#I do frequently use music for thinking about pacing in action scenes. I wanted this page and the next in particular to feel

[pen-caps]

(also if you like playlists, I offer you my curated set of Car Chase Songs that influenced the writing of this specific scene)

[folklorist-word-florist]

An Overlook on Pacing

SO, pacing! The element that can break or make your story! :D

As we are talking about writing here, we are talking about the speed of your story: the speed of the events unfolding, AND the speed of how the events are told to the reader. E.g. You can have a story that happens in a thousand years, told in the same number of pages of a story that takes place in ten minutes. The first speed is about pacing the plot, do you rely on exposition to world-build? On dialogue? On descriptions of setting or action? The latter is about the pacing of your prose, how you construct your sentences, where you place—and how frequently—action and dialogue, exposition and inflection.

Plot and structure

First we have to acknowledge pacing is interlinked with genre. Different genres have different conventions due to audience expectations. Pacing both depends and determines the genre. And as one writer might write a space opera today, and a contemporary character study tomorrow, so their pacing would change.

My opinion is that there's no good pacing, only the right pacing--for your story. Want to drag a kiss into two pages long? Do it, but with intention, which comes with due diligence on studying different types of story structure. The most useful writing advice I got on this is Ursula K. Le Guin's two-word wisdom:

Crowd, Leap; which event serves best in lengthy detail, which can and should be a sweeping impression. This requires some planning ahead of time, so all-panster might feel a bit 😬 here. I will put a post together on panster-planster-planner later. For now, I say for panster, write all the scenes the way they are coming to you right now, as much and as quickly as you can. You can sort the event pacing in editing.

A recommendation you might have heard ad nauseam: Blake Snyder's Save the Cat beat sheet. Like any plot structure studies, take a look, apply it to the story you love, see how they worked or not worked, and take notes on how that might serve your own writing. 

Save the Cat Beat Sheet Template  •  Infographic

Stories exist with a paradoxical preposition: what we read is past tense by the nature of writing and reading, yet many, especially genre fiction writers, strive to provide the sense that the unfolding of events occurs in front of the reader's eyes; there, the sense of wonder, suspense, or urgency. Even with in flashback of The Bad Thing Hundred Winters Ago, the story moves forward because we get a clue of why something is happening/going to happen now or why/how the characters are the way they are, etc..

(Note I did not say "plot," only "story." Because Story is more than just what happened, but how what happened and where what happened and why what happened.)

Everything you put on the page should be thoughtfully curated. Every scene and each word has your own reason for why it's exactly where it is—a process that takes time and practice and critique, but trust that it'll come:)

This leads to the other part of pacing: controlling the flow, thus (attempting to) control how your readers think and feel about the story.

Save the Cat! website has many beat sheet analysis of popular movies that can be helpful in understanding how to apply the principles.

Musicality

Stories work in forward motion, pulling readers along with them. Sometimes the motion is fast, action-packed and no breathing room, like what the story character is experiencing; sometimes the motion is slow, maybe to mimic a sense of conversational tone, writer to reader, or to create the agony of suspense.

The gradations of these motions are no accidents: again, intention. Be aware of how your placement of descriptive writing, dialogue, beats, the rhythm of your sentences might change the reader's perception of time. And rhythm is in every word in every language (multi-lingo people, like yours truly, might notice how this affect the way you like your sentence constructed and use it to create a style true to you).

In short, longer words/sentences/paragraphs=slowing down. shorter words/sentences/paragraphs=speed up. There should be a balanced combination of acceleration and deceleration. Usually this is combined with story beats (action scene is followed with reaction scene, give the readers breathing room and create anticipation for next action).

An advice to combat writer's block I got when I first started writing was "Read poetry out loud."

Read anything out loud. Books from writers you like, song lyrics, your own writing. Get a feel of the shape of how the words are put together. This great advice does have an obvious deficit, ofc, in requiring the advisee possessing hearing and speech ability (and a deeper connection to them both; some people are just more visual, then it can be the length of sentences and paragraph on paper that matters). Anyone here who are writing hearing-impaired would like to chime in, we would be very grateful.

[lichfucker]

youtube reaction channels have their place, and certainly they can even be useful, depending on the content of the video, the person doing the reacting, and the purpose of reacting to the thing in the first place. I used to watch a fair amount of "vocal coach reacts to xyz live performance" videos, being someone interested in singing but many years removed from my own formal training. I haven't watched but have seen pop up in my suggestions plenty of "lawyer reacts to [blank]" videos, ranging from legal scenes in movies to youtuber apology videos. sometimes I think these things are a little fatuous-- of course a court scene in a movie isn't going to be truly accurate to the proceedings of a real-life courtroom; they're trying to tell a compelling story with a particular pace and necessary drama-- but on the whole they feel like an entirely neutral phenomenon to me.

however, I was just recommended a video to which my immediate response was "all reaction channels should be abolished, actually."

it was a video of a therapist reacting to a song. I was going to name the song, but it really doesn't matter.

I can understand why people would find therapist reaction videos to be somewhere between harmless and legitimately helpful; after all, therapists are trained to analyze aspects of our world from a very particular lens, which many people find very useful! the same way we might turn to a lawyer's reaction video to describe the legal specifics of a given situation, we may want to turn to a therapist's reaction video to describe the psychological specifics! it has its place, doesn't it?

... that place is not art. that place is not music.

I did not watch the video that prompted this post. I'm not going to watch the video that prompted this post. I have no idea what conclusions this therapist came to about this song, and I have no interest in finding out!

the art we create is an expression of emotion-- and, frequently with music, the only way to express it is to heighten it. to exaggerate it. to feel it as much as we possibly can, so that it might bleed through and make our audience feel it, too. the high and the low. the good and the bad. the big and the small. all of it.

yes, I want art examined and analyzed. yes, I want art interrogated. yes, I want art discussed and dissected and implored, of all the ways you could have expressed it, why did you express it like that?

I do not want art analyzed from a standpoint of, "here are the reasonable, stable bounds of human emotion. here is what's healthy and here is what's not. here's how we moderate, here's how we temper."

this feels like the next step down the path of the cinemasins brand of "analysis" where everything besides the most logical, measured actions are considered plot holes. it feels like the successor to "this book is problematic because the characters don't always say things that are objectively true and emotionally intelligent." this sad song is bad because the lyrics mention feeling like they died when they got dumped; clearly this was a toxic relationship and the singer has codependency issues. this love song is bad because the singer is obsessive about their new partner and is setting the unrealistic expectation that everything will be perfect and happy forever; if your partner sounds like this, be careful, they're exhibiting symptoms of blah blah I can't stand it.

this song is bad because the singer failed to acknowledge every single possible perspective on the situation and is erasing people whose experiences differ from their own.

this song is bad because the singer is feeling an emotion and is trying to make the audience feel that emotion, too, which is manipulative. all art is manipulative. all expressions of emotion are manipulative.

I don't want it. I don't want it.

[urne-buriall]

your fics are always where i turn to when i want a heartfelt pickmeup because the atmosphere is always so vivid and real but also the boys are very in-character. do you prefer to write dean or cas, or do you find one of them easier to write? how do you get in theri headspace, is it just music or do you think of/research certain things, create moodboards, rewatch certain seasons or episodes..? i'm so glad you write destiel. i'd probably read your original fic but i'm so gad we have you 💕💕

thank you so much! these words mean a lot 💖

staying true to character is one of the things I strive for with fanfic. we want to feel like it's really them, like this fic was a secret, unreleased episode that satisfies that itch we have for the fabled "spn that exists in our heads"

when it comes to writing, Dean is easier, hands down. there's something in his mental mechanics that allow a lot of latitude when you write him. however, the fact that Cas is a challenge is exactly why I like writing him. as a reader, I can withstand a wide variety of Deans, but Cas has to be just right. he's not actually that formal, there are many things he intuitively or emotionally understands even if many everyday "human" preoccupations are foreign to him, and he has his own motives and his own pride that sometimes get overlooked. whenever I write him, I think hard about what his wants are, where he will stick in his heels. what does he think of his past actions, where does he see himself standing? I love "The Man Who Would Be King" for giving us some flavour, Cas bearing guilt and thinking about his sins while justifying his story to us/himself

when it comes time to write I have images/setting/atmosphere in mind and usually do research concurrent with the writing that guides the scene. many times while doing research I'll come across little nuggets that sweeten the tension and get put to use right away. I don't tend to listen to music because I can seldom focus on two things at once. if there is sound, it's either post-rock or a white noise generator because lyrics or even the musical narrative that comes out of many classical pieces is too much for me. if I'm really into my writing, I wouldn't even hear the music because all my senses are absorbed by the story I'm putting down, and then I resurface and realise an hour has passed and I've been completely out of touch with my surroundings

and I do a targeted rewatch of episodes sometimes depending on what I'm writing, and I frequently consult transcripts so that I can echo a line from the show or make sure that a side character is using a phrasing or an epithet that they have used before/would believably use. the time has come today series began pretty quickly after I first mainlined all 15 seasons of the show. I watched most of it at 1.3-1.5 times the actual speed, but slowed down to original speed for every single Cas scene. I think this is why the series has a pretty boppy pace, hahah

[vynsvision]

Hi Evan! I'd like to know a little more about your interests! Judging by your blogs, you have many! Who/What is your favorite:

MCU character?

DCEU character?

LOTR character?

Movie?

TV Show?

Book?

Musical Artist?

Give as much or as little detail as you want! :)

Aaah oh gosh hi!!! Sorry, my notifications are weird, (I exclusively use the tumblr mobile app) so I am JUST now seeing this!!

I do have a lot of blogs, haha. I like sorting things.

Fave mcu character is probably at the moment Yelena Belova. Florence Pugh as a person and her performance as Yelena are just. Yeah. <33333 Marvel overall I will always love Gwenpool (bbg for the WIN)

DCEU would be Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince. Or Bruce Wayne/Batman, but only Bruce as Bale!Bat or Battinson. Barry Allen's Flash (specifically Grant Gustin's Flash show) is the character that got me into DC in general- I was one of those kids who was MCU OR DC??? MCU all the way!!! Bleh!!! Which is kinda pathetic but cute now because I've grown :)

Lotr, well, Lee Pace's Thar... Thranduil. I have to admit. I thought his name was Tharanduil for YEARS until I followed you and then I regularly see it as just one A and I... Blush. Embarressed. But yeah him or honestly Sam Gamgee. I dont think a lot about LOTR though (and Middle Earth/Tolkienverse) very often because both the Hobbit trilogy and LOTR trilogy have endings that break my heart. I knew the endings before watching, I knew what it was going to be, but watching the performances and reading them again is bittersweet beauty that I can't often handle emotionally.

Movie????? Oh pal! Well. My Letterboxd favorites currently are: Clue, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Gray Man, and The Batman. The Scarlet Pimpernel... I'm thinking of getting a pimpernel flower tattoo because I love that movie so much. And the flowers are pretty :) Before I changed them this year to The Gray Man and The Batman, I had Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Batman Begins as the action movies. Honestly I would change out The Scarlet Pimpernel with Where Eagles Dare if I didnt just NEED people to know how important Sir Percival Blakeney is to me. My original standard. He is THE most man of all men. God, I love him so much. You're either Percival or you're no one, if you're interested in pursuing romance with me. Tony Stark or Steve Rogers or any other superhero/vigilante came years after Percy. They could never measure up. But I digress. (And its not like anyone is pursuing me romantically. That im aware of.)

TV show, well, I dont think I have a favorite. I struggle to rewatch tv shows since, for instance in Criminal Minds (which i have seen the entirety of), I can't rewatch because I know what each character goes through. And I can remember the plot of the episode from the first scene, before the title sequence. Although I do love Criminal Minds and Peaky Blinders a lot :)

I dont read a lot but I do love Dune and Shadow and Bone series!

I usually listen to pop-ish music, and artists I usually circle back to are Hozier, One Direction, Owl City, Jon Bellion. I just had a pretty good and long The Neighbourhood phase and I do return to them frequently as well. Also For King & Country and MercyMe, which are Christian groups :)

[capricores]

✨ the signs and work (careers, needs in workplace, work-mindset, etc)

♡ check your sun, mars, ascendant, midheaven and sixth house signs. keep in mind your entire chart, especially planets in the sixth/tenth house can hugely change the expression of this. sagittarius mars + midheavens tend to hate routine, but if you have a taurus sun/moon, you’re likely to prefer routine and be more comfortable with it. the aspects to these planets and your midheaven/ascendant can entirely change things too. this is a general post. 

i also recommend checking the position of your midheaven ruler and the sign/house it is in (ruler of the midheaven is simply the planet that rules the signs of your midheaven: sun=leo, moon=cancer, mercury=gemini/virgo, venus=libra/taurus, mars=aries/scorpio, jupiter=sagittarius/pisces, saturn=capricorn/aquarius, neptune=pisces, uranus=aquarius, pluto=scorpio). so if you have a gemini midheaven, look to what sign your mercury is in and read for that as well.

reasons for choosing these placements: sixth house represents routine, habits and service; it will more-so highlight how you feel about and approach day-to-day work and serving others. midheaven is your ideal career and ambitions in the workplace; it’s also your image while at work. ascendant + sun both blend together to create one’s general temperament and personality; as well as outlook on life. these two placements highlight hobbies, desires, wants; and therefore influence career needs and work habits. mars is your drive, ambition, energy, etc; therefore showing up in the workplace strongly.

bite-sized version (see the read more for full sign explanations)

aries: careers that allow independence and decision-making. careers in the outdoors. high-energy, physical careers; careers that allow them to use their hands. entrepreneurship is ideal as they like to have complete control over their projects and schedules. jobs with competitive factors will be most motivating to them. they do really well in high-stress careers that require fast-action. sales, any sort of business ventures, management, directing, athletics, construction, welding, etc.

taurus: careers that offer consistency, stability and security. careers that allow for independence. entrepreneurship; taureans aren’t good at taking orders. anything involving the environment, animals, or children. coffee shops, bakeries, childcare, environmental activism, tree nursery staff, animal rescue, etc. taurus placements hold high levels of creativity and are very good at curating styles that appeal to wide varieties: therefore design (fashion, interior - even food/graphic design) based careers are ideal.

gemini: intellectual stimulation, flexibility and frequent change are absolute requirements in gemini careers. without frequent mental stimulation, gemini placements get anxious and want to quit. it’s hard for them to stick to jobs that don’t offer lots of change, variety and difficulties. engineering, computer programming, math-based careers, etc. geminis are excellent communicators are thrive in careers involving writing, public speaking, sales, etc. the environment and people gemini works with are as important as the job itself for them. gemini needs to do multiple things at once; careers involving multi-tasking are essential. routine, predictable careers are the enemy.

cancer: cancers need stability and control in their career. they’re very nostalgic and can often be seen carrying on family businesses or pursuing careers influenced by their families. research & history based careers are great for cancers (historian, librarian, scientific research, detective, etc). cancers do well connecting with others; careers that allow genuine interaction are great (psychologist, social worker, human resources, etc). careers that allow them control. the environment of a cancer’s work space is extremely important: they usually do best working at home. careers relating to food. careers connecting to childcare.

leo: careers need to allow them recognition and praise; attention via career is important (social media, tv personalities, etc). careers that allow a creative outlet with high-energy; but still offer stability and consistency. competitive environments are best for leo. working with children, athletic coaching, fashion, sales, marketing, and so forth are all great paths. management positions or running their own business is ideal for leos who don’t take well to criticism or direction. leos love being social and enjoy careers that give them a social outlet. analytical careers pair surprisingly well with leo; i’ve noticed they’re often drawn to and successful with paths relating to computer science & engineering.

virgo: similar to gemini, careers that are fast-paced and challenging are essential. mental stimulation is an absolute must, and the most important factor for a virgo. careers revolving around healing, health and nutrition fit well with virgo. working with animals and the environment. analytical, logic-forward careers that requirement complex solutions and quick thinking. careers involving communication, especially written, are ideal. virgos are excellent with small details and do well with careers that focus on these. writing, computer programming, chemistry, engineering, teaching, vet tech, dietician, doctor, surgeon, etc.

libra: careers heavily connected to aesthetics: libras require beauty in every aspect of life, especially career (fashion, interior & graphic design; any art-related field; music, etc). careers loaded with social interactions, libras get drained and bored in a career that’s isolating and lonely. ilbras are charming and do well in positions like sales that utilize this charm for personal gain. careers that require a strong sense of justice and morals (law, judge, detective, managerial positions, etc).

scorpio: competitive, target based careers that give them power. behind-the-scenes careers that give them recognition but still allows their privacy. creative -heavy careers such as writing, art, fashion. careers connecting to the occult (ie: astrology/divination). careers that allow them to utilize their unmatchable investigation skills (detective, lawyer, scientist, etc). careers that give them flexibility, yet stability; the only change they want to experience at work is self-controlled. scorpios prefer to work alone than in groups; careers of solitude or ones that allow them to control others are best.

sagittarius: careers that allow them to channel their natural educator & humanitarian role (teacher, philosopher, lawyer, philanthropist, etc). careers that allow them to travel as part of their job (pilot, travel guide, trip planner, translator, etc). careers with huge amount of flexibility, frequent change; careers that give them independence and allow for constant growth, learning and expansion. they never want to be fully “comfortable”. athletic, physical careers; careers in the outdoors (ie: athletic coach, sports teams, etc). 

capricorn: careers that allow for complete autonomy and control. entrepreneurship was made for capricorns. careers that promise stability, security, and a laid-out climb to the top. careers heavily based in logic & analyzing; finance-based careers are also ideal. financial analysis, architecture, CFO positions, etc. working with animals and being connected to the earth are beneficial. management positions are ideal, although capricorns tend to do everything themselves regardless of who’s working for them. careers that involve a lot of careful planning and thinking ahead; routine.

aquarius: careers involving music and/or art (nearly every aqua placement i meet is talented in + passionate about some artistic outlet, channelling these interests into careers is beneficial). careers involving technology, science, and lots of analyzing/logic. computer science, engineering, mathematician, data analyst, etc. careers that give them longer periods of isolation with healthy amounts of socialization in between; they require a good balance. careers that give them independence, yet structure; careers that change on their own terms only. 

pisces: careers with complete flexibility: routines, heavy structure and similar are the enemy. careers that allow a channel for healing and/or spirituality (divination, astrology, nutrition, psychology, etc). careers relating to philosophy, humanitarianism, teaching; much like sagittarius - anything that allows frequent growth and expansion. careers heavy with travel and new experiences. careers that allow a creative outlet are best for pisces (design, photography, filmography, music), they also do well in social based careers such as being influencers or tv stars. avoid careers with rough environments as they’re the sign most likely to absorb negative energies.

♡ mutable signs (pisces, sagittarius, gemini, virgo):

these signs have busy minds. they always need to be moving, and require constant mental stimulation. work without mental stimulation will quite literally drive them up the wall. if their work traps them into non-challenging (gemini/virgo) or routine (pisces/sagittarius) environments, they’ll not only want to quit, but likely be negatively impacted in terms of energy and mental health. if you have strong mutable placements, it’s important for you to find a flexible and stimulating career; a career with a lot of socializing is often preferable as well. they require lots of encouragement and praise in their work to stay committed and on-track.

the ideal careers for mutable signs are ones that allow for stimulation and change (virgo is more comfortable with routine, gemini is *okay* with routine; but both requirement frequent challenges in the workplace to stay satisfied, they need to be “solving” things). mutable signs don’t mind working behind the scenes, or under the direction of someone else, so long as they’re in an exciting environment that allows them to fully utilize their wit, creativity and quick problem solving skills. 

it’s very important for mutable signs to become friends with those in their workplace (especially pisces and gemini placement individuals). because of their constant need for mental (and also social) stimulation, it’s vital for them to be able to form friendships (not necessarily deep/close friendships, but at least surface level) in the workplace and have a frequent social outlet while working. mutable signs are also extremely susceptible to their environment and those around them (as are the water signs), so a toxic workplace will have a significantly harsher impact on their well-being than other signs would experience. their mental and physical health can both be immensely affected when they’re in toxic environments around toxic people (of course this is true for anyone, but mutables are drained by this on a whole other level). mutable signs can easily love a job they would normally hate, if the environment is positive and fun for them; and vice versa.

✧ sagittarius and pisces: no matter how much these two signs love their job, they will still hate their job. pisces and sagittarians tend to hate work. this isn’t because they’re lazy, or incapable of putting in hard work; because they’re more than capable, and do it frequently. but to them, work, especially routine work (nine to fives, forty hours a week, etc), limit them. pisces and sagittarius share jupiter as their ruler; jupiter is all about expansion, growth and freedom. these signs hate being boxed in and tied down. they require living lives that allow for frequent growth. namely, pisces and sagittarius love to always be learning and bettering themselves, especially spiritually and philosophically. if they’re stuck in a career that limits their expansion; or lacks “abundance” when it comes to choices and growth, they’ll be extremely unsatisfied.

pisces and sagittarians are free spirits, and these placements (especially in the personal planets and as ascendant) love physical change; aka traveling. a job that allows them to travel, especially to other countries/long distances, will be ideal and fulfilling for them. creative outlets, educational paths, or any career relating to spirituality, philosophy or similar will be best for them. pisces do really well in careers related to healing and helping; sagittarians do really well in careers related to teaching. sagittarians, being fire signs, also require careers that keep them relatively physically active.

some suggested careers (pisces, sagittarius): travel-related (flight attendant, trip planner, etc), translation/interpretation, photography, arts, astrology, divination, food (chef, front of house, etc), teaching, medicine (namely naturopaths, nutrition, etc), motivational / public speaking, philanthropy 

✧ geminis and virgos: being mercury-ruled, these two signs need intellectual stimulation more than anyone else. they do not do well in monotonous or “easy/simple” jobs. although these two signs might not be as bothered by routine as their fellow mutable signs, they instead require a constantly challenging and stimulating environment. fast-paced, high-stress careers where they’re able to problem-solve and think on their feet are best for these two signs. although they have to be careful of overly stressful jobs and burning themselves out, due to their tendencies of overthinking, nervousness and how easily stressed they can get. it’s best for them to work in challenging environments, with kind and encouraging management, as to avoid any possible burnout or anxiety in the workplace.

again, thanks to their mercury influence, these signs have a way with words. anyone with strong gemini or virgo placements is bound to be great when it comes to writing and/or speaking. being an author is something those with either of these placements would really excel at. also, working in sales (mainly with gemini, virgo shyness and hermit habits may put them off of this career lol) is something gemini & virgo THRIVE in. they’re very good at speaking to others and swaying their opinions, so closing deals with people is a very easy and satisfying thing for them to do.

some suggested careers (gemini, virgo): computer science/technology fields, detective work, writing, research-based fields, nutrition/dietetics (virgo), sales (gemini), something with a lot of public speaking (but this likely freaks them out and makes them nervous- they are amazing at it though), event planning

some mutable careers (all/mixed): teaching, international relations, politics (sagittarius and gemini), music (pisces especially), comedy (gemini and sagittarius), marketing & sales, law, medical fields (virgo and pisces), travel & tourism, librarians/working in bookstores

♡ cardinal signs (aries, cancer, libra, capricorn):

these signs thrive most placed in roles of leadership and entrepreneurship. directing others and having control over their own actions and projects is most satisfying for these individuals. cancers and libras don’t mind working under the control of others, capricorn and aries do not do well in situations controlled or directed by others. however, capricorns and aries can handle working under others as long as they have a means for doing so (ie: they have some power over others at the same time, they’re awaiting a promotion, etc).

these signs are ambitious, initiators, and go-getters. they are the ones with the big ideas and the detailed plans of how things will go. they enjoy motivating others and seeing others succeed, so they make for wonderful managers. managerial positions are great for these signs, since they can struggle a bit with following through/staying on task, having a role where they create the ideas/tasks and have someone else finish it is more ideal.

✧ aries and capricorn: these signs, far more than other cardinals, really do better working alone or in positions of power. entrepreneurship is more ideal for these two than probably any other sign. additionally, both aries and capricorn are very connected to the physical realm. aries does really well in physically-active careers (manual labor, athletics, etc), and they also really love the outdoors. capricorn, being so connected to the earth, also loves any sort of outdoors/earth-connected career. jobs that allow them to be outside in nature, or directly working with nature, will do them both great.

these two signs are very good at managing and directing, however their styles can be a little harsh. they also tend to have the attitude where they’d rather do everything themselves so that it’s done “right”. because of this, it’s best for them to work independently at their own business, or to have someone working as a buffer of communication between them and employees when it comes to instructing and critiquing. they do, however, do very well as trainers, since they’re very to-the-point and enjoy allowing others to shadow them/vice versa. being trainers allows them to let out their overly picky/specific side for the better.

these two especially thrive in any career that allows them to showcase their straight-forward and analytical natures. fields such as law, are so amazing for both of these signs. aries loves the challenge of a field like law, and probably enjoys the ability to “argue” for work. capricorn’s interest will be held by the analytical, research based aspects of law, as well as the ability to “argue” for work. both signs enjoy being right, competitiveness, and independence, so fields similar to law are perfect. 

both signs can also handle high-stress and high-pressure environments with ease, quite possibly more than any other signs. they also need frequent challenge and competitiveness in careers, so any sort of job that hits these requirements would be best. if they don’t feel as if they’re climbing a ladder, or achieving a visible, measurable level of success (ie: hitting/exceeding targets), they won’t feel fulfilled.

some suggested careers (aries, capricorn): entrepreneurship, instructing/coaching (athletics, etc), athletics (aries), project managers/management in general, conservationists, lawyers, food service, finance/accounting, any analytical/logic-based careers (capricorn), architecture, computer programming, sales (aries; they have the energy + charisma for this), marketing, real estate (aries), physical therapy, chiropractor, personal trainer (aries)

✧ cancer and libra: one important thing to mention for these two signs is they require a comfortable, positive work sign; almost to the extent that mutable signs do. their work environments have to be comfort zones, much like their homes, or they’ll struggle a lot in their career despite how much they enjoy the job itself. the people they work with and space they work in are extremely important to them. if they work from home, it’s vital they have a comfortable, well-decorated home office in order to be fully productive and in their “zones”.

these two signs have a very unique way of managing. they’re very good at getting people to do things, without realizing they’ve been influenced to do something. both of these signs can get along with nearly anyone, and have very warm, nurturing natures; which makes them highly successful in roles ranging from management to sales and anything of the likes. their social skills are impressive, as are their problem-solving skills, which makes them well-suited for fields like human resources, law (mainly libra), psychology, social work, etc. both do well in customer service and marketing because of their people skills.

the difference between these two lies in their public preferences. libra is a very public sign, and also the sign of justice. journalist, social media influencer/tv personality, publicist, judge/lawyer, and fashion design are some potential careers that align well with libra’s needs for recognition and admiration. on the other hand, cancer much prefers a more private life, although still enjoys (genuine) interaction with others. due to their nurturing personalities and creativity, cancers thrive in careers relating to medicine, food, design (especially interior, architecture, etc - anything related to the home as cancer is the sign connected with the *home*), and so forth.

these two signs are also highly creative and thrive in roles that allow for this expression. libra specifically thrives in fields like fashion or graphic design, cancer thrives in fields like interior design or baking/cooking. 

some suggested careers (cancer, libra): law (libra), fashion (libra), interior design, graphic design (libra), childcare (cancer), psychology, social work, medicine (cancer), chef/baker/similar (cancer), real estate, sales & marketing (libra), journalist (libra), publicist (libra), architect (cancer), customer service, social media (influencer, marketing, etc), acting, game design/development (cancers especially - they seem to be so good with video games)

some cardinal careers (all/mixed): entrepreneurship, design, development & research, finance/accounting, architecture, lawyers, judges, detectives (especially libra & cancer), real estate, sales & marketing, management, human resources (cancer/libra)

♡ fixed signs (taurus, leo, scorpio, aquarius):

these signs do best in positions of total autonomy. working under the discretion of others is not ideal for these individuals. with creative minds and a need for independence and power; these individuals also tend to do best in fields relating to art, or creation of some sort. aquarius and taurus can handle working under others without much power, but leo and scorpio do not do well when given directions (they can handle it, but they don’t like it). it’s against fixed sign nature to follow orders. however, fixed signs do generally enjoy routine, so they won’t mind working under someone if it provides them consistency and stability. they might even skip on desired promotions, new/better job opportunities and more due to their fears/dislike of change (especially taurus).

fixed signs have this unmatchable resilience when it comes to work. these are the people that will easily put in 70+ hours a week with minimal complaints. they’re excellent at following through with things and sticking to their jobs/tasks, even when they hate them. fixed signs are also the only modality that’s consistent and excellent with following through. these signs have a bit of trouble getting started, though, and often need a push and help to get things going. 

leo and taurus need stability and consistency in their career, whatever it may end up being. these two do not do well with change; and don’t usually like jobs that require them to frequently adapt or start new routines. aquarius and scorpio on the other hand, thrive within change; and are more than used to adapting to sudden, significant changes. these two, however, still prefer a more stable routine; as they tend to fear/dislike change that is not self-inflicted. the biggest things for fixed signs are stable, consistent careers. they also need careers that allow them power and individualism. aquarius and leo specifically need careers that allow them to “show off” or get recognition, preferably from a larger audience.

scorpios & leos thrive with incentives and praise, so careers that offer bonus pays, targets, and promotions with set goals will motivate them a lot more in work. any sort of competitive work will get those two signs going. aquarians however are more indifferent to these things, they tend to be more detached with the material benefits of work. taureans usually dislike these types of careers, they want work with consistency: consistent pay, consistent hours, etc.

✧ leo and aquarius: these signs require attention and recognition for their work more than anyone. they’ll do behind the scenes work if they need to, but generally they enjoy being the center of other’s attentions (aquarius won’t admit this though). these two signs have very unique ideas, and are bustling with creativity. more than anything, they need a career that allows creative expression and individuality. they don’t do well being boxed in and restricted in their endeavors. most of all, these two need careers that are challenging, consistent yet flexible, and allow both social and creative outlets. 

aquarius is the sign relating to technology, so of course they will naturally thrive in technology-related careers. aquarians have busy minds and the patience to work out complex problems; so a career in computer programming, or something similar, would do them well. graphic design and architecture are two other careers that come to mind. engineering (but something more like music engineering, that allows them that creative outlet) is another great choice. aquarians are also humanitarians at heart, so charity-related careers, or careers of similar nature (ie: social worker) would be great for them. careers with a lot of either problem-solving/complex issues, humanitarian causes, or music/art are best for aquarians.

leos are natural born entertainers and story-tellers. they also can fit well into many social environments, and are so naturally charming it’s easy for them to get on anyone’s good side. because of this, any social-heavy career is great for them (motivational speaking, writing, acting, sales, marketing, etc). leos also have big hearts and tend to love children and/or animals, so i always recommend childcare or animal care to these types of leos. at the end of the day, despite leo’s need to be independent/not heavily controlled at work, they do love that social interaction that can come with working. leos are also bursting with creativity, and tend to have affinities with art, so any art-field is a great career selection for them. as a fire sign, leos also thrive in physically-active careers (athletics, manual labor, etc) that keep them up and moving.

some suggested careers (leo, aquarius): music (especially aqua), fashion-related fields; especially design, ANY sort of artistic field (design, painting, acting, etc), childcare (leo), marketing, sales, engineering, charitable organizations (aquarius), computer programming/science (aquarius), writing (leo), social media (marketing, management, influencer)

✧ scorpio and taurus: these signs don’t mind being behind the scenes, so long as they still have significant power in their work environment and control over themselves. overall, they’d typically rather work for themselves than someone else, they truly hate answering to others and generally don’t like being disturbed/overly social at work (it drains them, and they usually find it annoying/disrupts their work flow). i suggest more independent-work type of careers for these signs, or careers that allow them to instruct others on what to do, not the other way around.

both signs are very intense and investigative, and once they start something they have a laser-like focus that will help them see through a project to the end. scorpios specifically need careers that allow THEM flexibility and the ability to enact change when they see fit. taureans, however, need careers with minimal change, including self-inflicted. taurus requires stability and consistency more than any other sign in the zodiac, especially at work. 

taureans have a very nurturing energy, including at work, and they have a natural connection to the earth/environment. because of this, i always see taureans fitting so well into careers involving the environment (think anything from environmental law to conservationist to florist, etc). personally, both taurus and scorpio i can see running adorable little flower shops, crystal shops or cafes and it would be too perfect for them. these two signs are usually bookworms too so i feel like working in a bookstore would be so perfect for them both. scorpios really do need that power and slight competition in work. they need to be challenged more than any of the other fixed signs, or they will get extremely bored. i often find scorpios thrive most in unfamiliar environments, so sudden switches in work may be a comforting thing for them.

some suggested careers (scorpio, taurus): investigator/detective (scorpio), research-based fields (scorpio), interior design, fashion, food-related field (taurus), childcare (taurus), architecture, divination + astrology (scorpio), office jobs (taurus - but more a WFH environment), work from home jobs in general (they don’t like leaving the house), working with animals/rescuing, environmental law (taurus), law (scorpio), environmental activism (taurus), conservationist (taurus), librarian/bookstore jobs

some ideal fixed careers (all/mixed): tattoo artist (this career always comes to mind with scorpio/taurus especially), design, any sort of arts-related career, managerial roles, entrepreneurship, athletic instructor/similar (leo & taurus), farming (taurus & leo), florist/anything working with plants (taurus & scorpio), childcare (leo & taurus), competitive environments (leo & scorpio)

[seeuonadarknite]

picture perfect — yandere kuroo tetsuro x f. reader

warnings: toxic relationship, abuse, spitting/saliva, noncon, breeding kink, light asphyxiation

You were sick and tired of your boyfriend's relationship with your family members. Your siblings thought he was admirable for being Nekoma's captain, and your parents not only admired his position, but trusted him in full as well.

He was just this nerdy volleyball captain and respected your parents more than any of your previous exes. He was just such a nice guy, why would you want to leave him?

"(y/n), you've gotta be pulling my leg. He's a keeper! Why would you wanna break up with him?" You had pulled your mother aside to talk to her in private, not wanting to attract any of your siblings' attention, but she didn't seem to pay any mind to her volume.

If only she knew how fucking psychotic your boyfriend was. He kept tabs on your phone, monitored who you hung out with and when you went out, and gave out unethical punishments whenever you upset him. Which was quite frequently.

But you didn't wanna tarnish your boyfriend's image like that. Sure, he was absolutely horrible to you, but a part of you didn't want to expose him like that. Maybe it was a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Maybe it was fear of not being believed.

Nonetheless, you always kept things vague in order to protect your prince charming's reputation. "It's just.. things are rough between us. It's not as nice as it seems behind closed doors." And it was true. Your words may have been vague, but they were completely correct.

Unfortunately, they were too vague for your mother to comprehend and she just shrugged them off, like always. "Honey, that's how relationships work. You're gonna have your fights and it's gonna be ugly— you're young! You're both just seniors in high school, so of course it's not gonna be perfect." She sent you a warm smile, placing a hand onto your shoulder.

"Just talk things out with him, okay? Try not to make haste decisions just yet." Removing her hand from your shoulder, your mother walked away from the scene with a soft laugh.

If only you had noticed the pair of eyes peeking behind the corner the whole time. The eyes that belonged to your nosy, loudmouthed brother.

—

It had been a few days since you had the talk with your mother. Since then, you had attempted to rekindle things with Kuroo. Of course trying to be nice to him didn't fix a damn thing. If anything, it just gave him the OK to be an even shittier boyfriend. His possessiveness had only gotten worse.

You were currently sat next to him on his couch, watching some cheesy romance movie. “Oi, babe, c’mere.” He called you over with his arms stretched out. If he wasn’t such a manipulative bastard, you’d find the sight in itself cute. He was like a kid making grabby hands.

To which you obliged with ease, sliding into his arms to lean your head against his torso with your legs tangling with his. His hand made its way over to your head as he tangled his fingers through your hair, humming quietly at your compliance. It was nice; it felt like the two of you were just a normal, happy couple.

However, every good moment had to come to an end. “So.. your little brother was real eager to talk to me the other day.” Uh oh. The words that fell from his mouth were seemingly innocent, but his tone was what scared you. It was a tone you knew all too well. You were in deep shit.

Tilting your head upwards to peek at him from your spot on his torso, your eyes made contact, only to realize that he had been looking down at you the whole time. “Yeah, he sounded worried. Told me about a little chat you had with ma.” His gaze had darkened within seconds as he spoke. You were really starting to regret accepting his offer to cuddle.

“Babe, he’s a kid. You can’t trust everything he sa—“ Slap. Placing a hand on your stinging cheek, you looked up at the narrowed eyes of your boyfriend. He had slapped you right across the face. How he had managed to put so much power into a slap with the position you two had been in was a mystery to you.

That wasn’t important. What was important was his hand roughly gripping your chin, nails digging into your soft skin. “Do you think that I’m that fucking stupid? Are you really trying to ruin a picture perfect family? Our picture perfect family? (y/n), I can’t have you telling everyone that I’m ‘bad.’ It’s about time that I put you in your place.”

And with that, his hand that had previously gripped your jaw was now forcefully prying it open. Furrowing your eyebrows, you looked up at your boyfriend with tears brimming your eyes. Before you could even start to retaliate, a sticky string of saliva gradually fell down from his mouth. God, he was spitting in your mouth and you couldn’t do anything about it. His hand was too damn strong.

“If you wanna properly own up to your actions, go on and swallow it.” It was absolutely sickening how he believed he was teaching you some sort of lesson. You wanted to call him disgusting and hit him in the face, but you were driven by fear, thus leading to your regretful actions.

Your pride wasn’t the only thing you swallowed, as the sticky substance of Kuroo’s saliva cascaded down your throat. Giving your face a few light slaps, he sent you his cheshire grin. “Good girl.” Without another word, he slipped up from under you.

For a second, you actually believed that he was laying off, and deciding that maybe spitting in your mouth was enough of a punishment. But no, as soon as you even thought about getting off of the couch, he forcefully flipped your body over and shoved your face into the couch cushion.

“Did ya really think I was done with you? Let me show you how much of a good boyfriend I am.” His fingers wrapped around the waistband of your shorts and panties, wasting no time in shoving them down to your ankles. “T-Tetsu! Wait!” Your cries and pleads went unheard as he pulled his flaccid cock from his boxers. Bringing your hips up to his, he began rubbing the length of his cock up against your folds.

Not only was the feeling of his gradually hardening cock rubbing against your folds turning you on, but it was making him moan like a pornstar. He paid absolutely no mind to his volume; you felt kinda bad for his neighbors.

The friction in itself was enough to create a pool between your legs. “Fuck, baby, I’m gonna put it in.” Of course he didn’t even consider putting on a condom. It almost felt as if he wanted to knock you up. If he did that, you really wouldn’t be able to leave him, right?

With both of his hands on your ass and his thumbs on your folds, spreading them open from behind, he pushed the head of his cock inside of you. “Tets—Tetsu, it’s not gonna fit..!” Your head was shoved up against the couch cushion by his right hand, whilst his left was holding onto your waist, giving him something to grip as he sheathed himself inside of you. His cock had so much girth; it practically felt like he was tearing you apart.

Kuroo tilted his head back with a loud, dragged out moan, as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. No matter how many times he fucked you, he always felt a sense of euphoria at the feeling of your tight hole clenching around his cock. Hell, his moans were probably louder than your own.

Once he calmed down from his high, he began thrusting into you at a furious pace. You were lucky you even got a chance to adjust to his size, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to start out at a gradual pace. Gripping onto the edge of the cushion, your jaw dropped as a moan erupted from your throat. God, your moans sounded like music to Kuroo’s ears. He could feel his cock twitch inside of you at the sound.

It really sucked having such an athletic lover, because his stamina and speed was just too much for you to handle. His pace was borderline animalistic as he pounded into you. The grip he had on your hips was absolutely bruising, and his nails dug into your scalp as he pushed your head further into the couch.

“Maybe I should cum inside..! Heh, you’d be real hot with big, swelling tits.” His hand pushed you further down, gradually making it more difficult to breath as he reared his hips back. Slamming back into you, he grabbed a fistful of your hair and dragged you up, pulling your back against his chest. This position was beyond uncomfortable for you. He kept one hand on your side, but the hand that was previously digging into your scalp was now wrapped around your throat, all of this happening from behind.

It amazed you how much lower body strength this man had as he continued thrusting into you at a speedy pace. You were beginning to reach your limit, and he was as well. This became obvious to you as soon as you felt his cock begin to twitch inside of you. “Even if your parents.. ugh.. fucking hate me..” He trailed off, moving his head towards your ear as he licked the shell of it. A low growl emitted from his throat as he removed his hand from your side, soon placing it onto your stomach as it slowly trailed down to your sensitive parts.

“..Once I knock you up, they’ll have no choice but to see me as a part of their family.” His fingers began mercilessly rubbing at your nub, urging you to hurry up and release. His words were fucking horrifying, but the way his cock hit your cervix and his fingers rubbed at your clit, you couldn’t even comprehend what he was telling you. Suddenly, your body tensed, as you reached your climax and lubricated Kuroo’s cock with your cum. With the clench of your hole, Kuroo followed shortly after you, pumping his thick, sticky semen inside of you.

Loud panting and heavy breaths sounded throughout the room as Kuroo reluctantly slid his cock out from your hole, watching your combined fluids begin to drip down from your hole to your leg. Once Kuroo released his grip on you, you collapsed onto his couch. You couldn’t care less about the cum covering your lower half and probably staining his furniture. You were exhausted.

The sight of you panting heavily with cum splattered all over your lower half was enough to make Kuroo’s cock begin to twitch again. Towering over your collapsed body, Kuroo placed his head into the crook of your neck and smirked.

“Now, who said that we were done here?”

[tribow]

So I watched Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

First of all I just want to say that anyone who calls this show an Attack on Titan clone is dumb as bricks and either didn't watch it or were unable to admit they were wrong because of their own sense of pride. Are there similarities and/or inspirations? Sure, but Kabaneri's story and conflict are extremely different from Attack on Titan.

With that out the way, Kabaneri is an anime original written by Ichiro Okouchi and directed by Tetsuro Araki. Okouchi is the name that caught my attention as he has done screenplay for a lot of stuff I like and has also done the writing for SK8 the Infinity which I heard a lot of people were enjoying.

I kept my expectations low since I heard a lot of people were dissapointed by Kabaneri, but now having watched it I don't understand why. This isn't a masterpiece or anything, but it's pretty enjoyable and doesn't waste any time. In fact, it could have used more time if anything.

The only issue I would say this anime runs into is time constraints. It clearly had much more story to tell, but with only 12 episodes it can only do so much. The story keeps a heavy focus on what is currently happening and does not spend much time fleshing out the details or doing much world building. There are some characters who end up experiencing developments off-screen as well. With a longer run-time this anime would be golden, but it is what it is.

Anyway, the general plot is that there is a zombie outbreak that has happened during what seems to be industrial revolution times for Japan. These zombies are called Kabane. They lack much intelligence, but they're superhuman and difficult to take down. The story starts probably several years into this apocalypse. A city* (might've been a town) has gotten infiltrated by the Kabane and the survivors barely manage to escape by train. The rest of the story follow these survivors and I found that pretty cool. You don't see many stories have a train as its main setting.

I left out a lot of details, but I believe the impact of the characters would not hit as hard if you knew what their deal was before watching. For the most part, these characters are pretty good. Their motivations make sense and the decisions they make do not betray who they are. Some characters make stupid decisions, but those decisions are believable and that's very important.

Outside the conflict of survival, there's other conflicts the characters must deal with as well. Knowledge about how the Kabane work is very minimal. Many believe them to be more cunning than they actually are and treat them like some kind of youkai hiding in society. That fear can frequently make the situation worse by exaggerating what the Kabane are actually capable of. It's a common theme explored in the show. Speaking of society, the way the government responds to this apocalyptic situation is also a conflict in its own way. Will the government abandon the people to protect itself or will it use its influence to stand and fight? Both options are explored in different ways and I found that nice.

However, as mentioned before many of these conflicts are not given the chance to be fully explored so you may end up not getting enough information to be satisfied with the answer you got, or maybe you get no answer at all. It's really a shame. Perhaps the manga adaption expands on this more, but I haven't read it so I wouldn't be able to tell you.

I have watched the movie, "The Battle of Unato" though. Without explaining much, it sucked. The conflicts were super forced and it did not come up with good excuses for the dumb shit that happened. The ending was nice but overall it sucked. It doesn't even expand on the world building. Netflix also released it as a 3-episode anime instead of a full length movie. Way to ruin its pacing. It's a full-length film not an episodic series, what the hell were they thinking?

My hatred of Netflix's practices aside, the animation of Kabaneri is amazing, and I'm not just talking about the movie. The television series is just as good. It was handled by Wit Studio (yes, the same people who did Attack on Titan). If you know anything about them then you know they're good. Everything about the animation is great. Character expression is exceptional and the aesthetic is simply perfect throughout the show. There's some great visual storytelling done as well sometimes. Action scenes are stellar cause of course they are. Wit Studio is great.

The music is really good as well. The ending theme is amazing and one of the best I've ever heard. They knew it was good too, there's some orchestral arrangements of it used during the show, or sometimes they'll just straight up play the song. It happens almost too much, but I don't blame them, that songs slaps like no other.

I would recommend this anime for sure to anyone that's interested. (maybe not the movie though). The time constraint issue does harm this show a lot and I have some minor gripes, but it's still really good despite that. I don't like the idea that Kabaneri will be remembered as some Attack on Titan clone, it deserves more respect than that. Plus, it's an anime original! Stuff like that should be supported.

[ouyangzizhensdad]

I have frequently seen CQL stans say that the continuous linear structure of the story is an improvement from the periodic flashbacks in the novel because it has more "emotional impact "?

I am not sure about the emotional impact as I wasn't really moved that much but having unveiled the past in one go completely gives away the mystery of how things come to be in the present timeline which the novel is mostly about. MDZS was a mystery-horror/fantasy-supernatural novel first and foremost which CQL is not. It had to remove a lot of elements related to ghosts/dismembered body parts /necromancy due censorship which were very important to the plot in the present timeline of MDZS.Instead focused on the past timeline and elongated it.

I have also seen people say that the past timeline was also more "interesting" so it doesn't matter but MDZS' focus was different and honestly if you really want to read/watch familial tragedies and war there are honestly better books out there that solely focus on that. MDZS is primarily a mystery with ghosts and necromancy where the events of the past are very important but secondary to the plot.

Hi anon, 

At the end of the day some stuff are purely subjective wrt what we enjoy in fiction and what has emotional impact for us. I can believe that some of these people genuinely believe that the linear storytelling is more emotional, or that it fits their personal tastes better. 

However I could not disagree more with the idea that the linear structure improved the story. In my opinion it requires misunderstanding the purpose of the non-linear storytelling in the first place, and how tied it is not only to the narrative structure and genre but to the themes. Using a linear storytelling flattens the story and its explorations: perhaps, in a sense, it is what makes it more impactful to some people as it suddenly becomes a simpler and thereby more accessible story. Maybe that’s why people fail to be emotionally engaged with mdzs whereas they get a kick out of cql: mdzs is not a text that hands you everything on a platter, whereas cql (on top of being told through a visual medium which tends to be a lot more blunt--ie, this scene is sad and we know because there is sad music over it) features an approach to story-telling that wants to not only serve everything on a platter for the audience but brings the platter again and again just to make sure they took notice of it (part of why people complain about the pacing).

The purpose of the past in the narrative is to recontextualise the present. And while that is not a groundbreaking way of telling a story in itself (although it is not the most simplistic either), it makes me go !!! when I consider how the story is literally about public opinion and its power in shaping and reshaping perceptions. The form serves and mirrors the central thematic exploration! The form serves and mirrors the central thematic exploration!!! If people miss the significance of having the readers themselves be forced to reconsider what they know about the characters and the events just as the characters within the story are forced to do the same in order to support the supremacy of linear storytelling in this case, I don’t know what else I could say to convince them!

I also think that it is so unfortunate that censorship meant that they had to do away with the darker and horror-like elements of MDZS, because these bring an amount of severity and impact to the text in a way that the “action scenes” in CQL fail to. The fight scenes in CQL are the opposite of grounded--there is inherently no sense of weight or impact or gruesomeness or urgency to them--but it gets worse compared to how terrifying the Yiling Laozu appears in the book since in CQL we seem to only see like shadows of doom and Evil Rocks(TM). CQL!Yiling Laozu never seemed like someone who could get called the scourge of the cultivation world. 

Anyway, I have yet to find any arguments from people who claim that CQL is better than MDZS that doesn’t boil down to either a) it’s because ultimately it fits your personal preferences better (which is fine but doesn’t make it inherently a better work of fiction) or b) it’s because you don’t really have good reading comprehension and you have a clear bias for visual media that spoon-feeds you information, including by sending you conventional signals to alert you it’s time to feel A Specific Emotion.  

[meikuree]

the runaround

Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pieck/Yelena (Shingeki no Kyojin)

ao3 link

Perhaps it’s the way the woman has been gazing with a bored look at everything around her. Perhaps it’s the way she defiantly bites her bottom lip while looking right at Pieck, with a cunning smile that says: I want you to see this.

In which Pieck meets Yelena for the first time, at a ball.

Written for Snktober 2020's Day 24 prompt "Beginnings/Endings".

(rated explicit; 18+ only please)

The clock ticks nine in the night.

The scene on the floor lurches into full swing, as the last of  the ball attendants stream in. Pieck’s perched alone beside a bannister, observing the room and content to remain inconspicuous. The sound of strident orchestral music reverberates around the room. The nouveau rich among the Marleyans try their hand at dancing in the centre of the room, encouraged by decadent libations with highfalutin names.

Something about this particular soirée makes Pieck feel a little more reckless than usual. She’s not here for business, not strictly, in the first instance. Balls like this have become more frequent in the past few months, as Marley’s economy sputters forth with the spoils from skirmishes won and areas conquered. Pieck has never been one to sincerely delight in what they celebrate— she considers them to be in poor taste, frankly, and more of a means to an end for staying attuned to what’s happening within high society— but she has come to appreciate the opportunities to get some fresh air beyond the barracks. She has her strings that allow her to come in through unofficial means and slink out when she gets tired.

But there’s something unergetic and lacking here, making her attention wane and crave some action. All the requisite elements are present, like food and entertainment and a crowd, but there’s no life to the people. She's only heard irrelevant gossip and news so far. Perhaps she’d exhausted all the novelty here earlier, when she was eating the canapés and admiring some clams that opened like butterflies at the dinner selection. 

She wanders around, unusually weightless in the airy garment of her black evening dress, searching for some outlet for her disinterest.

She spots another woman some way off into the distance. It’s hard not to, indeed, given that she sticks out like a sore thumb with her great height. Said woman is standing tall and apart from the labyrinthine circles of conversation snaking around the ballroom, rebuffing the crowd and stationing herself in her own corner instead. A look of tedium is etched into her face. The imposing light from the chandelier casts a halo upon her, like a lonely spotlight on her straw-colored hair and sharp fringe. A half-filled wineglass is grasped in her hands, the wine inside segueing into a velvet swirl as she gives it a listless swivel.

Something about her piques her curiosity. She can empathise with her, Pieck thinks. The inevitable superficiality of these events leaves a lot to be desired.

Suddenly, she looks up. Somewhere in the trajectory her tilting head makes, she makes eye contact with Pieck, and something like a flicker of mutual understanding fizzes there. 

Perhaps it’s the way the woman has been gazing with a bored look at everything around her. Perhaps it has to do with the way she defiantly bites her bottom lip while looking right at Pieck, with a cunning smile that says: I want you to see this. 

Then it’s back to the present, the noise of the bustling crowd wreathing around herself. In a snap, something like naked interest or desire compels her forward— there's little to lose, and why not? are what she’s mainly thinking now, shrugging off the instinct to premeditate every decision— and she takes her next step. Before they lose each other to the sea of people between them, Pieck gives the woman in the distance a meaningful nod.

The mystery woman smirks in response. It lights up her face for the first time since Pieck began watching her. She takes a lengthy, decadent sip from her wineglass, eyes boring into Pieck’s all the while. Pieck decides that, yes, she will take that as an affirmation. She ducks into the nearest alcove, finding her way to a side exit hidden there. Minutes later, the tall woman emerges, the sound of her brogues clacking audible as she walks up to Pieck. 

“Greetings,” she says to Pieck.

Up close, she looks even more riveting. Pieck decides she likes her immediately. There’s something unassuming yet striking about the woman, an undercurrent of self-possession and sharpness running underneath her disinterested demeanor earlier. Like a king’s most prized and dangerous page is perhaps the analogy she would use. She's smartly adorned too, in a tailored blazer that shows off her broad shoulders. That doesn’t hurt. She’s ditched her wineglass somewhere, evidently aware that they won’t need it soon where they’re going. Pieck’s body warms from something that is not the wine. 

It doesn’t take much more conversation for them to get down to business. She’s bored. Pieck wants to get out. The night is young, or as young as it can be under the watchful eye of Marley. It’s simple enough, truly. She leads both of them out with the aim of bringing her back to her room in the barracks.

-

They don’t make it back to her room. The woman walking beside her— Yelena, she’s called, Pieck learns— curls a hand around her waist at one point, after which Pieck decides to move in favour of escaping into the nearest room possible. 

They eventually come upon a suitably disused supply room within some far-flung corner of the building. Yelena enters first with the look of a determined gladiator, then locks the door behind Pieck as she follows her in. The moment it clicks, she wastes no time backing Pieck against a table and getting the both of them entangled. Yelena leans down— or rather, kneel downs on the ground, which she has to do with how tall she is— to press a heated kiss to the crook of her neck. The motion makes Pieck sigh eagerly. She instinctively raises her hands to hold onto Yelena’s back and steady herself.

Without any preamble, Yelena suddenly lifts her up to lay her down, spread-eagled, on the table, seemingly without breaking a sweat. An inarticulate thrill rises up Pieck’s spine in response. The biting coldness of the table against her skin makes her wince a little, but Yelena is soon taking off her blazer and padding it underneath her. She bends over her, resting her elbows beside Pieck’s torso on the table surface, and dips her head to kiss her again, this time on the lips. 

They continue kissing as Pieck, eyes closed, moves to sit up straight. Yelena parts for a moment to work at undoing the clasps at the back of her dress, but frustration soon outwins enthusiasm as she fumbles with the tricky criss-crossing pattern.

“Here, I’ll help,” Pieck offers. She reaches back and deftly undoes the remaining ties, then pulls the zip the rest of the way down. 

The dress comes halfway off her, and suddenly the rest of it doesn’t seem as important any more. Yelena exhales slowly and pauses to take in the expanse of fawn-coloured skin that’s been revealed before her. It’s Pieck’s turn to bite her lip this time. The concentrated look Yelena is giving her makes her dizzy with want. Before she loses her wits entirely, she undoes a trail of buttons down her collared shirt and slips the white fabric off her shoulders to even things out between the both of them.

They fall almost naturally into each other after that. Yelena doesn’t bother with the lower half of Pieck’s dress. It’s just as well, since Pieck has to walk back with her clothes on somehow eventually. She skims her mouth on Pieck’s collarbones and unclasps Pieck’s bra at the same time with ease. That one she’s had practice with. She kisses her breasts and takes a nipple into her mouth, laving at it with deft strokes of her tongue. Pieck immediately arches her back towards her and flexes a hand in the short hairs at the back of Yelena’s head. It’s hard to think like this, with the sensation and sound of Yelena touching her burning up her entire body.

She wonders what Yelena has in store for her. She’ll find out soon enough if she keeps playing along with her. Yelena moves down, pace unhurried but not overly slow either, and curls both her warm hands around the curve of Pieck’s waist. Pieck’s body seizes up instantly with laughter that she tries to stifle with a hand to her mouth.

“You’re ticklish,” Yelena remarks with wonder, glancing up at her for a moment. She further explores the area around her hips, cunningly trying to see which parts of her will elicit a similar reaction.

Pieck struggles to speak through her giggles. “Yeah,” she bites out between huffs of laughter rippling through her body, “And you aren’t? But that's not my most sensitive spot, so you might want to move—“

Yelena chooses that moment to press a wet kiss to the zenith of her lower abdomen, where her groin just about begins. Pieck’s voice turns into a full-blown moan instead and she fails to complete her sentence.

“You were saying?” Yelena hums against her skin, in a tone of smug satisfaction. Pieck’s caught up too much in the ardently distracting things she’s doing with her mouth to attempt a glare, or any sort of response.

“Ah,” she cries out breathily, as Yelena begins to grip her hips and inundate the soft sensitive flesh of her lower abdomen with kisses. She cradles her hand to the back of Yelena’s head again, urging her on gently. Yelena decides not to tease her any further. She pares back just briefly to take in the sight of Pieck— hair slightly mussed, a vivid blush adorning her upper body, chest heaving with breathlessness— and not a moment longer. 

Her hands wander up Pieck’s thighs as she hikes the rest of her dress up. She efficiently divests Pieck of her remaining underwear and then moves in closer. She first licks a wet stripe up the inside of Pieck’s thighs, which shiver a little in response. Her fingers find their mark quickly and slip in with ease into sheer wetness; Pieck has long been aching for her by this point. Pieck lets out a sharp gasp and her head falls back, eyes almost fluttering close.

She calls on the dregs of her willpower to shift to rest her weight on her elbows then, propping herself up at just enough an angle to glimpse what Yelena is doing. She’s content to watch Yelena take the lead. There’s something intoxicating about watching an imposing, handsome woman getting on her knees for her, trying to divine the rhythm and movements that will push her over the edge. Yelena experiments a little to figure out what Pieck likes: she first works her mouth between her legs, tongue drawing tentative circles around her clit. The wet warmth of its press against her feels good, and Pieck clenches her thighs gently in response. She sighs quietly, a lovely sound that dances in the air.

Then Yelena slides two fingers into her while keeping her mouth on her, and Pieck outright sees stars. She moans and reflexively bucks her hips up into her mouth, seeking friction. The smirk plastered across Yelena’s face thereafter is felt against her skin more than it is seen; Pieck’s fallen back again, unable to stay upright, while her hands fist themselves in the fabric of Yelena’s blazer in search of futile purchase.  

A brainwave occurs to Yelena then. She rises from where she was situated between Pieck’s legs and arranges herself so that one of her hands is able to thumb at her clit while thrusting it’s fingers into her. Her mouth finds its new target at last upon her breasts; she rolls her tongue over a nipple, an overwhelming preponderance of heat gathered at the tip of it, and Pieck lets out a needy whimper from the back of her throat. She can feel a fierce blush appearing on her face.

“Keep doing that,” she gasps, as her hips stutter upwards. Yelena stills for a second, taking in what Pieck just said, then dips her head again with an intense look: she doesn't need to be told twice.

Yelena angles her fingers inside her so they hit her just right, and quickly enough the sensation of her touching Pieck in all the right spots overwhelms her. She soon becomes intimately acquainted with just how vocal Pieck can be, and takes it all in amused stride (“I’d feel proud if someone complains about the noise,” she comments wryly as Pieck reddens). At one point Yelena pauses briefly to place a hand under Pieck’s chin, and Pieck tilts her head up to look at her at her urging. Then Yelena moves back down again to continue her ministrations, watching her with a predatory glint in her eye, and they don't take their eyes off each other again after that. It doesn't take long for Yelena to coax an orgasm out of her thereafter. Every push of her wiry fingers into her earns her a sharp stroke of pleasure that flares in the pit of her abdomen, and the intensity soon builds until she can hold on no longer. She comes with shuddering breaths and a loud moan that she barely manages to muffle, back arching off the table into Yelena’s warm body. 

They both catch their breaths for a few seconds after that. Pieck slowly wipes away the few beads of sweat gathered at the back of her neck with her hand. When her breathing evens somewhat, she sits up again. Yelena is kneeling on the floor, still, a slightly unfocused look in her eyes as she watches Pieck. Pieck flicks her midnight hair over her shoulder and beams at Yelena, unembarrassed despite her state of half-undress. 

Yelena suddenly twitches as though she’s just remembered something, and she moves to withdraw her hand— but Pieck stops her. Without breaking her gaze on Yelena, she draws Yelena’s hand from between her legs and captures her fingers in her mouth to suck them clean. She doesn't miss the way Yelena sucks in a breath.

“Getting you going?” she teases.

Yelena snorts. She grazes the back of her hand against her mouth. “What did you say your name was again?” she asks.

“Rose Palermo,” Pieck lies with a confident flourish.

“Well then,” Yelena says with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows, “I must say you look remarkably familiar, Miss Rose, now that we’ve met.” 

Pieck frowns. “Go on…?”

Yelena takes this as a cue to lean in so close that her face is only a hair’s inch away from Pieck’s. “I’m certain I’ve seen you a few times on military grounds, Miss Rose. But that’s not your name, is it? Should I be calling you Pieck Finger?”

Shit, Pieck thinks. “You’re sharp,” she responds. “How did you know?”

Yelena parts from her and shrugs with a proud smile. “Generally, you’d make sure to take your armband off before masquerading around with a Marleyan name.”

Pieck can't even argue with that. It’s true. In her defense, old habits die hard. Now her first concern is getting Yelena to shut up about this the moment they leave the room. But she pauses first to calm down and reach into the recesses of her mind for what she knows about her. The identity of the woman before her has been silently dawning upon for a while. She’s seen her a few times in the past, she remembers now. 

“I know you too,” Pieck counters, regaining confidence. “From the 54th, aren’t you?” When Yelena doesn’t reply, she continues, knowing she’s right. “I’ve seen you at the firing range. You're good with a gun, I have to say.”

“Looks like I've a fan,” Yelena comments drily. But underneath that she’s impressed, Pieck can tell.

Pieck simply returns a smile, unnerved. “You're quite an intriguing character.”

“As are you, Miss Pieck.” She raises an eyebrow.

“Pieck’s fine,” she says, resisting the mild urge to roll her eyes. You’ve just bedded me, for God’s sake. She stretches herself out along the table, trying to diffuse the tension in the air. “I assume you’re not going to tell anyone in the barracks about this or, god forbid, your superiors.”

Yelena scoffs. “What, do you take me for a fool? Of course not.”

That makes Pieck chortle a little. She taps her fingers rhythmically on the table. “Just making sure we’re on the same page,” she clarifies, “we both know that I'm not the only one who’d get into trouble.” She punctuates the insinuation with a threatening smile that Yelena’s sure to see. The military takes a hard stance on fraternizing within its lines. The trick is simply, as usual, not to get caught. Which was precisely why she wanted to run under a false name this night. She needs Yelena’s cooperation in that, though.

Though perhaps she can already count on her, if she didn’t object to her being Eldian despite noticing it. She has far more to lose from ratting them out than Pieck does, anyway. It’d be a stiff verbal warning for Pieck, versus a release from the military for her, if it comes down to that. A Marleyan like her would also generally be pressured to keep this on the down low for simpler reasons like social stigma. She’s not too worried at this point. 

“Oh, I’m well aware,” she hears Yelena reply. “I have discretion, don’t you worry.”

“And you’re not going to tell your friends? Boast about it?” Pieck studies her own hands.

Again, a scoff. “No.”

Clipped words, but a full answer nonetheless.

Satisfied, Pieck turns to face her again. That affirmation will do for now. She bridges what little distance remains between them, and cups a hand around Yelena’s jaw. With a gentleness that surprises even herself, she thumbs at the corner of her lips, leisurely drawing out the friction between them from before and whetting it through her touch. It’s as if a switch has been flipped, and Pieck finds herself back to basking in the magnetism of Yelena’s presence, savouring this strange thing between the two of them. 

But first, a question. “Did you single me out back there?” Just because I’m someone with a name?

Yelena gives an amused snort. “No, believe it or not.” She wraps a hand around the one Pieck has cradled around her face. She remembers how those same hands felt on her earlier. “Your own charming, pseudonym-using self led me here.”

“That’s good,” Pieck murmurs, “I’m not anyone special, you’ll quickly realise.” The statement is part deliberate irony and part circumspect self-opinion.

For some reason, that makes Yelena turn her head to laugh into Pieck’s palm; Pieck feels the vibrations travel up to the tips of her fingers. She’s soon capturing Pieck’s hand in hers, manipulating it until she’s kissing her cool knuckles. A quiet thrill surges forth in Pieck’s hands at the contact, though she tamps it down.

“Modest. I like that. Why don’t we be friends?”

The expression on Pieck’s face gently changes. She regards Yelena with a mix of curiosity and not-misplaced vigilance. The scene would resemble a knight ceding unquestioning fealty to a stately princess, were Yelena not wearing a charming yet obviously haughty grin. And were they not both still half-naked from something much more involved. 

Pieck thinks: she cannot help but feel that they are playing a conversational game of cat-and-mouse, ducking around changing rules with every line, but she does know she finds the woman interesting enough so far. She would make for a good eye to keep on the ground in the military, to boot. The only resource Pieck has ever had are her friends and friendly relations and all the strings of influence she can tug at. One more person wouldn’t hurt to be let into her orbit.

She does want to know the woman before her better, besides. It’s as simple as that.

“Sure,” Pieck says after a while, expression unreadable, though she’s still convivial. “You’ve certainly been friendly enough.” 

This pleases Yelena; she moves in to kiss her on the lips. Pieck reciprocates, gently. She sighs into her mouth, the warm breath tickling both their cheeks. She wraps a hand at the back of Yelena’s head again to draw her in, intending to finish this up.

They don’t say much more before Pieck wraps a hand around the lithe flesh of Yelena’s hips, resolving to return the favour from earlier. But Yelena does move to whisper something into the shell of her ear; and Pieck, eyes closed and pulse jumping in her ears, receives it with silent assent.

“This is going to be the start of a beautiful partnership between you and I, don’t you think?”

[stillness-in-green]

Idk if anyone told you but the MVA OST leaked, with themes for both the League and the MLA. If you haven't listened to it yet, please do! And if you have, what are your thoughts? I think Mine Woman and RE-DESTRO slap for 2 characters that got shafted hard by canon so I appreciate them a lot.

I have listened to them, and I like several of them! I feel like I need to lead with that, because I'm about to add some criticism about my previous responses to BNHA's score for context, so it's important to know that I genuinely do enjoy quite a few of these.

So, I haven't listened to a lot of Yuki Hayashi's scores, but he's definitely done work I've liked! He composed the music for several of the more recent PreCure shows, including their movies; I particularly loved his finale for the 15th anniversary film, which prominently featured a truly delightful medley of every team's opening theme. I'm also very fond of some of his pieces for Kiznaiver and Welcome to the Ballroom.

His BNHA work, though, I feel like suffers from two main problems: the tracks are too short to work up a good head, and yet, despite that short length, they sometimes feel exhaustingly over the top. (Did Shigaraki's theme really need crying children to get across the point that he's bad news?) I've long felt that the BNHA anime wants me to feel like everything is way more Epic and Stirring and Dramatic than I actually find the material to be, so curiously, the music winds up having a distancing effect rather than drawing me in. This is frequently compounded by placement choices that feel so staggeringly poor that I'm often left wondering whether the staff chose the music out of a hat! (Seriously, why does a fairly rote test of character in Nighteye's office warrant doom choirs?)

As to the MVA tracks specifically, I wish there could have been tracks that sounded a bit more fun or heroic, given that the League in MVA really are the heroes for the arc, complete with Shigaraki suddenly having access to Shonen Nakama Tropes and getting all these little comedic reaction takes. It'd be nice if the music could cue in and let the League have some aural triumph without being all doom all the time ("Oh, no! The villains are winning!" Yes, they are; let them have this for one arc, would you?)

But that said, I do rather like most of these! There are some that I do suspect will fall prey to the This Is Too Much Drama, Would You Please Ratchet Back? problem, but there are also some that I can imagine playing better in the context of the show than they do in isolation, and some that feel like they could even be exactly what I was dreaming about, if they go where I hope they will. For some individual thoughts, see below:

The Mission of the Stealth Hawks: A reasonable enough little tense atmospheric piece. Doesn't jump out at me.

Different Ability Liberation Army: I always approach the MLA as styling themselves as an army, but in reality being more of a sect--far more cult than militia-- I appreciate that if they can't have a good dramatic march despite having Army, like, right there in the title, I'm glad I could get church bells instead. On the whole, though, this is a good example of the first problem I mentioned having with Hayashi's work for BNHA--his pieces tend to be pretty short, and it takes them so long to land on a melody that by the time they find one, there's hardly any time to develop it before the song ends. Even a lot of the hero pieces are like that, and the villain songs, even more so. That said, I do like the horror strings that creep in around the 1.25 mark, blossom at 1.45, and float on through 2.10. I just wish they went on longer. Admittedly, "erratic church bells and horror strings" is still not the choice I would have made for the MLA's main theme. I really would have preferred something with a more militant air; as it is, this sort of feels like it scores a creepy prologue that plays before the opening credits kick in and then the episode proper starts. Which isn't a bad description for the way the dinner scene played in the manga, but thanks to the anime's decision to reshuffle everything, I don't think that dinner scene's going to maintain that feeling of "prologue" when we finally get to it.

My Villain Academia: Better on the melodic front; I enjoy the drama at .43, the dancing tension at 1.05, and particularly the minor strings from 1.25 that just keep climbing until everything else drops out around 2.10. I do wish it found a better place to end rather than noodling on for a further thirty seconds, but the melody will get a more central, and more bombastic, treatment in the final track, so it's probably okay for it to trail off here. (It's also apparently a reprise of a villain theme from the very first season's OST, which is rad. More on that in the Track 11 blurb.)

Second Coming: This is a bizarre one because, while I complained that Hayashi's BNHA tracks are usually short, this one is a full six and a half minutes--except that it falls clearly into movements of about a minute each, with clear lulls in between. I wish it was twelve minutes and everything was twice as long! As it is, I'm highly doubtful that we're going to hear this one played in its entirety anywhere, since I can't imagine what scenes would require this specific sequence of musical passages at this length. 0.00 - 1.01: I love that the song kicks in comparatively quickly; the first minute's passage has a great, thrumming drive that very nearly hits major key towards the end. 1.02 - 1.53: The drive picks up pace in the second minute before the chorus arrives, and for once, I am very prepared to love a BNHA choir piece. I hope this is what plays when Deika's going up in ash. 1.54 - 3.01: I love the melodic line being carried by the intentionally hard to distinguish violin and whatever brass instrument the violin's trading off with in the third minute. It's bit out of place with the rest of the track, but I like it quite a bit on its own, and it does have a similar sound as some of the "dirty" brass in RE-DESTRO and Mine Woman. It's probably too long for RD's childhood flashback, but I wonder if it'll play for an MLA character somewhere? 3.02 - 4.07: The fourth minute has some very fun drums, but otherwise doesn't jump out at me as much of the rest of the track. I'm very curious to know when this will play, though. 4.08 - 5.32: The fifth minute, god bless, has some proper march drums--I like this passage a lot, particularly when it come back in the sixth minute accompanied by the choir. I like this because the key is minor but it's not "oooo scaaaary" minor; it's more dramatic, a bit tragic, but triumphant too--pretty much perfect for Re-Destro, Spinner and Machia's moment of revelation in the crater. I wish it were longer. 5.33 - 6.36: And here for the end we're back to the driving guitar and some fun low-thrum strings and percussive chain sounds. Like the fourth passage, it's fun, but jumps out at me less, particularly as the song's finale.

Gigantomachia: This is an extremely boss kaiju song. Seriously, that brass in the opening could come right out of a Toho flick. Extremely good walking calamity number, love that distorted synth stuff towards the end. It's going to sound great when (if) it plays over Machia leaving the villa, the hand rising up through the floor behind Toga, Momo and the other students surveying the desolation left in his wake, and so on. (I know that's all Season Six material, shhhh. I hope they use this piece there.)

Mine Woman: This is so fun. And so extremely superior that that awful Christmas insert song! I'm glad Curious got this at least, and I love the moment the beat drops at the one-minute mark, and that interwoven sax. So good. It's hard to imagine the fight between Toga and Curious being paced to this song, mind, but it's real good, anyway.

TOGA's Nature: This one showcases the other problem I have with Hayashi's BNHA work, especially his stuff for the villains: it feels very on the nose in a way that tips over into being Too Much. The birdsong, I think, is on the nose but in an effective, playful way, with the natural beauty of the birds undercut by the lovely but ominous piano/synth melody. I am considerably less kindly disposed to the creepy child laughter, which just feels on the nose in a thuddingly obvious way--though I do like the way it slides in when the birdsong fades. I like, too, the sort of cloudy roaring reprise of the melodic line that kicks in around the 1.10 mark. It feels like an effective echo of Toga--cute but creepy as a young girl, and then, after she snaps, creepy in the same way but now you can't ignore it.

Symbol of Fear: The beginning doesn't do much for me, but I enjoy the howl that gives way to the organs at 1.15; while it's too action-heavy to be Tenko, the transition does still put me in mind of Tenko wandering the streets, internally crying for anyone to help him, and the person who finally does is--well. I like that the organ nurtures that howl into something considerably more dire, though you still get a return to that guttural cry periodically. While it is, again, difficult to imagine this scoring the scenes between AFO and Tenko's first meeting and Tenko being formally named Tomura--it's much too bombastic--it does still feel like an excellent representation of AFO sculpting Tomura's formless, aimless rage into something that really could tear down the world.

I Don't Kill My Friends: It would have been really nice if they'd let the most significant, unadulterated personal triumph of the arc sound actually fun. Why does the Sad Man's Parade song sound so upset?? @aysall predicts that it'll play over Twice's confrontation with Hawks and death scene, and I can see it working extremely well there, but it's a pretty weird call for the Dead Man's Parade bit, if that is indeed what this is intended to evoke. Quibbling about the title aside, I do like the way this pulses and throbs, something like an exposed wound, which is not a bad description of poor Jin's mentality. I still hope this isn't what scores his breakthrough, though. As I said previously, the villains are the heroes for just this one arc, and it'd be nice if the score could reflect that at least a little.

RE-DESTRO: I like this one a lot. I love the interwoven layers of that dirty sax and the Big and Dramatic orchestral strings + brass, but both of them undercut with that regular, machine beeping that could almost be a heart monitor, but mostly isn't--right up until the long beep at 1.52/1.53. It feels like a strong illustration of the titular character's different personas--his attempts at casual, friendly villainy (like menacing Giran or chatting with Shigaraki on the phone), him when he's thundering full-volume about the weight of his legacy at people (THE BLOOD OF DESTRO FLOWS THROUGH THESE VEINS I AM RE-DESTRO), and, beneath it all, the constant little thread of stress that Rikiya can never escape (right up until Shigaraki). I probably wouldn't love it so much in isolation, but I'm easy to win over with the right character association. XD

Paranormal Liberation Front: Very fun grubby guitar intro. It also has much the clearest melodic throughline, which inclines me towards it. What inclines me to it even more is the knowledge (per @aysall again) that it's the same main melody as the track Villains Theme from the very first season's OST. That track already having used its allotted Doom Choir quotient, this track makes do with less synth and a lot more orchestra and chunky bass backing, which is much to its benefit, I feel. I do wish it had any of the MLA's theme in it, to represent the merger, but admittedly, it'd be hard to make that very audible when the MLA theme has…next to no central melody, percussive rhythm, etc. Still, as an evolution of the League to something bigger, classier, and far more dangerous, it's real good--just long enough to develop into itself and explore its central leitmotif. Probably my favorite track simply on its own merits.

Thanks for the ask, anon! I'd listened to the tracks once driving around for work, but sitting down with them properly gave me a greater appreciation for them, and now I'll definitely have an ear out for them when we get to this material in the anime…

….whenever that winds up being. *sob*

[gusu-emilu]

mdzs/untamed figure skating AU where the names of their signature skating programs are the names of their weapons.

wei wuxian names his performance ‘suibian’ (’whatever’) and maximizes points with dangerous stunts that push as close to breaking the rules as possible. he skates with wild, unconventional style that is bursting with raw energy and is exhilarating to watch, making him an audience favorite. he is the highest scoring competitive skater in the country, but his arrogance and tomfoolery rouse the ire of both his peers, who admire and envy him, and his coaches, who implore him to take a step back before he hurts himself.

lan wangji names his program ‘bichen’ (’to avoid worldly matters,’ literally ‘to avoid dust’) and focuses on clean, graceful, steady movements to the sound of the guqin. his bright bluish-silver costume with perfectly matching skates is instantly recognizable. in ‘bichen,’ he illustrates the concept of achieving strength and power through tranquility. as a critics’ darling with impeccable form, lwj is second only to wwx. their rivalry is milked by the media and is a staple of the figure skating scene by now, although the other skaters would tell you that despite their radically different ideas and frequent bickering, they are always in each other’s company at competitions.

jiang cheng performs a thrilling routine called ‘zidian’ (’purple lightning’). its concept is the search for one’s soul. the gentle, stately first half of the routine explodes into a fast-paced, technically challenging performance with an astounding number of spins. jc is known for his unique style of dancelike arm movements between jumps. jc and wwx are like brothers. since they were toddlers, jc and wwx have been coached together on the yunmeng team by skating power couple jiang fengmian and yu ziyuan. however, rumor has it that the coaches shamelessly play favorites among their students, with the most prominent example being jfm’s subtle bias toward wwx and yzy’s outspoken preference for jc, resulting in an unhealthy amount of pressure on the two young men.

jiang yanli skates to the program ‘lianhua’ (’lotus flower’) because yes, lotus pork rib soup is her canon weapon. if yuri katsuki could be a pork cutlet bowl that ensnares men, jyl can be powerful too. anyway. the theme for ‘lianhua’ is eternal consolation and comfort, and her skating style is choreographed with sweeping motions to radiate warmth onto the skating rink. according to the wishes of her coach, jyl is thinking about switching to a pair skating routine with jin zixuan (more on him later). wwx and her brother jc are currently begging jyl to continue her solo career instead. at the same time, the two are investigating, interrogating, and intimidating jin zixuan in case the partnership does happen.

known as the venerated traid, lan xichen, nie mingjue, and jin guangyao all came from the same skating school but ended up on different teams. still, they remained best friends and help with each other’s training, although the relationship between nmj and jgy has become a bit strained. famously, the venerated triad designed their routines to have complementary themes (explained below).

lan xichen’s program is named ‘liebing’ (’cracked ice’). it portrays the restoration of harmony to a world that is falling apart. lxc skates to a piece of music with a prominent flute part. his style is similar to lwj’s but gentler. together, lxc and lwj are known as the ‘twin jades’ of the skating world, both coached on the gusu team by the notoriously strict lan qiren.

nie mingjue performs ‘baxia,’ named after a mythological dragon with the shell of a turtle. the program’s theme is carrying the weight of the world. many criticize nmj for his choppy form, but it is inevitable with his routine being one of the most physically demanding in figure skating history. when he is not training, he drops in as a qinghe assistant coach to his younger brother nie huaisang, who scrapes by at the very bottom of the professional skating scene with lackluster bird-themed routines, more well known for his aviary, art collection, and party attendance than for his skills. although he doesn’t seem to care much about his own skating career, nhs is undeniably nmj’s biggest fan.

jin guangyao names his program ‘hensheng’ (’hating to be born’ or ‘hatred of life’). its theme is survival when the world turns against oneself. in this performance full of angst, jgy’s skating style emphasizes physical flexibility and emotional expression over power. although jgy used to be unknown and does not score very high, his popularity skyrocketed after he exposed the doping scandal of his own team, led by wen ruohan. in a viral interview, he told the story of how he was bullied while on the qishan team. once he became so popular, the lanling team snatched him into their ranks.

jin zixuan calls his routine ‘suihua’ (’the passage of time’). this ambitious program is divided into eight equal-length sections, each representing a different generation of his family, telling a story of wealth and success. his performance, albeit gaudy, is high scoring. along with jgy, he is from the lanling team, which is lavishly funded and grants him access to the best resources. one of his coaches, madam jin, is enthusiastic about planning his partnership with jyl. in fact, she is already working on the choreography. however, jzx is hesitant to give up his solo career, especially as his scores begin to approach wwx and lwj.

[little plot idea]: after a nearly-fatal injury caused by his reckless techniques, wwx must spend a year in recovery. when he is cleared to skate again, he is warned that he cannot attempt his old style of skating without exacerbating the injury. with the help of lwj, wwx readapts his style and returns to the ice with a new program called ‘chenqing’ (’setting forth one’s thoughts,’ ‘explaining one’s actions’). it is about finding beauty in darkness. his movements are aggressive yet elegant, chaotic yet balanced. he seems to have finally found a way to calm his style while maintaining his characteristic edge.

i don’t know how or when to work it in, but because it’s so beautiful and needs to be included, later in their careers wwx and lwj perform a pair skate called ‘wangxian’ (’forgetting envies’). credit to @wackopig​ for this stunning idea.

(after i finished writing this post i got curious and found wip figure skating AU fics that i haven’t read but now NEED to, one by @zizzani​ who has a figure skating fic on AO3, and Rinnoa’s fic on AO3. kudos to y’all doing the lord’s work)

i don’t have the discipline to write a full-on fic and I know nothing about figure skating lol. but i want to do a post for fun with plot ideas later. wen ning and wen qing show up as owners of a small skating rink and hot spring while raising a-yuan, in the way that @wackopig​ made up that i love so much. i think it would be interesting if wn and wq are disgraced members of wen ruohan’s team who got banned from skating due to the doping scandal, but they were forced into taking the drugs against their will and never got their names cleared. also there’s likely a lot of jin ling because i want him to perform his late father’s routine. wwx and lwj coach both lan sizhui and jin ling. also thinking about how to get the yi city folks in here too, because who doesn’t want to see a songxiao pair skate and xue yang doing a murder-themed performance called ‘to cause disaster’? anyway if you have any ideas for plot hmu!

[nissakii]

9 Romance Animes you should watch

Who doesn’t know the feeling when you have just finished a bunch of Shounen animes filled with action or maybe some sad movie you simply cannot get over with that easily,

and all of a sudden the thought comes up, “ah it’s about time to watch some romance again.”

For those of you who are searching for an anime to satisfy your maiden hearts, here are 9 romance animes you should probably watch when you are craving for those little candies in your life!

Kaguya love is war

Let’s start with a different kind of romance anime: Kaguya love is war!.

While the anime as well as the manga had received a lot of recognition and fanbase, there are still a lot of people who only know it for the memes (Fujiwara).

Despite it being another romcom Anime the fact that it’s built up in an interesting and strategic way. It doesn’t feel like a romance anime sometimes and even makes you feel if there is even a hint of that sappy love-story you might be craving.

But I can assure you, that anime will stir all kinds of emotions going from sad and tragic backstories that might let you shed a tear to laughter where you have to repeat one scene or another.

Next to the variety of characters that all have flaws, flaws and… even more flaws despite their good image at school, which makes them much more relatable and twisted that you might feel, finally not another perfect protag who gets all the girls/boys.

Because on both sides the mind games are on a high stack, yes mind games that’s the cue because Kaguya love is war is not a simple love story that plays in the most important years of highschool.

It’s a game of who will give in first, who weakens to succumb to their own feelings and confess to the other person, with all kinds of tricks and traps to get their ways.

Let’s not forget about external factors like other characters who put the whole strategy planned ahead to no avail and the funny ways of ridiculing some typical anime cliches.

With a lot of romance, psychology, humor and a hint of drama watching Kaguya love is war will be your out-of-the-ordinary romance anime that you surely don’t want to miss out.

Tonari no kaibutsu-kun

Tonari no kaibutsu-kun is an anime which might not be as known and especially the manga who was even better didn’t get as much recognition.

It’s not a new-generation anime but still one you might want to watch for a change of pace.

Another synonym for the anime is my little monster matching the male part of the main cast.

The two main characters are not your usual shy girl and popular guy, but a hard-working emotionless highschool girl with no friends due to the fact that she doesn’t care at all about her social life and enjoys studying to secure a big job later on.

On the other hand, we have the boy who is not shown at the beginning since he was suspended from the get-go getting into fights and being feared by others yet turns out to be a little bit socially-inept and misunderstood by those around him.

Due to a coincidence and some misunderstandings those two collide and it’s not like you think a super cute shoujo-anime moment, not at all rather the potrayment of social anxiety on the boy’s side and being dragged into a mess on the girl’s side.

To not tell you too much, the interesting thing about this anime is actually not the pairing (which of course is too but) the development of each character, even the side characters.

Because in this series everyone gets their deserved screen time and character development, showing big problems highschool girls and boys alike tend to have around their ages and the social stigma around f.e your typical popular girl or the sporty gets along with everyone guy from the class next door.

If you already watched this series, but haven't read the manga yet I can only recommend you to do so, the stories of each character are told in depth there and it goes beyond the anime revealing interesting facts and arcs that were not shown in the anime.

Kimi Ni Todoke

If you are a slow-burn romance fan like me, then Kimi Ni Todoke might be your next series to watch.

The title means “From me to you”, depicting the life of a female highschooler who gets misunderstood frequently by her peers as she looks like Sadako from the horror movie “The Ring”. As she is actually a very kind and optimistic soul her classmates and the people around her get too scared to even talk to her and start rumors that she is able to curse others. 

While the story goes on the girl starts to develop more and more, getting to know much more feelings and experiences through her classmates and the guy she admires.

It’s a lighthearted cute story with a lot of relatable issues that some of you might already have overcome or in midst of it.

Like the title says, the story focuses much more on the depiction of thoughts and feelings, how different the thoughts one person holds and it can or cannot reach another. Showing us the many sides of communication and trying to understand other people not by only relying on only what one thinks is the way to communicate but also adapt to the way others try to communicate, f.e shy characters who cannot always get their thoughts across.

It also revolves around how one perceives other people they have never engaged with and the main role of rumors and prejudices taking place in our society as well.

For some people this series may be a bit too long for a romance anime, having two seasons and a total of twenty-four episodes, but it’s worthwhile if you are interested in a more pure kind of romance that establishes slowly and step by step.

Akkun to Kanojo

Sometimes for a change of pace seeking something easy and quick to watch might help you to sweep that small moment of romance into your life.

Akkun to Kanojo is a short series consisting of 25 Episodes in total but each episode is 3 to 4 minutes long if you cut the opening out it’s even shorter.

Still the story that is told might make you smile from time to time, as you see the romance between a male tsundere and a cute childhood friend unfold.

The concept of the male being the tsundere is really funny and has a little twist as most animes, especially romance animes usually depict the woman/girl as a tsundere type of character in that cast.

The pure love the male part actually bears for the female one is very cute yet a bit frustrating at the same time just like he does feel when seen from his perspective.

Which makes it even cuter is that the female part knows him very well as she doesn’t really get bothered by his tsundere traits and just plays them off not minding him even insulting her since she knows he doesn’t mean it like that.

The guy on the other hand blames himself and even tells himself he cannot get near to such a pure and beautiful being, whenever she leaves right afterward.

A funny romance comedy that skips the drama and fills the day with smiles and cuteness.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, one of the anime that makes you wonder which shipping you like the most but at the end leaves you behind since the romance aspect is always overshadowed by comedy.

And that is not a bad thing.

While the manga goes past the story told in the anime and even has some more romantic moments as well as crucial realizations, the anime gives the viewer a lot of content when it comes to diverse characters, funny moments, frustrating interruptions and even more.

At some points a lot of misunderstandings come up which I personally found so frustrating and hoped to finally get resolved, yet at the same time they had their own charm in pushing the story into another direction.

It’s a slice of life anime in the end which makes the story not too flashy, but the flashy characters compensate with the fact.

If you are searching for a romance anime where the comedy genre is heavily emphasized then this might be your next choice, since the anime is much more for laughter and enjoying the flow of character interactions and relationships than the actual romance as the focus point.

Honobono log

Another short series anime with only 12 Episodes this time and they are less than two minutes long. Still it’s a refreshing depiction of the many ways of love going from fighting couples to a heartbroken girl and a family.

The interesting style of art, the way how sounds and music are used, and the vibe in general just puts you at ease and let’s you enjoy the story with a light heart.

Especially after a hard day watching this short series feels like a wonderful way to slowly get into your deserved relaxation mood.

Ouran Highschool Host club

A classical one that most of you probably already watched and if not, then this is one of the animes you should really add to your list.

Ouran highschool host club could be viewed as one of the older animes that just rushes your mind back into a nostalgic mood, and the original story behind it still influences a lot of people outside.

It’s about a girl who dresses as a boy, not to be admitted or because she feels that way, no because she doesn’t care at all how she looks and how people perceive her making others mistake her for a boy.

She does not really intentionally make people view her that way, and events of coincidences caused her to get the final blow as she destroys a vase and is forced to join the host club of her school to pay it off.

Of course the leader of the club thinks she is a boy until he realizes the Fe before the male part is very present but he was too dense to realize it.

A story with a lot of character development, building  relationships, finding yourself and many other important topics starts from here on.

The many characters that represent the host club is what makes the series so charming and with the female lead not being your typical female protag as well.

As she is a very independent, cold and goal-oriented character who doesn’t care about romance at all yet has a natural charisma of her own.

A slow-paced romance anime with a lot of stories and derives from your usual storyline, a must watch for those of you who haven’t yet.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Another classic to add on your list with a feisty female lead and a funny teasing male lead who doesn’t seem to care for anything at all, beside teasing the student council president who is the female lead.

The student council president is known for being strict, not standing boys and doesn’t fear to speak her mind when she sees things going wrong at school, actively taking part that the school rules are being followed.

But her school is mostly filled with boys and undisciplined ones on top of that making her being feared for chewing each of them out with no remorse or hesitation.

There is a little problem though, when the handsome and cool male lead suddenly finds out that she is part-timing as a maid in a maid-cafe after school to support her family financially. And he doesn’t simply tell her secret, no it gets worse.

He visits her frequently, keeping the secret for himself and threatening her into hanging out with him or talking to him, even forcing her to be his maid at work.

An interesting development of storyline and plot, with two people coming from different backgrounds  and getting to know each other's real sides as they move forward towards a complex relationship.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

What is the best way to find love for an otaku? Fall in love with another otaku.

This romance comedy anime takes place in the world of work where the characters are all already older and mature than the usual highschool love setting.

As the female-lead switches workplaces in order to hide the fact she is a yaoi-fangirl and her secret passion for anime, she meets her handsome school friend again who is a video-game otaku.

Both of them go out for drinks and make fun of their situations being both different kinds of otakus, the sudden purpose of trying to date comes up and so a weird start of a relationship between two otakus takes place.

Additionally a lot of characters join the cast with different kinds of love stories of their own having one couple that constantly fights and doesn’t look like one at all, as well as side characters with their insecurities.

The everyday life of an otaku couple starts and we follow their story into the twists and fun of being in a relationship, as well as the insecurities and concerns that come with it.

A series for a different kind of romance that makes you wonder how different couples can be and the importance of accepting your true self.

Did you already watch any of this series?

Or do you think there is another must watch romance anime?

Drop it in the comments!

Well then let me now return to my lonely tea,

forever single Makii

Original Source

[fuchsiafellbeast]

Minecraft Manhunt Music Analysis

AKA Why Dream’s pacing and music choice in the Manhunt videos is so effective

Buckle up lads this is a long ramble. 

So I’m sitting here thinking about minecraft manhunt in light of Dream’s new manhunt analysis video, and I was thinking about what makes these manhunts so excellent to watch. There are so many factors, and maybe I’ll dive into those on another day, but I was thinking a lot about Dream’s pacing and music choices in making these Manhunt videos. 

For one, Dream’s editing skills are really good. He knows what clips to leave in and what to take out to optimize the pacing of the end product video (and I feel like the extra scenes videos really show that. A lot of those extra cut scenes are funny and neat to watch, but Dream really knows what he’s doing when he leaves out the comparatively irrelevant scenes that don’t show something the audience needs to see to understand what’s going on). 

The pacing of his videos is very well done, with the way he intersperses the heart-stopping chase scenes with more chill sections of gathering resources and playfully bantering. And this brings me to my next point. The music slaps. Dream has mentioned that he gets a lot of his music from Audio Blocks, which has a small subscription fee ($10/month for access to all the music). I feel like this fact alone makes his songs stand out far more, since most youtubers when they start out (or even if they’ve been in the game for a while) use the same batch of free-to-use songs (particularly those from composer Kevin MacLeod). More people use songs that are free to access as opposed to songs they have to pay for, which makes total sense, especially given that smaller channels might not be able to or want to afford the cost of paying for rights to use music. 

I’m not faulting many youtubers (especially beginners) for using these free songs (in fact I think it’s extremely excellent that they have access to these resources, even if it results in many youtube videos sounding the same, and Kevin MacLeod is an angel), but I do find it interesting that by using a paid service, Dream is using music that is used less frequently in the youtube landscape, and it makes his videos stand out even more.

The music really adds to the atmosphere. Music is important in general for youtube videos (as it minimizes the so-called “dead air” that can make stretches of silence awkward), but Dream takes it even further with the particular songs he chooses for his manhunt videos.

One example is in the scenes where he’s gathering resources, like when he’s shaken off the hunters and is going around the nether looking for blaze rods and trading with piglins. For the most part he’s safe in these scenes — he’s not being chased, but he still can’t let his guard down. He’s like an antelope in the savannah — trying to achieve his own goals while always remaining on the lookout for lions in the grass. Listen to the song Dark Electronic Cinematic 01 by Denis Kotenko and you’ll get the vibes of the scenes I’m talking about. These scenes are a good breath of fresh air after the chase scenes that often come before, but despite the relative safety, they still have an ambience of wariness to them. 

Or I particularly love the song Action Preparation by Jason Donnelly and Dream’s use of it in scenes of escalating tension. This song has a very shaky and wobbly tone to the melody, like when your voice trembles when you’re anxious. The faster-paced light percussion in the song also makes you feel like you need to hurry, lest whatever the shaky melody is worried about will catch up to you. The song is really good for establishing an uncertainty in the outcome of a scene. Dream uses this to great effect in the Minecraft Manhunt three hunters Grand Finale Rematch during that scene where Dream uses the boats to cross the lava lake. This song is used to great effect to heighten the tension of the scene, ramping up in volume as the hunters draw closer, until it cuts out at the peak of the scene’s tension, when Dream’s plan succeeds to his amusement and the hunters’ shock. The tension surrounding whether dream will be cornered and die to the hunters is reflected in the shaky and uncertain this song, and by the song fading, the tension and worry that Dream will die also fades, replaced by our astonishment at his stunt. 

Clock is Ticking by Benny Hawes is another great song in the manhunt videos, and it’s used to great effect in scenes with more of a trickster subterfuge vibe. This song starts playing and you know some jacknapery’s about to go down. The first example that comes to mind for me is about 9 minutes into the Minecraft manhunt 3 hunters Grand Finale Rematch. In that scene, Dream is trying to smelt iron so he can mine the diamonds before the hunters catch up to him. The tension in the scene is escalating, the music has the vibes of the notes slowly yet urgently creeping in, which reflects the fact that the hunters are gradually closing in on Dream and that time is of the essence. He ends up having to “leave” the diamonds behind so that he can escape, but true to the tricksy nature of the song itself, Dream ends up tricking them by losing the hunters for just long enough so he can loop around the cave and come back for the diamonds. This song is great for scenes that are heart pounding, but still have that light-heartedness that comes with good ol’ fashioned trickery. 

These are just a few examples of the songs Dream uses and why I personally think Dream’s use of them is particularly effective. It’s been consuming my thoughts all afternoon and I thought I’d share. 

I’ll add more analysis on this or on minecraft manhunts if anyone’s interested. I think about these videos a lot and I like writing papers for fun. 

[shotsbyshae]

One More Habit

Warnings: None. Just a little fluff and a little mischief.

Words: 2.6k

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Summary:  Loki is fascinated by you, because he knows you’re hiding a secret from the rest of the team and he’s determined to figure you out.

A/N: This is for @cake-writes 1k followers celebration. Congrats! This is a  moodboard prompt, which I loved and I enjoyed using everyone’s favorite trickster.

Song: One More Habit by Kelsey Waters

What doesn't kill you makes you want it more.

The sound of the quinjet taking off drowns out the small conversations of the rest of the team as you stand in the back, away from everyone else. You’re so caught up and lost in your own thoughts you don’t notice the man come up beside you, much less hear him speak to you.

“Did you hear me?” Loki questions as he touches your shoulder carefully, gaining your attention, and he points to your left hand. “You’re bleeding.”

You glance, seeing the blood dripping from your fingertips, and you remember not hearing the gunshot, but the sharp, burning sensation on your forearm as the bullet sliced through the muscle. It had happened so quickly that you had forgotten about it during the chaos, but now the adrenaline high is subsiding, and the pain is beginning to breakthrough.

“Let’s take a look,” the man’s voice is calm as he eases you into a seat.

“I’m fine,” you pull your sleeve back gingerly, the fabric burns as it scrapes across the open wound. “Just a scratch.”

The deep gash on your forearm is much more than a scratch and Loki rolls his eyes before moving away from you, only to return moments later with a first aid kid. He kneels in front of you, opening the white box on the floor beside him, “I imagine Bruce would say you need stitches.”

“Good thing Bruce isn’t here,” your snarky comment is followed by a sharp hiss as the antiseptic he uses feels like fire burning its way through the exposed muscle and tissue. “Sonofabitch.”

You see the smirk on his lips before he goes to work meticulously bandaging your arm. Loki’s been staying at the compound for three months now and this is the first mission you’ve been on with him. Other than the occasional small talk in the common area, you haven’t exactly tried to get to know the Asgardian, after all, he’s distant himself and it’s not like you’re a social butterfly. Loki moves his hand to cover the bandage, then you begin feel the coolness seeping through the material – easing the burning sensation – and he glances up at you with a knowing smile.

“How?” You look at him curiously as the cold from his hand continues to soothe your wound.

“Frost giant,” he answers casually with a smile which you reciprocate.

***

Loki places the first aid kit on the empty seat beside him as he slowly sinks into the one next to his brother. Thor is leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, having watched his brother tend to your injury.

“That was nice of you,” he glances over to the trickster, his face is covered in dirt and sweat from the mission. “I thought you disliked humans.”

“I’m not overly fond of them,” Loki responds, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m still trying to figure that one out.”

“Don’t you have you better things to do?” Thor furrows his brow at his brother’s curiosity in you.

“No,” the answer is quick as Loki leans forehead, placing his elbows on his knees, imitating his brother’s stance. “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“About what?” The blonde’s tone is low as he glances back over toward you, watching as you read from a book you pulled from you bag moments ago.

“Everytime she returns from a mission,” Loki begins quietly, “she leaves the compound and doesn’t return until the next morning.”

Thor looks back over to his brother in disbelief, “So do Barnes and Wilson, she’s probably blowing off steam.”

“Yes, but,” he adds, “she’s always dressed as if she’s going to one of Stark’s galas and I found a book of matches on her desk from a Sapphire Club.”

“Brother,” Thor begins to interrupt him, but Loki continues.

“It’s a high-class gentleman’s club with only the wealthiest of patrons. I beginning to think Stark’s favorite human isn’t quite as innocent as she seems.”

“Maybe you should leave it alone,” Thor says simply, cutting his eyes over to his brother.

“I wish I could.” Loki responds, but there’s a familiar darkness in your eyes which has him yearning to learn more about you

***

The club is bustling with men in expensive suits and scantily clad women catering to them. Not wanting to stand out from the crowd, you paired your favorite red heels with a strapless black sequin dress. It stops mid-thigh and clings to every curve of your body. You had arrived early and now sit patiently waiting at the end of the bar, a Marlboro Black rests between your fingers while you take a sip from the glass of bourbon in front of you. You don’t usually smoke, but you find the menthol soothing as you take a drag from the cigarette. It’s the small pleasures you allow yourself to indulge in, but they also help maintain your image in a place like this.

You smell him before he sits down on the barstool next to you. His cologne is distinct from anyone else on the team, with notes of citrus and cedar. He smells like a warm summer day – a sexy, warm summer day – which is ironic considering he is the darkest person in the compound.

“How’s the arm?” He questions, glancing at the bandage as he adjusts his suit jacket.

“You shouldn’t be here,” you stub the cigarette out in the ashtray in annoyance, staring straight ahead.

“What are you doing here? This doesn’t strike me as your preferred type of establishment,” Loki comments, motioning for the bartender.

“You don’t know me Loki,” the words fall from your lips sharply. “It’s probably best we keep it that way.”  

His eyes follow you as you stand up from the barstool and move to the opposite end of the club. You approach the door with the broad-shouldered, bald man guarding it and he gives you a small nod before he allows you passage into the room.

***

You and the four other sketchy individuals at the poker table have been playing for nearly forty-five minutes when the back door is kicked in, causing everyone at the table to panic, guns are reached for but not drawn as police officers dressed in full tactical gear rush in – weapons already drawn. Quickly, you slip out of the room unnoticed, shoving the stack of cash into your bag, hearing one of the players yelling from behind you, “Wait! Where’d the girl go?”

You pick up your pace, the rest of the club unphased by the events happening in the backroom. Various dancers are still entertaining their upper-class clientele of men as your heart races, trying to figure out the best escape route; that’s when you spot Loki still sitting at the end of the bar. Making your way over to him, you grab him by the arm, casually pulling him from the barstool. A look of confusion crosses his features as he follows you, watching as you back yourself against the wall, pulling him close to you.

“What –"

Your eyes glance at the few officers who are slowly making their way through the club, their weapons put away, as to not cause a scene. Noticing the frightened expression on your face, Loki’s eyes follow your gaze. “Go with it,” you whisper as he his eyes flick back to you. You slip your hand up and around his neck smoothly, pulling his lips to yours and you’re surprised by how soft they feel against your own as you keep your hand on his neck – holding him in place. His whole body had tensed up at your actions, but now he relaxes as his hands move to your shoulders cautiously. His lips begin to part hesitantly, as if gauging the situation – just how far do you want to take this ruse – and you smile slightly against his lips as you slip your tongue past his teeth into the warmth of his mouth, pressing against his tongue lightly.

The action unleashes the man before you and suddenly he's fighting for control of the kiss as he pushes you further into the wall – his body flush against yours.  The music, the officers, the entire club disappears for a brief moment as you get lost in the kiss – his mouth laying claim to you like no one else has in a long time.

You finally bring yourself back to the present and pull away quickly, looking past his shoulder to see that the officers have cleared out. You’re still trying to catch your breath as you pat his shoulder, “We should go.”

Loki cuts his eyes back to you – a small sigh escaping his lips at how abruptly you ended the kiss. Mortals usually annoyed him more than anything else, but you – you intrigue him for some reason. The fact you don’t seem remotely phased by his kiss irritates him more than he thought possible, so why does he enjoy it?

***

The two of you have walked for several blocks before you take a quick right into a small park, walking around the fence with the sign that reads Park open from 7am-7pm ignoring it. Stopping for a moment to slip your red heels from your feet. The soft grass a welcome relief beneath your aching feet.

“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Loki finally questions as he slips out of his jacket, seeing you shake off a chill. The late-night air is much cooler than it was earlier. He carefully drapes the coat over your shoulders, and you glance up at him with a smile of appreciation.

“Thanks,” you begin, “there’s not much to tell, just a misunderstanding.”

“Uh huh,” Loki shoves his hands into his pants pockets as the two of you continue across the grass. “Does that happen often?” He glances over, watching as you keep your eyes cast downward at your feet. When you don’t offer a response he continues, “Because I’ve noticed you do this frequently – going out alone.”

“You've been watching me?” The question is more curious than accusational.

“You’re one of the few people in the compound I can’t quite figure out. You keep your distance,” he turns to look at you, watching as you pick at the fraying edge of the bandage on your arm.

“It’s easier to keep my distance,” your words are slightly cold, but straightforward. “I tend to break things.”

Loki looks at you slightly stunned by that statement, but he gives a small nod of understanding, “I can relate – so what’s your secret? Why were you hiding from the police?”

You glance over at him, hesitating for a moment before you lift your bag up, carefully opening it to show him the stacks of cash stuffed inside. He looks inside the bag, obviously impressed with the contents.

“They run a high stakes poker game out of the backroom of the Sapphire Club,” you begin to explain. “I play every so often, but the guys aren't too fond of me because luck always goes my way."

Loki watches you curiously as you speak, a small smile forming on his lips, “In other words – you cheat.”

“Sometimes,” the smile on your face mischievous. “Sometimes, I just hustle a little.” Loki's expression is one of confusion at your phrase, so you clarify for him. “I sweet talk wealthy men out of their money.”

He shakes his head with a laugh because that’s the last thing he was expecting from you. He had his assumptions as to what you were doing after missions but moonlighting as a con artist was not one of them. “Does anyone else know?”

“Tony,” you reply, “but that’s because I tried to hustle him once. That’s how I ended up at the compound.”

“I’m curious as to why though?” Loki is still trying to understand where you’re coming from.

“What can I say?” You look up at him innocently. “It’s my vice – I mean we all have bad habits – mine’s just more lucrative.” You dig in your bag for your phone and check the time. “Come on – it’s not too late.” You pick up your pace and the Asgardian follows along behind you, wondering where you're leading him to.

***

After several minutes of walking, you finally come to a stop in front of an old building and you quickly knock on the door. Loki waits patiently with you as an older woman with greying blonde hair slowly opens the door to greet you with a warm smile.

“It's not as much as last time,” you say as you pull the cash from your bag before you pass it to her.

“Honey, anything is blessing,” she replies appreciatively as she accepts the cash. “You are an angel.”

“You took care of me when I needed it,” the response is humble.

“Thank you,” the woman kisses your cheek lightly.

“Welcome,” you give her a look of endearment. “I’ll see you next week.”

You're halfway back down the alley before Loki questions you, “Who was that woman?”

“She runs the local children’s home,” you say nonchalantly.

“You steal from the rich,” he begins, raising an eyebrow, “to give to the less fortunate.”

“Just call me Robin of Loxley,” you comment as you pull a solid black Rolex watch from inside your bag, handing it over to Loki. “Here you go.”

“Wha–” the disbelief on his face is almost comical as he takes his watch from you, “When did you take that?”

“When I had my tongue in your mouth,” you smirk up at him. “Sorry, it’s kind of a habit.”

Loki narrows his eyes slightly at you, all the revelations about you leaving him more intrigued than he was at the beginning of the night, “You little minx.”

***

A week later you take one last look in the mirror, a large diamond choker is draped across your collarbone elegantly and you smooth out the dark blue dress you’re wearing. You’d just returned from a mission in Beijing with Steve and Natasha and seeing the captain in his stealth suit had reminded you of this little number you had hanging in your closet. You smile to yourself before you exit your room, surprised to see a sharply dressed Asgardian leaning against the opposite wall.

“Going somewhere?” You raise an eyebrow curiously, closing the door to your room.

“With you,” he responds, pushing off the wall and walking towards you.

“Oh, no you’re not.”

“My dear,” Loki begins with a smile, “with the right partner – think of the possibilities.”

“I don’t want a partner,” you protest, turning your back to your bedroom door as he advances dangerously close to you. “Remember, I break things.”

“Good thing I’m already broken,” his words are soft as he leans in, brushing his lips against yours.

It’s a gentle, pure kiss which takes you by surprise, because it has you feeling anything but pure. You feel it at your core, longing for his lips to open as they had before and his tongue to slide roughly against yours. The thought of slipping back into your room with him crosses your mind. You watch him with confusion as he pulls away, a boyish grin spreading across his face, and you can’t help but think he could easily become another bad habit of yours. He takes a step back and stares at you intensely for a moment, before he raises his hand, your diamond necklace dangling loosely from his fingertips. Your eyes widen in shock as you reach for your neck. You can’t believe you let him play you like that – he was good – you had to give him that.

“And that was without tongue,” he quips, moving to place the necklace back around your neck. “Are you sure you don’t want a partner?”

You narrow your eyes at the man as you contemplate the idea. Having him around could mean double the take in certain jobs, plus he looks damn fine in a suit, “What are you the god of again?”

“Mischief.”

[illprotectyou-hearteyes]

I didn’t have anything prepared for Day 3 and didn’t have energy to plan out a fic, so I wound up writing this odd little piece that I call: “Ethan thinks about stuff and also he happens to be in a fantasy AU.”

In this world there are mushrooms that can shrink you to the size of an ant, and carnivorous plants that can swallow a human whole but scarcely pierce the skin of your average giant, and just about anyone can learn to fly if they put in the effort. Ethan wouldn’t give it up for anything. Not even for those fascinating story-lands where men without a lick of magic spent centuries harnessing the elements of their universe until at long last they thought their way onto the sea and into the sky and mastered voiceless long-distance communication to a degree telepathy can’t rival. (Sure, spy work would be somewhat simpler “up” wasn’t one of the directions a target could run, but who would give up the freedom of solo flight for a bit of convenience? And even that pales next to the careful learning of one another and deep trust that comprises the real magic of riding a dragon.)

No, not even the most enticing visions could tempt him away from this world of fairies and walking trees and gnomes and elves. (It’s true that the multitude of species often misinterpret the glorious variety of kinds as motive for conflict; but how sad it would be to live in a world where complex communication can only be had with one’s own species.)

*****

Ethan feels a little bad for the wandering thoughts dividing his attention from the spectacle of the fairies’ annual light festival, which Jane is directing with the passionate intensity that drives all her actions. But the visual display, with the music as support, has reached its most blissfully peaceful phase, perfectly tailored to induce dreamy sappiness even in those watching alone.

And Ethan isn’t alone; never in his life has he felt less isolated than in these past few years with the family that has grown around him, each member holding tight to each. Quite literally in one case—Benji is grasping Ethan’s right hand quite firmly in his own, as if saying, “stay with me, please,” and Ethan will spend each day finding new ways to declare his desire to stay as long as he is allowed until Benji can find no more room for doubt. Ethan sneaks a quick glance at him now, and smiles to see the peace diffused across his face—Benji’s long elvish years have done much to grant him astounding wealths of knowledge and technical skill, but little to ease the anxiety that frequently dances across his face. Ethan would give a great deal to smooth those ever-deepening lines of worry, and he hates his job sometimes for the way it’s tailored to keep them in frequent use.

But he doesn’t think he could muster hate for anything just now, not with Benji at peace on his right and Luther’s sturdy presence on his left, his leaves gently brushing against Ethan’s arms. He’s never been afraid of being truly alone again since Luther found him during the worst period of his life, as if the roots with which Luther can secure himself to the soil are part of Ethan now, too.

Despite the smattering of torn-up leaves around him, even Brandt’s lined gnome features had smoothed out the last time Ethan raised himself to look, and Ilsa’s soft snoring tells him she’s still sound asleep. Ilsa, human as they come, has been doing a lot of napping in the weeks since she was at last extricated from the employ of the humans’ most ruthless spy agency. Every time she drifts off Ethan treasures that proof that, at last, she feels safe.

Ethan isn’t one to deny that it takes far less than such a night as this to nudge him into sentimentality.

With a silent apology to Jane, Ethan allows himself to close his eyes for just a moment, to savor the deep peace, the lull of his friends’ soft breathing, the wind blowing against his clean-shaven face.

He’s fairly certain the other dwarves still haven’t bought his claim that he cut off the beard because it interfered with the subtleties and rigors of field-work—after all, dwarves were traditionally trained to be fierce and industrious folk, and they got along quite well enough. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps it did have less to do with the work than with the way he used to feel the mountain of hair divided him from the world, hid him, muffled expression and sensation. Just another iteration of his endless desire to step nearer, push further in.

Ethan’s eyes snap open as the long snout of a rat pushes into his left ear—a ticklish but effective way of communicating information intended for one individual only—and his heart plummets as he hears its message.

The peace of the night is unbroken, but it is no longer for him.

Ethan turns his head to nod his understanding, and when the creature scurries off he’s met with Luther’s deep gaze, sorry but firm. Ethan smiles, grateful if a little sad, and when Luther reaches out a rough, hand-like spread of branches to briefly grasp Ethan’s hand it feels like the promise of a firm foundation to return to, wherever he may run in the interim.

When he turns to his right Ethan finds Benji already raised on one elbow, tense and poised, worry lines firmly back in place, and before Ethan can say a word he’s asking: “Can I help?”

Ethan wants to melt into him, hold him close and feel the vibrancy of the life that animates him. Instead he reaches out a forefinger to absently smooth the deepest line on Benji’s forehead, feeling a little guilty as he watches Benji make a conscious effort to hide his anxiety, and says, “No, love, this is a one-person job and they’ve only called me.”

“But you’ll summon me if that changes?”

Ethan smiles tightly, unsure whether he’s telling the truth as he answers, “Of course I will.” But he has no qualms about his sincerity when he adds, “For now, enjoy the show. Know that I’m only gone for the sake of beauty such as this, and I’ll do anything to return to it, to you.”

Benji gathers himself, nods firmly. “I know.” He pulls Ethan into a kiss, quick and firm, then out of nowhere in particular he produces Ethan’s bag, small and tight-fitting but packed full.

Ethan shakes his head in wonderment. “Even tonight?”

“Always,” Benji answers. “It helps if I can. Come with you in some way. Now off you go.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Ethan stands, glances behind him and holds on to the image of Brant having collapsed in sleep on top of Ilsa, then runs.

For a few beats he struggles to find his pace, the scene behind all the harder to leave because this is the sort of mission that comes with a high probability of no return.

Suddenly the light that’s throwing his shadow in front of him brightens, and the music becomes rhythmic and triumphant. Ethan turns, confused; Jane has talked of nothing but tonight for months, so he knows very well that this part isn’t supposed to come until the end. Then the gold spark he can identify as Jane leaves its place and rises high above the rest, and he understands that this is for him, that even in the midst of this event she’s poured her soul into she spotted him leaving and threw aside her meticulously laid plan in an instant.

Ethan lifts a hand in gratitude, and as he does he feels the shifting of his bag, which he knows from experience holds honeyed flatbread and candied nuts stuffed between the necessities, together with a surprise or two for his enjoyment and the preservation of his sanity.

Turning away and matching the pounding of his feet to the joyous beat of the music, he feels strength and resolution flooding in.

Ethan wouldn’t give up his place in this world for anything—except to save it.