#Hey anon did this happen to you why is this weirdly specific

[spiderwebd]

one of these days your going to come back from dumb idiot babyjail after you went to war and just describe your experiences and then say nah that's too sad so you just say hello phighting community im back from war with no context and everyone thinks your joking but you arent you just got back from a fierce battle then you reblog phighting stuff again and everything is right with the world (theres a horse as well) (he talks) (his name is mr ed)

im gonna what

[not-poignant]

Out of curiosity, when did the, 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon, everything is valid and good, don't give concrit unless specifically asked for' attitude become the norm? Genuine question.

I was active in fandom back in the LJ days, when sporkings and comms viciously mocking Mary Sues were the norm, but then I sort fell out of fandom spaces for the past (checks notes) fifteen years holy shit. The current attitude seems diametrically opposed to what I remember fandom being like (kinda shitty, it was 'cool' to be an asshole back then), and I'm just curious as to when and how the shift happened. I mean, I assume it was a gradual thing, but is there anything in particular that stick out to you?

(Also, because tone doesn't convey very well through ask, and I don't want to leave you with a poor impression-- this is by no means a defence of the 2000s attitudes, nor an aspersion on the current ones. I'm genuinely only curious about the evolution from one to the other; I hope that comes across.)

Hi anon!

TL;DR because my response got LONG -> Anon this existed before Livejournal as an attitude, in fact modern fandom was literally born out of being not canon compliant (*waves aggressively to Spirk shippers*) and this existed on Livejorunal too and there have always been big pockets of fandom that really frowned on sporking even there, like that was not cool when I was on LJ, unless you were a certain age, or in certain spaces in fandom.

But also AO3 was its kind of final death knell re: making it cool to bully 13-16 yo writers (who were largely the victims of sporking) and killing dreams, which was born out of meta happening on LJ and in other places about like... not trying to make people miserable for writing a free fic out of the love in their heart that someone else didn't like or think was good enough.

Anyway, the longer version of this under the read more!

(For everyone else, welcome to some of the uglier aspects of 00s fandom!)

So there was actually criticism around all the stuff you mention 15-20 years ago as well. I was also on Livejournal during that time and there was a pretty big proportion of people in certain fandoms who recognised even then that like... setting up communities to mock say, Mary Sue writers, was actually a pretty weirdly cruel thing to do to people who were providing free labour and the literal only 'payment' they could get in a kind of energy exchange was people just not being complete dickheads to them.

So things were already changing, especially in many LJ communities and awards communities. There were a lot of big debates over whether concrit should be asked for, and a growing movement of authors who said they welcomed constructive criticism for example, instead of assuming it should automatically apply. There was also a lot of meta around the function of fanfiction and whether it should even be 'good' by published standards if the author was just doing it for themselves, and for fun (esp if they were just going to get punished for it by folks who were elitist, judgemental, grammar purists etc.)

Things really changed around the time of AO3 (2009-2010 - literally around 14~ years ago, you may have just missed the big change anon!), Strikethrough and the Dreamwidth exodus. There was a massive swing away from leaving concrit unless the author specifically asked for it, and fandom became a lot more generally able to recognise that a lot of labour goes into fanart and fanfiction and that paying with public criticism is shitty actually. Also people were just more able to recognise that like most fanfiction writers aren't trying to become professional writers and many don't want to be.

(I would actually say things changed around the time of fanfiction.net too - rude comments there were definitely noticed and could create some pretty forward 'hey why are you doing this on something you literally don't have to read' responses from fellow readers - idk what fic sites you were on. The small indie fic sites where you could often only comment via email for example, definitely drew a lot more critical attention than sites that tended to have public comments).

The 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon' literally exists since the very first Spirk slash fic in modern fanfiction in the last few decades. Literally, as soon as you write Kirk/Spock, you're not adhering to canon. Our fanfiction 'ancestors' literally paved the way for a legacy which is about not adhering to canon in order to see the world/s and thing/s you want to see, be entertained by, by turned on by, or enjoy, from the very beginning. You may not have been in slash circles anon, but the foundation of queer same sex fanfic is in many ways the foundation of fandom. But yeah, this is literally where fanfiction started! As soon as you're shipping characters that aren't canon for fun (or for whatever reason), you're making it pretty clear that you want stories different to canon, and you have to change things to often keep those characters in-character.

So yeah! That's been there for decades. Idk what circles you were in on that front! While it was fairly common for a while to criticise characters for being OOC (Out of Character), imho, a lot of folks started to recognise that they literally weren't paying for what they were criticising, and they could just walk away and potentially not like...blast the fanfic. Some folks started to recognise more that people were writing with ESL, or were teenagers (some 40 yos in fandom realised they were mocking literal 15 year olds in their proto-podcasts and websites and realised actually that's just...mean? Really mean? Not the way to nurture new generations of fanfiction writers. Definitely in no way encouraging), or were writing for themselves, or writing for like one other person, or writing for fun, or writing for free, or writing for personal reasons etc.

'Don't Like Don't Read' wasn't just about political stuff, it was also about just walking away if you feel the urge to slam a fanfic in the comments.

I've been in fandom for around 2.5 decades anon, and there were so many spaces that were not actually as shitty or mean-spirited as the ones you were in? Or ones that at least had a lot of different thoughts etc. Like, sporking (mocking/bullying badfics and sometimes the folks who wrote them) was disapproved of by a lot of people in fandom even while sporking was at the height of its popularity (the Fanlore page goes into more detail about this). It might have just been the fandoms you were in, or the people you were hanging out with (and that might have been dependent on your age or just if you were around people who wanted to be 'cool' back then - in the same way that being an 'anti' is cool among certain crowds today. It's possible to spend years in certain crowds and never get an image of broader fandom for example - we can all end up in spaces like that! I know I have.)

When I started writing fanfiction (which no one will EVER find lmao), generally giving positive comments was normal. Constructive criticism was actually pretty rare and there were already fanfiction aggregate sites that generally disapproved of it in their Rules of Conduct. People were encouraging and polite. And this was around 20 years ago on Livejournal and private indie fanfiction websites.

I would actually say there was never exactly an evolution from 'one to the other' because like thousands of people in fandom already believed this and argued in defense of supporting fanfiction and transformative works via accepting that people are labouring for free and that not everyone wants to become a 'better writer' etc. - the meta was there on Livejournal in the 00s. There were communities where sporking was seen as hip/fun, and communities where it was literally banned or at the very least, super frowned upon.

There were meta fandom communities where sporking was the subject of discussion and you know eventually in a lot of those meta communities, that's where a lot of folks decided actually that calling out the fanfiction of 16 yos as 'cringe' or 'badly done' maybe said more about us as human beings and what we wanted fandom to be, than it did about the actual fanfic itself. By the time AO3 came around, people built it with this in mind.

To this day on AO3 it's mostly considered appropriate to say you want concrit in your author's notes, and to otherwise assume as a reader it's never welcome if it's unsolicited. That started during the LJ era. And it was talked about at great length. There's obviously going to be people who disagree! But for the most part I'm a big believer in compassion and 'not everyone is here for the same reason' and 'they literally gave this to us for free and it's meant to be fun' (like yourself! What we do/think/argue 10 years ago on LJ is sometimes different to what we do 10 years later lol, I used to be against trigger warnings pre-AO3! Times change a lot :D )

So yeah, this was definitely something that was around before you and I came to fandom, and it was something that continued to grow as an attitude during, until finally it kind of won out on AO3. But yeah fandom as we know it was born in people literally not being canon compliant to make some gay dreams come true (Spirk shippers bless them all), at a time when there was no representation.

Even in the earliest days of fandom where comments could only happen via email, one of the earliest phrases authors used were things like 'flames will be used to roast marshmallows.' For those reading who don't know, flames are hate comments, critical 'this fic is bad because' comments etc. Except you emailed them directly to the author, because there was no place for comments on a fic.

And this started because authors in part got death threats for writing gay stuff.

So you know, from the very beginning, authors in fanfic have by and large had a very low tolerance for criticism / hate over something they're doing for free and making no profit out of, when they're changing/altering the canon as they please to create representation (or hotness lmao), that is literally a labour of love in a world of very little representation. From there, things have just grown. The whole 'flames will not be tolerated' existed even before Livejournal did.

Honestly there are still people who love sporking and you could probably find groups and Discords dedicated to that even now (actually you literally can, there's a Dreamwidth group for it), it's kind of wild but it started to get cool again. Just like 90s clothing :D (Which is also wild because I can just take that crap out of my closet and wear it again).

But yeah it also sounds like you may have been in some pretty crappy pockets of fandom! When I was on LJ in the 00s I avoided those places and still got to experience fandom across multiple fandoms (mostly NCIS, Captive Prince, HP, Profiler, The X-Files and some others) and communities.

I was super active in some fandom communities and saw a lot of meta happening, and my view during the early and late 00s was that sporking was largely pretty frowned upon after a very brief (like 3-6 month) era where it was cool for only some folks, and then everyone (including some - but not all - of those folks) was like 'heyyyyyyy hang on a minute.' It was something that the bullies did, and enjoyed, and otherwise folks kind of stayed away from it, especially once they learned people were becoming too scared to write fics, which is the inevitable outcome of mocking/bullying folks and fics that have been made purely out of love for something.

Like, publicly making a spectacle out of what a 13 yo (they were often teens - and it's kind of sad how many 40 yo women were doing the sporking :/ ) wrote out of love, just for fun/clout was not considered cool by everyone even back then, because like, a lot of us saw that as killing new generations of fandom (some folks who sporked considered it a win if a fic or account got deleted, this is not based behaviour), not actually creating good writing, internalised misogyny (Mary Sue hatred and self insert hatred), etc. It's hard to explain because I do really think we were in different corners of fandom at the time, but I don't know anyone personally from my time on Livejournal who actually liked sporking as an idea or enjoyed it or enjoyed listening to it or reading articles mocking fic.

I knew about it from very lively 'is this okay' 'actually no it's not even if it's just for fun this is trying to hurt people and saying 'it's just the fic' is not going to be the bandaid a teenager needs to understand why older folks (generally) in fandom are mocking them for being new at a skill' discussions on LJ in meta fandom communities. So this is how much I could be in fandom and not be a part of it and also have like a wildly different experience to your LJ experience!

I think if I'd been a teenager during that era it would have seemed a lot more appealing (in the same way that many teens are antis now before they grow out of it), and fuck it if I was a more bitter person who was just around people who liked to make fun of what other people created, perhaps I would have enjoyed it too, I can see a lot of reasons why a person would fall into that in LJ -> but I was an adult on LJ trying not to be mean to people or what they were creating, so yeah I was maybe just in very different spaces! (Don't get me wrong, I have my giant fucking character flaws, but I was very scared of people hating me so like I didn't want to do things that would make that happen, lol, and also I was scared to put up fic myself during the era of active sporking. I know for myself that sporkers didn't just scare away writers of 'badfic' - they...intimidated a LOT of people).

Before AO3 I was on FF.net, posting fics on LJ, posting on Schnoogle, gossamer, and a couple of other archives. So I don't think my experience was that 'narrow,' I just think I wasn't around like... anime at that time or other places where it might have been happening. I also avoided like...Draco/Malfoy where CC drama was happening and I know sporking was popular in that specific arena / pairing for a while as well (er, as well as anything to do with Mary Sues).

So yeah! That's about where that is. Generally gatekeeping fandom is just seen as not a great thing to do to people, and that creates other kind of beliefs that are generally upheld as being more inviting/nurturing. After all, if someone truly wants to get better at writing, they can ask, or do courses, but as we all know, everyone has to write some bad stuff to get good at it, but not everyone wants to be good. Folks are in fandom for different reasons. I'm rambling now so I'm going to finish my lunch! :D

[utilitycaster]

Sorry to keep the string of im*dna questions in your ask box, but I've been wondering, in your opinion are laura and marisha having their relationship be this... offputting on purpose, and we will get to a point where they develop out of it, or are they trying to write their relationship as cute/romantic (and it's not coming out well)? I always thought it was an unhealthy dynamic on purpose, but after how fast they resolved the gnarlrock fight I wonder when they're going to sort their stuff out, if they're planning on it at all. I know I'm not too good at picking up subtext but the fact most of the fandom seems to think they're just cute girlfriends leaves me very confused on the whole situation, I'd appreciate hearing your perspective.

Hi anon!

I don't know what Marisha and Laura's intent is, but I have to assume they're aware to an extent of how this relationship comes off (ie, incredibly unhealthy). I think anything else diminishes their skill as actors, their intelligence as people, and feels outright incorrect based on what we've seen and heard from them in the past. Their answers during talkback and a few in-game moments across campaigns have led me to believe that in general, the cast in general, and Marisha and Laura in particular, have a good sense of how to portray relationships in a thoughtful, nuanced way. Which, you know, for a group of voice actors, some of whom also direct or write, is a pretty crucial skill! So anyway, I believe that their choices have been intentional.

I can only speculate as to why the fandom thinks they're just cute girlfriends, and will put it under a cut.

Again, speculation, but: people have been shipping this since quite literally the minute the two appeared on screen as characters who knew each other. As for why, I suspect it's one of the following: some are genuinely interested in the potential or the characters and aren't as attuned to how toxic this is. Some would like an F/F ship no matter what and don't care about the characters or how toxic it is (although like...honestly if you're shipping this as horrible toxic codependence, more power to you, it's not my cup of tea, but it's fiction, you're valid, and you're also not saying Cute Girlfriends so this doesn't apply anyway). Some are weirdly obsessed with Marisha and Laura specifically playing lovers despite consistently playing Two Women Who Don't Get Each Other/Can't Be Honest With Each Other across three separate campaigns, which is how we got the "Beauyasha is For Straight People" nonsense.

It's been fascinating to track the bargaining going on in the Cute Girlfriends camp. It went from early campaign "they're girlfriends already!" to "oh they've been in love for a long time" to "they realized they loved each other during the gnarlrock incident" (itself a backtrack from how Imogen sucked for being mad at Laudna) to "I would give anything for them to talk" and then when they did talk, began rapidly backpedaling. The idea of this being anything but explicitly romantic love would have gotten you anon hate a few months ago, but the popularity of it as a QPR has suddenly spiked as of the last episode (which, honestly, is weird, because like, yes, people in a QPR don't necessarily kiss, but also, I would still expect someone in a QPR to tell their queerplatonic partner 'hey it is fucked up that you can't promise me you won't SIDE WITH MY MURDERER'. I mean. I would expect you to be able tell any friend of two years that.)

It's like they're trying to hang on to their first impression in the early episodes - why they cling to such minor characters as Zhudanna or this idea of a static hypothetical dream cottage where nothing happens - but canon keeps diverging more and more, and I wonder what will happen.

Anyway. I guess I leave you with this thought:

Imagine that Ashton had entertained siding with the god-killing cult in conversation with Laudna. Do you think the people who ship Imogen and Laudna would have tolerated that?

Imagine that Imogen had said "I know loneliness you don't" to Laudna. Do you think the people who ship Imogen and Laudna would be mad about it?

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here my friend, only mildly hung over but still severely disappointed, just coming into your inbox to share my random finale complaints that have been stockpiling.

Already been said many times but why Marisol again?? Just why??

You know what the awkwardness of the daddy talk reminded me of?? Remember in RNM 3x01 when Alex came back and told Forest "a man has needs" or some shit and we all collectively cringed away from our screens?? Its was sooo weirdly out of place and character and that's exactly what the dinner scene is. Also notably written by a former showrunner who won't stop fucking up storylines at every opportunity.

How exactly is the Chris leaving BS supposed to last more than like, 1 week tops??? When Helena (and Ramon) tried to take him 7 years ago and get their redo he was just a kid, but now he's a teenager whose been raised by Eddie Diaz. Not saying he's ready for college or to make his own housing decisions or anything 🙄, but his personality and preferences are not going to change much. He's not the moldable little kid anymore, and the moment Helena realizes that and Chris realizes that's what they wanted him for wouldn't jump on the next flight?? I know there's so much about that arc that's utter nonsense but did the writers put any thought into the characters at all??

Anyway, I probably should do my job for a few hours before I go completely off the rails, hope your own recovery is going well!!

Hey bestie! If it seems like you haven't heard from me all day, that's because I girlbossed too close to the post limit sun reblogging every petty, irritated, frustrated, what-in-the-actual-fuck-was-that post. I scheduled a bunch too do drop after the doors open on the post limit jail cells, this one among them.

I'm sitting here with my twisted peach tea, fresh off of work and a trip to the store (it was awful and full of people and only one lane open that could sell alcohol, AND they didn't have the honeycomb ice cream I specifically went there to get and try out with my earl grey tea ice cream because the universe hates me), just still so SO frustrated that once again they let KR swoop in at the last minute and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the finale. Not even anything Buddie related, just in making literally ANY storyline all season have a good narrative payoff that felt like we went somewhere. Even the most watchable part of the episode (the Mara reunion) fell flat because we didn't see Hen and Karen putting up the fight they set up with the councilwoman, and Maddie and Chim had time all season to talk about maybe having another child, or fostering to make them able to swoop in at the last minute make sense but instead it just came out of the blue! (And don't get me started on the whole "this lesbian couple can't have a kid but the straight couple runs into no issues despite Chim being involved on scene in the death of the councilwoman's son).

ANYWAY. Let's talk about your bullet points please, because I have THOUGHTS.

1/3. Marisol was literally less than useless and if they HAD to avoid an off-screen hiatus breakup (they didn't need to, no one remembered her, it would have been fine) they easily could have ditched her in 7x05 and it would have affected absolutely nothing.

IMAGINE Buck is the one taking Chris to the movies and walks in on "Shannon" and Eddie? We get some Buddie angst with them having to talk out what happened because Buck was worried before but now he's WORRIED, and we could have gotten a more heartfelt resolution with Chris by allowing Eddie and Chris to have one single conversation this whole season, and maybe deciding together to go to therapy in a couple weeks when he gets back from his pre-planned summer vacation to Texas.

Then start s8 with Chris having delayed coming back all summer, and Ramon and Helena facilitating getting him into camps and stuff so he "couldn't" come back and Eddie starting to get fed up and maybe being ready to go to Texas himself to get Chris when whatever disaster the opening is strikes. Cue Chris seeing it on the news and panicking and demanding to go home and see his dad. It would be satisfying to watch, and would tug on the heartstrings without ripping them out for no good goddamn reason and punishing Eddie so severely while also NOT actually dealing with his issues about Shannon!! *screams into pillow* If we never see or hear about her again it will be too soon. They have drug this out past the point of any purpose and it needs to be put to fucking rest, 25ft down so it can't crawl back up. Doused in holy water just in case.

It really feels like they had a plan for Buck with the whole Natalia thing fizzling out and breaking up which I actually am glad we didn't see because as this season proved, it is LONG past time to leave Buck withering away in unfulfilling relationships he don't know how he got into in the first place, but once that was gone he got the coming out bit and....nothing much else all season and even that was one episode and then a couple minutes of screentime sprinkled throuout that used those precious seconds to show us how incredibly ill-matched they are. While Eddie, who was SUPPOSED to have the coming out arc (that was maybe more in-depth and planned to ACTUALLY deal with the Shannon of it all), was also left with a "well what do we do with him now" arc. Spoiler alert, it was NOT THIS. So no, I don't think they had the time in the shortened time frame they had to put literally ANY thought into what to do with these characters.

Point 2. My friend. Not only are you EXACTLY right about the tonal issue matching that cringe AF scene from RNM, but I will raise you that, AND everything about 2x06, including fandom swooping in to claim everyone who didn't fall all over themselves about that scene being amazing was a) homophobic and b) puritanical, pearl-cultching, and uneducated. Oh! and c) just needs to learn how to fucking multi-ship and be happy with whatever is on screen because it couldn't POSSIBLY be better, and you should just accept it now. 😒😒😒

It's gonna be a loooooong fucking hiatus but here's hoping Timmy got all the Lone Star brainworms out and can not just pack a punch in the disaster opening (RIP to everyone who didn't like the cruise ship disaster, I had a great time and it was the best opening in YEARS), but can actually follow through on storylines and emotional beats all season. And maybe get more calls??? On the weewoo show?? It was always and issue on LS too which I thought was Rob Lowe syndrome an all the "Owen things firefighting is boring" stuff but maybe it's budget constraints? Yo! ABC! Give us the cash for good emergencies! And of course, they need to get Kristen the FUCK out of the writers room. Please, literally ANY cop show out there, we are literally BEGGING you to take her off our hands!

Bright side, I have been working on my Countdowns fic (I posted a little bit last week and I want to try and work on it more now that all my shows are on hiatus), and while *I* may be the worlds slowest writer, I just know the Buddie fandom is going to come through with some BANGER canon-fix-it fics. So cheers to that, and lets pray the muse smiles on me astronaut!Buck/medic!Eddie so I can actually contribute something. I'm gonna go make a flatbread spinach and artichoke pizza, watch something, literally ANYTHING else, and oggle my d20 Bad Kids dice that arrived today, my Ayda pin, and my Jawbone quote mug and not think about 911 for a little bit. (until I'm allowed out of post-limit jail and can go back to being a petty bench on main).

Take a breath, we can get through this hiatus together! At least we know we have Oliver and Ryan on our side, so let's make some Buddie content for them to send to each other to help THEM through this rough time.

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

I saw the impersonate you invitation and I'm not very good at impersonations, but I will tell you what I think you are like based on your blog!

First of all you love Lucy from Fairytale, and have a lot of fun playfully obsessing over her.

I say playful, because you have a suprisingly nuanced understanding of the characters that you like. You dont just take the text (or whatever medium you are engaging with) at face value, you think through what is happening and what it means. You have excelent literary analysis skills.

I think you are probably pretty blunt and opinionated, but you are not mean or unkind. You care deeply for the people around you and put a lot of effort into understanding them.

You may lean towards pessimism sometimes, but you have a sarcastic sense of humor which can make it seem like you are more pessimistic than you really are.

You are very enthusiastic about the beautiful parts of the world, and delight in happy suprises.

I have no idea why, but you feel like somebody who thinks marine biology is cool af.

How did I do? Did I get anything right?

oh my god I love this alskfjsjf

first of all: sorry this took me a hot second to answer 😅

second: hey how does it feel to cut out a piece of my soul only to serve it to me on a silver platter?

gonna go more in depth with each one under the cut (bc I love talking about myself lol) but if you don't have the nerves for that ATM let it be known that you've got me clocked my guy. if I have to describe myself in a job interview I'm gonna ring up beloved tumblr anon to do it for me 🫡 💕

most inaccurate is probably that I'm actually not sure whether I'd call myself an optimist or pessimist (though I do know that I make an effort to be outwardly more optimistic than I actually feel) and while I do absolutely adore the ocean I'm not sure I'd say that I'm particularly interested in marine biology specifically. it's one of those things I keep telling myself I want to do more research on but I never actually do it, so like, theoretically yes but not in practice? does this make sense?

1. id say lucy heartfilia lives rent-free in my head but it would probably be more accurate to say that I feed her scraps of brain matter and heart tissue and devotion in hopes she deems my soul a worthy resting place (<- look how normal I am about her!)

FT was not only my longest obsession ever to date but also my first after moving countries, so being unwell about Lucy again feels weirdly nostalgic in a way?

2. oh yeah I do adore analysing texts and characters and devices and stuff. which is also why I adore wuthering heights lol (cycles and parallels and tragedies my beloved). I don't really know how to read WITHOUT doing this tbh? like of course there is a difference when I am actively engaging with it but sometimes I'll say something that seems pretty obvious to me and then people will be like "this is a great analysis!" lol

(also not to brag but I've been told more than once that I often approach narratives and symbolism from an angle that others haven't considered before 😏)

I actually started studying literature, but for various reasons (which include not being able to deal with a bunch of people clacking on their laptops at the same time the sound was literally driving me insane does anyone have any tips on how to deal with that) I stopped going after like a month

tho id say my favorite thing to analyze is actualy theater plays? especially because of the added element of speech (it feels unfair to judge an audiobook by this metric since books were primarily written to be read but theater is literally made to be spoken aloud and thus it is the authors duty to also think about the cadences of the words and what the different sounds feel like instead of just focusing on how it looks like on paper imo) and visuals

whenever I go with a friend (I need to go with someone so I can talk about it) I'll first ask them what they thought so I can gather my thoughts and kinda compare and then I won't shut up until we have to go out separate ways lol

3. which is a great way to get into the third point: I do have opinions about everything! (unless I don't have a lot of information on the topic in question). I always keep myself open for counter arguments (my biggest fear is becoming one of those obnoxious stubborn ignorant people who are proud of being stuck in their ways and categorically refuse to even consider other viewpoints and opinions) but unless this is about something factual where you have more experience/facts than me it's actually pretty hard to convince me.

because while I love sharing my opinions to everyone that'll listen, im Not a fan of confrontations? I tire of them pretty quickly so depending on whether you pass my vibe check I will either be honest (hey yo agree to disagree can we change topics) or pretend to agree just so we can move on without anyone getting prissy lmao

4. and yes I do try to always be kind to people! dni if you don't make an effort to wish the bus driver a good day tbh. I have this need to be acknowledged and remembered by strangers and also feel really bad whenever im mean to people so my compromise is to try to always be friendly while wearing bright hair and clothes lol

I think I also have a pretty approachable aura? I'm often asked for directions and stuff (which is always a shame for the people asking because i am lostTM)

5. okay so. this is actually a fun exercise to do. because characters in books need to be fairly simple at their core (so the author can write them consistently) while creating the illusion of being complex and layered - and you can kind of do the same thing to real people!

in my mind that makes me a bad shittalker because I'll be actively doing this while you are trying to tell me about something shitty someone else did to you. I'll try to look at it from various angles (at least within the realm of the possible when going solely by a very biased POV) which often comes across as defending them? but I think this is a rather unpopular opinion since I can't count the times I've heard "I know you don't like to shittalk people, but-" as a conversation starter lol

6. I am! a sarcastic shit! I can clearly tell the difference between my sarcasm and my serious voice, but people say that it sounds the same to them (which just makes it more fun tbh lol) tho I think that's only fair considering I often have a hard time telling when other ppl are being serious vs not

7. idk where I am on the optimism pessimism scale tbh. when I was small I figured out this neat magic trick where if u pretend to have really low expectations things seem even cooler than they actually are. it makes sense (expectations and everyone is master of their own reality and contrast etc etc) but back then I genuinely thought I had unravelled the fabric of the universe lol

so like. I'll always be kinda expecting the worst while at the same time not quite believing it? so I'm not disappointed when the "worst" does indeed happen but am also not actively psyching myself out? idk the only gymnastics I'm good at are the mental ones

long story short anon I hope I don't come off too strong but I think I am in love with you <3

[shotorozu]

hellooo,, i saw another tiktok video(and since ur like the elite on writing this type of reqs im requesting to you aha) https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSJYsk4CY/ for shoto, kaminari and monoma (if u write for him) ty 💕

‘bae lol’

(the greenscreen heart, then kiss tiktok trend)

character(s) : todoroki shouto, kaminari denki, monoma neito (bnha)

legend : [Y/N = your name] for monoma reader’s a part of class 1-A, they/them pronouns used, quirk’s not specific

headcanon type : fluff (x reader)

note(s) : oh, i absolutely love AND hate this trend, it’s mostly bc im single though :,) not like i can get a partner in the pandemic. anyways! i love your thinking, anon <3 also no proofread bc its like,, 2am here </3 will edit later!

»»————-　♡　————-««

todoroki shouto

he’s very aware of your tiktok antics, but out of all of the ones you’ve pulled on him, and asked him to do

he loves this one the most.

because shouto doesn’t have to get the lights scared out of him, and it doesn’t have a chance in ending terribly.

you brisk towards your room, knowing that shouto rests inside— “shou!” you call out to him, and he tilts his head up

“Y/N, tell me it’s not—”

“no, i swear!” you drop next to him on the bed, and you play the video. “this would be fun to do, right?”

he doesn’t say anything at first, but he definitely wants to do it, judging by the fact that he’s replaying the tiktok over and over again.

abruptly standing up, he tugs at your wrist “let’s do it.” he says with determination hinted in his voice

you’d think that he’d get the hang of doing tiktoks because of you but LMAO NO— the greenscreen failed you both multiple times in a span of 40 minutes.

the first take, the heart was blurry, the second take, the kiss was captured seconds before the kiss, and the third take— your phone fell 💀

plus, his movements were a little stiff the first few times, but after the third try— he definitely got the hang of it.

and,, he doesn’t understand tiktok effects, not even the slightest.

on the brighter note, he has more excuses to kiss you so,, it’s a win for him! he won’t get sick of doing any retakes :))

you knew the moment he focused on making the perfect heart, as he firmly pulled you close to kiss you

that, would be the perfect shot there. he almost forgot that there was a camera recording

shouto is seen replaying the filmed tiktok over and over again— and it might’ve looked odd to anyone else

but not to you, definitely. for you, it’s the norm to see him like that.

“do more trends where i could kiss you more.” he pecks you on the lips, before he leaves you be temporarily only to edit the tiktok, ofc

the tiktok itself blows up by a ton, gathering 2M likes, and 5M views, in a surprising amount of time, and you didn’t even notice how he placed his hand on your hip

until the comments pointed it out to him. which shouto replies with “i always do that. you just didn’t seem to notice.” it’s fine bc you do now

the comments consisted of “where can i find a guy like this 💔” “haha that’s so cool *blocks*” “okay but we sEE THOSE HANDS 👀”

nonetheless— please do more trends like that with him. don’t be afraid!

shouto rates the entire ordeal a ♾/10. can and will do it again. oh— and he saves his home and lockscreen as the final outcome from the tiktok. he did a screenshot it, and decides to keep it like that for a very long time

kaminari denki

again— this man is ALWAYS on tiktok, so he’s aware of most of the trends there. but that doesn’t make them any less scarier

but oh wow, he loves this trend. denki was just praying that you’d see it— and ask him to do it with you.

he was grateful that luck was on his side, since he was ecstatic when you skipped over to him— asking him to do a tiktok trend

“oh, what tiktok trend? wait— please tell me it doesn’t involve me breaking up with you for a week so you could listen to drivers licenses—”

“what? no— let me show you” and when you showed him the tiktok, he showed you this cheeky little smirk

“let’s do it! the sooner the better!” he says, and he seems more excited that you 💀

denki’s so enthusiastic, to the point that the first few takes are a total fail— as he makes you fall over your feet, as the result of quickly pulling you onto him for a kiss.

“denki— one of these days, you’re going to shatter my face”

“sorry, sorry!” he grins sheepishly. and it’s a miracle that he didn’t accidentally short circuit!

you guys try again, still persistent in getting at least a decent video, and this time— when he yanked you, causing you almost slip

he tightened his hold on you, a hand pressed against the small of your back and another hand dangerously close to your bank

the kiss is eager, passionate— and he holds you like you’re on the verge of death

and this flusters you because MAMDKWDK what happened to the goofiness 💀 i suppose that’s what happens when you have an eager denki kaminari.

you upload the video, thinking it would only get 5 likes at the very most— but it exceeds your expectations

though most people couldn’t get a clear view of your relationship dynamic with him, denki’s enthusiasm did attract the attention of 2.8M people

and in a good way, because the video did get 800k likes

the comments consisted of “when he caught you when you almost fell :,)” “damn he was EXCITED” “hey, have you told us where you got your boyfriend? i need the link to find someone like him NOW‼️‼️”

the bakusquad fawned over the video weirdly, but it quickly gets overplayed by denki— since that’s all he watched for a week or so 💀

monoma neito

bruh </3 as much as he loves you, you’re going to kill him with pranks one of these days.

he’s totally in on it if HE’S not the one being targeted, but most of the time,, neito’s the subject of your pranks

so he thinks it’s another silly prank, where you make him pick a number between 1-5 and ghost him for that many hours.

but when you show him the video one day, when you guys were chilling in your room— as per usual, he declined :,)

“sorry dear Y/N! but no. that’s my answer”

“but whyyy?? it’s so harmless!”

“the class is going to tease me for being a part with a silly tiktok like that.” and besides,, he’d be a hypocrite for participating in that kind of tiktok with someone from class 1-A.

in reality, he did want to do it. he wasn’t so sure on why he said no— but he does want to show that something so easy isn’t really a bother to him.

“oh- don’t be so sad about it! you know what?” he gently pulls you up, “let’s do it. i don’t care what those silly class 1-A kids will say anymore.”

“what? i thought you said you didn’t want to.”

“have you ever heard of a lie?” he clicks his tongue, but he’s glad that you’re feeling much better than you did 10 seconds ago.

when it comes to it, he’s actually really shy about it. not like a ‘i don’t want to be seen with you!’ more like ‘gosh, how many takes is this going to take? will i be able to kiss them properly?’

“what if i end up accidentally copying their quirk? neito— focus, damnit.” he thinks to himself, brushing the anxious feeling away.

he’s determined enough to stay focused— but man struggled a bit with cooperating with the heart shape.

“neito— not that heart!” “well, you said to make a heart, so i did!”

it takes a few tries for the greenscreen to cooperate, and for you guys to get in sync

and when he finally has to kiss you, he grins at you— a very obvious blush adorning his cheeks, as he smashes his lips with yours

then he remembers that he actually has to break free from you— and forces you guys apart, still trying to play it cool

“wow! i look awesome. only i could kiss you like that, right? i don’t need an answer, because i know it’s true!” he says with that proud laugh of his, but it immediately dissipates after the second replay

neito leaves you be, not only for you to upload the tiktok— but also because he needs to THINK WHAT JUST HAPPENED he’s running laps in his mind rn

you upload the tiktok, not worrying too much about it— as you wanted to let it sit for a while, before checking up on it

however— when you open your phone again, you get bombarded with multiple text messages from kendou, and the other class 1-b students.

“you and monoma went viral!” is what you can sum up about most of the messages, and you have to see for youself— wanting to know if the tiktok really did get 800k likes and 1.9M views in a short amount of time.

spoilers ‼️ — it did

the comments were mostly like “why can i smell the dynamic from a mile away 💔 i want that.” “he’s definitely annoying to everyone but you” “sHEESH the way he smirked before he kissed you 😩✋‼️‼️😔”

monoma flexes on a daily that he did that to your class— but he HATES how class 1-b wrecks havoc on him, by teasing him

in short— he does prefer this more than being scared. and! he didn’t have to verbally ask you for kisses 💀

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

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

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

[leviiattacks]

Head canons for mafia boss levi being interested in Starbucks barista reader please

note :: this idea is so cute i wrote a scenario i hope you don’t mind. i can still post some headcanons for it too if you really want me to! i’m sorry if it’s not what you wanted me to write anon :-( ALSO this is super casual writing it’s not like the way i usually write it’s just bullet points i mean idk i wanted to try something different and more relaxed lmk if this style is okay for some requests :D

if anyone would like any more requests with this levi please lmk!! i could go in more detail tbh maybe the pacing of this isn’t too good bc it is a short request but yeahhh

+ idk why the formatting looks so odd i tried my best to fix it myself ?!.!/!:£:& but yeah sorry again!!

levi has always been one to keep his business meetings lowkey

i mean, realistically who is going to suspect mafia boss levi is lingering in a starbucks???

the place is well-suited for his hushed meetings, he finds it to be quiet enough and clean enough

but then one winter everything changes

you start working there

he’s waiting in the queue texting erwin asking when he’ll be able to get there

it’s been a RUSH and the traffic is crazy as expected from the bustling city so he doesn’t expect to see erwin for a while

that’s when he hears you for the first time

“HEY!! Mister in the fancy suit it’s your turn to order”

your hands are placed on the counter and you lean forward eagerly waiting for what he has to say

levi rolls his eyes because he thinks you have to be ogling his designer watch and shoes (you really aren’t)

“black tea, no sugar and... a cinnamon swirl” he’ll order for erwin later. “i’ll be eating in.”

“ooohhh you’re a tea guy? name?” you’re smiling at him radiantly and it irks him because you have nothing to be smiling about really

eyes narrowing he responds “no shit, i just ordered tea.”

“and why the hell do you want my name?” he snaps on reflex

he then remembers he’s at a starbucks and you are not interrogating him, you’re doing your job

“sir... this is starbucks?? is this your first time here?”

you blink in confusion but then your face lights up “oh my, would you like to sign up for a starbucks card?? you can collect stars and get rewards and it’s so muc–“

“do i look like i need a starbucks card?”

“everyone looks like they need a starbucks card”

he doesn’t carry on that part of your conversation instead he looks you dead in the eyes “levi, is my name.”

his glare intimidates you and you awkwardly laugh

you think he’s probably having a super bad day and choose to not bother him that much

as he’s waiting he sees the way you clumsily navigate behind the counter, you’re juggling a number of things in your arms

automatically his face sours

he’s not expecting the tea you produce to be any good

he doesn’t care how nice you are if you can’t do what he wants he won’t be leaving a tip

he’s stingy like that

a clatter is heard and all the noise you’re making just makes you all the more aggravating

he’s been coming here for years and never has encountered a barista as bothersome as yourself

at some point you call out the name “SCROOGE!” from behind the counter, levi finds it embarrassing that anyone would ever call their child that

like... out of all the names this is what they choose??

damn they have to hate parenthood

“scrooge i’m begging you collect your drink.”

he looks up pissed that whoever this scrooge is has the audacity to hold you up because that by default means they are holding him up

then he sees you staring directly at him with that warm smile again

yeah, that smile, it could thaw ice

then it settles.

he’s scrooge?

turning around he notices no one is behind him then he sees that no one else is waiting apart from him

jaw clenching he heads towards you and makes it a point to “tsk” in frustration

he takes his cup and his cinnamon roll and you wave him goodbye

usually levi prefers to silently sit in the booth furthest from the action, he wants no attention drawn to him at all

but that day he finds himself sitting closer to the counter

he’s kind of stunned when he does that because he’s just sat there thinking why the hell did i just do that?? why did i sit here??

but he convinces himself it’s because he wants to see erwin when he’s about to walk in so he can prepare to scold him for not arriving on time

he takes a sip of his beverage expecting nothing above mediocirty but weirdly, your brew, it tastes perfect

levi’s eyes linger on you and he notices the way your behaviour is consistent

you’re helping an old woman pick what she’d like from the menu

you compliment her jumper, says it really makes her blue eyes stand out

you don’t have to be as nice as you are and it’s ticking him off

it ticks him off seeing someone so pure and sweet for no reason

when did people decide to not have ulterior motives anymore? did you decide those were too old school for you?

tongue poking at the inside of his cheek he activates his poker face and looks away

you, are a random person. a random, annoying person. he is going to stop thinking about you.

turning his attention to erwin instead he calls him and when he picks up levi makes his point very clear

“i was just called scrooge. get the hell here so i can order for you.”

erwin chuckles, his throaty laugh makes levi’s mouth twitch downwards in irritation

“and who exactly called you scrooge?”

“is that relevant?”

“very much so if you’ve mentioned it yourself”

levi is silent and erwin laughs once again at his colleagues anti social way of interacting

“i’ll be there in five, feel free to order.”

grunting a sound of approval levi hangs up

“you’re back! how may i help?”

the way you treat being a barista so seriously, he finds it oddly endearing

“one doubleshot iced coffee.”

nodding to yourself you hum a tune happily and get to work

ever since that day levi finds himself frequenting that specific starbucks more

at first it’s a whole lot of “i’m pissed and i don’t have a reason so i’ll go down there and have her annoy me, then i’ll have a real reason”

then you talk to him more and you both engage in small talk

then it develops when he doesn’t mean for it to

you tell him about what you study, where you’re from, how your mother has recently developed arthritis but she’s still so determined to cook to the best of her abilities despite the pain

that reminds him of you

each visit he learns something new about you

sometimes he’ll let you in on his life

“what do you work as, i’ve always wondered?“

“accountant.“ no way in hell is he going to scare you away, telling you isn’t an option

you burst out in laughter holding your knees

“accountancy is well paying what is your point...?”

“do you not know what that means” your laugh is muffled as you press the sleeve of your jumper against your mouth

he shakes his head completely clueless

“people say their accountants when they’re actually strippers. it’s a tiktok thing.”

you pause for a second staring at his face

he feels the way his ears grow red under your gaze but he ignores it looking as bored as ever

“ah well. i did not know that.”

“clearly not you are an old man.”

then you turn away to brew his tea and he lets the ghost of a smile sneak its way onto his face

you aren’t looking, it’s okay

but he knows it’s dangerous getting attached to you

it’s stupid relaxing

and it’s even worse loosening up

so he doesn’t.

he’s always cold, bitter and frigid in his responses as he’s always been with you

but that doesn’t stop you from kindly smiling

or absentmindedly brushing the surface of his skin on rare occasions

it doesn’t stop you from calling him scrooge

and it certainly doesn’t stop you from slowly thawing the frosty exterior of his heart

then one day you let the words “my scrooge” slip out of your mouth

he doesn’t know why he let’s it happen or even how it happens exactly but he can’t help the smile that makes itself evident on his face

“HEY YOU JUST SMILED HELLO?????? you can do THAT????”

he smiled in front of you, that’s it he’s fucked

he quickly drops it and is back to his normal narrowed glare

“i did no such thing”

you give him a knowing look but sigh airily there’s no point in getting the man to admit it

“what would you like today, a frappe?”

you ask the sarcastic question even though you know he hates change. his usual order is already ingrained in your mind. you know it off by heart

he sighs in exasperation

“is your memory really that bad?”

“nope. cinnamon rolls and black tea it is!”

[fallout4reactsblog]

companions react to companions react. how confused and creeped out is everyone and how insulted are they at some of the common flanderizations of their personality that used to appear on react blogs a lot back in the old glory days of 2018. how disgusted is everyone with the fact that consistently all those react blog's asks would be 90% weirdly specific fetishy shit like "fe male soul bleed through hnng vault suit"

Anon... you have no idea the Pandora’s box of memories this opened for me. This fandom has made me suffer and now this is my strike back against it.

Warning: Talk of sexual content ahead

“It’s just not behaving right,” sole said, glaring at the terminal before them. “It was displaying all sorts of weird messages, and now it’s doing this.”

They gestured to the terminal, which was filled with messages. Piper squinted at the screen and said, “Hey, that’s us! Those are our names.”

“What?” Mac leaned forward. “What is this? Are they... observing us?”

“I think it’s some kind of fiction,” sole said. “Y’know, like Grognak. Except it’s about us. And it’s written by a bunch of different people. Like how people would make up their own Grognak stories that weren’t technically real? Do you remember this?”

Nick sighed. “I remember. Some of those got pretty weird, though.”

“Looks like these did, too. Some of this is just plain weird.” Piper glanced over at sole. “You didn’t really conceive your son in a public park, did you?”

“What?” Sole leaned forward, then backpedaled suddenly. “Holy shit. No, leave me out of this.”

Cait whistled. “X6, I didn’t know you were so kinky. This is some nasty business.”

He leaned forward, sliding his glasses down his nose to read better. After a moment, he said, “I don’t know what half of those words mean.”

“Sure ya don’t.”

He looked at her. “Do you?”

“I don’t need to. It’s not my kink.”

Mac choked, then coughed out, “Piper, look at this.”

She leaned over and sighed. “Why are all of these so weirdly horny?” She glanced over at Nick surreptitiously. “And why do all of them seem to want to have sex with Nick?”

He spluttered into his cup of coffee, then loudly said, “What?”

“You heard me.”

“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t.”

“That aside,” MacCready said, “Preston, you kill people, right?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Sure. Don’t we all?”

“Yeah. So why are you written as a softboy all the time?” He squinted, then said, “And what the heck is a RatCready?”

Cait laughed. “You. You is a RatCready.”

“What?”

“Okay, let me break this down,” Piper said. “Cait, you’re a mean person, and you say “shite” a lot. Curie, you’re just a sweetheart who speaks French. Danse is either an asshole or the perfect gentleman. Deacon is either a complete joke or wildly depressed all the time. Gage is an asshole, and very horny. Hancock is just high and horny. MacCready is depressed. Nick is a dad, but also horny I guess? I’m... horny. Preston is a sweetheart. X6 is emotionless and, surprise, surprise, horny. Are these even the right people?”

Sole laughed. “That’s how it goes with fans. They never seem to get it right.”

“Oh, but much of this is very strange.” Curie made a face and leaned away from the terminal. “I am not so comfortable. It feels quite invasive, non?”

“I think it’s funny,” Cait said. “Who thinks this stuff up? I mean, get this.” She cleared her throat. “Companions react to sole asking for oral sex, but they don’t shave down there, and ask companions to brave the jungle.” She laughed. “I don’t even know what I would do in that situation, but this person does!”

“The really sexual ones are so much worse,” Piper groaned. “I’m with Curie. I feel violated.”

Hancock shook his head. “I dunno, Cait has a point. It’s almost funny if you don’t take it too personal. None of these people have ever even met us.”

“It’s foul,” Nick said, and left it at that.

Gage replied, “You’re just mad because a bunch of strangers are fighting over if you have a dick or not. At least you’re not made out to be just another raider prick.”

“Aw, Nick, don’t worry,” Hancock said, throwing an arm around his shoulders, “they’re arguing over if I have a dick or not, too. Bros.”

Nick frowned harder and said nothing.

Preston shrugged. “I don’t like the weird stuff, but some of it is cute. Like Hancock said, you can’t take it too personally.”

“I’m afraid that’s where we’ll have to disagree,” Danse said. “I’m deeply disturbed by any individual who would dedicate so much time to considering our habits.”

“At least you’re not getting called RatCready,” Mac huffed, clearly still sullen.

“Don’t take it too hard,” Deacon said, smiling from his place leaning against the wall.

“Easy for you to say, Mr. Nobody-knows-a-dang-thing-about-me. I bet half this stuff isn’t even true.”

He snickered. “More than half, but it’s funny to see them try.”

“Well, I am sufficiently disturbed,” X6 said. “Are we all in agreement that this stays between us? I certainly don’t need anyone thinking I enjoy-” he gestured to the terminal- “that.”

“I won’t wreck it, if any of you happen to be masochists,” sole said. “Though I guess I am, according to these folks, so maybe I’ll be back for more. Who knows?”

Cait glanced around, then said, “I’m gonna search up Dogmeat.”

“Do NOT-”

[elyvorg]

I received an ask about The Great Ace Attorney, which I’m putting under a cut in order to reply to instead of doing it normally, because it involves spoilers and I’m not taking any chances. To people following my blog, consider this another warning: I really meant it when I recommended blocking the tag #tgaa spoilers if you’re interested in AA but haven’t played this one yet. I know I haven’t actually been posting much TGAA content other than my liveblog just yet, but I still very much intend to sometime in future, and some of it will unavoidably involve spoilers. I do not want to be the reason anybody else is spoiled like I was. Please.

Anyway. The ask, from an anon:

So, about GAA, apparently Kazuma was supposed to die for real in the first game, but he was so popular they decided to bring him back. The amnesia thing is probably a rather awkward attempt to re-integrate him to the story.

My very initial kneejerk reaction to seeing this was, “what no, what do you mean Kazuma was supposed to be dead for real when they released the first game, there’s no way that’s true.”

Here’s the thing: “The amnesia is awkwardly there because his return wasn’t planned as of the first game” doesn’t actually explain anything about the amnesia. Kazuma wasn’t in London until after the end of the first game, so the question of “why didn’t he contact Ryunosuke in the first game to let him know he was alive” does not actually need “because he had amnesia” as an awkwardly retconned explanation. He just literally wasn’t even there yet, explanation sorted.

And, see, despite the way I felt about it on my first playthrough, the amnesia has a decent amount of narrative purpose even as part of a return that was planned! Evidently the point of the it was to allow the reveal of Kazuma’s return to be spread out over a whole case with a gradual build-up. That’d be a thing they’d do whether or not they had it planned from game 1. It’s quite a bit more interesting to do it that way than just have Kazuma suddenly show up like “hey guys I’m alive actually”. Take this from me, someone who spent half the game constantly trying to imagine how his return would actually play out and how a hypothetical writer would do it well in order to give it the impact it deserved. I kept thinking, “Is he gonna just? show up??? that’d be weirdly abrupt, right? but then, how else would you do it?” The way they did it, with the amnesia and the mask, was not an unreasonable way to go about it!

In the end, I really latched way too hard on the idea of Kazuma faking the amnesia for reasons very specific to me. I’d spent so long – basically the entire game from the end of 1-2 – imagining that he was alive and in London and deliberately not contacting Ryunosuke the whole time, which I therefore assumed had to be a Secret Mission thing, so that was my initial thought when I saw him in van Zieks’s office not reacting to Ryunosuke’s presence. And then I liked that idea enough that I didn’t want to let go of it even when I learned he had amnesia, which is why I kept clinging to the possibility of it being fake.

(Still like that idea a lot, still writing a fic about it like I mentioned at the end of my liveblog. That’ll happen. Watch this space.)

But anyway, amnesia aside, I have thoughts about the idea that Kazuma’s return wasn’t planned in general. When I got this ask, I consulted seatherny from my liveblog thread to see if she’d heard about this, because she knows more about this fandom than I do. It seems that this notion originates from an ambiguous implication in a translated interview with Shu Takumi that fandom opinion is torn on how to interpret.

It’s possible that what the interview meant instead was that Kazuma wasn’t meant to be the masked apprentice, and that character was going to be somebody new, until they came up against scope creep and had to streamline things. This might explain the amnesia thing being arguably a little bit awkward, if they had to merge these two characters and make Kazuma be the masked apprentice with relatively little prior intent to do that! It does make sense to me that, though they’d planned the fact that Kazuma would return in some manner, they hadn’t fully decided how to do it until they were writing the second game.

So, I’m sure the fandom has already debated this plenty, and I’m not trying to actually get into a debate over this with anyone, but since I like saying words about this game, here are some of my thoughts on this topic.

I am, if you couldn’t already tell, very firmly in the camp of Kazuma’s return being planned as of the first game. There’s so many parts I love that seemed to be hinting at and foreshadowing it that would just become massive ridiculous coincidences if it wasn’t planned. The TGAA writers instantly become significantly less good writers if they never intended for Kazuma to return in the second game while writing the first. I don’t want that to be true about them.

It would be such a ridiculous coincidence that the one dead character the fandom loves and wants back also happens to be the one character whose death was ambiguous and weird and unconfirmed enough that it’s actually possible to bring him back at all. Most victims are a lot more definitely unambiguously confirmed dead than Kazuma would have just had to happen to be!

On that front, there’s also everything regarding Sholmes’s role in things, too: the List giving him a reason to fake Kazuma’s death; him persuading Ryunosuke to take Kazuma’s place; him generally being even more inexplicable and obfuscating in 1-2 in particular than he usually is. All of that just happens to create a situation in which Sholmes faking Kazuma’s death is plausible. It’s all so weird if the writers never planned for him to turn out to be alive! 1-2 has so much more fun intrigue in hindsight when you know Kazuma’s not really dead. I refuse to believe that’s all a gigantic accident.

There’s this bit in 1-4 where Roly is feeling all guilty that he thought Olive was dead, and he laments that if only he’d noticed she was alive and got her medical help sooner then she might not have been in a coma for so long. They put a weirdly large amount of emphasis on that for something that ultimately doesn’t matter, because Olive wakes up fine. That seems to me like it exists to foreshadow/parallel Kazuma’s situation, like maybe if Sholmes hadn’t dicked around faking his death and there’d been more priority on getting him medical help then he wouldn’t have been in a coma for so long and may not have woken up with amnesia.

Then there’s a bit in Seven Days of Sin Part 1 Adjudication (a bonus content thing you can find in the videos section of the bonus menu) where Sholmes basically goes, “here is an example of a very bad spoiler: ‘Hey, didn’t Herlock Sholmes die by falling off a cliff? Oh, but then later it turned out he wasn’t actually dead!’” This was pre-release material that came out shortly before the release of the first game. It would sure be another huge coincidence for that to match so perfectly to Kazuma’s fate if his survival wasn’t planned at that point. That really feels to me like something the team did on purpose, the scamps, I cannot believe the absolute brazen cheek of it.

Even aside from all those hints at his survival in particular, there’s the fact that the details with Kazuma’s missions – both of them, the assassin one and the father one – were very clearly planned from the first game. And they’re both such big, complicated deals such that it wouldn’t be nearly as impactful to only learn about all this posthumously with Kazuma long dead. All of it is character fuel, especially the whole thing with his father. Kazuma as a character is and always was so much more than just the mentor figure who dies to inspire the main character to step into the spotlight. The rest of his character potential would have been almost entirely squandered if he’d actually been dead. I trust the writers better than that. They very clearly had a lot of the second game’s general direction – with regards to the Professor and the assassin exchange – planned as of the first; it’s too interconnected for them not to have.

I can believe that maybe somewhere in the original very early planning of the game they might have intended for Kazuma to die for real, playing that Mia role and not much else. But then they came up with enough of his backstory and the details of his missions, to the point that they realised how much character potential it had and were like, “wait a minute, we should really keep him alive for all this, actually”, and so they changed their plans – during the production of the first game. That’s a possibility I can accept.

However, it doesn’t make any sense to me that they would only catch on to the fact that Kazuma is a character worth keeping alive and exploring more after seeing him be popular with people who played the first game. Those people didn’t even know the half of why Kazuma is so fascinating at the time – but the game’s writers definitely did, long before the first game came out! And also, like, if the reason they brought Kazuma back was supposedly purely fan demand from people who loved him in the first game, it’s bit of a weird flex to bring him back and then have him act really pointedly different from the character everyone loved and was sad to see die.

[k-comfyspace]

Satisfied

Idol: Ahn Yujin (Izone)

Request: Yes

Anon: may i request late night convenience store date with yujin ❤❤ thank u 😊

A/n: Might be a risky first request but I will do my best to avoid anything bad. But it’s too cute especially since I had this type of request in the back of my head.

You didn’t quite understand why students kept murmuring about you as you walked down the hall.

The students kept saying things that went along the lines of:

“Why are they staying with her anyway?”

“She’s going to forget them soon enough”

“Being famous, it gets inside your head sometimes”

“Bless their soul if she decides to forget about them”

You knew they were talking about Yujin but you never listened to them, they couldn’t understand anyway. To them, Yujin was some superstar they couldn’t interact with, it was either they were too shy, or she was too cool for them.

But for you, there was only a cute, dorky, and silly girl you met in 8th grade. For Yujin, you were the smart, clumsy, and the most supportive bestfriend she had, except for her members.

When you entered your class you spotted your bestfriend resting her head on the desk pulling a giggle out of you before you sat beside her and turned your body to face Yujin.

You tapped her shoulder, earning a groan from your best friend. Yujin raised her head and squinted her eyes at you, “I’m tired, leave me alone” you giggled at her tired voice but you kept speaking.

“I told you to get some sleep yesterday, right?”

You asked and earned another groan from the exhausted girl.

Yesterday your school had some sports activity which drained everyone in your class but Yujin was drained the most since she participated in a lot of the activities and added they had practice until midnight which made waking up at 7 am difficult.

“What happened to, ‘yes Y/n I would sleep right after practice so I wouldn’t be sleepy tomorrow morning’?” You pushed, a smile on your face but when your bestfriend shot up and turned to glare, you were afraid you pushed too far.

“It’s not my fault that we stayed up until midnight to practice and the tons of homework that piled up that doesn’t even make sense!” She yelled, catching your classmates attention as the room grew quiet.

You blinked, pursed your lips and softened your eyes to look at Yujin. It’s been the 5th time she blew up on you this week alone, you didn’t say anything, choosing to understand her moodiness but your feelings have been hurting for the past week.

You did offer her some help with her homework and projects but she always refused, insisting that she would do it herself.

When Yujin saw the look in your eyes she calmed down and her eyes softened before she looked around, her classmates looking at her, silently whispering. Yujin felt her eyes stinging as she swiftly covered her face and left the room.

You called after her, stopping at the door and glared at your classmates. “What’s wrong with you people?” You yelled before you followed after Yujin a couple steps behind her, hearing the faint muffled sobs as you ran.

Then Yujin turned sharply inside an empty classroom and slammed the door shut. You stopped, attempting to open the door but it was locked, “Yujin, could you open the door, please?” You called softly but you only got sniffles in reply.

You waited by the side to see if she would open the door before you sighed, moving to the side of the door and gave Yujin a moment.

After a few minutes you heard the lock turning, you stood placing your hand on the knob as you slowly opened the door, still heard some light sniffling from Yujin,

When you quietly closed and locked the door a sudden warm feeling spread against your chest as you felt Yujin’s arms wrap around your waist, feeling her head resting against your back as you reciprocated it. Placing your hand on top of hers and rubbing your thumb on the back of her hand.

Special, that’s what Yujin also thought about you, you were the person she could cry to. When she didn’t want to cry in front of her members she would allow herself to break down in front of you.

Yujin was comfortable with you, she could tell you her secrets, show her vulnerable side and you wouldn’t tell a soul. You respected her privacy and she adored that about you.

When she remembered how much she blew up this week she felt bad and hugged you tighter. You were so patient with her, even when she yelled, complained, ranted.

You listened and took everything she threw every time. She didn’t deserve you yet you came into her life like a blessing.

Both of you stayed inside the room for a few minutes before she pulled away and smiled at you, apologizing multiple times, “It’s fine, Daeng Daeng, I know how hard it is for you,” you rubbed her head before walking out of the room, an idea forming in your head when you entered your classroom.

“I’ll see you tonight?” Yujin asked and you giggled at her hopeful voice, “Yeah, we still have to do our project, remember?” You teased and she pouted at you cutely, “But we said no school work!” She whined, making you laugh while ruffling her hair.

You and Yujin have been planning for a sleepover for ages, but since she was part of a group she had to get permission from her unnies, which was proven to be a challenge since they didn’t know you.

It took a while but after a few months they finally gave in and saw what kind of person you were, allowing you to sleepover at their dorm.

“I’m just joking, I’ll call you when I’m leaving, yeah?” Yujin smiled, nodding her head excitedly as she ran to her van waving at you before the door closed and drove off.

When they turned the corner you pulled out your phone and scrolled until you found a specific number, “Hello? Eunbi unnie, could I ask you for a favor?”

Yujin huffed and laid down on the floor of the dance room, her breath puffing at her exhaustion. They did 3 runs of their choreo back to back just so they could have a perfect performance for their fans, which made her exhaustion add up to what Yujin was feeling that morning.

“It’s getting late, we should end it here, the maknaes need rest,” she heard their leader announce which made your friend shoot up with a bright spark in her eyes which made them giggle. “Not to mention Y/n would come over tonight, pack up everybody!”

With new found energy Yujin ran to her things and packed as fast as she could not noticing the happy smiles the members wore looking at her, only Yujin not knowing the plans in store for her tonight.

When Yujin and the others arrived at the dorm Yujin darted to her room and went straight to the bathroom to wash up, waiting for you to arrive.

A few minutes later you called on the phone, telling her that you were in the elevator heading up to their room, when the doorbell rang your friend excitedly opened it, smiling at you.

“Hey,” you greeted, going inside and waving to the other members as they greeted you.

“You can leave your bag here, Y/n just get it when you get back,” Eunbi said, earning a confused look as Yujin furrowed her eyebrows at the older woman’s comment. She looked at you as you thanked the older woman who wished both of you a goodnight.

“We’re going out?” She asked, earning a nod before Yujin glanced at the clock, confused, “But everything is already closed” she said and you shook your head,

“I know a place” is the only thing you said, making your way to the door mask and cap in hand.

“Tada~” you smiled, spreading your arms in front of the store, looking at your best friend who was staring at you weirdly.

“A convenience store, really?” She asked, a laugh bubbling from you before you pulled Yujin inside.

You went to the aisle, grabbing two cups of instant noodles and ice cream. Sitting it down on a table as you sat on the opposite side of Yujin before preparing your food.

“If you wanted to have instant noodles we have a lot back at the dorm,” she said as you ate some, shaking your head, “But you don’t have ice cream back at the dorm” you replied cheeks filled with noodles making your friend laugh.

Eventually, Yujin, gave up questioning your choices and ate happily, you two talking through the night, telling funny stories that you randomly thought about.

“Let’s take a picture,” You said, taking out your phone before snapping a few pictures, “I’ll title it, late night convenience date with Daengz,” you muttered making Yujin smile as you showed it to her before everything clicked.

You brought her out of the dorm to eat ramen in a convenience store, telling funny stories, knowing that she had a bad day.

Suddenly Yujin smiled brightly, her eyes turning into crescents as she stood up and went to hug you on your side, startling you at her sudden skinship.

“Thank you, for everything,” Yujin whispered, making you relax, a small smile coming to your face when she pulled away, dragging her cup to your side and ate while resting her head on your shoulder.

“It’s what I do,”

You spent the rest of your night talking about nothing and everything, doing your best to make your bestfriend smile with your stupid jokes.

You ignored the swelling of your heart in your chest when Yujin laughed or smiled at you. Because for now you were satisfied, all you needed was to see her smile and be happy.

By the end of the day you could say that you did a good job being her best friend.

[miraculouscontent]

kndjnkdjg thank you for the compliment, second anon!

Anyway, this was strike two:

“Marinette! Someone’s here to see you!”

Marinette’s raised a brow, then spun her seat around as she stared blankly at the trapdoor leading downstairs.

She knew that tone. She knew who Sabine had seen at the door.

But… what would Adrien be doing here? It wasn’t as if he’d explicitly avoided her since the big argument over the Oblivio kiss, but to say they talked in any meaningful way since then was laughable.

Nonetheless, Marinette was nothing if not polite… when she was able to be, anyway. Thus, she got up and opened her trapdoor, slipping down the stairs where Sabine and Adrien were waiting.

Marinette could only stare blankly at him. There was still that sparkle around him, and it still felt as if her heart was pulling her in his direction, yet it was a ways away from her original feelings.

“Hey, Adrien,” she greeted as nicely as she could, even if it sounded a bit stiff.

“Hi, Marinette!” he greeted in return, smiling.

Marinette eyed him. Something was off, but she couldn’t pinpoint what. It just seemed as if he’d been sent here on a mission.

Sabine giggled. “I’ll leave you alone to talk,” she said, giving Marinette a grin before leaving the room.

Marinette wasn’t going to bother telling Sabine that she had other things to do. After all, Adrien didn’t often go out of his way to spend time with her, so it seemed like a waste not to take advantage of the opportunity.

She searched the room, then gestured to the nearby couch. Adrien nodded and they went to take a seat there.

Marinette shifted. Her comfy couch felt uncomfortable suddenly. “Um… how have you been?”

“Good! I’ve been good,” Adrien replied a little too quickly.

The atmosphere was noticeably awkward.  Marinette had thought long and hard about her feelings for Adrien since the argument, and not all of it was pleasant. Needless to say, she was hesitant to speak up about anything specific.

She avoided his gaze. Was it wrong to still be upset about what he’d said? Adrien certainly wasn’t a malicious type, but–

“So…” Adrien began, leaning close. “…does Ladybug ever talk to you?”

Marinette stiffened, then whipped her head around to look at him. “Wait. What?”

“Ladybug,” Adrien repeated, less awkward than before. “You run her blog, right? Does she visit you, or do you just do it all on your own? I just figured I’d ask since… y’know, you told everyone.”

Marinette could only blink in response. The silence even stretched on for so long that Adrien began to look at her weirdly.

Finally, Marinette managed a sentence. “Is…is that why you came here?”

“No!” he answered, shaking his head. He hesitated, then added, “I was just… worried about you, after everything that happened.”

Marinette could only wonder what “everything that happened” was referring to. Nothing recently had happened to affect her negatively or cause her to storm out, and if Adrien had meant the argument about the Oblivio kiss, he was very late to try and comfort her.

At the same time though, Marinette didn’t think he was lying. Maybe he genuinely believed that he’d come to check on her?

It was just too obvious that it wasn’t the only reason he’d come.

“What about Lila?” Marinette asked. “I outted her. Aren’t you mad?”

She saw a flash of emotion in his eyes. It wasn’t clear if he was angry or not, but the mention of outting Lila had clearly brought up some sort of bad feeling.

“I-I mean…” He paused, looking at her a bit skeptically. “It was an accident… right?”

“…Yeah.” She’d been half-tempted to lie. “I didn’t know that she was lying about that.”

Adrien looked relieved at that. Marinette wasn’t surprised, as it seemed very typical of him to worry about that sort of thing.

Nevertheless, she wanted to be honest, and added, “…But I still would’ve corrected her if I’d known. Ladybug and I both agreed on revealing me.”

Adrien suddenly looked on alert, leaning forward again and placing a hand on hers. “So you talk then?”

Marinette reeled back at the closeness, then stared down at his hand on hers. She couldn’t tell what was stronger: the butterflies in her stomach, or the urge to pull her hand away.

Nevertheless, she met his gaze. “We’re not really friends, but we have to talk for the blog’s sake.”

Adrien’s gaze wavered. “Do you… talk about me?”

“You?” Marinette asked, now completely confused. “Why–wha–no? Why would we?”

“Well, it’s just–” He looked away. “Alya told me that you said you took down all those pictures of me in your room, so I thought you might’ve…”

Marinette blinked. “What? Adrien, that had nothing to do with you, I–” She paused, then shook her head. “Wait, that’s not even relevant. I wouldn’t talk about you to Ladybug! Why would I even do that?”

“But you said you would’ve outted Lila if you knew, so wouldn’t you talk about anyone that you think did something wrong?” he asked.

She didn’t think he even remotely understood that those weren’t the same things.

“If this about Lila,” he began, “I’m sorry, I meant what I said about exposing her! Everyone’s been mad at her since Ladybug said that you were the creator of LadyBugOut!”

Marinette was still processing the fact that Adrien had honestly considered the possibility that she would talk about him to Ladybug, but the mention of their conversation about Lila had doubly confused her.

“Um… yeah?” she replied, because of course everyone was mad at Lila.

Adrien recoiled, his hand leaving Marinette’s. He looked absolutely stunned. "How could you say that, Marinette?“ he asked.

”…Because it’s true?“ Marinette still had no idea where he was going with this.

"Don’t you feel bad for her?” Adrien asked insistently, grabbing one of her hands as if he was desperate for her to agree with him. “Being mocked isn’t going to make her better!”

Marinette blinked. That was his concern now? After all this time, he was still worried about Lila?

After all the lies Lila had told, to him and everyone else?

After she’d been akumatized multiple times over her own lies and mistakes?

After trying to save herself and gain pity by throwing everyone’s “everyday Ladybug” under the bus instead?

Marinette stared at Adrien for a long moment, then said impassively, “Tough.”

“M-marinette!” Adrien said in shock, clearly not expecting her to be so blunt.

Marinette used her free hand to gently remove his hand from hers, then stood up. “This isn’t about making anyone nice. Lila’s just being punished for what she did. Whether she learns from them or not, consequences are consequences, and I’m glad people are wising up to her now.”

She puffed out her chest, a resolve building inside her. “And when Hawk Moth gets taken down, the same thing will happen to him. It doesn’t matter if he’ll ever learn what he did wrong or try to improve. He has to pay for what he did.”

She paused, realizing that she was getting worked up, then took a breath. Calming herself, she relaxed her shoulders and faced Adrien with a neutral expression.

“Now, anyway, I have to check on the blog. Should’ve been doing it already actually. I’ll see you later.” She began walking, heading for the staircase leading back up to her room.

“But–wait–”

Without turning, Marinette said, “I think you should go.”

Their conversation was over. She wasn’t interested in pursuing it further.

Heading up to her room, Marinette silently closed the trapdoor behind her. Tikki flew out, looking at Marinette with concern.

“Are you okay?”

Marinette glanced at Tikki, not responding at first.

Then, she smiled, genuinely and sweetly. “Yeah, I am. Way better than you’d think.”

She stretched, then happily went over to her computer. “Now let’s do some blog work!”

[thefloatingstone]

Heya! I was just wondering, why don't you like magical-girl horror games/tv shows? (This isn't meant to be confrontational at all, I'm just wondering! :3)

Hey anon! :D no worries! This didn’t come across as confrontational at all!

This is gonna be largely more anecdotal than factual, and the factual parts will come from other people’s posts more than what I’ve made myself, and whose opinions on this I found as explaining emotions I’d felt myself for a while, without knowing how to articulate it.

(Under the cut because this is gonna be a lot of words. And gifs because of course I put gifs in things)

So I’ve been a Sailor Moon fan since I was about 13. (this is not the reason WHY I dislike grimdark Magical Girl Shows but its a good place to start). the Sailor Moon R movie was the very first DVD I ever bought and the first thing I ever saw of the show (I had seen anime before and had a good idea what it was but this was my first experience with Magical girls and Sailor Moon). And I remember very clearly how enthralled 13 year old me was at this story. About these girls a year older than I was, fighting this bad guy from outer space who badly injured Usagi’s boyfriend. And that no matter HOW MUCH Usagi reached out to the bad guy to try and understand him, just how much he RESISTED her friendship. I remember the scene where he grabs the Silver Crystal on her chest and tries to rip it off little me actively thought “holy shit! This guy just WILL NOT STOP!! How on earth can he be stopped if he just KEEPS COMING???”

But of course, in the end, Sailor Moon is able to reach him. She is able to offer understanding for his sadness, and when he finally realises her sincerity, he is “defeated” BUT. More Importantly. He is the one who ends up saving Sailor Moon’s life at the end as a last goodbye gift to Mamoru, the boy he was in love with and who Sailor Moon loves as well. Before he leaves forever.

So a thing here. Not ONCE while watching the film the first time, did I EVER think to myself “Just stab him, Sailor Moon!” or “Stop trying to reach him and just kill him!!”. Like, NONE of those thoughts came to mind. I was fully invested in seeing Sailor Moon stop the bad guy, not by stabbing or killing him, but by REACHING HIM.

So anyway. We move on and for a while as a teenager I went through that dumb phase where I thought every magical girl show was a “Sailor Moon Rip off” and that they must all be bad because of it! In part it was true, as Sailor Moon was the first Magical Girl show that had girls use magic to fight bad guys, rather than become Jpop idols or adults or anything along those lines. However, Just because something takes cues from a genre changer doesn’t make it bad… right?

So, as I grow up I start to understand Magical Girl shows. I get what they are. They are, at their core, about young girls (usually between 12 - 16) transforming into a magical alter ego to fight bad guys and protect or save a love interest as well as their friends (mentored by a small animal friend). And this idea just seemed like… so obvious to me? But I had the luxury of growing up with this idea. That girls could fight bad guys without being tom boys or masculine or “hot and sexy”. I had the Powerpuff Girls growing up after all. Girls could be heroes while still being girls and liking girl things and wanting to have boyfriends and loving their families and wanting to protect their friends! And magical girl shows are always about getting more and more powerfull, so that by the END of the show, you face the biggest meanest bad guy of all! And then you beat him in the end. And it takes great sacrifice and you lose things and even people you love, and you have to give up so much. But in the end you win! and the biggest bad guy is dead. And you get to live your life full of hope and happiness as you’ve granted the people of earth and your friends a safe and happy life. You have protected that which you love. And it was hard, but by believing in yourself and your friendship you did it! And now, even if something bad happens again, you are powerful enough to face it.

And then, in 2011, along came Madoka Magica.

I was recommended Madoka Magica by a guy who runs (to this day) an anime store in the city I lived. Saying it was a Magical Girl show with a darker edge to it. And told me “watch until episode 3, and you’ll know if you’d like it or not”.

Having watched Revolutionary Girl Utena by now, I was excited by what I considered a “Trap” anime. An anime that leads you to believe its one thing, and then after a few episode throws the curtain back and goes “HAHA FOOLED YOU!! THIS IS ACTUALLY SO MUCH MORE THAN IT SEEMED!”Utena did this as well. And Utena was and is my favourite anime. (tied by Sailor Moon.)

So I watched Madoka Magica and I liked it a lot!! I watched all 12 episodes, and it was hard, but by the time I got to the end, I felt rewarded for sticking through all the really terrible things that happened to the characters. I described it to other people as “It’s going to make you feel terrible and if you’re able to stick with it, it will reward you by the end!”. Some people saw the end of the show as rather hopeless, or stagnant, but I saw it as an empowering message. That even if someone tells you something is impossible, you should try anyway! Because you are more powerful than they realise! And THAT, I felt, is why all the suffering was important. Because it needed to challenge just HOW TERRIBLE being a magical girl is, and just what a bad idea it is, and even if you become one you can’t change anything. But then Madoka at the end plays the system against itself, and fixes things for every girl throughout history forever. And yes there are still bad times and friends still die, but she took away the dark core of the situation.

Also, Utena had given me a taste for genre deconstruction by this point.

So yay! a great show with a really unique take on the idea of “Magical Girl!” Awesome! There was nothing else like it!

….aaaaand then…. Madoka became super super popular. And that’s when the trouble started.

I found out a few months ago, that Madoka Magica’s writer and creator, Gen Urobuchi, (a man) created Madoka Magica with a very specific idea in mind; That women having goals and wishes are dangerous and lead to suffering. That girls should not have ideals and ambition. Because it will only hurt and punish them. And he wanted to show that in Madoka Magica by showing how, if no girl in the show had ever made a wish, none of the bad things in the show would have happened at all. He has stated this in multiple interviews.

Madoka Magica, however, was an anime, and had several people working on the show, not just one guy. So how much was altered and changed to circumvent his intentions I don’t know. But even if his opinions could devalue the show as a message of empowerment, it can’t change the fact that I WAS empowered by it.

But as I said, then Madoka Magica became OBSCENELY popular. But like… that was not the problem. What the problem was was… “an anime, written by a man, about cute magical girls suffering horribly, became popular with a male audience”.

And due to the insane level of popularity, this lead to copycat shows. And these shows did not copy Madoka Magica’s deconstruction of the genre, they did not copy the art style, they did not copy the deeper look at Magical Girls as a concept. They copied the idea of “Grown Men making shows about cute really moe looking girls suffer horribly for a male audience”.

And during this surge of Madoka copycats, I watched “Yuki Yuuna is a hero” and I HATED it.

Yuki Yuuna is a story about a group of girls who are given the opportunity to become magical girls and help make the world a better place. They are already all part of an after school club called “the hero club” where they do things like volunteer work, or babysitting, or helping out at libraries etc etc. So the idea of becoming REAL heroes and saving the world?? Of course they absolutely want to do that!!

So they get essentially tricked into this situation where they fight giant monsters who come to destroy the world, and they each have a “final move” they can use to destroy these monsters. However, after a difficult battle which had all of them use their biggest move at least once to protect each other and save the world, they all find themselves slightly injured and, weirdly, a part of their body stops working. One girl becomes mute, another loses sight in her one eye, another hearing in her one ear etc etc.

The show goes on to explain that, in becoming magical girls, what these girls have really become, are sacrifices to the gods to protect the earth. And each time they use the gods’ power, they sacrifice a physical part of themselves to use the power of the gods.

So these girls essentially get slowly MAIMED throughout the series, because they wanted to make the world a better place! They didn’t even get wishes like in Madoka! they LITERALLY just wanted to save the world. And they were punished for it.

And just in case it wasn’t clear who this show was for, ALL their transformation sequences are accompanied by aggresive fanservice shots.

of these 14 year old girls.

And that’s where the entire idea of “Grimdark Magical Girl” show fell apart for me as a concept. And I didn’t bother checking out any more.

And what did we get after this?

Magical Girl Raising Project. a show where a group of CHILDREN who want to become magical girls have to Battle Royale each other to fucking death until the last child standing

And now the recent Magical Girl Site. A Magical girl show that includes Domestic abuse, vicious school bullying, self harm etc etc.

Even Re:Creators, a show I LIKE had this with their ONE magical girl character, Mamika. I am extremely pissed off that Re:Creators decided that Mamika, the magical girl, is the character that had to be killed horribly so that her death could motivate OTHER characters into action.

The only reason I am able to swallow this in Re:Creators, despite being angry about it, is that before she died, Mamika was shown to possibly be the strongest character in the whole show. To the level of being completely OP. And the fact that she died because she tried to reach the main bad guy, knowing full well she most likely would not survive, but she wanted to try anyway.

It still makes me mad, but at least it does take the sting away SOMEWHAT. Especially since Re:Creators is not a magical girl show. And its entire point is to dissect all its characters by removing them from their own anime and video games and forcing them into a reality where they have to face things they would not normally have to worry about in their safer, more genre-based universes.

“Dark Magical Girl” or as I like to refer to it as; “Grimdark magical girl” shows are now the most popular versions of the magical girl genre.

a genre that STARTED as manga written by women for girls to read and feel empowered by. They have now been turned into a genre for teenaged to adult men to enjoy cute moe girls in horriffic torture porn. (see. Because torture makes it MATURE and ADULT).

They are no longer shows spreading messages to young girls about believing in themselves and their friends and their own power, but are instead torture porn for men.

There is an excellent post by a tumblr user called @timemachineyeah which I link to all the time regarding this topic which I will do so again here;

https://thefloatingstone.tumblr.com/post/165077370034/i-cant-remember-if-youve-posted-about-this#notes

And in the OP’s words (emphasis mine):

“[…]That’s not subversive. That’s our whole fucking lives. That’s what we get everywhere else. Nothing a girl does can be right. We’re bad to have ambitions and to want things. Even the “nice” things we do are dismissed with ulterior motives as soon as someone decides they’re done with us.

And I fucking hate people calling it “so profound” and whatever, when it’s ultimately torture porn and the message isn’t even deep.

And more than that, I hate that it’s success has spawned a series of knockoffs, so that now moe torture porn grimdark magical girls has become the most common iteration of the genre. So we had the incredibly ableist (OMFG WORST SHOW EVER MADE) Yuki Yuuna is a Hero, and we’re getting the “Magical Girls have to CULL EACH OTHER in a grim CHILDREN-LED FIGHT TO THE DEATH” of Magical Girl Raising Project and like I’m so fucking done with these grown ass men making shows for other grown ass men shitting all over girls’ power fantasies and thinking that shitting all over girls’ power fantasies is something new and subversive and not a reassertion of the status quo.“

Does that mean I think men can’t make magical girl shows? Of course men can make Magical girl shows! Revolutionary Girl Utena is an ENTIRE show about the patriarchy and its destruction of girls and the role of women in society and the eventual triumph of our female heroes OVER PATRIARCHAL BULLSHIT ITSELF” and it was created by a man!!

Namely Kunihiko Ikuhara!

And not only did he make Revolutionary Girl Utena, but he is large responsible for not only making Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune a couple in the original anime, but for largely fleshing out their motivations and drive in the anime, making season S of Sailor Moon PROFOUNDLY better than the exact same arc in the manga!

But this is not what is happening here. Heck, I have a suspicion one of these grimdark shows might have originally been written by a woman.

What’s happening here is not about who the creator of these shows are, it is who these shows are INTENDED for. And what their intent as a show is. And yes. a lot of Magical girl shows have the intent of selling merchandise. Let’s not pretend PreCure or Jewel Pet are trying to become feminist icons or anything. But even if their intent is merely to sell toys, they STILL have the function of telling girls to have hopes and dreams, fight to protect their friends, and that it is OK TO DO SO WHILE STILL BEING A GIRL. Something American tv wasn’t doing at the time! Instead all girl characters from America who were “tough” were all tomboys who hated pink and refused to wear dresses, a la Spinelli in the cartoon “Recess”.

It was not until Sailor Moon showed up girls were taught you don’t HAVE to be a brutish loud angry tough girl to believe in your own power.

But now the magical girl genre’s most popular shows are not about girls being powerful and having dreams and protecting the earth.

It’s about how much our cute moe looking protagonists can suffer. For having the audacity to want to having power to protect others.

[sweetpxsin]

By Chance [Lee Felix :: Fluff]

Requested: Anon

Member: Lee Felix

Plot: Can I request a scenario where Stray Kids are out for a meal or something and the reader sort of falls in the restaurant and everyone stares at her because she’s low-key a clumsy mess and Felix can’t help but stare at her and find her cute and hears her speak English with her friends and is like “whAt?! 😍” and it ends really fluffily with cute shit?? (Idk if that was weirdly specific this happened to me the other day and I just imagined Stray Kids being there lol)

Genre: Fluff

Note: First of all this is the cutest freakin request I’ve ever received Secondly this took me like five ever I’m so sorry ^^’’’

•Tonight the boys were so super excited

•Well except Chan

•The boys had went out to another arcade and guess who lost

•das right your boy Chan (save this poor boy’s wallet)

•But that’s not the point

•The boys had decided to go out to a korean barbeque place for dinner because why not

•”Eat well guys Chan hyunggie is paying!” *Que Chan regretfully sinking further into this chair while the boys cheer*

•Once the food arrived along with their coca cola the boys got lost in eating along with their playful chatter and banter

•But for course they weren’t they only ones at the restaurant

•There was people varying for old couples, to business people, teenagers and your occasional drunken couple or groups of friends

•They never bothered to pay attention to the others though considering they had always managed to drown them out

•But tonight was different

•a group of friends had walked in ,seemingly playful considering their chatter and giggles that sounding through the restaurant

•though they weren’t loud enough to catch Stray kids attention as a whole

•Felix’s attention was drawn to them first, having not found interest in what the other boys were talking about

•He was about to turn his attention back to his friends till on of them had managed to trip and fall

•although he didn’t wanna laugh he couldn’t help but smile slightly at the predicament that had just happened in front of him

•”That was so embarrassing!”

•His ears perked at the string of english that had spilled out of the person’s lips

•He had originally thought they were cute to begin with but just hearing them speak english made them even more adorable

•Like adorable to the point Felix actually wanted to go up to them and just have a nice conversation

•Which was ultimately impossible

•Because he was out with his friends and they were out with their friends

•In general the meeting would be sort of awkward

•I mean unless his members caught him staring

•and unluckily for Felix they did

•”Guys I think Felix has eyes from so one who isn’t Changbin~”

•Seungmin was the first to throw him under the bus causing a chorus of laughs and a decent amount of protest from Felix to sound through the table

•”Come on Felix just talk to them~Or are you nervous”

•Jisung coaxed jokingly not actually think Felix would do it

•Shooting a challenging glare at the boy Felix  got of of his chair and started to make his way towards the persons table

•In all honesty the closer he got to their table the more he started to freak out

•Like in all honesty he thought his members would stop him and tell him to sit back down

•But no they just sat back and watched in amusement

•Once he finally go to the table he had no effing idea what to say it was just pure awkwardness as all heads slowly moved towards his direction

•”U-Uum hey.”

•Felix wanted nothing more but to just smack himself right then and there for stuttering

•”Oh hello? I’m sorry were we to loud?”

•”N-no I just wanted to know if you were alright… C-cause y-you not I saw you fall back there.”

•Instinctually his hand found the nap of his neck and he began to shyly scratch at the skin

•But this time it was your turn for your face to get red

•”Oh that… I’m fine thanks for asking though.”

•Once you shot him a shy smile arrows went shooting through his heart

•Like how is one so adorable without trying

•”N-no problem.”

•He took a glance back at his table and he knew he was not allowed to come back unless he actually had a conversation with you

•”Hey I knew this is kinda straight forward but…If you don’t mind would you like to go a date with me.”

•At this point you were literally so surprised because

•one a hella cute boy just asked you if you were okay

•and two because that hella cute boy had just asked you out on a date

•”b-But you don’t have to.”

•quickly snapping out of your daze you quickly accepted his reply and before you know it you were exchanging a numbers with him

• afterwards you both bid goodbyes and went back to doing your own things with your friends

•Thought Felix couldn’t help but glance at you occasionally because you were just so adorable to him

•At one point yall just lowkey caught each other staring and all you could do was blush and look away before making more shy eye contact

•Once it came time for Felix to leave he failed to have you leave his mind that whole night

•He didn’t even mind the teasing he was receiving from the boys cause like unlike them he had your number

•The next day he’s literally freaking out because he doesn’t exactly know what kind of person you are

•like were you the type of person that perfered a chill date or one that liked going out places like the amusement park or movies

•”Why don’t you just text them??”

•”ARe YoU OuT of YoUr minD?!”

•In the end Felix decided to just kinda have it be a chill date

•because he wasn’t about to spend money he didn’t have just to impress you

•He picked you up you up at your apartment and dressed nicely in his jeans, graphic t-shirt and black bomber jacket

•and when he saw you he had to stop himself from letting his jaw drop

•You were dressed simply in black shorts and a graphic t-shirt pulled back into a knot making it more fitting

•”You look nice.”

•”T-Thanks.”

•He shot you a smile as he watched you step out of your apartment

•Felix didn’t tell you much about the party besides the fact he was taking you to the movie theater and even then he didn’t bother to tell you what you both were watching

•till literally right before the movie started he decided to ask you a question

•”So how do you feel about horror movies?”

•and upon seeing you visibly tense he couldn’t help but chuckle a little

•”Don’t worry I gotcha if it’s to scary.”

•Your heart couldn’t help but skip a beat a little at his words as you suck further into your seat a light blush dusting your cheeks

•During the movie you stole a glance at Felix admiring his features a little before looking back at the screen a fuzzy feeling tickling your tummy

•and once the movie had managed to scare you, insitutally you latched onto Felix, burying your face into his side to take shelter from the scary scene Felix would softly tell you it passed

•But at one point you just got a little bit too shaken up and didn’t respond to Felix

•”The scary parts over now.”

•He whispered softly again running this fingers gently through your hair

•This time you shook your head

•Felix understood what you met and didn’t bother to press further, instead he chose to comfort you instead by either running this hands thru your hair or by comfortingly running his hand up and down your back

•At one point you realized the situation you both were in and the same fuzzy feeling came back

•Like you had literally met him not even a day ago and he was already making your heart flutter

•Once the  movie ended Felix nudged you lightly allowing you to detach yourself from him

•”You alright?”

•”I’m fine.”

•”Really you were holding on pretty tightly.” Felix joked enjoying the blush that became apparent on your face

•”I’m kidding, come on let’s go.”

•Nodding you got up allowing Felix to hold your hand on the way out

•and once you both left the theater you were both greeted with a gust of cold wind

•you noticeably shivered and Felix slipped off his coat with ease and placed it around your shoulders not uttering a word to you

•and when you looked at him all he did was shoot you a small smile before placing his arm around your shoulder pulling you closer as you both walked together

•Since it was getting late anyways Felix had decided to just hit up a cafe with you and have same small talk with you there before walking you back to your apartment

•”Soo how was today~” he teasingly asked not expecting much

•”it was really nice, thanks for dealing with me during the movies.”

•”it’s no big deal I thought it was super cute anyways.”

•a smiled grazed his lips hearing you get flustered once again, as light giggle slipping through your lips

•”alright I guess I better get going,see you soon.”

•”Goodnight Felix.”

•”Goodnight (y/n), remember to dream about me~

•Rolling your eyes playfull you waved goodbye before closing you door

•you slipped off your shoes and tugged off the coat on your shoulders

•it took you awhile to realize that wasn’t yours but you didn’t bother to try chasing after him

•instead you smiled to yourself and placed in onto a hanger knowing now he had a reason to comeback

[cb-143]

XENO-T reaction: Their s/o covers their mouth while smiling/laughing because of insecurities

Anon:  Can you please make a reaction when their s/o never really smiles or covers their mouth when they smile/laugh and when the boys ask them why they do that they confess that they're insecure about the gap between their front teeth (with jenissi please) (I hope this isn't too weird or too specific haha and I hope you unterstand what I mean:') )

Thanks again to @kindasouta for l’inspiration :D

P-Goon

He was out in a small café with you. You only had a cup of tea, but he had a latte, with lots of milky foam cream stuff. It looked delicious. You barely took any sips, not wanting anyone to see the gap in your teeth as you felt so insecure.

Sehyuk took a sip of his latte, the foam leaving a white moustache above his upper lip. However, he didn't mind it, and, wanting to make you laugh, he didn't wipe it away, but accompanied that new moustache of his with a goofy smile. You couldn't hold back, but laughed loudly at that, showing off your teeth in the process. It warmed Sehyuk's heart to see you laughing like that, so freely, loudly, and without holding back. He didn't want you to feel insecure, and if he could fix that by appearing like an idiot, then he would do just that.

Jenissi

He didn't mind if you wanted to hide. Of course, he loved everything about you, and he knew that it wasn't good that you felt insecure, but something like that couldn't be fixed so easily. You were allowed to not be comfortable with something. Still, he'd throw in a compliment every now and then. He'd not only compliment your smile, but everything else he loved about you, whether it was your outfit that day, your hair style, or something you made for him. He was going to take little steps to make you comfortable with yourself and make you appreciate that part of your body as well. He didn't care what other people thought of you, or that gap, he wanted you to like yourself.

Hojoon

He knew how insecure you felt, but he didn't really have any ideas on how to convince you of the opposite. Still, he tried his best. He suggested taking selfies with you, or of you. It might make you uncomfortable, or you still hide your face, but he means well, he really does. He compliments you, too. One night, you were out camping. You looked at the stars, seeing how pretty they were. “You know about constellations?” You asked him. Hojoon nodded, but looked at you, instead of at the stars. “I think there's.. that belt thing? But there's one missing in the middle.” You pouted, wanting to see it fully. “Just because there's a.. gap in a constellation.. doesn't make it any less beautiful. Makes it more unique though.” He still stared at you. You, realising his metaphor, looked back at him in shock. You blushed, seeing that the real stars weren't up there, but in your boyfriend's eyes. How much you must have hurt him by thinking so badly of you. In Hojoon's eyes, you were so beautiful, much prettier than any constellation could be.

Sangdo

His solution would be photos. You'd wake up one day, finding a post-it-note on the pillow, right next to your head, reading “What is beauty?” But that was only the first step. You were alone in the house, as Sangdo had to leave early, but everywhere in the house, there were random Polaroid pictures. The first one was on your dresser, the next one on the kitchen door, then one on a window sill, one at the front door, at the TV.. so many pictures. One of them showed a field full of flowers, one of them showed baby kittens, one of them showed a scene at the beach.. the last one you found, that was stuck to the mirror, had the answer to Sangdo's initial question. It was a picture of you, smiling wide, without hiding anything, the gap in your teeth was on full display. Under the picture, on another post-it-note, it read “To me, this is the most beautiful thing”.

Nakta

It was an accident, a mixture of his awkwardness, and your clumsiness, that had you laugh in embarrassment. Still a bit insecure, you his your mouth behind your long sleeves. Yooncheol couldn't do anything about it either. He found you so cute, and looked over at you with a crooked smile. He loved you so much, and it always became obvious in the way he looked at you, so much love in his eyes. He laughed at what happened, apologising. He took one of your hands away from your mouth, and you let him, even trusting him enough to take away your second hand as well. He intertwined your fingers, still smiling his cute smile. “I hope you know that I love you, no matter what you might do, or break, or what you look like.” He leaned down and kissed your forehead. “You mean so much to me. You're so beautiful, love.”

Minsung

You're his best friend, so at first he'd take offence in you hiding your mouth, just because of that gap. But of course, he'd understand to some degree that you were insecure about it. He knew what it was like to struggle with something, maybe be insecure about it. But he's overcome those things, and accepted himself for it, and he'd make it his mission to make you accept yourself for who you are, and to make you comfortable smiling around him. When you two were alone, he'd try to be funny, pulling silly faces, telling jokes, dancing funnily, anything to try and make you laugh more.

B-Jyu

He knew exactly why you hid your pretty smile, and he didn't like it at all. The next time you laughed at something, and hid your face in your hands, he'd jump on you, attacking you. Screaming out a powerful battle-cry, he'd start to tickle you all over. Luckily for him, you were very ticklish, and started laughing immediately. You tried to reach out to him to hit him, kick him, anything to get him off of him. Your mouth was now free, and Byungjoo saw that pretty face, that pretty smile, that he loved so much! He stopped soon, and leaned down to kiss you gently. He whispered into your ear, to please not hide; he confessed how much he really loved you, and your smile.

(getting ready to attack;;)

Xero

Watching him dance, you felt insecure. He was so good looking, his hair was on point, and his teeth were white, shiny, and they didn't have a gap, like yours did. After the song had ended, Jiho finally realised that you seemed sad, he smiled at you, trying to cheer you up. You weakly smiled back, not showing your teeth, as always. At this, Jiho turned on the music again, walked towards you, and grabbed your hands in his. You didn't had the chance to ask him what he thought he was doing, when he started dancing weirdly with you. Pulling your arms back and forth, leaning you down dramatically, all while singing the lyrics of the song with dorky, cheesy facial expressions. Without any possibilities of hiding it, you started smiling, before finally breaking out in laughter. Jiho was so happy to make you smile; he loved and cherished every moment that he got to see you so happy.

A-Tom

As someone who thought of himself as the most handsome member, you always felt more insecure around him. He seemingly didn't have any flaws, but he must notice all the flaws you had, right? He has to see the gap in your teeth... and obviously he'd hate it, right? But little did you know, to Sanggyun, you were more beautiful than he could ever be. He didn't tell you enough, he never did. This night, he arranged a date, leaving you a note and a new outfit. He had picked out the clothes for you, bought them. He knew you'd look dashing in anything.

When you finally arrived at the place he told you you'd meet up at, he couldn't help himself but to stare at you. Embarrassed, and thinking you didn't look good enough, you hid your face again. “Hey, no, no. Y/N.” Sanggyun walked up to you, and took your hands in his. He brought them to his mouth, and one by one, pressed little kisses to their backs. “You look so beautiful. You don't know how pretty you are, how much I love you.” He kissed your forehead. “I want to prove it to you tonight. Will you let me?”

Sangwon

Sangwon would be all pouty if you didnt smile or laugh for him, or if you hid. Hed do the same to you; he wouldnt smile any more either. Hed even go as far as to straight up ignore you sometimes. Of course this would annoy you and make you mad, but it would also show you that something was up, something bothered Yano, and this was his way of telling you that. Once youd ask him about it, hed admit the reason only shyly. He would apologise for his behaviour, but hed also tell you that having a gap in your teeth was in no way related to whether youre pretty or not - at least not to him. Hed want you to change your attitude towards yourself, and he would find a way to help you with that 

[teamkaiforever]

TRUTH OR DARE

(requested by anon/anon)

Kai Parker x Reader word count: 5 419 summary:  Reader and Kai both live in at the Salvatore Boarding House and he keeps playing pranks on her, specially when her friends are around, and one night after a get-together they play ‘Truth or Dare’ until somehow every turn starts involving the two of them. *gif by me _________________________________________

Y/N rolled on the bed and snuggled closer to her comfy pillow or at least what she thought was her pillow when suddenly the sounds of someone’s heart even heartbeat broke through her dream haze. It was a nice calming and beautiful sound she couldn’t get enough of. For a second her eyes fluttered open and closed and her lips curled into a faint smile when she felt someone’s breath on her face –

   “You know, you are so adorable when you sleep. Except you drooled all over my shirt.” he chuckled. “Can’t be mad, though. How can I when we both know you were dreaming about me.”

Instantly her eyes opened and widened so much it almost felt as if they were going to fall off. Her ‘pillow’ was actually Kai and the smug smirk on his face told her he had been in her bed again for more than a couple minutes. “What are you doing in my bed?!” she raised her voice, “Get out!” she added, pulling away from him so suddenly she fell on the floor. “Ouch –” 

   “Careful, sweetheart. We don’t want you getting bruised.” Kai laughed under his breath and crawled on the bed towards her, resting his elbows on the edge of the mattress while holding his head in his hands. “I’ll never hear the end of it from your friends.”

Y/N blew a strand of hair off her face and clenched her jaw. Ever since Kai had moved in the Salvatore house a few weeks ago this kept happening. Only it wasn’t just him not respecting her personal space boundaries. Finding him sleeping in her bed was the least worrisome thing he had done. All the weird un-explainable things that kept happening around her and more specifically to her, well that was a different story. No one could convince her that the pack with chips two days ago which expanded and expanded until it had literally blown up in her face in the middle of the living room had been an accident. Or that her wet towel catching fire had been one too.  Or that the already read pages of her book flying out into the shapes of paper planes and landing in her friends’ laps or drinks had been a trick her mind was playing on her. Or how the chair in the kitchen seemed to break just when she decided to sit on it, right after Damon had been sitting on it for hours.

   “I’m fine. THANKS FOR ASKING.” she glared at him, trying to push the blanket off her. “Stop doing that!” she tried again, somehow ending up more tangled in it until on the outside she appeared as if she was in a cocoon. “Kai!”

   “What? I am not doing anything. You should stop rolling in the covers so much.” he said innocently, watching her push the blanket off her and get up at the same time he sat on the bed. “Cute PJs. Hey, have you picked out your outfit for the party tonight? You can wear that short red skirt. You look so goo—"

Y/N tossed her blanket over his head, wound her arms around him and started pushing him towards the door when in a flash he pushed off the blanket and pinned her to the wall near by the door. His hands braced on either side of her head caging her in and he hummed for a second, listening to her heart trying to leap out of her chest.

   “Why are you always so hostile towards me?” he asked.

   “Seriously?! Ever since you’ve moved in you’ve been doing your best to ruin my life and I am hostile?!!” she snapped. “What? Do you like me or something cuz you know what they say – when a boy is mean to a girl, it really means he likes her. And if you do just s—”

Kai took a step back, nervously laughing under his breath.  “Me? Like you? You are hilarious.” he said, rubbing his nose. “You um you should get ready for the party. I know girls take forever –”

Y/N took a step towards him, trying to reach him when he whooshed himself out of the room. Her lips curled into a small smile. Kai running away from a conversation? That never happened which made her wonder if she had guessed correct She glanced out the hallway in both directions and closed the door, heading towards her closet. A smile spread across her face seeing the same skirt Kai had mentioned right on top. Quickly she pulled it out along with her black tights, a black tight tee with kitten features on the front, grabbed her black sweater and got dressed, did her hair (pushing it back with bobby pins) before heading downstairs for breakfast where Kai was already waiting for her along with her friends. Something about his eyes changed when he saw her outfit but he didn’t say a word. Instead he pulled out his phone. Kai and social media. she smiled to herself. Ever since he had discovered the internet his phone had become an extension of his hand and there was barely any site he didn’t have a profile in. Though she had no idea what he was doing online all the time.

   “So, how’s the party planning going.” she wondered, turning towards Caroline who got up with a notepad in her hands. Y/N lifted herself on her toes reaching for a bowl at the top shelf and almost slipped up on the floor before her friend caught her. “Thanks.”

   “Yeah.” smiled Caroline. “Well, I made a list. Chips, alcohol… your favorite gummy eyeballs with the liquor filling –”

Kai snorted and everyone glanced at him for a second. Everyone but Y/N who was busy getting out every flavor of ice cream there was in the freezer to make herself an ice cream sundae for breakfast while Caroline explained to her how it was her responsibility to get the bourbon crates from the storage room at the Grill. Weirdly no one had entrusted Kai anything, though he didn’t seem to complain much. His attention was focused on something on his phone screen which was good because whenever he was busy, ‘accidents’ didn’t seem to happen to her.

   “Got it, Care.” smiled Y/N, scooping out a ball from all five ice cream boxes on the counter in front of her – vanilla, chocolate, mint-chocolate chip, rocky road and cookie dough, creating not food but art in her bowl. “Anything else?”

   “Nope.” said her friend, adding a scribble on the notepad before grabbing a spoon and taking a spoonful from one of the ice creams. “God, I love this stuff. Okay, Damon –” she took a step towards the rest of their friends continuing with the chores list for the party.

Kai smiled at something on his screen and put his phone back in his pocket, keeping out of Caroline’s way without taking his eyes off Y/N for a second. She hadn’t even realized he had been taking pictures of her this entire time. That’s how focused she had been on making her perfect sundae and it was perfect – the colors and everything.

   “Don’t you think that’s a bit too much ice cream?” asked Kai, bracing his hands on the kitchen counter while she sprinkled nuts on top of her creation before returning all the ice cream back in the freezer. Y/N glared at him for a second. “I am just saying – you are human and that much sugar is not good for you. Should you even be eating this? I thought you were a vegan.”

   “I’m fine. Thanks.” she grabbed the whipped cream, “And if you must know – I am vegetarian three days of the week the other four I am a vegan.” she opened the lid moving her wrist in circles while the whipped cream started to pile up on top of the ice cream when all of the sudden the container popped up and splashed her and partially some of the friends sitting on the table. Everyone but Kai who had miraculously skipped the blast.

   “You think you are funny. Don’t you?” she turned towards him, wiping away the whipped cream from her face.

   “I have no idea what you are talking about.” he grabbed a cherry from the counter.

   “Really?”

   “Yeah. It’s not my fault you are such an accident magnet.” he pointed out, passing her a towel to clean up. “Would it hurt you to be a little more careful? I mean, what if you slip up on the wet floor and none of us is there to heal you?”

   “Weird how none of those things had ever happened to me in my entire life until you showed up.” she grabbed the towel from his hands, glancing at him. There it was again. That smug smirk which never seemed to leave his face. For a moment she reconsidered wiping her face with the towel he had given her. What if the towel caught on fire and she burned her face or something? No. He wouldn’t go that far, would he?

   “Lighten up.” said Kai, ruffling her hair. “Miss grumpy pants won’t be any fun at the party.”

   “S-sorry what?” she asked. “Grumpy pants? That’s the best you can come up with??”

   “Well, you’ve been a total buzz kill since I moved in here. Always with that frown not turned upside down. It’s annoying really.” he grabbed another cherry. “Just ask your friends.”

   “Oh no, no.” muttered Damon. “We are not getting stuck in the middle of whatever this is–”

   “Jeez Damon. Thanks.” said Y/N pouring every last drop of sarcasm she could into her words. “My hero.”

   “Any time.” smirked the vampire and Y/N threw the towel at him. A towel which mid-air somehow caught fire. “Hey !!”

Y/N stared at him and then glanced at Kai, only this time trying to suppress a smile before she grabbed two spoons from the counter and passed one to her heretic friend. “Here. See? I’m nice… not hostile. Unlike you.”

   “You are going to share your masterpiece of a sundae with me? But you never share…” he asked a little surprised, passing her a box with wipes. “Why? What’s the catch?”

   “Just dig in before I change my mind.” she rolled her eyes, watching him take a large spoonful from the chocolate side. Y/N laughed under her breath for a second and took a scooped up some of the minty-chocolate chip ball. For a while they just sat there, elbows on the counter eating ice cream while watching Caroline continue to assign chores to everyone. A small get together always got turned into a large party with her, but no one dared arguing. Kai kept ‘accidentally’ poking Y/N with his elbow every once in a while, until most of the ice cream was gone. “I should get going and go get the bourbon. I got dibs on a crate, by the way.”

   “I’m coming with you.” said Kai, taking a step after her as she headed towards the door.

   “No.” she stopped abruptly, turning towards him. “I don’t want –”

   “—the car to crash?” he finished. “Yeah, that’s why I am coming with you. To keep you safe from yourself.”

   “Hilarious.” muttered Y/N. “You are not coming.”

   “Yes, I am.”

   “No. You are not.”

   “Yes, I am –”

   “Malachai fucking Parker!”

Y/N took a few steps towards him until their bodies almost pressed together. She could feel everyone’s eyes on them but all she could see were Kai’s who was starring so intensely into her eyes it was driving her insane. How was this possible?! And the way he pursued his lips in that moment, how his hands were hovering around her body – No. She was starting to lose her mind because of him. Why was her heart doing all those weird flips and why did she found herself wanting to kiss him… just like every time they found themselves in that position.

   “Wow the tension between those two.” muttered Damon to Stefan. “Who’s gonna tell them?”

   “Uuurgghh !!” she groaned in frustration. “Fine. But I am driving –”

   “I am a much better driver –”

   “—or you are walking. Your choice.”

   “Fine.” caved in the heretic. “You are driving. But if you crash the car and you die, it’s not my fault.” _________________________________________  

Most of the night Y/N sat in one of the corners holding a box with her favourite liquor filled gummy eyeballs keeping an eye on Kai who was sitting not too far away from her not taking his eyes off her for a second while all her friends had fun – dancing and drinking ‘the good’ stuff. Despite spending most of the evening with a drink in her hand, she was not as half-drunk as she should’ve been… but around her third glass with bourbon things started to get a little fuzzy and she decided to lay down on the sofa at which point Kai somehow decided to sit on the opposite end.

   “You’ve been starring at me all night. Its creepy.” pointed out Y/N, finishing her glass.

Kai lightly tilted his head to the side and rolled his eyes. “No, I haven’t. Can you not be so full of yourself?!”

   “Full of myself?!” she leaned towards him. “Ever since you sat there like 15 minutes ago, you haven’t even blinked. And before that – it was the exact same thing.”

   “I have no clue what you are talking about.“ he finished his forth or fifth glass with bourbon. “I was looking at that um … that painting over there.”

Y/N turned around knowing fully well there was no painting behind her. “Liar. You know I bet you can’t tell the truth if your life depended on it.”

   “Are you challenging me?” he leaned in towards her. “Because if so –”

   “Hey what are you two doing?” asked Caroline.

 Y/N’s lips curled into a smile. There were more than a few questions she wanted to ask him and this time he wouldn’t be able to walk away from the conversation.  “We were just about to play truth or dare.” she said without taking her eyes off Kai. “Wanna join us?”

   “Oh yeah.“ grinned Damon, gulping the rest of the amber colored liquid in the bottle in his hands at once. “There. Hey, Stef. Elena. Come join us for a game. And where are Enzo and Bonnie?” he turned towards Matt who shrugged his shoulders. “Ahh there you are. Come on, we are playing truth or dare.”

Enzo and Bonnie glanced at each other then stared suspiciously at their friends gathering on the floor around the bottle. Bonnie sat as far away from Kai as possible while Y/N snuggled closer to Stefan, at the opposite end of where Kai was sitting. Matt sat between Kai and Damon while Elena took the spot on the other side of her boyfriend right next to Y/N.

   “Who goes first?” asked Enzo.

   “Well, since it was Y/N’s idea –” started Damon. “I think it should be her.”

Y/N spun the bottle ending up asking Stefan ‘truth or dare’ and they all went around asking each other questions and playing dares, most of which were pretty silly and then it came Kai’s turn. He spun the bottle which ended up pointing at Y/N.

   “Y/N –” smirked Kai, “Truth or dare?”

   “Truth.”

   “Oh-kay. Let’s see—” he thought for a moment. “What is your biggest dream for your future?”

   “To leave this town and go to see the world. Try the food in every country, absorb some of the culture… and maybe, I don’t know… Have someone to go with me. Cuz experiencing it alone won’t be any fun.” she reached for the bottle while Kai’s lips curled into a small smile. A split second later the bottle pointed towards him. “That seems fair… Truth or dare?”

   “Dare.”

Kai watched her make that ‘thinking’ face he loved so much – when she lightly squeezed shut her eyes, her lips curled from side to side for a couple moments. It was almost as if he could see the wheels in her brain turning while she tried to come up with something. He was pretty sure he’d do anything she asks him to – jump off a cliff, snap someone’s neck, get along with her friends (he was sure he’d at least try). All those thoughts, the way being around her made him feel was driving him insane. Yet he couldn’t get enough. Y/N had pulled him into her gravity and there was no way for him to break free now. Or ever, not that he wanted to.

  “I dare you… to punch Damon.”

   “My pleasure.” grinned Kai.

Damon glared at Y/N. “This is because of what happened this morning, isn’t it? Because I decided not to take a side –” he said and a moment later Kai’s fist connected with his face breaking his jaw. “Ouchh…”

Kai laughed under his breath watching Y/N trying hard not to do the same and spun the bottle, pointing at Bonnie, who moved her finger slightly until the bottle pointed at Caroline instead. No one seemed to notice and if they did, they didn’t seem to care about it. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth.”

  “What would you do if Klaus comes back for you?”

Caroline glanced at Stefan, taking his hand in hers. “Nothing.” she replied, spinning the bottle. “I still hate his guts.” Everyone either laughed or chuckled, and then the bottle stopped pointing at Y/N. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth.”

  “What do you see in him?” asked Caroline, not saying specifically who though by the looks of it Y/N knew exactly who her friend was talking about.

  “Who?” wondered Kai, but no one answered him.

  “There is a lot more than meets the eye, Care. Though I can’t stand being around him sometimes. He is just so… annoyingly perfect it hurts.”

Kai glanced between Y/N and her friends and asked again ‘Who?’ though no one seemed to pay him any attention. Y/N reached for the bottle and spun it, ending up pointing at him. Damon reached for a bottle with bourbon in a crate nearby and opened it, taking a sip directly from it. “Truth or dare?” she asked.

  “Um… truth?”

Y/N smiled at him mischievously. “Why do you keep playing pranks on me all the time?”

Kai laughed under his breath. “Who says I am?”

  “Don’t answer a question with a question.” said Y/N, leaning in towards him. “Why?”

  “Cuz –” he sighed. “It’s fun and unlike your friends, you won’t punch me. Plus, it gives me an excuse to get your attention.” he spun the bottle, ending up pointing at her. He looked up at her and smirked. “Who did Candice just asked you about?”

  “None of your fucking business.” snapped Y/N, reaching for the bottle when Kai grabbed her hand stopping her. “You.” she said so quietly if he wasn’t a vampire he would’ve missed it. His lips curled into a small smile and he watched her spin the bottle. “Again?! Okay… Did you purposefully move in into the bedroom right next to mine?”

  “No. Damon put me there so I am as far away from him and Bonnie as possible.” said Kai, spinning the bottle. “Though I like being that close to you…” he muttered and the bottle pointed at Y/N again. He glanced at her friends looked more amused than ever – Damon looked the most amused of all, and asked the question. “Truth or dare, Y/N?”

  “Truth.”

   “How many boyfriends have you had?”

  “Um … serious ones?” she asked, refusing to meet his eyes when she reached to spin the bottle again. “The answer would be zero, other ways there were two but I am not sure what they were really.”

   “Jerks.” said Elena, putting her arm around Y/N while the bottle miraculously ended up pointing towards Kai again and his lips curled into a smile. “They were jerks… who will get whats coming for them.”

Y/N turned towards her friend and laughed for a second, glancing at Kai. “Truth or dare?”

   “Dare.” he rubbed his palms together. “Make it a good one, Y/N. Who do I get to punch? Steven? Can I punch Damon again?”

   “No.” she laughed. “No more punching. Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute.” she got up, turning towards her friends. “Don’t hurt or torture him, okay… that’s my job.”

Kai watched her tiptoe her way out, her short skirt dancing around her hips and couldn’t help but wonder what her words meant in that moment. That’s her job? What could she have in store for him? It wouldn’t be a payback for all the things he had done to her. No, that wasn’t her. He closed his eyes, listening in to what she was doing but as much as he tried to figure it out there just wasn’t a way for him to figure it out. Then suddenly he felt someone blindfold him. A part of him started to panic but he recognized her touch instantly, even though her fingers so slightly touched his face and his heart rate jumped up instantly.

   “Oh-kay.” she sat on the ground next to him, glancing at her friends. “I dare you to try whatever it is that I’ve mixed in that bowl I am holding which you cannot see. Now, open those lips – and don’t scream.”

Kai did as she said, listening to her heartbeat and all her friends trying not to laugh. Then something sweet with a very familiar chocolatey taste hit his taste buds. A few seconds passed and as he swallowed it hit him what she had given him. Almost instantly he jumped back but she grabbed his wrist stopping him. He pushed off the blindfold and glanced at what was in the bowl or more like the mug – Y/N scooped some of the mixture getting a taste herself. Her lips curled into a smile at his shocked expression and he tried to pull away from her again.

   “Was that –”

   “A vegan mug brownie?” she said a little amused. “Yeah, see… it’s not that bad.”

   “Are you kidding?!” he raised his voice a little. “That was … give me that mug. Why didn’t you tell me it tastes that good?!”

   “I did tell you, but you wouldn’t listen to me.” she pulled away, gathering the last that was left inside the mug before he had the chance to take it away from her. “What are you waiting for? Spin the bottle… it’s like 3AM. I need my beauty sleep.”

Kai laughed under his breath and spun the bottle. A few seconds later, much to Y/N’s shock and to her friends’ amusement the bottle pointed at her again. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth.” she licked some chocolate off her fingers.

  “What did you mean just now by ‘that’s my job’?” he leaned a little towards her.

Y/N ran her fingers through her hair. “Why does that have to mean something? Sometimes I just say stuff… to throw you off.” she winked at him and spun the bottle which somehow ended up pointing at Kai again. Something told her that was no coincidence. “Truth or dare?”

Kai moved a little closer to her. “Truth.”

  “When was the last time you used magic?” she asked, studying his face as he took the bottle and spun it while answering her question.

  “Not long ago at all.” he winked at her, watching her gaze drift from his eyes to the bottle… pointing at her again. “Truth or dare.”

  “T-truth…” she reached for Damon’s bourbon bottle. Her friends groaned and Kai rolled his eyes at her answer. Truth to be told she kept saying truth because a part of her was scared what he’d dare her to do.

  “Have you ever been in love?” he questioned.

Y/N shifted on her spot and took two large sips from the bottle, almost finishing it before Damon snatched the bottle from her. “Once.” she spun the bottle which ended up pointed at Kai again. Bonnie got up, heading over to Damon’s fancy alcohol table while Matt looked like he was semi-asleep. Caroline and Stefan payed no attention whatsoever to anyone else but each other, same as Damon and Elena. Enzo got up after Bonnie and both of them slipped away somewhere. “Truth or dare?”

  “Dare.” 

  “I dare you to… take out your phone, take a selfie and send it to your crush.” she studied his face.

Kai smiled at her and took a selfie then quickly typed something and hit sent. Her phone lit up on the sofa a few steps away and she glanced at him and then at her phone feeling her cheeks starting to get rosy. He spun the bottle without taking his eyes off her the entire time while she tried hard not to jump up towards the couch and grab her phone. Then, no surprise at all, the bottle pointed at her again.

  “Truth or dare?“ he smirked at her, hoping she’d stick to her pattern of saying ‘truth’ because he needed to know who owned her heart.

  “Truth…”

  “Who?“ he asked, listening to her heartbeat. “W-with who were you or are you in love with?”

Y/N glanced at Caroline for a split second then around the room feeling the walls start to close in a little on her. It had always been this way whenever someone asked her that question or a similar question to it. And now that he had asked her… Her eyes closed for a second and she took a shallow breath. “I c-can’t tell you h-his name but –“ she looked into his eyes. ”– he has the most beautiful ocean blue eyes. So blue I just want to dive into them, drown and die.“ she reached for the bottle and spun it again. No surprise when it pointed at Kai but before she had asked he already told her ‘Truth.’ to which she was more than glad. “Have you ever been in love?”

Kai spun the bottle. “M-maybe.“ he looked into her eyes. “I don’t really know what love feels like… but I want to find out.” he added when the bottle ended up pointing at her again.

  “Are you kidding me?” she muttered, glancing at her friends who seemed more amused than ever. “Damon, we need another bottle. That one is defective. Gimme that –” she reached for the bottle in his hands but he pulled it away from her.

  “Awwh is someone afraid to answer my questions or do my dares.” teased Kai. “Hey so, how many times can a player say ‘truth’ before there is a ‘dare’ penalty?”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Dare. But I swear if you –”

  “I dare you to kiss me until it’s your tu–”

  “—truth!” she almost shouted, covering Kai’s mouth with her hand. “Truth! Truth!”

Kai pushed her wrist off his mouth, a devilish spark flashing in his eyes. “What’s wrong sweetheart? Are you afraid you might not be able to control yourself once your lips pucker towards mine and –”

  “And I am the one who’s full of myself.” she retorted. “I am not kissing you.” she turned towards her friends. “I’m not. No. No way.”

  “You don’t have a choice. You chose ‘dare’.” he pulled her onto his lap, and reached for the bottle to spin it. “Just one second until I rock your world.”

‘Help me.’ she mouthed turning towards Damon who raised his eyebrows suggestively and took a large sip from his bottle.

A second later the bottle stopped pointing at Elena. Though Kai didn’t seem to notice at all, his gaze was fixed on Y/N’s and as much as she tried to deny it every single person in the room with supernatural hearing could hear her heart racing in her chest. There was something that felt too right… being in Kai’s arms and the entire feeling was starting to consume her. It wasn’t helping much how his fingertips were touching her bare skin at the moment quite literally sending waves of electricity through her body. There was no doubt in her mind her cheeks were getting redder by the second.

  “Dare.” said Elena.

  “Right…” muttered Kai. “Um, I dare you to um pretend to be Katherine for 5 minutes.”

As soon as Kai spoke his dare, he pulled Y/N towards him and their lips collided for the first time. At first it was a slow kiss, her hands still placed on his chest but the second their lips touched it was as if a switch went off in her brain. His hands moved up her spine to the back of her bead pulling her lips towards his. As if from a distance she could hear her friends talking and continuing to play the game but the longer she kissed Kai the more their voices dissolved and it seemed the world was falling away. Maybe it was because of how long they kissed, how their lips moved hungrily against each other craving more still. Or because of how good having him this close to her actually felt.

   “Boo!” called out Damon after who knows how long. Five or maybe ten minutes? Y/N wasn’t sure… only thing she knew was she couldn’t breath and she demanded mouth to mouth which Kai seemed more than happy to give her. “Get a room you two.”

Y/N pulled away from Kai, both of them gazing into each other’s eyes for a moment and then she slapped him. Almost instantly she got up, turning towards her friends who looked more amused than ever. “Well, I’m going to bed. Night everyone.” she said, then grabbed her phone and spun on her heels as if nothing had happened.

   “Ouchh –” muttered Kai, rubbing his cheek and called out after her. “What was that for?!” he glanced between all her friends and ran after her.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t been slapped before but it had never happened after what had happened between them a few short moments ago. Her heart had beaten so fast while they were kissing he was almost 100% sure she was enjoying what they were doing as much as him. He took the stairs two at a time and no matter how many times he called out her name she kept walking until he whooshed himself to her and quickly he pinned her against the wall, braced his hand next to her head and titled her chin up forcing her to look at him. He tried to figure out what she was thinking but her expression was unreadable, though her cheeks were redder than he had ever seen them and her eyes sparkled like never before.

   “Y/N, I … I’m sorry if I overstepped downstairs. I just… I don’t know what happened. Just having you in my arms, feeling your lips on mine… Something inside me just snapped. I just… I couldn’t get enough or control myself. Not when you were finally in my arms the way I w-wanted.” He gazed into her eyes, waiting for her to say something. Anything, but all she did was gaze back into his eyes. Every second she didn’t say anything felt more painful than dying and coming back to life in the Prison World has ever had. “Say something. Please.”

Y/N bit the inside of her cheek trying hard not to smile.Every time her eyes her eyes closed she could see her phone screen and what Kai had written to her. It hadn’t been anything that much… just a few heart/heart eyes emojis but it had been enough for her heart to do a flip like never before.   “Are you going to stand there, talking and looking all sexy as hell or are you going to kiss me again?” she asked. In the span of a second, Kai grinned scooped her up making her legs hitch around his waist and her lips curled into a smile. “I knew it –”

   “Knew what?”

   “You do like me!”

   “Shut up.”

   “Make me.” she said.

   “Don’t test me.“

Y/N giggled for a second, stumbling a little. “Bite me.”

Kai smirked at her listening on their roomies make their way upstairs. A split second later he whooshed them into his bedroom and tossed her onto his bed, locking the door with magic.

   “Now–” he crawled over her.“ –where were we?” _________________________________________  MASTERLIST - SMUT  MASTERLIST - FLUFF

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #21

Looks like it’s time for another round of 20 questions and comments. I’ve tried to tag you all again, but if you asked on Anonymous I have no way of tagging you.

Anonymous said: Do you prefer treating certain animals over others? I'm friends with a few vets and I know one who's pretty much specialized in cats and another who can treat most companion animals but has a strong preference for dogs (good thing dog vet was out hiking with cat vet when cat vet's dog got a face full of porcupine quills lol) .

I do have a preference for cats, we just seem to come to a better mutual understanding, and I'm very softly spoken in person so the cats are less inclined to panic. I used to get along well treating cattle for some reason too, but I'm pretty exclusively in small animal practice these days.

Anonymous said: Does your clinic have a Facebook page? If so - how would you feel if clients posted pictures of their pets to it? My vet recently got my rat through a tough injury and I'd like to post a picture of her now that she's all healed up, but I don't know if that'd be weird or if any of them would even see it.

We love it when it happens. Happy pets with a nice comment on our Facebook page is always welcome. Sometimes we let people email us photos and we post them for us too.

Anonymous said: I know is Aus we're usually told to take injured wildlife to our local vet. Do you mind it, or should they be taken somewhere else instead?

It's perfectly fine for triage, but if somebody brings in an endangered species with a reasonably good prognosis, we'll often recommend it goes to a better equipped clinic for that species. Note very clinic has UV lights for turtles, for example.

Anonymous said: Hello, many years ago I lost my chihuahua to a broken back which I believe stemmed from him jumping onto our couches and beds so often. The experience was very traumatizing for me but now I have another chihuahua who jumps often and I don't often take him to the vet so I was wondering if it is common for smaller dogs to hurt themselves from jumping so often?

To actually break the back would be unusual, but slipping an intervertebral disc so that it prolapses up into the spine is relatively common after jumping off things in tiny dogs.

@justaphage said: I've been wondering about probiotics (this is not a question about the health of my dog, she's getting treatment). Multiple times (and with two different vets) when my dog had diarrhea they gave us a probiotic along with the dewormer or antibiotic and I've been thinking: my doctors never prescribed or suggested that when I'm sick in a similar way. Is there some difference in what we know about dog/human probiotics or is it just a difference of the culture of medicine.

It's probably more a culture of medicine than anything else, but also probiotics are kind of wishy-washy in terms of clinical evidence. There's some evidence to say they're sometimes very useful, but other times not so much. Keep in mind though that dogs are also much more likely to eat poop from other animals and so will be picking up all sorts of intestinal microflora.

Anonymous said: I came across your weed toxicity post for pets and had a question: a friend of mine recently told me he got weed extract for his anxious rescue pet (can't remember if it was a dog or cat) but prescribed by a veterinarian I didn't ask him more about it because I was too confused at the moment, knowing that weed does not have the same effects on dogs and cats as it has on people. do you think this is legit or was he bullshitting me?

It's hard to know, especially given that I have no way of knowing which country you're in, or what your laws in relation to marijuana are. Certainly there are some veterinarians working on cannabinoid extracts with known concentrations and milligram dosages, but if I was told this locally I would be extremely skeptical.

@fallowsthorn said: On the "cats don't usually get round tumors" thing - weirdly enough, our cat has a bunch of them. Our joke is that he gets a new one every time he goes to the vet, because every single time, the tech says something to the effect of "well this isn't normal for cats but...." They're just little bumps of fat, they don't grow, and he doesn't poke at them or seem in pain, but he's got like twenty of them by now and it's super weird.

It is super weird. Cats usually get inflamed fat rather than fatty tumors, but there's always somebody that does things differently.

Anonymous said: Hey Dr Ferox! I'm just asking purely out of curiosity, have you ever had a kitty patient come in with an aural hematoma?

I have once, but I can't remember whether it had been in a fight or had an ear infection, or both. We treated it surgically, the same way as a dog.

@daedricprincessxoxo said: I've decided to start as a technician before becoming a veterinarian, after a CVPM at a big-deal hospital told me how much she recommends it. After ages of financial constraints, I finally began the course to become licensed!! I'm to excited not to share!!!

That is very exciting and great to hear. Best of luck with all of it.

@insatiable-obsession said: Hi I love your blog! It's so informative and real, and I'm trying very hard to get into the vet world (unsuccessfully applied to several vet clinics and hopefully going to vet tech school next year!) I was wondering if you have any advice or opinions on zoo work/zookeeping? Also to give you a fun break from all the vet questions, do you prefer: sunset or sunrise? Camping or going to the beach? Christmas or Halloween? Pen or pencil? Sweet or savory?

I really don't do much with zoos and prefer not to analyse them too much through a veterinary lens, because I want to keep them as something fun. Like everything else in life zookeeping is possible to do very well, and possible to do very badly. You could pop across to @why-animals-do-the-thing for more zookeeping connections.

Anonymous said: I'm so annoyed right now. So ever since my friend got a dog we were trying to get them to get him fixed (her dad who's totally hyper masculine is against neutering) then they got a girl dog and refused to get her fixed (we convinced the mom but not the dad). They tried to rehome the girl earlier in the year and until tonight they've refused to get one of them fixed. Tonight the girl had 9 pups and it's the only thing that convinced them to get her fixed (after she's done nursing) They also are keeping one of the male puppies. The dogs go out on a cable because they don't have a yard. The dogs are big too they're an staff bully breed mixes.

I don't know what to tell you Anon. It's a poor situation for those animals to be in, but I can't tell you anything to make it any better, and as long as their minimum welfare standards are met, the animals can't be seized.

Anonymous said: I am considering harness training a new cat. I have only indoor cats. If I allow my new cat out in a harness will I need to do anything different for care of my indoor cats, because all the cats will be in contact together at home. My indoor cats are up to date on their rabies and distemper vaccines, do they need anything else? 

You should call your own vet about what concerns are relevant locally. You are very clearly not local to me and I cannot give you specific veterinary advice, but I suspect parasite control is going to be important for your cats.

Anonymous said:What do you do if your pet dies at home? Like with the body?

Depending on where  you are, you can have the option to bury your pet at home, or you can arrange burial or cremation either through a vet clinic or a pet crematorium directly.

Anonymous said: I have a 3.5 month old kitten and he occasionally like tries to eat litter? i use a clay bases non clumping litter and i move him away whenever he starts but like? Could there be a medical reason? Is he just weird? Were taking him to the vet soon to be neutered and im going to ask them then. Thank you!!

There is no way for me to tell whether your kitten it eating litter because it has a nutrient deficiency, an abnormal behavior or is just chewing on things with a novel texture. Hope your vet visit goes well.

Anonymous said: Hi, not sure if you can help, but figure it's worth a shot! I'm in my parasitology class and I'm having the hardest time keeping the Spinose ear tick and the ear mite straight in my head due to their extremely similar scientific names(otobius megnini and otodectes cynotis respectively) and both residing in/around an animals ears, can you offer any advice?

Sorry I don't have any advice for you, other than O. megnini being an overseas parasite and not one I have to deal with.

Anonymous said: I came across your blog while having a nasty bout of heartburn and I got to wondering: can animals suffer from acid reflux or have symptoms similar to GERD in humans? If so, do you know of any cases or treatments?

Small animals can also suffer acid reflux and subsequent oesophageal ulcers. It's particularly common in brachycephalic dogs. There are a variety of potential predisposing causes, some of which are managed medically, but some require surgery. Hiatal hernias are a good example.

@softlyfiercely said: Am curious re: your thoughts on a childhood memory. We had snails in our yard growing up (southwestern USA) and we loved them. My brother & I fed them lettuce & built them little stick-and-leaf villages. Once we brought one inside to show a family friend. He dropped it. Its shell cracked & it looked in bad shape. We were distraught and begged mom to bring it to a vet. She did not. But would a vet have been able to help? How do zoos care for endangered snails? Can snail shells be repaired?

Some clinics equipped for exotics can and will treat snails, but not very often. It's possible to repair small areas of damage to the shell, so long as the body has not been damaged and does not come into contact with any glue or compounds used.

@malted-shark said: Just wanna' say. Sardine sounds like my Basil at the vet. He has aggressive on his chart and they legitimately have to launch a liquid sedative in his mouth. I wish I was kidding. I wish he wasn't such a nightmare at the vet. He's like that at home sometimes too. Particularly, he doesn't like it when things aren't done EXACTLY to his liking and don't dare try to restrain or hell is to be paid. I just let them handle it, I get scared of him.

With cats like this, sometimes all you can and should do is sedate them for an exam. It's stressful for the cat and dangerous for the handler otherwise.

@peaceofpuregold said: As a primary human to two feral (currently not so feral with a lot of patience, training, and good luck in the mix) can confirm at least 70% of the feral cat escape phrases. All I was missing were the washing machine related ones. I might use this to make a bingo card.

If you do make a feral cat bingo card, let us know!

@hesmyboi said: Came for Trashbag, stayed because I adore animals, I like your style, and I'm having fun learning about veterinarian stuff

And we're very pleased to have you here with us. Thank you.