#(which themes get to Count As Important and what character traits get to Count As Character Depth)

[definitelynotplanetfall]

Fun fact: "suggestions are poison and you cannot read fanworks, and you are expected to uphold this regime as The Only Way Things Can Be" is the 2nd biggest reason I decided to completely abandon writing fiction

[bonny-kookoo]

Yoonkook x Reader

Touch-Starved [Main Story]

Yoongi has a crush on you, but is convinced you're not interested in him. You have a crush on Yoongi, but are sure that he'd never like you if he knew your secret. Jungkook has a crush on you but won't admit it to anyone, and you have a crush on Jungkook, but you think you know that he'd never see you as a possible partner, because he knows your secret. It's all just such a mess. How could you ever sort this out?

Tags/Warnings: Wolf!Bangtan, Wolf!Jungkook, Wolf!Yoongi, Dog!Reader, Puppy!Reader, DDLG aspects and themes, no judgement allowed here, non-sexual regression!!!, none of those themes are sexualized in this work, hurt and comfort, major fluff but also lots of angst and insecurity, friends to lovers

Length: idk long didn't count

-> Masterlist

There is no taglist for this fic.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

Yoongi is not good at things like affection, or relationships at that.

He easily turns red as bright as a spanked ass whenever he has to try and compliment someone he's even just remotely romantically interested in, or he will otherwise simply not find the courage to do it at all. Backhanded compliments are a regular thing with him, his character not allowing him to show someone he cares without implying that he doesn't- a trait that he hates about himself.

He'd learned it from his father, making him even more upset since he never really got along well with that man in the first place. Yet the more he thinks about it, the more it seems like his family history will just repeat itself, and he will find himself in a marriage simply created because of convenience, not love.

He cringes at that, throwing the rest of his sandwich away. His appetite has been long gone anyways.

The reason of his foul mood is in the dorm currently, sitting comfortably on the couch playfully wrestling with Jungkook over a pack of chips he can't identify from his spot.

He hates Jungkook sometimes.

He's always pictured as a shy boy, yet he's actually the exact opposite - easily likable, charming, and most of all- he's your age. The maknae and you are merely half a year apart in age, and he can see why you get along with him. He is a nice person, with his bright smile and large eyes, talented, strong, and likes video games as much as you do.

Yoongi himself does play some games to a small extend, however, he rather buries himself in his work, losing sense of time whenever music is involved.

Overly confident is not how he would describe you- you are simply uncaring of trends of the masses. You don't crave to stand out like Taehyung does, you rather enjoy simply living for yourself and what makes you happy no matter what people would think of your 'goals'. You love stuffed animals and soft colorful things no matter how childish it might make you look. You rarely take selfies of yourself, and never really pose much in images- you just smile, simple as that.

God that smile. If there is an emotion for hate and love at the same time, he is constantly feeling it when it comes to you.

Yoongi wants to be close to you as well, maybe even the closest if he is honest, yet he doesn't know how the hell he is supposed to do that. You both rarely text- he is too unsure if he can, since he is only in a groupchat with you, and only got your ID from Hoseok, who gave it to him in case Yoongi needs to text you something important. You rarely visit him in his studio, but then again, he never told you you'd be welcome anytime. Every small thing he does for you he either brushes it off as nothing speci¹al, or sometimes even tells you that he didn't do it, but one of his members, claiming that he has no Idea what you are talking about. You also show absolutely no interest in him whatsoever.

Which makes his embarrassing crush on you all the more awkward.

He's Min Yoongi for god's sake! He could have anyone if he really tried, if just for his fame and wealth and status as a full blooded Wolf-Hybrid coming from a 'clean' bloodline- yet he is stuck with you, the tiny dog hybrid who sees him as a friend only- if even that at all.

"Yoongi! Finally leaving your wife in there to join us in being social for once?" Seokjin remarks with his signature laugh following, making you chuckle as well.

"Don't be mean Jin." You softly scold the oldest. "Yoongs works hard in there." You look over your shoulder, one of your floppy ears unfolding while you smile that goddamn smile at him- not huge, not a smirk, simply a nice friendly gesture towards him, curled tail wagging a little.

The nickname doesn't make it better.

He hates nicknames, however, he could definitely keep living with your cute versions of his first name any day of the week. He wants to answer you, give you a verbal response, yet all he can bring himself to do is a shrug of his shoulders.

What the fuck.

But you only playfully hold your heart, falling into Jungkooks lap with a dramatic sigh. "Ah, always so cold-!" Which makes the guys laugh, and himself involuntarily smile to himself. He sits down, managing to actually place his ass next to you on the couch without instantly retreating for once. You bravely put your legs over his lap, and his mind is beginning to form the same amount of error messages like his PC system the last time he spilled his iced americano over his MIDI-board.

Yet he only grunts on the outside, and takes his phone out to search for something.

You chuckle, mumbling a sorry under your breath and move to slide your legs off of him again, but his unused hand stops them, shifting them back. His fingers are touching the small patch of bare skin on your calf between your leggings and fluffy sock that had slid down a little- and he has to use all of his self-control not to burst into flames.

He's never really had any very close contact with you, and always imagined what your skin may feel like- as creepy as that sounds. The smile he can see you forming from the side of his view makes him relax, as well- the first sign spotted that he might have some sort of effect on you. Taehyung makes a noise, but is silenced by namjoon who pulls him into a conversation to avoid embarrassing the producer, well aware of his own personal dilemma with you. He is the only one who really knows of his feelings towards you- having told yoongi that you actually feel the same way, yet a bit different. You are, according to namjoon, scared to overstep boundaries with Yoongi, worried that he may snap at you like he did a few months back.

There's that certain feeling whenever you do something stupid and then want to apologize, but you miss the chance and now weeks after it's just awkward, so you don't mention it, while also having to deal with the consequences daily.

Yeah. He still thinks of that moment he'd yelled at you sometimes at the most random of times, cringing internally at it. He'd been stressed with the new Album he wanted to put out, having been stuck on one song, and you had just turned up at the wrong time. You didn't cry or anything like that, you simply apologized for opening his studio without knocking, and left with your tail tucked between your legs. Since then however you'd become a bit more distant with him, more careful, and less touchy than you were with the rest of the pack.

He knows you're a sucker for skinship and cuddling, especially as a dog hybrid who's grown up in a carecenter between many other hybrids, yet you also respect if someone wants space. He loves how much attention you pay to your surroundings, eyes always wide open- you remember things for a long time, and you are able to keep track of so many things at once- yet he's also seen your apartment, a glimpse of your more raw personal side that you tend to keep close to yourself. You're a chaotic person, and he doesn't know how you find anything on that desk of yours.

You struggle to keep track of chores and your own health sometimes, yet you try hard, he knows that. And that makes him feel such an extreme need to make sure you're always happy and taken care of, that he's the one to take care of you.

"Oh, YOONGI!" You suddenly gasp at him, and he raises his eyebrows, looking at you as you move around a bit, your hands searching in your sweater pocket for something. "I actually cleaned up my apartment yesterday, and I found this. I think I borrowed it sometime ago, but lost it- sorry for that again by the way, won't happen again I promise!" You say, showing him a black and silver USB stick, your curly tail wagging in excitement.

You're right, that is his. He actually had forgotten about it.

"Took you long enough." He simply says and takes it from you to put it in his own pocket, seconds later cringing at his sentence. He could've definitely phrased that better, or maybe even simply thank you for giving it back even after all this time. Yet the timeframe of saying thank you without making it seem weird or out of place is already overstepped now, so he has to suffer.

Jungkook chimes in instead.

"I helped her get some order back into that place. Poor puppy had been so stressed with work that she couldnt keep up anymore." He says, laughing along with you, and Yoongi lets a chuckle of his own slip. But instead of telling you what a good job you did, or any praise he really wants to tell you, he only pats your leg gently two times, running his thumb over your calf for a second, internally imprinting into his mind how soft your skin is.

You however beam at this, visibly feeding off of his small gesture like a touch starved pet- and he can't help but find it cute.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

A knock on his door makes him look at it, giving a verbal response in a low "Hm?", as he hears your voice from behind it.

You're not really saying anything, just a sound of confusion and discomfort escaping you from behind the door, and he can slowly hear your slippers softly moving away, when he gets up from his chair to open his door to see you stop to look at him. You're standing in front of him with wide eyes and lowered ears, one of them being pulled on by your hand as he can hear the rest of the pack laughing in the main living room of the dorm. He chuckles at that, waving you into his studio, making him and yourself smile. You thank him somewhat quietly, and go to sit down on his small couch he has inside his studio, laying down so your feet still touched the ground as to not overstep any unspoken rules he might have.

Yoongi however walks up to you, and puts your feet up for you, grabbing a spare blanket from besides the couch, something he always kept here since he sleeps in his studio quite often. You thank him quietly for that, the soft buzzing of his studio PC and the nice air conditioning already helping your fuzzy head a lot.

Jumping over your shadow and coming here was a good idea after all, it seems like.

Yoongi sympathizes with you when it comes to headaches- and it's clear from your behavior that you probably have one, which could also explain why you don't really talk, since it probably hurts. Due to the fact that he seems to solely survive off of caffeine and a cup of instant ramen smashed in between his busy schedule, he gets them more often than he would like to admit. Yet he also remembers how you'd told him once how easily your headaches evolved into migraines if you weren't careful, so he is mindful to help you in avoiding that this time. He digs around in his mind for any small excuse to talk to you, yet ultimately decides against it, thinking it would probably be better for you to have as much silence as possible.

He wonders what your secret is.

Namjoon had mentioned something you kept secret 'for a reason', but he wouldn't tell the producer what it could be, not even a hint. You hopefully know that nothing could ever really make Yoongi see you any different than he does right now.

Except maybe murder- but he doubts that that's what you're hiding.

He also knows that Jungkook is aware of it too. Maybe you both are a couple? He does sleep over sometimes after all, seems to be awfully good with calming you down whenever you're anxious or panicking. It's like the young wolf is aware or something Yoongi isn't, able to manage you when you're becoming restless about things.

Another knock is heard. Yoongi attempts to call out- but gets up to walk to the door instead so he won't shout and worsen your headache. It's Jungkook- because of course it is.

"Hey- is- oh, there she is. I was wondering where she went " jungkook says, entering after the rapper walks aside, silently giving him permission to come in. "Hey- everything okay?" Jungkook wonders softly to you, and you quietly shake your head, whining slightly to yourself before you pull down your ears once more over your eyes, clearly signaling your headache to him as well. "I told you to drink more, puppy. Come on, let's get you home." He gently says, helping you sit up.

"She can just nap here, I don't mind." Yoongi offers- but there's something in Jungkook's eyes that seems oddly suspicious as he looks for an answer inside his head it seems like.

"Ah, I'll rather take her home, but thanks hyung." He tells him, averting his gaze as he instead occupies himself with you who's silently reaching out for him, clinging onto him as he picks you up, showing clearly how used to it both of you are. Jungkook holds you almost effortlessly, while you're instinctively laying your head on his shoulder, arms around his neck.

Yeah, you're probably a couple, and you just don't want to say it out loud.

"You know, you could just tell everyone." Yoongi grumbles more or less as he opens the door for the two of you, Jungkooks wide eyes looking at him. "No one's gonna get mad or something if you told them." He shrugs, and Jungkook looks around for a second, on edge. "You're together, right?" He asks, and Jungkook shakes his head- though with a hint of shyness in his face.

"Ah no- hyung.." He sighs. "I'll- she'll explain when she's ready okay?" He says, as you whine into his neck. "I have to bring her home now- thanks for looking after her!" He says already walking away-

leaving Yoongi confused.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

Jungkook honestly wishes you and him were a couple.

But life doesn't work like this, and sadly, you're not into him like that. You see him as a comfort person, a packmate and a friend- but nothing more than that. He remembers when he first 'caught' you in the midst of regressing in your home-

the whole apartment a mess, cluttered and absolutely disorganized.

You're one of only three percent of dog hybrids that fall into a different headspace when stressed or overwhelmed. It's not something you can control, and neither is it a trauma response- it's just nature playing a cruel joke on you, making your mind shut down to a certain degree to protect you. It's like your brain is overprotective- trying to shield you from all potential mental harm.

But all of that comes with a lot of issues and troubles, such as difficulty holding a job, or simple things such as keeping your apartment clean.

Jungkook remembers how terrified you were of him finding you in your messy apartment- having had to calm you down for a good hour or so before he could even attempt at helping you clean up and take care of your needs. He's not sure why you're so adamant on hiding it from the rest of the pack- but he's got an idea.

Dog hybrids with your condition are alienated, isolated, judged terribly. And you're probably terrified of being cast out of the pack for it, leaving you alone and without anybody.

Your personal nightmare.

So he just instead has decided to take care of you, and wait until you feel ready to tell someone else. You deserve happiness and the feeling of safety and comfort, but he can also understand that you're worried of how it'll be taken by the rest of the guys.

And yeah, he also gets to be a little selfish himself when he's got time with you like this. He gets to live out a little dream here and there, where you're actually his to love. Because he does love you, to the moon and back- and he knows his heart will surely break a little one day when you find someone to give your own heart to, instead of him.

So he takes these moments for himself, and enjoys those daydreams for now, until he has to wake up.

"There we go, that's already better isn't it?" Jungkook hums after he'd taken out your hairtie, fingers massaging the spot where it had been pressing against your scalp for the past few hours. You hum in agreement, nodding against his shoulder while you move a bit to get comfortable on his thighs.

You don't even know that you almost exposed your secret to Yoongi of all people- the one wolf of the pack you've got a crush on.

Everyone kind of knows it, everyone also knows about his crush on you as well- though you seem rather talented in finding excuse after excuse as to why that can't be true. Jungkook knows your main fear is what you're right now- and that Yoongi could find you appalling, or childish, or anything else negative that could come to your mind.

And Jungkook can't say he doesn't understand your fear- because he does.

"You're gonna get all stiff if you nap like that." Jungkook chuckles, patting your back a little, making your curled tail wag happily. "Don't be a brat now. Come on, we'll take a nap on the couch, yeah?" He hums. You whine. "No? Not a nap?" He wonders, but you nod now. "Okay, yes to a nap, no to the couch?" He navigates, laughing when you nod now, tail wagging. "Puppy if we nap in bed you'll sleep for hours though." He sighs.

But you simply wiggle out of his lap, before you run to the bedroom-

The wolf hot on your heels, when your doorbell rings.

When Jungkook opens the door, it's Yoongi- the producer holding up a jacket. "She left it at the dorm." He informs Jungkook, who reaches out to take it- though Yoongi holds it back. "I'd like to give it to her myself-"

"You can't." The younger wolf denies, panicking a little when he hears something jingle, and feels the toy hit his back softly, fabric ball tumbling to the ground, bell inside the cotton filling the cause of the noise. Jungkook closes the door a bit more now to keep you out of sight. "Just- uh, she'll grab it tomorrow-"

"Her phone and purse are in the pockets." Yoongi says. "I'm sure she'd like it back right now." He challenges, and Jungkook can feel himself squirm uncomfortably under the strong gaze of his packmate, having to avert his gaze. "What's really going on?" Yoongi asks, as the toy hits Jungkook's back again.

"Look, this is really bad timing right now-" Jungkook whines as he kicks the toy back with his food go occupy you at least for just a second to give himself more time to think of an excuse. "-She's.. not feeling well right now." He tries to justify.

"Jungkook you're not being very convincing right now." Yoongi sighs. "What the fuck is going on? Does she hate me?"

"NO!" Jungkook barks, before he pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ah.. God, fuck, alright." He sighs, defeated, letting the door slowly open more, while he turns around to throw the soft fabric ball towards where you sit on the floor, toy flying over your head, making you flop onto your back as you try to catch it.

You don't even realize it's Yoongi who's now in the doorway whole Jungkook sits in front of you to start a game of tug-of-war with the soft llushy toy with you, successfully pulling your attention away from the producer who just silently enters the apartment, and closes the door behind him before he hangs up your coat.

It takes him one good look to realize what's going on.

The hazy look in your eyes. The way you don't even greet him, rather occupied with the game Jungkook plays with you. Your almost clumsy way of movement.

"So that's the secret?" Yoongi hums as he sits down near his packmate, watching you with an unreadable expression.

Jungkook nods. "She's scared of anyone finding out." He reveals, while he watches you now nibbling on his finger instead of the toy, before you yawn.

"Why?" Yoongi wonders. "It's not like it's her fault or choice." He mumbles.

"Yeah, I know." Jungkook shrugs. "But I get it, you know? You hear horror stories about it all the time. Friends and family being weirded out and stuff." He explains, and Yoongi grows quiet.

It really is understandable.

"So that's why you sleep over so much?" He asks, and the younger wolf nods.

"She used to be triggered easily since she didn't have a person to rely on." He explains. "But when I took on that.. role, I guess, she became more stable. It doesn't happen so randomly anymore, she's got more control over it. Today was just a bad day I guess." He shrugs.

"She must be tough to handle." Yoongi mumbles.

"Not really." Jungkook denies. "She's very sweet. The beginning was hard, yeah, but mostly because I didn't know what to do. These days it's become easier." He nods to himself, though Yoongi doesn't miss the look on his friend's face.

"You love her." He states.

And Jungkook only nods.

"I do." He agrees. "It's hard not to."

Yoongi hums in agreement, and Jungkook wants to be swallowed by the ground. Now that the producer knows, he'll take over the care of you- you'll grow closer, emotionally and physically, and you'll no longer need Jungkook to care for you.

His dream is ending, and he hates it.

"She loves you too." Yoongi offers. Jungkook laughs a little.

"Situationally, yeah." He nods.

"No, in general." Yoongi argues, but he can't seem to push through the thoughts of Jungkooks mind, the wolf having already decided his stance on things. "Jungkook.."

"You'll take good care of her, right?" He asks, looking at his packmate with round eyes that try hard not to let any tears fall. "You'll make sure she doesn't have to.. feel ashamed, or bad, right?"

"I'm not taking her away from you." Yoongi shakes his head, and Jungkook nods.

"I know you're not." He says, trying hard to keep it together even as you crawl into his lap to comfort him, sensing his distress.

"She was never mine to begin with."

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

You're absolutely mortified when you're informed of what happened- or rather when you connected the dots yourself, after waking from your nap with both wolves next to you in bed.

One look exchanged with Jungkook signals to him that you've pulled yourself out of your headspace- body shaking now with the overwhelming sense of shame you're feeling as Yoongi sits up now as well to look at you with a sense of worry.

"Hey, it's fine." Jungkook reassures easily. "He doesn't hate you or anything, he's cool with it."

"Oh god this is so weird.." you hide your face in your hands, embarrassed by the events unfolding like this.

"Its not. It makes sense, really." Yoongi shrugs. "So this is why you don't want to move into the pack dorm with us?" He wonders, and you nod.

"Its weird. You can say that, I know myself that it is." You sigh.

"You're not weird." Jungkook shakes his head, taking your hand to reassure you. "Promise."

"I agree. This isn't weird, it's something that happens to some." He shrugs. "I still like you." He says without thinking, as you slowly look at him.

"You.. do?" You wonder, and he nods.

"Very much." He smiles a bit awkwardly, when Jungkook let's go of your hand, clearing his throat.

"I'll.. I'll see myself out then." He mumbles, and at that your head snaps towards him.

No- he can't leave like that. Yoongi might've..somewhat confessed, but you still need him. You still want him here.

Wait.

If Yoongi likes you, and toy like him back, and that leads to you Noth becoming partners, that's great. But if that means you can't have Jungkook, you don't want it. You need jungkook.

You love jungkook, too.

"Hey, Yoongi will stay with you, you're not alone anymore-" He tries to settle your clearly bubbling panic, but its to no avail. Your head is filled with the fact that Jungkook wants to leave, and you don't want that.

You want both. Why can't they both stay?

Your cheeks are wet with tears as your puppy-mind refuses to accept the situation. You've slipped right back again, as you make jungkook hold yoongis hand, before you yourself hold onto them, stubbornly holding onto their connected hands, before you lay down on them, eyes closed and ears pinned back.

"I uh.." Jungkook stampers a big awkwardly, attempt at pulling his hand away responded to with a low growl from you, eyes glaring.

"Seems like we'll have to share." Yoongi teases surprisingly, catching the younger wolf off guard as hemeeys the older one's gaze.

"I mean- uh-" he stammers, unsure. "Is that.. will that even work out?" He worries, while you happily fall asleep hiding both their hands.

"Guess we'll have to find out." Yoongi shrugs, laying down again next to you, Jungkook slowly doing the same a few seconds later.

Looks like his dream didn't end after all-

Maybe it just begun.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

[hayatheauthor]

How To Write And Create A Subplot

A subplot is an essential aspect of any book. It helps drive your story forward and hook your readers in with a compelling narrative. A good subplot raises the stakes for the main character by introducing side characters, creating plot twists, adding another dimension to the story or revealing information from the past or future. 

However, if executed incorrectly subplots can overshadow your main plot and deviate from the heart of your story. Unsure how to create and execute a subplot? Here are some helpful tips to get you started! 

Why Are Subplots Important? 

A subplot is a narrative thread that supports the elements of your main plot. They often build conflict or shed light on a secondary character’s story. Subplots help you create multilevel narrative arcs and build complexity and depth. 

Your readers certainly don’t need to know what your antagonists were doing while the protagonist underwent secluded training, but adding this subplot builds tension, heightens the stakes and easily portrays personality traits and character flaws. This is especially true for genres such as SFF or horror where your characters often don’t know their enemy’s plan until the last moment. 

Subplots are often what make your readers connect with your characters and world-building. To put it simply, if Harry Potter was written without any subplots Rowling could have wrapped up the entire series in one book. 

Types Of Subplots 

It’s important for authors to branch out and implement more than one subplot in their manuscript. Sticking to one subplot can often result in a poor portrayal of an important moment or make an interesting arc fall flat. A simple way to avoid this is by combining different subplots when working on your manuscript. 

Mirror Subplots

Mirror subplots are essentially a subplot that mirrors what your protagonist or antagonist is going through in order to illuminate their personality traits and how they dealt with said situation. A great example of a mirror subplot would be Sophie and Agatha’s dynamics during the first book of A School For Good and Evil. 

Sophie and Agatha both start off with essentially the same introduction to characters like Tedros, the faculty, their roommates, etc. but while Sophie uses a negative outlook to harm those around her Agatha focuses more on a problem-solving approach. 

Contrasting Subplot 

A contrasting subplot is when a smaller character faces the same situation as your protagonist/antagonist but handles the situation differently. For example, a protagonist allowed themselves to be injured in order to safely evacuate a nearby citizen but an antagonist in a similar position used the civilian to shield themselves from the attack. 

Contrasting subplots cannot exist unless both characters undergo the same situation, which is why it is important to plan this subplot out before executing it. 

Complicating Subplot 

Complicating subplots are the most common subplot used in literature. They’re pretty self-explanatory and involve a secondary character creating complications for the protagonist. This can be as simple as your love interest’s sister spreading gossip about the protagonist, or as complicated as a grand political scheme created to turn the protagonist’s allies against them. 

Romantic Subplot 

Romantic subplots are often confused with romance written as a subgenre. The difference between the two is simple—a book with romance as a subgenre simply includes romantic themes, however, a romantic subplot uses romance to deviate from the main plot. 

For example, if your protagonist left their usual environment to attend an event with your love interest for a couple of chapters, that counts as a romantic subplot. However, a character simply having a romantic moment does not constitute as a subplot. 

Things To Keep In Mind When Creating A Subplot 

Now that I’ve divulged all of the facts associated with writing a subplot, here are some personal tips writers should take into consideration when creating a subplot. 

A Subplot Is NOT Its Own Story 

This is an important factor many writers often forget when creating a subplot. Subplots are meant to tie into the main plot and move the story forward. They are supposed to be an arc in your story, not a story of their own. 

Subplots are a great way to foreshadow events, drop hints, reveal character traits, etc. however, you need to consider whether or not your manuscript needs to have these characters. Your deuteragonist’s tragic past with the antagonist might make for a good story, but you could probably summarise those events within one chapter. 

The same can be said for past love interests, ex-friends, training arcs and backstory arcs for minor characters. These factors would all propel your plot forward, however, incorrectly implementing them can ruin your reader’s immersion and deviate from the actual plot. 

If you’re unsure whether or not your subplot should be included in your novel, take the time to consider these few questions: 

Does your subplot help your protagonist accomplish their main goal? Or does it drastically deviate them from their initial purpose? 

Does this subplot introduce a new character, a new side to an old character, or the ‘true’ version of a seemingly good/bad character? 

Would your character be unable to attain their long-term goal without this subplot? 

Would your world-building, character development, or a certain aspect of the main plot feel confusing if not for this subplot? 

If your answer to these was yes, then you probably have a valid subplot on your hands. If not, then you should genuinely consider questions and take into account why you want to include this subplot, to begin with. If your answer is something along the lines of ‘it has so and so scene/dynamic which I really enjoyed or think the readers will like’ then your manuscript would probably do better without that subplot. 

Create Conclusive Arcs 

Unlike your main plot, subplots are supposed to have a start and finish. They need to have a complete arc and some semblance of a conclusion. 

For example, if you were writing a contrasting subplot where the side character decided to abandon another character in order to save themselves, you need to consider what happens once you write out this scene. How do the other characters react to it? Does this impact your side character’s position in the story? And most importantly, how does this impact the rest of your plot? 

You need to know where you’re going to go with your story once you have concluded your subplot, and figure out a way to tie your subplot into your main plot. 

I hope this blog on how to create and execute a sub plot will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday.  

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and marketing tools for authors every Monday and Thursday. 

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Love is Easy (M) ~Bang Chan

Pairing: Werewolf!Chan x Human!F.Reader Themes: Supernatural/Fantasy AU | Smut | Fluff | Established Relationship Warnings: Christopher is Intense™ but so is the MC so i guess they’re even, pet names, graphic depictions of intercourse (smut warnings under the cut), sickly sweet i think you might get cavities if you’re a hopeless romantic. gentle reminder that Chris’ girl is curvy/chubby/thick/however you wanna call it :) Word Count: ~10k | AO3 Summary: After two years of living among werewolves, of being an important member of their pack, you finally get to partake in one of their most important activities: their ‘monthly camping trip’. [This story is an instalment of my WereRoomies series].

Author’s Note: when i think i’m over them, i just circle back to Chris and his girl. i wanted to give some depth to their relationship, so i guess here this is ! the title of this piece comes from McFly’s Love is Easy, a song i feel could’ve had this werewolf!Chris having an epiphany.

Due to all the abovementioned warnings, this story is intended for an adult audience only. Minors please do not interact.

Chris’ WereRoomies Instalments:  It’s Cold Out · Rut · Alpha Dog · It’s Warm In · Love is Easy · Afraid to Lose You. For extra drabbles, check out the series masterlist.

Smut Warnings: possessiveness · intercrural (four fics later i realise i’ve inadvertently given this man a thigh kink, oops) · oral [F.Rec] · unprotected penetration [piv. no barrier method, but the reader is presumed to be on birth control] · creampie · typical roughness that comes with having intercourse with a full alpha werewolf I GUESS

Disclaimer: the story represented in this work does not represent Stray Kids in any way; anything described in this story and all actions performed by the characters are purely fictional, this was created just for good fun.

Becoming one of the main pillars of a pack of werewolves was something you never truly expected to happen in your life.

Two years ago you didn’t even know werewolves existed, you thought it was all a mix of myths and legends, all part of the supernatural and fantasy genres in books and media. Which was why, when you moved to this building, you would’ve never guessed you were moving into a werewolf den. You couldn’t have even imagined that the warm, welcoming man looking for a roommate was a werewolf himself.

As soon as you found out of their condition, though, it was as if a switch flipped, and suddenly you were helping all these people living in this place, providing emotional support when needed, giving advice, or simply being there for them when they needed you. Hell, you even started coordinating the communal finances of the entire pack. All of a sudden these seven neighbours of yours started calling you mother–mostly in what you thought was a joking manner–and when you asked your roommate about it at the time, he had simply blushed a bit and explained to you that they started to see you as the ‘Pack Parent’, mostly because of the support you always gave them, because you were always there for them.

Your roommate, Chris, obviously failed to mention that the other reason for them to start calling you that was because he, the alpha of their pack, was harbouring a crush on you, so his packmates liked to tease him for it, alluding to the fact that, if you were to become romantically involved with him, you would indeed be in the position of being their pack’s ‘mum’. 

Although you were well aware of the role you were filling in, and what it typically meant, you fell naturally into the position due to your own personality traits–your need to help those close to you, your emotional maturity, to name a couple–you never really thought of what that could or would mean for Chris and you. Even if you were great at helping others with their problems, you were a bit dense with things that involved you directly, like Chris’ crush on you, which, looking in retrospect, was really obvious–just like your crush on him was, but he also didn’t seem to pick up on it at the time.

It took around a year of you living with him, of you being an important member of his pack of werewolves, for you both to finally become A Thing. And even then, the way you got together wasn’t exactly… Conventional. One ovulation cycle had unexpectedly sent your dear roommate into his rut, and in the process, you somehow ended up helping him through it by, essentially, letting him fuck you silly for days on end. You certainly skipped a few steps at the beginning, but your relationship with Chris was smooth sailing after that.

Sure, he still got on your nerves sometimes, just like he used to do when you were just roommates; silly things like the way he left the spice containers misplaced after cooking, or the fact that he couldn’t leave the goddamn toilet lid closed, or how he would often forget to lock the door at night–just how you knew he just couldn’t stand the way you loaded laundry. In fact, your only major disagreement since your relationship started happened because you just couldn’t stand the fact that he wouldn’t take care of himself as much as he should.

Chris was a grown man, he led his pack of misfits almost flawlessly, and he had a stable job as a software engineer that he was dedicated to. Maybe a bit too much. Chris was so good at his job and at taking care of the people around him that he would often forget to fulfil his basic needs, like keeping hydrated and eating proper meals at appropriate times, something that you couldn’t help but worry about constantly.

Contrary to what your place within the pack might lead people to believe, you weren’t there to mother your grown-ass werewolf boyfriend, so after one too many texts of ‘oh yea forgot to have lunch lol’ you just exploded–maybe a bit too dramatically, you’d admit, considering it wasn’t something he was doing on purpose–the entire thing leading to that only major argument you’d had with him as of yet.

At the time, once both of you had calmed down, you simply apologised for the way in which you delivered your message, and Chris did acknowledge the fact that, yes, he wasn’t taking care of himself as he should, but he had stressed the fact that he really didn’t expect you to mother him in any way. And to his credit, he did get a bit better with his self-sabotaging habits–emphasis on a bit, but he was certainly trying his best.

Other than that, though, everything was great. You’d never truly had such a balanced, healthy relationship before, which was kind of funny, considering your boyfriend was, in essence, a supernatural being. A fact that somehow didn’t bother you in the slightest, but it did bring some challenges, mostly because, since you were but a mere human, there were many behaviours or traditions you simply didn’t understand from the get-go, so you had to educate yourself as much as you could. Which was something you had already been doing since you were only roommates, something that you were sure you would have to continue doing for as long as you lived among his kind, and, by the time you neared your two year mark living at their den, you honestly didn’t think you’d ever leave.

Sometimes, though, you did worry about the fact that you weren’t exactly like Chris and his friends. That worry grew a bit the more you realised how important you had become to them, and how important they had become to you. There was nothing that you wanted more than to do well at the role that you had taken in the pack, and since you became the pack apha’s partner, there was something you hadn’t gotten around to do, and it was bothering you–even when the rest never really said anything on the matter.

“You think I can go with you guys this time?” The entire time you had been lying on this sofa with your boyfriend you had been building up the courage to ask that question, and now that it was out, you certainly felt a bit relieved.

“To Disney?” Chris chuckled, looking away from the TV currently playing an ad for Disneyland to look at you instead.

“No”, you couldn’t help but chuckle. Removing yourself from Chris’ embrace, you sat straighter, straddling him as you settled your hands on his chest, looking down at him. “Wanna join you on your monthly trip”.

Once a month, when there was going to be a full moon, Chris and his pack went on a trip to the woods–it was their ‘monthly camping trip’, as they called it. They would usually be gone for a couple of days, a few at most, and whenever they came back they always looked refreshed, invigorated. Chris had explained to you that basically all they did was go for a run through the woods, they’d simply shift into their wolf forms and run for a few hours.

‘It helps greatly to relieve stress, especially the stress induced by just… You know, existing as both a human and a wolf. That’s why we always come back looking so relaxed. Plus, the moon’s just… Can’t explain it but running under the moonlight feels just so freeing. Especially when it’s full’, Chris had told you once when you were still just roommates, and you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

“Baby…” Chris’ hands sneaked under the hem of your pyjama shorts to softly caress the skin of your thighs. “You know it can be… Dangerous. We can get very, uh… Animalistic. Which is why we’ve never taken a human to one of our trips”.

“I know…” Your fingers lightly tapped on Chris’ chest, and your eyes moved away from his to stare at the movement. “But… Don’t you think it’s weird that I’ve never gone on one of your trips?”

Removing his hands from under your shorts, Chris cupped your rear, lifting you up just enough so he could sit up and place you back on his lap, settling his hands on your lower back as he looked at you. “Why would I think it’s weird?”

“I mean… We’ve been together for a while now, and I’ve been living here with you guys for even more than that”, placing your arms around Chris’ neck, you wiggled a bit, crossing your ankles behind him once you found a more comfortable position to sit on his lap. “Kinda feels like… Like I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing, you know?”

“What do you think you’re supposed to be doing, pretty?” The confusion was clear in Chris’ eyes, and honestly, you couldn’t blame him.

“Helping you out”, you replied simply, and you literally saw the moment your words started to really make sense in Chris’ brain with the shift in his eyes, that look of confusion turning to a glint of concern almost immediately.

“Baby, it’s not something you have to do. You know that, right? You… Always help out in many other ways”, Chris pulled you further into his lap, almost pressing his chest to yours. “In many, many, less dangerous ways. Hell, you already practically plan the entire thing beforehand…”

“But I want to go. Want to be there for you guys”, moving your hand away from where it was resting on his shoulder, you reached to push his fringe out of his eyes. “Besides, I trust you guys. You know that”.

“Babe…” Chris sighed, taking a hold of your hand, moving it away from his face for his thumb to softly caress your knuckles. “I know you trust us, but… This is… We’re a bit different from our day to day selves”.

“At least think about it”, you squeezed his hand, trying to reassure him. “Besides, no offence, babe, but I’ve literally let you fuck me like an animal when you’re deep into your rut, how can it be any different?”

Chris laughed at that, a bit incredulous, and you couldn’t help but smile as you took in the sight of his dimples showing up. “Fair point, I guess”, leaning in, Chris pressed a soft kiss on your lips, pulling away after, just enough to look you in the eyes as he spoke, but keeping his chest pressed to yours. “Alright, pretty baby. Let me think about it, okay? Need to… Consider some logistics. Make sure it’s safe for you, yeah?”

You just gave him a smile in response before you leaned in to kiss him, mumbling a soft ‘okay’ against his lips.

“No”, Chris said firmly, leaning on the backrest of the dining chair as he crossed his arms and looked Minho dead in the eyes.

“Yes”, Minho replied simply, leaning back on his chair as well, matching Chris’ stance.

“Minho, no”, Chris repeated, slightly exasperated.

“Guys–” Changbin tried to speak, but Chris cut him off.

“Changbin, no”.

“Love, it’s only fair…” You couldn’t help but chime in, giving him an apologetic smile when he shot you a pained look.

Chris, Changbin, Minho, and you were sitting on your dining table, planning the upcoming trip to the woods, just like you did every month. Typically, you’d simply plan out the basics–fresh changes of clothes, clean bedsheets, whether they’d take groceries or fully prepared meals, anything and everything they might need… Today, part of the topic of discussion was your attendance to the trip.

“But it’s not the same”, Chris looked at the three of you with his brows furrowed in concern. “You going there is already enough human presence, adding another–”

“It’s only fair, she said it herself”, Minho interrupted, pointing at you. “I’ve asked a million times and you’ve never let me bring my friend because she’s human”, he turned to you then. “If we’re taking you, then we’re taking her, too. Both humans or none. No offence”.

Bringing your hands up, you simply added a, “none taken. I do think it’s only fair”.

Chris groaned, dragging his hands down his face. Crossing his arms again he looked at Changbin, almost pleading, to which Changbin just gave him an apologetic smile and a shrug.

It wasn’t like Chris needed you all to agree. In fact, if he put his foot down for real you’d probably have to comply, but that wasn’t how Chris led his pack. He liked to make things fair, to take his packmate’s opinions into consideration, even when they went against what he himself wanted to do, and that was especially true when it came to Changbin, Minho, and you.

Chris was quiet for a while, the rest of you as well, just waiting for the Pack Alpha to make his decision. Staring at the table, Chris drummed his fingers on the surface as he pondered, but ultimately, he heaved a sigh, looking straight at Minho. “If she comes, you do know she’s your full responsibility, right?”

“I do know. Never have I not thought that”.

“If anything happens to her–”

“Nothing’s gonna happen to her”, Minho was really confident in his statement, and you honestly didn’t doubt for one second that Minho would do his best to protect his friend. He always did, she’d been coming to the den since even before you moved in, and based on what you knew about their friendship, you were sure Minho would do his best to take care of her.

Chris looked at Minho for a few moments, until finally, he took a deep breath, sitting straighter on his chair only to exhale, leaning his elbows on the table. “Fine. She can come”.

Minho simply gave Chris a smile, a genuine one. Funnily enough, Chris didn’t sound particularly defeated or annoyed at all, he hardly ever did with these things, you knew he was probably just concerned for her safety, just like he was concerned for yours. Prior to your ‘meeting’ today, he’d finally told you you could come, and honestly you couldn’t have been more excited when the words came out of his mouth, but he did tell you of his ‘contingency plan’, as he called it.

‘Checked the blueprints of the house. Apparently my grandparents had added reinforced doors to the basement, so if anything doesn’t go as planned, that’s where you’ll go, okay?’ Chris had told you earlier, and he was now just telling the same thing to Changbin and Minho.

“We’ll get some wolfsbane, too. Just in case”, Chris finished, and your eyes almost bulged out of your skull.

“Christopher, we’re not getting wolfsbane!” 

“Just a bit! And as a last resource”, Chris laid his hand on top of yours, trying to soothe your worries–a low tactic, knowing that having his hands on you in one way or another could certainly help persuade you.

So you turned to Changbin and Minho. Minho just shrugged, “I’m not fond of the idea. I wouldn’t like to die from wolfsbane poisoning if I’m honest…”

Changbin looked at the three of you, and then sighed. “Honestly? Chris, I think you’re being a bit dramatic… But if it makes you feel better I’m not opposed to it. Trust you enough to not kill our entire pack with it”.

So Chris turned back to look at you, giving you his best puppy eyes, adding a pout for good measure, and you couldn’t help but scoff a chuckle, slightly incredulous. “Fine, if that makes you feel better, baby, bring the deadly plant…”

“It’d be just a bit, promise. Just enough to knock us out, but not kill us in the process”.

And the smile he gave you after that honestly made you trust him completely.

With Chris’, Changbin’s, and Minho’s cars filled to the brim with your supplies, and distributing the rest of the pack members between the three vehicles, you all made your way to the woods, to the property Chris’ grandparents left him in their will. When you found out about that house, and how big it was, you had asked Chris why they decided to move to their current den instead of going to live there, out of curiosity more than anything.

‘It’s too far away from the city. We’ve got our lives out here already, you know? Plus, back when we started the pack the place wasn’t even mine, and the rooms are too close together, we’d hardly get any privacy’, he’d told you back then, and it sounded fairly reasonable to you. Especially the privacy part… Even though they were all essentially family and they loved each other deeply, each member of the pack had distinct personalities of their own, each one with their own oddities that could clash with one another when having to share their space for long periods of time, and if it happened to Chris and you sometimes, you figured it would be the same between them as well.

Jeongin and Jisung had taken the back seat of Chris’ car, so they kept the conversation flowing with you as Chris kept his concentration on the road, since he didn’t like to talk much while he was driving. Occasionally, though, Chris would move his hand from the gear lever to your thigh, mindlessly caressing your skin or squeezing the flesh lightly, only removing it whenever he had to change gears. Eventually, Jisung noticed, and, in good Jisung fashion, he just couldn’t keep quiet about it.

“Damn it, Christopher. You never hold my thigh when I’m your co-pilot”, the pout was audible in his voice, and it made you laugh.

Chris just chuckled as he looked at Jisung through the rearview mirror, offering a “missed your chance, sweetcheeks. Got my baby here now just for that”, which had you chuckling.

“Want me to hold your thigh?” Jeongin had a devilish smile on his lips, reaching for Jisung only for him to swat his hand away.

“Don’t you dare touch me with your death grip, Yang Jeongin!”

“C’mon! Just a squeeze!” 

“Get off!”

Jeongin and Jisung kept jostling for what was left of the road trip, Jeongin would try to get his hands on Jisung, and Jisung would immediately push his hand away. ‘But I thought you wanted to be touched, Jisung!’ Jeongin would tease, and Jisung would swear loudly and allege ‘I don’t want to lose circulation on my thigh, Jeongin! You’ve gotten way too strong, you might kill me one of these days…’ just for Jeongin to reply ‘I’m not strong, babes, you’re just fucking weak’, all as you laughed at their antics and Chris smiled fondly any time he looked at them through the rearview mirror.

As soon as you all made it to the house in the woods, it all became a blur of unpacking and settling things in their place, making sure everything was ready for the evening when the moon would rise and the pack would go on their run. You knew the schedule better than you knew the back of your hand, considering you prepared the entire thing with Chris, Changbin, and Minho every month. 

So, with enough water and food for an army set in the kitchen for when they came back, and nine robes neatly stacked on a table in the back porch of the house, the pack finally made their way to the backyard–now with the addition of Minho’s best friend and you–and they started stretching and getting naked just as the sun finally set. 

“We’ll be gone for a few hours…” Chris cradled your face in his hands, softly running his thumbs on your cheeks as you rested your hands on his bare–and incredibly warm–chest. “Remember, if anything weird happens when we’re back–”

“I’ll take Minho’s friend and go to the basement. I know, baby”, you pressed a brief kiss on Chris’ lips. Earlier, he had shown you the way to the basement, and how to close the reinforced doors securely in place just in case, but you could still see the worry in his eyes as he looked at you right now. “It’ll be fine, babe. I’m sure”.

Taking in a deep breath, Chris just looked into your eyes, you were going to reassure him again, to tell him nothing would happen, but suddenly you saw how his eyes started to change colour, from that brown you knew so well to a bright golden. They were essentially glowing, and you blinked a few times, feeling all your attention pulled to them as he continued to look at you.

Chris noticed your reaction, and he simply gave you a small smile. “It’s time, pretty baby…” Letting go of your face, Chris took a few steps back away from you, putting enough distance between you two as he started to shift. You’d seen Chris shift a handful of times, but you didn’t think you’d ever get used to the unpleasant pops and cracks coming from his body as he did. In less than a minute, where your boyfriend used to be, there was the biggest wolf you’d ever seen, almost as big as you, and even though logically you should’ve felt intimidated by the sight, you couldn’t bring yourself to, not when you felt so safe with this beast in front of you just looking at you.

As soon as Chris had fully shifted, you walked closer, bringing your hand to his head so you could pet him, and Chris simply nuzzled your hand as you did. Leaning in, you pressed a kiss to his forehead, booping his nose immediately after–almost as if he wasn’t the biggest predator you’d ever encountered. “Be safe out there, my big bad wolf, hm?”

Chris just huffed in response, in what you assumed was his way to reassure you as well. After giving your wrist one final affectionate lick, he turned around, walking past Minho’s friend to make his way towards the edge of the woods, where the rest of his pack were already waiting for him.

You walked forward so you could stand next to Minho’s friend, just watching Chris pace a bit as he took in the sight of the other wolves. Once he seemed to be satisfied with their positions, he howled, and the sound had you shivering, even more so as the rest of the pack started to howl as well. It was imposing, really, hearing all of them in their most primal state. But even though you were just a human, it all sounded so familiar to you, not really that different from when they were talking extra loud to each other, which was honestly kind of weird–and amusing–considering they weren’t talking at all, at least not in human language.

Finally, Chris turned back towards the woods and took off, the other eight wolves following right after. As soon as they were gone, you turned to Minho’s friend, regarding her with a smile on your face. “Well, just you and me for a few hours, then. Wanna hang out here, or you prefer chilling on your own?”

She smiled back at you, offering a simple “let’s hang out”.

Minho’s friend was always really enjoyable to talk to, she was Minho’s closest friend, she’d seen the pack grow since Minho joined it years ago, and she seemed to care deeply for him. You could still remember how happy she was when she met you when you’d just moved in with Chris, offering a ‘it’s nice to finally have another woman around! And a human one at that’. She’d helped you feel welcomed–not like the kids didn’t, she was just the most vocal about it–so you always liked to sit down and talk with her about everything and nothing over some tea just as you did now while you waited for your friends to come back.

You sat there on the back porch for hours, until the rustle of leaves from the edge of the forest brought your attention to the area, just as the shapes of Changbin and his girlfriend came into view. You sprung into action as soon as you saw them, Minho’s friend following soon after, taking a couple of robes and handing them to Changbin as soon as he turned back to his human form.

He was panting slightly and a bit sweaty, but he gave you a big smile, murmuring a ‘thanks’ and easing himself into the robe, tying it securely around his waist just as his girlfriend wrapped her arms around him from behind and gave him a squeeze, resting her chin on his shoulder, also giving you a smile. “The rest will be here in a few minutes…”

You couldn’t help but notice that Changbin’s eyes, as well as his girlfriend’s, were also glowing, just like Chris’ were before, and you realised then that you hadn’t really paid attention to anyone else while you sent Chris off, but now that you saw them, you assumed their eyes had been glowing since then as well.

Soon enough, wolves started to filter from between the trees, starting with Felix, who joined you at the back porch a handful of minutes after. Between the five of you, you helped the rest also get themselves comfortable into their silky robes, the material helping them cool off a bit after their run for them to finally make their way into the house to start getting refreshed.

Minho was the last one to come back, meaning only your boyfriend was still left in the woods.

“Where’s Chris?” You couldn’t help but ask as soon as Minho was in front of you and had shifted back into his human form, handing him a robe.

“He’s checking the perimeter”, Minho’s eyes were glowing golden as well. Taking the robe from your hands he draped it over his frame. “He always does that after a run. Will probably be here in a few minutes”.

A low howl resonated in the distance, the sound had the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end and a shiver running down your spine, dragging warmth and heat to pool in the pit of your stomach. A smirk crept on Minho’s face at your reaction, clearly amused. “That’s him. It’s all fine”, he patted you on the back, offering a ‘let’s go, kitten’ to his friend as he slung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her along so they could make their way into the house, Changbin and his girlfriend following right after.

So you sat on the steps of the back porch, just waiting for your boyfriend to come back from his run. From his run as a wolf, a thought that you couldn’t help but chuckle about. 

Soon enough, there was a rustle among the trees far in front of you, and after a few moments, the dark shape of your boyfriend’s wolf form came into view, with his glowing golden eyes, somehow brighter than the rest of his packmates–a Pack Alpha thing, you supposed.

Taking down the few steps that were left, you leisurely walked towards Chris just as he trotted your way. When he was almost in front of you, he started to shift, the unpleasant cracks and pops giving way to human groans as he finally turned back to his human form. You had the full intent of handing him the robe in your hands as soon as he turned back, but, before you could even register it, he had already cupped your cheeks and pulled you to him, sealing your mouths in a heated kiss.

It took you by surprise, your breath hitching in your throat as Chris’ kiss stole the air right out of your lungs, but that didn’t stop you from kissing him back. With your arms around his shoulders and a hand in his curls, you tugged him even closer to you, pressing yourself flush to his body, the robe still in your free hand, now hanging over his back.

The way Chris was kissing you was almost as if he couldn’t get enough of the taste of you on his tongue, hungry, desperate. It felt similar to how he kissed you when he was on his rut. Maybe not with the same intensity as those times, but it was certainly close to it, and it almost made you feel dizzy in the best ways possible. 

Before you could even realise it, Chris had scooped you into his arms with ease–once again showing you that supernatural strength he possessed–and your legs wrapped around his torso for stability as he pushed you to the side of the house, the sudden contact of the concrete behind your back eliciting a small yelp from your lips.

“Chris?” You called for him the moment his mouth moved away from your lips to trail kisses all the way to your neck, licking and sucking your skin with such fervour you knew you were going to see marks later.

Chris hummed against your skin, further pressing you against the wall and his grip on your rear tightening every so slightly. It was then that you felt him, hard and warm against your heat, and the feeling had your head spinning. “Want you”, was all he mumbled between kisses, making your inner walls clench with need.

“Now?” You were already breathless with just a few minutes of kissing, and the hum of confirmation against your skin had goosebumps rising all over your arms. “Shouldn’t you… Eat something first?”

Chris shook his head. “Later. Just want you”.

“Let’s…” You couldn’t help but sigh at the feel of his tongue on your skin, taking a deep breath right after. “Let’s at least get to our room”.

Chris detached his mouth from your neck, only to bring it back to your lips so he could kiss you again. After a few moments, he gently placed you on your feet, taking the robe from your hand. “Okay”, he mumbled before he pressed a brief kiss on your lips, taking your hand and tugging you towards the back door and into the house, holding the robe over his crotch.

Everyone had seen each other naked more times than anyone could count. Hell, even you had seen more cock in your couple of years living with them than you had in your entire life–a mental image you admittedly always tried to suppress, the lack of shame and judgement around being naked something that you found to be quite endearing but also hard to get used to. Even then, you figured they all might get a bit more reserved when sporting a raging erection, your boyfriend included.

The rest of the pack was huddled in the kitchen, causing a ruckus in just the way they knew how to, so they didn’t even register Chris and you making your way upstairs towards the bedrooms, and if they did, they were clearly smart enough not to come close to you both. You could feel anticipation building within you all the way to your shared room, with your eyes focusing on the toned muscles of your boyfriend’s back as he tugged you along the corridor, admiring the way light caught on each dip and curve, highlighted by a thin sheen of sweat, admiring the flush spreading on his skin from all the blood that was encouraged to pump through his body with the run.

As soon as you were inside your room, as soon as the door closed behind you, Chris had already pinned you to it, pressing his body to yours as much as he could as he claimed your mouth while simultaneously turning the lock, the click barely even registering in your ears among the sounds of your wet kiss.

“Take this off, all of it”, he mumbled against your mouth, tugging on your oversized t-shirt–his t-shirt–and your shorts. “Wanna feel you”.

“Babe–” He just wouldn’t stop kissing you, and it had you giggling as his hands found their way under your tee to palm your breasts, kneading them gently. “Baby, I can’t–Can’t take it off if you’re this close to me”.

Chris chuckled softly, pressing one final, loud kiss on your lips before detaching himself from you a bit, enough for him to tug the garment over your head. As soon as that was gone, he dropped to his knees, tugging your shorts and your underwear down with him for you to finally step out of them.

Interesting thing, how even when he was the one on his knees for you, there was absolutely no doubt on who was taking the lead. It never mattered in what position you were, whenever the sparks of lust started to fly around you two, you were always at his mercy, and it always made you weak in the knees, made your head spin, made you want to let him enjoy you however he pleased, because you trusted Chris. You really did. You trusted him with your heart, with your body, because, in a way, you knew he’d be able to make you feel good in every possible way he could, you knew he’d always take good care of you. 

“Fuck, look at these… Look at you…” His hands greedily fondled your thighs, your hips, your rear, Chris tried his best to touch you anywhere and everywhere he could just as his lips pressed kisses all over your soft belly, occasionally nipping the flesh for good measure. “Have I ever told you how much I love your thighs?” Propping one of your legs over his shoulder, he settled to suck purple marks on your thigh, tracing a clear path towards your centre.

“Once or–or twice–Oh!” Chris’ mouth suddenly attached to your clit, your hand immediately moving to thread your fingers in his hair to try and steady yourself as he lapped you up.

Chris’ brows furrowed, and he groaned as soon as he got his tongue on your sensitive skin, tasting you, licking you, building your pleasure at an alarming pace. All you could do was hold onto him, trying to keep as quiet as you could and looking at his golden eyes as they stared back at you from between your legs.

Soon enough, Chris had two of his fingers stuffed into you, curling them against that sensitive spot within your walls that had you trembling under his touch, and when he added a third finger you couldn’t help but tighten your grip on his hair and lean your head back against the door, closing your eyes and biting your lower lip to try to maintain your volume to a minimum.

You felt as his mouth moved away from your clit, quickly replaced with his thumb as he attached his lips to your thigh again, sucking harshly on the skin. “Look at me”, Chris’ voice was so low, so level, as if he wasn’t fucking you open with his fingers, as if he wasn’t turning you into putty with just his fingers and his mouth.

You really wanted to comply, but it was hard for your brain to send signals to your body when you felt just so overcome with all the different sensations coursing through your body, and it was just as Chris was easing his fourth finger into you that he spoke again. “Look at me, love”.

Swallowing, you finally opened your eyes and turned your gaze down, finding Chris’ piercing golden eyes looking at you, holding your gaze as his fingers sped up, as his thumb kept rubbing your clit. It was no secret that Chris’ warm brown eyes were one of your biggest weaknesses, they were one of his physical features you loved most, but there was something about this look of his, about this supernatural glow of his eyes… It felt so raw, it made you feel exposed, almost as if he was stripping layers of your soul when he looked at you.

Two years ago, a look like this would’ve surely sent you into fight or flight, your brain would’ve urged you to turn around and run as far away from him as you could. Now, though, that look only fed the fire burning in the pit of your stomach, it made you crave him with such intensity you thought your heart would leap out of your chest as you held his gaze.

“You’re so fucking pretty”, you couldn’t help but whimper as the words left his mouth, as you felt his fingers moving harder within you, as you held that dangerous eye contact with your boyfriend, at the feel of his other hand tightly gripping your thigh. “So fucking pretty and sweet and perfect and mine, yeah? All mine?”

You nodded, biting your lip to dampen the sounds that desperately wanted to escape your mouth. “All–All yours, Chris… Baby, please… Wanna…”

Chris simply hummed, seemingly satisfied by your reassurance, immediately removing his thumb to return his mouth to your clit. He held your gaze, looking determined, almost greedy. You knew that look. How could you not know it when it was that look that always had you throbbing with need, it was the look he always gave you when he wanted to have you come undone for him. Usually, when he wasn’t driven by his rut-induced urges, Chris would take much longer than this to give you your release, but right now he clearly was just as needy to give it to you as you were to get it.

You could feel your lower belly tighten with each flick of his tongue, with each thrust of his fingers, and it wasn’t long until he finally sent you over the edge. Bringing a knuckle to your mouth, you took it between your lips to bite into it to help muffle the sounds that threatened to come out of your mouth louder than they should when you were staying in a house full of people with enhanced hearing, all as you kept your other hand in his hair, holding the strands between your fingers as if to not lose your sense of reality. It wasn’t until Chris was absolutely sure you had enjoyed every single wave of pleasure from your orgasm that he removed his fingers from you, pressing a couple more kisses on your clit only to finally bring his fingers to his mouth, licking them clean with an appreciative hum.

Removing your leg from his shoulder, Chris carefully placed it back on the floor as he stood up. You were panting, breathless, and a little unsteady from the entire thing, but that didn’t stop you from kissing your boyfriend as soon as he was eye level with you again, holding onto his shoulders for dear life as he held your hips tightly in place.

When he removed his mouth from yours, Chris spat on his hand, wrapping it around his length after to generously coat himself in his saliva, and before you could even wonder what he was going to do next, he was already easing his cock between your thighs, right where they met with your core, brushing your sensitive folds with each thrust. Chris’ eyes rolled to the back of his head in bliss and he let out a sigh of relief, pleasuring himself with your thighs so shamelessly you couldn’t help but whimper at the sight, at the feel of his warm length on your skin, and the feel of his tight grip on your hips.

“So good…” Chris truly looked like he was starting to get lost in the feeling, and it had you dripping, had you feeling desired and wanted in that utterly primal way only Chris ever made you feel. “Always so soft and good for me, aren’t you?” When he opened his eyes again, his gaze found yours, almost stealing the air out of your lungs at the sheer intensity of his stare.

With a hand on his nape you pulled him to you, relishing the groan that escaped him only to get lost in your mouth as you kissed him, relishing the way his hold on your hips tightened and the way he thrusted harder, just as his hands moved you back and forth to have you meet his thrusts.

With one final grunt he brought your hips flush to his, stopping his movements. “Bed, love”, Chris mumbled against your lips, grabbing a handful of your bum. “Hands and knees”.

“Hands and knees?” Draping an arm over Chris’ shoulders and hiking one of your legs on his hip, you pulled him closer to you, kissing him briefly. “My alpha wants to mount me?”

Chris loved to mark you, to call you his, but he also loved when you called him yours, my baby, my dear, my boyfriend, my darling, my, my, my… It didn’t matter what term of endearment you used, whenever you added ‘my’ before it, you knew it would drive him up the wall, and when he was in this type of mood, in his more dominant, borderline animalistic mood, ‘my alpha’ would always get him incredibly worked up, and you loved how it simply worked every single time.

“Fuck!” Chris kissed you eagerly, grunting against your mouth, and his hand flew to your thigh, gripping it tightly to keep your leg around his torso. “So, so much. You’ve got no idea. Come here”, with his arm securely wrapped around your waist he moved, letting your leg drop to the floor to walk you backwards towards the bed.

Removing yourself from his arms after one final kiss, you moved, climbing onto the bed, and setting yourself as requested. Chris simply looked at you, with that look in his eyes that made you feel like you were the first meal he’d had in a long time, almost as if he was deciding which part of the plate to devour first, that look now heightened tenfold by his glowing eyes.

He brought a hand to his length, stroking himself leisurely, licking his lips absentmindedly and slightly tipping his head to the side as his eyes raked your form. You had to bring him back to you, you felt yourself aching for his touch, so you called for him, lacing his name with that breathy tone you knew would snap him out of his trance. “Chris…”

“Shit, baby, can’t help it”, climbing behind you, Chris placed a hand on your lower back, his thumb caressing the skin softly as he dragged the tip of his length up and down your folds, coating himself in your juices, making you shudder with the contact. “You’re so fucking beautiful, can’t help but get distracted”, you felt yourself flush, not only because of the things he was saying, but also because he stuffed you full of his cock as he did, eliciting a shared groan of relief once he was buried snugly within your walls. 

“Fuck… How did I get so lucky, huh?” You could feel Chris’ hands on your back, on your hips, your belly, your breasts, caressing you softly, tenderly, as if he hadn’t pumped his cock between your thighs a handful of minutes ago, and you could also feel his lips, pressing soft kisses on your shoulder, all as he let you adjust to him. “Mmm… Lucky… My pretty baby, all mine…”

When you felt comfortable enough you pushed back against him. You barely moved, only a tiny push, but it was enough to make Chris grunt, to make him bring his hands to your waist and start ramming into you immediately, with absolutely no build up. The movement was so sudden you couldn’t help the moan that left your mouth, completely forgetting your setting for a second.

“Want the whole house to hear you, pretty?” The sheer force of his thrusts had you feeling dizzy, had your mind hazy with nothing but Chris and his motions, had you gripping the bed sheets tightly. “It’s okay, babe. Not like they don’t know exactly what I’m doing to you up here, huh?”

Lowering yourself on your elbows you arched your back, letting Chris fuck you deeper as a shared groan left your lips. In an instant, Chris’ hand was on your clit, rubbing tight circles on your sensitive nub, making your legs twitch and your teeth sink on your bottom lip to try and muffle all your moans and whines and whimpers. It was so much and so, so good, and very quickly you realised how desperate you were for your release again. 

“Chris…” With the feel of his cock reaching so deep within your walls you could hardly speak, but you also knew you didn’t need to say anything, as soon as his name left your lips you knew he’d know exactly what you needed. 

“Fuck, I know, baby. I know, don’t worry. I’ll give you what you want”, his fingers on your clit sped up, you could feel your rear bounce with every single one of his merciless thrusts, and even if you didn’t look at him, you knew he was looking, so you made it a point to push back just as he pushed forward to enhance that movement, immensely enjoying the groan that left his lips as soon as you started doing just that. “What a fucking sight, shit… Lucky… Mine…”

Moving his hand from your waist to your neck, Chris pressed down, effectively pushing your upper body flush to the bed as he kept thrusting in and out of you, as he kept rubbing circles on your clit, the motions turning you into a whiny, whimpering mess. The weight of his hand on the base of your neck, the feel of his cock deliciously stretching you open, and his fingers working you up were the only things you could register, and you could feel your release building and building the more Chris moved, the more Chris touched you.

“You’re doing so good for me, love. You always do, fuck… Are you enjoying yourself? Enjoying your alpha’s cock, huh pretty?”

You weakly nodded in response, mostly because you didn’t trust yourself to open your mouth and speak, fearing all that would come out would be a cacophony of desperate sounds and cries under Chris’ quickening movements. There was a low growl, almost inaudible, but Chris was so close to you there was no way you could’ve missed it, and your body reacted immediately, a shiver running down your spine and your walls clenching tightly around his length. “Tell me, love. Say it”.

“I–” Your lower belly was tightening harshly, and you felt warmth rushing through you every second Chris kept rubbing your clit, the motions had you almost speechless, but you tried, gripping the bed sheets tightly in your fists to ground yourself. “I am–”

Thrusting harder, Chris’ hold on the base of your neck tightened. “You’re what?”

Swallowing thickly, you felt your mind clouding, now filled with nothing but pure need and desperation, with nothing but your boyfriend and his ruthless thrusts. “Enjoying your cock, Chris–Fuck!” As soon as the words left your mouth you felt heat spreading everywhere within you, your release dragging pleasuring warmth from your core to every single one of your limbs, weakening your grip on the sheets, weakening your legs, and your knees would’ve given out had Chris not moved his hand away from your clit to instead wrap his arm around your waist to keep you steady in place, further leaning into you, almost pressing his chest to your back as his other hand found its way to hold one of yours, pressing it to the mattress.

“Mmm, good girl”, Chris’ breath fanned your neck, raising goosebumps on your flesh, that, coupled with his unfaltering pace had you whimpering softly, leaving you on the brink of oversensitivity. “Good, good girl. My girl. Perfect, yeah? Perfect when you come for me…”

Chris was running his mouth a bit, just like he often did when he was close to his peak, mumbling mindless words of praise as he kept working himself up. And finally, with a few more thrusts, he came, groaning lowly in your ear and pressing his hips flush to your rear to pump you full of his seed, just how he loved to do. He pressed kisses on your shoulder, mumbling softly, ‘so, so perfect for me. My perfect girl’. You just hummed, still panting a bit, but undoubtedly satisfied, enjoying the feel of him all over you, enjoying the gratifying tiredness only a good fuck with your boyfriend could leave on your body.

You didn’t move for a while, you hadn’t changed positions at all since Chris came, and you couldn’t help but notice he was still rock hard within your walls. “Chris, baby?” Before you could comment on it, he started to move again, slowly, in and out of your cunt as he continued to press kisses on your nape, eventually settling on the junction of your neck and your shoulder, mindlessly kissing and licking your skin.

While Chris kissed and licked the area, a low rumble resonated in his chest as he kept moving within your walls. You obviously didn’t mind, you loved to feel him in you, fucking you, the feel of his rumble on your back, but Chris didn’t rumble often…

‘Alphas don’t rumble frequently. It mostly happens when we’re really, really, reeeeaaaally lost in a state of bliss, which is typically when we’re on our rut. Rumbling out of happiness is more an omega thing, I’d say’, he’d explained to you once, and you truly had only ever heard–and felt–him rumble during his rut or when he came home really tired and got to hug you close when he finally tucked himself to bed, just right before he fell asleep. This behaviour of his was odd, you knew he wasn’t on his rut, he was being too coherent for that, but by now he would’ve pulled out and tugged you into his arms to relax for a bit.

The moment he grazed his teeth against your skin, you gasped softly, both from the feeling of his mouth on you and the angle in which he was fucking you, but suddenly, his warmth was gone. The sudden change in temperature around you and the sudden feeling of emptiness in your core almost gave you whiplash. You just caught sight of him stumbling back from the bed, pressing his back to the wall as he took in deep breaths.

“Are you okay?” Chris asked you, panting.

You just turned fully, sitting on the bed with your legs folded under you, blinking slightly. “‘Course I am. Are you okay?”

Chris simply nodded in response, and now you were starting to get worried. “Chris…”

“I am! Just… Just need a moment, yeah?” He further slouched against the wall, closing his eyes as he kept taking deep breaths.

You just looked at him, with your brows furrowed in concern, completely uncaring of his cum trickling down your legs. It went on like this for a few minutes, until Chris finally heaved a sigh, opening his eyes again, which were now back to their usual warm brown.

“I’m sorry, pretty. The full moon and the adrenaline from the run have me a bit… A bit feral”, Chris chuckled softly, but he didn’t move away from the wall.

Moving to sit on the edge of the bed, you looked at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. Just… Need to control myself a bit”.

“Is that why your eyes were glowing so bright? Because of you ‘being feral’?” You emphasised the two words with air quotes, genuinely curious about it.

“I mean, it’s just the… The entire thing. The full moon, the run, you… There’s a lot going on inside of me right now with all those things combined”.

“Me?” You couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “What do I have to do with anything?”

Chris simply smiled at you, walking over to sit next to you on the bed. “A lot of things! When… When the full moon hits and we go on our runs we don’t… Think much. We act. At the end of the day, I’m an animal, too. You know that, right?”

You just nodded, because of course you knew. There was no way you weren’t aware of the fact that your boyfriend wasn’t exactly like you, he was very close, but not the same. Chris reached for your hand, turning it so he could place a soft kiss on your palm. You could almost see the cogs turning in his head, the way he was trying to make sense of his thoughts, or at least, of what he was going to tell you about them. So you decided to ask directly. “Chris, baby… What’s bothering you?”

Chris looked at you for a moment, taking in the features of your face until he finally heaved a sigh. “Just realised that I always… Always get these urges during the full moon, just that, since you’ve never been here, it’s never progressed further than… Just urges. Now you are here, though, and it’s throwing my hormones more out of whack than usual”, you were slightly taken aback by the comment, and it must’ve shown on your face, because he quickly added. “Not in a bad way! It’s just… Primal instincts and shit”.

“Wanna… Tell me more about it or…?” You took his hand between yours, squeezing gently.

Chris looked at you for a few moments, only to drop his gaze to your joined hands right after. “I’m… Uh… A bit embarrassed, I guess. It’s not something… I mean…”

He was rambling a bit, just as he often did when he was trying to make sense of his thoughts, so you gave his hand another squeeze, the motion bringing his attention back to you. “Babe, you know I won’t judge you”.

He looked back at your face, his gaze jumping from one of your eyes to the other, until his eyes moved lower, settling on your neck, and his free hand, the one that wasn’t holding yours, came to softly caress the skin of your neck, just as a soft blush settled on his cheeks. “I feel like… Like claiming you, biting you…”

Ah, claiming. Essentially the act of mating. Something you’ve read about, but that Chris had never brought up, so you hadn’t either. It was common practice for werewolves, especially alphas, to mark their partners by biting them in a very specific way, in a very specific place. Suddenly, where he was kissing and licking you before he jumped away from you made sense. “Don’t you… Want to do it?”

Chris chuckled softly, almost incredulous. “Babe, if I do that I might as well get down on one knee and ask you to marry me, while simultaneously getting married”.

You blinked slightly, looking him in the eyes just as you felt the tiniest twinge in your heart. You and Chris had been together for more than a year now, and although there had been no talks of the future of your relationship, now that the talk was happening, his hesitancy made you feel… Uneasy. “So you wouldn’t like to…”

Again, it must’ve shown on your face, because Chris’ expression shifted, slightly alarmed. “Wait, no, no. I’m not saying I wouldn’t like that. Love, listen, come here”, Chris motioned for you to sit on his lap, and you did, sitting sideways so you could drape an arm over his shoulder, relishing the way his arms wrapped around your hips and the way his eyes were almost sparkling when he looked at you.

“I love you”.

Chris said it so confidently, so sure of it there was no doubt in your mind that he meant it, but it still took you by surprise. He’d never said it before, he really didn’t need to, you knew it already, because he had shown that to you in many different ways. But you still felt your face flush and your heart stammering in your chest. “I love you so much. I want it all, and when I say all I mean all all, but I’m… I’m wired differently. Claiming you, mating… For us… For me, it’s pretty much a lifelong commitment, and you’ve already given so much of yourself to keep up with the dynamic of my family, to keep up with me, I don’t want to take this away from you, too. Not because of… My stupid horny alpha urges, not like this”.

“Chris”, cupping his cheeks, you softly caressed his skin with your thumbs. “You’ve not taken anything away from me. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done because I wanted to. I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier than I do right now with you, with the kids, too”.

Chris looked at you for a few moments, completely silent, just scanning your face, until he finally spoke again, his tone a bit quieter than usual. “How do you know it’s not just… You know, my alpha pheromones and shit…” He sounded genuinely distressed about it, and it pulled at your heartstrings unpleasantly.

“Christopher, have you been worried about this the entire time?” You couldn’t help the combination of concern and incredulousness that clung to your voice at his question. “That you’ve somehow coaxed me into all of this?” 

Chris averted his gaze, looking anywhere but your face. “I… I do worry about it sometimes. Wouldn’t want for you to–”

“Baby, listen. Look at me”, you put some pressure on his cheeks, making him pout a bit with the motion, bringing his eyes back to yours. “Remember a couple of months ago when I went abroad with my mum for like, three weeks?” Chris nodded, so you continued. “I was kilometres away from you, and I still wanted you, still loved you. Because I do, I love you, and I love your family, too. You guys took me in, made me feel at home, and I feel like… Like they’re my family, too. And every day I hope they all feel the same way about me… I hope you feel the same way”.

Chris looked at you for a bit, digesting your words, until finally, with a hand on the back of your head and the other caressing your thigh, he pulled you in for a brief kiss. “I do feel that way. Every day. I’m so grateful you came into our lives, into my life. Since I met you, since I got to know you, it’s like… Like I can finally breathe, I’ve never… Honestly, I don’t think there are words to express how I feel, but I seriously can’t imagine anyone else by my side”.

You could feel warmth spread in your chest, your heart threatening to burst with all the love it harboured for this man in front of you, and you couldn’t help the blush that came to your cheeks along with the splitting smile that made its way onto your face. Leaning in, you pressed a kiss on Chris’ lips, enjoying the way his arms pulled you tighter against him with the action.

“I know it’s not… Not ideal”, you shuffled a bit within Chris’ arms, moving instead to straddle him, resting your weight on his thighs and your arms around his shoulders as he traced patterns on your back. “You are what you are and I am what I am, we can’t change that. But I do love you. Every part of you. Lycanthropy and all. Truly”.

“Truly?” Chris’ arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you tighter against him.

You hummed, nodding. “Truly. As for you claiming me… If that’s what you want, we can… We can wait. Let’s… Have this conversation again a couple of years down the road. There’s no hurry, is there?”

Chris shook his head, and you continued. “Just, please don’t… Don’t keep these worries to yourself, yeah? Just because you’re Mr Alpha of the Pack doesn’t mean you have to deal with everything on your own, that’s what I’m here for, to help ease that burden. I love being a part of your pack, babe, I really do, don’t ever doubt it, or worry that you have somehow supernaturally influenced me to do these things. There’s a reason for me to have fallen into the position I did when I moved in with you… Because I like it. Makes me feel… Just so full. To be there for the kids, for you, to help out… It kinda feels like I was meant to do it”.

“You do it so well, too”, Chris tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear, looking at you as if you held his world in your hands. “Much better than me sometimes”.

“Hey, don’t be like that. We’re a team here, huh? No bringing yourself down nonsense”, you swatted his arm playfully, making him laugh, but you still gave him a smile, blushing a bit. “As for our relationship… We can always just… Talk, hm?”

Chris simply regarded you with a smile, one of those genuine smiles of his that had your heart doing somersaults in your chest, until finally, he leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the apple of your cheek, mumbling an ‘okay’ against your skin.

“Okay”, you repeated, sealing your statement with a kiss.

You stayed like that for a bit, just kissing, hugging each other tightly, enjoying each other’s warmth. Until you just couldn’t ignore the obvious anymore, so you reached for Chris’ length between your bodies, stroking him leisurely, eliciting a soft hum from him. “Can’t believe you’re still hard”, you mumbled against his lips, pecking him softly.

Chris chuckled, moving away from your lips to look you in the eyes. “Told you, pretty baby. My hormones are a bit out of whack because of the moon. Besides, you just told me you love me, I don’t think it’s going down any time soon”.

You regarded him with a smile, shuffling a bit to prop yourself on your knees and line him with your entrance. “Let’s make the most of it, then”.

Chris brought his hands to your hips, pushing you down his length as you cupped his cheeks and kissed him, moaning at the sudden feeling of fullness that only Chris could bring you–both physically and emotionally. “Mm, shouldn’t we eat first?” Chris’ teasing tone was hard to miss, and it had you chuckling.

“Later. Want you now”, you mimicked his words from earlier, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

“Later, then”, sneaking his hands to your bum, he gripped your rear tightly, starting to slowly move you up and down his cock with ease. “Mmm… Love you, pretty…”

“Love you more, baby”, you couldn’t help but smile as you said it, as you saw the way he took your challenge, and you knew Chris was just going to try and spend the rest of the night trying to convince you he loved you more, just like you were going to do the same.

Author’s Notex2: i didn’t proof read this as many times as i usually do, so sorry if there are any weirdly constructed sentences, might go back and tweak things later. also, if you’re reading this, do you think these are getting too long? 👉👈 i fear they might be, i just have a lot to say i guess hahah. anyway, hope you enjoyed !

Tagging: @raspbinniecreme @staaa96 @oiminho @dundullresident @honey-lemon-goose @straylightdream @carefully325 If you want to be removed from the list just PM me. If you want to be added fill in this form~

© therhythmafterthesummer 2022-2023. all rights reserved. do not repost or translate my stories.

Constructive feedback (or even keysmashes, really) is always welcome :)

Chris’ WereRoomies Instalments:  It’s Cold Out · Rut · Alpha Dog · It’s Warm In · Love is Easy · Afraid to Lose You. For extra drabbles, check out the series masterlist.

[skayafair]

Daaaaaaaaaamn this boy has absolutely no idea how to process his feelings *head in hands*

^ this is about episode 4 ending by the way

And, well, yes, Crystal does refocus any talk about others' problems to hers, okay. Usually there's at least a bridge of "yeah I get you, it's really rough" before sharing your own experience to connect, but she just goes straight to "And I...". Which... honestly she has every right to, but it's also her old self talking, yes.

I'm a bit stuck on Charles' "I cant help her, I can't help you, I can't help anyone or anything" because. It's so damn familiar. It's not that he can't help anyone - he does so plenty. It's not even that he can't SAVE anyone - they DO. But he can't see this, because the ones the closest to him are the ones he cannot save. This isn't about helping, that's a fucking saviour complex. An "if I'm not useful or helpful they don't need me", only just "helping" has never been enough now, has it? It's never enough, whatever you do. Moral support or help with research, little daily things are help, too. But it doesn't count. It has to be big, something you can't overlook, and it has to be final, to make who you're trying to save happy, forever. Only it's not possible. That's why the saviour complex is so bad - you can't save someone whose life is not over over completely, forever. You can only help bit by bit, but it won't ever be enough for you, because it has never been enough for someone big and important in your life, someone from family.

I kinda knew where exactly my - the same - issues stemmed from but never looked at it from this specific angle. I didn't connect the dots at first because Charles had an actual physically abusive parent while for mine it's just narcissistic tendences, but. Honestly the general outline is too familiar and I was tiggered and more perceptive today so yeah, thanks again for the insight, DBD.

The feeling of "I can't help my best friend, I can't help my family, I can't help anyone or anything, so what's even the point of me at all?" is too familiar. And I believe the show didn't create a resolution for Charles' problem, more like put it on hold because there were more pressing matters at hand. If we get season 2, I hope it developes this theme further. I need someone to tell him "your worth has nothing to do with this".

Speaking of which, I can't help being astonished at how psychologically accurate and nuanced the show is. With all the characters, really, but Charles' case is the most obvious, I think. The way he's always drawn to the same kind of people and - wow, Charles, that was unusually perceptive! - even noticed it himself? What he didn't notice yet is that this is the kind of people not only with similar personality traits, but also unavailable. Edwin's metaphorical walls, Crystal being alive and honestly just not very interested? Both are rather rude and I couldn't help noticing how uncomfortable Charles often looks when either of his sweethearts is at it again. I could almost see the cogs in his head turning, figuring out how to balance out yet another moody fit of theirs, be it Edwin or Crystal. And not being offended by obvious insults? Hell, Crystal noticed it right away. Yeah he's used to it with Edwin but that's not normal??? There's nothing good about it??? Have some self-worth, boy!

And. Well. Chasing after an unavailable partner is a totally common thing with this kind of trauma. Toxic relationship is the only normal you know. The only kind of "love" you know. If it doesn't hurt even a little, doesn't have these highs and lows, if you don't have to accomodate another's fits - what are we even talking about, yeah?

Charles is honestly lucky though. Edwin tries to be nicer, amitting his flaws, and generally they are pretty well-balanced and keep growing together (but there's always room for developement). Crystal is doing her best and is caring all over as well. The intent is there and it's good at its heart.

But I'm still waiting for the resolution. "You're the best man I've ever known" doesn't cut it.

Also it would be REALLY interesting to see Charles' developement in s2 because while Crystal is probably still off-limits due to the whole the living and the dead thing (and she wants to be friends), Edwin has opened up. Are there going to be any changes in this regard, because this isn't even about romantic or platonic and the orientation, it's about the dynamic in whole? Or is this going to be glossed over? I mean, when Crystal was being emotionally available as a friend - same episode 4 - Charles got angry fot prying. He doesn't know how to deal with all this but has made some progress. Will we see more of it?

We need season 2 SO. BAD.

[variousqueerthings]

Well, you don't steer the Tardis, you negotiate with it. The still point between where you want to go and where you need to be, that's where she takes you.

We've headed to Bill's second proper episode. The Doctor is in a somewhat non-dissimilar position to back in s3, but not spiralling into a series of suicidal urges (well...) -- in the sense that we're at "taking on a new companion is Not allowed because I'm sad (and in this case because the Master is being held in the cellar), but... well, wouldn't it be nice?" the difference between Bill and Martha is manifold, it's just interesting to imagine character change in the Doctor, who's consciously got not just Martha, but all of his companions in mind when he's interacting with Bill... and, possibly, Susan a bit, considering that picture in episode 1. Bill, to me, feels correct in being the final companion of this era, she ties a lot of emotional themes together going all the way back to Rose, and her greatest trait to me is all the questions she asks/the kinds of questions she asks

right now Bill is following the Doctor with the knowledge that out there in space, her almost-not-girlfriend-turned-puddle-creature is also hanging around...

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 9/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 5/10

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

this season, I tellya. I like this episode despite its flaws (flaws which come from some deeeply ingrained scifi tropes that are due a good Poking at)

OBJECTIFICATION: Woooo, we've done it! none of this Nonsense. also Bill's top is cute, and feels to me like something that didn't come out of a fashion catalogue -- I just mean by this that she's someone without a bunch of money, she'd probably have some Fits that she's really into and this gay top gives off that vibe

PLOT-POINT: Bill really engages with how she feels about travelling and the kind of adventures she's in (ofc we see even more of that in the next episode). in this one she's noticing that the Doctor runs into danger and tries to get her out of the way, and simply follows after, because she thinks there's something kind of destructive and lonely about that behaviour -- and this is what leads her to figuring out key parts of the plot as well

there's also this neat moment where there's a statue of perhaps Nefertiti and Bill stops and compares herself for a moment, and it feels very "I'm Black and I'm in space and I have both history and future" which is part of what her story is about -- before the Doctor she was very much floating from one day to the next, with all these questions she didn't have the privilege to be able to ask and have respected and answered. the Doctor really functions so often as a professor in their stories, being really indulgent with these questions, but still challenging her to figure things out for herself and letting her challenge him when she notices the flaws in his logic (or in the next episode, gaps in his truth)

COMPLEXITY: it's relatively easy to follow the twists and turns of this one, and they're quite good twisty-turns. the one thing I question is its ending, and a bit of its buy-in, but that's about Politics

I liked the feeling of this one though. I liked what it wanted to say, at heart, and I liked a fair bit of how it said it

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: Bill's first own adventure. She's noticing that the Doctor has a tendency to run into danger. she's having some feelings about what the future of humanity might look like. it's not so heavy on Stuff outside of this, but that's fine, the point is really "how does Bill react to time-and-space"

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah yeah yeahhhh! she really does! and it feels like a conscious choice to go from River Song's "we do as we're told" type line, to now where Bill really challenges the Doctor's limitations. and because she does, vital bits of the story are revealed, to us and to the Doctor

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I feel like I should have taken more notes on the Doctor's behaviour in this episode, because it's very much the oppossite of this/the Doctor is fallible, but I wasn't conscious enough about whether it's saying something about where the Doctor's head is at that he didn't consider that the colonists might already be there, and could have risked blowing them -- and the Vardy -- up. regardless, I think the Doctor is very happy to be travelling again and specifically to be travelling with Bill

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: this episode is very self-contained, its narrative of colonising a planet because earth is [insert some kind of catastrophe that's not quite spelt out for us] doesn't relate to any other, similar episodes of the same, and I think it could have done. it's quite a popular theme (as we will get into)

“SEXINESS”: Bill is here to tell us we're post the need for stupid faux-sexy talk

INTERNAL WORLD: I think for where it is -- that is a "post"-colonised world, and I will absolutely be talking about that in the point below -- it's very well developed. the way also it threw the Doctor for a loop that the colonists were already there!

I am fascinated by how "post"-colonised is depicted via wheat fields. mono-culture harvesting is no good! (I may be overanalysing but that's the thing about "colony" -- it needs to be complicated as concept in modern scifi, it's well overdue for it)

I also noted in "previous doctor who" that it doesn't connect to any other narratives about Something Is Up On Earth so we must leave narratives it's done, so it's sort of ambiguous handwaved Reasons that bring them to this plot. perhaps if that was more grounded, their desperation would feel more real

but it works, the way the mystery comes together. the Vardy in the wall, the old spaceship full of memorabilia from earth, the shrine to the first dead, and the pods of sleeping people. I really like all that

POLITICS: oooooohohoo it's one of my favourite kind of stories, "everyone is people!" the way to win at the end is not destroying the robots, it's to acknowledge their rights to the planet on which they live. I also like that the majority of the colonists (we'll get to that word in a sec) are South Asian, until we get to gun-man-dude, who's not meant to be in the right. there's just a lot more casual and deliberately thought out diversity from the looks of things, making the future of humanity feel far broader

that being said, there are sooome elements to the whole thing that of course I cannot help but pay attention to- first of all, of course, the idea of colonists to begin with is always something complex that conveniently tends to pretend that wherever a colonist lands is empty before they arrive. that is the case in this episode as well, where the plot asks the audience to simply run with the fact that this planet was colonised, and we arrive to the story when "colonised" is its state, that's how we the audience first see this world. what it was before colonisation is not a part of this story

I really would be fascinated in Doctor Who moving forwards grappling with that idea of the implications of "colonist" because it's been the word habitually used in scifi for so long, without thinking about it, and although there are episodes that deal with immigration, with oppression of one species over another (notably, with humans over others), and with stripping resources without "considering" or perhaps caring for the consequences (and then there are consequences), the very concept of colonist isn't so challenged yet

actually if anyone can point me towards a science fiction story consciously writing on colonialism, which I'm sure there are, I'd be very interested

anyway, for this episode, one of the prime science fiction conceits that I would like to see challenged one day, is the "empty" planet just waiting for humans to populate it. maybe this episode has already been done, but not in nu!who, so again, if anyone knows an audio adventure, a classic story, a book, a comic, I'd be very interested

I also just watched Interstellar for the first time yesterday, so now I'm thinking about the popular narrative of "something's up with earth and it's so fucked, we have to go to somewhere else" which is... well, it's very colonialist, it's very Elon Musk and billionaires in space leaving the poor suckers to die, it's very defeatist, and dare I say it without going a biiiit into sentimentalism... it's very ungrateful to the earth, as narrative. it's time we complicated that "easy" shorthand for why colonialism must be done, the same as we need to complicate the "easy" setting of the conveniently empty planet

SO this story is not about the idea of colonialisation, but the Vardy (who have been helping to prepare the planet) are self-aware, and, according to the Doctor, were here first. I think the throwaway joke at the end lets down the story a biiiit, when the Doctor asks about discussing rental agreements for the humans being allowed there, and the Vardy then show a money sign and a ding effect

don't insert last-minute capitalism on a seemingly abundant world where everyone needs to learn to get along! I think this is partly a consequence of the episode needing to end and not having enough time, but I think drops the ball on that

however! tiny swarms called The Vardy who communicate with humans via robot interfaces are people! that society could become so in a particular Cyborg kind of way as long as it's not capitalist, but that's another discussion

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

this is a solid episode -- it's not perfect, and it kind of falls for "easy tropes" rather than real originality or challenge to concepts, but where it really really works is Bill, in my opinion

this makes a big difference to previous companions, where that's often been the point I've rated middly-to-low, because episodes have struggled to give companions something to do and/or a reason to care about what's happening around them

Oh Bill, you're so great

[vanweezer]

OKAY I GOT A BUNCH FOR YOU :3

all for rosalia: appearance 1, 2, and 19, objects 3, 9, and 17, food 2, 7, and 16, weather/nature 9, community 4 and 18, mind heart body and soul 9 and 10, and lastly hobbies 3 and 7

YAYYY THANK YOU this is gonna take ten million years to finish but YAYYYYY. also ime putting these under a readmore <3 but keep sending these yall i loveeeee yapping abt my ocs

appearance

1. what's your character's favorite physical trait they possess?

probably her arms (full of tatts!) or her eyes. doesnt happen often but they can kindasortaaliiiittle bit turn a yellow-er green when shes happy or hungry

2. what would your character wear if they were told they had to gussy up?

honestly some kinda suit?? not a proper 3 piece lol but like a 00s avril lavigne with a tie that doesnt match her normalassshirt & a studded belt. she'd also have some leather/denim jacket her mom gave her if the outfit needed to be Fancy fancy

19. if your character had to get a tattoo what would it be?

rosie has PLANYYY of tattoos. a ram w stars and clouds on her left shoulder (shes v much an aries </3), moon cycle chart going down her left arm, a spiderweb on her left forearm, stars all the way down the side of her torso (i forget which part i kinda just draw them. a lot), two hearts on her pelvis, and a sleeve of a dragon with batwings on her right arm.

objects

3. what type of object is likely to catch your character's attention?

anything black & astrology themed. hair clips, hats, belts, sometimes shoes. she loves a star motif

9. does your character prefer to give or receive gifts?

receiveeee im p sure her gf spoils her and while shes a normal amount of shy about big surprises or gifts (ahem hem, her mom be like) she loves whenever someone takes the time to give her something she might like. cannot be a collection or large amount of things at once though, or she'll get the urge to count em

17. what's most important to your character when shopping?

1: is it black, 2: is it cheap, and 3: if its not cheap can it fit in her pocket or been worn in such a cunty way the store employees already assumed she was wearing it

food

2. would your character prefer baking, cooking, or mixing drinks?

drink mixing for sure, and not just alcohol she'll go to a convenience store and get like 7 different slushie flavors in one if shes really jonesing for it

7. is there food that has made your character sick?

probably when she gets 7 different slushie flavors in one. or someone who mightve donated really nasty blood

16. is there a food texture your character doesn't like?

anything too close to organs/guts (hearts, lungs, skin sometimes) some vampires prefer their blood 'from the source' and that really skeeves rosie out. baby gurl prefers her blood bags </3

weather/nature

9. is your character good with animals?

while she LOVES cats i doubt she could be held responsible for one without either eating it or letting it roam the outdoors unsupervised. outside of that she might be good with a pet fish. coughs

community

4. is your character upfront about their feelings?

as far as like lying she wouldnt be eager to do that as she'd see no point in going out of her way to hide stuff from someone. outwardly shes kinda careless as opposed to carefree, so while people can open up to her without fear of judgement she doesnt really match that energy vulnerability wise. most things are for jokes with her </3 but when she Is honest or Does reflect on things she can sometimes be too blunt/unforgiving/blasé

18. what's your character's favorite form of affection?

depends on the person but she prefers physical affection in like different ways. shes fine with hugging family or linking arms at the very least. with friends she blurs the line with whats 'typical' in terms of affection, so shes fine with kissing or making out instead of a 'thanks' or a 'hey whats up'. with her gf definitely prooobably... 👉👌el oh el

mind body & soul

9. does your character have any allergies?

none that come to mind <3

10. is your character a light, medium, or heavy sleeper?

heavy HEAVY sleeper she'll knock out for days if she feels like it

hobbies

3. what is a talent your character whishes they had?

singing or maybe being able to play chess really well. shes not into the game itself she just thinks immortality would be fun if she could whip out a new party trick every few centuries etc

7. what is a talent that your character is proud of?

my rosie can DRAW ok!!!!! she loves to make her lil pictures and paintings and sketches!!!! she can mf TATTOO!!!! literally your favorite tattoo artist's favorite tattoo artist

[sleepdepravity]

DISTRUTHS - general character notes

alright this post is about character backgrounds, character hangups, character developments, and the ideas i had for character dynamics. very many of these were not very developed, i will be honest, but here i go.

Actually, getting into some school stuff first. the students were chosen in terms of "being future leaders," and then they have some weird talents. But part of the concept i had in my head involved, their talents themselves aren't necessarily the leader traits, it's that their leader traits the headmaster saw exhibit as the talents they got assigned? i'm not sure if i'm explaining this right, maybe i'll explain more as italk about each character. but there's sort of the more "physical" traits, the "social" traits, and the "intellectual" traits. Akane, Koizumi, and Yuu (and to a certain extent, Katashi) are on the physical side, where they provide important...i guess you could say infrastructure stuff. (medical, mechanical, agricultural, and. extremely intense jack-of-all-trades.) quite a few of the others fall into the "social" sphere: Yamaguchi, Matsui, Minoru, Kotone, Oshiro. Yamaguchi is a good team player. Matsui is actually quite good at gaining a following, in terms of blogosphere (she really doesn't thrive in death game though, i guess). Minoru, Kotone, and Oshiro in particular are tuned into people? This is the reason why i said (way long ago) that Minoru and Kotone have max relationships with everybody else. Minoru, although tagged as a spirit medium, is really adept at easing people and understanding what others are going through. Kotone understands people to the point where they can mimic them, and that's how they can get into their roles. Oshiro, as a magician, is good at knowing how to direct people's attention. The "intellectual" group is K-1 (arts counts as intellectual), Tsubame, Noboru, Shinobu, and Megumi. Who may seem out of place, but part of the intellectual aspect is having a body of knowledge, and she's particularly good at sniffing out knowledge.

Anyways.

Mori Tomiko

The fake main character. I had always wanted her to be the second culprit, and I had always wanted to pull the trick of just quietly adding the knife to her inventory without telling the audience.

Her first cover story, being "SHSL Charisma," is honestly not far off the mark, given that she had been able to orchestrate a whole movement against her own mom's school project. She used Yuu to be able to get close to the school itself and influenced Seki to turn against everybody else. She held a lot of hate for the school and its ideals (which is completely fair) and then it sort of spiraled out of control for her. (I think you can kind of see some hints about this sort of obsession in the beginning and in her interactions with the others.) Since she was the fake main character, I don't have anything about what her free time events would have been like.

K-1

Chill guy. He doesn't particularly care much about music as his talent, probably because he used it as an outlet for dealing with his sister's supposed death and then it took off. I think he feels caught between the expectation of turning his hobby into a career and the fact that, this hobby was born out of grief that he doesn't quite feel like he's escaped yet. I think his free time events would center around feeling assured that he can just keep music as a side thing in his life, or even just drop it entirely if he feels like it.

Oshiro Haruki

Very much a guy with a mask. I...am not sure if I developed much for him...especially since I knew he'd be out of the way very quickly. I think his free time events would lean heavily on the theme of misdirection, but other than that, I don't know.

Kobayashi Minoru

Strangely enough, Minoru was originally going to be a survivor. Yuu was actually going to be the second victim, but then...i don't know when, but somewhere along the way I decided it might be more interesting and less straightforward for Yuu to survive and be roped into Mori's scheme. (The original murder was going to be more like Mori finding the note on Tsubame's door, being the one who almost died, then killing Yuu when he follows her.)

I do feel bad for Minoru dying. Their free time events would center around death and grief, showing off that they see the art of spirit medium as first and foremost a way to soothe the living. And also, showing that they have a keen sense of other people, able to pick up details...it's just that they believe it has to do with spiritual power. Other than that, they're quite sensible and practical. (which, thinking about it, i guess shows by the way they were able to leave hints to their murder.) They get along with everybody, even though not everybody gets along with them (Akane). In particular, I suppose they would get along with K-1 and Yuu. Back when they were a survivor, I had imagined them as grouping with Kotone and Noboru.

Nakayama Megumi

Enjoys being the villain, knows how to spin stories, and as a result also may sense when stories are being spun. She believes that being a bearer of the truth inevitably means being the villain, which is why she leans into it, especially since it means she can unabashedly say whatever the fuck she wants.

This does mean that she doesn't consult anybody else, which I suppose in a way led to her downfall. Without someone else to bounce off of, she focused on her own conclusions and pursued it, falsely thinking that Shinobu must have been the mastermind, or at least on the enemy team. The investigative journalist walks a lonely road...

Her free time events would have probably peeled back her life philosophy about truth and her isolation. and maybe potentially start getting her thinking about including other people.......right before her untimely death, lol. Of course, she enjoys needling Matsui. I remember vaguely thinking that she would like hanging with Shinobu too, at least until she thought he was literally part of the death game scheme? I'm not sure why.

Yamaguchi Nakazawa

Straight up a guy who has no secrets. He tries doing whatever he thinks is best for the group, and he's pretty good at it, even if he's overall uncertain about himself. Honestly, I don't think I had put much into his development either...

Koizumi Ren

He seems shy, but it's more that he doesn't like people. He says very harsh and snide things in such a gentle way that it often goes under the radar. Plants are much easier to deal with, and also cuter.

I think my concepts for his free time events would probably focus around his frustration with the image he puts off, or at least the image he thinks he puts off. Despite not liking people, he also can't help but not like the way he seems to be overlooked in the conversation too. He's got a lot of pent-up anger.

Wakahisa Shinobu

Part of a family of critics. Since his area of focus is video games, he ends up feeling embarrassed about it when he compares himself to the rest of his family, who are all about movies, art, music, books, all the "higher arts." At the same time, he has a lot of pride in his own opinions (as critics tend to be), and thus he keeps waving back and forth between supercilious and embarrassment of his own interests.

I remember specifically choosing the name "Shinobu," because it was a gender neutral name and I guess I was considering the plot point of "oooo maybe Shinobu is the name of that unknown girl from the opening cutscene and this guy is secretly replacing her" and I guess his execution scene is sort of a sly reference to that? but I don't think that would have actually gone anywhere.

Him and Yuu end up bonding. Yuu thinks he should really just talk with his family about his interests instead of assuming that they look down on him.

Tsubame Nihiri

I...honestly have a very personal bias to Tsubame. She's the character I created for the RP all the way back when, before i sort of took the RP and then developed a whole bunch of concepts into DISTRUST, so it was probably inevitable...and I also made her a philosopher so...but also, I wonder if I would have given her a different backstory if I had made DISTRUST later. Ah well.

Right at the beginning of her first year in high school, Tsubame attempted suicide, because she felt life was meaningless. She was rescued, but her parents preferred to keep her institutionalized rather than bring her back home. She quietly recovered for two (or three?) years, mostly reading and chatting with other patients before being discharged, and then got selected for the school, starting at the first year since she hadn't finished it before being hospitalized. (No idea what the first encounter between her and K-1 would have been like...)

In any case, she talks like an old man (which is why she calls everybody "-kun") and is logical to a fault, pursuing thoughts that most people would just toss out immediately due to them being...probably socially inappropriate. Her free time events would probably focus on her feeling too out of place with everybody else? In terms of her design...half of her hair has been cut short, but then the other half has been left long. I think...I did that to signify "indecisiveness" but...she turned out to not be indecisive...oops...

After the third case, when she realizes that she's actually like two years older than she thought she was, she also realizes that, well, she's an adult, which is why she starts working very hard to try to find a way to escape. It became very important to her that the kids make it out and she felt like it was her responsibility. Although she asked Kotone and Noboru for help, she didn't tell them her full plan, just said that she "had a plan" when they asked how she was going to outrun Monobear. I think one of the very earliest ideas was that she'd be waffling on whether she should go through with this plan when she talked with Matsui, and Matsui says something harsh which leads Tsubame to realize, yes, she wants these kids to be able to leave, and so she goes through with it.

I should probably also mention that the reason why K-1's ID was missing was because she found it first and hid it, and had a lot of private angst about the idea that she literally tried to murder her literal brother.

Tsukino Kotone

Someone who doesn't feel like they have a sense of self, and instead mimics others or inhabits characters that, of course, do have developed selves. An extremely wide range. Could potentially even mimic animals, I suppose. Even in the school pictures, they dress up the way they do during DISTRUST. Maybe that was just the major role they were voicing for at the time and, with the induced amnesia, that was the role they latched onto for now.

Along with Minoru, Kotone has full relationship bars with everybody, due to being very good at understanding other people. They do really have a lot of individuality, just unable to see it. Since Kotone keeps using other people as a marking point, they sort of measure themselves as "not like this person," "not like that person," and that results in a sense of self that seems to be "not anybody." Free time events would probably focus on the sense of self, and hopefully starting to recognize their own empathy and compassion as something that is real.

Matsumoto Matsui

Matsui is.....very much the product of. the '00s–'10s tumblr blogger stereotype. I do think of her as extremely competent in the blogosphere, able to communicate ideas very well to different audiences. Too bad this death game isn't a blog. She's also inflexible, of course, mainly seeing things in black and white, preferring a simple worldview because, well, that also makes things easier to communicate. But I think she probably could use her communication skills to great effect if she had been given some time to mature.

I imagined her engaging a lot with Tsubame, in terms of trying to barrel her with social justice issues and "defeating" her in rhetoric, but then gets frustrated because Tsubame will always run with it and absolutely will say "yeah, sure, i don't believe in gay marriage, because why should the state even be able to define marriage in the first place, maybe marriage doesn't even exist, what is marriage actually? why don't we try to define marriage? is marriage defined by love? what is love? what if by our current definition of love, nobody actually—" and then matsui throws a hissy fit and leaves.

her free time events would probably get her to actually show off her talent in the way that the main parts of the story can't, letting her really flaunt her knack for knowing what to say, in. like. normal circumstances. and also, hopefully, the free time events also will help push her towards some amount of flexibility.

Mizushima Yuu

Guy who was supposed to die early and then ended up surviving. I got accidentally endeared to him after I figured out in the middle of case 1 how his brain works, which is. essentially, taking basic knowledge and just smashing them together in bizarre ways that you can see the logic in but it's clearly wrong. (I still really like "well, i've seen cats that have two colors like that, and i heard a dog say "i love you" once, so maybe Monobear is an actual bear") I mentioned that he bonds with Shinobu, but now that I think of it, he'd probably bond with Tsubame too, just because she'd have fun playing with the way he thinks. I didn't intend for this until I started writing out these summaries, but I think he ends up bonding with Katashi, through sheer persistence and also because it turns out they have the same energy. Which.......i guess means all of the attempted murderers all like each other..............wow.........

Ryukana Katashi

Guy who would have probably been the hardest to really get a bead on, given how much he kept avoiding everybody. The main idea behind him was that, as intense as he is, he thinks everything he does is actually just the bare minimum anybody should do, which is why he doesn't even want to be in this school of "exceptional" kids. In his mind, he's just average, and he has an intense dislike for the idea of "talent," and an immediate distrust for everybody around him because they're associated with "talent." Or something like that. At the same time, he's........incredibly competitive. And he loves competition. From the beginning, I thought of him as a combination between Togami and Ishimaru. But I think...given the way I had him act, I don't think this would come across very often. He just wouldn't stay around anybody long enough to really show his full colors.

His main hang-up is that attributing things to "talent" feels like dismissing his hard work. And he works hard! At the same time, because the others have been labeled as "talented," he ends up looking down on everybody else, who didn't "work hard." His free time events would probably dig into that and get him re-thinking his biases. From the beginning, i did think that he'd end up hanging out with Tsubame a lot because of how she would just go with his flow. And, unlike Matsui, instead of getting frustrated, he'd go all in on a debate and absolutely relish the perceived challenge. They'd probably just be in a perpetual state of debating, having to put a pause on it to do other things. I think that would be funny.

Noboru Sato

The amnesiac. No matter what, his relationship status with everybody would be "zero." I'm not sure if I really had considered the full implications of having him be an anterograde amnesiac. I probably hadn't put in the full research I should have back then either. However, thinking on it now, the idea is just. kinda hilarious.

He lost a leg after the riots, which means he is in a constant state of "wow, what happened to my leg???" He has to keep refreshing himself on what's going on, and despite recording everything, it's not like he constantly checks his notes or can reread all the pertinent information, so. in all likelihood. for most of the story, he probably isn't fully aware that he's in a death game. His prosthetic leg was made by Yuu, who...apparently never fixed the length, but that might be because Noboru never brought it up.

However, as a historian, I figured that he'd be extremely good at piecing things together all the time. Hopefully this came across during the first trial. In my mind, what made him stand out as a historian was about his ability to make certain leaps of logic in how event A turns into event B, and making sound reasoning as to what people would be thinking or how they would maybe react during the time, given such and such circumstances. However. He truly would have just been going around just. not aware. Which is why Akane would trust him the most. He just doesn't have the capability of keeping the idea of murder in his head. Or even that there's a reason to murder anybody in the first place. I have absolutely no idea what his free time events would even be. The only reason he wouldn't treat each meeting as the first time is because he would be consulting his notes of every previous meeting.

Yukimaru Akane

The only one who remembers everything that happened. She really. Has a time of it. Having spent years with classmates and then they just start KILLING EACH OTHER. God. How wild.

I'm sorry, I don't have much else to say about her. I just keep thinking about how her perspective is so insane. Wow.

Seki Yumiko

The mastermind, SHSL luck. I don't think there's much more I can say about her that I hadn't in previous posts. (also, i'm tired.) I think Katashi would understand her the most, though, which would probably horrify him a bit. Which is a fun characterization thought.

[danpuff-ao3]

ten books to get to know me

Thanks for the tag @wolfpants!! And @consistentsquash!! :D

Tagging: @perverse-idyll, @writcraft, @lizzy0305, @arrisha-ao3, @liladiurne, @bluesundaycake, @cindle-writes, @ripeteeth, @givereadersahug, @broomsticks, @charlotterhea, @ashesandhackles, @teacup-tai, @sugareey-makes-stuff, @mrviran, @yletylyf ....no pressure! Apologies if you've already been tagged or done this! And if you've not been tagged and want to play along, go ahead and consider yourself tagged!

Under the cut cuz LONG. (Y'all know I like to talk.)

The Harry Potter series

....I'm in the HP fandom, so that's probably 0 surprise. Also feels icky due to being written by Terf McTerfington. Buuuuuut. Well. The universe needs balance and HP's power was so great it could only be stopped by Great Evil, or so I like to tell myself.

The series was published in the U.S. when I was 7. I was already a big reader. I was a big reader from the moment I could read at all. But HP was the first series I fell well and truly in love with. I discovered fanfiction at 11, and started writing it at 13. The story and this fandom were there through the worst moments of my life. I'm not sure it will ever not be important to me.

The Percy Jackson series (Rick Riordan)

Honestly, I can't lie, I'm a big sucker for kids' books. They're just fun, dang it. Great literature? No. But I don't read to impress, I read to have a good time, and Percy Jackson is a good time. Also all the related series. Magnus Chase? Trials of Apollo? The Kane Chronicles? Yes yes yes BRING THEM TO ME.

There's a Potter-esque feel to the PJO series. Dark haired green eyed hero who didn't know he had magical abilities? Also the Cabins make me think of the Houses, even though it's more parentage than traits. It's a vibe, okay? And on top of that...mythology???? I'm a big ole mythology nerd, especially for Greek mythology. And let me tell you, I inhaled those books. And I still love them a lot, actually.

The Twilight series (Stephenie Meyer)

To round out the list of "stories Little Danni loved" is Twilight. Yes, I was a Twi-hard in junior high and high school. What's funny is all the modern "this is problematic because Edward is stalking Bella, and also he's a vampire and immortal and there's an age gap!" jabbering is probably what sold me on the story to begin with. Listen: I like what I like, okay? Also: vampire + human? Does that count as monsterfucking? Idk but it's at least different species which ticks some boxes, okay?

Honestly everyone talking about how effed up Twilight is was just a lightbulb moment for me of like "oh. No wonder I was so into it."

Twilight also played a role in my writing journey! In high school I joined a Twilight themed RPG site on proboards. I created a mega evil vampire named Danna Deville, whose face cast was Hayden Panettierre. This weirdly made me super popular because no one else was creating/playing villainous characters. Let me tell you, it did loads for my self esteem. Also it's funny to think about all those old friendships born of "hey let's RP together. I really want your character to torture my character."

Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson)

This one I have big opinions on. On the one hand, I really enjoy Brandon Sanderson's stories. On the other hand, while his magic systems are often highly praised, I hate them. Hate, loathe, and despise them. I'll not say more than that. I don't like to hate on things. And my partner really loves Brandon Sanderson and his magic systems. (I'm just over here muttering about "they eat metal" and have to actively not think about it.) It's just not my jam. I much prefer softer magic systems. Hard magic systems tend to throw me a bit. But Brandon Sanderson sure knows how to tell a story, dang it. He's super creative and smart and has these big sweeping ideas, with all these twists and turns! His worldbuilding is also insanely good.

Mistborn (Era 1) is probably my favorite of his works. One as an overall story (Vin, my love!) But also the connection to my Eddie.

You see, when my partner and I first met, it was in the book section of an entertainment store. Where we stood in the aisles and talked for hours. My very first impression was "who is this goofy man?" and I left the interaction fully smitten. And anxious, awkward lady that I am, my grand plan was to read the books he'd been raving about to have something to talk about. Idle chit chat? No can do. Book talk? That I can do! So I read Mistborn, for a start. Then worked my way through other book recommendations. And now that goofy nerd is mine. All's well that ends well!

The Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson)

Once I worked my way through Brandon Sanderson's books, I moved onto The Wheel of Time, which was much more up my alley! I could not put those books down. (At least until I hit The Slog, at which point I still couldn't put them down, but I was mostly charging through waiting for it to get good again.) This was also the first time I tried to not look up spoilers before reading a book. (Blasphemy, I know, blah blah. Look: I have anxiety. Spoilers make my life easier and happier, okay?) Eddie is very staunchly anti-spoiler, so I did my best to try a spoiler-free experience. I made it most of the way through. Towards the end I accidentally spoiled myself on a big event. It was a bit foolishly done but I'd consulted google to refresh my memory on an event from an earlier book, and my Google excursions warned me of a few deaths ahead of time. Whoops. On the whole, though, me making it 10+ books with no spoilers was pretty dang impressive.

Also the book series is great. And I'm side-eying the show a bit. Just a little bit.

(Bonus: the band Blind Guardian has a song called "Wheel of Time" about the books and it's 10/10. At least if you like symphonic metal, which I do.) (Oh, "Ride Into Obsession" from the same album is also WoT inspired.)

Flowers in the Attic series (V. C. Andrews)

The fact that I read this series as a child might explain a lot. Also you should know my mother gave me these books to read. Child abuse, forced imprisonment, murder, and incest? Sign me up! It's all sortsa messed up and dark and to this day it's still my # 1 guilty pleasure series. I like...just don't care. You can tell me how badly written it is or how problematic it is, I don't care. This is the book equivalent to eating a whole bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos while watching true crime videos. This is indulgence, my friends. I'm having a great time, please leave me in peace.

Till We Have Faces (C. S. Lewis)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Idk what to say other than this book is perfect, I will hear no slander against it, and I really need to reread it, like, ASAP. Another link to Greek mythology this one. Also: I really love Orual.

(Does anyone wanna read/reread it with me? Lmk.)

The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)

Gorgeous, amazing, perfect, wonderful. Patroclus/Achilles forever. Ouch my heart. God it's beautiful. MORE GREEK MYTHOLOGY OF COURSE. Also all of Madeline Miller's stuff is stellar. (Circe and Galatea!!!! Read those, too!!!!) I have every feeling on planet earth about this one.

Widecare trilogy (Phillippa Gregory)

Beatrice Lacey is wonderful and amazing and also really messed up in the head. Historical fiction. Little Beatrice is in love with her family's land, Wideacre. And is HORRIFIED and OFFENDED when she realizes that, as a girl, she will not only not inherit, but will have to leave one day???? Cuz as a lady it is her purpose in life to get married and pop out babies???? But Beatrice is ambitious, clever, manipulative, and passionate and she doesn't let lady parts or the patriarchy keep her down!! And by that, she goes to rather dark and taboo extremes. Which I admire and respect. (I grew up watching horror films and reading darkfic. Trust me, I was having a great time with this story.)

Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)

I stg this book gets no respect. Is this a really toxic, dysfunctional romance? Absolutely. What else do you want in a story???? Oh OBSESSIVE, PASSIONATE, UNDYING LOVE??? GOT THAT, TOO. This book lives in my heart and soul. I can fully quote Heathcliff's speech to Catherine ("I cannot life without my life, I cannot live without my soul") on demand. I have read this book to death, through resurrection, and back to death.

...also it's hella Snarry, isn't it? That explains a lot.

(Also shoutout to other teenage obsessions: The Hunger Games and Divergent. Also the Three Dark Crowns series???? Loved that. Hannibal???? Yes please. Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series??? MORE! Oh and R.L. Stein's The Nightmare Room were the books of my childhood. Oh! Oh oh! And another thing! The Wonder by Emma Donoghue????? Incredible. Blow my mind. Oh and She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb is another case of "this is a very dark messed up story that a family member gave me that I inhaled because I really liked messed up stuff, actually.") (Is this cheating? Probably. But I've been a major bookworm since words even made sense to me, please cut a gal some slack.) (Please don't judge me.)

[clay-cuttlefish]

Finishing off every Question comic with Bombshells. I procrastinated on this for a while because I don't want to be done and have a real count of how many Question comics are bad, but I can't ignore it forever.

War Stories

Renee's kind of a fusion of her late Gotham Central and post-52 self, plus some unique traits just from this universe. She's got a lot of the guilt and poorly-hidden rage, but she's Not A Cop.

She's around for a while, and isn't totally irrelevant, but mostly she's one of Kate's love interests.

She and Kate found a kid named Jason, which went exactly as well as you'd expect the Bat adopting a Jason to go, and that's the big incident that tore their relationship apart.

Like a lot of the characters her personality's a little shaky, wobbling between a distinct sharp-edged self and the generic-author-voice that everyone falls into sometimes. None of it is a full "she would not fucking say that", it's just bland.

Men Who Would Be Kings

Instead of being a noir detective, she's drawing more on adventurer archaeologist tropes.

I actually really enjoy this! It's a neat way to switch up her background while keeping some of the pulp vibes.

I don't think it'd work for a story that's closer to canon, but Bombshells is a very distinct Elseworld that reinterprets and un-legacies a ton of characters, not working in canon isn't a problem.

Also I think it's fun that all the heroes are lesbians and there's a lot of crack ship flirting. It's weird sometimes but for the most part I'm on board with the lesbian divorce polycule.

Mechanical Gods

It's a little weird to me that Renee's the Question at all, since she doesn't have any theming, costume elements, relevant backstory, or annoying cryptic dialogue.

Even when there's theme-based banter she still gets left out half the time, since the Question doesn't mesh well with everyone else's animal gimmicks.

There's a single page of Renee's guilt issues and then it turns into the BatCat soap opera.

What's Past is Prologue

Renee being called the mother of Kate's child makes me mildly unhinged, especially because Kate has picked up the Bat responsibility of having way too many love interests and is cheating on her girlfriend.

They hold hands and then disappear from the comic for the last quarter of its run to go be gay and blow up fascists in Spain, which counts as a happy ending.

Bombshells United - War Bonds

Sequel time.

Renee gets a lot more focus in this arc than in all of Bombshells, and this arc is mostly a take on the Black Adam plot from 52, which is a neat bit of spotlight.

The writing, especially the dialogue, is. Well. I am lying to myself about it being alright because the batshit ways it riffs on various canon stories are stuck in my brain a little, but it's pretty bad.

Absolute galaxy brain shit to put the inevitable Jason Resurrection Angst into the 52 plot. Sure, I have reservations about how maternally Kate and Renee are written, but "what if instead of Under the Red Hood we just made Kate and Renee really sad" is such a power move I don't actually care.

Seriously it's such a flex to bring back Jason only to have him walk back into the afterlife with a minor character from a decade-old event. No Bat-importance for him.

I don't think Bombshells is a particularly deep take on Renee, but there's a real attempt to use her character history beyond being a cop, she gets new angles and unique elements, it tries. That means a lot when Renee has 98 non-canon-or-DCAU comic appearances, maybe a dozen of them are doing anything with her, and the best actual take on her as the Question is still Scooby-Doo.

[caravanlurker]

Three Riot Forge games in 2023 lets gooooooooooo

[mouthblabbing under the cut]

The Sylas game is gonna drop earliest this spring!

But sad Chronobreak isn’t gonna come out first since it was announced 3 years ago but that’s prolly a sign that it’s gotta lot of time, love, and work into it?

interesting to me is that the game is titled “the Mageseeker” when Sylas is the main star here, you’d assume they would name it more related after himself. Though I guess it’s not uncommon for games to be named after their bosses/enemies either.

I guess it’d also serve as a cool multi-meaning though since, in-game, Sylas will be also building his revolution and finding fellow mages to rally to him. In a way, he is a ‘mageseeker.” A bit of irony (?) in that sense that that kind of title, of his greatest kind of enemy, would technically apply to him. But it could also be a (hint? joke? can’t find the word) to Sylas’ more villainous traits that’ll probably get spotlighted here, maybe drawing a comparison between him and the mageseekers and the way they can command fear in the Demacian people. Maybe a character will spit that title to Sylas, probably gonna be real insulting to him, to show their contempt of him. From an enemy or a fellow rebel, we’ll have to wait.

Everyone’s kinda hoping that the game will handle the Demacian Mage Riot storyline better this time, and probably yes, but I feel the story is inevitably gonna make a lot a people mad. You got the folks that love Demacian characters and will be upset if the game goes too far in “Demacia bad” or casting champs as complicit, but you also reeaally don’t want the game to side with the “actually, the mages should’ve just asked really nicely. that way the demacians will see how wrong they were and be super cool abt it“ because like???? ???

On to more (bngygbbrfv?) topics. What I didn’t expect was that it’d use pixel art! It didn’t look like that from the trailer since it was far away and viewed on a glass shard in the Forge video, but the description is clear. I’ve got the Hades bias since I think that that games style could serve really nicely, but I’ve also heard that the video snippet makes it look a bit like Wizard of Legend which is also very swag.

Oh god I just realized this but like what if like Poppy’s gonna be a boss? I’m not really sure how uhh aware she even is of the whole political situation in Demacia, if like, at all? But if she is a boss she’ll probably see Sylas breakin stuff and burning down some fancy houses and be like :0 hey dude that’s not very nice or smthng and then they fight idk. Since she’s supposed to like come over when Demacia’s in danger and Sylas at the height of his power would count as dangerous.

On that note, I also hope that the game will also elaborate on how yordles view living in Demacia. Poppy’s a little disconnected from the actual kingdom since she’s focused searching for the hero and stuff, but what about the other lil guys that show up in the LoR cards? They are magical spirits. Like are we gonna do the thing where yordles are considered an exception as long as they’re not using any magic powers, or like they’re kinda self hating magic and stuff, or maybe we’ll go the route where they’re not really considered inherently magical but just like a buncha small animal people that culturally lean towards magic since that’s where their city’s in. Iirc they made is so that Heimer in arcane was that last one, but I’m not actually sure where I heard it from, whoops. God. I don’t like the idea of glamour but wouldn’t it be funny if one of the characters is like really important to contributing the themes of the story gets revealed they’re a yordle, “huh” moment, and everyone goes on with it cuz like?? what am I even saying th? there are implications of yordles in Demacia ig but also I can’t really think of them cuz it’s like 2 am here blarghghghegegeghh

[thecosmicangel]

Numerology 101 

Part One 

Do you notice angel numbers, or keep seeing the same numbers over and over again? Did you know that numbers carry a vibrational force, numbers can tell us a lot about ourselves. Get to know the deeper meaning of numbers and their meanings, so next time you see angel numbers or repeating numbers (or patterns) you can get a deeper understanding of what they are trying to tell you. Learn to read the language of the universe & what it's trying to communicate with you.

Numerology goes back thousands of years, its different variations are found in many cultures all over the world. The earliest record of numerology can be found in Babylonian & Egyptian civilizations, there is also evidence of numerology being used in ancient times in China, Japan, Greece, & Rome.

The definition of Numerology is the branch that deals with the occult significance of numbers, or the belief of occult, divine, or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of numerical value via an alphanumeric system of the letters in words or names.

It is not mathematical in a way but similar to the branch of astrology. In numerology each number has a deep significance of its own which can help to understand the inner traits of a person, their talents, life goals, hidden characteristics and to predict a person's future in all aspects of life such  as career, love & romance, financial situations, ect…..

Using numerology can help such people understand themselves and the world around them.

Life path number:

You find your life path number by adding up all the numbers of your birthdate. This is your human experience, or the path you take this lifetime. It represents who you are at the core, the person you are learning to become. The life path number is similar to the sun sign in astrology. This number indicates what is important to you, how you act & react and process life. Each life path number carries a unique set of both positive & negative traits, how they manifest depends on each individual person.

Ex: Oct 15,1996

10 1+0= 1

15 1+5=6

1+9+9+6= 25 2+5=7

1+6+7=14

1+4=5

Life path number= 5

Destiny/ Expression number:

The sum of your full name, your full name given to you at birth (first, middle,last). Your full name added up reduced to a single digit number is how you get your destiny number also known as expression number. This number reveals your strengths & skills along with what challenges you. Your destiny number is more focused on your traits, character & destiny. While your life path number can tell you what you came here to do, your destiny number tells you how you will go about doing it.

Soul Number/ Heart's Desire number:  

Adding all the vowels of your name (f,m,l) for “Y” ONLY count it as a vowel if it sounds like a vowel, ex: larry, berry, very. When adding up numbers simplify numbers until you get to single digit number unless you get 11,22,33 (master number). The soul number  is how you connect with your inner spiritual self. You on a deeper level. It can show you what your true intentions are behind many choices.

Personality number: 

Add up all the constants in your name (f,m,l). This number shows how others perceive you, the external you.It has lots of flexibility & can be interpreted in many ways depending on who you encounter.

Maturity number: 

Life path number + destiny number. This can show what you will be like once you reach the age of 30. This number can also have an impact on life experiences, wisdom, and decision making.

Birthdate number: 

Number of day you were born in numerology this is known as a core number. This can be any number 1-31

Ex: may 4, 1998 = birthdate number =4

Universal day number: 

Energy of present moment on a collective level “theme of the day”

Ex: june 9, 2022

6+9+2+0+2+2= 21

2+1=3   Universal day number=3

Personal day number: 

Themes presenting themselves to us on a personal level and its interactions with our personal numerology

ex: June 9, 2022 personal day number= 9

Quick look at 1-9

1: independent, goal-oriented, innovative

2: communicative, unifiying, influential

3: communicative, artistic, charming

4: practical, loyal, service-oriented

5: curious, adaptable, social

6: supportive, protective, romantic

7: spiritual, courous, analytical

8: ambitious, karmic, enduring

9: awakening,tolerant, supportive

Double digits are known as “Master Numbers”

11, 22, & 33: spiritual numbers. They can have a tremendous impact on a person's life path & overall purpose.

11: enlightenment, receptive, charismatic

22: disconnected, capable, successful

33: nurturing,altruistic,wise

13,14,16,19 : karmic debt numbers; they can indicate lessons your soul must learn in this lifetime.

Now when you see an angel number or begin to see a pattern of number you can get into the hang of reducing them to a single digit number and try to understand what message or energy it is carrying. For example the place you live in carries a number vibration as well and can tell you what themes you may go through while living at that place. ex: address- 3765 street ave 3+7+6+5=21 2+1=3 the home you are currently living at is carrying the energy go number 3, look up what number 3 is all about to understand more of the themes you can experience living in that place and how it manifest in your life along with how it interacts with other numbers in your numerology chart. For angel numbers say you see 222 bring it down to a single digit which is 6. Now look at what number 6 stands for in pt 2 to see what it’s trying to communicate with you.

Different name for numerology is arithmancy . Some of the most popular or used methods of numerology are pythagorean, chaldean, tamil, and kabbalah numerology.

Check out pt 2 to see more about what each number means

[writingwithcolor]

What Does Our "Motivations” PSA Mean?

@luminalalumini said:

I've been on your blog a lot and it has a lot of really insightful information, but I notice a theme with some of your answers where you ask the writer reaching out what their 'motivation for making a character a certain [race/religion/ethnicity/nationality] is' and it's discouraging to see, because it seems like you're automatically assigning the writer some sort of ulterior motive that must be sniffed out and identified before the writer can get any tips or guidance for their question. Can't the 'motive' simply be having/wanting to have diversity in one's work? Must there be an 'ulterior motive'? I can understand that there's a lot of stigma and stereotypes and bad influence that might lead to someone trynna add marginalized groups into their stories for wrong reasons, but people that have those bad intentions certainly won't be asking for advice on how to write good representation in the first place. Idk its just been something that seemed really discouraging to me to reach out myself, knowing i'll automatically be assigned ulterior motives that i don't have and will probably have to justify why i want to add diversity to my story as if i'm comitting some sort of crime. I don't expect you guys to change your blog or respond to this or even care all that much, I'm probably just ranting into a void. I'm just curious if theres any reason to this that I haven't realized exists I suppose. I don't want y'all to take this the wrong way because I do actually love and enjoy your blog's advice in spite of my dumb griping. Cheers :))

We assume this is in reference to the following PSA:

PSA to all of our users - Motivation Matters: This lack of clarity w/r to intent has been a general issue with many recent questions. Please remember that if you don’t explain your motivations and what you intend to communicate to your audience with your plot choices, character attributes, world-building etc., we cannot effectively advise you beyond the information you provide. We Are Not Mind Readers. If, when drafting these questions, you realize you can’t explain your motivations, that is likely a hint that you need to think more on the rationales for your narrative decisions. My recommendation is to read our archives and articles on similar topics for inspiration while you think. I will be attaching this PSA to all asks with similar issues until the volume of such questions declines. 

We have answered this in three parts.

1. Of Paved Roads and Good Intentions

Allow me to give you a personal story, in solidarity towards your feelings:

When I began writing in South Asia as an outsider, specifically in the Kashmir and Lahore areas, I was doing it out of respect for the cultures I had grown up around. I did kathak dance, I grew up on immigrant-cooked North Indian food, my babysitters were Indian. I loved Mughal society, and every detail of learning about it just made me want more. The minute you told me fantasy could be outside of Europe, I hopped into the Mughal world with two feet. I was 13. I am now 28.

And had you asked me, as a teenager, what my motives were in giving my characters’ love interests blue or green eyes, one of them blond hair, my MC having red-tinted brown hair that was very emphasized, and a whole bunch of paler skinned people, I would have told you my motives were “to represent the diversity of the region.” 

I’m sure readers of the blog will spot the really, really toxic and colourist tropes present in my choices. If you’re new here, then the summary is: giving brown people “unique” coloured eyes and hair that lines up with Eurocentric beauty standards is an orientalist trope that needs to be interrogated in your writing. And favouring pale skinned people is colourist, full stop.

Did that make me a bad person with super sneaky ulterior motives who wanted to write bad representation? No.

It made me an ignorant kid from the mostly-white suburbs who grew up with media that said brown people had to “look unique” (read: look as European as possible) to be considered valuable.

And this is where it is important to remember that motives can be pure as you want, but you were still taught all of the terrible stuff that is present in society. Which means you’re going to perpetuate it unless you stop and actually question what is under your conscious motive, and work to unlearn it. Work that will never be complete.

I know it sounds scary and judgemental (and it’s one of the reasons we allow people to ask to be anonymous, for people who are afraid). Honestly, I would’ve reacted much the same as a younger writer, had you told me I was perpetuating bad things. I was trying to do good and my motives were pure, after all! But after a few years, I realized that I had fallen short, and I had a lot more to learn in order for my motives to match my impact. Part of our job at WWC is to attempt to close that gap.

We aren’t giving judgement, when we ask questions about why you want to do certain things. We are asking you to look at the structural underpinnings of your mind and question why those traits felt natural together, and, more specifically, why those traits felt natural to give to a protagonist or other major character.

I still have blond, blue-eyed characters with sandy coloured skin. I still have green-eyed characters. Because teenage me was right, that is part of the region. But by interrogating my motive, I was able to devalue those traits within the narrative, and I stopped making those traits shorthand for “this is the person you should root for.” 

It opened up room for me to be messier with my characters of colour, even the ones who my teenage self would have deemed “extra special.” Because the European-associated traits (pale hair, not-brown-eyes) stopped being special. After years of questioning, they started lining up with my motive of just being part of the diversity of the region.

Motive is important, both in the conscious and the subconscious. It’s not a judgement and it’s not assumed to be evil. It’s simply assumed to be unquestioned, so we ask that you question it and really examine your own biases.

~Mod Lesya

2. Motivations Aren't Always "Ulterior"

You can have a positive motivation or a neutral one or a negative one. Just wanting to have diversity only means your characters aren't all white and straight and cis and able-bodied -- it doesn't explain why you decided to make this specific character specifically bi and specifically Jewish (it me). Yes, sometimes it might be completely random! But it also might be "well, my crush is Costa Rican, so I gave the love interest the same background", or "I set it in X City where the predominant marginalized ethnicity is Y, so they are Y". Neither of these count as ulterior motives. But let's say for a second that you did accidentally catch yourself doing an "ulterior." Isn't that the point of the blog, to help you find those spots and clean them up?

Try thinking of it as “finding things that need adjusting” rather than “things that are bad” and it might get less scary to realize that we all do them, subconsciously. Representation that could use some work is often the product of subconscious bias, not deliberate misrepresentation, so there's every possibility that someone who wants to improve and do better didn't do it perfectly the first time. 

--Shira

3. Dress-Making as a Metaphor

I want to echo Lesya’s sentiments here but also provide a more logistical perspective. If you check the rubber stamp guide here and the “Motivation matters” PSA above, you’ll notice that concerns with respect to asker motivation are for the purposes of providing the most relevant answer possible.

It is a lot like if someone walks into a dressmaker’s shop and asks for a blue dress/ suit (Back when getting custom-made clothes was more of a thing) . The seamstress/ tailor is likely to ask a wide variety of questions:

What material do you want the outfit to be made of?

Where do you plan to wear it?

What do you want to highlight?

How do you want to feel when you wear it?

Let’s say our theoretical customer is in England during the 1920s. A tartan walking dress/ flannel suit for the winter is not the same as a periwinkle, beaded, organza ensemble/ navy pinstripe for formal dress in the summer. When we ask for motivations, we are often asking for exactly that: the specific reasons for your inquiry so we may pinpoint the most pertinent information.

The consistent problem for many of the askers who receive the PSA is they haven’t even done the level of research necessary to know what they want to ask of us. It would be like if our English customer in the 1920s responded, “IDK, some kind of blue thing.” Even worse,  WWC doesn’t have the luxury of the back-and-forth between a dressmaker and their clientele. If our asker doesn’t communicate all the information they need in mind at the time of submission, we can only say, “Well, I’m not sure if this is right, but here’s something. I hope it works, but if you had told us more, we could have done a more thorough job.”

Answering questions without context is hard, and asking for motivations, by which I mean the narratives, themes, character arcs and other literary devices that you are looking to incorporate, is the best way for us to help you, while also helping you to determine if your understanding of the problem will benefit from outside input. Because these asks are published with the goal of helping individuals with similar questions, the PSA also serves to prompt other users.

I note that asking questions is a skill, and we all start by asking the most basic questions (Not stupid questions, because to quote a dear professor, “There are no stupid questions.”). Unfortunately, WWC is not suited for the most basic questions. To this effect, we have a very helpful FAQ and archive as a starting point. Once you have used our website to answer the more basic questions, you are more ready to approach writing with diversity and decide when we can actually be of service. This is why we are so adamant that people read the FAQ. Yes, it helps us, but it also is there to save you time and spare you the ambiguity of not even knowing where to start.

The anxiety in your ask conveys to me a fear of being judged for asking questions. That fear is not something we can help you with, other than to wholeheartedly reassure you that we do not spend our unpaid, free time answering these questions in order to assume motives we can’t confirm or sit in judgment of our users who, as you say, are just trying to do better.

Yes, I am often frustrated when an asker’s question makes it clear they haven’t read the FAQ or archives. I’ve also been upset when uncivil commenters have indicated that my efforts and contributions are not worth their consideration. However, even the most tactless question has never made me think, “Ooh this person is such a naughty racist. Let me laugh at them for being a naughty racist. Let me shame them for being a naughty racist. Mwahaha.”

What kind of sad person has time for that?*

Racism is structural. It takes time to unlearn, especially if you’re in an environment that doesn’t facilitate that process to begin with. Our first priority is to help while also preserving our own boundaries and well-being. Though I am well aware of the levels of toxic gas-lighting and virtue signaling that can be found in various corners of online writing communities in the name of “progressivism*”, WWC is not that kind of space. This space is for discussions held in good faith: for us to understand each other better, rather than for one of us to “win” and another to “lose.”

Just as we have good faith that you are doing your best, we ask that you have faith that we are trying to do our best by you and the BIPOC communities we represent.

- Marika.

*If you are in any writing or social media circles that feed these anxieties or demonstrate these behaviors, I advise you to curtail your time with them and focus on your own growth. You will find, over time, that it is easier to think clearly when you are worrying less about trying to appease people who set the bar of approval so high just for the enjoyment of watching you jump. “Internet hygiene”, as I like to call it, begins with you and the boundaries you set with those you interact with online.

[the-nysh]

Top 3 hottest OPM characters(male) in your opinion and why?

Hmmm, quite a difficult question! Mainly cause Murata's out here drawing everyone conventionally attractive, so narrowing down the choices to 3 from such a huge cast of pretty guys is almost unfair! ;o; Plus beyond playing favorites, what constitutes 'hot' varies subjectively from person to person according to taste. Just as a heads up, I'm ace-spectrum, but I still have eyes to discern what's up, so I'll try but may fail to tackle this as clinically as I can. 🧐

Anyway, if you've followed Murata's art evolution from his Eyeshield 21 days, then you might recognize that the character who most closely matches his default 'attractive male' face, aesthetically according to his style, is Glasses.

Meaning, this face is basically the base form from which you can add or subtract further spices of individuality to make an all-around more interesting and therefore attractive character (even better than this). How well we know the character, and their overall vibe/energy also count as distinguishing factors beyond surface level aesthetics too. So with all that said, I think I can narrow down the final contestants to be among these fine standout ikemen: 

(With my opinions given in no particular order.)

Flash: aka Mr. Legolas bishie sparkle personified. This guy is probably the most glamorous, stupidly gorgeous mf of the entire cast (even more so than some of Murata’s girls!) and he knows it. Visually he’s more striking to me than Sonic, because his eyes are always sharp, and he carries himself with a sense of poise and dignity (which Sonic often loses...oops). His air of self-importance and arrogance can be a bit off-putting though (giving me vibes of a himedere, especially when he orders Saitama around.) Also because he’s so ‘beautiful’ more on the effeminate side (he proudly even wears heels!) I’m not quite sure if that constitutes ‘hot’ either 🤔 (ymmv on different types of spice/energy though), but since Flash is just so...flashy, it’d be a crime not to mention him!  

Zombieman: visually his face is very easy on the eyes as one of Murata’s most handsome dudes. His noir + vampire hunter theme also counts for style points but any more belt buckles + zippers and he starts parodying a T. Nomura character. Plus Murata’s not shy about giving him cake when nude. :P He features short (simple) black hair spikes, dark-rimmed eyes, and extremely thin (almost non-existent?) eyebrows for some reason. His smoking, undead complexion, and the accidental guro of his fighting style can be turn-offs for some, but my main problem is that he’s too calm/nice! I’d like to see him get angrier to show more fire & personality of what makes him tic - to further assert himself and delineate where he morally stands. Which is why I felt his best moments were when he got angry at Dr. Genus and when he began to tease/bicker with Sweet Mask. Now that’s more like it!

Sweet Mask: technically he is very pretty, like a perfectly manufactured kpop idol, which is probably The Point. I also much prefer his current clean-cut short hairstyle over his long hairdo from earlier in the series (that one didn’t quite fit him imo.) Knowing what he is though, his ‘mask’ can feel a bit uncanny valley (with good reason). Some of his over the top antics resemble Reigen’s con-like and sweaty performances at times, which is amusing, but the other times when he swerves to his murderous impulses can be a big yikes! D: The narcissism traits and his cold asshole behavior can be seen as other negatives, but once you see his arc in the webcomic, the gravity of what he’s internally fighting sheds light on his character in a whole new way (even for Murata, who likely draws him with much more ‘care’ and understanding now too.)   

Saitama: yes, I’m 100% serious. His hard-boiled form has a strong nose, sharp but warm eyes, and a defined jawline. (His baldness doesn’t matter whatsoever.) Anyone knows he’s sporting a greek god statue of a physique under his suit too (which feels a shame Murata doesn’t capitalize on drawing more pinups of him). He walks with imposing purpose yet his presence brings a sense of ease, relief and safety. We know he could basically kill anyone just by breathing, which is 👀;;;; but he won’t because he’s a good egg with fine control of his power. His appeal is understated but approachable, and this is very important!!! (Otherwise if he’s a villain, he imbues the primal fear of being trapped in an alleyway with no escape & futile resistance, except spread over the entire world...noooo!!!) Because even as the most powerful man in existence, you could simply just run up to him to ask for a handshake and he’d be bashfully delighted to. :3 His soft egge form is also very moe (and dopey...though a bit absent-minded), while he himself likes cutesy cheap household paraphernalia as well. Bottom line, a Saitama who’s alert, serious, and impassioned (even angry enough to snarl) is very handsome and I will die on this hill. 😤 

Genos: the boy whose spirit is too much for his frame to contain. :’) But Murata, ahem, Kuseno’s really outdone himself to perfect a face that balances both sharp & rounded features in all the right places; he’s a very striking but finely sanded work of art. (My favorite: when he glows.) He gets everything that accentuates ‘pretty’: from lashes, earrings, to a defined upper lip (the only character who’s consistently drawn with one). And yet, he’s still very masculine from his strong brows, defined jawline, wide shoulders, and solid dorito figure. He also volunteers doing the housework and looks great in pink. Any man who’s responsible, dutiful, & confident in his identity like that (without ever stooping to self-absorbed vanity either) is a big plus. From his overall earnest intensity to his trigger-happy aggression, he surprisingly doesn’t express the extremes of his anger very often on his face. Giving more an air of blunt/rude aloofness that’s a bit coldly standoffish and unapproachable (brooding/repressed almost like Cloud Strife), which makes Genos feel more similar to a kuudere in temperament. However if you earn his respect, he’ll demonstrate unwavering loyalty and a fierce, unshakable overprotectiveness that rivals no other. You can securely trust him to be there for you when it absolutely counts. What a good lad! 

Garou: feral wolf boy who’s thematically all sharp, chiseled edges but for his softer, compassionate heart. :’3 (Just don’t tell him that as he’s not yet ready to face the truth~) In true temperamental tsundere fashion, he may dishonestly be in denial about his feelings, and often has difficulty navigating them, but oh does he care; he cares a LOT. No one swerves from 0 to 100 in the extreme expressions quite like him. No one sports impressive back muscles quite like his either. He also has the prettiest hands out of anyone in the cast; you’d be surprised (and entertained) to see just how elegantly he turns fighting into an artform. Gap moe also works to great effect, cause despite how he looks and tries to present himself, he’s still a huge dork and a nerd. :P (Which makes me laugh cause he’s a bit of a dummy about it - that’s a charm point.) I like his facial scar for more rugged spice. I also prefer when his hair is short(er) though, because once the ‘wolf ears’ start growing too long, they begin to look a little ridiculous on the goofy side, heh. (But ONE’s post-arc solves this.) His extremely toned (Bruce Lee inspired) body is also quite uniquely proportioned, which it seems even merch teams cannot accurately replicate, as beefy ones like Suiryu’s are too big, while Garou’s still built for dexterous speed. Murata’s not blind to what’s he’s designed either, as he happily thirsts in the fanservicey Garou pinups just as much as Fubuki’s. (They are his poster boy & girl, literally.) :P But beyond that, what gets my attention is when he seethes in righteous fury after witnessing injustice, and gives his all to violently protect the weak & innocent (whoaa, protectiveness is hot 😳). And when he snarls in the face of would-be manipulators who might order him what to do by telling them no. Firmly asserting himself where he morally stands, such that his pure heart core can’t be swayed or corrupted (edit: except when he’s forcibly violated against his will by cosmic injustice), enough to tenaciously fight & risk his life on it even, is a big yes!! 8′D Oho, now that’s some good impressive stuff right there!

Ahem, anyway if you were to point a gun at my head to force me to decide, I’d probably default to Saitama as the most solid, ‘anchor’ option. ...But that also doesn’t seem very fair. 🤔 Logically, I also know that Genos is probably the most well-rounded in an effortlessly attractive way...but he was also technically designed to be that way anyway from the start. (Like, he’s supposed to be eye-catching and gorgeous, which Murata does splendidly to capture his charms!) But, but then....if you go by gut feeling also consider whose presence sparks joy and immediately gets you hyped/energized to see more of him prevail and be himself (as an entire package, including looking forward to the person he becomes post-arc), then that would have to be...Garou. ;o; Ahhh!!! So many good opm guys to enjoy!  

[animeyanderelover]

Wooow! Finished all available seasons from Attack On Titan and it’s such a great Anime. The character development is more than just outstanding and I can’t wait until the Final season is being aired in my country! But for now let’s start with the basic Hc’s!

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, stalking, clinginess, delusions, paranoia, overprotectiveness, manipulation, sabotage, strict Yandere, mentions of kidnapping, death, torturing

Yandere Attack On Titan Hc’s

Eren Yeager

👊A trait that every character in Attack On Titan has is overprotective. He lost his mother and more comrades than he can count and won’t let anything harm his darling. One hell of an obsessive one who will bombard the s/o with questions about their life and interests. He’ll definitely steal a few of his darling’s things and will treasure them. He’s shown great character development and so I would say also the aware type who knows that such feelings are unhealthy. But due to trying desperately to justify his behavior he’ll have some delusional mood swings from time to time. I can see him even as the manipulative type who will pretend to just have an innocent crush on you and fool everyone when in reality it’s so much more.

👊Also the lovestruck, desperate and clingy type. He sees his darling as a gift from whoever lives up there in heaven and will probably worship the ground his s/o walks on. Poor boy went through a lot in only a few months since joining the scouts so it’s no wonder that he just really wants to hold and kiss his darling, showing them that they own his heart. He won’t leave his s/o’s side if he can because apparently even in the walls there is danger and he also doesn’t want anyone flirting with his darling.

👊Eren doesn’t have the best temper. But he’ll try to hold on just for his darling. Remember that the key word here is that he tries. He doesn’t have anything against it when Mikasa or Armin talk with his darling and can also hold on for a bit when it comes to his other friends, only exception being Jean on whom he keeps a sharp eye. But with other people he’s rather impatient, especially if they get too close to his darling. Will most likely start yelling and cursing at the person then and there, not caring that he makes a scene.

👊Eren is really impulsive, but he joined the scouts to protect mankind so he’ll feel very conflicted about that. I think he won’t kill. He most likely just starts having a fight with them. But sometimes his temper might get the best out of him and then he loses it, but for that to happen the person must have really pushed him over his limits. But he has to be smart about killing or else he’ll get in troubles. Might try to lure the person somewhere secure to finish them off in his Titan form and making sure that the body will never be found again.

👊He’s most of the time with you and has to believe in himself that he can protect you and also trusts Mikasa and Armin enough to keep you safe. But as soon as danger comes anywhere near you he’ll immediately start searching for you to protect you, especially if Titan’s are in the wall. After that he’ll lock you somewhere safe and sound up even if he managed to protect you and nothing happened to you. No one can blame him for being a bit paranoid.

👊Eren just really wants you safe and that’s perfectly understandable. He tries to show you that he can protect you, especially if you should ever witness him in Titan form where he wants to prove to you that he has control. He just really wants you to love him and appreciate him.

Mikasa Ackerman

🧣Mikasa is the overprotective and possessive Yandere, but only in the best ways possible. She lost her parents, her foster parents and so many more people so no wonder that she’s so scared over her darling’s safety and wants to keep them by her side for all time. Even though she might look cold on the outside, she’s an incredibly caring one on the inside and will often tell her darling how beautiful they are and how much she loves them.

🧣Also a stalker and obsessive one. She of course prefers to be with her darling, but she accepts it if her s/o wants some private time alone and will leave them be. She tries at least, but in the end she decides to rather watch from a safe distance so she can step in as soon as danger encounters her darling. Since she’s a stalker she’ll see a lot from what her darling is doing and will grab on every piece of information she can get of them like her life depends on it. Might even steal a few things from them here and there. The aware one who knows that she shouldn’t do that, but the world is a cruel place.

🧣Mikasa is perfectly fine with you talking to others. I can see her as someone who knows that she’s good looking and that everyone would love to be in her darling’s place. She also trusts her darling greatly. The only times when she gets jealous is when the other person gets a bit too comfortable with the s/o.

🧣She’s in comparison to Eren much more calmer. But she can get hella brutal if a person she loves is in danger and will take things in her hands quickly. She can be very reasonable and Mikasa is very intimidating if she wants to be. To get her mad a person has to threaten or hurt her darling. But she’s smart and will make a plan on how to kill that person without arousing any suspicions.

🧣Her darling’s happiness is important to her and since she’s almost all the time watching I think she won’t resort to kidnapping. That however changes the moment someone possesses a threat to you. As soon as she hears that her s/o is in danger she’ll instantly defend you and after she took care of the threat she’ll start checking if you’re hurt. After such incidents she’ll become more protective and will stick closer to her darling’s side.

🧣Mikasa is my favorite Yandere in here. She really tries to not scare you away with her partially unhealthy feelings and accepts the fact that you have other people in your life as well. She does know that you’re a grownup, but I can see her as someone who will baby you as often as she can and who will always find excuses to spend time with you.

Armin Arlert

🐚Armin is a wonderful mix of delusional, yet aware. He’s got some brain and actually knows that his feelings aren’t normal, but he just sees his darling as a god/goddess walking on earth and will just start thinking of it as really strong romantic feelings. As everyone else in here overprotective. He saw the people in Shinganshina die, he lost his grandfather and he witnessed how Eren got eaten from a Titan and has every reason to be overprotective over his darling. Also an incredibly clingy one who needs to be near you all the time.

🐚Lovestruck and a worshipper. This guy just wants to proof his worth to his s/o and would do everything what they tell him. I think he might even go as far as not caring if his s/o uses him as long as they accept him which makes him a really desperate one as well. Such a desperate one for his s/o’s love and approval. If you don’t acknowledge him he’ll feel absolutely unworthy. He’s smart and might be a very potential manipulative type, but I think he would try to not use that on his darling often. But there are certain trigger events where he’ll let his genius side shine through in a bad way. That happens when his darling tries to leave him, ignores him for someone else or is in danger.

🐚Armin doesn’t really think of himself that great and is often highly insecure about himself so if he feels jealous he wouldn’t have the courage to step in. Instead his self insecurity just increases. But he jumps over his shadow when he sees someone making you uncomfortable.

🐚Here this boy let’s his manipulative side shine through because he doesn’t want to kill people. Instead he uses his brain to somehow start spreading rumors about the person which will make other people more suspicious around said person.

🐚He would never kidnap his darling. When they’re in danger he’ll talk them into going somewhere save so he can make sure that they aren’t harmed. He often entrusts Eren and Mikasa with the protection of his darling if he can’t do it himself or feels like he won’t be able to do it alone.

🐚You might feel actually bad for Armin because of the fact how submissive he is to you and how dependent he is for your love. But I also believe that if someone pushes his buttons the wrong way he might turn into a little devil who will use manipulations with the reasoning to keep you save.

Jean Kirschstein

🐴Jean is a stalker and the aware type. He’s ashamed of his rather abnormal feelings for his darling and I can also see him as someone who thinks he is way out of their league to even be near them. So he just watches and follows his darling everywhere. Obsessive because he just found an angel walking on this rotten world so it’s only natural that he wants to know everything about them. A lovestruck one who thinks of his darling as an angel from heaven. He fell in love at first sight.

🐴A manipulative one, but in a different sense. He’ll try to befriend his s/o’s friends and will try to come in contact with his darling’s parents, trying to leave a really good impression on them so that they’ll introduce him to his s/o. Since he’s ashamed of his behavior he needs a lot of reassurance, making him a desperate one as well. He’s also the overprotective one since basically anytime something could happen to you.

🐴Jean gets quickly jealous, but since he’s ashamed of his feelings and doesn’t think he has the right to interrupt his darling he’ll just watch from the distance. If he gets courageous he might suddenly step in, especially if the other person gets touchy with the s/o. Then he’ll become a hothead.

🐴Jean needs a good reason to kill a person, but if the situation calls for it he’s ready to take someone’s life it means protecting his darling. He would only do that if someone plans to harm his darling.

🐴He watches most of the time and respects his s/o’s wishes, but if they get harmed and he couldn’t do anything, he might become slightly more paranoid and will beg them to stay in their house and will also try to talk parents and friends into thinking like him.

🐴Jean is only focused on your happiness and well-being and would never dream of hurting you. But it can be from time to time creepy when he just follows you around and watches you for hours. But he’ll make sure to never get caught by you or someone else.

Sasha Blouse

🍖Sasha is the clingy and lovestruck Yandere. She just adores her darling with everything she’s got and never, never leaves their side. She’ll always follow them around and can’t stop talking about them. Overprotective for obvious reasons.

🍖Also the delusional one who sees her darling as something above normal humans. They’re the only thing she loves more than food and that has to say something.

🍖Easily jealous and pretty obvious with it. Her whole face will scream jealous as soon as someone starts talking to them and she’s the type who keeps interrupting whatever interaction the both of you have and will annoy the other person until they’ve had enough and leave her s/o alone.

🍖I can’t imagine her as someone who would kill people. She would try to give them a hard time by annoying them and even make sure to somehow make them mess up their tasks so this person will get in trouble. Sasha would also try to somehow make the person humiliate themself in front of a large crowd. The type to slip here and there some rumors in, not too bad, but enough to make people talk about it. Embarrassing stories do that everyone will start giggling when seeing the person again. Also the type to report anything to their superiors if she sees how the person does something wrong.

🍖She’s all over her darling all the time so she won’t kidnap them and would never even think of it. If danger emerges she’ll just be even more clingy towards you to the point where it will be suffocating for the s/o.

🍖I think together with Mikasa one of my favs. She’s so open with showing her feelings for you and just wants the both of you to be a happy couple. She would never hurt you and is even ready to share her food with you. But only with you!

Annie Leonhardt

💗Annie is the aware and manipulative type. She’s very smart and knows that she isn’t supposed to feel this way. She’s good in acting when we think about that at first no one suspected her to be an enemy and she’ll definitely manipulate her darling into staying with her and cutting all of their social ties to dedicate all their time to her.

💗She’s overprotective and possessive over her darling. She’s seen bad stuff and has been trained to kill without remorse and she doesn’t want this world to mess her darling up as well so she’ll protect them from any harm possible. The world didn’t give her much so there’s no chance she’ll ever let her s/o leave her. She rarely shows her feelings, but I believe that she might show her darling her softer side. But she can still be very rough on them if she needs too.

💗Annie doesn’t show much emotions and has good self control over herself so she won’t act impulsively on this. But she does get jealous fast and she is pretty intimidating and will send the subject of her jealousy a cold glare. If the person doesn’t get her message she might step in and with her partially cruel humor scare that person away.

💗She was trained to kill without remorse and shows most of the times little to no regret in it. She is smart with it so that no one will suspect her as the killer. She kills when someone takes a liking to the s/o or when the s/o takes a liking towards someone and when someone disrespects or even hurts her darling.

💗She’ll rely most of the times on manipulation to get her darling stay willingly out of danger. If they refuse she might become more cruel with her words to them and will talk them into thinking that they’re weak if she has to. She only wants their best, doesn’t she? So being a bit more mean is worth it. And she will be able to get you to do what she told you to.

💗Her ways of doing things aren’t always right and deep down Annie knows that. Talking you into feeling worthless and forcing you into spending your time only with her is very selfish from her. But she just wants to protect you from the world and all it’s dangers. You’re also one of the very few persons she’ll ever be more tender to.

Erwin Smith

🎖Erwin is a manipulative Yandere. He might look at first like the perfect boyfriend, but it’s all an act to make his darling fall for him. He is incredibly charming and it won’t be hard for him to wrap his s/o around his finger. Overprotective because he lost his father and saw more than hundreds of soldiers dying.

🎖With time he’ll also become more and more the possessive one and at one point he might even try to make you break up contact with your family. But here comes the aware trait in where he’ll suddenly stop and remembering that this isn’t right. It’s a constant game of tug of war between his desire to keep the s/o for himself and letting them see family and friends because everything else would be wrong.

🎖He can keep his composure even under difficult circumstances. But it probably won’t even be necessary because he has some power and the knowledge that he and the s/o are together is most of the time already enough to make people stay away from them. If a person tries to talk to his darling a “friendly” warning is most of the time enough. Let’s not forget that he tells you convincing lies about the people you spend your time with which will cause you to avoid them.

🎖It won’t be necessary for him to kill someone when he can make their lifes a living hell since he is the commander of the scouts. He’ll spread bad rumors about that person which will eventually lead them to lose their job. Depending on how far someone angered him it will either end there or he’ll continue to ruin their life.

🎖If he’ll lock them up depends solely on him since he has a constant inner battle between his possessive side and more reasonable side. If he’s more possessive he’ll keep the s/o in the house even if there’s no sign of danger, if he’s in his more reasonable state he he’ll only does it when there is a threat for his darling. If his darling rejects his love or tries to leave him he’ll blackmail them to come willingly back and will keep them in his house for a shorter or longer time, it depends on how willing his s/o is.

🎖Erwin can be such a lovely boyfriend if he wants to be and nobody will ever suspect anything. That’s the problem here. No one would believe you if you told them how he really is. He has you tightly in his grip and you will always come back to him due to him threatening to spread rumors about your family out that might cost them their job. You need to play your cards carefully because this guy can turn from ‘perfect husband material’ to ‘possessive blackmailer’ in only the blink of an eye.

Hanji/Hange Zoë

🔬Hanji is overprotective and obsessive. They have seen many people die right in front of their eyes and that bounds them to be overprotective over their darling. They already display a huge interest for Titans and a natural desire to learn everything they don’t know. Imagine that ten times worse with the s/o. Hanji is absolutely the type to steal their things. At first only small things like spoons the darling used to eat with or garbage they threw away. But it will escalate further and further until Hanji has reached the level where they’ll steal toothbrushes, clothes and even start collecting their darling’s hair.

🔬Also the clingy type. Hanji is an absolute fan of PDA and Levi will probably scold them often for being so unprofessional in public. But Hanji doesn’t give a shit. Lovestruck, in their eyes her darling is perfect. Depending on whether her darling catches on on their rather obvious obsession they might become a stalker and start watching from a safe distance. Hanji is very intelligent and even though they’re very peculiar definitely can talk their darling into certain things, making them the manipulative type.

🔬Hanji shows very often very obviously their emotions and gets rather fastly jealous. I can see Hanji as someone who can be really scary and most people already think that they’re a bit crazy, but when they step in to interrupt their darling’s interaction with the other person they’ll creep them out with their odd and scary behavior and look on their face. The way they’re speaking adds even more creepiness to it.

🔬Hanji can go into full mad mode if triggered enough. They won’t kill persons. No, they’ll torture them first, separating their limbs from the body until they think the persons had been punished enough and then will kill them. That happens when someone insults their darling badly and disrespects them. Imagine what happens if someone goes as far as hurting Hanji’s s/o.

🔬Hanji can be very convincing and stubborn when it comes to certain things so they can somehow always find a way to make the darling stay out of dangerous places. But I can see them as someone who likes showing everyone who you belong to so as long as there’s no danger they won’t lock their darling up.

🔬Hanji will be honestly nothing, but sweet to you. But their obsession shines clearly through and they’re the type to ask you if they can get a few strands of your hair which will creep you out. But that’s not half as scary as seeing them torture those who didn’t treat you respectfully. No one wants to see a with blood covered Hanji holding those horrifying tools in their hands to torture a person with a crazed expression on their face.

Levi Ackerman

⚔️Levi is overprotective and possessive. He’s lost a lot of people. His mother, his uncle, his squad and countless others. So the moment he saw his darling? He didn’t plan to let them ever go. He’s a really strict and controlling one. He does appreciate it if his darling has a backbone, but he also expects them to know that he has the final word in everything and that they should submit to him. There are punishments given if his s/o doesn’t behave. Hopefully they learn through this. Obsessive, he takes his time to examine the s/o carefully to predict their actions better and to have a easier time to manipulate them since he has a bit of a silver tongue.

⚔️But at the same time he’s a desperate and on most of the time even a soft one. He never really got much love when he was a child. He watched his mother die and his uncle only taught him how to fight and left him alone after he had learned everything. So he does wishes that his darling loves him. And under all this proud and strict shell there is a soft spot which is only for you.

⚔️Levi carries a lot of anger inside of him, but is good in overplaying it. But it is rather easy to cross his lines and his possessiveness doesn’t help at all. It even worsens the situation and if his darling doesn’t break the interaction with the other person up when seeing Levi boiling with jealousy then they shouldn’t be surprised itf the other person suddenly gets kicked down by Levi and they get dragged back home by him. If the other person goes as far as flirting or touching you he’ll get more violent. If someone did touch you you’ll have to clean yourself up since Levi doesn’t want you to get filthy by someone else’s touch. And if you don’t want to wash yourself Levi has no problem in doing it himself. He’ll also mark after such events what’s rightfully his, at least he thinks so.

⚔️Levi needs to be careful to not let his rage and possessiveness get the best of him or else he’ll might slaughter a lot of people. He does have a higher position and will most likely give whoever made him pissed off a very, very hard life. If someone does go as far as trying to hurt his s/o or even trying to take them away from him he might just start attacking them the next time he sees them. But he’ll hold back and make a plan on how to kill them. If it’s a member of the scouts he might use the chance to somehow lead them into making a mistake so that they’ll get eaten by a Titan.

⚔️He hates taking his darling out of the house, his overprotectiveness and possessiveness are a horrible mix. He won’t kidnap his darling. It’s more like threatening them into coming willingly to him because he can be very scary if he wants to be. But I guess it also depends a bit on your position, meaning that he’ll handle this differently if you’re just an average citizen or a scout like him.

⚔️He has a huge soft side, but still be careful with him or else you’ll get punished. His punishments consists of locking you up without food for a few days or threatening you since despite his height he’s very scary. The problem with Levi is that most of the time you don’t know what’s going on in his head, you never know what he’s thinking. It might look to you on some days that he just wants to make your life a living hell, but that isn’t true. Levi just doesn’t really know how to act with these intense emotions. He really just wants you to love him, but chooses the wrong way to reach that goal. But give him time he’ll learn how to act better around you and more carefully.

[vickyvicarious]

Leverage Redemption Pros/Cons List

Okay! Now that I've finally finished watching the first half of Leverage: Redemption, I thought I'd kind of sum up my overall impression. Sort of a pro/con list, except a little more just loosely structured rambles on each bullet point rather than a simple list.

This got way out of hand from what I expected so I'm going to put it all under a cut. If you want the actual bulletpoint list, here it is:

PROS

References

Continuity

Nate

Representation

Themes

New Characters

General Vibe

CONS

'Maker and Fixer'

Episode Twins

Sophie's Stagefright

Thiefsome

You might notice the pros list is longer, and that's because I do love the show! I really like most of what it does, and my gripes are fewer in number and mostly smaller in size. But they do exist and I felt like talking about them as well as the stuff I loved.

PROS

References

There is clearly so much love and respect for the original show here. Quite aside from the general situation, there's a lot of references to individual episodes or character traits from the first show. For example, Parker's comments on disliking clowns, liking puppets, disliking horses, stabbing vs. tasing people. The tasing was an ongoing thing in the original, the stabbing happened once (S1) but was referenced later in the original show, the clown thing only had a few mentions scattered across the entire original show. The puppet thing was mentioned once in S5, and the horses thing in particular was only brought up in S1 once. But they didn't miss the chance to put the nod to it in there; in fact with those alone we see a good mix of common/ongoing jokes and smaller details.

We got "dammit Hardison" and "it's a very distinctive..." but also Eliot and Parker arguing about him catering a mob wedding, and Eliot being delighted by lemon as a secret ingredient in a dish in that same episode (another reference to the mob episode). Hardison and Eliot banter about "plan M", an ongoing joke starting from the very first episode of the original show. We see Sophie bring up Hardison's accent in the Ice Job, Parker also makes reference to an early episode when describing "backlash effect" to Breanna, in an episode that also references her brother slightly if you look for it.

Heck, the last episode of these first eight makes a big deal out of nearly reproducing the iconic opening lines of the original show with Fake Nate's "we provide... an advantage." And I mean, all the "let's go steal a ___" with Harry being confused about how to use them.

Some of the lines are more obviously references to the original show, but they strike a decent balance with smaller or unspoken stuff as well, and also mix in some references between the team to events we the audience have never seen. If someone was coming into this show for the first time, they wouldn't get all the easter egg joy but most of the references would stand on their own as dialogue anyway. In general, I think they struck a good balance of restating needed context for new viewers while still having enough standalone good lines and more-fun-if-you-get-it callbacks.

Continuity

Similar to the last point, but slightly different. The characters' development from the original to now is shown so well. I'm not going to go on about this too long, but the writers clearly didn't want to let the original characters stagnate during the offscreen years. There was a lot of real thought put into how they would change or not.

It's really written well. We can see just how cohesive a team Parker, Hardison, and Eliot became. We get a sense of how they've spent their time, and there's plenty of evidence that they remained incredibly close with Sophie and Nate until this past year. The way everyone defers to Parker is different from the original show and clearly demonstrates how she's been well established as the leader for years now - they show this well even as Parker is stepping back to let Sophie take point in these episodes. Eventually that is actually called out by Sophie in the eighth episode, so we might see more mastermind Parker in the back half of the show, maybe. But even with her leading, it's clear how collaborative the team has become, with everyone bouncing ideas off one another and adding their input freely. Sometimes they even get so caught up they leave the newbies completely in the dust. But for the most part we get a good sense of how the Parker/Hardison/Eliot team worked with her having final say on plans but the others discussing everything together. A little bit more collaborative than it was with Nate at the helm.

Meanwhile Sophie has built a home and is deeply attached to it. She and Nate really did retire, at least for the most part, and she was living her happy ending until he died. She's out of practice but still as skilled as ever, and we're shown how much her grief has changed her and how concerned the others are for her.

There's a lot of emphasis on how they all look after one another and the found family is clearer than ever. Sophie even calls Hardison "his father's son" - clearly referring to Nate.

Nate

Speaking of Nate! They handled his loss so, so well. His story was the most complete at the end of the last show, and just from a narrative point, losing him makes the most sense of all the characters. But the way he dies and his impact on the show and the characters continues. It's very respectful to who he was - who he truly was.

Nate was someone they all loved, but he was a deeply flawed individual. Sophie talks about how he burned too hot, but at least he burned - possibly implying to me that his drinking was related to his death. In any case, there's no mystery to it. We don't know how he died but that's not what's most important about his death. This isn't a quest for revenge or anything... it's just a study of grief and trying to heal.

Back to who he really was real quick - the show doesn't eulogize him as better than he was. They're honest about him. From the first episode's toast they raise in his memory, to the final episode where Sophie and Eliot are deeply confused by Fake Nate singing his praises, the team knows who he was. They don't erase his flaws... but at the same time he was so clearly theirs. He was family, he was the man they trusted and loved and followed into incredibly dangerous situations, and whose loss they all still feel deeply.

That said, the show doesn't harp on this point. They reference him, but they don't overwhelm new viewers with a constant barrage of Nate talk. It always serves a purpose, primarily for Sophie's storyline of moving through her grief. Anyway, @robinasnyder said all of this way better than me here, so go read that as well.

Representation

Or should I say, Jewish Hardison, Autistic Parker, Queer Breanna!

Granted, Hardison's religion isn't quite explicitly stated to be Jewish so much as he mentions that his "Nana runs a multi-denominational household", but nonetheless. He gets the shows big thesis statement moment, he gets a beautiful speech about redemption that is the emotional cornerstone of that episode and probably Harry's entire arc throughout the show. And while I'm not Jewish myself, most of what I've seen from Jewish fans is saying that Hardison's words here were excellent representation of their beliefs. (@featherquillpen does a great job in that meta of contextualizing this with his depiction in the original show as well.)

Autistic Parker, however, is shown pretty dang blatantly. She already was very much coded as autistic in the original show, but the reboot has if anything gone further. She sees a child psychologist because she likes using puppets to represent emotions, she stims, she uses cue cards and pre-written scripts for social interactions, there's mention of possible texture sensitivity and her clothes are generally more loose and comfortable. She's gotten better at performing empathy and understanding how people typically work, but it's specifically described as something she learned how to do and she views her brain as being different from ones that work that way (same link). Again, not autistic myself but from what I've seen autistic fans find a lot to relate to in her portrayal. And best of all, this well-rounded and respectful depiction does not show any of these qualities as a lack on her part. There's no more of those kinda ableist comments or "what's wrong with you" jokes that were in the original show. Parker is the way she is, and that allows her to do things differently. She's loved for who she is, and any effort made to fit in is more just to know how so that she can use it to her advantage when she wants to on the job - for her convenience, not others' comfort.

Speaking of loved for who you are.... okay, again, queer Breanna isn't confirmed onscreen yet, and I don't count Word of God as true canon. But I can definitely believe we're building there. Breanna dresses in a very GNC way, and just her dialogue and, I dunno, vibes seem very queer to me. She has a beautiful speech in the Card Game Job about not belonging or being accepted and specifically mentions "the way they love" as one of those things that made her feel like she didn't belong. And that scene is given so much weight and respect. (Not to mention other hints throughout the episode about how much finding her own space meant to her.) Also, the whole theme of feeling rejected and the key for her to begin really flourishing is acceptance for who she is, not any desire for her to be anyone else, is made into another big moment. Yeah, textually that moment is about her feeling like she has to fill Hardison's shoes and worrying about her past, but the themes are there, man.

Themes

I talked a bit about this yesterday, so I'm mostly just going to link to that post, but... this series so far is doing a really good job in my opinion of giving people arcs and having some good themes. Namely the redemption one, from Hardison's speech (which I'm gonna talk a little more about in the next point), and this overall theme of growing up and looking to the future (from above the linked post).

New Characters

Harry and Breanna are fantastic characters. I was kind of worried about Harry being a replacement Nate, but... he really isn't. Sure, he's the older white guy who has an angsty past but it's in a very different way and his personality and relationships with the rest of the crew are correspondingly different. I think the dynamic of a very friendly, cheerful, kind, but still bad guy (as @soundsfaebutokay points out) is a great one to show, and he's got a really cool arc I think of learning to be a better person, and truly understanding Hardison's point about redemption being a process not a goal. His role on the team also has some interesting applications and drawbacks, as @allegorymetaphor talked about. I've kind of grown to think that the show is gradually building up to an eventual Sophie/Harry romance a ways down the line, and I'm actually here for it. Regardless, his relationships with everyone are really interesting.

As for Breanna, first of all and most importantly I love her. Secondly, I think she's got a really interesting story. She's a link to Hardison's past, and provides a really interesting perspective for us as someone younger who has grown up a) looking up to Leverage and b) in a bleaker and more hopeless world. Breanna's not an optimist, and she's not someone who was self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world at the start, like everyone else. She believes that the world sucks and she wants it to be better, but she doesn't know how to make that happen. She outright says she's desperate and that's why she's working with Leverage. At the same time, Breanna is pretty down on herself and wants to prove herself but gets easily shaken by mistakes or being scolded, which is a stark contrast to Hardison's general self-confidence. There are several times when she starts to have an idea then hesitates to share it, or expects her emotions to be dismissed, or gets really disheartened when she's corrected or rejected, or dwells on her mistakes, or when she is accepted or praised she usually takes a surprised beat and is shy about it (she almost always looks down and away from the person, and her smile is often small or startled). Breanna looks up to the team so much (Parker especially, then probably Eliot) and she wants to prove herself. It's going to be so good to see her grow.

General Vibe

A brief note, but it seems a fitting one to end on. The show keeps it's overall tone and feeling from the original show. The fun, the competency porn, the bad guys and clever plans and happy endings. It's got differences for sure, but the characters are recognizably themselves and the show as a whole is recognizably still Leverage. For the most part they just got the feeling right, and it's really nice.

CONS (no, not that kind)

'Maker and Fixer'

So when I started writing this meta earlier today, I was actually a lot more annoyed by the lack of unique 'maker' skills being shown by Breanna. Basically the only time she tries to use a drone, the very thing she introduced herself as being good at, it breaks instantly. I was concerned about her being relegated into just doing what Hardison did, instead of bringing her own stuff to the table. But the seventh episode eased some of those fears, and the meta I just wrote for someone else asking about Breanna's 'maker' skills as shown this season made me realize there's more nuance than that. I'd still like to have seen more of that from her, but for now the fact that we don't see a lot of 'maker' from her so far seems more like a character decision based in Breanna's insecurities.

Harry definitely gets more 'inside man' usage. His knowledge as a 'fixer' comes in handy several times. Nonetheless, I'm really curious if there are any bigger ways to use it, aside from him just adding in some exposition/insight from time to time. I'm not even entirely sure how much more they can pull from this premise in terms of relevant skills, but I hope there's more and I'd like to see it. Maybe a con built more around him playing a longer role playing his old self, like they tried in the Tower Job? Maybe it's more a matter of him needed distance from that part of his past, being unable to face it without lashing out - in that case it could be a good character growth moment possibly for him to succeed in being Scummy Lawyer again down the line? I dunno.

Episode Twins

This was something small that kind of bothered me a little earlier in the season. It's kind of the negative side to the references, I guess? And I'm not even sure how much it annoys me really, but I just kinda noticed and felt sort of weird about it.

Rollin' on the River has a lot of references/callbacks to the The Wedding Job.

The Tower Job has a lot of references/callbacks to The White Rabbit Job.

The Paranormal Hacktivity Job has a lot of references/callbacks to the Future Job.

I guess I was getting a little concerned that there would be a 'match this episode' situation where almost every new Redemption episode is very reminiscent of an old one. I love the callbacks, but I don't want to see a lack of creativity in this new show, and this worried me for a minute. Especially when it was combined with all three of those episodes dealing with housing issues of some kind. Now, that's a huge concern for a lot of people, and each episode has its own take on a different problem within that huge umbrella, but it still got me worried about a lack of variety in topics/cases.

The rest of the episodes failing to line up so neatly in my head with older episodes helped a lot to ease this one, though. Still, this is my complaining section so I figured I'd express my concerns as they were at the time. Even if I no longer really worry about it much.

Sophie's Stagefright

Yeah, I know this is just a small moment in a single episode, but it annoyed me! Eliot made a bit of a face at Sophie going onstage, but I thought it was just him being annoyed at the general situation. However, they started out with her being awful up there until she realized the poem was relevant to the con - at which point her reading got so much better.

This felt like a complete betrayal of Sophie's beautiful moment at the end of the original show where she got over her trouble with regular acting and played Lady Macbeth beautifully in front of a full theater of audience members. This was part of the con, but only in the sense that it gave her an alibi/place to hide, and I always interpreted it as her genuinely getting over her stagefright problems. It felt like such a beautiful place to end her arc for that show, especially after all her time spent directing.

Now, her difficulty onstage in the Card Game Job was brief and at the very beginning of being up on stage. @rinahale suggested to me that maybe it was a deliberate tactic to draw the guy's attention, and the later skill was simply her shifting focus to make the sonnet easier for Breanna to listen to and interpret, but he seemed more enraptured when she was doing well than otherwise in my opinion and it just doesn't quite sit well with me. My other theory was that maybe she just hasn't been up on stage in a long time, and much like she complaining about being rusty at grifting before the team pushed her into trying, she got nervous for a moment at the very beginning. The problem there is that I think she'd definitely still get involved in theater even when she and Nate were retired. I guess she could've quit after he died, and a year might be long enough to make her doubt herself again, but... still.

I just resent that they even left it ambiguous at all. Sophie's skills should be solid on stage at this point in my opinion.

Thiefsome

...And now we come to my main complaint. This is, by far, the biggest issue I have with the show.

I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that I had my doubts from the beginning about the thiefsome becoming canon onscreen. I thought the famous "the OT3 is safe" tweet could easily just mean that they are all still alive and well, or all still working together, without giving us confirmation of a romantic relationship. Despite this, the general fandom expectations/hopes really got to me, especially with the whole "lock/pick/key" thing. I tried to temper my expectations again when the character descriptions came out and only mentioned Hardison loving Parker, not Eliot, but I still got my hopes up.

The thing is, I was disappointed pretty quickly.

The very first episode told me that in all likelihood we would never see Hardison and Parker and Eliot together in a romantic sense. Oh, there was so much coding. So much hinting. So much in the way of conversations that were about Parker/Hardison's relationship but then Eliot kept getting brought into them. They were portrayed as a unit of three.

But then there was this.

I love all of those scenes of Parker and Hardison being intimate and loving and comfortable with one another and their relationship. I really do. But it didn't escape my notice that there's nothing of the sort with Eliot. If they wanted a canon onscreen thiefsome, it would by far make the most sense to just have it established from the start. But there aren't any scenes where Eliot shares the same kind of physical closeness with either of them like they do each other. Parker and Hardison kiss; he doesn't kiss anyone. They have several clearly romantic conversations when alone; he gets important conversations with both but the sense of it being romantic isn't there.

Establishing Eliot as part of the relationship after Hardison is gone just... doesn't make any sense. It would be more likely to confuse new viewers, to make them wonder if Parker is cheating on Hardison with Eliot, or if they have a Y shaped relationship rather that a triangle. It would be so much clumsier.

Still, up until the Double-Edged-Sword Job I believed the writers might keep it at this level of 'plausible hinting but not quite saying'. There's a lot of great stuff with all of them, and I never expecting making out or whatever anyway; a cheek-kiss was about the height of my hopes to be honest. I mostly just hoped for outright confirmation and, failing that, I was happy enough to have the many hints and implications.

But then Marshal Maria Shipp came along. And I don't really have anything against her as a character - in fact, I think she has interesting story potential and will definitely come back. But the episode framed her fight with Eliot as a sexyfight TM, much like his fight with Mikel back in the day. And then his flirting with her rode the line a little of "he's playing her for the con" and "he's genuinely flirting." The scene where he tells her his real name is particularly iffy, but actually was the one that convinced me he was playing her. Because he seems to be watching her really closely, and to be very concerned about her figuring out who he really is. I am very aware though that I'm doing a lot of work to interpret it the way I want. On surface appearance, Eliot's just flirting with an attractive woman, like he did on the last show. And that's probably the intention, too.

But the real nail in the coffin for me was when Sophie compared herself and Nate to Eliot and Maria. That was a genuine scene, not the continuation of the teasing from before. And Sophie is the one whose insight into people is always, always trustworthy. She is family to the thiefsome. For this to make any sense, either Eliot/Parker/Hardison isn't a thing, or they are and Sophie doesn't know - and I can't imagine why in the hell she wouldn't know.

Any argument to make them still canon leaves me unsatisfied. If she knows and they haven't admitted it to her - why wouldn't they, after all this time? Why would she not have picked up on it even without an outright announcement? Some people suggested they wouldn't admit it because they thought Nate would be weird about it, but that doesn't seem any more in character to me than the other possibilities. In fact, the only option that doesn't go against my understanding of these people and their observational abilities/the close relationship they share.... is that the thiefsome is not a thing.

And furthermore, the implication of this conversation - especially the way it ended, with Eliot stomping off looking embarrassed while Sophie smiled knowingly - is that Eliot will get into another relationship onscreen. Maybe not a full-blown romantic relationship. But the Maria Shipp tension is going to be resolved somehow, and at this point I'm half-expecting a hook-up simply because of Sophie's reaction and how much I trust her judgement of such things. Even if she's letting her grief cloud her usual perceptiveness... it feels iffy.

It just kinda feels like I wasn't even allowed to keep my "interpret these hints/maybe they are" thiefsome that I expected after the first couple episodes convinced me we wouldn't get outright confirmation. (I mean, I will anyway, and I love the hints and allusions regardless.) And while I'm definitely not the kind of fan who is dependent on canon for my ships, and still enjoy all their interactions/will keep right on headcanoning them all in a relationship, it's just.... a bummer.

Feels like a real cop-out. Like the hints of Breanna being queer are enough to meet their quota and they won't try anything 'risky' like a poly relationship. I dunno. It's annoying.

.

That's the end of the list! Again, overall I love the new show a lot and have few complaints.