#((Its the realization that while they resemble each other they're not the same))

[antihibikase-archive]

Can't really articulate how the Cheren and Nate friendship means so much to me and thats why I put a lot of emphasis on it as much as I do w/ Kuro in Blur/Blight- and maybe even more so

[hippiegoth97]

Random Eddie Thought #2

This one really got away from me, but it's nice to write something new again :)

18+ Only, Minors DNI: swearing, fem!reader, bestfriend!eddie, smut, sex dreams/fantasies, mentions of genital piercings/oral sex/masturbation/choking/unprotected sex, invasion of privacy, erections, crying, heavy kissing, idiots in love, best friends to lovers

A Few Tags: @rafescurtainbangz @voyeurmunson @babygorewhore @xxbimbobunnyxx @mediocredreams

@micheledawn1975 @slowandsteddie @bimbobaggins69 @etherealxwitch @taintedcigs

You're in the kitchen of your apartment, getting a snack to share with Eddie, your best friend, who's come to have a perfectly platonic sleepover with you. You've known each other since high school, becoming fast friends. You never fit in the with 'in crowd' and Eddie naturally picked up on your awkward and shy nature. Over the years he's managed to get you to open up more and be yourself, though it's mostly only around him, even after all these years. You tell each other everything, and have been there for one another through thick and thin.

One thing he hasn't seemed to notice, however, is your growing feelings for him. As you both matured into your mid-twenties, you've been unable to deny just how gorgeous Eddie is. With his long curls, big brown eyes, and lithe body covered in tats and piercings. Not to mention he's perpetually dressed in band tees and jeans that don't leave much to the imagination. Ugh, he's absolutely perfect. Inside and out.

That's not to say he hasn't always been hot stuff, because of course he has. But he's not the scrawny little boy who picked you out of a long line of geeks and freaks anymore. No, now he's a strong, handsome, sexy man. A man who treats you like no one ever has before. He brings you something every time he comes to see you, ranging anywhere between a new book or a pretty rock he found on a walk once. He opens doors for you, and holds you in his arms when you're sad. He makes you soup when you're sick, nursing you back to health even if it means missing work.

The only thing missing, is something you've craved since the day you met him. Something you've never spoken aloud. Something you've only verbalized in late night cries of ecstasy when you get off to the thought of your best friend. Something you've only admitted in the pages of your diary. The diary that Eddie has just found in your bedside drawer, along with a pretty pink rabbit that makes him chuckle when he first sees it.

And what do we have here?... Eddie thinks to himself, pulling the book out of its hiding place. It's thick, bound in leather, detailed with little leaves and flowers. He thinks maybe it's a poetry journal, or a sketchbook. You share his affinity for the creative. It isn't until he actually opens that he realizes what's inside. Your deepest, darkest secrets. He flips through the pages, noting the dates as he reads about strange dreams you've had, or bad one-night stands. His eyes widen when he reaches an entry from a week ago, with the opening line: I dreamt about Eddie again last night...

He debates putting the diary back, not wanting to invade your privacy. He's not one to snoop, especially when you tell him everything anyway. Well, at least he thought you did. He bites his lip, tapping his foot on the floor as he decides what to do. He really should just put it back, and pretend he never saw it (or your special toy). But something inside him begs to know what your dreams of him are like. If they're anything resembling the dirty fantasies he's had of you while alone in his bed, he can't let it go until he knows for sure. He decides to read the next few lines, after flicking his eyes to the doorway to listen for your footsteps coming back from the kitchen.

...it was the same as all the others. Eddie was in my bed, and we were naked. His soft, warm lips were on mine, his tongue was in my mouth, and his hands were everywhere. It felt so good, having him kiss me like that while he explored every inch of me. His fingers were carefully thrusting inside my pussy, making me so fucking wet. I could feel his dick pressing into my thigh, and I took him in my hand. The noise he made when I touched him was so beautiful, he sounded so breathless and needy for me...

Eddie knows he should stop. This is wrong. So, so wrong. These are your private thoughts, and he shouldn't be reading them. Even if they're making a tent form in his pants. His heart races in his chest, and he feels rather hot under the collar. His stomach twists with an uneasy mix of guilt and arousal. He lets out a shaky breath, once again weighing his options. Keep reading, or put the damn thing away and never, ever bring it up. He looks down the hall, wondering how much time he has left before you come back. Against his better judgment, he gives in to his desire for you. With eyes glued to your neat handwriting, he reads on.

...I could feel him grow in my hand, fuck, he was huge. I've seen it in real life before, and not entirely on accident. Since we're so close, we change in front of each other sometimes. And even though I've never seen it hard, I can tell his dick is big. It's even got a goddamn piercing on it, shining in the light like a lure. I swear to God, it takes everything in me not to fall to my knees and take him in my mouth whenever I see it...

Eddie scoffs loudly, unable to believe you've actually been checking him out. A part of him wonders if this is a sick joke, that you'd somehow known to leave this here for him to see. Any second now, you'll come busting in here and laugh in his face. Maybe even snap a picture of his embarrassingly large erection amd make copies to give all your friends.

But that's not you. You're too kind and sweet to him to ever pull such a cruel (and improbably elaborate) prank. Sure, he's wanted you for years. To call you his girl, to love you the way you should be loved. To kiss you, and hold you, and touch you in all the ways he thinks you'd like. To love you, and spoil you like the queen you are in his eyes. He's just never allowed himself to think you'd ever feel the same about him. Until now.

"What are you doing with that?" You ask softly, frozen in place in the doorway of your bedroom with a tray of snacks in your hands. Your eyes are blown wide, as you've come back to find Eddie on your bed, reading your diary, with a huge hard-on in his pants.

"I-I, I was, uh, just...um..." Eddie babbles helplessly, slamming the book shut and tossing it across the room. As if it being anywhere else will magically absolve him of invading your privacy. You just stare at him as he goes red in the face, and gestures with his hands as he fails to come up with an explanation. "...sorry." He says after letting out a long string of unintelligible sounds. He cringes at the word, realizing it's not nearly enough. But his mind and mouth can't come up with anything that doesn't sound like a feral goblin choking on a chicken bone.

"What part did you read?" You ask, your own cheeks turning a deep crimson. You really hope he didn't find your latest sex dream entry, but the glaring evidence in his jeans tells you that's exactly what he saw.

"Read? No, I was, um...j-just skimming..." He chuckles nervously, hoping you'll buy it. But the darkening blush on your skin and tears welling in your eyes lets him know he's truly caught. "Sweetheart, I—" Eddie starts, standing up as you're about to fall apart.

"Eddie, I swear, I-I didn't mean it! It was just a dream, and pfft! I was high when I wrote that!" You laugh uncontrollably as a way to hide your tears of embarrassment, frantically shaking your head. You've never been so mortified in your life, caught red handed in the worst way possible. You could've gone forever without ever letting him know how you feel. The potential rejection seemed too painful to endure. "I didn't mean it, Eddie. I didn't." Your laughter devolves into soft sobs, your grip loosening on the tray. Eddie catches it before everything tumbles to the floor, setting it on your dresser.

"Sweetheart, c'mere." Eddie takes your hands in his, and leads you over to your bed to sit beside him. You follow him, unable to do much else as tears stream down your face. "I'm sorry for snooping, angel. That wasn't right for me to do." He says sadly, stroking your soft skin with his thumbs. You nod in response. "And we can pretend this never happened, okay? Like you said, it was just a dream." He offers, his own words stabbing into his heart at the idea of never fully being with you the way he wants. But he doesn't feel like he's earned it. Not after making you so upset, and betraying your trust.

"Why did you read it?" You ask abruptly, more curious than angry. As humiliating as it is that he found you out before you could tell him yourself, you want to know how those secret words made him feel.

"I got bored, and curious. I found it in your drawer, thinking it was poetry or something. But then I found the entry of you dreaming about me..." Eddie trails off, pondering what to say next. "...and I got more curious."

"About what?" You continue, your tears drying up.

"About whether or not you want me the same way I want you." He boldly admits. He may as well, since your diary entries admitted your own wonderful, awful, heart-breaking, nerve-wracking secret to him. You don't say anything else, eyes blown wide in shock. "I want to be with you, princess. I've always wanted that." He says emphatically, making your heart swell as well as race.

"Really?" You ask, as if his erection earlier wasn't enough indication of his desire for you. You've dreamt about this moment so many times, spent numerous moments throughout the days and nights hoping one day he'd see you. You now stupidly realize, that there was never a time where he didn't.

"Yes, really. If you can forgive me for being a creep, that is." He says with a chuckle, making you giggle as well.

"Yeah, I think I can manage that." You smile, squeezing his hands with your own. "How far did you get anyway?" You ask curiously.

"Uh, right about where you talked about wanting to suck my massive, pierced cock." Eddie replies, moaning in an exaggerated way on his final words to tease you.

"Ugh, that's so embarrassing!" You groan, covering your face in shame.

"It's really not, babydoll. I'm just flattered that you noticed." He insists, pulling your hands down so he can see your pretty face again.

"I'll count myself lucky you didn't read any more." You giggle sheepishly, recalling how the rest of that dream went. You riding Eddie's cock while his large hand wraps tightly around your throat, filthy praises leaving his lips to spur you on. Him fucking you from behind, tugging your head back by your hair as he grunts and groans with every thrust. Among other equally explicit things.

"Shit, now I have to read the rest!" Eddie says impishly, diving off the bed to get the diary that still lays on the floor.

"Eddie, no! Please, it's too embarrassing!" You shriek, clamoring after him. But he's quicker than you, snatching up the book and holding it above your head. You try to jump up and tear it from his reach, but it's no use. He chuckles at your foolish attempts, slowly moving closer to you while still holding the diary above your heads. His free arm wraps around your waist, pulling you close. Your hands meet his chest, a small gasp leaving your lips at the sudden movement. He gazes deep into your eyes with burning lust, a smirk plastered on his lips.

"Think of it this way, sweetheart. If I read the rest, I'll know exactly what we're doing tonight." He speaks seductively, in a way you've only heard in your dreams.

"This can't be happening." You scoff, convinced you somehow fell asleep before Eddie came over tonight.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I'm in love with you?" He asks, dropping the Casanova act for a second and tossing the diary on the bed. He cups your cheek, and leans in to kiss you. His plush lips meet yours, giving you a taste of sweet, beautiful reality.

"Mm." You grab hold of the sides of his face, deepening the kiss. His tongue finds its way into your mouth, drawing a quiet moan from you. Time seems to stop as your mouths move together as one, and joyful tears spring from your eyes. This is all you've ever wanted. To love Eddie, and to have him love you back.

He carefully leads you backwards to the bed, laying you down on top of it as he kneels above you. He pulls away, wiping the salty tracks from your face. He smiles warmly, admiring every last bit of you and saving it away to remember this forever. "Can I make you feel good, sweetheart?" Eddie asks, as if it's his dying wish.

"Please." You reply softly, giving him a nod.

"Perfect." He reaches over for the diary, finding his place as he lays down beside you. "Now...where were we?" He muses, eyes bugging out when he reads what comes next. "Christ, I picked a good night to be nosy." He turns his head to look at you, wearing a devilish grin unlike you've ever seen on him before. "I swear to god, I'm gonna make all your dreams come true, babydoll. Even if it takes all night." He purrs, before chucking the damned book away one last time and pouncing on you.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hello hello! I just read your writings about Pokémon and it inspired me to make a request if that's okay!

May I request some fic with Raihan and Reader who has a team of, like, really intimidating Pokémon? But they are actually are big softies? Just a happy lil' Scolipede with a little bow munching some berries! Or even Slither Wing that crawls towards the toys like a kitten, pheh-

That's okay if you decline! Take your time, I can wait ^^

Have a good day/night!

-✒️ Anon

"C'mon, Rai! I have some friends from Paldea who are dying to meet you!"

"Oh are they, huh?" Raihan raised an eyebrow, exchanging a brief glance with his Duraludon. But they both did their best to keep up with you as you rushed to your campsite, excited.

For the first time since he's met you, he was finally going to see your main Pokémon team. You briefly mentioned having some from Paldea, but a few were from this region, as well as Kalos. Based on your history of winning lots of tournaments, Raihan could only assume you had a lot of very strong Pokémon with diverse typing to help you adapt to any situation.

You haven't battled anybody in Galar yet, so he wasn't sure what to expect. He was looking forward to today.

Upon arriving to the camp, however, he's....quite surprised.

All of your Pokémon were ones notorious for being highly aggressive and intimidating, but he quickly realized how tranquil and pacifist each of them seemed. They weren't sparring nor scowling at one another.

If anything, they acted sort of...cute?

He spotted a large Scolipede, the archnemesis of all Centiskortches...happily snacking on berries with a tiny Sizzlipede resting on their back, sharing the bowl. And amusingly enough, Raihan could see you adorned the vicious poison/bug's horn with a cute little bow, which it didn't seem to mind at all.

Then he saw a Volcarona...except it looked a lot fluffier and was crawling on all fours, its wings folded upwards like some sail. Not to mention it looked gigantic, as though it belonged to the same ancient time period as Tyrantrum and all the other fossil Pokémon.

"Is that some kind of Paldean variant?" The dragon tamer pointed to the Volcarona lookalike.

"Oh! Well..yes and no. That's my darling Slither Wing, a supposed ancestor of Volcaronas. They look scary, but they're sweet on the inside. Just watch this." Smiling, you took out the feather toy and shook it around, the tiny jingling bells making Slither Wing turn their attention to you.

With a happy chitter, they scampered over to you, before standing up on their hindlegs and towering over both you and Raihan. He jumped back with a small shriek, throwing his hands up in front of him.

"Woah what the-?!! Back up, buddy!!"

Sensing its trainer's distress, Duraludon hissed at the potential challenger.

Yet Slither Wing seemed blissfully unaware of the threat they posed, their focus being fully on the feather dangling in front of them. They gently batted it with their front paws, delighted at the jingling noise the bells made.

"Sorry." You laughed a little, feeding them a berry before setting the toy down. "They get excited easily." Then you rested a hand on their fluffy chest, to which they flopped to the ground, allowing you to rub their belly. "Awwh, who's a good Slither Wing? It's you~!"

Raihan blinked several times, awkwardly putting his hands back down as he stared at you, watching you baby this fierce-looking Volcarona. He would've thought you were talking to a Yamper or Growlithe.

Looking elsewhere, he saw a Pokémon who appeared similar to a Bisharp, except it was bulkier, resembled a samurai, and was....somehow sitting on its own hair???

Upon closer examination he could see it had some flowers in said hair, put there by the cutesy wild fairy and grass Pokémon that have gathered around it. It seemed to be telling them a story, smiling all the while...which was very unlike the serious Bisharp lineage.

You noticed where Raihan was looking and smiled, whistling for Kingambit. It glanced over and headed to you, being able to move without standing up at all.

"King?"

"Your majesty." You stood and bowed to it in respect, before turning to your friend. "Rai, this is Bisharp's final evolution, Kingambit He had to best three other Bisharps wearing leader's crests in order to evolve, so he's pretty strong."

"It took beating three?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty specific. How didja figure that one out?"

"....well how did you figure out how to evolve a Galarian Yamask into Runerigus?"

"...touché." He clicked his tongue, before glancing at Kingambit again, who seemed to be admiring the flowers in its hair. Then he slowly took out his rotomphone to snap a picture of it--

"Gamb.."

Tensing, Raihan saw the dark/steel type glaring daggers into his soul, and he gulped, nervously put his phone back into his pocket. "M-My bad..uh...I just...."

However, Kingambit's menacing look suddenly vanished, replaced with a cheeky smile as it chuckled. And only then did the dragon tamer realize the fairy and grass Pokémon were gathered nearby, giggling as well.

"Awh, did King scare the "almighty Dragon Tamer"?" You teased, seeing how flustered he was getting.

"What? Of course not! What are you talking about?" He quickly shook his head, offering you a sharp-toothed grin of reassurance. "I don't fear anything!"

"..Tyran!"

Raihan turned his head to see a Tyranitar stomping on over to you, wearing a mega bracelet similar to yours. He recalled you mentioning that you've mastered Mega Evolution.

But of all the Pokémon to choose from, it just had to be his ace's number one natural rival??? He'd hate to see how that would go down on a battlefield..

'Mega Tyranitar against G-Maxed Duraludon...sounds like a good movie title..' He mused, before snapping out of his thoughts and sighing, watching you coo over the dark/rock type--just like you did Slither Wing.

His concerned looks caught your attention, as you just huffed in growing annoyance, cradling Tyranitar's head in your arms. "Rai, relax. My friends here don't have a single mean bone in their bodies."

"I find that hard to believe. Plus my Duraludon hates Tyranitars...isn't that right......?"

However, he trailed off upon realizing that his trusty Duraludon was no longer by his side, instead hobbling over to greet your Tyranitar. "Du....Duraludon?" He blinked stupidly.

"Tar!!"

"Ludon!!!"

Raihan could only gawk as the two gently butted heads, amazed that they weren't at each other's throats. Instead, Tyranitar encouraged it to come play with the bouncy ball near the curry pot, and the steel/dragon followed them without hesitation.

Soon enough, Scolipede, Slither Wing, and Kingambit went to join the fun, leaving the dragon tamer utterly speechless as he realized his initial assumptions about your team were wrong. "Wow...."

"Yeah." Laughing softly, you patted his back as he stood there, shoulders still slumped. "So do you believe me now?"

"...I do. I'll never doubt you again."

[yggdraseed]

Thinking About the Itadori Family

Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen. Reader beware, you're in for a scare!

I find Kenjaku a fascinating character in a lot of different ways. There's always a game being played and a lie being told, and yet there's still this damp, flickering spark of humanity under all the theatrics, bullshit, and centuries of accumulated junk.

When Kenjaku escorted Itadori's former classmate from aeons ago back in chapter one out of the Sendai Colony, there was this really interesting softness they display nowhere else. Gone is all the pretense of mocking others and keeping secrets... perhaps because they knew most of it would be forgotten, as dreams often are. But it seems like Kenjaku may have given away some deep insight into the nature of sorcery by casually mentioning the "Cursed Realm" - which has never, to my knowledge, been mentioned before or since. Not only that, but Kenjaku tells her something truly shocking:

"Thank you for getting along with my son."

Like, you can see how weird this is, right? Face to face with Yuji, Kenjaku says, "I expect great things from you." Talking with Choso while Yuji isn't in the room, Kenjaku talks about him like some object; a mere vessel, the eye of the storm for the age to come. Talking with a non-sorcerer teenage girl who's unlikely to remember much, if any of the conversation, Kenjaku accepts Yuji as their son and expresses gratitude that she was kind to him.

So, is this a "Who we are in the dark" moment of honesty? Is this the consequence of Kenjaku being a composite of all these different personalities bubbling to the surface at different times? It's really, really hard to say. But I like the idea that somewhere at the bottom of it all, there is genuine love, if misguided in its expression. That's what I want to run with.

Personally, I've seen theories that Kenjaku duped Jin, or somehow used sorcery to enthrall him, or that Jin simply went insane before or after Kaori died and wasn't in his right mind. I think those are all possible, and they're more straightforward answers. But I want to get off the road and into the woods and see where I end up.

What if Jin knew? What if a pact was made to try to bring Kaori back, and even when the person who came back wasn't Kaori, Jin was still grateful? What if Jin was just grateful to get to see Kaori smile one last time, to get to hear her voice one last time, even if he knew in his heart it couldn't be the same ever again? Just like when Yaga brought Takeru back as a cursed corpse for Kusakabe's sister, so she could hear her son's voice and hug some part of him one last time.

And what if genuine love grew out of that gratitude? What if seeing this acceptance and kindness in Jin, of having someone give gratitude and a wish to be by Kenjaku's side, started to morph and change who Kenjaku was without them realizing the full ramifications of that at first?

What if that ache for a family, for a place to belong, for some connection to other human beings, has carved itself open inside this nomad of flesh and time? Journeying across a thousand years and potentially dozens of bodies, duping themselves into thinking they only cared about their grand experiment, only to narrowly dodge getting ensnared by their human heart and spending all this time since then trying to ignore their own humanity?

I still have a feeling Kenjaku isn't quite dead yet, and I want to believe a change that was started by Jin will have been finished by Takaba. With Kenjaku realizing they do want other people, that they do want to see human potential, not the potential of this mad experiment. And that they'll now be gunning to change the outcome of the Merger, in whatever way is possible.

Though I think this is probably just me spinning my own theories out into something that doesn't even resemble GeGe's plan. But hey! Each theory I make that's proven untrue by the author is an idea I can use in my own writing for free.

[pomrania]

Here's my rendition of the narngreg from @maniculum's Bestiaryposting event. You can find my full thought processes, along with the design sketch and the stages of drawing this piece, in my progress thread here; however, since that involves a LOT of me rambling, I'll put all the relevant stuff in this post.

Unusually for these descriptions, we were told the creature's colours; however, aside from "yellow dots on black and white", the exact patterning was left to the artist. I considered and rejected "stripes" and "pinto splotches" solely on the basis of "I don't want to draw that"; I decided against using a tapir's markings, but it influenced the shape of the snout. The final black and white markings aren't DIRECTLY inspired by anything in particular; its similarities to a Border Collie are completely unintentional I swear, and I only realized them once I'd already settled on the design and markings.

There's three creatures I got vague vibes of, from the description, even though I was reasonably sure it wasn't supposed to be any of them: gryphon, elephant, and unicorn. From "gryphon", there's the shape of the ear tufts, the snout which curves to resemble a beak (it was more apparent in my design sketch), and the mane. From "elephant", there's the lower bits of the ears, plus tusks, even though it's not specifically elephant-style tusks. From "unicorn", I did the tail with the tuft on the end.

Base body shape was inspired by a ground sloth; not because they're especially relevant to this, but because they're something I haven't used before and I thought it would be cool. Also the "sloth" link gave me long curved claws to work with.

I didn't make any attempt to engage with the whole "a female only has one litter and here's why" concept. For my version of the narngreg, that's one of those things where somebody went "huh, I wonder if..." and then somebody else went "I have no idea but yeah I guess that would make sense", and then it got repeated until it was accepted as fact. But while I was considering possible other explanations, I had the concept that maybe hormonal changes during pregnancy lead to pigmentation shifts, and it happens for each pregnancy; so an individual could get pregnant multiple times, it doesn't doesn't LOOK like the same individual.

Overall, I just had a lot of fun doing this again, and I ended up creating an adorable Creature.

[domoz]

Had the thought that I rarely saw Itama incorporated into blessed eye AUs and it spiraled into a whole thing (fic)

They send Hikaku to tell him, because Hikaku is the only one of them who knows how to deliver bad news with anything resembling tact.

They've never acknowledged the awkwardness of the situation to his face. He's a Senju, he's their born enemy, and they're supposed to keep him safe and happy and content while at the same time keeping him away from his family, who they're constantly trying to kill.

Well -- they were trying to do that. Now they're trying to make peace with each other, and part of that had involved admitting that they'd had a Senju living, chakra sealed, in their compound for years. He would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation, but he suspects he's only going to get any freedom after he gets moved into the village they've been building, and that really depends on how this reveal goes.

"I'm so sorry Itsuki-san" Hikaku bows deep to him, hiding a face that had, for a moment, twisted in genuine sympathy, "We informed them of your survival and they did not remember your name, nor the names of your family. Tobirama-san said he would look into the records, but in all likelihood --"

"It's alright." He cuts Hikaku off, turning to hide his own expression because he doesn't know what it will look like right now, "I suspected as much."

They think his brothers are dead, and they're not really wrong. Kenta and Jiro have never existed. Technically Itsuki doesn't either, though he's been using that name for so long that he thinks of it as his own more often than he doesn't these days.

His brothers are fine, and he knows it, because Hikaku just mentioned one of them and he certainly would have heard if something had happened to the other. The Uchiha had thrown a whole celebration when they'd killed his father, he doesn’t doubt that someone would at least come tell him if they'd killed Hashirama, too.

"I'd still like to see my clan again." He lets his voice shake, though its nerves, not sadness like he's sure Hikaku assumes, "Is there any way you could get me to see the head?"

He could probably tell them who he really is. In fact, he probably should, but he can't perfectly predict what their reactions will be. They probably won't stop him from seeing his brothers again, but they could, so it's not worth the risk.

Everyone will be mad anyways, waiting probably isn't going to make it any worse.

"Oh that's no problem Itsuki-san," He looks over and finds himself matching Hikaku's weak smile with one of his own, "he practically insisted."

---

Everyone had been reasonably sure that the Senju weren't going to harm one of their own, but 'everyone' only includes Izuna rarely, and never when he's being paranoid and nosy. His demand to act as an escort is as annoying as it is familiar, but it does have it's benefits. For one he doesn't even have to ask Izuna to try and get them there unseen, and for the other Itama is going to get to see the look on his face when he realizes exactly who he is.

The house doesn't look anything like he remembers it, but it shouldn't, considering it's an entirely different building. There are a few similarities in style, though, and he'd bet that they brought over the old shoji screens and fusuma panels -- but he can't say for certain. All the wood looks new, and it makes his throat close up; not for any nostalgia, but because he can see all the little flourishes and details, and Hashirama had hardly been capable of growing the flower that he'd been meaning to when they were kids. He knows that people apparently call his brother the God of Shinobi, that a house isn't even on the low end of what he's capable of now, but they'd all been just stories. The house is real and his brothers are inside and somehow he's only realizing just now that he's got no idea what he's going to say to them.

Itama runs his hand over the wood of the nearest post and swallows hard, looking helplessly at Izuna who has his arms folded, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"I'm sure he knows we're here." Izuna grouses, "…Tobirama, I mean."

"...I know who you mean." Itama's response comes out a little to weak to be a tease.

Izuna reaches out to knock on the wall and announce their presence regardless. He's was right, though, because the door slides open only a few moments later.

To his great shame, Itama doesn't recognize his brother on first sight.

Time has apart has eroded away at his memories. Hashirama was always kind to him, even when he wasn't patient, and he smiled a lot, but Itama can't remember his face. He can't remember Tobirama's either, but his mind always conjures up a smear of white and red. The man who opens the door isn't colored like that at all.

Tobirama never used to wear the disguise he'd made for them at home -- a deceptively simple seal to darken their hair and eyes, the first one he'd ever mastered so they stood a chance of leaving the compound and being as useful as everyone else. He would always complain about the waste of chakra and deactivate it as soon as he deemed it safe. With it on, he looks like a perfectly generic Senju man: tan skin, dark brown hair and darker brown eyes.

Those dark eyes flicker over Izuna for a brief moment before landing on him and going wide. Izuna chastises him about something -- genjutsu? Something Tobirama just did with his chakra, which Itama still can't feel thanks to the seal on the back of his neck. They don't acknowledge him.

Itama hesitates because it truly takes him a moment to recognize who he's looking at, because his mouth has gone dry and his heart too fast. But even then, he recovers faster than Tobirama, who's gone deathly still.

"Hey, Tobi-nii." Itama's voice comes out rough. He tries for a smile, but in return Tobirama makes a choked off noise, he reaches out, but drops his hand before they touch, fingers twitching. He could have just been run through with a sword and the expression on his face wouldn't look out of place.

"Tobi-nii?" Izuna's voice interrupts them, high and shrill. Itama glances over and knows that he doesn’t really get it yet, doesn't believe it, or doesn't want to. Tobirama's eyes snap to him too.

"Whatever you're doing to seal his chakra, get it off him right now." He's furious. His voice cracks but it makes him sound more like the moments before a glacier breaks apart and starts and avalanche than anything weak.

Izuna whines in response, high pitched and confused.

"Tobi-nii?" He asks again, but does actually scramble to obey, for once. Obey Tobirama, which Itama knows will be a novelty to remember. He bites his thumb deep enough to draw blood and Itama easily bends his head forward enough to allow access to the seal. It's only a temporary solution, Itama knows, he'd managed to convince some Uchiha to do it for him a time or two, when the seal was still new and the sensation of having his chakra bound was still uncomfortable, but it's enough, for now.

The unfamiliar feeling of someone else's presence floods back, a sensation so nostalgic it makes heat prickle behind Itama's eyes. His brothers always had so much more chakra than him, and the disparity has only grown worse since he hasn't been able to train with his in years.

The feeling of Tobirama's chakra wrapping around his, prodding at it, checking it over, is as overwhelming as it ever was. Comforting, too.

"Itama." Tobirama breathes, jerking forward, "Otouto."

They're nearly the same height now, but Tobirama's hug engulfs him all the same. Tight enough that Itama can feel the tremble in his limbs, can feel the damp seep through his clothes where his older brother has buried his face in his shoulder and -- oh, he knows his memory has holes, but Tobirama never cried, did he? He always seemed so strong but the sight of him is enough to have him shaking apart and --

Itama feels the guilt creep in. He missed his brothers, he really had, but…

He'd been under surveillance, yes, and chakra bound, but deep down he knows that he didn't try to get back to them as hard as he should have. It was just… Easier. The Uchiha treated him kindly, for the most part. They didn't expect him to kill anyone, didn't try yell at him for feeling sad in front of them. The longer he stayed with them, the harder it was to think about leaving and going back and having to fight them. And then -- they'd managed to make peace, and he didn't have to, which is great, it really is, but up till now he'd been telling himself that his brothers were so strong that they could get by without him. That they'd grieve and move on and probably be better for it, not having to defend their weak baby brother all the time.

But all the time he'd spent in that plush cage, he'd known they were alive. And they'd thought, really thought, he was dead.

His tongue is too heavy behind his teeth to find the words for it, and before he can try there's another voice.

"Hey, Tobi, is that our guest or --"

Hashirama stops mid sentence, cutting himself off with a low, wounded sound.

He's gotten stupidly tall, Itama notes absently, and he grew out his hair, and even has the beginning of wrinkles around his mouth and eyes.

Itama didn't recognize his voice.

Itama swallows painfully, works his throat enough to croak out, "Hey, Hashi-nii."

Izuna whimpers. No one pays him any mind.

"Itama?" Hashirama says, looking and sounding faint. "I thought --- we didn't hope --"

"When they told us they had a Senju we didn't dare hope--" Tobirama's voice, still muffled in his shoulder, catches. "Even once we found out about the eyes, I knew that you were in disguise. I thought--"

He breaks off, somehow squeezing impossibly tighter.

Itama's eyes are locked over his shoulder on Hashirama, who's tears are already starting to run over his cheeks and onto the ground.

"It failed when I ran out of chakra." Itama's voice has fallen to a hoarse whisper, "They uh -- stopped. When they realized. Captured me instead. I--"

Hashirama been approaching him slowly, as if he were a frightened animal, but he's finally close enough to reach out and cradle Itama's face in his hands. The burning behind his eyes finally gives way and Itama sobs.

"I'm sorry." He wheezes, "I-- I'm--"

"Oh, otouto, no." Hashirama circles around and pulls them both into another hug, but his voice is wavering too, "Whatever it is, you don't have to apologize for surviving, okay?"

None of them resist when Hashirama pulls them all down to sit on the ground right there on the engawa. He's buried his face in Itama's hair, and Itama can feel his lips moving over and over again in some silent prayer.

It's not the first time they've sat like this, he remembers now. The night after Kawarama's funeral--

He stops paying attention who how long they sit there, content and comfortable with the way they've surrounded him.

Itama thinks Tobirama must have gotten control of himself first, he's stopped trembling, but he seems content not to move just yet. Hepulls himself together with a few heaving breaths -- his arms are too pinned to wipe his face, so he does it on Tobirama's shirt instead, and doesn't get a single complaint for it.

They have… A lot to catch up on, he thinks. Them more than him, because his days tend to blend into a lot of reading and crafting and poking at Uchiha -- he stopped pretending he was looking for weaknesses years ago too, but he's a little less ashamed about that. He never wanted anyone to die, even before he got caught.

He glances up from his brothers shoulder and locks eyes with Izuna. He's not remotely surprised that he's stayed but the picture he paints, stiff and uncomfortable, leaning on the wall of the house and looking as far from casual as a man can get. It is, admittedly, a funny image.

"You're name isn't Itsuki." Izuna accuses, frown etched deep. Tobirama turns his head, and whatever look he shoots Izuna has him looking faintly green.

"…I don't think you can go by a something for a decade and a half and not have it become your name, at least a little." Itama ribs tiredly. But gods, he's so exhausted already, and he hasn't even gotten to any of the arguments he knows are going to happen, "But, I know that's not what you're asking, so… Uh… No. My name is Senju Itama."

He doesn't explain anything more. His brothers are still wrapped around him, so he's pretty sure he doesn't have to.

Surprisingly, it's Hashirama who speaks next, voice so controlled and even that it sounds threatening.

"Your clan," He says, "Has been holding my little brother prisoner for years. I really don't know what to do about that, to be honest!"

"He's --" Izuna sputters, going all prickly defensive in the face of the head and heir of the Senju clan staring him down with murderous intent, "We told you, alright? We protect people like him, even from their own clans who think sending out a kid to run messages in a war zone is a smart idea!"

Tobirama actually growls in response, and Itama sighs. He had been hoping to avoid this for a while longer at least, but…

"No one do anything stupid." He punctuates his point by knocking his shoulders into each of his brother's in turn. "They didn't treat me badly after taking me, and they didn't know who I was."

He'd had nearly all of the freedoms of any other blessed one by the end of the first year, and no one had been particularly unkind to him even before then. Most Uchiha considered him a victim of the Senju more than they did person from the clan.

"They sealed your chakra!" Tobirama protests.

"He was still a Senju!" Izuna insists, "Of course we couldn't let him--"

"You're not helping!" Itama cuts him off cheerfully. "My point is, that since the clans at peace now, I'm not a prisoner anymore, right?"

Izuna really doesn’t have the authority to make that decision, but putting him on the spot to flounder over it is as funny as Itama hoped it would be.

"Uh." He says gracefully, "Uh, I--"

"We're not giving him back." Hashirama announces, forcefully enough to shake Izuna from his stupor.

"Wh-- Now hold on." He scowls, "He's still our responsibility, you can't--"

"He's our family." Tobirama all but snarls, "Who you took, you're the one who can't--"

"I think," Itama starts and marvels at the way everyone's attention turns to him, "That this is a great argument for why I should get to move into the village, no?"

Hashirama laughs, loud and booming and still wet with tears. He leans over to rest his cheek on top of Itama's head.

"Yes." He agrees, "Yes, I think it is."

[mdhwrites]

I love Raine, but I hated them as Eda’s love interest. Everything about their relationship felt forced to me, including how much Eda is supposed to love them. I wish they could’ve been introduced earlier possibly and with a more coherent/integrated role.

(But then I wonder if it’s just because they’re a non-binary character and I like the representation. Because without that aspect, the character honestly felt so useless and random.)

Maybe this is just a gripe I have with toh romance in general but like we’re supposed to believe Eda, who is considered King’s mom, would be putting him in danger with the collector just to stare at Raine?? Like come on. The romance in this show is so cringey to me.

It’s like how Luz reunites with everyone after defeating Belos and immediately shares a hug and kiss with Amity before her mom. 😑 like this is her mom who is seeing her for the first time after this whole nightmare and she didn’t even know if she’d be okay. I feel like she should’ve rushed to her and then Amity could’ve stepped in after. I guess honestly I’m just annoyed by the overemphasis on romantic partners in the show tbh. Could just be a personal problem

So there's a lot I can say about romance on this blog (romance writer has a lot to say on romance, shocking) and especially in regards to the genres TOH is in, both positively and mostly negatively. The thing I REALLY want to point out though is the dog shit treatment of Raine and how it truly emphasizes the fundamental problem of not just romantic relationships but ALL relationships in TOH. See, when Raine is introduced, we don't get a lot about their character. We understand that they are the caution to Eda's brashness and that while their caution is obvious, them having stage fright is actually a great way for Eda to have a way of breaking them out of their shell. Something her enthusiasm, especially as a child, could be useful.

And then we gets Falls and Follies where their stage fright is... Still their main character trait. And then we get Them's the Breaks Kid.

And suddenly, Raine isn't Raine. Now yes, kids can change as they grow up but stage fright is a fairly unique malady. It's not specifically social anxiety and it's not a phobia. It's genuinely about stepping on stage and freezing. That terror of performance. My drama director in High School said that she'd helped a lot of kids with it and the right course of actions were always repetition and exposure. That usually the lines came so naturally and their base confidence was so high that a successful dress rehearsal would make sure they didn't freeze come opening night.

It is something that fades with experience. And in Falls and Follies, Raine might still be the level head to Eda's rowdy behavior, but in the worst way. They're not the nervous kid who overthinks things and needs to be reminded to breathe but instead the smart, grade A kid who is so popular and so above everyone that they're bored by all the 'normies'. Edalyn is interesting in that she stands out, as well as being the strongest. Their is never even a hint of fear or nervousness in them.

This comes to its worst part in the moment that is supposed to tell everyone the two are destined for each other. The moment that the fandom was supposed to immortalize like the major Lumity moments. The moment Eda tries to bean Raine with a ball and Raine, unlike Lilith, catches it not just easily but with flair.

Or in other words, catches it just like Eda would. The moment that I think a lot of people, myself included, started realizing that Raine was just a love interest, just like Amity and then Willow for Hunter, instead of anything even resembling a character. After all, they spend this entire episode showing that they are a clone to Eda. Period.

It actually gets worse as the motivation to protect their loved ones is also an Eda one and they both do it in the same way by just trying not to include them and put distance between them. Their methods, ideologies, etc. like that are literally lock step with one another, just like Amity changes hers to be and Hunter ends up becoming like alongside Willow and Luz. A lot of people point this at as growth for the characters but I still argue that dissolving your own personality for your partner is not a good thing.

And do you want to know how much the writers KNEW Them's the Breaks was a mistake? Just a blatantly wrong choice to make? Well, see, Falls and Follies eventually came out with a second version of the episode with annotations. Little tidbits about the show and lore of the universe. I don't know really any of those tidbits except one, and that this WAS released after Falls and Follies.

"Raine developed stage fright during a production of the Isles version of Romeo and Juliet that they performed with Eda."

That's not word for word, I'm not looking this up for that, but that is what it summarized to. Or, in other words, they went back and had to retcon in stage fright for Raine. Stage fright they developed WITH the person who's dynamic with them should be to bring them out of their shell with.

The worst part? They probably don't see the contradiction. They instead likely went "We made a plothole in Them's the Breaks. What can we do this for shipping fodder?" And then someone else shouted, "MAKE IT SO RAINE GOT STAGE FRIGHT BECAUSE OF A PLAY THAT MADE THEM KISS EDA!"

Now no, that's not explicitly stated but besides just being lazy and referencing Romeo and Juliet (they did have a special name for it), that's the main reason I can imagine for that play causing that specific reaction. After all, Raine had performed for large crowds before. Even done things against the rules and off script in front of crowds and against a FUCKING COVEN HEAD. What could have possibly caused them to gain stage fright from a fucking play?

And if this sort of inconsistency was in a piece of fanfic or a person's personal webcomic and they just admitted to wanting the cute shipping moments, like Yoko Taro saying 2B is a beautiful woman because he likes pretty girls in his games, I would be more okay with it. In a show that is touted as so progressive, having such perfect representation, some of the best romances in television history, etc. etc...

Well, my response is that I guess there's a reason so many straight people have to deal with bland, inconsistent love interests if that's what nonbinaries and lesbians want too.

===========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[1010ninetynine]

a masterpost of what i consider gay subtext in Uramichi Onii San - the Manga

not the Anime quite yet. no offense Touko Machida but I simply do not want to deal with two interpretations of the work at this point in time.

Generally Kinda Romantic Subtext Between Certain Characters that I Think Can Be Interpreted Either Way

Uramichi and Usahara I cite this for the near telepathic communication. Say what you will - married couples are known for this shit - and while it's definitely not anywhere close to confirmed that these two characters have strong feelings for each other, imo this was pretty gay of them. But to put it one way - are you really friends if people don't mistake you for a gay couple at times? imo not really.

additionally, while it might be just beginning chapter art...tell me where our favorite bunny is looking? Is he being respectful?

(honestly i do think usahara is straight but yk...this mangaka likes his gay men pathetic methinks so there is a chance!)

2. Uramichi and Iketeru

back when iketeru was in hs and uramichi's age isn't given - but i think they're the same age? anyway the lyrics over this scene are just...gay as hell. And they're helping a child find their mom. That is married couple behavior.

(obviously could just be a joke/not intended. their relationship is literally a gag on not understanding each other because iketeru is too happy for uramichi)

3. Kumatani and Iketeru

there's also some somewhat strong subtext between kumatani and iketeru. Like first, kumatani was the first guy who got the weird shirt iketeru found.

and next, the constant protection of iketeru from alcohol is courtesy of kumatani our mvp

he even protects him from our favorite loser

while not as extreme as his protection of HACHITA THE BABY it is still noticeable that Iketeru is someone he cares about.

and both kumatani and iketeru hid their love life from the camera (as did the whole cast hehe). Kumatani literally says his love life isn't family friendly - which can mean a lot of things, including that he's homosexual. Iketeru says it's too beautiful to be shared - which can mean anything really, even that he's straight and had a normal love life that he ain't willing to share.

Imo this sequence of behaviors can be read one of two ways. First of all, you'd have to be blind to not see the obvious resemblance between Iketeru and Hachita, so the affection and thus acceptance of strange gifts due to their similarity is natural. But also...gay? Hmmmmmmmmmm

4. Uramichi and Kumatani

They kind of just hang out a lot, and Kumatani regularly reads more positivity in Uramichi than is probably there. Not really as showstoppingly romantic as the other three examples of subtext, but imo still quite a nice bit of fun in its own right. They're probably the ship easiest to imagine writing besides kumatani and iketeru and my personal favorite but before we get to that...

The Predatory Gay Man I Must Mention For The Completionist In Me

ok look. homophobic caricature he may be. but i said I would catalog all gay subtext in uramichi and imo on this website gay subtext include gay text (hxh moment) and capellini furitsuke is in fact. gay. and a horrible predatory man the likes of which rival your worst coworker. And probably beat him.

he torments the men around him and forces them to engage in behavior they're not interested in. i cite here usahara and saito's mistreatment but there might be more I missed.

like you can't describe capellini's behavior as anything but horrid and disgusting. i'll call uramichi onii san many things - particularly pro-lgbt in terms of rep isn't close. Still love it in general - and I'm pretty sure the author himself is gay given the ludicrous amount of male character thirst traps he draws - but i don't think he likes that about himself tbqh. But I don't really know him - just go on his twitter now and then.

Finally, the moment I've been waiting for but you all don't realize is coming maybe idk

Uramichi and Kikaku - a mostly one sided love story

This relationship isn't so much implied as it is easily ignorable yet true: it is obviously intended to be read as a love story of sorts, whether it be a gag about how lonely uramichi is and how he needs some emotional connection, or just plain 'he's gay'. This is literally the only guy who gets the door to Uramichi's heart regularly attempting to open treatment, let alone the fact that when Kikaku begs Uramichi to help him out with work he always agrees...maybe more so due to fear than genuine care but still.

there's probably more examples, but these are enough to prove my point imho

he also invites Kikaku to the first end of year party (there aren't any others at the time of writing, specifying in the case of a reader from the future)...or attempts to. Not to Saito Uebu or any other staff member - perhaps because he expects the ones he's closer to already be there, but still - specifically the guy who's only ever bothered him to help complete his work. It's what being horrifically lonely and dick brained does to you (i would know that best).

which leads to yet ANOTHER HEART DOOR SCENE THING

so uh yeah. uramichi's constant giving in to kikaku i think makes more sense if we consider the (slight) romantic inclination he ""might"" have for him.

BONUS: Uramichi and Utano had a moment that was pretty cute but not enough to qualify as subtext in my eyes because they kind of have no chemistry in canon so i still get to title this gay subtext but I also like them

[kyouka-supremacy]

please talk more about chuuaku

Brain empty no thoughts only chuuaku. It's so good!!! It's hard to pin down one reason why I like them, but I'm just... Very attracted by how realistic the ship feels. Allow me to elaborate: they're very different. They're not different as in “we perfectly complement each other”, they're not different in “we're opposite but we're actually the same and no one gets you like I do”. They're just different. They do NOT understand each other. They have different backgrounds and different experiences and different personalities. They didn't hate each other on sight, for a while they just kind of existed in the same environment. And that's so appealing for me!! It's so good because that's... Something that actually happens. That's part of their charm for me, because people in real life don't really come in perfect sets of oddly specific complimentary designs or 21 cm of height difference or suspiciously resembling mythical enemy creatures from eastern mythology; but people do happen to work at the same work place, maybe to start hanging out more, maybe to start falling for each other. I just find it very sweet! About that, I really like the aspect that since they don't understand reach other, there's the compelling necessity to getting to know each other. I feel like that isn't something that's there with s/kk and ss/kk: with those pairs it's usually this weird mix of hate at first sight and understanding each other like no one else does. With chuuaku, Akutagawa and Chuuya are just different: that means for them there needs to be an actual, mutual effort to understand the other. I like to think about them eventually going through a phase of the kind “I realize this person isn't what I initially thought of them. As it turns out, the idea I had of them was so far from reality, I could as well have never known them at all. Suddenly, for reasons I can't explain, I feel like I want to get to know them”; and it's SO compelling. The growing closer!! The growing together. Like where the other ships are just pushing each other's buttons all the time and usually bringing out the worst out of each other, I feel like Akutagawa and Chuuya could really bring the best out of each other. It's not the constant angst of getting together and breaking up s/kk have going on (which I understand has its own appeal!), but sometimes it's nice when a person can unequivocally be your safe place, you know? Instead of constant mistrust and doubt and fear of being left, just. a person you can fully trust they will always have your back. Having found each other in a world that has made both of them suffer so much so long, and being happy together? Finding happiness together? Idk, I just find it really sweet. At this point, I'm pretty much the “what your favorite x ship says about you” girl going “You just want the best for Akutagawa and Chuuya, and really, who doesn't?”, but isn't that true?? They deserve each other, they deserve a break after everything the world threw at them.

But then again, it's not just a matter of what I want for them, I truly believe they're compatible! Just not in the “soulmates perfectly crafted to be together” way, but in a more realistic way, which again is arguably even more appealing? It's the “Soulmates aren't found, they're made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and then they get to work building a relationship” thing. I like the graduality of the whole thing. I like the falling in love slowly and unintentionally. In my headcanon, Akutagawa and Chuuya weren't in good terms for a very long time, up to at least when Dazai left. I like to think they didn't know each other past their own reputations - I doubt they had many occasions to interact - and just kinda vaguely disliked each other: on Akutagawa's end lied a slightly stronger dislike, given he most definitely didn't like Chuuya as someone who constantly insulted and disrespected Dazai-san and someone Dazai himself wasn't in appearance very fond of (to be fair, there's probably quite a few things in the world 16 or something y/o Akutagawa didn't deeply hate or was angry at) (also, now that I think about it, young Akutagawa was probably jealous of how close Dazai and Chuuya were, as well as of Chuuya being Dazai's partner). On Chuuya's side, I can imagine him not really disliking Akutagawa, but probably being sorta pissed at him for how frequently he made a mess in his missions, his whole kill-kill main-maim attitude, plus lowkey disapproving the whole Dazai idolization thing. Meaning there's so much space for growth starting from there, and that's so appealing, especially after Dazai left the pm! They probably both felt lost and betrayed for their own reasons at that point, and if I don't think they mourned together in the immediate aftermath (though the concept is sweet on its own), I think that has the potential of having brought the two of them closer. Like *this* is the first time when, unexpectedly, they suddenly started understanding each other; because they were going through the same pain. In a way or the other, Dazai was a very close person to both of them who also hurt them beyond words; the moment he left, they were to each other the only person that could understand what they were going through.

But there's potential even besides that tbh? I just want... Akutagawa and Chuuya who are changed and matured some time after Dazai left, and happen to spend time with each other because of a mission or something (will probably get more chances to work together after Akutagawa was promoted. Idk. indulge me on this), and both realizing they're actually so different from the idealized version they had made of each other. And that actually the other isn't so bad after all. And that actually spending more time with them would be nice. And that actually they would like to learn more about the other. I come back to the very initial point, everything about them has the potential to have such a natural and realistic development (as much as a bsd ship can be natural and realistic), and sorry for being a basic broke 21 y/o student but tbh there's literally nothing more romantic than having a stable job and falling in love on the work place with someone who also has a stable job and having no financial trouble and also coming home to the person you love like. Idk about you but that's literally the dream, don't you ever want a break from the endless s/kk angst or ss/kk being a literal tragedy?

And besides everything, their personalities truly DO feel compatible to me!! And really it's not the “we're so compatible we keep clashing with each other”, it's the “we actually work well together”. I'm thinking about Chuuya doing most of the speaking and Akutagawa being a good listener even if he doesn't talk a lot. Chuuya actually enjoying Akutagawa's silent company: Chuuya liking how, compared to most people he interacts with at the pm, Akutagawa's not really afraid to speak his mind, and the few times he talks he WILL be blunt; Chuuya cherishes that. I'm thinking about Akutagawa learning to love and to be loved through Chuuya. I'm thinking about them being the only safe place for each other, this stable island in a world that has hurt them so much they know won't betray them. I'm thinking about them talking about pm matters at home and having this loving and domestic life both of them oh so deserve. I'm thinking about their eyes imperceptibly lighting up and their respective days being made whenever they stumble across each other at work. I'm thinking about THEM

(Side note, but I need domestic chuuaku with Akutagawa complaining about Atsushi– you know, the usual “I hate that Jinko so much, he's so incredibly stupid and unbelievably hypocrite, annoying and weak”, the usual Akutagawa being unable to stop talking about Atsushi 24/7 EXCEPT THIS TIME HE'S ACTUALLY HONEST and not tsunderely complaining about him like he would realistically do in every other universe. A weird universe where Akutagawa is GENUINELY pissed at Atsushi and it's not... Really hate anymore and more of huge annoyance towards this dude you keep having to work with. Akutagawa complaining to Chuuya over dinner in the lines of “Dazai paired me up again with Jinko” “What a bitch” because no more existential dread, THAT'S the kind of light-hearted daily issues I want them both to have.)

And like for chuuaku to exist automatically implies such a big character development for Akutagawa one can't help but love!! Like all Akutagawa ships are inherently beautiful and perfect for their added value of bring to the picture Akutagawa, the most cruel and ruthles and especially emotionless character, being able to feel love. It's just a bonus win from the start lmao. But I feel chuuaku additionally must involve an Akutagawa who's grown and healed past his several mentor complexes which is... A lot, and it's very heartwarming? Akutagawa dating Chuuya, who is superior to him in hierarchy and most likely in fight power, but doing so peacefully because he's long let go of his fixations over demonstrations of power / his perception of power being an indicator of your value as a human being. AND and also Akutagawa dating his ex-mentor's most despised person, letting go of his obsession with Dazai and belief that Dazai is infallible and never wrong: in a way, Akutagawa finally and resolutelly disowning Dazai as his mentor– and without replacing him with a new one, because he doesn't need to be guided anymore, because he's master of his own fate!! Overall Akutagawa becoming a calmer, more loving, more mature person. Good for him. That's also why I can see them getting together only after some time– because the ship speaks of a big growth in their characters, a growth they can go through together, and that is undeniably fun to explore. It would also be nice if Chuuya fell first and Akutagawa second, for a change. I mean, Chuuya seems at least a little more conscious of his own feelings, while Akutagawa definitely took years, years, to get over his twisted feelings for Dazai. And Chuuya's feelings for Dazai are just as complex as Akutagawa's, but seriously I think part of him must have been happy to finally let Dazai go, even if that hurt; because Dazai definitely hurt Chuuya a lot, but I feel like at least Chuuya was more conscious about how much it damaged him compared to Akutagawa. And that's such a juicy aspect, navigating through their own feelings for Dazai alone and together.

But seriously most of everything it's the whole feeling of being SAFE of the ship. I think I use that word a lot when talking about chuuaku, but it's literally all it's about for me. It's knowing you can rely on someone. It's knowing there's someone who will always protect you (I mean, they're two of the most powerful pm operatives, they're bound to feel safe with each other). But it's also the knowing the other would never betray them like they've been betrayed in the past!! There's this specific certainty to this ship that the other person would never abandon them I feel other ships (s/kk and ss/kk) could hardly have, and it's so unspeakably nice. I want them both to feel protect and safe, and it's the kind of final happiness and domesticity only them can give each other. And it's GREAT.

Tl; dr: Chuuaku has so much to offer and it's so different compared to the classic s/kk / ss/kk dynamics and although I get it's not everyone's cup of tea it is MY cup of tea and I WILL proceed to stan them untill I die.

[pixies-and-poets]

Ok! Time for some SPOILER FREE Mario movie impressions!! I'll post plenty of more detailed thoughts later, of course, but these are general thoughts about its quality. Of course this is still very long because I always get carried away, lol

So, I had a great time, but I can definitely see where some of the criticisms come from. Let's get the less good stuff out of the way first. The plot is nothing to speak of, it's basically a video game plot which... whatever, there are actual Mario games out there that have better story and dialogue and themes than this, but at the same time I don't see a problem with this approach? I've seen people bringing up Super Paper Mario (which as you may know is my favorite Mario game) as evidence that Mario can have a good story around him but at the same time, like. This is an origin story, and they wanted to tell a fairly basic story that resembles the incredibly basic plot of the VAST MAJORITY of Mario games and that's fine, they didn't need to pull an epic story about ancient prophecies and mystical macguffins and doomed lovers out of their ass. It's fine y'all. They can save epic RPG plots for sequels.

The dialogue is serviceable. I know it's a kids' movie and whatever (which is almost always a poor excuse for whatever it's defending) but there were plenty of moments where the characters basically hit you over the head with the themes or state exposition so bluntly I thought it was leading into a joke. That made the moments where certain characters started to gel with each other and have naturalistic and endearing dialogue stand out all the more, and yet those charismatic moments are over almost as soon as you realize they're happening.

Overall I think the movie's rapid-fire pace is what hurts it the most. We are given very little time to sit with these charming character interactions, or scenes where a sense of wonder is evoked, before it's on to the next colorful and action-packed setpiece. On the one hand it's nice to have a movie with such a pared down runtime, but I think a little bit of extra space and breathing room in there could have done wonders in getting people who only know Mario as the funny Wahoo man who lives in the Nintendo to buy into the appeal of these characters and their world. I guess they thought kids couldn't pay attention in quiet moments or something, but again, give kids a little credit.

All that aside, the movie's strengths are many, in my opinion: outstanding animation and design, attention to lush visual detail, creating a Mushroom Kingdom that maintains a sense of magical bizarreness while actually seeming like a real place that people live in, and a sense of sincerity to the whole enterprise with a minimum of irony and self-distancing snark. It's also a very good, fun and refreshing take on some of the characters and their relationships - although, again, I just wish there was more screentime for it. I'll go into more detail when I talk spoilers later.

I've seen some snippets of criticism which I will say I disagree with, which is... People are justifiably cynical and tired of the Space Jam 2s and Ready Player Ones of the world where the creators are like "Look at all these nerdy references!! Look at all the IP we got access to, PLEASE POINT AND CLAP" and saying this movie is the same type of thing, but... Idk in my opinion there's a huge difference between a massive crossover of shallow nerdy references, and a movie based on one single franchise making a bunch of deep cuts that fans will recognize. Like yes there are references to other Nintendo properties but those are all subtle background things and sensibly contained to the Brooklyn portions of the movie.

Listen, I know Nintendo isn't my friend, they are out to make money and in a very real sense we ARE being advertised to... the Kart portions felt especially like "Hey did you ever buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe yet??" Still, I think between the outstanding musical score and all the deep-cut references, this movie was obviously made by people with a deep love and care for the Mario franchise who were excited to work on this project. So in a sense it's kind of an ad for Nintendo's games rather than some pure work of art free from ulterior motives, but one that comes from a place of sincerity and care. If you want to be maximum cynical you could view that as even more insidious, but idk... relax and have some fun, go play some Mario Party.

It's not an advertisement for those of us who are already bought in. And maybe that's the major disconnect with some critics, which isn't to write them off as elitist, but just an attempt at explaining the difference in fan reception vs critical reception. Some people feel like they're being advertised to while others feel like they're being treated and the video game world they love is being respected. The idea that there are people, adults, who take video game IP this seriously, so much that we've pretty much already played all the games being referenced, is either hard to believe, or seen as even more cringey than being into Marvel movies or something. But there are plenty of us, and we know what we're getting into and are excited to see it.

Some of us are even Donkey Kong fans in particular and this is the best/most content we've gotten in years so LET'S GO TEAM KONG

[fuckinuhhh]

Take a Walk 06/30/2023

Welcome back to my daily walk diaries. Today we walked around between 5th ave and Park Ave because I was going to check out the Morgan Library & Museum (which if you live in NYC and you didn't know they have free friday's, they do). Anyways I was a little early for the entry time so I walked around and here were the buildings that caught my eye. If you want to listen to the music I was listening to while you read this, I made a playlist of it. Buckle in, this might be a long one.

Edit: As I was writing this entry I accidentally deleted ~1.5 hrs of work so Im going to keep this rewrite real brief. sry :/

The Robb House

Built 1892

Architect: Stanford White

Fellow Architect/architectural critic of the time Russel Sturgis (who I love) said of this building, "not a palace, but a fit dwelling house for a first-rate citizen."

Curious as to whether one of those medallions on the third floor was replaced since they're slightly different.

The Haviland Building/Lightolier Building/Morgan Lofts

Built 1912, unknown architect

The interesting split facades and bell tower are without a doubt what grabbed my eye.

Funny enough they also stood out on the back of the building when I took a trip around the block without even realizing they were the same building!

Next we have Tiffany & Co.'s second building, built after their previous cast-iron store at Union Square, and as a posthumous completion in honor of Tiffany founder, Charles Tiffany.

Built 1905

Architect: Stanford White! (yes again)

Just look at those Corinthian orders! This building is massive.

(Now is probably a good time to bring up my camera situation.) I've been shooting these on my iPhone 8 mainly because my only other camera is film, and because of it's convenience. However I may end up getting another camera so that my pictures don't come out with such poor quality. (I wish I remember how I worded this during the first take of this post, it was much better)

This is the CUNY Graduates Building, formerly known as its original identity the B. Altman department store. The past 3 buildings in fact were part of a push up 5th ave from Barclay's St downtown where Haviland's, Tiffany's, and Altman all had stores previously.

Built 1906

Architect: Trowbridge & Livingston

The back of the Altman building has this interesting moment where seemingly 3 portions of the building meet. I say 3 instead of the obvious division of the top addition only because if you look closely at the roof overhang on the left, it turns 90 degrees into the building before the 4th window in.

Regardless this transition between is artfully done both between the front and the back, as well as between the base and the upper addition in the reference but not direct copying of window/facade themes.

The Stewart Building

Built 1914

Architect: Whitney Warren

(Bonus picture of the proximity to the Empire State Building)

Right across the street from the Tiffany building lies this beautifully ornamented loft/department building with terracotta tiles said to resemble Josiah Wedgwood jasperware pottery.

Before we get to the Chrysler building this building caught my eye with it's geometric ornamentation on the facade of the building, which I assumed was to fit in amongst the foothills of such an icon in Art Deco Architecture (the Chrysler Building).

This is the Socony-Mobil Building

Built in 1956

Architect: Harrison & Abramovitz

The Icon in question, The Chrysler Building.

Built 1930

Architect: William Van Allen

There is a wealth of knowledge on the internet about this art deco beauty, but I'm just going to give you my brief takeaway.

First, that entry way!!! I'm in love, its so grand and those angles are so pleasing to look at. There is one on each side of the building facing the street and boy oh boy it does not lose it's charm the second time you see it.

I also wanted to point out that, um, the base of the building is not centered????? I had literally no idea prior to this but if you look, in the third picture there are three bays of windows to the right of the center and five bays to the left. No your eyes aren't tricking you that's really how it looks in person.

In the tune of imperfections to such a seemingly pristine design, the backwall isn't actually perpendicular to the road or to the rest of the building. It wanders off at some other angle as seen in the fourth picture.

I give it a 9/10 still, it's imperfections are even more reason to love it. They give it an organic beauty that art deco even tends to reference and emphasize, the beauty in natural forms.

Right around the corner of the Chrysler Building is Tudor City, and here are just some highlights. In the order of most difficult things to photograph, these buildings are all built up in a style I like to call the princess tower style with an elaborate penthouse on top. Here are some of the highlights of this group of blocks on the east side.

45 Tudor City Pl. (pics 1 & 2) aka Prospect Tower & St. Albans Church Built 1927, the worlds first residential housing skyscraper Architect: H. Douglas Ives

Around the corner (which regrettably is not pictured) is Harry Osborne's penthouse in the Spider-man movies at 5 Tudor City Pl. aka Windsor Tower

The Church of the Covenant (pic 3) Built 1871 Architect: J. Cleveland Cady

Woodstock Tower (pic 4) Built 1929 Architect: H. Douglas Ives

(pics 5-7) The Cloister & The Manor Built 1927 & 1928 Architect: H. Douglas Ives I think this is also an interesting marrying of facade courses.

[astralartefact]

i can hear a voice... of cards Divine 063y Analysis Post

This post is a part 2, you can find part 1 here Voice of Cards: Forsaken Maiden spoilers under the cut (including the final boss)

Alternate Title: Mommy, but make it Daddy

But first, the unhinged conspiracy board continues!

(I will keep expanding the original one with each new costume because I think that makes it more fun)

This time our divine costume seems to be based on the Ivory Spirit (who I speculate to be the OG grotesquerie queen)

I have absolutely no concept of how many people have actually played forsaken maiden, so I will include the card of the final boss, which is made up of all the spirits/gods in the game so you have some concept of what's probably coming next

Divine Akeha was likely based on Lac, who became the big monster at the top, Divine 063y is likely the Ivory Spirit (the hanging lady to the upper left). what remains are the red one on the lower left, the black one (with green) on the lower right and the blue kraken

(btw, if you are in any way interested in voice of cards but you don't want to buy all three (bc honestly they're a little pricey for what they are), i recommend forsaken maiden. it's a little bit harder than the other two but it's imo the best one and as far as i know the only 'lore relevant' one (for now))

Anyways. Back to 063y.

The two things I immediately noticed were the hidden eyes (the Ivory Spirit's eyes are hidden behind her hair) and the collar thing which looks very similar to the pin Lac has on his belly but interpreted as some sort of shackle. A lot of the details on the costume seem to be designed like shackles, but I guess that's a given since 063y's title is Prisoner.

Another thing is that the outfit is primarily white but it has some black accents mainly on the inside lining (it seems like if you turn the outfit inside out, all of the white fabric would 'turn' black) - which also mirrors the Ivory Spirits design with its black straps contrasting the uniformly white design. Since the Ivory Spirit is likely designed as an extension of Furiae's design from DoD 1 where the black straps kind of resembled some sort of mild bondage-thing to on one hand contrast her mostly pure white facade and on the other to represent her being 'caged' into her role as goddess, I think it's very fitting to take that to 063y's role as "Prisoner" too for example with the straps on his torso.

While he doesn't wear a crown on his head like Akeha (one of the common features all the gods have in VoC) there is one on the handle of his sword. I don't necessarily think it's intentional and/or means anything, but I did realize when spotting the one on the sword that flowers and crowns kind of have similar shapes...

And speaking of his weapon, it also seems to glow (if you look at the lighting of his hand) similar to how Lanca's weapon 'glows' (Lanca is the Ivory Spirit's Maiden and her weapon is bestowed with the spirit's power)

It's a little bit hard to see, but notice the yellow 'halo' lines, which can also be found on some of the other maiden's weapons (especially their ultimate weapons)

Finally - and this is really a stretch, which is why it is a blue string on the board - 063y wears shackles on his wrists (which imo also mimic the straps on the Ivory Spirit's gloves) and it looks to me like the right shackle has a different color from the one on the left. This could very well just be from the weapon's glow effect and it's actually supposed to be the same color, the artist just decided to represent the light in this way.

However. It does line up with the fact that that's the arm the Ivory Spirit uses to move Lac and because of that it's also the arm she loses when she merges into the final boss form.

And if it actually is on purpose, then it's probably also on purpose that that's the arm Zero has a prosthesis with the Ivory Spirit's symbol on which also inhabits something that looks very much like Lac.

(For more info see my post on the Ivory Spirit here)

As for the stories:

Character Story

O, God And our dear son, who now rests at God's side Watch over us in this endless war ────────────────────────────────── WE THROW OURSELVES INTO THIS FIGHT PLACING ALL WE LOVE IN PERIL BUT IS WHAT COMES AFTER WORTH IT? IF ONLY WE COULD BECOME FLOWERS EMPTY OUR MINDS BLOOM TOGETHER FOREVER

Weapon Story

I love you I love you I love you The many years I spent with you keep me ruthless and cruel I love you I love you I love you The whole of your life nourishes my newly blossoming heart I love you I love you I love you Your warmth soothes the grief I carry for the child I lost I love you I love you I love you The trembling of my body instantly stops when you fight by my side

(nierrein.guide you are a gift sent from the heavens i still need to donate to your kofi)

Flowers. *standing ovation*

(i think 063y and FF6x's hidden stories reference the flower religion too, but i haven't looked into it enough to make any meaningful connection between them and the drakengard flower/the ivory spirit. i guess this could potentially be some hint that the god of the flower religion is the ivory spirit too)

I kind of talked about it in my reincarnation theme analysis post (i think it was a mistake to put a tier list as the picture now people ignore it more q.q please read it i was relatively proud of it and don't worry the tierlist barely comes up) but i think it's really interesting just how much 063y is reduced to his son and his wife. it's just to such an extent that i'm kind of wondering if the writers actually realize what they're doing and don't just fuel it on accident...

I guess - as a gay guy who isn't particularly invested in becoming father - it's just fascinating to see this (almost glorified) relationship ideal be depicted this dystopic? like this is "what a father should be", the one true thing society has decided is the most good for a man to be and it results in one of reincarnation's ultimate losses of agency (and this means a lot since as i explored in my other post reincarnation is almost only loss of agency)

is it really agency to choose and fight if you're stuck in an eternal war against flowers is that subtext on masculinity i sense there? that is literally built on abusing your faithful duty to your wife and child to keep fighting forever. there is simply no other option - he has to protect the ones he loves. why? because he's a good father. and if he doesn't do it for his kid he does it for his wife and if his wife wasn't there - then what?

he is literally the perfect husband, the perfect father and yet all of this comes to the conclusion that without his family 063y has no other purpose - and that's why he can be abused into fighting an eternal war with no hope in sight. and that's just sad. and i hope that the writers are aware of that - mostly because if they're not careful it can easily skew into an incel-like "F66y is just an evil wife that exploits 063x's good nature - just like all women" sort of thing

I will end it here since I have way too many thoughts on this and it's already kind of out of place in this post... I might read up on his stories and write a post, but don't count on it.

Edit: I did the bad thing and pulled much more often than I should but hey, I got him. Twice. (don't worry, i don't spend money on gacha games, i just have a lot of free currency saved up)

First of all, as always, the pull screen is far too cool so I'll include it. Totally unrelated I would love to point your attention to "robes of speech."

Because to speak you need a voice. A Voice. of. CAR---

(Same thing with Forsaken)

I was right about the weapon glow, it's much more noticeable in-game. Sadly I was also right about being wrong about the wrist rings, they are the same color so that whole point is moot i guess

The markings on the sword vaguely reminds me of the ivory spirit sigil? But it's not enough that i would say it's on purpose.

He also has this glowy piece of fabric on his back (which I will just delusionally state to look similar to the ivory spirit's long hair)

His character skill is called THREE RINGS (All Caps), but I'm pretty sure that's not particularly voc related.

All in all seeing the design in 3D I will say that I might actually for once have read a little bit too much into it (but hey, it's much more fun this way)

I wouldn't completely rule it out, they might just have interpreted the ivory spirit design more loosely than they did with Akeha, but I'm certainly a bit more shakey about it than I was with her (who I stand by, that one can't be a coincidence). We'll see what happens with upcoming Divine designs and who knows, maybe only some of them are based on the Forsaken Maiden spirits while some of them are not.

[talagalaxies]

ep7 rewatch time!

so looking for vergence is a big deal at that time because the jedi sent 4 to brendok to find it.

so the moss and rocks they're collecting....they bring it to coruscant, right?

torbin my babie

so vergence is like a black hole. a concentrated form of energy so fucking powerful that it's incomprehensible. just like the jedi, scientists in this silly blue planet wants to know more of this black hole, it's powers and potential. there's vergence on brendok because of a hyperspace disaster. black holes are formed because the star's energy collapse in it itself--a disaster.

in stories and conspiracy theories, black holes are serve as a gateway to other dimensions/universes. wookiepedia said that the world-between-worlds is also called vergence scatter. in this essay I WILL--

the coven really maximized their stealth mode because not even the jedi detectED them

the jedi didn't knock on their door, they just BARGED IN. they debate whether to go solo or by group so they don't look "threatening" BUT THEY DON'T HESITATE BARGING ON SOMEONE'S DOOR? BFFR does jedi school teach them basic manners?

i want the coven's magic to be more explored. their transportation magic shit? their mind control shit? i want to know more.

hmmm i can see why the jedi (even mom aniseya herself) label the coven's magic as "dark." when the jedi does their mind reading shit, the person being mind-read won't feel shit. but when the coven does it to torbin and kelnacca, they feel shit, maybe even physical pain as well. even qimir in the next ep is struggling to fight against it. in tfa's kylo's mind invasion to poe was painful. do dark side mind invasion that painful? well makes sense duh

i'm like "why doesn't mae use her coven powers eps ago?" then realized she has no coven to learn from 😐

which is very interesting that we see osha (who reject the coven) access on her coven powers while we don't see it on mae (who accepts the coven)

without dialogue but you can see how traumatic the mind invasion thing is to torbin. i really love this scene.

speaking of mae, her saying "attack me of all your strength" to her jedi hitlist came from mother korril awww. at least she has lessons from her coven

indara asked mae why would she be a leader when the twins are children....*d&d voice* they kinda forgot how naboo elect their monarchs

torbin and indara looking at each other when sol cheated all the way for osha to pass:

from that scene to the night scene in which they feel something off...honey it's the narrative warning you you're doomed.

the twins being formed reminds me of the twins in bulgasal. in bulgasal, the girls are literally one person split into two: twin 1 retains her past lives' memories, twin 2 doesn't. but when twin 2 regains her past lives' memories, its still the same memories twin 1 have because again, one person. hold on, the acolyte bulgasal au would be super interesting.

the more i think about it, the more the aniseya twins resembles the bulgasal twins. anyway

sol......really think......that killing......their..........mom.........is the right thing to do huh?????? maybe he deserved that crushed windpipe.

is this editing error or a rashomon effect because in ep3; sol's hands are pointing to mae's side of the bridge. but on this ep, it's on osha's side.

i love and it's sending me that everyone is uncomfy after the mess. everyone is occupied on the consequences individually then here's sol.

oh so sol was READY TO CONFESS everything to the council back then?? damn that secret is really rotting him for years

what i've noticed on this show so far is that by each ep, the call-out of the jedi feeling like owning everything increases.

[fadedapparition]

i am thinking… about how a high approval lavellan really easily ends up relating to solas the way briala related to felassan. and how i actually like this much more than the romance route because it’s just as interesting and possibly even sadder.

lavellan doesn’t HAVE to see him this way, but they're given room to decide that solas is their mentor in an environment where they’ve otherwise been completely cut off from their culture-group. you have the opportunity to ask him for advice on just about anything, and the transmission of knowledge/history forms the bedrock of any positive relationship between himself and the player character. the dalish have limited written records, so most lore is passed down orally from keepers and hahrens to younger members of a clan. when solas starts rambling about the fade, it’s not just some guy telling stories, but an older elf sharing knowledge with his protege that would otherwise be lost with his death. he is fulfilling the responsibilities of a hahren in the same way felassan fulfilled them for briala, and he’s doing so while secretly the most literal hahren you could find. solas can occupy the role of an elder, but he is also among the oldest elves in the setting: not only a hahren, but the most hahren.

and in being granted the honor of a position as their elder, solas must confront the fact that lavellan is his legacy. they are the product of the world he’s created, the mortal race that owes its existence entirely to the catastrophic changes he made that he’s since come to regret. they purposefully incorporate him into their cultural lineage, and by doing that, they compel him to acknowledge the ties that bind him to present-day elves. he’s meeting his descendants in the post-apocalypse, and he’s grappling with the reality that for as bad as the world might be, it remains populated by people who recognize themselves in him.

for felassan, briala was the catalyst for an identical realization, and he was willing to die at solas’ hands to affirm her personhood (and, by extension, everyone else's). solas finds himself in precisely the same situation, except he’s been murdering his dearest friends to deny this possibility since before the story began. when he meets felassan’s own version of lavellan, when he actually encounters briala herself, he describes her in glowing terms because he realizes how closely they resemble each other. maybe this is why felassan bonded with her so strongly. the person she reminded him of could easily be solas.

i don't agree with the (prevailing?) interpretation that solas tries to separate himself from present-day elvendom because he doesn’t see other elves as people. i think he’s doing it because he wants to escape the truth that destroying the world means destroying his heirs, people who are as much like him as they could be while still surviving the terrible world he bequeathed to them. if you help elves, choose dialogues that reference elven lore, or even just point out to people that you are an elf, solas throws approval at you, but if you tell him directly that you are both elves and therefore similar, he gets scared. he knows lavellan is his people, but doesn't want to internalize that because that would turn him into a second felassan - and make his murder of the actual felassan completely meaningless.

the solas romance is about this immortal promethean god-figure recognizing an equal in the present and falling in love, but i personally like this version of the story more because it places greater emphasis on the seniority and power he holds. he's one of very few lines of defense between lavellan and a chantry that has a long, storied history of elf-killing. he has access to complete, firsthand accounts of their history, and can permit or deny them that knowledge at will. they're granting him their trust and their admiration, and it's on him to decide if he's worthy of it. they are his symbolic child, and he is the only person with the capacity to prevent them from becoming a sort of isaac to his abraham.

but instead, in true deadbeat fashion, he skips town, changes his number, and stops responding to your emails. and that’s why the new game is called dragon age dad

[blvck-cherrie]

Since you’re my blessing from above… My dear cherrie.. if I May can I request a scenario with Noé where he meets a blue eyed vampire who works on odd jobs but hides her presence a lot so at night he looks for her and on this one cafe in a dark corner he finds her, our clueless boy goes in for a nice talk but she strikes at him and he tries to talk it out but gets flustered at her power level…in the end the both stay a good amount of time getting to know each other and maybe a smooch in da end? Ty for your precious time

𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓔𝔂𝓮𝓼:  Noe Archiviste x gn!reader

Genres: romance, mild fluff

Warning: none

Word count: 1,573

It was another peaceful day in Paris- the weather was just right, the breeze felt just the right amount of cool when it hit the skin, and the sun hung at just the right spot on the horizon. It was almost sunset and a gorgeous hue was cast over the sky. Noe was out on a walk, carrying Murr in his arms. He did that almost everyday, it was like a routine for him. But these past couple times, it was different. Usually he's out just for a stroll or because he was craving some tarte tatin. But lately, he had been seeking someone. It all began last week, when he first saw you- You were standing at the corner of a busy street bustling with people, a piece of paper in your hand. It had some sort of address scribbled on it, along with a not-so-detailed description of a certain cat. How am I supposed to find precisely their cat with such a lousy description..? You didn't really have stable work, so you took up all sorts of odd jobs for money, and this time, you'd gotten a request to find someone's lost cat- a white one, specifically. By this point, you'd looked almost everywhere- at the river banks, on rooftops of houses, in alleyways. You'd even climbed a few trees to check if a cat was hiding between the branches, but you couldn't find a single cat, let alone a white one. You'd searched all the less crowded areas, and that is why you had decided to look through a street bustling with crowds of people. You had always hated crowds. You absolutely avoided being noticed by people. Part of the reason was because you were, well, shy and wary of people, but the real reason was something else. Standing in a corner, you kept looking around. And that is when you spotted a white cat walking lazily on the street. That must be it. Finally. You quickly pulled the cape over your head, covering nearly half of your face- that's how much you hated attention- and sprung towards the cat. Right when you thought you had the cat in your hands, a tall, tanned man appread in front of you and picked up the cat in its arms. Huh? "Ahh, Murr, you'll give me a heart attack don't just run away like that-" So this is not the one I'm looking for. As soon as you realized that, you began to leave. "I'm Noe Archiviste.. Did you want to pet my Murr?" The man said, flashing a wide smile. But you didn't respond. Instead, you hurriedly rushed past him. Unfortunately for you, as you left, he'd gotten a glimpse of your face as your cape gave way to the wind and your eyes met for a split second. He's a vampire too. Vampires could sense each other's presence, so of course you realized it. You were one too. When he saw you though, you noticed his eyes widen. Ughh they're all the same. A lot of people who saw you, always seemed to have a similar reaction. "You're born under the blue moon clan". Its what everyone always thought. "Wait a minute- who are you-" he quickly turned around so that he could face you, only to watch your retreating figure disappear into the crowd. Ever since that encounter, Noe had always been on the look out for you while you hoped you'd never run into him again. The problem was- the uncanny resemblance of your eyes to Vanitas'. The legendary Vanitas. This alone put you at the receiving end of a lot of unnecessary hate, despite you having absolutely zero relation to that man. But everybody thought it was you, that you were a vampire of the blue moon clan and that you would curse them, solely because of your eyes. The best solution you thought of to avoid all this, was to hide your identity. So you pulled on your cape in public and stayed away from people. The evening sky had now turned into a shade of deep purple. It was already night and Noe was still looking for you. "No luck today either.. Right, Murr?" he spoke to his cat as if expecting a reply. The busy streets had now begun to get quieter. His routine walks weren't usually long, but a part of him never really wanted to go home; to rest, until he saw you. As to why he was so hung up on seeing you again, he himself didn't quite understand. If it was curiosity, or mild

attraction that he felt towards you, towards your eyes.. Or maybe just a little bit of both? He wanted to 'know more about Vanitas, in case you were related' or so he told himself. But with each passing day, his reasons to seek you became more and more unclear to himself. Unexplainable. He couldn't get the picture of your eyes out of his head. They were hauntingly beautiful. They made him want to see you again. Just seeing you once and never getting to know you- this realization made him feel uneasy on the inside, to say the least. He decided to call it a day and headed home, feeling unsatisfied. He was getting tired after all. On his way back, he decided to stop by a café which was a few blocks from the apartment he stayed in. Maybe some tarte tatin will soothe my mood- he thought. He put Murr down, outside the café. Pets weren't really allowed in there. He pushed the heavy glass door and got inside. He decided to have a seat at the back section of the café which was usually quieter and had a dimly lit ambience as compared to the brighter, busier front section. He liked it there because it was pretty cozy. He stepped inside and saw no one except one person. Wait. I feel like I have seen them somewhere.. His eyes began to widen at the realization that the person he'd been searching for, who's face he had been seeing in his head all this while, was finally in front of him. He was happy he got the chance to see you again, but more than that he was anxious. You were engrossed reading a book, so you hadn't noticed him enter. More importantly, you weren't even wearing your cape. But.. How could he approach you? What would he say? That he had been seeking you this whole time? For what? What if you were creeped out? What if you didn't recognize him? His head was swirling with all sorts of thoughts, when he finally made the attempt to approach you. He walked towards where you were seated, with his hand extended, "Hey, uhmm.. We've met befo-" But before even he could complete his sentence, you pushed him against the wall beside you and put a knife to his throat. It all just happened so swiftly, he couldn't even comprehend the situation. You were strong. Definitely strong, and he was flustered by your strength. His hand against yours was the only thing preventing you from piercing his throat, as you looked him dead in the eye. But the only thing he could focus on, was how beautifully your eyes shone in the dim lighting. In all honesty, he could've easily overpowered you and had the knife to your throat, switching your positions, if he tried. But that's not how he wanted to treat you, really. "L- look, I just wanted to talk.. I don't mean harm", he gulped. That, and the fact that he hadn't made an effort to free himself from your grip made your grim expression soften. "What do you want?" you asked. "How about you put this weapon down first..?" He said, eyeing your knife. You were hesitant, but ultimately released him, putting away the knife, still keeping your gaurd up. "You tried to pick up my cat once.. Remember?" He asked, innocently. "Yeah, I do recognize you.. But i wasn't picking up your cat", you said, sounding annoyed. He just chuckled. "Haha, you're cute" "What?" "Do you come here often?" He was apparently good at conversations and you both ended up talking for quite some time. He didn't ever bring up anything about Vanitas, which you thought was pretty nice of him. After that meet, you both ended up meeting each other pretty frequently, at the same café and had almost become good friends, when one day- "You know what?", Noe asked. You both were at that café again, late at night. "Yeah?" "You're really beautiful" "What?" "Yeah. When I saw you the first time, I think I've liked you ever since" "Wai-" What is he sayin- You felt your cheeks burn. He was an idiot, and you loved how genuinely honest he always was. He shifted closer to your seat and rested his hand between the both of you. "And your eyes are really pretty" At this point, he was so close to you, you could feel his breath

on your skin. Needless to say, you were a flustered mess. He tucked your hair behind your ear and whispered, "May I?" leaning in closer. You nodded. You liked him. He was such a nice guy, plus, he was absolutely handsome. The moment your lips touched, you felt your skin ignite, and you fell in love with him all the more.

A/n: Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it! This was fun to write but maybe the ending sounds rushed? Idk tell me in the comments. Also, requests are open so send in some <3

[vaspider]

I guess I should give a little update on our local crow family (and tag@neil-gaiman as well because why not).

When we moved to Oregon a couple of years ago, I realized that, oh, shit, there are a million crows in our neighborhood, so I started trying to make friends with them, because one should at least not be enemies with one's local murder.

So I started leaving out food & the like, going out at around the same time every day to put out healthy crow snacks like peanuts. The same mated pair started showing up a lot, and one of them -- the male, I'm assuming, bc he's bigger and the smaller one sits the nest -- started yelling outside our front window if I was 'late' on bringing out breakfast. My spouse started calling him Your Boss, and we decided to call them Crowley & Azirafowl, since this was 2019 and Good Omens had been released not too long before, and this pair fussed over each other constantly.

Anyway, their 2020 shenanigans were a main source of enjoyment for us during quarantine, and we did plenty research on the things we were permitted to feed them and so on. They started bringing that year's fledglings by (they had 3!) and we called them Pepper, Brian, and Adam. They all had very outsized personalities but Pepper was also the spiciest, with a very distinctive croak, and as it turns out, she's the girl, and has stuck around this year, as female crows often do until they pair up themselves. Brian and Adam fucked off, so I'm guessing they were indeed boys. Or possibly they died, but since I have no proof of that, I'm choosing to believe they're out their living their best crow lives.

This year we seem to have one surviving fledgling from a nest that initially had (from what we could hear) 2+, which is pretty normal. Last year was very outsized in terms of how many chicks made it to fledgling stage. Crowley and Azirafowl have started bringing the baby by, but we don't know them well enough to name them yet. They live in the pine tree south of our house, which we can see from the front porch.

There's an oak tree north of our house, which is where Odin and his mini-murder (Freyja, Baldr, and Tyr, who has a broken beak) live. This has led to quite a lot of squabbling when we put out food in the mornings, or when we refresh the cold water in the dish in the backyard, but it's just fussing, and everyone ends up getting fed.

The last few weeks have been pretty exciting in the corvid world, actually, with the following events:

1) Crowley and Pepper chasing a hawk away from the pine tree in an extremely dramatic fashion while Azirafowl hunkered down in the nest and covered the fledglings with her wings. Luckily I had just stepped outside onto the porch and got to see the whole thing. It was a true battle, with the crows divebombing the hawk aggressively and repeatedly until after its third attempt to get in to the nest, it gave up. Seriously, don't piss off crows, especially if you're a hawk. They will kick your ass.

2) When I go outside to put out Approved Crow Snacks in the feeder in the backyard & clean out the water bowl, I always whistle in a way that doesn't resemble any native bird & always in the same way, so they know it's me & have time to get the fledgling up off the ground if I didn't see him before coming outside.

Yesterday, I whistled even though I was 99% sure they weren't in the backyard. They weren't, when I came out, so I set about refreshing the crow snacks & washing out the water bowl so I could put in the ice water. (We're in PDX, so ice water was a definite must.)

While I was in the process of rinsing out the bowl with the hose, I heard a flutterflutter overhead, and casually glanced up a moment later. Crowley was sitting right overhead, staring down at me, perched in the ash tree in our backyard. "Hey, buddy," I greeted, which, again, is the same way I always greet them. Consistent behavior = crow friends. Then I went back to working, and just sort of casually talked to him, and he -- for the first time -- started 'conversing' with me, making little 'crrk!' noises when I finished a sentence, or paused in talking during my tasks.

I chatted with him until I was done, put out the ice water, and went most of the way back inside, pausing where I was as far away as I could be and still be outside. He moved as if he was about to take off, then realized I was still outside, and cawed once and loudly at me, so I took the hint, and went inside. He waited until he could see me in the kitchen window, so I was well and properly inside, and then came down for his snacks and sips.

So I guess now the crows know that when I'm whistling, that means there's about to be clean water and fresh food.

Also, Crowley had to come supervise and make sure I was doing things properly.

To close, here's a picture of Crowley giving me a Sassy Look while perched on the water bowl. The weird wire in the picture is the grape vine trellis the original owner put up, which is across the whole back of the house.