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shantechni · 7 months ago

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Natsume's Fear of Thunder

I'm gonna be honest, this can hardly be considered an analysis. It's more of a "sporadic and unnecessarily deep observation" of how Natsume's astraphobia has been presented in the series over the years, both in the anime and in the manga. So, please for the love of God take all of this with a grain of salt.

Yes, I'm using the term "phobia" very loosely, but I'm not about to get into that rn. Natsume has an irrational fear and strong dislike of thunder, that's an undeniable truth.

Before I dive in, I'd like to briefly explain why, of all the little bits of information Midorikawa has given us about Natsume, this one is the one to ceaselessly bump around in my brain like a DVD logo. This series is not in the horror genre (it's serialized in LaLa DX after all), but it does get suspenseful, and pretty disturbing depending on whatever topic it touches or the types of situations the characters may find themselves in. I don't fault anyone, particularly Natsume, for growing up with valid fears and preconceived misconceptions about most youkai; they can sound scary, they can look scary, and they can do some scary stuff if they really feel up to it.

That's why I'm so fascinated to see Natsume develop and still harbor an irrational fear for something like the everyday phenomena of storms. He's landed himself in all sorts of trouble and has come face to face with many beings, both natural and supernatural, who didn't have his best interests in mind, and yet the clap of thunder somehow keeps its spot on the list of things that has him scared stiff.

Aight, spoilers for both the anime and the manga beyond here, you've been warned👏🏽

Our first introduction to Natsume's fear is near the beginning of chapter 42, when he and Tanuma accidentally stumble across Taki's home while seeking shelter from a sudden shower. He questions how Nyanko-sensei ended up at her home as well and the youkai, much to Natsume's visible dismay, cheekily explains:

That doesn't end up happening since the rain remained light until its swift end, and the mention of Natsume's fear is glossed over rather quickly to save him the embarrassment, but it's an interesting mention made by Midorikawa nonetheless since it adds another layer to whatever image the audience has of Natsume and the series itself. Nyanko-sensei, having been around this kid long enough to know a lot of his vulnerabilities and insecurities (even the ones his dreams unwittingly reveal to the youkai), has seen and grown accustomed to a side of him that the audience had yet to be formally introduced to for once.

Right about now, you may be wondering how the anime adapted this scene. It didn't💀.

While the start of the episode (S3 EP5) is a one-to-one recreation of the chapter with virtually the same dialogue and scenery, any mention of Nyanko-sensei following Natsume to pick on him when it thunders is nonexistent and entirely skipped over so the gang can go straight to cleaning out the storeroom.

Most fans who have read the manga will tell you how notorious the anime is for excluding some of the characters' lines or scenes that take place in the manga, or just straight up rearranging or changing up those same factors. Sometimes those alterations work wonders, and other times they leave more to be desired, mainly if you know what happened in the manga counterpart of the episode. This such example is one of the times that'll leave people scratching their heads and wondering what warranted getting rid of a scene so insignificant that it'd have no effect on the plot of the episode whether or not it stayed. The only answer I can think of for that is the directors likely wanting a smoother progression of events to make for a viewing experience better tailored for an anime episode rather than a manga chapter.

Or, they genuinely didn't have enough space in the episode to squeeze in that little bit, which I highly doubt, but what would I know, I don't work for them. At the end of the day, we didn't get to see that scene in the episode.

After some more anime switcheroo shenanigans go on behind the scenes, along with an original episode pulling a retcon during a lightning storm, we receive our next moment in a surprising scene from the anime team in S3 EP10 (adaptation of chapter 28). Though the scene itself is short and not exactly an example of Natsume's astraphobia, I feel it should still be included because of its relation.

The chapter originally starts with Natsume and Nyanko-sensei searching for a tree that was struck by lightning during a storm the night before. However, the anime makes an addition of their own by rewinding time to that very night and showing Nyanko-sensei excitedly watching the storm take place while Natsume is tied up with his homework.

Nyanko-sensei goes on to tease him by suggesting that he doesn't want to watch the storm because he's scared, but Natsume dodges the youkai's mocking and begins to tell him to close the curtain before a crack of lightning cuts him off and illuminates his room.

Not only does Natsume not simply deny Nyanko-sensei's claim of him being scared, but his reaction to the thunder is seemingly more sudden than Nyanko-sensei's. Both of these points could subsequently lead the audience to interpret this entire sequence as the anime's first acknowledgement of his phobia, and it'd make for a very intriguing choice on the anime team's behalf after taking their ommitance of the previous scene into consideration. It could be a stretch though ngl, I tend to stretch like crazy, it makes sense to close a curtain when a pet is being noisy—

Finally moving on from S3, we eventually reach the most overt instance of Natsume's astraphobia, and potential origin or exacerbation of it, in the S4 finale (adaptation of chapter 46). This three episode arc is a largely intimate and heart wrenching one as it focuses on Natsume's journey to revisit his childhood home before it gets renovated by its new owners, a task he initially denied himself the permission of doing before realizing Touko and Shigeru would never deny him something so personal. Of course, he wouldn't be Natsume if he didn't attract a youkai along the way, and he's being pursued by one that seeks to feed on the tragic memories he formed while staying with the Aoi family, who was strongly implied to be the first family (if not, one of the first families) he was taken in by after his father's passing.

One of those memories shown to the audience is a younger Natsume relaxing in a shrine while memorizing where his childhood home is located, all in the hopes of gaining more discernible memories of his father and no longer being a burden to Miyoko and her parents.

Unfortunately, he falls asleep at the shrine and consequently loses track of time before having his slumber disturbed by a violent boom of thunder. He's so frightened by the ordeal that he can't even bring himself to rush back to the Aoi family's place, and his exhaustion puts him back to sleep until he's eventually found by some of the neighbors who went out searching for him.

The anime, with the natural strengths it has over the manga, goes the extra mile by not only keeping this portion relatively untouched, but further setting up the scenery and depicting just how rapidly the area goes from peaceful to turbulent. The character animation and voice acting make for a splendid combination and do a wonderful job of capturing this image of a helpless childhood version of Natsume.

What comes soon after this scene is a depressing sequence of events on its own, even more so when we can see he's still reeling from the storm and believing he caused the Aois to get into trouble by not getting back before dark. The adults obviously don't fault Natsume for getting stuck in the storm, but he doesn't see it that way in his shocked state.

The way Miyoko reacts by throwing her frustrations onto him doesn't help either.

And so, after aimlessly running off in his last unsuccessful attempt to find his childhood home, the memory fades away with a somber note as his present self recalls the moment he finally stopped calling for his long gone father.

Now, one could argue that Natsume had his fear of thunder prior to his time with the Aois since we don't have much reference material to work with when concerning his short period of time with his father, and they could be right for all I know. It's common for children to be startled by loud noises and bright flashes since they just aren't quite accustomed to those loud noises and bright flashes being customary for weather disturbances. Natsume, who we know grew up to be pretty sensitive to the things that go on around him, may have been one of those children who felt apprehension anytime a bad storm rolled in, and his father may have been the one to quell his fears back then. So, if we go with the conclusion that his fear didn't originate here, then this scene likely could've aggravated it. But I'm personally leaning a bit more towards the concept of this being the cause of it (partly due to how appealing that conclusion is to the obsessive part of my brain).

His initial reaction to the thunder is seemingly one of surprise rather than fear, and his behavior suggests that he's more concerned with making it back down the mountain before the thunder halts his progress. Although he's seen trying to talk himself down and fails to do so with how relentless the thunderstorm is proving to be, he doesn't need to have preexisting fears or anxieties over thunder to resort to calming himself down.

The dialogue differences strike me as something to consider too, but they're likely irrelevant.

Setting aside everything I just ranted about in the above paragraph, I should specify that I'm not simply pointing to the storm scene as the singular root cause for his future woes. Many psychological problems often aren't so black and white that someone can definitively point to one person or thing as the sole reason for the existence of their psychological problems. And phobias obviously don't always develop as a result of going through or observing a traumatic event; people can grow to fear or strongly dislike something merely by its association with an unpleasant memory or stressful situation. I know I'm starting to stretch hard rn, and this part of the post is getting awfully wordy, just hear me out—

Going back to that aforementioned short period of time with his dad, it's plain to see just how innocent of a time that was for Natsume. He was playful and affectionate with his dad like many children growing up in a healthy environment would be at that age. He doesn't even appear to have an awareness of youkai (if so, only slight enough for it to not become a problem for him just yet). We're shown later on that he would commonly draw around the house too, as evidenced by the nearly two decade old pieces of artwork his father never removed from the kitchen area and closet.

Natsume even proceeds to make a comment about this childhood version of himself likely being the mischievous type for him to run around drawing on surfaces without a care in the world.

He undeniably had his own troubles at that stage of his life though, with one of those troubles being his mom and the empty spot left behind by her passing away. Apart from his heartwarming portrait of a family with both parents, he's also shown lamenting to Miyoko after the death of his dad about not being able to remember his mom. We've seen with those two examples that her absence indeed left an impact on him early on in his life, but he doesn't stay too broken up over her considering how little he got to bond with her, and he doesn't openly despair about the loss of his dad until his growing sense of loneliness and longing becomes too much for him to smooth over.

The point I'm trying (and admittedly struggling) to make here is that after moving in with Miyoko and her parents, the worries on Natsume's plate increased tenfold and weighed him down far more than he was willing to accept at first. Suddenly, this kid had little to smile about in life, taking a glance at his only picture of his parents causes grief and envy to flare up in his chest, he's afraid of being a burden to those who took him under his wing, he's eating less than Miyoko because he's concerned with coming off as too greedy, he feels responsible for Miyoko getting picked on because of his relation to her, he's still learning the way back to the Aoi family's home, and now he's surrounded by all of these weird creatures that apparently no one else can see.

Suddenly, he's no longer that carefree toddler we saw sitting on his dad's lap as the two of them watched over his late mom's garden.

I feel moderately certain about Natsume's experience with the storm, coupled with this pivotal and devastating shift in his life, being the plausible cause for him developing his irrational fear of thunder as a child.

After this arc, we aren't greeted with another scene featuring or centered on his astraphobia until chapter 85 (which doesn't appear to be adapted in S7 judging from the PV😭), and it focuses on Natsume, Tanuma and Taki viewing a limited exhibition at an old inn that has a deep history with youkai. Not too long after the owner engages in conversation with Taki, Natsume and Tanuma briefly comment on how peaceful the inn is making the both of them feel, and a sudden lightning strike cuts through the tranquility of the inn.

It catches everyone off guard and, unsurprisingly, has Natsume frozen in place as Tanuma asks him and Taki if they're alright.

Much like Nyanko-sensei's first time mentioning Natsume's fear, the moment doesn't last long as the gang soon realizes they'll have to spend the night at the inn while they wait for the sudden storm to pass.

By this point in the manga though, Midorikawa has evidently decided to make Natsume's astraphobia a recurring element of the sorts. She could've easily left his astraphobia as another facet of his that we get to see once or twice and never again since it's not serviceable to the story as a whole, but she's started using his phobia as an additional means of displaying his discomfort in any given situation. Having a thunderstorm suddenly appear during a moment of serenity, immediately after Natsume tells Tanuma the place is making him feel strangely good, was a brilliant move of jarring him. And it works especially well here as a sign of the looming threat that'll find its way into the inn over night and slowly creep upon the group the longer they remain there.

Midorikawa pulls this same stunt again to slightly greater effect in chapter 117, where Natsume, Tanuma and Nyanko-sensei happen upon the Kisaragi Manor and find themselves taking part in a ritual for summoning youkai.

It starts with the trio meeting up in the evening to view the bamboo lanterns, but a woman claiming to be in search of a mansion requests their help to find it before it gets too dark, as well as to avoid getting caught in a downpour should the drizzle grow heavier. While Tanuma shows interest in the ritual, and the people they meet are treating them somewhat cordially, Natsume is disconcerted by the arrangement they've found themselves in. He's surrounded by five women he's never met in his life, is once again in an unfamiliar place that feels weird in Nyanko-sensei's own words, and is thrown for a loop by everyone's enthusiasm with the idea of meeting youkai rather than being put off by them.

The group isn't even a minute into their summoning ritual when a huge boom of thunder shakes the room and causes a power outage, sending them into a brief stint of darkness until Hitomi relights the candle.

While waiting for the candle though, Natsume answers Tanuma's question by for once admitting that he's bothered by thunder, leading to Nyanko-sensei characteristically picking on his phobia by calling him a chicken.

Again, the moment is subtle and restricted to one corner of the page, but it sticks the landing. Instead of using the lightning or thunder as a sign of things to come as she's done before, Midorikawa uses them here as an integrant of an already somewhat concerning scene slowly veering towards being disturbing. In addition to selling just how uncomfortable of a situation this is for Natsume, it also depicts how far along he is in his friendship with Tanuma to be honest about an irrational fear we know he'd rather not speak of.

Alas, chapter 117 was our last time seeing thunder scare Natsume, at least until the next time Midorikawa chooses to use his fear to her advantage, unless the anime miraculously surprises us with its own original take as we've seen it isn't afraid to do. What we've been given so far though is plentiful in comparison to many other plot points or quirks that get reused or called back to far less than this one. I won't throw a tantrum if his never gets referenced to or utilized again (which I doubt will happen knowing Midorikawa's writing), but I eagerly anticipate seeing it again should it reappear.

It's captivating to watch this minor detail frequently make it's way back into the story somehow, to the point that it eventually cemented itself as a miniscule yet effective way of shedding different shades of light on the many complexities of Natsume.

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aotopmha · 18 days ago

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(Chapter 42)

It's so good.

You know the traditional guideline for new artists that you have to know the rules before you can break them?

I think this is "breaking the rules" in storytelling form.

This reveal goes against some really typical guidelines when it comes to "big reveals".

Typically it should be climactic. It should be the center of the scene.

Great examples of more traditional reveals in this series itself include Eren merging from his Titan form in episode 8 (chapter 9), the Female Titan reveal in episode 23 (chapter 31) and the Wall Titan reveal in chapter 33 (which is repurposed as an end credits teaser in the anime).

They have many variations, but usually there is at least a gradual build-up in tension that leads into them, they cap a story arc or are otherwise placed in a strategically significant position in the narrative structure.

Here, it's buried inside a few speech bubbles in a side conversation following the finale of an arc.

Except it wasn't the finale, and this is the catalyst of the finale, we just don't know it yet.

And the fun part is that all of these aspects of narrative reveals do still exist here.

All of the necessary elements of a great reveal are still there, but simply scrambled up and given us in a different package which prioritises bolstering the narrative in a way the story itself sees fit in its own ecosystem rather than following any set rules because it has to follow them.

The anime especially had an extremely gradual rise in tension up to when the reveal happened, going from the fallout directly related to the preceeding narrative events to the buried reveal to the flashback and then growing more and more tense as Reiner reaches his motivational conclusion.

The anime even leaned into it with the visuals of the storm brewing in the background growing fiercer and fiercer as the episode progressed, until it broke the flag when Reiner made his decision.

The focus is on exploring Reiner's mindspace as we lead up to it, rather than separating the rising tension and character motivation and bringing them together with the reveal as stories tend to do (once again, see the Eren and Annie reveals in episode 8 and 23 respectively I mentioned above).

The tension rises along with Reiner's headspace revealing itself, making it much more about the character motivation, rather than the information itself; it also emulates the shock the characters standing in opposition to Reiner go through.

The shock is in the reveal reaching them and through them the viewers.

I think it's just a really cool manipulation of simple foundational storytelling rules (which also bolsters the reveal emotionally).

#AoT #Shingeki no Kyojin #Attack on Titan #SnK #Reiner #Reiner Braun #Bertholdt Hoover #Bertholdt #Bertholt Hoover #Bertholt

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avianoutcast · 8 months ago

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[MASTER POST]

(LIST & LINKS DOWN BELOW)

(Still too lazy to change the master post cover lol)

Outcast: Sup fellas. Outcast!Sans here! Me and my partner, Avia, would like to welcome you all to our lil' side of the multiverse.

Avia: For this post, we'll be creating a 'Master Post' documenting all our progress (and shenanigans) in the creation of this AU.

So if you're interested, please like, follow and stay tuned for further updates!💜

And If any of you have questions either about the lore or characters, please feel free to Ask!❤️💙

Outcast: Aaannd if ya just wanna chillax, you can always ask good ol' Sans for some 'rib-tickling' jokes! Heh

----------------

About [Asking]

About Ships // pt.2

----------------

[MY AUs]

PROMISEDTALE

REFERENCE SHEETS

Chara ref sheet // pt.2

Alphys & Papyrus

Promise!Gaster Color Palette + character references

Age ref

AU INFO

Soul Modes

Data Collection // pt.2 // pt.3

Gaster's Ability

Outcast's Soul

Soul Synchronization

Scrying Poppies

Height.lol

Crashing

Error Confrontation

Bad Sanses // MTT interaction

SNOWBY SHENANIGANS pt1, pt2, pt3

British Gaster XD

Brotherless

Core.Frisk Encounter

File not found

Gaster's friends

Hobbies

Nightmare Encounter

A Blessing or A Curse

COMIC

File_01—Gaster (Chapter 0)

Cover-p. 5, p. 6-8, p.9-10, p.11-13, p.14-15, p.16-17, p.18-21, p.22-24, p.25-28, p.29-31, p.32-35, p.36-38, p.39-41, p.42 (extra), p.43-44, p.45-46, p.47-49, p.50-51, p.52-53, p.54-55

----------------------------------------

DREAMLESS AU

Creator's ramblings

More ramblings TwT

Besties XD

The Skele-boys Gang XD

Nightlight outfit design! (Line art)

Finding Dream

Dreamless

Height

Meeting with the OGs X3

Dreamless' Last Letter

Dreamless in color (still too lazy to make a ref sheet TwT)

Inevitable Fate

Training // Success

A Dream or A Nightmare

------

[AU SPECIALS]

(just for fun and art practices)

Outcast!Sans zine cover

12.22♑

Christmas Special X3

New Year 2025!

Promise!Gaster Art

Outcast color practice

Avia color practice

The Skele-boys Gang XD

250+ Animatic Special💜🎉🎉 // script

Favorite/theme songs

Special Cake by Mama Star!✨

Human versions X3 // pt.2

Gaster doodles

Valentine's Special❤️💙💚🧡✨✨// + SNOWBY

MafiaAU.lol // pt.2

Swapped out XD ft.Epictale (lol)

Kun1 DTIYS X3

----------------

[TAGS]

#asks

#au info

#PromisedTaleAU

#PromisedTalefanarts

#DreamlessAU

#avia

#Outcast!Sans

#Dreamless!dream

#undertale

#undertale comic

#utmv

#utmv au

#reblogs

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wandafiction · 1 year ago

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Just Us - Series List Chapter 1 -98

Y/n is a multimillionaire. Wanda Maximoff is a divorced mum of two twin boys who is trying her best. What happens when their paths cross at a club and Y/n takes Wanda home for the night?

Warnings: This story is an 18+ read, Minors DNI, contains talks and description of Death, Accidents, Injury, Child Loss, Abuse (Physical and Emotional), Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Suggestive themes, Smut (Each Chapter With Themes Explained), Angst (Lots of It), And Some Fluff Thrown in because I felt bad. Top Reader, Bottom Wanda

Each chapter will come with their own warnings.

This is a story that I have put up on my Wattpad and my Ao3 and thought I would share it here for more of you wonderful people. I do hope you enjoy this read. There will be mistakes here and there and maybe some incorrect translations.

So this is an AU story with the MCU characters. So the ages and story lines with be changed and different from that in the movies.

I will right some history for each character as the story progresses just so ages and other things make sense.

All the Character's in this are played by their respective actors and certain aspects of the MCU have been added in. But once again its not going to be an alternative marvel story it is a completely different universe.

I don't own any if the MCU characters.

Master List

Chapter List

Chapter 1 - Yours or Mine

Chapter 2 18+ - First Time

Chapter 3 - How Much

Chapter 4 18+ - Beautiful

Chapter 5 - Accent

Chapter 6 - The Twins

Chapter 7 - Just Add 8

Chapter 8 - Panic Attack

Chapter 9 - Sounds Like A date

Chapter 10 - Happy Tears

Chapter 11 - Twenty Percent

Chapter 12 - Favourite Colour

Chapter 13 - Ex-husbands Clothes

Chapter 14 18+ - Trust is Not Like Candy

Chapter 15 - Morning Bliss

Chapter 16 - Sisterly Advice

Chapter 17 - Lunch Date

Chapter 18 - Not By Blood, By Choice

Chapter 19 18+ - Frozen Peas

Chapter 20 - Scarlet Witch

Chapter 21 - Iron Man

Chapter 22 18+ - Love Language

Chapter 23 - The Friends

Chapter 24 - Hela's Kitchen

Chapter 25 - The Question

Chapter 26 - From Second To First

Chapter 27 - Mr Blue Sky

Chapter 28 - Protective Friend

Chapter 29 - It's Real To Me

Chapter 30 - Pile On

Chapter 31 18+ - Water Fight

Chapter 32 - Head Scratches

Chapter 33 - Billy's Discovery

Chapter 34 - Superhero Trio

Chapter 35 - Pancakes and L Bombs.

Chapter 36 - 10 Out Of 10 Dive

Chapter 37 - Tickle Monster

Chapter 38 - Sarah Stark

Chapter 39 - Love Persevering

Chapter 40 - First Meeting

Chapter 41 - Hear, Listen, Take It In

Chapter 42 - Touch

Chapter 43 - Mockingbird

Chapter 44 - Family

Chapter 45 - Search Party

Chapter 46 - Bowl Of Popcorn

Chapter 47 - Pet Names

Chapter 48 18+ - Trying Something New

Chapter 49 - French Braids

Chapter 50 - Not Taking Advantage

Chapter 51 - To Understand Someone

Chapter 52 - The Row

Chapter 53 18+ - I Need You

Chapter 54 - Your Flaws Are Your Strengths

Chapter 55 18+ - Jealousy

Chapter 56 - I Can't Be Here

Chapter 57 - Stephanie Grace Turner

Chapter 58 - Zak The Waiter

Chapter 59 18+ - Declarations

Chapter 60 - Clingy

Chapter 61 - Triple Chocolate Brownies

Chapter 62 - Watch Me

Chapter 63 - Grown-Up Conversations

Chapter 64 - A+

Chapter 65 18+ - Dynamic

Chapter 66 - You Don't Get It

Chapter 67 - Conditioned

Chapter 68 - Selachimorpha

Chapter 69 - Beed Stroganoff

Chapter 70 - Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Chapter 71 - Realisations

Chapter 72 - Princess

Chapter 73 - The Talk

Chapter 74 - Black Widow

Chapter 75 - Can I Join You

Chapter 76 - Люли, люли, люленьки

Chapter 77 - Moose

Chapter 78 - Aurora Borealis

Chapter 79 - Calgary

Chapter 80 18+ - Mirror

Chapter 81 - Massage and Important Conversations

Chapter 82 - Banff

Chapter 83 - Strawberries

Chapter 84 - Bayushki Bayu

Chapter 85 - Cookies

Chapter 86 18+ - Control

Chapter 87 - Hyper Puppy

Chapter 88 - Treehouse

Chapter 89 - 312

Chapter 90 - Forgiveness

Chapter 91 18+ - Always Feel Good

Chapter 92 - Your Third Love

Chapter 93 18+ - Daddy

Chapter 94 - Home

Chapter 95 - Stalker

Chapter 96 - Can't Catch A Break

Chapter 97 18+ - Mile High Club

Chapter 98 - Happy

Series List 99 -

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maxmoff x y/n #wanda x reader #wanda x you #wanda smut #wanda maximoff smut #bottom wanda #bottom wanda maximoff #sub wanda #sub wanda maximoff #top reader #bottom wanda x top reader #sub wanda maximoff x top reader #bottom wanda maximoff x top reader #sub wanda x top reader #marvel au #Just Us Series

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differentpostrebel · 9 months ago

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Master List!

A/N: Hi everyone! Here is the masterlist for my work. I will also be uploading them onto AO3. A little bit about me is that I love to write, read, watch anime, and more!. I am 27 years old, and writing has just been my way to get either a message out there or to tell a story. Some stories will have bonus chapters so that we can dive in some more on details that may not have been featured on the main series. Each one will say a bonus chapter on them. I will also write: Short series, Long Series, One shots. Some of the chapters may contain strong language, violence, smut, etc. Listed below are the works I have done and the new ones that will be worked on once I completed the series or works done. Lost and Found: A Pirate’s Promise- Sanji x Y/N, One piece x Reader- (On going) Synopsis:

Y/N is an established pirate and a formidable warrior, with the third highest bounty in the Straw Hat crew. She's not just another member; her strength and skills have earned her a respected spot among the crew. Sanji, our favorite lovesick cook, falls head over heels for Y/N almost immediately. True to his nature, he tries every trick in the book to catch her attention, from cooking her favorite meals to showering her with compliments. On the other hand, Y/N may have a small crush on Sanji, but she’s cautious and focused on her goals as a pirate. As the story progresses, that small crush gradually blossoms into something more profound, but their journey together won't be easy. With the chaos of the New World looming, the dangers they face will test their bond and loyalty to each other. Will their love be strong enough to survive the trials ahead, or will the perils of their pirate life tear them apart?

Chapter 1,

Chapter 2,

Chapter 3,

Chapter 4,

Chapter 5,

Chapter 6,

Chapter 7,

Chapter 8,

Chapter 9,

Chapter 10,

Chapter 11,

Chapter 12,

Chapter 13,

Chapter 14,

Chapter 15,

Chapter 16,

Chapter 17,

Chapter 18,

Chapter 19,

Chapter 20,

Chapter 21,

Chapter 22,

Chapter 23,

Chapter 24,

Chapter 25,

Chapter 26,

Chapter 27,

Chapter 28,

Chapter 29,

Chapter 30,

Chapter 31,

Chapter 32,

Chapter 33,

Chapter 34,

Chapter 35,

Chapter 36

Chapter 37,

Chapter 38 ,

Chapter 39 ,

Chapter 40 ,

Chapter 41

Chapter 41.5 (Bonus Chapter) ,

Chapter 42 ,

Chapter 43

Chapter 44 ,

Chapter 45 ,

Chapter 46 ,

Chapter 47 ,

Chapter 48 Part 1 ,

Chapter 48 Part 2,

Chapter 49 Part 1 ,

Chapter 49 Part 2 ,

Chapter 50 ,

Chapter 51 ,

Chapter 52

Chapter 53 part 1

Chapter 53 Part 2

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60 part 2

Chapter 61 part 1 , part 2, part 3(new)

Queen of the Night-Halloween special ft Sanji and Usopp

Die with a Smile - Portgas D. Ace x Y/N- Synopsis: Y/N, the determined daughter of Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, and Ace, the free-spirited son of Gol D. Roger, have always been bound by their legacies. After going their separate ways to pursue their own pirate dreams, they find themselves crossing paths once again. As they face off against the dangers of the Grand Line, old wounds resurface, and the sparks between them become impossible to ignore. With freedom and their futures on the line, can they overcome their pasts and the expectations that threaten to pull them apart?

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Chapter 2: Taste

Chapter 3: Changes

Chapter 4: Dreamin

Chapter 5: We meet again

Chapter 6: Coming soon

#masterlist #one piece #one piece fanfiction

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nice-and-accurate-fictions · 2 months ago

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A mix between Thank You For My Pornography and my personal Holy Bible.

Don’t get too excited, it’s still me: yours, truly, di-42. I thought I would make a side blog entirely dedicated to Good Omens fanfiction, because I’m addicted to spreading the joy and love these fics bring. If you’ve seen me around, you might know that I make monthly lists with the fictions I read and my (positive only) thoughts about them. You can find all the lists if you scroll down this post. The criteria I use for a fic to be in those lists are: I finish it. That’s it. Or I finish the first one or two chapters for WIPs. If I finish reading a fiction I will say what I like about it, or what the fic is about, in my lists. Those lists are not about recommending the best of the best, they are about telling each other stories, reading each other’s stories, telling other fellow fans about those stories, and generally building community.

I quite often find myself going through my own posts to find some fictions to recommend when someone asks for something specific, so I thought I could make this side blog and re-organize those fictions by theme. Easier to find more quickly. This is all still a work in progress: I will update when I have the time, and more fictions and themes to add. Some themes will only have one fic, and quite a few fics will be in several lists. I will, in time, link the lists to this pinned post. Feel free to reblog any post and add your own recs (self recs absolutely welcome). Please note, these are just re-shuffles of the fics mentioned in my monthly lists; if you want some more detailed themed recs, you might want to visit curiouspupsicle’s blog. If you’re looking for a fic in particular, I’m sure you know you’ll need to ask aziraphales-library. For weekly recs, please follow addledmongoose. For more recs, please follow sabine-smitten-obviously. If you want to check out my monthly lists as they come, that’s my main blog.

If you want your fic to be taken off these lists, please let me know.

Please, now and always, don’t judge a fiction by the number of kudos!

The lists so far:

Season 1 and post season 1 list

Canon divergent, parallel universe, and reverse omens

Human/demon and human/angel AUs

In-universe jealousy

South Downs and/or safe, happy future

G and T rated one-shot human AUs

Season 3, post season 2, and fix-it

Fluffy, lighthearted and funny (Angel and Demon)

My favourite human AUs

Summoning

Writers

Christmas

Neighbours

Fake relationships

Criminals and spies AUs

Halloween

Enemies to lovers

Snake and snake care

Less than 1k

Teachers and professors AUs

Outsiders POVs

Inspired by or connected to a film

E rated one-shot human AUs

1941

Ghosts

Singers. rockstars and musicians

Strangers to lovers and meet cute

Warlock

Forced proximity

Friends to lovers

Low to no angst

Weddings and marriage proposals

#good omens fanfiction #good omens #good omens fiction #good omens fiction recs

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kikyoupdates · 10 months ago

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⭑˚💘⭑ bnha x f!reader

reverse harem, my hero academia x fem!reader, slowburn

Ever since your Quirk first manifested, you’ve been the apple of everyone’s eye. With the goal of becoming a hero, you enroll to U.A. and soon find yourself drawing the attention of many. Will you form genuine connections with others, or is this all just your power's will?

00 — prologue 01 — beloved 02 — pastel heart 03 — new class cutie 04 — lover boy 05 — sweet & spicy 06 — sugar cheeks 07 — freckles 08 — win their hearts 09 — divine presence 10 — overtake them all 11 — pretty hurts 12 — two of a kind 13 — princess of mischief 14 — mesmerizing 15 — the charmed 16 — wondrous beauty 17 — blessed by the gods 18 — cherry lips 19 — cats are great 20 — chicken nuggets 21 — drunk on love 22 — affectionate storm 23 — simply lovely 24 — boyfriends 25 — like a butterfly 26 — disillusioned 27 — aesthete 28 — serendipity 39 — love trumps all 30 — enchanting 31 — chance meetings 32 — no love 33 — serene 34 — sun kissed 35 — melting gaze 36 — exquisite 37 — tainted beauty 38 — whispers in the night 39 — beautiful torment 40 — revered 41 — helpless little lamb 42 — a friend's hand 43 — flickering flame 44 — the gods must be crazy 45 — saccharine 46 — new home 47 — strengthened desires 48 — song of voice 49 — progress 50 — love you a latte 51 — center of attention 52 — thriving devotion 53 — graceful rescues 54 — disagreements 55 — a troubling feeling 56 — long overdue 57 — friends once more 58 — better than a kiss 59 — sowing the seeds 60 — instant defeat 61 — golden gaze 62 — love's in the cards 63 — humorous introduction 64 — repressed emotinos 65 — a discovery 66 — violent embrace 67 — arisen 68 — newfound appreciation 69 — shackled by pain 70 — infiltration 71 — the meaning of fear 72 — ghost-like beauty 73 — misguided love 74 — the raid's aftermath

More chapters are available on Quotev and Wattpad!

⊱.⋅follow + post notifications on for story update announcements or join the author's discord!⋅.⊰

💘 main masterlist ♡ oneshot masterlist

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itwasrealtome · 4 months ago

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AGENT GRAY

Chapter One — Tag, You’re IT

TAGLIST FORM

Next chapter

⚠️ DO NOT READ IF THIS MIGHT TRIGGER YOU

Olivia Benson x fem! FBI AGENT OC

Summary: Agents Gray and Langford set out in pursuit of a suspect and come up against the Special Victims Unit.

Content Warning: SVU and Violent Crimes talk • SA, Kidnapping, Violence, Human Trafficking, Weapons, Serial Murders, Organized Crimes, drugs | Jumping from a roof to another | Mention of an old 2005 Ford Mustang | Mention of orphans and survivors | Mention of 911 | Mention of tracking a phone | MENTION OF BEING HELD HOSTAGE IN A CAR AND FEELING LIKE SUFFOCATING | Mention of Hudson | Mention of being slaughtered or shot | Mention of religion and being a man of GOD | Mention of going to church |

•

FRIDAY, JULY 29

Manhattan, 7:42 PM

The driver refused to let her out.

A mile back, right after they passed the Hudson University campus, the clear road had given way to long stretches of traffic jam basking in the nearly set sun. Now the driver complained that his eyes were burning and that he could not possibly delay this delivery. He was already so late. What could happen to him if he screwed up again? Slaughtered, dumped at the bottom of the Hudson. Shot, locked in a barrel and sent to the only family he had left. Either way, it was certainly not as bad as what they were planning to do to this poor girl.

Lennie Holmes was curled up, the warm leather of the back seat burning the back of her thighs. She was suffocating in this car, all the more so since she had guessed the hazardous plans of the man behind the wheel. He fidgeted, his hair and forehead glistening with sweat as his fingers struggled to keep up with the beat of the radio. She had simply wanted to get back to campus faster.

Lennie had no other choice; with the vehicle at a standstill, she had to get away.

She sat up so slowly that her damp skin progressively peeled away from the leather. Hand squeezing the handle, she stopped, breathless, and looked up at the rear-view mirror. The man rubbed his eyes with his large fists, folding back the sunblind.

That was her signal.

The young woman pushed herself out of the car, tripping over her own feet. She ran, fast enough to lose her breath and gain a little time. He was behind her, at her heels, hand plunged behind his back to pull out his gun. If she had to die there, at least she'd have tried everything.

Miles Langford was no man of God.

His neighborhood church hadn't seen him since his wedding. His father's cross had found a home in his bedside table drawer. And he hadn't said the blessings since he'd had dinner with his mother. His education should have made him very religious. He had attended catechism classes, taken part in the church choir and accompanied his parents every Sunday. His future was set.

—Lexi, slow the hell down!

The sleek black SUV took another sharp turn through traffic that had Miles nearly kissing the passenger window. He gripped his phone with one hand and the dashboard with the other, his jaw set. This was his life now. Far from the peace and quiet of the church and from his parents’ curses.

—I’m following your damn directions!

Behind the wheel, Alexis keeps her eyes glued on the road ahead, hands steady as she weaves in and out of lanes of vehicles. She has driven larger vehicles dozens of times, in worse conditions and on more dangerous roads. Yet, she managed to terrorize Miles every time she gets behind the wheel.

—You’re following them at the speed of a missile, he countered, squinting at his screen. I can’t even…shit, you’ve missed a turn!

—You said left!

—I was gonna say left!

The brunette swerved hard onto the next street, tires screeching. Beside her, her partner groaned, barely managing to keep track of the blinking dot on his screen — the suspect’s phone, still moving too fast. They could not lose him. Not now — so desperately close.

The case had landed on Alexis’ desk over the weekend. The file, then as thin as a sheet of paper, had been carefully placed at the top of her stack with a simple post-it note reading ‘GRAY’. She hadn’t asked any more questions and had hurried off to bother Miles at his own desk.

What had begun as a simple kidnapping quickly led the two agents to discover a much darker truth.

Stan, as he was known, had nothing working in his favor. Numerous complaints on his record for domestic violence and armed robbery. A wife and daughter gone from New York's polluted streets. And now charges of violent kidnapping, sexual assault and human trafficking were hanging over his head.

He certainly wasn't in charge of operations. Sure, he was tall and athletic, but not much of a thinking soul. He followed instructions precisely — taking on details of the girls, abducting them, abusing them and finally delivering them to the boss. In barely a week, he’d delivered at least three. Only he had made mistakes. Big mistakes.

—Okay, he’s heading east on–Jesus, Alexis! Brake!

Lines of stalling vehicles drew up in front of theirs as Alexis suddenly slammed the breaks. Miles felt his body lurch forward, only to fall back again, his head hitting the headrest. He closed his eyes.

Breathed in.

Then out.

Alexis was already outside the vehicle, her door left wide open. The blinking dot had stopped so close to them. The man had to be in line, only a few meters away. She surveyed the line of cars, the almost setting sun beating down on her.

She saw businessmen in wet shirts, groups of young people on their way to spend the weekend in the cool, mothers and children bewildered by the sight of a bulletproof vest and the FBI logo. Until she spotted his car — an old 2005 Ford Mustang. The driver and rear doors were open. The engine was still running. The leather in the back held a pair of women's shoes.

—Miles, get over here. I found his car.

The announcement was loud and clear in the agent’s earpiece. He was already on his way, his boots following the same route as those of his colleague. The car was indeed their suspect's - he recognized it by the false number plate on the back and the numerous scratches on the passenger door. He didn't need to see any more to be certain.

The scream that followed only confirmed their idea. It was raw, desperate, bordering on agony. A young woman of barely twenty-five sprinted toward them, her breathing ragged, terror rooted in her every step. Close behind, a man –their man– was charging her, gun in hand, his pace relentless.

—Help me! Please, help me. The victim collapsed in Miles' arms, clutching his bulletproof vest. He tried to kidnap me. He’s… He’s coming!

Frightened, she cowered against the agent, her dried-blooded hands covering her head. The poor girl was trembling so badly that Miles thought it was almost winter. He'd had to deal with dozens of victims in the course of his career - orphans, survivors and, sadly, women who'd sometimes barely escaped the inferno. Lennie Holmes was no different.

—Stanley Reed! FBI! yelled Alexis, her own weapon in hand. Put the weapon down and surrender!

Stanley hesitated for a moment. He had stopped in mid-stride at the sight of the feds, unsure of his next steps. The package was no longer in his possession. If he so much as set foot on the boss's premises, he was sure to die. He'd ruined everything. Lennie, sweet Lennie, was now in the arms of another man. He was sticky with sweat, a trail of scent following him. The beating of his heart was so intense it made his hands tremble. He couldn't surrender, it was impossible.

Alexis was on him as soon as he started running in the opposite direction. He was desperate enough to try and escape. She respected that; no one liked to admit defeat.

Detective Amanda Rollins slammed the car door shut, eyes narrowing as she surveyed the scene. She had been told that the street was crowded with civilian vehicles. Now all that was left was the suspect's, the feds' and dozens of NYPD’s. There were officers on every street corner, near every building.

The Special Victims Unit had been called following a serious and alarming 911 call from a young woman, who had implied that she had escaped from a kidnapping.

It was a lot more than that.

—Uniforms have the perimeter locked down, reported Fin, coming up beside her. No sign of him yet.

Their suspect was on the run, somewhere within the perimeter. Last seen near his vehicle, before he ran off again. He could be anywhere - hiding in one of the buildings, threatening residents, or even up a tree. As implausible as it sounded, Amanda was no longer surprised by anything in this job.

Her lieutenant, Olivia Benson, stepped forward, scanning the scene, her instincts on high alert. She maintained that grave exterior, the kind that comes with years in this line of work–as a distasteful reward. Men like Reed, she'd met hundreds of them, each more sexually obsessed than the last. She knew they'd find him eventually.

Lennie Holmes was exactly the person they needed for this.

—Where’s our vic?

—With the fed. Amanda nodded toward a man and their likely victim. She hasn’t let go of him since he and his partner stepped in, not even when I took her statement.

The young woman had sheltered on the edge of an ambulance. Despite her shock, there was not the slightest sign of violence on her person. Blood under her fingernails, yes, but not hers. Beside her stood a man, brown curls falling almost in front of his eyes, a beard barely a few days old framing his jaw. His FBI-reading vest seemed to contain a muscular body, the kind ready for anything.

Olivia read directly into his behavior. How he stood close to the victim, listening, hands gripping the top of his vest, in order to establish a trusting bond while maintaining a certain distance from the young woman. He wasn't looking to play the hero or indulge some sense of dominance. And unlike the federal agents she'd encountered a few days earlier, the man didn't seem overly guarded.

—Lieutenant Benson? SVU?

The federal agent offered a polite smile to Olivia and her detectives, shaking hands first with her, then with Fin and Amanda.

—Special Agent Miles Langford. Violent Crimes Unit.

Violent Crimes Unit. Olivia had already heard about it. A unit of the Criminal Investigative Division in charge of kidnappings, serial murders, organized crime such as humans, drugs and weapons trafficking, and last but not least, high-profile homicides. If Stanley Reed was on their list, it wasn't to kill time.

—Mind telling me what’s going on?

—We’ve been tracking Stanley Reed for the past few days, started Miles, leading the detectives away from the ambulance. He’s connected to a human trafficking ring we’ve been trying to dismantle. He's not the mastermind, but he kidnaps the girls, abuses them and then delivers them to the boss.

Fin found the whole thing hard to believe. It wasn't the first time his path had crossed that of the feds. They were always ready to take all the credit, even if it meant stealing suspects and making them disappear. He shot Olivia a skeptical glance, arms folded against his chest.

—Then what? This girl gets kidnapped, calls the cops and you just happen to show up?

Miles seemed caught off guard. He was well accustomed to this quarrel between the police and the bureau; it was nothing out of the ordinary. Still, he was proud to say that he and Alexis managed to work easily with the NYPD under normal circumstances.

Perhaps Alexis's reputation actually had something to do with it.

A commotion from between the two buildings surprised everyone. A man, recognizable as Stanley Reed, climbed up the fire escape until he reached the stairs. He seemed to be limping, his thigh now red with blood, but even that did nothing to stop him. He was too focused on the woman after him.

Alexis was moving with purpose, her hands and feet finding purchase with practiced ease. She had no trouble hoisting herself up the ladder. Nor did she have any trouble catching up with Reed on the stairs. Within seconds, she was hoisting herself up on the roof, sprinting along the edge, effortlessly closing the gap between herself and the fleeing suspect.

—Who the hell is that? asked the newly arrived Carisi. Is she NYPD?

No one replied, not even Olivia. All eyes were fixed on the roof–on this unimaginable scene. Whoever this woman was, she was no ordinary civilian, the detectives were all equally convinced.

Stanley looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of the distance separating him from the agent. He had no other choice. The woman wouldn't follow him to the other side, would she? Despite the throbbing pain in his leg, he forced himself to pick up speed over the few meters he had left. In a last ditch effort, he launched himself off the roof, his body floating in slow motion before he crashed over to the other side, onto the second building.

Miles could feel everyone holding their breath. He was reassured–Alexis wasn't just making him nauseous. He could have forbidden her to jump via her earpiece, but he knew her all too well and was therefore more afraid of distracting her than anything else. So he covered his eyes with his hand, unable to watch his partner play top athlete.

Alexis followed suit. Her body gently adjusted to the motion, as if she were used to it. For those on the ground, it lasted hours; for her, just a few seconds. She landed on the other side in a perfect roll, bringing her straight to her feet.

—It’s over, Stanley! she called, weapon back in her hands. Stanley just stopped, back facing her. Get down on your knees and show me your hands!

Carisi let out a low whistle, shaking his head as he kept his eyes fixed on the roof. He couldn’t believe it. He knew he would have lost the suspect by now if it had been him. Who's crazy enough to jump from one roof to another? His lieutenant would have lost her mind by now if anyone in the unit had attempted this.

—Well, that’s new.

Fin ignored him, moving closer to Miles again. This little act may have impressed the youngsters, but it certainly didn’t impress him. He's seen it all before.

—How did you get here just in time?

—We were tracking his phone, explains Miles under Tutuola’s glare. We didn't know about the girl. We saw an opportunity to catch him and followed it.

—You believe him?

Olivia rubbed her face gently. It's Friday night. She could have had dinner at home with her son and Ed. Instead, she's stuck with the feds.

—Miles, stop bothering the Lieutenant.

A hoarse voice was heard as the building's front door slammed in the distance. For the first time, the unit could take a look at the young woman from the roof. Brown hair pulled back into a bun that's seen better days, cargo pants, a simple plain T-shirt, tactical bulletproof vest and tactical boots to finish it all off.

This woman wasn’t from the NYPD or FBI.

No matter what she said.

—Why don’t you get our new friend here ready for his ride?

Alexis pushed the handcuffed Stanley over to Miles, a smile on her face. It wasn’t cocky or petty, or even ear-to-ear. No, it was quiet, discreet–an ounce of teasing to remind her partner that he had nothing to worry about. It was enough for Miles to roll his eyes and lead the criminal to the SUV via a grip on his shoulder.

As soon as the suspect was out of the way and the victim on the way to the precinct with Amanda, Olivia turned her full attention to the young woman facing her. Hard to imagine that such a person had just climbed to one building's rooftop to jump to another. It was reckless. Foolish, even.

—You didn’t think to loop us in before chasing a suspect across rooftops?

Carisi had often heard this tone coming from his superior. They’d all heard it before, in fact. Olivia was the longest-serving member of the unit. She was also the one in charge of damage control, of setting rules and making sure they were applied. The police tended to lose far too many of their officers to reckless acts. Under her leadership, that wouldn't happen.

—Lieutenant Benson, right? Alexis simply offered her hand after removing her glove. Special Agent Alexis Gray, FBI. You’ve met my partner, Miles.

Olivia was met by a calm and respect she'd never encountered from a Federal. There was something special about the way Gray had shaken her hand. Like a way of saying that she wasn't the enemy, that it was all a misunderstanding.

—We’ve been after Reed for days. I had no intent of cutting you off from the case. Alexis sounded honestly sorry. She walked a few steps with the Lieutenant before coming to a halt again. We were caught off guard when we arrived on the scene. Lennie Holmes is at least the fourth woman to fall victim to Stanley. We never expected to catch him red-handed.

Peering over the agent’s shoulder, Olivia caught a glimpse at Fin’s doubtful expression. She could already hear him saying that the feds were all the same, and these two didn't stand out. They were going to lose their suspect, lose their victim and then their case. At least, that's what normally happened. But Fin didn’t know Gray.

No one really did. Not yet.

•

Taglist: @nciscmjunkie @certainlychaotic @thefatobsession @ginasbaby @makkaroni221 @kiwiana145 @kobayashi-fr @hi-i-1

#olivia benson x reader #law and order svu #olivia benson x oc #agent gray #fin tutuola #amanda rollins #sonny carisi #law and order svu x oc

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sturniolobananas1 · 2 days ago

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chapter 1.. heather.

He was my crush since 3rd grade, also my childhood bestfriend. i never though i could envy another girl so much.

Let's start from the beginning.

word count: 1116

warnings: none!

☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

Sunday, November 23rd, 11:56 pm.

I was simply sitting on my couch, not expecting anyone to bother me at this time, but then I got the dm..

[Chris:

hey, can i come over so we can talk?

i have something on my mind.

[Stella:

yeah, of course. come on over.

are you okay?

[Chris:

yes, i just have an idea.

[Stella:

okay! im excited. see you soon.

------

its nearly 12 am and my crush since 3rd grade texted me. i cant tell whether i should be excited or scared. chris has always been the kindest person to my family and i. we were best friends, since childhood. but i cant seem to get rid of my guilty crush on him.

knock knock

hes here... i walk to the door and open it slowly.

"hey chris!" i say happy to see him. "hey stell." he says back opening his arms for a hug. whenever he calls me that, it gives me butterflies. other guys around school caught onto the nickname and tried to call me it. chris would always get protective and tell them that was his name for me. i loved that about him.

"come on in." i say backing into the house opening the door some more, guiding him to the living room.

"so, whats on your mind?" i say adjusting myself by putting a pillow under my chin.

"so, you know about my crush on tessa?" he says looking at me.

"of course!" i say back getting used to the feeling in my stomach when he says her name.

"i sort of have a plan and i only trust you with it." he says smiling feeling confident in his progress.

"okay, what is it?" i ask sincerely.

"so uh- i was thinking maybe we could fake date, uh- just to kinda make tessa jealous?" he says reluctantly.

"oh, i mean yeah, im okay with that! it kinda sounds fun to be honest." i say, and it really does sound fun, fake dating my crush? of course im going to accept. but... its obviously all a game, and i wont let it get to me anymore than that.

"wait, actually?" he says practically jumping onto me.

"yeah!" i say as he grabs under my arms lifting me, also spinning. "omg, i love you so much stella! im so lucky to have you as a friend." he says setting me down. "yeah, a friend, uh- you too!" i say looking back up at him. chris kisses my forehead. "thank you stell, really." he says. "of course chris." i say smiling.

i guide him to the door, wondering what will happen next.

"bye!" we say at the same time. we both smile. "what time do you get on the bus?" he asks me. "5:42." i say, being one of the earliest people to get picked up. "damn." he says shaking his head. "well, sleep in, ill be here at 6:40." he says getting back into his car.

as chris drives off, i jump up and down, with a wide smile on my face.

-----

Monday, November 24th, 6:00 am.

DING DING DING

"oh, shut up." i say to my phone, clicking the dismiss button. i slowly sit up, and see the time. "6:00?! SHIT!" i say jumping out of bed. i remember that chris is picking me up in 40 minutes. "damn i was scared to death for a minute there." i say to myself.

i slowly look through my closet, and see the necklace chris got for me last year on my birthday, what a great way to start off our relationship.. our fake relationship. i suddenly feel upset, but keep pushing because i cant miss school. i find an old pair of jeans, and a blue striped sweater. "this will just have to work." i mumble to myself slowly getting dressed. i throw on simple makeup, and go to my kitchen pacing back and forth with the fridge open not being able to decide whether to eat yogurt, or a granola bar.

i ended up picking the yogurt with granola on top, a great way to compromise. i finish with 15 minutes left. i drink a cup of milk, scrolling on tiktok trying to distract myself from the situation im in. then, i hear a ding.

[Chris:

hey, im here!

[ Stella:

omw out :)

----

i start to panic, and remember its just chris, my bestfriend also my crush.. nothing else. i walk out of the door and see him leaning against his car, opening the door. "chris what are you doing.." i say smirking, shaking my head. "opening the door for my girlfriend.. duh." he says with attitude.

"how did you sleep?" he says, starting to drive off. "good!" i say back enthusiastically. "how about you?" i ask in response. "i slept good." he says smiling. "so how are we going to do this?" i say with a tone that expresses my confusion. "i guess we'll walk together in the halls, and hold hands?" he says looking over at me for approval. "yeah, that sounds good.. uh, do you think anyone will catch on?" i say. "i mean its very possible, but weve known eachother for so long so it kinda makes sense." he says trying to focus on the road. "yeah, true. can i play music?" i say. "yeah! connect to bluetooth." he says pointing to the cars screen.

i connect and start my playlist. i wanna be yours by arctic monkeys play and i stiffen up, feeling nervous because of the song. chris starts to mumble along, grooving around. i assume he can feel the energy in the car shift.

----

as we arrive to school, everyone turns their heads watching chris open the door for me, and helping me out of the car. i step out, and he grabs my hand. "you okay?" he says. "yeah, this is kinda nice. you know, being to hang out more?" i say as we approach the door. "yeah, i agree." he says smiling. i see phones out, which isnt surprising because of the triplets job, their will be rumors, and hate going around soon enough.

chris walks me to my first hour, and slightly pecks my on the cheek. "see you soon, stell." he says smiling. "bye chris." i say getting butterflies.

----------------------------------

A/N:

sorry for taking forever i deleted a bunch of tries yesterday.

love yall!

@mattyummyy @mattscumdump @bernardsbendystraws @mattybsgroupie @yik3sssssss @hannahsturniolo @kenah-sturniolo @aaliyah-sturns @sturniolo-szn2 @elianamattlvr @eyesonmattyb

#chris sturiolo fanfic #chris sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #nick sturniolo #matt sturniolo #christopher sturniolo

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everlastingdreams · 7 months ago

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Forged Of Fire Masterlist

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33

Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49

~~~~!!!More Chapters will be added as the story progresses!!!~~~~

Story Summary: Raised under the tiranny of your own family, and forced to steal to earn your keep, you struggle to survive. Born from a Fey mother, and a Manblood father who wanted only sons, you are forced to hide your Fey side. When you are ordered to steal from Father Carden by your half-brother, Cassian, your life spirals out of control and you find yourself at the mercy of the Weeping Monk. The life you knew changes drastically when Cassian betrays you in the cruelest of ways. A trade is made, a promise is broken, and a debt must be paid.

Warnings: Angst. Hurt. Trauma bonding. Intrafamily violence. Depression. Self-harm. Suicidal thoughts. Violence. Torture. Gore. Pining. Trauma. Self-Flagellation. Manipulation. Strong Language. Blood. Misogyny. PTSD. Spicy and smut parts. Slight redemption arc. Lima/Stockholm syndrom-ish. Childhood trauma.

Other warnings: Jealousy. Forced Marriage. Forbidden Love. Romance. Slow-burn Found Familly-ish. Comfort. Fluff. !SMUT and SPICE!

Word count of this fic: +250K

Chapters: 47 + Two extras.

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bnhaobservation · 7 months ago

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Quirk counseling: canon, the cultural references and what we can guess from this all (now with the bit about Chap. 431)

So, a recent ask I received pushed me to dig more into Quirk counseling, in hope I could offer better information about it.

Also thanks to @poppy5991 who helped me to expand the overmentioned ask adding to it things I forgot to mention. Hopefully this time I've covered things better. If not, I apologize.

2024-12-05 edit: As Horikoshi added a bit about Quirk counseling in Chap. 431 I've expanded this post to include that too. You can find it at the bottom of the post under the title "CHAPTER 431 AND WHAT IT TELLS TO US".

LOOKING AT CANON AND WHAT IT TELLS US

There’s not much about Quirk counseling as it gets mentioned, as far as I know, exactly 6 times in the whole 42 volumes (and the anime).

The first time Quirk counseling comes up, is after Shigaraki’s attack in chap. 22... and not much is said.

MIDNIGHT ‘Shōgaku-ji no “issei ‘kosei’ COUNSELING” uke tenai no kajira...’ ミッドナイト「小学時の『一斉〝個性〟カウンセリング』受けてないのかじら...」 Midnight “Didn’t he receive “universal/mass/simultaneous ‘Quirk’ counseling” in elementary school?” [Chap. 22- Ep. 14]

From what Midnight says we can infer that ‘Issei “kosei” COUNSELING’ [一斉〝個性〟カウンセリング “universal/simultaneous/mass ‘Quirk’ counseling”] is given in elementary school as kind of a group activity or class lesson as ‘issei’ (一斉) generally is used to say “simultaneous”, “all at once”, which should imply all the kids at elementary school (or more likely, all the kids in a class) get it at the same time.

For contest, Midnight brings this up because they think Tomura has too much power and was never taught to ‘control’ it (as in not to use it to do what he wants). So we can guess Quirk counseling would, in their mind, have given Tomura a better grasp of what was allowed to do with his Quirk and what wasn’t (with becoming a Villain being definitely on the ‘Don’t do it’ list).

The discussion about Quirk counseling won’t progress any further.

The next time Quirk counseling is mentioned is in chap. 165.

Ikoma Komari ‘Hai… shōgakkō teigakunen wa jinkaku keisei ni oite taisetsuna jiki desu...〝Kosei〟 no chigai ga ōkiku eikyō suru tame COUNSELING o okonai. Sukoyakana seishin o hagukumeru yō SUPPORT suru no desu ga... COUNSELING mo bannōde wa arimasen. Kono CLASS no ko-tachi wa watashi-tachi ni kokoro o tozashite shimaimashita. Watashi no sekinindearu koto wa shōchi shite imasu...! Desuga...! Yume ni mukatte hagende rassharu minasama to fureau koto de massuguna kimochi o omoidasa sete age rarereba…’ 生駒小麿里「はい…小学校低学年は人格形成に於いて大切な時期です...〝個性〟の違いが大きく影響する為カウンセリングを行い。健やかな精神を育めるようサポートするのですが...カウンセリングも万能ではありません。このクラスの子たちは私達に心を閉ざしてしまいました。私の責任であることは承知しています...！ですが...！夢に向かって励んでらっしゃる皆さまと触れ合うことでまっすぐな気持ちを思い出させてあげられれば…」 Ikoma Komari “Yes... the early years of elementary school are an important time for personality development... differences in “Quirk” have a big impact, so we provide counseling. We support them in developing a healthy mind... but counseling is not a panacea. The children in this class have closed their hearts off to us. I know that it is my fault...! But...! I hope that by interacting with all of you who are working hard towards your dreams, we can help them remember their honest feelings...” [Chap. 165-Ep. 79]

Here we don’t talk specifically of Quirk counseling, just of counseling and of how ‘differences in Quirk’ have a big impact on personality development, also adding that counseling is not a fix-it-all. Ironically though, all the kids in the class seems to be the same according to their teachers, ‘mondaiji’ (問題児 “problem children”) who’re always ‘hanko-teki’ (反抗的 “rebellious”/“defiant”) no matter what she does despite them all having very different Quirks, children who have ‘closed their heart’ to them (aka they aren’t listening to them anymore) and feel they’re better than anyone else and it’s clear with this class counseling didn’t work at all.

We jump at chap. 226.

CURIOUS ‘Inō no yokuatsu ni yotte jibun o koroshita fukōna shōjo, sore ga anata nandesho? Toga Himiko. ‘“Kosei” COUNSELING’, jita rikai no yugami o kyōseishi shakaisei no suri awase o hodokosu jōsō kyōiku (read: PROGRAM). Mochiron, kanpekina PROGRAM de wa naishi, kojinsa o yori tsuyoku kanjite shimau to iu mondai o kakaete imasu. Chi o nomi henshin suru, umaretsuki motsu sono inō ni yotte anata wa “chi” ni tsuyoi kyōmi o hikareru yō ni natta. Shikashi shin no fukō wa “akogare” to iu dareshimo ga daku futsū no kanjō. Chi to akogare kamiatte shimatta nitsu no yōso wa tōtei shakai ni ukeire rareru MONO de wa nakatta. Dakara, anata wa FUTA o shita. Jishin o yokuatsu shi kamen o tsukutta.’ キュリオス「異能の抑圧によって��分を殺した不幸な少女、それがあなたなんでしょ？渡我被身子（トガヒミコ）。『〝個性〟カウンセリング』、自他理解の歪みを矯正し社会性の擦り合わせを施す情操教育（プログラム）。もちろん、完璧なプログラムでは無いし、個人差をより強く感じてしまうという問題を抱えています。血を飲み変身する、生まれつき持つその異能によってあなたは〝血〟に強い興味を引かれるようになった。しかし真の不幸は〝憧れ〟という誰しもが抱く普通の感情。血と憧れ噛み合ってしまった２つの要素は到底社会に受け入れられるモノではなかった。だから、あなたはフタをした。自信を抑圧し仮面を作った。」 Curious “You’re an unfortunate girl who killed herself by suppressing her supernatural powers, aren’t you? Toga Himiko. ‘“Quirk” counseling’, it’s an emotional education (read: program) to correct distortions in self-understanding and other things, and to adjust for socialization. Of course, it’s not a perfect program, and it has the problem of making individual differences even more apparent. Your innate ability to transform by drinking blood has made you very interested in “blood”. However, your true misfortune is “admiration”, a normal emotion that anyone can have. The two elements that go together, blood and admiration, were never going to be accepted by society. So you put a lid on it. You suppressed your confidence and made a mask.” [Chap. 226]

Episode 109 should be the one in charge to transpose this scene in animation but episode 109 cut the references to Quirk counseling.

CURIOUS ‘Inō no yokuatsu ni yotte jibun o koroshita fukōna shōjo. Sore ga anata nandesho? Toga Himiko. Umaretsuki motsu sono inō ni yotte anata wa chi ni tsuyoi kyōmi o hikareru yō ni natta. Shikashi, shin no fukō wa akogare to iu dareshimo ga daku futsū no kanjō to chi e no kyōmi, kono futatsu ga kamiatte shimatta koto. Sore wa tōtei shakai ni ukeire rareru MONO de wa nakatta. Dakara, anata wa FUTA o shita. Jishin o yokuatsu shi kamen o tsukutta.’キュリオス「異能の抑圧によって自分を殺した不幸な少女。それがあなたなんでしょ？渡我被身子。生まれつき持つその異能によってあなたは血に強い興味を引かれるようになった。しかし、真の不幸は憧れという誰しもが抱く普通の感情と血への興味、この二つが噛み合ってしまったこと。それは到底社会に受け入れられるモノではなかった。だから、あなたはフタをした。自信を抑圧し仮面を作った。」 Curious “You're the unfortunate girl who killed yourself by suppressing your supernatural powers. That's you, isn't it? Toga Himiko. The supernatural power you were born with has made you very interested in blood. However, your true misfortune was that your fascination with blood and your normal emotion of longing were intertwined. This is something that could never be accepted by society. So you put a lid on it. You suppressed your confidence and made a mask.” [Ep 109]

It’s a bad decision as Quirk counseling was meant to become important later but that’s what they decided to do.

Anyway in the manga there’s something we can work with, if before we were told Quirk counseling helps in developing personality, here it’s clarified the help is aimed at helping people to act ‘normal’, so that they can have a correct perception of themselves as well as socialize and interact correctly, the problem is it suppresses whatever is judged ‘not normal’ in a person and Quirks often generate wild differences between what’s normal for a person and what’s normal for another.

The result of this is that Quirk counseling ends up remarking in an even stronger way the differences between people, by forcing them to suppress feelings that are dictated by their Quirk.

We then jump to chap. 370.

? ‘“Kosei” COUNSELING!” Kosei” kyōiku! Kore ga nise (read: mayakashi) de aru koto o! Wareware wa “katachi” o motte shitte iru!.’ ?「〝個性〟カウンセリング！〝個性〟教育！これが贋（まやかし）である事を！我々は〝形〟を持って知っている！」 ? ““Quirk” counseling! “Quirk” education! This is phony/bogus/sham (read: fake/deception)! We know it due to having this “shape/form”!” [Chap. 370-Ep. 152]

At this point we’ve a nameless heteromorph guy claiming Quirk counseling (along with Quirk education) is basically a sham, it’s not it didn’t work with that class of kids by coincidence, it’s just something that doesn’t really work with Heteromorphs.

While there’s not really an explanation we can guess that, if the point of Quirk counseling is making people ‘normal’, Heteromorphs, who in Japanese are called ‘Igyō’ (異形 “abnormal”), have a hard time with it, since they’re not normal by definition and can’t really change/suppress their ‘not normal’/‘heteromorphic’ traits.

We aren’t told what Heteromorphs are told during Quirk counseling, and the thing is made more complex by how somehow in big cities there’s no discrimination, while in rural villages people still go for ‘chiharai’ (血祓い “blood cleansing”), beating and scarring Heteromorphs who dare to come into contact with not-Heteromorphs, no matter if it’s to save them.

We then jump to chap. 392.

? ‘HAI kyōsei shite ikimashou “futsū” ni. A HAI mō chotto matte kudasai. Sugu sotchi ikimasu. Etto… ē daijōbudesu. Sō desu ne… tsuyoi “kosei” o motsu ko niarigachi na tōsaku desu yo. Kono shakai de wa yoku aru koto desu. Tadashite keshite ikimashou.’ ?「ハイ矯正していきましょう〝普通〟に。あハイもうちょっと待ってください。すぐそっち行きます。えっと…ええ大丈夫です。そうですね…強い〝個性〟を持つ子にありがちな倒錯ですよ。この社会ではよくあることです。正して消していきましょう。」 ? “Yes, let’s correct it and make it “normal”. Ah, yes, please wait a moment. I’ll be there right away. Um... yes, it’s okay. Well... it’s a common perversion among children with strong “Quirks”. It’s common in this society. Let’s correct it and eliminate it.” [Chap. 392]

Here we see a person talking with Himiko’s parents. We aren’t told this person is a Quirk counselor but, I guess, that’s the idea. It’s hard to say if she’s Himiko’s teacher or an external figure, however it makes clear Quirk counseling is more or less what Curious said. That person thought Himiko being fascinated by blood was wrong, she actually calls it a ‘tōsaku’ (倒錯 “perversion”), albeit one she labels as common, and tried to force Himiko to suppress her feelings so she could perceive herself and socialize with the others in a ‘correct’ way.

An interesting difference between the manga and the anime is that in the anime that person’s talk is more streamlined... and we see her also talking with Himiko's parents.

? ‘Hai kyōsei shite ikimashou futsū ni. Sō desu ne… tsuyoi kosei o motsu ko niari-gachina tōsakudesu yo. Kono shakaide wa yoku aru kotodesu. Sei shite keshite ikimashou.’ ?「ハイ矯正していきましょう普通に。そうですね…強い個性を持つ子にありがちな倒錯ですよ。この社会ではよくあることです。正して消していきましょう。」 ? “Yes, let's correct it and make it normal. It's a perversion that is common among children with strong Quirks. It's a common occurrence in this society. Let's correct it and eliminate it.” [Ep. 158]

This might imply that in the manga that person is actually busy with more things at once, she doesn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to Himiko’s parents and therefore she doesn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to Himiko.

Back to the conversation though, regardless of the source, the person talking makes clear that what Himiko does isn’t just something that’s “rude”/“inappropriate” to do in society but that it’s a “perversion”, a common one, yes, but a “perversion” and she says so to her parents who were already worried she wasn’t human.

Chichioya ‘Mō nekko ga!’ 父親「もう根っこが！」 Father “Her core/roots is/are already– (gone/rotten)!”

Hahaoya ‘Ningen ja nai ko un jatta!’ 母親「人間じゃない子産んじゃった！」 Mother “I gave birth to a child that isn’t human!” [Chap. 392-Ep. 158]

And later

Hahaoya ‘Watashi-tachi ga waruin desu. Mō… tsugunai kirenai desu… ganbatta kedo damedattan desu… ano ko ha… akuma no konan desu.’ 母親「私たちが悪いんです。もう…償い切れないです…頑張ったけど駄目だったんです…あの子は…悪魔の子なんです。」 Mother “It's our fault. We can never make up for it. We tried our best but it was no use. That child is a demon's child.” [Chap. 226]

So Quirk counseling didn’t really reassure her parents nor solved Himiko’s problems. They weren’t going to accept that Himiko could have different feelings from the norm and help her to cope with them correctly, they just wanted to eradicate them from her. As she couldn’t, she was forced to suppress them… and since she couldn’t keep them bottled up forever they eventually exploded and lead her to hurt Saito.

The last time Quirk counseling comes up is at the end of the manga.

? ‘Tsudzuite wa TEAM-UP NEWS. INGENIUM, FROPPY, CREATI soshite URAVITY ga zenkoku no shōgakkō o megutte imasu. Teki (read: VILLAIN) hasseiritsu no genshō ni tomonai katsudō no haba wo hirogeru “HERO”-tachi sono naka demo-- URAVITY no uchidashita “kosei” COUNSELING kakuchō keikaku wa ima mottomo hitsuyō fukaketsuna katsudō to iwa rete imasu.’ ?「続いてはチームアップニュース。インゲニウムフロッピー・クリエティそしてウラビティが全国の小学校を巡っています。敵（ヴィラン）発生率の減少に伴い活動の幅を広げる〝ヒーロー〟たちその中でもーーウラビティの打ち出した〝個性〟カウンセリング拡張計画は今最も必要不可欠な活動と言われています。」 ? “Next up is team-up news. Ingenium, Froppy, Creativity and Uravity are touring elementary schools across the country. As enemy (read: Villain) occurrence rates decrease, the “heroes” are expanding the scope of their activities. Among them, Uravity’s “Quirk” counseling expansion plan is said to be the most essential activity right now.” [Chap. 430]

In this bit it seems that expanding Quirk counseling became a key factor in lowering the occurrence rate of Villains… which, of course, doesn’t seem to be possible since in almost all the other cases in which Quirk counseling was mentioned it turned out it either didn’t work (with the Masegaki elementary school kids) or made matters worse (Himiko and the heteromorphs). Is it a typing mistake as apparently the program already reached all the elementary schools so it didn’t need to be expanded and, anyway, didn’t work? Or does ‘expanding’ refers to actually put more resources and people in Quirk counseling so they can actually devote more time to the kids and help them better? Hard to say.

LOOKING AT THE CULTURAL CONTEST AND WHAT IT TELLS US

Counseling in Japan

While, of course, there’s no Quirk counseling in Japan, by 2006 Japan had school counselors (スクールカウンセラー) available in all the public middle schools. Prior to it though, this work was entrusted to the homeroom teacher (担任教師 ‘Tannin kyōshi’) and often also the school nurse (看護教諭 ‘Kango kyōyu’ ) who were meant to dispense discipline, encourage better conduct, increase motivation, provide career guidance, and offer advice. Those teachers though, were not trained in counseling, and it was often a duty they disliked, often choosing to use their classroom hours for something different than “moral education” depending on their personal educational agenda. Now instead, when problems arise, the teacher or the students or the students’ parents can ask help to the school counselor, which would also offer the plus of being a third party figure, so that they would be people not involved in evaluating students (and therefore have no conflict of interests with them) and would be professional in the field of psychology so as to offer better help to them.

Currently in Japan a school counselor visits a school about once a week to give children advice about various problems they face. School counseling is provided by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other professionals with expertise in mental health issues. In addition to advising children, the counselors can advise parents and teachers about how to handle their own day-to-day. A school counselor stands by in a counseling room where he or she listens to children’s problems one-on-one. Children can seek advice about whatever may worry them, such as relations with their friends, their family problems and uncertainties about their future and the counselor will advice them about how they should handle their problems while also talking with their homeroom teachers about what would be the best solution to each problem.

The problems with this system are often that the Clinical Psychologist isn’t also trained as a school counselor which leads with problems of interaction with the teachers, that there is confusion about the role of teachers and school counselors, and that there’s a HUGE stigma of shame at the idea of students or parents seeing a counselor. Much of the counseling that is now conducted in the Japanese schools is remedial with the individual as the focus; an approach that is contrary to the Asian interdependent view of self, an approach that seems to further exacerbate the student’s reluctance to see the school counselor.

It’s possible that Horikoshi, for earlier Quirk counseling, went with mix of the above, with it given both by the class homeroom teacher and by a specialist, or it given by the homeroom teacher only. It's not really clear.

Honne, Tatemae and Giri

Honne (本音 “true sound”) refers to a person's true feelings and desires.

Tatemae (建前 “built in front”, “façade”) refers contrastingly to the behavior and opinions one displays in public.

Giri (義理 “duty”, “obligation”) refers to the social obligations each person have.

Okay, fine, why should we care about these three words? Because Japanese people go to great length to hide their honne (true feelings) and show their tatemae (facade) so as to fulfill their giri (social obligation). They must do everything they can to avoid the disapproval of others, to avoid direct confrontation or disagreement. They’re completely justified in telling white lies to hide their true nature and present their Tatemae, so completely justified they can lie even in trial, that they’re expected to do so (remember when, in chap. 306, a guy said Enji should have just lied in regard to what Touya declared?).

Part of the Quirk counseling plan is clearly based on this, on teaching children how to show a socially acceptable tatemae and hide their own honne. This is what Himiko was taught, that her own fascination for blood was an unacceptable honne and needed to be buried inside herself if she wanted to be ‘normal’. That it was her duty to present herself as ‘normal’ and therefore show solely an acceptable tatemae.

Tōsaku (倒錯 “perversion”) and double meanings

As said before ‘Tōsaku’ means “perversion” and it’s used to describe how Himiko is fascinated by blood… but this is a word also used to describe sexual deviances… and Horikoshi clearly had fun with using words with double meanings in Himiko’s case, for example the onomatopoeia for sucking blood (ちうちう ‘chiuchiu’), sounds also like the onomatopoeia for kissing, Himiko is referred as a ‘ijōsha’ (異常者) which can be translated as “deviant” but also as “pervert” and so on. In short Horikoshi subtly create parallels between Himiko’s love for blood and the fact that Himiko’s way of loving people is not what in Japan is labeled as normal (she also loves girls and not just boys and would like to hurt people she loves). So, while Himiko’s problem of being fascinated with blood might seem distant from the audience as people in real world don’t have a Quirk that makes them fascinated with blood, the parallelism with sexual inclinations bring Himiko back into someone with whom people can relate and, in a way, someone that stands in parallel with Magne.

Heteromorphs, how ‘not normal’ they are meant to be and blood impurity

In English the word ‘Igyō’ (異形) had been translated as “heteromorph” but a better translation is “abnormal” or, more literally “not normal shape”. In a Quirk counseling program that aims at making everyone ‘normal’, who already starts with a name that states they’re not with a normal shape is clearly cut out of the race.

When Shouji talks of what was done to him he mentions ‘chiharai’ (血祓い “blood cleansing”) [Chap. 371] and, in the previous chapter, he was told he had ‘imi chi’ (忌み血 “cursed blood”) [Chap. 370].

Japan is very invested in blood purity, in pre-Meiji era Shinto and Buddhist traditions considered blood (血 ‘chi’) a source of symbolic pollution or ‘kegare’ (穢れ “uncleanness”, “defilement”) with elaborate rituals of avoidance and purification, however, in the Edo period (1603–1868) blood gained the positive meaning of “lineage”/”life force”, overtaking the preceding key metaphors for heredity. This though ended up causing the solidification of a hereditary status system that placed certain groups of people as being permanently “polluted” because they had works tied with blood, like executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners called ‘eta’ (穢多 “great filth”) as well as beggars, street performers, prostitutes, convicted criminals, and the physically disabled among others called ‘hinin’ (非人 “not people”) which together form the group called ‘burakumin’ (部落民 “village people”) and were considered outcasts. Their own blood was considered permanently impure, they were subject to increasingly stricter sanctions that prohibited their contact and mixing with the rest of society by means of restricted residences, economic activities, special clothing, hairstyles, and tattoos and since now blood also was a term used to define lineage, its polluting property also came to be regarded as inheritable and permanent which is why people still don’t want to marry (aka ‘mix blood’) with people whose ancestors were ‘burakumin’.

This was also made worse from the 1900 eugenicist obsession with blood as a medium to modernize the Japanese race and nation.The pure Japanese blood, or “Yamato blood,” was now heralded as a refined superior substance to be protected or enhanced through social programs of reproduction and health also through eugenic marriage counseling services.

This ultimately expanded to include people who had mental illness or familiar with mental illness but also with people who are of not pure Japanese ancestry. We would probably talk about genetics. In Japan it’s referred as blood.

Blood type is, in Japanese mentality, also tied with personality and discrimination can be so high that some would just discriminate people with blood type B or AB as negative stereotyping credits the B types as selfish, and ABs as eccentric and unpredictable and therefore more prone to have a loose morality.

As a result even if Shouji being a Heteromorph is tied to his Quirk and his genes, the story talks about his ‘cursed blood’… and people could refer to it also in relation to how the Todoroki are related to a criminal, Touya/Dabi.

(Plus this also tells you why Himiko's fascination for blood could NEVER be accepted since things related to blood lead to impurity)

While all this doesn’t tell us much about Quirk counseling, it helps to get a better perspective on why blood is mentioned when Heteromorphs are discriminated and how strong discrimination can be based to blood ties, clearly making it something that can’t be overcome with just the discriminated person in question trying to ‘act normal’ by presenting an acceptable ‘tatemae’.

The series leaves unclear what exactly falls into the Heteromorph category because, if the problem is just the shape being not normal, things like having tapes in your arms or engines in your legs, or horns on your head also give you an abnormal shape. Overall we can assume that the more the shape is abnormal and hard to ‘disguise’ as normal, the more one ends up being considered as an Heteromorph (Shouji’s arms are a much more visible ‘abnormal’ trait than Iida’s legs or Sero’s arms).

Just so you know currently Japan lacks any law which prohibits racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination nor has any national human rights institutions. Although racism exists it’s a taboo topic. In the past in the name of national unity, the Japanese government identified and forcefully assimilated marginalized populations, which included indigenous Ryukyuans, Ainu, and other underrepresented groups, imposing assimilation programs in language, culture and religion. Japan considers these ethnic groups as a mere “subgroup” of the Japanese people and therefore synonymous to the Yamato people, and does not recognize them as a minority group with a distinct culture. This is why in the story Heteromorph discrimination isn’t punished but it could also be the basis for why the Quirk counseling doesn’t keep into consideration how Heteromorphs are different but tries to force them too to act ‘normal’.

Quirk

We’re all familiar with the term Quirk that in Japanese is ‘kosei’ (〝個性〟 always written between quotation marks) which, translated literally means “individuality” or “personality”. In a country that is group oriented, values uniformity and thinks standing out is bad, Quirks that instead grant an even more marked ‘individuality’ and that are unique to each person, should feel like a big deal… but also it you tie a superpower with your personality you might get some unpleasant combo that aren’t really meant to be. For example thinks at Tomura and at how his Quirk destroy/decay things. If you think that his Quirk is his ‘personality’ or tied to it, you get the idea Tomura is someone who can only destroy/decay, that has a destructive character, or that who has an animal Quirk has an animal character.

WHERE ALL THIS LEAVES US?

Japanese youths have been fighting so as to have their individuality recognized in various subtle ways but it’s still an ongoing battle. The same goes for the descendant of the Burakumin and for people in the LGBTQ+ community. Sadly most of those topics are kind of considered taboo to discuss in Japanese culture so it’s possible that Horikoshi’s attempt at saying that Quirk counseling would be improved is a subtle message that’s meant to say that in the BNHA world steps would be taken to improve the acceptance of those people and the recognition of each person’s individuality, implying more a change into mentality/education than a change into some institutionalized thing called ‘Quirk counseling’, hence he didn’t need to develop much how it would work.

Of course mine is purely speculation.

Ultimately, if we solely look at the story, how Quirk counseling work/is administered is hardly well explained in the story, and how is reformed is explained even less (saying just it underwent an expansion) as well as why Uraraka, who had no idea of Himiko’s problems with Quirk counseling, decided to focus on it. But it’s likely the cultural context that’s meant to make it work for Japanese readers using solely what little is explained as reference and, for them, improving it, is likely a big step.

For whose of us who are instead cut out from the whole cultural context, there’s just too little to work with and it feels forgettable and confusing.

Okay, my analysis originally was meant to end here but then chapter 431 was released and it talked about Quirk counseling and so I added this extra bit.

CHAPTER 431 AND WHAT IT TELLS TO US

In the volume version only chapter 431 we have a last mention of Quirk counseling, which ‘shows us’ a bit how it’s done now.

Uraraka Ochako ‘Masaka senpai-tachi no tsugō ga tsuku to wa‼ Kitto minna yorokobimasu!’ 麗日お茶子「まさか先輩たちの都合がつくとは‼きっ��皆喜びます！」 Uraraka Ochako “I never thought my seniors would be able to make it! I'm sure everyone will be happy!”

Tōgata Mirio ‘Ore nankade ī no kana‼’ 通形ミリオ「俺なんかでいいのかな‼」 Tōgata Mirio “I wonder if I am the right person for this?”

Hadō Nejire ‘Nande sonna koto iu no? Fushigi!’ 波動ねじれ「なんでそんな事言うの？ふしぎ！」 Hadō Nejire “Why would you say that? Strange!”

Amajiki Tamaki ‘URAVITY no “kosei” COUNSELING ni kyōryoku dekiru nante kōei da yo.’ 天喰環「ウラビティの"個性"カウンセリングに協力できるなんて光栄だよ。」 Amajiki Tamaki “It's an honor to help Uravity’s ‘quirk’ counseling.”

Uraraka Ochako ‘Kono gakku no jidō no shiryō-me o tōshite moratta to omoundesu kedo nani yori daiji na no wa COMUNICATION desu. Ikken nan no mondai mo nai ko demo nayami o shimaikonderu koto ga ōi desu. Daishō towazu toku ni katei kankyō nanka shotaimen no otona ni hanaseru hito wa ōkunai desu. Demo jikan o kakereba kanarazu SAIN o dashiteru koto ni kidzukeru node shiryō ni tayori sugizu! Meyasu wa ikkagetsu teido desu ga naiyō shidai de zenzen hendō shimasu. Kazu wa ishiki shinaide otomodachi ni naru tsumori de!’ 麗日お茶子「この学区の児童の資料目を通してもらったと思うんですけど何より大事なのはコミュニケーションです。一見何の問題もない子でも悩みをしまい込んでる事が多いです。大小問わず特に家庭環境なんか初対面の大人に話せる人は多くないです。でも時間をかければ必ずサインを出してる事に気付けるので資料に頼りすぎず！目安は一か月程度ですが内容次第で全然変動します。数は意識しないでお友だちになるつもりで！」 Uraraka Ochako “I think you've looked through the materials about the children in this school district, but the most important thing is communication. Even children who appear to have no problems often keep their worries to themselves. Not many people, can talk to adults they meet for the first time, about problems big or small, especially about their home environment. But if you take your time, you'll definitely notice the signs, so don't rely too much on the materials! The guideline is about a month, but it can vary greatly depending on the content. Don't worry about numbers, just try to make friends!”

Amajiki Tamaki ‘Taihen da ne.’ 天喰環「大変だね。」 Amajiki Tamaki “That's tough.”

Uraraka Ochako ‘Zenzen! Jin'in no SUPPORT wa jūbun desu shi minasan sugoku teinei na oshigoto o sarerun desu yo. HAWKS ga monkashō ni kake attari kakusho ni kyōsan o tsumettari shite kurete “kosei” kyōiku no kankyō wa daibu kaizen sarete kiterundesu.’ 麗日お茶子「全然！人員のサポートは十分ですし皆さんすごく丁寧なお仕事をされるんですよ。ホークスが文科省に掛け合ったり各所に協賛を積めったりしてくれて"個性"教育の環境はだいぶ改善されてきてるんです。」 Uraraka Ochako “Not at all! There is enough staff of support and everyone does a very careful job. Hawks has been negotiating with the Ministry of Education and providing support from various places, and the environment for ‘Quirk’ education has improved considerably.”

Amajiki Tamaki ‘Jā ima wa jibun no tame no jikan mo torerunda?’ 天喰環「じゃあ今は自分の為の時間も取れるんだ？」 Amajiki Tamaki “So now you have time for yourself?”

Uraraka Ochako ‘Gimu toka… sekinin toka nai wake ja nai desu kedo ato kara tsuitekita mono desu. Yorokobu kao o miru no ga suki nandesu. Watashi ga yaritaikoto shitemasu. Tsuyu-chan mo hobo zutto TEAM-UP shite kureteru shi tomodachi to mo aeteru shi zenbu jibun no tame no jikan desu yo!’ 麗日お茶子「義務とか…責任とかないわけじゃないですけど後からついてきたものです。喜ぶ顔を見るのが好きなんです。私がやりたい事してます。梅雨ちゃんもほぼずっとチームアップしてくれてるし友だちとも会えてるし全部　自分の為の時間ですよ！」 Uraraka Ochako “It's not that I don't have obligations or responsibilities, but they came after. I like to see people's happy faces. I'm doing what I want to do. Tsuyu-chan has been teaming up with me almost all the time, I've been able to meet up with my friends, and so it's all time just for myself!” [Chap. 431] Now, I’m not 100% sure if the idea is to always involve Pro Heroes or ‘the supporting staff’ can be composed also of ‘not Pro Hero’ people, but we get a general idea of what the people who decide to take part to the project should do. They read the documents about the kids, they’re encouraged to make friends with them, possibly/likely involving them in a game in which they use their Quirk which will allow them to receive what we can call ‘Quirk positivity’. All this in order to help children to open up and talk about their (Quirk related) problems. This last for around a month then, if no problems are detected (or if they are but they’re solved by that time), the people involved move to another school.

Now… maybe it’s just me but this is basically what was done during the ‘remedial course’ arc with the kids from the Masegaki school, only, they’re given documentation about the kids and, instead than lasting one time, it last one month and it involves Pro Heroes, not Heroes in training who might not be interested in interacting with children but are forced to do it if they want their license.

In this sense the whole ‘expansion’ thing of chapter 430 finds it’s explanation. Heroes are expanding their activities (aka also taking part to other activities like Uraraka’s Quirk counseling program) and the Quirk counseling program is being expanded as well as now its scope isn’t anymore to just help children to fit into the standards of normalcy society created but to offer them Quirk positivity and to create a connection so that THE CHILDREN will be willing to talk about their problems with Quirk and with their family.

Storywise it’s a pity the original characters involved in the ‘remedial course’ arc aren’t mentioned as being involved in all this, especially Shouto (who not only had an extremely troublesome Quirk related family situation plus a brother with problems with his Quirk who almost killed himself, was targeted by a Villain, became a Villain and eventually died). Yes, we can picture they are, but, as far as canon is concerned, he isn’t mentioned AT ALL, not even as one of the sources of inspiration for how Uraraka’s project is structured (canon also didn’t show Bakugou or Shouto talking about their remedial course with classmates) but okay, this isn’t really related to Quirk counseling.

Now with all those additional info I can talk a bit of something else aka:

REALITY CHECK

Uraraka’s project is nice and well meaning but it’s also very fairytalesque, in the same way as Hawks claiming that Heroes having free time would be a good thing. It’s all well and good and, since BNHA is a tale, I’m sure it’ll work like a charm and if you want to stop reading here and enjoy such a happy world I’ll understand you.

However if you want to know if this will work in the real world…

In the real world, if the request for Heroes were to decrease because there are less Villains (and having less Villains would surely be a good thing), it wouldn’t mean people would hire the same amount of Heroes and keep on paying them just the same, we would simply have more unemployed Heroes or society would self regulate itself by simply giving out less and less Hero licenses. In short, society would NEVER allow Heroes to have more free time, it would just hire less Heroes or, in the very best case, pay them less. Sure, the problem can be solved with Heroes reinventing their job, for example volunteering to take part to Uraraka’s Quirk counseling project so as not to lose their job and their source of income.

With this though, comes a worsening of the main problem I see in Uraraka’s Quirk counseling project.

There is no mention whatsoever that the people involved are TRAINED to spot (Quirk related) psychological problems. Kids with psychological problems (due to their Quirk and family environment reacting badly to their Quirk) aren’t necessarily always showing a villainous behavior or a transgressive behavior (which is what Heroes are trained to spot), they can be acting as ordinary well behaving kids, or be meek or be people pleasers or vivacious but apparently harmless kids.

While it’s true that elementary school kids are generally more direct in their actions and reactions, some of them could have already mastered the fine art of hiding/masking things for fear of repercussions or due to them being educated to lie about certain things or even being made believe in such lies so they don’t even know they’re lying anymore.

Quirks, it’s worth to mention, don’t necessarily manifest at 4, they can manifest as early as their childbirth (see the luminescent baby or AFO himself), and sometimes a child can be born in a house where the ‘Quirk problems’ are caused by the parents’ expectations (think at how Enji wanted his children to have a certain Quirk and inherit his place). In short they might have been forced BY BIRTH to interact with ‘unpleasant’ situations and might have also been forced to learn to cover them up.

Fuyumi for example, lived in a toxic environment but, likely, masked that up well. Himiko took longer at learning to mask it up well, but her Quirk manifested when she was areound 3 or 4 and gave her a really strong instinct, for which she was left with zero family support (actually her parents’ reaction is completely out of proportion, kids at that age do plenty of stupid and gross things and then can grow up perfectly normal provided they’ve normal parents to guide them, there was totally no need to beat Himiko up and panic like that) and yet she learnt to mask it perfectly by the time she was in middle school, possibly even sooner as the journalists couldn’t find early signs and they likely searched for them like starved piranha.

In truth even professionals might miss the signs or might approach children in the wrong manner, causing more troubles than good because it’s a HARD job… so the idea that if completely untrained adult people who just read some data about the children (which might have been written by who already missed the signs or is misinformed about the real situation of the children) were to make friends with them, they would surely get them to open up or would surely notice signs that something is wrong and act in the appropriate manner to fix it is… well… very naïve.

It’s well meaning and it can surely help in some cases but, unless Japan had a REALLY ABNORMAL PROBLEM so that the TINIEST help would make a BIG difference, don’t expect the big change the press is talking about… especially if Heroes who have no more Villains to capture and zero interest in helping kids will be ‘forced’ to join the program so as not to become unemployed.

On the other side the lack of psychological preparation in people can be very well explained with how there’s a strong stigma in Japan regarding psychological problems.

The reason why real life normal counseling is often not used in Japan is because Japanese people don’t want to talk with a Clinical Psychologist (as said before now that’s the specialization a counselor needs to have) so Horikoshi’s ‘hey, but those people are normal, well meaning people, possibly even Heroes kids admire, not psychologists so talking to them doesn’t mean you’ve psychological problems so you can totally open up with them safely’ is meant to address this fear and, of course, it’s better to talk to an untrained person than not to talk at all so in this vein, this could be seen as an ‘improvement’.

I don’t know but I guess this is now really all we have about Quirk counseling.

Said all this, which is likely still an incomplete overview, I hope my ramblings will help people to understand Quirk counseling better. If not, I apologize.

#boku no hero academia #bnha meta #mha meta #bnha spoilers #Toga Himiko #bnha observations #bnha ramblings #Uraraka Ochako #Kayama Nemuri #Ikoma Komari #Kizuki Chitose #Iguchi Shuuichi #Shouji Mezou #Shigaraki Tomura

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