly and raises her hands in defense. “I’m just trying to get laid. Don’t bring me into this.”

Nesta pats her arm. “Of course not, babe.” The last thing she wants is Gwyn involved with either of her sisters—which is why it would be preferable if Gwyn avoided Azriel altogether.

Gwyn lets out a big “Phew,” and cuts an unreadable look toward Azriel. He avoids her gaze.

“Let me get you a drink,” Gwyn says quickly to Nesta, starting to steer her toward the kitchen. Nesta shakes her off and steps away. “It’s okay; I’ll leave now. Also, I can see your—” She waves at Gwyn’s lower half.

Gwyn chuckles awkwardly and tugs her shirt back down, her cheeks flaring red. “I’ll go get your sweater.” She rushes back inside her room, leaving Nesta and Azriel alone in the hall.

Azriel says nothing, but Nesta stares him down until Gwyn returns wearing a pair of shorts and carrying Nesta’s sweater. “Here, I already washed it for you.”

Nesta breaks her gaze with Azriel to take her sweater. “Sorry for breaking into your room,” she tells Gwyn. “I didn’t mean to ruin your…” She nearly gags trying to finish her sentence, so she doesn’t bother. Instead, she turns back to Azriel. “I’m excited to see how those guitar lessons pay off. You’ll give us all a performance when this is over, hm?”

He doesn’t bother responding, and Nesta takes her leave.

***

“I still can’t believe him,” Nesta is grumbling while she and Cassian get ready for bed. “How long is he going to stay in the reading nook like that? I can’t get to my books and he knows it.”

“He’s punishing himself since you won’t,” Cassian says as he towels off his damp hair. Water droplets speckle his bare chest. “He won’t go back to his room as long as he feels guilty about Elain.”

Once Nesta decided that getting vengeance for Elain’s broken heart would do more harm to the cabin ecosystem than good, she chose to contain her anger at Azriel by pretending that he simply didn’t exist. As for Azriel… Azriel has been sleeping on the loveseat in the upstairs reading nook for the past five days. The two of them haven’t spoken since Nesta caught him in Gwyn’s bedroom.

Cassian himself has many thoughts about the choices Azriel has been making lately, and a part of him knows it would be easier for everybody if he just forced Az’s sorry ass back to Velaris. But Nesta is involved in this, too, and she has yet to give the order to kick Azriel out. Rather, she seems content to either ignore him or to burn judgmental stares into him.

Out of love for Azriel, Cassian can’t help but be relieved.

Nesta scoffs in response to Cassian, slathering lotion onto her legs. “Bullshit. He’s punishing me by taking away my reading nook, the bastard.” Done with her legs, she searches around the bed for her glasses, squinting because she can’t see a thing.

Withholding his amusement, Cassian goes over to her and plucks her glasses from the top of her head, sliding them onto her face. She blinks and gives a rare smile up at him when she realizes she can see again, then soon frowns as she casts her gaze about the room. “Where’s my book? Did I leave it at home again?”

Cassian knows Nesta calls the apartment home out of old habit, but it still makes jealousy sting in his chest. “I’ll get you another one,” he offers. “What do you want?”

She gives him the title for something that has to do with erotic Vikings that he immediately recognizes. It’s on the top shelf in the reading nook. He promises to return with the book.

The rest of the cabin is dark by now, but Az is still wide awake and staring up at the wooden beams that criss-cross the ceiling when Cassian sneaks into the nook. Moonlight coming in through the glass door leading to the balcony illuminates both of them.

Cassian doesn’t know whether to feel exhausted or irritated, so he passes by his brother without a word to look for the book.

He already confronted Azriel earlier about what the hell was wrong with him, and got nothing out of the man. Not even an apology. At which point Cassian wanted to beat some sense into him the way they used to during their school days, but restrained himself through some godly miracle.

He’s trying—really trying—not to shove his nose into Azriel’s decisions like that. If he does, he’ll end up being just as bad as Rhys.

Finding the worn paperback boasting a shirtless Nordic god on the cover, Cassian turns to leave.

“You know Nesta can get her books herself, right?” Az’s voice sounds velvety in the darkness.

Cassian bristles. “Don’t start.”

“You mad at me too?”

Yes, Cassian is mad. Mad that he seems to be the only brother with a working brain anymore. “When do you plan on getting your shit together?” he says.

“How?” Az replies. “By apologizing to Elain or by leaving Nesta’s friend alone?”

Cassian still can’t wrap his mind around the fact that the Gwyn who used to shy away from talking to him ran straight into Azriel’s arms for sex advice. On one hand, good for her. On the other, Cassian wishes she had less messy taste. “Both,” he grits, getting frustrated.

Az shrugs, still staring up at the ceiling. “I’m keeping my promise to Gwyn. No matter what.” He sounds nonchalant, but Cassian knows he’s serious.

His grip on the paperback tightens, because that’s still not a real answer to his question. “I warned you when you moved in that you were walking a thin line, Az. I’ve been nice for the past week, but at some point you’re gonna have to tell me why I shouldn’t kick you out right now and save myself and Nesta the headache.”

Azriel finally meets Cassian’s eyes, and his gaze is unreadable. “Do it, if that’s what you want. I don’t care.”

Cassian’s face darkens with rage. “Just watch me, then.” He leaves before he can throw the book at Azriel’s head.

Back at their bedroom, Nesta takes one look at him and asks, “What happened?”

He tosses the book onto the bed and doesn’t come any closer. “I told Azriel I’d kick him out.”

Her brow furrows in concern. “Will you go through with it?”

No. And Az knows it too, the asshole.

Cassian takes in a shallow breath. “I just want to be a good brother.” It’s why he can’t stop giving Az chances, even when it inconveniences the woman he loves. “I want to be a good brother, a good partner, a good friend. I want to be all those things at once.”

Nesta’s lip quirks up. “You’re definitely better at all that than I am.” She rests her chin on one bent knee and frowns. “What else do you want to be?”

“That’s it.” His shoulders slump. “Nothing else.”

Nesta gives an amused huff. “All those things are for other people, though. Forget me and Azriel; what do you want to be for yourself, Cassian?”

What do you want? Cassian remembers her asking him a long time ago.

That… he doesn’t have an answer for. He rubs the back of his neck and stares at the ground. “I dunno,” he says, trying to sound flippant.

Looking up with a smile, he goes over to Nesta’s side of the bed and crouches at her side. “Who has time to think about all of that, anyway? I’m already happy doing exactly what I do.”

Still frowning, Nesta shifts on the bed so she can better face Cassian on the ground. “Do you really not know?” she says quietly.

Letting his smile drop, Cassian presses his lips into a wavery line.

She takes his face in her cold, thin hands, and he lowers his head onto her lap. A pounding has started up behind his eyes.

“It’s okay if you don’t know,” she says when he doesn’t speak. Her hand travels to the spot between his shoulder blades, and she pats his back in consolation. “You’ll find out. I’ll still be here when you do.”

He doesn’t lift his head, because if he does he might cry, so she keeps patting his back for a long while.

***

The next night Cassian finds himself in the kitchen, as he often does lately. The gnocchi for dinner is missing something, but he can’t tell what it is.

Swiping some pomodoro sauce from his wooden spoon with a finger, he goes over to the kitchen island and holds it out to Nesta. She licks it off his finger and says, “More cream,” before going back to her rant. “But really, does Eris want me to hurt him? Because if he keeps acting like this I’m going to physically hurt him.”

“You should do it if it makes you happy, babe,” Cassian says absentmindedly, more focused on checking the potatoes au gratin in the oven than on their conversation.

Two heavy, heart-attack worthy potato dishes on the same night, all because Nesta was in the mood for it. It sickens Cassian to think of the unhealthiness of it all, but these days it’s like he can’t stop himself from making food. It doesn’t matter whether the meal is fatty or not, as long as it tastes good enough for date nights.

By the time dinner is served and Cassian is settled in next to Nesta at the island, the topic of conversation has moved far away from Eris and law school.

“I used to be a fitness freak,” Cassian says mournfully as Nesta piles more and more cheese-covered potatoes onto his plate.

“Your abs look the same as the day I met you. You’ll be fine.”

Cassian didn’t even think about his abs. He presses a hand to his torso in worry. How long until those are gone, too?

“Eat.” Nesta shoves a fork into his hand and starts to dig into her own plate.

Cassian takes it reluctantly. “You know, this is bad for you too.” He realizes suddenly, “Have I been poisoning your health this whole time?” That’s even worse than the thought of losing his abs.

Nesta’s fork stops halfway to her mouth. The look on her face is disgusted enough to curdle milk, as if Cassian might change his mind and try to take her dinner away. She visibly swallows her feelings back and scoots closer to Cassian, spearing some of his gnocchi on her fork.

“Come on, we’ll clog our arteries together.” She pats his back the way she always does. “We’re here for a delicious time, not a long time.”

Cassian can hardly say no when he’s getting food shoved into his mouth without warning.

But despite his defeat with dinner, he’s joined by a sleepy and irritable Nesta the next morning in the home gym. She refuses to speak a word to him at such an early hour, but her compromise is loud and clear when she begins stretching and warming up. She’ll be here while he figures out whatever it is he wants to be for himself.

***

a/n: what do y’all think. is cassian overreacting, is nesta overstepping, or are they right and azriel is a menace who needs to be stopped (asking bc sometimes i cant tell when my mcs are being annoying)

tagging: @hellasblessed @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @valkyriewarriors @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @everything-that-i-love @cassianscool @swankii-art-teacher @wannawriteyouabook @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy @poisonous-bloom @observationanxioustheorist @gisellefigue08 @courtofjurdan @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @wolfiixxx @cass-nes @seashade @royaltykxx @illyrianundercover @queenestarcheron @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies @humanexile @that-golden-lyre @agentsofsheilds @mercy-is-alive @cassiansbigwingspan @laylaameer01 @verypaleninja @maastrash @bow-dawn @perseusannabeth @dead-on-the-inside666 @jlinez @hungryreadingaddict @anidealiveson @planet-faerie @shallowhighwaters @ghostlyrose2 @chosenfamily-valkyriequeens @rarephloxes @readiajin @nessiantrashh @live-the-fangirl-life @ifinallygavein @xoblivisci @sjmships @jungtaekwoonie-is-life @lysandra-tiara @lanyjoy-13 @post-it-notes33 @loosingdreams @fromthelibraryofemilyj @18moneytoad @dontgetsalmonella @champanheandluxxury @togreblog @arinbelle @ladygabrielli1997 @meridainthedisneyland @moodymelanist @pixieelea

[vespertin-y]

more liveblogging YIPPEE!! this time it’s the first half of ch1′s daily life.

-”monokuma will never directly commit a murder” bro don’t you threaten to kill all of them like two days from now??

-himiko’s vibrating sprite 😭 she is my spirit animal truly

-oh, shuichi and rantaro’s dynamic is GREAT. shuichi pulls kaede aside to ask if she thinks an ultimate talent is “really something you can forget” and iirc rantaro says he thinks shuichi is the most suspicious person in his FTEs - they both clearly suspect the other of being the ringleader and it’s fantastic. especially since their shared fondness for kaede makes them interact more than they’d probably like.

-we meet again, manhole gonta cg, we meet again. you have not gotten any prettier.

-kokichi’s first instinct when faced with a big hollow place is to yodel, and honestly same. echos r fun okay!!

-rantaro gets so much snarkier upon rewatch - you realize how much of his dialogue is just taking the piss. him saying “oh, how considerate” when they find the exit sign still makes me giggle.

-kaito thinking kaede is the COOLEST WOMAN ON EARTH and kaede thinking he’s sooo lame is such an underrated dynamic. “gimme a hug!” “no 💖” lives in my head rent free.

-kokichi’s speech after the death road of despair is what made me sit up and take interest in him and in kaede as characters and it still holds up so good hpsuhag,,,,i don’t have a ton of bigbrain thoughts about it but please know i am thinking about high empathy/low compassion kokichi and low empathy/high compassion kaede every single day. autistic queens.

-kokichi literally just says they need to find another way out and rantaro’s immediately like “murder?? you want to do a murder, you little gremlin????” then tenko freaks out, kokichi tells her to chill, and she threatens to smash his head into the ground!? it seems to me that the writers had a set dynamic between kokichi and the rest of the group, but forgot that by this point in the story they haven’t written anything to justify it - even with rantaro’s paranoia and tenko’s anger issues, this is excessive. HILARIOUSLY, this makes the scene read as his fucking jonker origin story. tenko, you fool, you should’ve taken the bubblegum...! look what you’ve gotten us all into...!

-the dorm rooms are INSANELY swanky. i’d want to live there, if not for the...everything else......

-them having tons of copies of the same outfit is so funny. tsumugi put her heart and soul into those costumes and you WILL wear them.

-that’s the end of day one! i’ll be keeping track of them, just so you all can understand how RIDICULOUS v3′s timeline is.

-i once saw someone point out that there was zero reason for maki not to take the first blood perk, and now that HAUNTS me. she would only be responsible for one death since there’s no class trial, and we know that ever after five chapters of ✨bonding✨ she’s still willing to murder all her “friends” in a petty revenge plot, and she’s supposed to be willing to do ANYTHING to keep her orphanage from going under. completely irrelevantly, did you know maki being an assassin was actually added later in development than kaede being the first killer?

-despite him definitely knowing that monokuma isn’t really dead, kokichi insists wholeheartedly that the killing game is “cancelled” - it’s one of his more obvious ploys imo. even if it can only delay deaths for a day or so, he’s willing to throw all his acting chops behind it.

-you know that meme that goes “god made me mentally ill to nerf me”? that’s shuichi. he’s a side character that becomes the protagonist. he has a plan to catch the mastermind in CHAPTER ONE. he is breaking the danganronpa formula so bad. tsumugi had to pump him full of depression or else he would have crushed her show like a nut on day one. the detective. he destroyed his narrative. yes. YES. the detective is out.

-KAEDE TOLD MIU TO SHUT THE HELL UP...u know it’s serious when u get *kaede* to curse omg

-”hey,do you think this door is connected to monokuma somehow?” “i think it might.” and here we get our first reminder that v3 was translated by character, not by scene. the translators mostly stuck to their individual character’s dialogue without much communication, and it leaves lots of little blips like this.

-and so day two ends!

-the way they just...take the wind right out of monokuma’s sails is so funny. he’s so excited for this yokai gimmick!! and then miu tells him to get hit by a second car, tsumugi complains that his outfit is bad, and korekiyo starts explaining the difference between ghosts and yokai in excruciating detail. monokuma’s one weakness: pretentious teenage nerds...!

-the additional time-limit motive doesn’t make sense to me when it’s been ONE DAY since he introduced the first one!? it feels like a last resort, something to be used after they refused to take the bait. fits much better with a more stretched-out timeline, where they were in the school for a month or so with no murder before monokuma snapped and told them to kill or else.

-rantaro questions if he can even trust himself because of his missing memories. of course WE know he’s not gonna get hajime’d, but it’s a reasonable fear!

-”that’s why i didn’t want to talk about this in front of everyone...if we told them now, they might all try to find the mastermind, and be led to murder. that’s why...i could only tell you, kaede.” oh, shuichi......(┬┬﹏┬┬) kaede just goes dead silent after this too, before changing the subject. she doesn’t have a murder plan yet - she can’t have one, not before they’ve gone to the warehouse - but she’s certainly Considering Options.

-there’s part one of daily life! like and subscribe, i’ll be posting the second half momentarily :]

[valentineforlemonandcherry]

I just read the latest chapters in one go and I think I need a long time to process them. (Spoilers for chapters 36 & 37 underneath the cut)

I NEED TO STOP BEING ATTACHED TO YOUR OCS BECAUSE TRISTAN AND ROWAN INDEED DID NOT GET A HAPPY ENDING

Tristan's death scene was perfectly well written and it makes so much sense with his plotline, but it still broke my heart.

And then Rowan remembering him and calling him an older brother ugh

AND ROWAN (some thoughts I had while reading coming up)

Rowan suddenly sat up. Commitment and honesty… towards what is most important to me… Oh, Rowan, what are you going to do?

Rowan entered the room. He walked in with such purpose that everyone stopped talking and looked at him. Of course, he does :)

And while I can’t pretend that your – your preference for someone else doesn’t affect me, I can work through that with you, as long as ultimately, you really want to be with me.” Okay, that really hurt. like a lot...

“Let’s get married.” ROWAN!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

“Oh, Rowan, of course,” you murmured lovingly. I was actually very excited about this :')

Rowan’s eyes slowly dimmed. After a moment, his hand slipped off of your shoulder. “Oh.” NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. This actually made me sit up. I was hoping she would say yes 💔

“But not your love for forever,” Rowan said. “Not even for much longer. In fact, not after… this moment.” ROWAN NOOOOOOOOO!!! I know this wasn't an easy decision for him and I know his heart also broke 🥺 I want to give him a big hug AND WHEN HE LEFT that made a few tears fall onto my pillow (but I'm very sentimental... as you can probably tell)

“Congratulations!” but Remus swore that instead of sounding more genuine, he was simply beginning to sound more Irish. Hahaha at least this line did not make me cry

AND CLIFFHANGER???!!!!!!!

I wish things would be different for Rowan and my girl. But I also love Remus and Lovely. However, I will really miss Rowan and her relationship. How are you such an amazing writer?? Seriously, I absolutely love your blog. I check it daily, every morning and every night (I'm not going to lie, multiple times a day because the stupid notifications don't work). Your writing is just fantastic. I adore your series, and there are no words to completely convey how I cling to every single word you brilliantly crafted because of how much I adored the lovely stories you brought to life. And you're OCs!!! You manage to bring to life these characters that aren't part of the Harry Potter world and you do it so well. Their backgrounds, personalities, and feelings are meticulously written so that I feel like they are actually real. It is truly remarkable, and your writing is mesmerizing. They bring me so much comfort, excitement, and love. I've been feeling this way since you first started writing and I don't think it will ever go away as you keep writing.  Every time  I read your stories, I get a flood of happiness even though you make me cry sometimes (that may be my own fault because I am a very emotional person). Your stories never cease to brighten my day. I honestly can't get enough of them. I'm always wanting more (which is why I will randomly reread old chapters) and I'm so very grateful for every chapter you so generously provide. Your stories are so beautiful and perfectly written. Thank you for everything!

-🦭

How to respond to such a wonderful comment?

First of all, thank you as always for reading my work, and thank you for telling me your reactions!

I’ll put the rest of my reply here to save space and avoid spoilers:

When I saw your comments about coming back to read the newest chapters after your exams, I did have a moment of thinking: Wow, these last chapters are where everything finally comes to a head and you’re going to end up reading them all at once. I hope it was still a good read. I was excited to finally release the last three chapters and these next two or three chapters, because they are chapters that I have held onto for so long.

On Tristan, I loved associating him with metal and clocks – very structured, powerful, sharp, unforgiving, and fair. Tristan’s journey and his relationship to his family and friends and also to magic was a bit obscure (because the story is told from Reader’s POV), but I had great fun building it up. I enjoyed writing about how Tristan comes to understand fate as responsibility in an empowering way (as opposed to seeing fate as a negation of free will and a purely negative thing.).

Tristan's darkness and Reader’s darkness mesh well together – mist, snow, fog, and lost ships – because there is a touch of the mythical in both of them and that mythical energy is sometimes the reason for their happiness and sometimes the reason for their depression. Relatedly, Cas is an amazingly gracious and resilient person, I think, and I felt for her character as I finished writing Tristan’s story. Also, Rowan and Tristan would have become inseparable brothers if they had had a chance to mature together. I honestly imagine that between the two of them, every fifteen or twenty years, they trade off on who is the "older" brother and who is the "younger" brother, so that they're always grumbling about one another, but they reach a point where they can't do without each other. The way they use magic indicates their connection and their differences, too - how Rowan manipulates magic to suit him, using the lightest of spells to do whatever he wants versus how Tristan follows the structures of deep, ancient magic and of metalwork and respects and follows those set rules, but both of them are phenomenal at magic and try to use magic to protect their loved ones. Again, the story is told from Reader's POV, so I don't linger too long on this, but Rowan losing Tristan is an overwhelmingly intense loss for him, and my sense is that Rowan himself hasn't even processed that yet.

On Rowan, I still don’t want to say too much, since Foxtail & Wolfsbane still has (at least a little) ways to go, but I will say that I felt a much stronger pull between Rowan and Reader than I initially anticipated. I ended up having to take out whole chapters in editing because I kept writing about the two of them and it became an absurd amount of writing focused solely on their interactions.

I loved reading your reactions to the proposal and break-up scenes. There was actually an alternative version of this scene that was focused more on why Rowan didn’t seem like the right partner for Reader, but I ended up thinking that that wouldn’t actually feel important to the Reader in the moment because she does love him. Instead, I shifted the focus to center more on their willingness to commit to each other, but the pain of that not being quite enough. Seeing your reactions, I think it was the right decision for me to focus the chapter on seeing Rowan trying to step up and Reader trying to meet him there, but ultimately, he knows her so well that she can’t cover up anything in her heart in front of him.

It was always important to me that the fact that they were best friends never got lost in their relationship. Rowan knows Reader far better than anyone else ever well and in a strange way, that contributed to why they separated the way they did. What struck me as sad, throughout their relationship but especially in that last chapter, is that I don’t think Reader knows Rowan as well as he knows her. She can’t read past his façade and see his vulnerabilities quite as well as he sees hers – and part of that is because she’s more independent and the other part of that is because Rowan has such a strong presence and persona of being someone who has it all and is so easy-going all the time that it’s easy to pretend like he isn’t just as vulnerable and lonely as Reader is, when we know he is.

Thank you so, so much for all of the love you give to my stories! It means so much to me that you enjoy them.  ♥ 

P.S. I wouldn't mind if you kept falling in love with my OCs, but y'know, I may be a little biased. Just maybe.