#Look i work in animation ok and not EVERYTHING is about Disney

[i-may-be-an-emu]

TELL ME ABOUT THE MEN!!!!!!

HELLO!!!

GLADLY :DD

THE MEN. :)

They’re called shoot from the hip (sfth) and are @shootimpro on youtube, tiktok, instagram, facebook, x/twitter, Bluesky, as well as on linktree, patreon and ko-fi.

(Hi just a note that I’ve updated this post a bit :))

They’re London based but have done shows outside london like in Scotland (Edinburgh Fringe) and even to Spain. They want to hopefully go to other countries in the future too!!

From left to right they’re Sam, Tom, AJ and Luke :)))

Ok, so. They do improvised comedy and their shows have two halves (generally with a break in the middle) they play lots of short drama games in the first half and then improvise 20-30 minute (on average) plays in the second half, sometimes with another game at the end.

The plays are so much fun (they’ve got 43 of them up on youtube so far!! (< updated January 2025)) and they’ve also released three full specials (full shows) which you can find on their channel :)

For a few of the older ones (apart from the first one) they were filming on an iphone and just projecting their voices, so the the audio and image quality can be hard to deal with (but all their videos are subtitled by the AMAZING volunteer subtitlers!!!) the older videos are well worth watching, though!!!

They have SO MUCH CONTENT because during covid they did zoom-style improv shows with eachother and you can watch those as a patreon. (To find out what else you get with patreon go to my pinned post :))

They also have SO MANY VIDEOS that are just the regular public ones!!!! They upload short ones of the games and some 5-10min ones of the games too, as well as the long forms (plays)

Now some info about the guys :D

Samuel Thomas Russell-Holmes:

Birthday 21st July 1989 (35)

Married this year and expecting a baby!!! :)

wears a red flannel a LOT (less recently, but still a LOT, it’s his Thing)

he says some very risky things sometimes but also has the audacity to look shocked when the others do it lol

Fav colour is green

he’s 5”10

brown eyes

currently producing a radio show for the bbc called wing it (available in December!)

if he were a Disney Princess he said he’d be Rapunzel

VERY GOOD AT ANIMAL (specifically goat/sheep) NOISES

initiates kisses with the others a lot (all of them do but I’ve counted and he kisses Luke the most and initiates kisses with all of them the most overall) (in the videos they’ve posted at least))

great at talking in Spanish gibberish, often paired with opening his shirt buttons

loves fantasy things

interested in Greco Roman mythology

wrote an audiobook called “Evergreen”

his mother and grandfather are/were successful actors

Has a drama degree

Low spice tolerance

has eaten raw egg live on camera

likes to cook

Thomas Mayo-Woodman/Hodgson-Mayo:

HES SO TALL (this man is almost 2m tall- he’s 6”5.5 :0)

brown eyes

his birthday is 10th July 1989 (35)

Married to a drag king (@pipdream on insta, tiktok, youtube, ect.) whose pronouns are they/them (they’re an icon and we love them)

Wrote a graphic novel (it’s called Future it’s about space lesbians)

literally one of the sweetest and kindest souls on this planet I’ve never met him but every time he says anything it’s like WOW OK YOURE SO NICE AND KIND AND WONDERFUL (everything I’ve heard from people who’ve met him is SO NICE)

SO GOOD AT IMPROVISING (specifically Shakespearian-style) MONOLOGUES

his favourite colour is red

has two english degrees (very good with grammar and words)

has adhd

makes a garbled choking noise very well (you have to hear it to get what I mean I guess lol)

has eaten a teabag live on camera

He’s referred to as the “dad” of the group a bit

Very hard to make him laugh on stage (but he’s been laughing more, recently!!) and each one is treasured

He’s so kind did I mention he is so kind

lovingly called a squid or squidboi by the fandom because of one time (a few times actually) he like stuck his hands in his sleeves and was like “I’m a squid”

does a lot of admin work for sfth and handles the finances (at least he did, they might have someone for that now I’m not sure) and takes care of the patreon

Makes a lot of spreadsheets

DID I MENTION HOW NICE AND KIND HE IS

Alexander Thomas Jeremy (AJ):

Birthday on 4th November 1991 (32)

CONFUSION KING /aff (he gets confused easily but we love him for it)

He’s bald and gets made fun of for it RELENTLESSLY (again, lovingly)

Absolutely ANGELIC singing voice

Blue eyes

born in Manchester(UK) but grew up in France (fluent in French)

makes movies/short films on youtube!! He’s working on a new one now and you can find them @lofi_film25 on youtube (that’s also his film insta)

does a lot of the editing for sfth and has a lot of input into which longforms to upload apparently

he’s such a himbo (/aff)

fav colour is blue

He’s 6 foot tall

On their covid livestreams would always forget to get costuming ready “I don’t do costumes” (king <3)

his rapping is BEAUTIFUL (words that barely rhyme at all and make NO sense 😌)

He delivers GREAT one liners

so good at playing children it’s crazy

can do magnificent cartwheels and loves to jump on the others with no warning

lots of muscles but lost an arm wrestle against Tom

Thinks he can’t do an Irish accent but I think it’s pretty good

also has a drama degree

He creates such amazing characters in the longforms

this is more just my opinion but I love his laugh

VOLDEMORT IMPRESSION IS SPOT ON

Luke Christopher Manning

Birthday is the 23rd October 1989 (currently 34 about to be 35)

Hazel eyes

hes not short but he’s the short-EST, 5”7.5

gets made fun of for his height a LOT (lovingly!!)

SO good at accents

so good at playing women

also so good at playing children

such a good actor overall (the only one of them currently perusing acting I believe)

says THE MOST UNHINGED THINGS

people think he’s innocent (somehow) but he��s SO unhinged

took his pants off live on stage (wearing underwear but still lol 😭 he’s a menace)

lives in Spain with his long term girlfriend (can speak very competently in Spanish)

so much attitude in such a small guy (/aff)

sometimes compared to Macaulay Caulkin looks-wise

plays bass guitar in a band

Teaches acting (to kids??) in Spain

also has adhd

also has a drama degree

His favourite film is back to the future I’m pretty sure?

So confident in himself I aspire to be like that

people say he “doesn’t age” and looks really young but I personally think he does look his age

sometimes called “Luke Womanning” as a play on his last name because of how amazing all his female characters are

They’re all really close friends and met at uni and started doing improv around 13 years ago together! Started gaining popularity in 2022 on tiktok and are gaining more and more fans every day!

Um. Whoops I wrote a lot lol. (It totally hasn’t been an hour of me just writing this hahahaha)

anyway I love them so much :)))) (as you can probably tell)

anyway!

THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON THIS ASK MEANS SO MUCH TO ME :DDDDD

[bratbarzal]

fancy sharing any of those uncle lukey headcannons you mentioned?

basing this off of lih!luke and his relationship with baby cheeto from oys!! (you don’t have to have read either to read this tbh it’s just random thoughts I have about that dynamic but I guess it translates into him as an uncle in general!!) also these are off the top of the dome if more come to me I’ll touch back on it bc I love uncle lukey!!

ok so I love translating real life traits into fic so I feel like a lot of luke-isms translate really well into being an uncle (I say with my only real qualification being that I am an auntie with 6 years experience and a PHD in being a niblet's favourite person and I feel like I have a decent read by now on what kids appreciate in an aunt/uncle bc it’s the biggest part of my life lmao)

like when everyone calls him a lowkey nerd, like he loves history, and he loves chess, and he loves movies based on real stories, and his favourite game is rummikub lmao I feel like he would use those sorts of things when it comes to spending time with a kid and he’s such a yapper so I feel like they all combine really well into something engaging for a kid

Uncle!Luke who read that talking to babies is good for their development, so he has a million one sided conversations with Cheeto and just reacts to every face she makes like it’s a response - like she’ll just stare at him wide eyed and he’ll be like, “Ugh Jack said the exact same thing.”

and if he’s ever looking after her for like a morning or a day, he’ll take her somewhere that he can google beforehand so he can reel off all the facts about it like a fountain of knowledge and so when she’s older she thinks he’s the smartest person because Uncle!Luke knows everything about everything. He knows about the history of the places they go, he knows about the animals at the farm or the zoo, he knows about pirates that sailed in the ship that’s in the park (that he made up but Cheeto would never know lmao)

And he’ll tell her what all the Disney movies are based off of, or like any of the kids books he reads to her, he’ll go off tangent - like he’ll read The Stompysaurus and end up keeping her way up past her bedtime telling her all about different dinosaurs

And he’d so put on dorky voices for every character when he’s reading a book - like Cheeto won’t let him read Bluey At The Beach unless he’s doing his very best (awful) Australian accent

He puts a lot of thought into what he’d want to be called, because it has to be something that still works when kids are a bit older and doesn’t seem weird for him to be called, and he thinks Lukey is fine enough, but Cheeto ends up calling him “ook” because she can’t quite get her L’s right when she first starts talking and “ook” is an easy enough sound - Jack thinks it’s hilarious until he’s “ack” and it sounds too much like a “yack” sort of noise

Uncle!Luke is always the first port of call though, because his brothers are so used to being the better known ones to everyone else, it just works that Luke beats them both out on the uncle scale, and he won’t let Jack hear the end of it.

He’s always the quickest to drop to the floor when he sees Cheeto, and when she can walk she’ll just plonk herself into his lap and carry on playing with her blocks or whatever, and Luke will just absentmindedly hoard them all and hand them to her one by one while Nico and Poppy are telling him where everything is while he watches her for date night, and he can hold like 6 in one hand at a time while her tiny fingers just about wrap around one

And Uncle!Luke never dumbs stuff down or makes things seem like they’re too complex for a kid to understand he just figures out a way to explain what he can and redirects to Poppy and Nico when it’s something they should probably handle like he just talks to a kid like he’d talk to anyone else there’s never a baby voice or made up words

But also when she gets siblings and sometimes having babies in the house is harder for older siblings, and they’re sort of forced into responsibility a lot earlier than they should be, he makes sure to still treat her like a kid where it matters and he’ll play pretend with her and be the big dumb dragon guarding the castle where Princess Cheeto is locked away lmao

Also like my favourite Luke!lore is that he’s an Eater ™️ and I love the concept that the only person he would share his food with is a child (and LIH!reader gf obvs) like he gives “joey doesn’t share food” but he’d break a sandwich in half for Cheeto and let her steal his fries

[layla4567]

A New Adventure

Pairing: Shanks x Fem!reader

Summary: The red-haired pirate ventures into the four seas to seek new horizons, suddenly he spots an unexplored island and finds a surprise.

Warnings: injuries and blood || English isn't my first language 😬 || maybe ooc (out of character) since It's been a long time since I wrote something about him and this series || use of y/n (in third person) || again, here Shanks doesn't lose his arm || a tiny bit of angst and spicy but mostly fluff || beta read

A/N: this was inspired in Pocahontas (and another animation movies), In fact I intend to make fics with Opla inspired by Disney movies (but it's just an idea, I don't promise anything lol)

Word count: 14k 😭

The cool breeze blew calmly and pleasantly, making the sails of Shanks' ship flutter. It had been weeks or maybe months since they had touched land, when you spend a lot of time at sea it was confusing to calculate the time, but every minute was enjoyed to the fullest.

The red-haired captain felt at one with the ocean, his ship was everything to him and his crew was like a family, with their flaws and virtues. Shanks was an adventurer by nature, indeed, and he enjoyed traveling. But the truth was that he missed stepping on solid ground. He had made this long journey to discover new lands and replenish supplies, so he couldn't wait to see a new and unknown island in the distance.

Shanks stepped away from the helm to attend to other matters and check that his crew was working as they should. Hongo was sorting out some vials filled with a strange liquid and other medical supplies. The captain approached him.

"Hey, do you need help?"

Hongo looked up to meet the captain's smile.

"No, It's ok, I'm almost done" - he said downplaying it.

Shanks nodded understandingly and his gaze turned towards the horizon. His smile had faded and he was serious, which was not very usual for him.

"Is everything alright?" - Hongo asked a bit worried.

Shanks looked at him startled. "Uh? oh yeah, everything is fine...".

He realized he didn't sound very convinced so he sighed.

"Ok you got me, the truth is I miss solid ground. The sea is not that bad at all but I need to find a new island, after all that is why I started this journey in the first place"

Hongo patted his shoulder. "I understand, but don't lose hope. Maybe the next island is closer than you think".

Neither of them could know that those words are about to come true.

..Across the sea..

A native woman from an island walked along whistling carefree. Her bare feet, simply adorned with shell bracelets, stepped on the fresh grass, tickling her. Her outfit blended in with the landscape, and every now and then she glanced from left to right as if searching for something.

"Come on, get out of wherever you are…" - She said in a whisper

Suddenly a rustling of leaves was heard behind her, she quickly turned around to see a bush moving slightly. She crouched down and began to move slowly and silently towards where she had heard that noise.

When she was a hand's length away from the bush, she quickly moved the leaves aside and growled like an animal.

"ROAAAWR!"

A high pitched screech was heard little girl fell on her back where she was hiding, then she started laughing along with the woman.

"You caught me again! How do you do it?"

"You're not very quiet, you know that?" - she laughed

Y/n hugged her little sister still on the ground and started tickling her. The air was filled with joy, she loved her sister above all things.

Both of them got up and brushed the dirt of their clothes. Mele was just 6 years old but they were very bounded, and y/n was quite protective with her.

"Do you wanna play again?" - Mele asked

"I think you have to go back to study, am i wrong?"

Before she could protest, Y/N's gaze turned towards the sea; something in the distance had caught her attention. Although she still wasn't sure what it was.

"Sister, what's that over there?"

Y/N didn't answer, she tried to scan the horizon and squint her eyes. Suddenly her face darkened, she had seen it. It was a ship.

A ship had never crossed this island, it was almost impossible to reach that place because it was so hidden. Y/N gently but authoritatively pushed her little sister.

"Come on Mele, go home"

She didn't want to scare her but it was important to keep her safe.

"But-"

"Home. Now"

Mele knew that when her sister got serious it was better to keep quiet and obey. She had a fiery temper and I didn't want to make her explode.

Reluctantly the little girl ran away. Y/n looked back towards the sea, how was it possible that a ship had come so close? I'm sure he didn't have good intentions.

..Back to the ship..

Shanks back at the helm had decided to cling to Hongo's words as a last hope, he had no other option. Suddenly in the distance he thought he saw a dot, a small dark dot that grew larger as the ship moved forward. With his heart beating hard, he waited for his crew member who was in charge of the spyglass to shout those 3 words to him that he wanted to hear so much.

"LAND IN SIGHT!"

It was like a breath of fresh air. The red-haired pirate closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then began to laugh out loud, full of joy.

"WE DID IT, WE FINALLY ARRIVED" - He shouted towards his crew as the others cheered and threw their hats in the air.

The excitement was felt in the air, with haste and impatience they approached the island to disembark. It was wide and full of vegetation, palm trees, bushes and the rarest fruits with colorful flowers could be seen with the naked eye. They docked the ship near a lonely beach and prepared to descend almost in droves.

The beach, though deserted, was beautiful. The sand was a pale pink and the water turquoise. Some pirates stayed on the ship to prepare and tidy the cabins as they planned to stay there for several days. Shanks set out to explore the great island.

"I'll be back in a minute! I'm going to walk around the place"

The red-haired man was ecstatic, he took a deep breath of the salty air and with a satisfied smile he entered the thick jungle that was a few meters in front of him. With his hands he pushed aside the leaves of different trees that blocked his vision. He had never been in a place like that before, there were fruits of different colors and shapes, birds that crossed the sky like kites uttering melodic cries, this was what he had expected.

Suddenly, and without realizing it because he was absorbed in the nature that surrounded him, Shanks arrived at a small village. The vegetation had become less dense, revealing a dozen low houses with thatched roofs and other resistant leaves. But the strangest thing was that there seemed to be nothing. How could it be that the island was deserted? Shanks didn't mind having found an unexplored place, but being the social butterfly that he is, he would get bored very quickly. The captain slowly approached the center of the village, everything seemed so silent.

However, the cry of a bird caught his attention. The blue bird was perched on a palm tree and seemed to be warning him about something. Shanks approached the palm tree while the bird rhythmically moved its head downwards, pointing at something. But before the pirate could do anything, a fuzzy silhouette ran out from the plants and away from there. It was so fast that the man could not see who it was.

"Wait, don't go!" - He blinked in confusion

But his scream came too late, that person was already gone. Perplexed Shanks turned to look around trying to find that mysterious and fugitive being. Not having success he walked away disappointed, but a few meters away he was knocked on the side by someone. Shanks uttered a grunt and they both fell to the ground. Somewhat in pain and confused, Shanks lay on his back on the ground while trying to wrestle with that person. Then the attacker placed himself on top of Shanks sitting on his belly and with his legs immobilized on both sides so that he could not escape. Everything happened so fast but the only thing he could feel was the edge of a dagger pressing against his neck.

"Who are you and what have you come to do to my people? And I warn you, choose your words carefully"

A woman's authoritative voice woke him from his daze. Focusing his eyes he saw the face of a native woman from the island. Her eyes bored into his in an intimidating way, yet Shanks thought her features were beautiful and soft. The captain let her have control, not because he couldn't beat her but because he liked the idea of ​​someone more dominant than him.

"Well, well. I've never seen such a beautiful woman".

Y/n didn't even flinch and continued to pierce him with her gaze, analyzing his face and trying to see any trace of evil. But no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find anything, his half smile was kind and his beautiful brown eyes seemed warmer than the sun. The woman tried to get those thoughts out of her head and concentrated on finding the right words.

"I asked you something. Answer."

The captain swallowed, still smiling and looking away. "I promise not to hurt you. I'm just an explorer of sorts. I came here looking for a new adventure."

and I think I found it, he thought

She still wary squinted her eyes a little without removing the knife from his throat.

"Don't worry, I'm not armed, you can search me if you want"

The latter was said with a hint of mischief. Y/n, who was not a fool, ignored his insinuation, even so she got up from above him and ordered him to get up, lightly hitting his leg with her foot. He obeyed and the woman quickly began to feel the sides of his body as a policeman would do. Shanks, smiling all the time, seemed to enjoy it while Y/n concentrated on trying to find some kind of knife but found nothing. Her hands reached her calves and went back up just to be completely sure. Y/n stood up looking at him with a frown.

"You were right, I didn't find anything.."

The captain put his hands on his hips with an even wider smile. "Did you need to double-check me?"

"Shut up" she rolled her eyes

Suddenly a high-pitched screech echoed through the air. The blue bird Shanks had seen earlier was circling overhead. It then gracefully descended to hover on a branch in front of them.

"You!"

Y/n pointed angrily at the bird as she moved closer to it.

"You gave me away, you bad bird!"

The bird began to cackle as if laughing while shaking its feathers. Then she whistled to him and he came flying to perch on her arm.

"Naughty boy" she whispered, smiling half-heartedly.

Shanks looked at everything with amusement. "I didn't know that bird was yours, what's its name?"

She was silent for a few seconds, undecided. Then she spoke.

"His name is Blue"

"And your name?" He asked smiling

There was a silence before she could speak "... Y/n"

His smile widened "Well, I'm glad Blue turned you in, otherwise I would never have met you."

The red-haired captain kept looking into the beautiful woman's eyes while she looked away. She wouldn't give in easily, she still didn't know if she could trust him.

Steeling herself, before he could say anything she looked at him and said, "Alright, explorer." She said with a hint of irony. "I don't care how far you've come or how many people you've brought here. I'm just warning you to get out of here soon. You're not welcome."

Shanks was surprised by her seriousness and her steel-cold gaze, however he felt a hint of admiration when he noticed how she defended her home. Y/n didn't wait for an answer and turned around and walked away with Blue flying above her. The red-haired man quickly followed her without giving up.

"Please wait, why do you say I'm not welcome?"

"Isn't it obvious? This island is sacred, our people live in community and harmony. The fact that a stranger steps on these lands is already a symbol of danger and instability. You cannot stay a second longer."

Shanks remained silent as he pondered. He had never stopped following her and had no idea where she was going, but he didn't want to lose her. Now the pirate was in a moral dilemma, should he stay and continue admiring the landscapes and its people or should he respect the sacred place and leave? He was in that when suddenly Y/n stopped abruptly raising an arm to stop him.

"What happe-"

She silenced him, she had heard something. Y/n shook her head, beside her and in the distance she had heard leaves rustling and footsteps. They weren't heavy steps but light and soft. Suddenly she saw the silhouette of a little girl who was absentmindedly looking at the ground while humming happily. Mele.

"I told you to stay home, brat.." she whispered desperately.

"What? Who is she? And wh-"

"Shh!! She mustn't see us, come hide!"

The woman grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him towards a thick bush, just like the hide and seek games she played with her little sister. They both crouched down and held their breath as their faces were very close to each other. The woman ignored him and occasionally poked her head out to see where Mele was.

Shanks couldn't stop staring at the native woman's features, he was completely mesmerized by her beauty. He had met many women in his life but none like her. Meanwhile Mele continued humming and collecting pretty flowers and leaves to make a bouquet. Before the captain could say anything Y/n stepped forward and said

"She's my sister and quite a gossip if you ask me." she said through clenched teeth. "If she sees you, we're screwed."

Y/n turned her gaze to see the pirate and met his sweet gaze and a kind smile that she thought was shit-eating.

"Could you please take off that stupid face and pay attention to what I'm saying?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh but I heard every word, so you're afraid that your little sister will see you with a handsome man like me?" he mocked

He thought it was fun to make her angry while she rolled her eyes again and sighed annoyed.

"You are a complete idiot, and I thought it was just your face… listen to me carefully because I won't repeat it again. If my sister sees you, she will tell every inhabitant of the island she knows and in turn they will tell others and so the news will continue to grow like a snowball! So stay here and shut up!" She said without taking her eyes off Mele.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad. I'm good with kids."

Shanks then stood up and calmly came out of his hiding place as he approached the girl naturally as if he had known her all his life.

"What?! No!!"

Y/n exclaimed pleadingly and desperately but it was in vain. That man was running out of her patience. She remained in her hiding place clenching her fists and watching as the pirate spoke to Mele as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, little one, what's your name?"

The little girl who was crouching was startled and jumped up with wide eyes. Shanks giggled cutely.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. My name is Shanks."

He crouched down to be at the girl's height. She, sensing that the man was not bad, came a little closer, cautiously while holding the bouquet of flowers as if it were a life preserver.

"I-I am Mele..."

He smiled pleased. "Alright, Mele. What a pretty name."

She smiled proudly and happily, while Y/n behind the bush couldn't believe how he had already gained her trust in so few seconds. The red-haired man pointed at the flowers that Mele was carrying in her hands.

"They are very beautiful flowers, are they for someone special?"

Mele nodded, "They're for my sister and my mom who's waiting for me at home. In fact, I can't find my sister. Have you seen her?"

Y/n began to sweat cold, what if Shanks gave her away? Would he be capable of betraying her? She prayed with all her might that it wouldn't be like that. Shanks sneaked a glance at the bush but Mele didn't seem to notice.

"Well I have no idea what your sister looks like, but I'm sure I would recognize her anywhere and so far I haven't seen anyone" he said smiling.

Mele let out a disappointed oh, while Y/n closed her eyes and sighed in relief. In an attempt to adjust her cramped legs, she accidentally stepped on a branch, making a noise. Shanks and Mele turned to look at the bush.

"Well, I think we found her" He smiled mischievously

The blushing woman stood up and walked in long strides towards where the two of them were and then stood with her arms akimbo, very serious and embarrassed.

"SISTER!!!"

Mele hugged her waist tightly as if she were a snake which made Y/n let out a moan, but she couldn't keep up her serious facade any longer and let out a loving smile. Once again Shanks saw everything as if it were his own family, always smiling and feeling his heart melt.

"OK, ok tick. Now tell me why you didn't stay home like I told you to" said y/n scolding her

"I was bored, and I wanted to see the ship" she said with a shrug

"I told you it was dangerous!"

Before the sisters could argue, Shanks intervened conciliatorily.

"What ship are you talking about?"

"Don't get involved" said Y/N annoyed.

Mele, who thought Shanks was nice, answered calmly, "A few hours ago this morning we saw a large ship in the distance approaching the island! I wanted to stay and watch it, but my sister wouldn't let me" Mele answered, pouting, but there was mischief in her eyes.

Shanks laughed at the girl's impudence while Y/n wanted to kill her with her gaze, before either of them could speak, Mele continued

"You were on that ship, right?" She said, pointing at the pirate.

He and the woman were shocked at the little girl's intelligence. Shanks crouched down again to whisper to her, "If that were the case, what would you think of me?"

She smiled "I think you have a cool ship"

The man burst out laughing as he stood up, Y/n at his side covering her face. Mele was having a great time making her older sister mad, now she understood why she had gotten along so well with Shanks. The red-haired pirate stroked the girl's hair.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone please" he begged.

Y/n was annoyed by Shanks's audacity in ordering Mele around as if she were his own sister, but Mele's response surprised her.

"Sure!, I promise"

"Hey! You never obey me when I ask you for something" The woman said, offended.

"Because he said it nicely, and I like him." Mele said sticking out her tongue playfully

Shanks chuckled as Y/n was about to scold her again but Mele stepped forward and before leaving she whispered something in her sister's ear. Shanks couldn't hear anything but from Y/n's blushing expression he sensed that she knew something about him.

Y/n stood up slowly and with a red face, she didn't even dare to look Shanks in the eyes. He for his part seemed strange and amused at the same time by your vulnerable expression, it seemed that only his little sister could undo his serious and intimidating facade with a gesture or a few simple words. She took a few steps without saying anything and when the captain wanted to follow her, she stopped and turned around abruptly, raising an arm to stop him.

"I won't say it again, you have to go, please don't make it any harder" her serious tone became almost a tired plea.

Shanks' smile faded slowly as he watched her leave. He sighed in front of a silent forest, completely alone. Disillusioned, he set out on the way back to his ship with empty hands, but the biggest emptiness was in his heart. When he arrived at his ship, he saw that his crew had already prepared everything to spend the night and a few days there, soon the captain forced back a joy that he no longer felt as he asked if everything was ready.

"Oi captain, all set! Did you find anything interesting out there?" Yassop asked.

"Nothing for now, not even a bottle of rum! I'll come back tomorrow to try my luck." Shanks tried to laugh but the others noticed that his usual mood had dropped and they didn't know exactly why.

The red-haired man entered his cabin as dusk fell. The entire afternoon on the ship he was distant, lost in his thoughts. He tried to joke with his crew but it was obvious that everything felt unnatural. As night fell in his quarters Shanks looked out the porthole at the black night illuminated by the halo of moonlight that shone like pearls in the sea. For a moment he thought that the eyes of that woman were as bright or brighter than the moon. The captain slid a hand over his face as if he wanted to sweep away that thought and tried to sleep, but one thing was certain, he would not give up on trying to get to know her and as he promised tomorrow and the following days he would come back to look for her.

~ THE NEXT DAY ~

Y/n woke up from her cot the next morning and the first thing she thought about was Shanks, damn it. That slimy pirate with a pretty boy face and stunning charm better have left the island.

Dazzling charm? Pretty boy face? What the hell was wrong with her? She sighed and decided to start the day off right. She got up and changed into more comfortable clothes, then went to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast in a lacquered wooden bowl. Her little sister was already there.

"Hello flea" Y/n greeted with a yawn.

Mele frowned as she pouted, "I already told you not to call me that."

Her older sister laughed amusedly and ruffled her hair tenderly. "Oh, I know you love it."

The woman sat next to her at the table, both ate in silence until her mother entered the kitchen with a slow and heavy walk but without losing elegance despite her age.

"Good morning, how are my sunshines?

The older woman gave them both a loud kiss on the cheek while Y/n pretended to make a face of disgust which caused her mother to giggle. Then she went to change the water in a tiny vase where she had the wild flowers that Mele had collected the day before.

"Oh honey, this wild bouquet you gave me is beautiful, but changing the subject, tell me, what did you two do yesterday?"

Mele, still a little sleepy, could not get her grey cells working properly, so she had a small slip of the tongue.

"Oh yesterday we were walking and we saw a ma-"

Y/n stared at her sister with wide eyes and kicked her under the table. The girl let out a soft growl.

"Sorry honey a what? A ma..-?"

Her older sister quickly interrupted her. "A magnificent bird!" She laughed nervously. "Y-yeah, yeah, it was like a kind of red parrot with three feathers on its tail, right Mele?" she said, giving her little sister a look that was somewhere between pleading and threatening.

Mele swallowed her mouthful very quickly and started coughing "Uh, sure!.."

The mother looked from her eldest daughter to her youngest daughter, confused. They were definitely a little strange today.

"A bird, huh? And where exactly was it?"

Mele and Y/n looked at each other scared but before the little girl could screw up again she was quick to answer any ambiguity

"Uh well, h-he was standing on a rock but then he saw us and flew away"

"A heart-shaped rock!" Mele exclamed

Now I'll kill you, girl

The mother looked at the little girl even more confused and scrutinized her eyes suspiciously. Mele, instead of helping, was making things worse, so Y/n played her last card.

"Well yes, it was a kind of strange shape but if you saw it from a distance I guess it looked like a heart" she laughed nervously again "Oh, in fact Blue informed us about the new bird"

At that very moment, as if he knew they were talking about him, the blue bird flew over and stopped on the edge of the window, uttering a melodious chirp. The mother, seeing him, softened her features and revealed a wide smile.

"Alright if Blue was with you then it must have been like that, he never lies" Needless to say, her mother trusted that wild bird more than her own daughters.

"Ok sweetheart If that strange bird is still around here, we should protect it from other predators, it may be in danger of extinction. Call me the next time you see it, okay?"

Both sisters vigorously attended, hoping that their mother would leave soon so they could talk in peace. Luckily, their wishes were heard and the older lady left smiling without saying anything else. A sigh of relief could be heard in the kitchen, it seemed that the waters had calmed down, or not.

Y/n facing her sister on the other side of the table got as close as she could and quietly exclaimed

"What the hell were you thinking?! You almost told Mom about Shanks!"

"I'm really sorry, I didn't do it on purpose, I just completely forgot, I didn't want to break my promise" Mele sounded so distressed that Y/n softened a little

"It's okay, calm down. Nothing irreparable happened. For now." She said, bringing her cup to her lips.

Mele, more happy, rested her elbows on the table, holding her face with both hands. "So? Do you like Shanks?" she asked cheekily.

Y/n spat the drink onto the wood as she coughed "WHAT?! DID YOU GONE CRAZY?!"

Mele laughed out loud in amusement because she had noticed her sister's blushing face, and it wasn't because of the cough.

"What? I was just asking. He's nice, I like him."

"Yeah, whatever, I hope he's gone like I told him."

Mele stood up and went to his side "No! Why did you do that?"

"Because any foreign man is a threat on this island," she came closer and said in a low, conspiratorial tone, "and even more so a pirate."

She then got up from the table, put her bowl in the sink and left the house to work in the field.

She walked with confident steps towards a harvest field near her house. In the distance she could see people working in their own fields under a scorching sun with the only protection of a wide-brimmed hat and a scarf underneath to cover their heads. Y/n took a scarf and tied it around her head, covering her hair, then she took a rake and began to plow the land, hoping that Shanks wasn't there. But unfortunately for her, the red-haired captain had already arrived early and was calmly leaning against a palm tree, looking at her with devotion and his typical mischievous smile.

"I didn't expect to see you so early, you're an early bird" he laughed softly

The woman was startled and dropped the rake with a thud, she looked everywhere for where the voice came from until she saw him resting in the shade near several palm trees.

"And apparently you are a vulture, what the hell are you doing there spying on me?"

The man shook his head laughing amusedly "Spying is a strong word, I was just watching your work."

Y/n rolled her eyes and picked up the rake to continue her work without paying attention to him. Shanks meanwhile continued to watch him intently from his spot, his eyes moving up from her toned legs passing by her exposed hips until reaching her muscular arms that held that rake tightly. With curiosity he turned his gaze to the ground and noticed that the lines she created were a pattern, a drawing and not simple straight lines. Before he could speak she exclaimed

"Are you going to keep watching for a long time? I can see you drooling from here. Besides, I remember telling you to stay away from the island, am I wrong?" He said without stopping or looking at him.

"My bad, you are really a woman like few others" he purred flirtatiously.

He approached intrigued, standing a meter away from her with his hands on his hips admiring the work on the ground.

"Forgive me for butting in, but may I ask what that pattern means?"

She sighed and finally looked at him. "Our ancient ancestors discovered a way to grow food faster and more effectively. Instead of creating boring vertical lines, they began to draw symbols related to nature, especially water and the sun, which is the main benefactor of the harvest."

Patiently Y/n began to draw what at first looked like doodles, she started with an inverted triangle and then drew a small circle in the center. "The triangle symbolizes water and the circle the sun, they are the two most important elements of our culture, it is deeply rooted in the Inti ceremony that is in a few days."

Shanks listened attentively as she explained everything about her culture as if she were a teacher. She continued drawing other symbols such as a crescent moon on another inverted triangle, this time with a line in the middle.

"This is the symbol of the moon," he said, pointing to the drawing above the triangle, "and this other one symbolizes the earth. These are other important elements of nature, but to a lesser extent than the sun and water, since the harvest never stops at night; on the contrary, it continues to grow."

The captain lifted the brim of his hat with a finger, absorbed by Y/n's explanation. He never imagined how much wealth he could find on that island, nor how everything material could be worth as much as the knowledge that that civilization held.

"And… could you explain to me what the Inti ceremony is about?

Shanks had asked with such tact and respect that Y/n's frown softened and he explained kindly. The Inti ceremony was a kind of party that was organized at the end of spring to welcome summer, in the past the god of the sun, Inti was highly revered and that party was always held in his honor.

"All the guests dress in white and a large bonfire is lit in the center while people dance around it. The sun in our culture is a symbol of joy and happiness, a symbol of hope and vitality. Have you noticed that the sun is always there whether you want it or not? When you wake up to a new day, with every step you take with the sunlight illuminating your feet, even if the capricious clouds try to hide it, even if it rains or thunders, it's always there and it always comes out again"

Y/n's eyes sparkled with every word as her gaze drifted toward the horizon, into the distance, and a small smile appeared on her mouth. The pirate looked at her as if he were seeing her through a new lens, a pink one, looking at another facet of that woman, one that was delicate and loving like a mother's hug, and he didn't want her to go away again, he wanted to embrace that side of her and never let it go.

"Now I realize that your eyes are prettier when they shine," he said without thinking and almost in a whisper.

Y/n opened her eyes wide in surprise, staring at him for a few seconds with her lips parted. But all charm vanished as she shook her head and seemed to come back to her senses. "Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do before the big day comes."

Before either of them could say anything, Blue appeared flying above them, flew up and down three times, turned around and appeared again. The woman stopped, looking at the sky in concern.

"She's trying to tell me something, I think someone is coming and it could be my mother, quickly hide!"

Shanks obeyed without a word and hid near the palm trees, crouching low to the ground so as not to be seen. At that very moment, Y/n's mother came out through the back door with a large hat on her head and carrying a basket.

"Hi dear, I see you're working hard for the ceremony, that seems great to me since there's a lot to do and everything needs to be ready by tomorrow. Just don't overexert yourself, okay?"

Y/n blinked in confusion as the whirlwind of words rang out. “Beg you pardon? Tomorrow? I thought the party was in three days.”

The mother shook her head vigorously. "Oh no, sweetheart, I see that you are a little distracted, but I don't blame you. You are always here and there doing things. Today is Friday, my love. The party is tomorrow, Saturday."

Y/n let out a soft, anguished moan but tried to smile, her mother on the other hand didn't seem to notice anything.

"Well, I won't keep you any longer. I'm going to visit a sick friend and I have to treat her wounds. I won't be back until tonight. Take good care of Mele and don't fight, alright?"

The daughter nodded and the old mother kissed her forehead whispering an "I love you". Then she walked away, heading off through the meadows towards the hills. After she left Y/n tapped her forehead with the tip of the rake stick, cursing her bad luck. Shanks who had heard everything slowly approached her.

"So… In the end the party is tomorrow.."

Y/n let out an impatient growl and glared at the man but before she could do anything to him he continued

"Wait, wait, I don't want to cause you any trouble. In fact, I have an offer for you. I'll help you prepare everything for tomorrow if you let me participate in the ceremony."

The woman let out an almost ironic laugh but then became serious. "Are you crazy or what? Do you think you can just come and sneak into a sacred festival, appropriating our culture?" she spat hatefully.

Shanks' eyes showed pain and anguish, it hurt him that she said that about him because he had no bad intentions, although he perfectly understood her anger. He slowly approached her closer.

"Listen to me, I wasn't lying when I said I came here looking for an adventure." He gently slid a hand down her arm. "And if you think the only adventure a pirate can have is getting drunk, sleeping with women, and destroying everything in his path, you're wrong. We're much more than that. I really don't want to hurt you or your village. I just want to learn from what you can teach me." he finished, making warm circles with his thumb on her arm.

The captain's eyes pierced Y/n's but with a sweetness that was almost unbearable, much more than if he had looked at her with a threat. The chocolate in his gaze burned her skin more than the sun. The woman tried as she might, she couldn't look away. She wanted to believe him, she wanted to melt in his words like hot wax, she wanted to cling to that man who knew nothing but whose kindness had softened her and seemed to have known him for centuries. Her eyes involuntarily fell on his lips, they seemed so soft and they must have been sweet like honey, she imagined them pink, swollen, as if they had a life of their own and sought out by inertia, her own lips, her skin, her body. She quickly closed her eyes tightly wanting to divert that sinful thought. The pirate, upon realizing it, could only smile.

"I-I can try, but you'll have to blend in with us."

The captain, unable to resist any longer, hugged her warmly with a smile. At first Y/n froze with a soft moan, startled by this display of physical affection, but then she let herself melt into that hug as if it were the best thing in the world, like a safe place, sighing contentedly. It was what she needed.

"Although, you know, the thing about getting drunk and sleeping with women wasn't a lie either-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the woman stepped back, offended, and punched him in the abdomen. Although the blow was softer than expected, it seemed that she was secretly amused by it as well. Shanks laughed heartily, holding his stomach, and she looked away, trying in vain to hide a smile that threatened to appear at the corner of her lips.

"Alright let's get one thing straight, you'll be able to attend the festival but you'll have to work hard and change your clothes so you don't get recognized. And one last thing, this will be the first and last time I help you, did I make myself clear?"

He smirked "Loud and clear, I'm used to working anyway, I don't think you'll give me any more work than my saltwater crew."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow and turned to grab another rake. "Less talk and more action." she tossed the wooden object to him, which he deftly caught in mid-air. "Try to keep up with me." she said, explaining how to make the symbols.

They spent most of the afternoon working in the field, creating drawings all over the meadow without stopping. They also prepared a couple of logs and dry branches for the big bonfire they had in the middle of the field behind Y/n's house. They worked hard without stopping while she kept telling him things about her island and he gave her discreet glances when she wasn't looking.

"Ok, I think we're done for today" Y/n said wiping the sweat from her forehead and sitting on a rock

The redhead sat down next to her with a crooked smile. "You don't even take a minute to rest, huh? Your mother said not to overexert yourself."

She laughed mockingly "Oh shut up, this ceremony is very important to us and it's always done in a big way" Y/n's smile faded a little "Besides.. Mama Cala worries a lot about us because we're the only thing she has left.. Dad died two years ago and since then she hasn't stopped taking care of us and overprotecting us. Sometimes I think it's because she feels guilty for not being able to save dad, she became a doctor after the accident…"

A solemn, heavy silence fell, laden with tension that was only broken when Shanks asked

"What happened to your father?.."

Y/n took a deep breath before answering in a small voice, "He… he liked to sail like you… one day a storm broke out in the middle of the sea. We haven't seen him again since that day."

"I'm so sorry.."

She nodded and closed her eyes trying not to let the tears escape while twisting her fingers anxiously. Shanks didn't want to see her like that and felt guilty for asking that, he tried to save the situation as best he could.

"B-but maybe your father is still alive out there and you didn't know it."

Y/n let out a dull, bitter laugh as she opened her now wet eyes. "After two years? Really? And according to you, where is he? Why didn't he come with us?" She finished with some resentment.

He sighed, "Look, I may not know much about loss, but if there's one thing I do know, it's how lucky I am to have the people I have left. I'd give anything for my crew! And you're lucky too, I know that. You have your little sister and your mother alive, hold on to them tooth and nail and protect them with your body and soul.. and you have me."

Her eyes widened but he continued talking. "I know what I mean when I tell you that you're not alone, you never have been. And I promise not to leave you now."

Shanks slowly raised a hand near her face waiting for her approval, she nodded and he wiped her tears, delaying each gesture on purpose, allowing himself to caress and feel that soft skin under the tips of his fingers. Y/n closed her eyes to better savor the moment, her senses wide awake to feel the warmth of that hand on her face. Shanks cupped her cheek while his thumb caressed the top of her cheekbone. She tilted her head slightly, sighing softly as she rested her own hand on top of his. Without thinking, she placed a sweet kiss on his palm.

"Thank you, Shanks. You are a good man after all, like my father used to be"

That confession and comparison made Shanks take a deep breath as he felt his pulse quicken. Then she leaned against his chest and hugged his torso while he surrounded her back and waist with his strong arms. They stayed like that for a long time while they watched the sun set, the two of them alone now united in a hug that was worth more than a thousand words. A strong feeling of trust and protection for each other had settled between them.

After several minutes that seemed like hours, they both got up and headed to Y/n's house holding hands, without saying anything. Upon reaching the entrance of the house, Shanks was about to say goodbye when she abruptly interrupted him.

"Do you want to stay?"

He looked at her confused and a little perplexed, she was quick to add

"I mean, not here inside the house, I can make a place for you in the bunk, it's almost like a barn and there's plenty of room." She said in one breath

He laughed, "But wasn't your mother coming back tonight? In fact, she shouldn't be long in coming."

"She won't find out if you hide well" Y/n said biting her lower lip in an amused smile while raising one shoulder, it was almost as if she was playing a child's prank.

He licked his lips and smiled widely. "Well, if I turn up dead tomorrow morning, you know whose fault it is."

She laughed in amusement and murmuring a "come on" she took him by the wrist and ran to where the horses were. A rather large cot emerged in front of them, she opened the wooden fence and lit an oil lamp that hung on one side of the entrance. When the place was illuminated, rows of horses of all breeds and sizes could be seen. Gray, Isabelline, jet black, brown, etc. Y/n was the first to reach the center and turning with her arms raised she exclaimed

"Ta-daaa! This will be your little paradise for tonight, make yourself at home" she laughed

Shanks looked around the place in admiration "Why do you have..-?"

"..This place?" She interrupted, smiling. "A horse is very useful for long distances. We also lend horses to local people."

Y/n guided him to a spot behind a pile of straw. "Well, here you'll sleep and be well hidden. The straw also keeps you warm at night." She winked

Shanks looked at her gratefully "Thanks for all this. I mean it"

She blushed and downplayed it, "It's nothing, a favor is repaid with a favor. But I have a question, won't your crew worry about your absence?"

Shanks laughed, "Those fried fish only worry about the lack of rum. Don't worry, I already told them not to be alarmed if I'm gone for a few days. Besides, they'll probably think I'm busy with… more important matters." He looked at the woman's figure with his gaze while giving her a mischievous smile.

Y/n realized what he meant and turned bright red as she babbled incoherently, he just laughed out loud in amusement.

"Uhm great, good for you I guess. Uh now if you'll excuse me I have to go. I'll be back in a little while to bring you food and drinks. Good night."

Nervously she trotted away while he kept laughing and smiling.

Meanwhile Y/n ran into the house, out of the corner of her eye she saw that her mother was already close. She quickly slammed the door shut as she sighed, Mele had woken up from her nap by all the noise and was approaching her, rubbing one eye still half asleep.

"What's going on sister, what's all the noise?" she said yawning.

"Shh mom is coming soon and she mustn't find out that Shanks is sleeping in the cot, promise you won't say anything"

Mele's sweet little face lit up and suddenly all the sleepiness was gone "SHANKS IS HERE?! I WANT TO SEE HIM-!"

Before she could finish her sentence, her sister quickly covered her mouth. "SHHH!! Lower your voice! Do you want mama to kill us both?!"

Just then, like an apparition, her mother entered through the front door with the empty basket and her hat in her hand. Both sisters gulped loudly and stood rigid next to each other.

"Hello my little angels, I'm back. Have you been good?"

The old woman left the basket on the table and hung her hat on a coat rack turning her back on them.

"Of course mother, will we ever disobey you?" The older sister put a finger on her lips ordering Mele to be silent.

The woman turned around laughing "Well don't get me started because the list is long" then she saw that the two of them were too stiff and she worried "are you both okay?"

Mele and Y/n attended without saying a word

She sighed resignedly. "You two have been acting very strange lately, anyway. I'm going to sleep, I'm exhausted."

The sisters followed with their eyes the movements of their mother who walked slowly to her room, suddenly she turned around, startling them.

"By the way, girls, I've already told you a thousand times not to light the oil lamp that's in the cot at night, it's a waste."

Y/n started to sweat cold "T-t-the lamp?"

"Yes, love, the lamp that is outside, what else? I already turned it off, but don't let it happen again."

"DID YOU TURN IT OFF?!" The older sister screamed terrified.

The woman was scared "Y/n what's wrong with you? Yes, I turned it off, why would that be a bad thing, did i do something wrong?"

"No, no, it's ok. Sorry mom, it's been a tiring day for me too. Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

Before leaving with her mother, without her hearing, she whispered to the little girl, "Go see how he is and bring him food, but be careful and don't let anyone see you."

The little sister nodded very seriously as her older sister put their mother to bed. Silently on her toes the little girl grabbed a tray full of food and a glass of fresh water. Balancing herself she opened the door and walked over to the large cot, swaying slightly. Before entering she put the tray down and turned on the lamp. Soon everything was lit up almost as if it were daytime. She looked around for Shanks and saw him crouching behind the pile of straw, very still.

"Here!" he exclaimed in a low voice

Mele went as fast as he could with the heavy tray towards him, the pirate smiled in relief.

"Thank goodness, I was starving"

"We were scared, we thought mom had found you"

Shanks smiled to himself thinking that Y/n cared about him.

"I hid just in time and threw myself to the ground. It's a miracle that my stomach growls didn't give me away."

Mele giggled "Don't worry, I brought you fruit and various foods"

"Thanks, Mele"

The girl smiling placed the tray on the floor in front of him and was about to leave when the captain gently stopped her.

"Wait, don't go, please tell Y/n that I want to see her" the pirate felt a little disappointed because he thought she was going to bring him food and not her little sister.

The mischievous girl smiled knowingly and nodded and ran back to her house. Y/n was just leaving her mother's room.

"Mama is already asleep, luckily she is a deep sleeper"

The older sister noticed that Mele was too happy and asked her what was wrong.

"Shanks wants to see you" she simply said raising her eyebrows repeatedly

Y/n suddenly got nervous but her understanding little sister kissed her cheek saying goodnight and went to her room. The older one stayed in the empty and dark living room, sighing alone with the moonlight as her only company. Shanks wanted to see her… why? She couldn't help but feel anxious as she pinched her fingertips and bit her lips. She began to think about the time she had spent with him and how much her way of thinking about the pirate had changed. She felt different, but that wasn't bad. She had learned to understand him and to understand that sometimes a stranger in your life isn't necessarily an enemy, sometimes it's just someone sent into your life to teach you, take care of you and love you. Love, was that what she felt deep in her chest, in her stomach? But the most important question she had to ask herself was not that but another, that love… could it be reciprocal?

Determined, she took a deep breath, taking courage, and walked with a sure and firm step towards where he was. The oil lamp was still lit. The red-haired man had come out of his hiding place a little so that she could see him. Y/n felt fire under her skin and tried not to blush. She walked looking at the ground towards the captain who saw her smiling without looking away. It was curious, how at first the woman could stare at him as a way of intimidation and now she felt inhibited and vulnerable every time he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I thought you had forgotten about me" he laughed softly

"I was just taking my mother to sleep… I see you're almost finished with your meal, you were hungry.." She said pointing to the tray

He nodded smiling, "but there is still some food left if you want to join me."

Shanks left her a place in front of him, placing the tray to the side. Y/n wasn't expecting that gesture and was about to reject the offer, but there was so much kindness in his eyes that he ended up convincing her and she sat down cross-legged. He offered her a piece of bread, which she gladly accepted.

There was a slightly awkward silence that neither of them dared to break, both ate without saying anything.

"You know… before I came to this island I was sailing the four seas, trying, no… hoping that one day I could set foot on solid ground again. And then a pirate from my crew spotted your island, the rest is history" he said smiling.

Y/n was making little crumbs with the piece of bread she had left, a little distracted. She couldn't concentrate if he looked at her like that, so sweet and protective.

He noticed she was lost in her thoughts and joked "Hey don't play with the food, you'll waste it."

Smiling, she held up the piece of bread. "How about throwing it over your head, so it wouldn't go to waste."

It sounded like a scolding but beneath those words there was tenderness so they both laughed sweetly. Y/n cleared her throat looking at him

"But… what is your point?"

Shanks moved closer. "The point is, you fell from the sky. You came to my aid when I needed it most and you didn't even notice. As you may have noticed, I love spending my life on the high seas, but sometimes it can get boring, and I was really desperate to set foot on solid ground." He laughed and looked at her tenderly.

She swore she could melt in that gaze so full of devotion, the way his eyes shone as if she were the goddess Aphrodite herself, was something her heart couldn't stand, no one had ever looked at her like that before, ever. Y/n sat down next to him and said confidently

"I told you about my island and its people, why don't you tell me about your ship and its pirates?"

And so began a long conversation where both had lain down on the ground next to each other as if they were looking at the stars. Shanks told her about his crew, about his ship and his adventures, where he lived and the feats he had done and hoped to continue doing. She listened attentively, surprised, sometimes happy for him. Her eyes scanned his face that seemed lost in his memories, she liked the way his lips healed into a smile or how his chocolate eyes seemed to grow larger with each word. It was certainly a face like few others, it was handsome. Little by little the laughter filled the place

"So Yassop was drinking his beer without realizing that there was a fly inside, he almost drowned!"

The captain was holding his stomach from laughing so hard while she threw her head back in a loud laugh. The red-haired captain looked at her amused, it was the first time he heard her laugh. She was still laughing when she met the pirate's dreamy eyes, looking at her intensely.

"I should make you laugh more often, you have a beautiful laugh"

The air caught in her throat as she looked into his eyes, so close and yet so far. Why did he say all those nice things about her? Y/n remembered that pirates seduced women as a game, would it be like that this time? But no. She wanted to believe that he didn't, those eyes didn't lie. It seemed like she could hang the moon and stars from them. Without even thinking about it, her eyes went to his mouth and by instinct she slightly opened hers. He gently touched her cheek and she felt lost, she gave in, she let herself fall into his charms. She couldn't take it anymore, she had to do it. Without wasting any more time she leaned closer to his chest and kissed him. It was a shy kiss at first with him guiding her to it, but the more she tasted his mouth the more desires and need she felt. The heat they both felt was indescribable, the kiss became hungrier and more heated, as if they needed each other's lips to survive. Shanks gently got on top of her without crushing her and with one hand resting on the back of her neck and the other on her waist he ran his mouth over her jaw. His beard tickled her but it didn't bother her at all, it only turned her on more. His warm lips went down her jaw near her ear and below to her neck. Y/n already felt her body tremble and writhe and instinctively she tangled her legs around his. Shanks' firm but gentle hand didn't leave her neck as he now concentrated on leaving kisses on her collarbones and shoulders.

"Shanks ~..."

Her soft moan only gave him courage to continue going down. Y/n's hands were on his back and threatened to get under his shirt to scratch his skin. His ears filled with sighs every time he caressed her bust with his half-open mouth while with his other free hand he caressed her lower back. Y/n arched like a cat from the wonders that the pirate caused in her. Shanks continued to go down even further trying to please the desire of both, he stopped especially on her lower belly which caused another moan this time more delicious than the previous one. Eager to hear more he began to kiss and gently bite her belly holding her thighs with both hands tracing circles and putting pressure on the flaccid flesh

"Oh Shanks...!"

This time the electrifying sensation that ran through her spine was indescribable and her core began to pump intensely with a sharp pain. Throwing her head back and breathing with her mouth open, she clung to his hair as she tried in vain to stop those palpitations. Shanks smiled mischievously against her skin, very aware of what he did to her. Sure of his abilities to disarm women in a jiffy, he passionately kissed the inner part of her thighs near her intimacy. Y/n's body writhed even more like a worm as a cacophony of muffled moans came out of her mouth and her pelvis began to rock back and forth gently as if it had a life of its own. Her mind was a blur, unable to think clearly about anything other than Shanks's mouth and how much she wanted him to make her his, but drawing strength from who knows where she was able to clear her mind with difficulty to realize that they were still in the bunk and not in Eden, moreover, they were still on her island, at night and with her little sister and her mother sleeping in the house that was a few meters away.

"Shanks, wait..." She said, breathing heavily.

He looked at her, surprised, attentive and a little worried at her words.

"I can't... we can't"

She realized that he thought something was wrong with her so she rushed to reassure him.

"It's not that I don't want to… but, I don't know, aren't we going too fast? We can't do this. Not like this, in a barn surrounded by horses. My mother doesn't even know you're here."

He sighed and acknowledged that she was right. He slowly stood up and with one hand helped her to stand, gently adjusting the fallen strap of her top while they both caught their breath.

"Forgive me, it was my fault"

She was quick to hush him sweetly "No, it was both of us" then with a shy smile she said "I guess I can't resist your charms"

He smiled, "and I guess I'll see you again tomorrow, at the festival."

"Does that mean you're not staying overnight?" she asked, a little disappointed.

He took her hand and kissed it warmly. "No, I don't want to cause you any more trouble, besides I think it's time to go back to my old ship, he must miss me." He laughed but there was no trace of emotion in his voice.

Y/n's face showed some affliction but she nodded understandingly, before saying goodbye she made a gesture to kiss his cheek but before her lips landed on the side of his skin Shanks turned his face and kissed her on the lips. This time it was a quick kiss but full of love. The pirate took off from her and walked away towards the beach while she sent him a sad flying kiss with the tips of her fingers. With a hole in her heart she headed back to the house, luckily neither Mele nor her mother Cala had woken up so without further ado she slowly went to her room and lay down looking at the moon through her window while a tear ran down her cheek to end up on her pillow.

For his part, Shanks walked along the sand, dodging some palm leaves and having the moon as his only source of light. When he reached his precious ship, he saw that there were some pirates sleeping in hammocks hanging on the deck in the starlight. It seemed that everyone was snoring except for someone, someone who seemed to be hiding in the shadows, smoking quietly.

"I know that look, captain…"

The redhead who hadn't seen him was startled, he tried to see in the darkness but it wasn't necessary, the man with that voice appeared, leaning into the light. It was Beckman.

"Geez, man. You scared the shit out of me" he laughed nervously

Beckman just smiled, taking another drag on his cigarette.

"And I don't know what you're talking about"

Shanks was about to leave when Beckman exclaimed, "You met a woman, and apparently she's not like any other."

The captain looked at him in surprise, he was about to deny everything but gave up and simply laughed softly and tiredly.

"Is it so obvious?"

"You're never away for so long, Captain, and you never come back with those eyes. I can see it in you Shanks, it's love"

Shanks sat down next to him and began to tell him everything he had been through the last few days.

"She drives me crazy, I've never felt like this"

"Looks like the captain finally got a taste of his own medicine," Beckman laughed.

He sighed "Any advice?"

Beckman stubbed out his cigarette by crushing it against the wooden floor. "Listen, Captain, if what you feel is true love, I advise you not to let her go. Go to the festival and confess your feelings."

After saying that he got up and went to his cabin, Shanks after thinking for a while went to his and tried to sleep thinking about what his friend told him

...The next day...

Y/n woke up yawning, she felt like she had slept for ten days, she saw the sunlight coming through her window and smiled, it was warm and bright. Warm and bright… like Shanks' eyes. Suddenly the pirate's face crept into her mind and the memories of the previous night… The barn, his hands on her body. Instinctively Y/n slid the palm of her hand towards her belly and went down, down, down…

At that moment her sister bursts into her room, slamming the door loudly. Y/n blushed and startled, quickly moved her hand away from her lower belly.

"Jesus, Mele! You can't just come in like a tornado!!"

Mele, ignoring her and very happy, jumped onto her bed and shook her like a rag doll. "GET UP, GET UP, TODAY IS THE PARTY!"

Then she noticed that her older sister was blushing like a rose in May. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

She got up in a hurry. "Nothing, it's nothing. I'm fine. Let's go have breakfast."

In the kitchen was his mother, who had gotten up earlier than usual this time and was pouring fruit juice from a large jug.

"Hello my loves, did you sleep well?"

Mele and Y/n sat at the table eating while nodding happily and chatting about the ceremony that would take place that night.

"Thanks to you the ceremony will be a success, you did a good job cleaning and decorating, Y/n. Did Mele help you?"

"Uh yes mother, yes she did"

The old woman noticed that Y/n was distracted in her thoughts as she stirred the food on her plate with her spoon, not tempted to try anything.

"Sweetheart, are you okay? Are you sick? If you want, I can bring you some medicine.." Her mother said as she checked her daughter with her hand to see if she had a fever.

The older sister gently pushed her mother's hand away. "I'm fine, Mom. I just need some fresh air. Excuse me."

Without looking at anyone she pushed her plate away and left the house, she could feel the scrutinizing gaze of the two of them. With her spirits down and unable to think clearly she headed towards the quiet and silent jungle. She needed to clear her mind, she felt so confused. Is that what love causes? Not being able to eat or think well? Well, what a pain love is. Without looking very well where she was going as she was concentrating on kicking a stone off the ground, Y/n walked and walked until she collided with someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're wal-!"

She exclaimed annoyed but couldn't finish the sentence because when she looked up she was left breathless at the sight of the pirate who had stolen so many of her sighs.

"Me? But the one who wasn't looking where she was walking was you" he laughed amused.

"S-Shanks.. I didn't expect to meet you so soon"

"I was just getting some fresh air, looks like you needed it too…"

She nodded, putting a lock of hair behind her ear, visibly embarrassed. Suddenly she didn't know what to say, she didn't want there to be an awkward silence, but she felt like she couldn't concentrate if she was in his presence. All strength and courage vanished if Shanks was near, she felt more vulnerable, as if he could break through every cold and hard shell, break through that wall of ice to finally reach her warm heart.

"The party isn't until tonight… are you still planning on going?" She stammered timidly

"Of course I'm going, I wouldn't miss it for anything. And I always keep my word." he said, raising one hand and resting the other on his heart.

Y/n couldn't help but laugh softly and Shanks' chest swelled with happiness at having at least managed to make her smile.

"Well, remember that others can't know that you're not an inhabitant of this island, so I'll have to camouflage you."

"Oh yeah? And how?" He smiled, putting his hands on his hips.

She began to circle around his figure like a predator analyzing its prey. "Well.. first of all, you should change those clothes. We like to use other types of fabrics here."

Y/n continued to circle around him, admiring Shanks' figure from top to bottom. She noticed that he was thin but his muscles could still be seen beneath his shirt. The redhead smiled mischievously, letting her continue to look at him like a Greek statue.

"Really? But I like this shirt" He said raising his arms in a T shape.

"Yes, I see, you like it so much that you don't even take it off to wash it" she laughed mockingly.

Then behind Shanks' back and with him still raising his arms, she began to touch the fabric to check its texture and the state it was in. She ran her hands delicately down his back, slowly going up which caused an exquisite shiver in Shanks but he concentrated on hiding it. Y/n ran her hands over his shoulders reaching his biceps, she felt his burly muscles through the fabric and felt her breathing accelerate.

"Everything okay there?" Shanks teased amusedly.

Y/n seemed to come down from the cloud and cleared her throat, standing in front of him. "Of course, but I have bad news for you, your shirt needs an urgent wash. I'll lend you some other clothes tonight."

"Whatever you say." he said, smiling mischievously.

"Mmh and there's something else" Y/n's gaze went to his head "You can't wear that hat" she said pointing at the straw hat.

"Oh, this one?" He took off his hat and she rushed to grab it but he held it up laughing "But it's special, I always wear it."

"Aha, you said the same thing about your shirt. Give it to me."

The woman began to jump, almost climbing over him, trying in vain to reach the hat while the captain continued to hold it with his arm raised and spinning around laughing out loud. Y/n growled in annoyance until at one point she stepped wrong and stumbled backwards, but before falling Shanks quickly caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist and back while still holding the hat. For an instant they both looked at each other and the world seemed to stop.

"Are you alright?" He asked worried

She nodded mesmerized, he smiled relievedly and then placed his straw hat on her head lovingly.

"I think it suits you better than me"

She gulped and slowly stood up, taking off her hat and holding it to her chest. "Uhm, I'll give it back to you once the festival is over. I promise."

"I know you will" he said smiling and gave her a kiss on the cheek "See you tonight, I have to get back to my crew"

Y/n watched as he walked away, she still held the hat but this time she squeezed it tighter as she felt her left cheek burn under the skin where he had kissed her. Without thinking she touched her face smiling sideways. That afternoon was quite chaotic, Y/n and Mele kept organizing some pending things for the ceremony, they chose their outfits without stopping fighting and helped their mother with whatever she needed. On Shanks' ship everything was laughter and alcohol as always, only Beckman and the captain knew about the festival, his friend promised to keep the secret just in case. So each one spent the day busy as best they knew how until night fell, with the sun hiding on the horizon and the sky turning purple.

"Alright, I think I'll go stretch my legs a little, see you later" said the captain without hiding his enthusiasm for seeing Y/n

"Oh what happened captain? Come on! Stay with us a little longer, we'll play cards and there will be a singing competition" exclaimed one

Shanks turned as he continued walking away, "I'm sorry guys, another time."

Without bothering to make an excuse, Shanks walked away confidently while the others stared at him. Yassop walked over to Beckman's side.

"That's weird, he never misses a good competition, he didn't even tell us where he was going exactly. Do you know anything, Beck?" he asked suspiciously.

"No" He said bluntly, "and don't bother trying to find out."

On the other side of the island, Y/n was waiting impatiently for Shanks. Mele and her mother had gone to visit a neighboring family to invite them to the festival. Sitting on a rock, she held a long, clean white cloth resembling a tunic on her lap. Next to her were a pair of shorts and a seed necklace. Every so often, she turned nervously to look at her clothes, wanting to make sure she had everything ready. Suddenly, Shanks came trotting to meet her. When he stood in front of her he noticed her change of clothes, she was wearing a long white skirt open at the sides that highlighted her waist and a white crossed top tied around her neck. She was beautiful

"You're finally here!" she sighed in relief.

He noticed that she had been worried and smiled.

"Did you doubt me?" He said, raising an amused eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes, "No time for jokes, come change your clothes."

She dragged him by the doll into the house and to her room. They were going so fast that Shanks didn't have time to admire the house, but when he got to her room he took the time to inspect the place. It wasn't very big but it felt warm and comfortable. The bed took up the whole center of the room while the window on the right was open and let in the cool breeze. Y/n hurried to hand him the clothes throwing them into his arms.

"There in a corner behind you is the mirror, I'll be back in a minute" and after that she ran away

Shanks looked at the cloths in confusion, noticing that a cloth had to be tied on top like a toga. He got rid of his old shirt, leaving him bare-chested, but had trouble trying to tie the cloth over his chest. Luckily, Y/n came back quickly.

"Are you ready?"

She stifled a cry of exclamation upon seeing him without his shirt and quickly, without controlling her blush, turned to look elsewhere.

"So sorry! I thought you were already dressed…"

He laughed, "I think I have a problem with this kind of toga, I've never worn anything like that."

"Let me help you"

Y/n walked over to him trying not to look at his abs or chest and grabbed the fabric with sweaty and slightly shaky hands. She crossed the fabric over his chest and placed it over one shoulder. She then tied it with a clasp in the back.

"There! It wasn't that hard," she laughed and said without thinking, "Do you want me to help you with your pants?"

Shanks looked at her at first surprised but then a wide and amused smile formed on his face, realizing what he had just said she opened her eyes wide and turned red.

"NO, IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! I MEANT..UH.. NEVERMIND!"

She told him to hurry up because the ceremony was about to start and she walked away again but this time she would wait for him to come out of his room. She didn't have to wait long when Shanks came out dressed in the new clothes, he looked like a different person.

"Perfect, just this" she grabbed the necklace and placed it around her neck "Now yes, are you ready. Let's go?"

They both left the house holding hands like a couple of lovebirds. In the center of the field the bonfire was already lit and the party was in full swing, people laughing and drinking happy to be surrounded by loved ones. Y/n approached her mother and Mele. The old woman was surprised to see her arrive holding the hand of a stranger, while the younger sister could hardly hide her joy.

"Sweetheart, who is he?" she asked suspiciously.

"He's… Eudora's cousin, do you remember me telling you about him? The one who lived on the other side of the island" Y/n's words had some truth to them, Eudora was a friend of her mother and she had a cousin but he clearly didn't look anything like Shanks.

Cala smiled in relief. "Oh yes, love, I remember it well. Nice to finally meet you, Hako."

Shanks looked at Y/n in confusion and she gave him a raised eyebrow look as if to say 'just go with the flow'. The pirate smiled at the older woman and shook her hand.

"The pleasure is mine, ma'am"

The mother excused herself for a moment and went somewhere else. Mele, unable to resist any longer, pounced on Shanks.

"YOU'RE HERE!!"

Shanks laughed happily and lifted her up to hug her.

"I would never leave my favorite person behind"

Y/n slammed Shanks' hips into hers, exclaiming an offended "Hey!" He was quick to say

"My favorite person after you, of course"

Mele watched as they both looked at each other in love and smiled knowingly. She decided to take the captain by the hand to another side anyway to tell him everything she had done that day. Shanks, seeing himself dragged by the little girl, turned his head back to look at Y/n and shrugged his shoulders in apology while smiling. She nodded laughing amused when her mother returned to her side with a boy at her side.

"Y/n darling, you don't know who I ran into! Do you remember Lino? Noé and Rosa's son?"

Next to her was a boy Y/n's age with black hair and tanned skin, he had a white-toothed smile and emerald green eyes. He took a step and opened his arms to hug her.

"Y/n! Long time no see!"

She stood stiff for a few seconds, not responding to the hug and not knowing how to react. She felt a little uncomfortable. Lino? That boy who played with her and sometimes teased her by jokingly pulling her hair? Suddenly a flood of memories came over her and she smiled, returning the hug.

"Lin!! I've missed you!"

Lin was the affectionate nickname she had for him, Lino had left for another island years ago and now he had returned. They had so many things to tell each other! From afar Mele and Shanks were sitting chatting but his gaze was on that boy who hugged y/n so tightly, he felt an annoying thorn in his heart. Mele noticed it

"Are you jealous?"

"Me? Nah, I don't even know who he is" he laughed sarcastically

"His name is Lino, a childhood friend of my sister's. Years ago he went to live on another far away island, I don't know why he came back just now. But don't worry, she doesn't love him, but she loves you."

The girl smiled and walked away as if she had solved all the world's problems with a few simple words. At that moment Y/n came over and sat next to him.

"Are you enjoying the party?" she asked.

"Much more if you are by my side" he said caressing her hand

They both continued laughing and talking. Lino looked at them dead serious from a distance. He had no idea who that red-haired man was next to his friend but he swore not to take his eyes off him. He had always been very jealous and was suspicious of that strange-looking individual. The hours passed and someone exclaimed that it was time for the dance, Shanks wondered what that meant and Y/n explained that it was the sacred dance that was done around the bonfire. Everyone got up and began to dance, jumping and laughing. Shanks, somewhat clumsy on his feet, had a hard time keeping up with the rhythm so she took his hand and stood in front of him. He let her guide him, put his hands on her hips and they began to swear at him from side to side. With each step they took, he learned more.

"You learn fast"

Their bodies seemed to be one, he was spinning her around and she was not moving away from his torso. From a distance, Lino continued to watch them suspiciously. When they finished dancing, they stared at each other. One second, two seconds, three, four. It seemed like an eternity.

"Y/n I have to tell you something. But not here, in private". Shanks said with a dry throat, wetting his lips

She was surprised by his serious and nervous expression. But she nodded in understanding and they walked away from the party into the silent, dark jungle, not realizing that Lino was following them closely. When they made sure that no one could hear or see them, Shanks took Y/n's hands.

"Y/n… ever since I met you there's something inside me that's been changing, I don't know what it is but you've awakened something in me that I didn't know before. I don't know what happens to me when I'm with you, I'm not the same as before, I don't sleep, I hardly drink or eat. And I don't know if that's a good thing but it must be because when I look into your eyes, I know it's all been worth it. I love you Y/n, and I don't care if you don't love me the same because I'll keep doing it anyway."

Her eyes were wet and her heart was beating like a drum. He caressed her face and tears began to roll down, but they were tears of happiness because she could finally understand that the love she longed for was reciprocal.

"Shanks… I feel the same way. And I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same. I don't know what I did to deserve you, I never thought I'd fall in love with a pirate" she laughed between hiccups.

Hearing the word pirate, Lino, who was crouching behind a bush, pricked up his ears in alarm.

"But I don't regret meeting you, I feel like a better person because of you. I feel stronger every time I see you. I love you, Shanks, and I always will."

She shortened the distance that separated them and they joined in a long, passionate kiss. They seemed one, their bodies pressed together and their mouths roaming over each other's. His hands embraced her waist and hers tangled in his hair. The passion they felt at that moment seemed to explode like thousands of fireworks. It was a slow kiss but full of love, like a promise that no matter what happens, their destiny was to be together. Lino, with his face twisted with hatred, could not resist it any longer and came out of his hiding place running towards them and howling like a wild animal. Y/n and Shanks turned around startled and before either of them could do anything, Lino threw himself at him, taking out a knife and threatening to stab him.

"STOP! DON'T HURT HIM, I BEG YOU!!"

Y/n lunged at her friend, trying to take the knife from him, but he pushed her away and she fell on her back. Shanks, with the strength of a thousand men, held Lino's wrist as he watched the knife get closer to his face. As best he could, he kneed him in the stomach and pushed him away. They both stood up and a tense fight began, with the pirate trying by all means to avoid the blade's edge. Y/n's anguished screams alerted the people at the festival and they ran to see what was happening.

But they were not the only ones who had heard the commotion, Shanks' crew in the distance had also heard noise and screams and came running and armed, worried about their captain. When they arrived with the others they saw how their captain was fighting to the death with another armed man, the pirates pointed their weapons and the villagers around exclaimed in fear but Beckman shouted for them to stop.

"WAIT! THAT WILL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE"

He trusted his captain. The two remained locked in a fight until at one point Lino stabbed his dagger into the side of Shanks' belly who let out a cry of pain. Y/n brought her hands to her mouth in fear, fighting her tears. Then Lino lunged at him again and they rolled towards a cliff, Lino moved away in time but Shanks couldn't hold on to anything and fell into the void.

"NOOO!!!!"

Y/n's heartbreaking scream was heard throughout the island, she ran desperately towards the cliff and threw herself face down, almost falling too.

"DAUGHTER!!"

Her mother and everyone else, including the pirates, ran up to her and held her by the feet. Y/n in turn held Shanks' hand with all her strength before he could fall.

"I WON'T LEAVE YOU! I WON'T LOSE YOU LIKE MY FATHER!"

Hot tears ran down her cheeks as the others lined up to pull her up, pulling her with all their might as if she were a rope. Little by little they raised Shanks, who barely had the strength to hold her hand. Y/n helped him stand up and hugged him tremblingly, tears wetting his bare shoulder as he melted into her embrace with his arm around her. The others sighed in relief as the pirates jumped and celebrated, smiling. Y/n walked away from the hug smiling at him, but his smile faded as he held his belly on the left side. With horror she saw how the toga was stained dark red and became wet, sticking to her skin. Shanks staggered and suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"SHANKS!"

Y/n, scared, stood next to him and held his head while desperately calling for her mom. She came running and sat next to him, she called some pirates to help her pick him up and take him home to heal him.

"Don't worry, y/n, he will be fine, but I have to cure him as soon as possible."

The eldest daughter cried inconsolably as she held the hand of her now fainted lover. The mother did not understand very well what was happening but she understood that that man was someone important to her. Several of them quickly took him to the house and placed him on the mother's bed, who worked quickly to stop the bleeding. Y/n waited anxiously near the door frame along with Mele who was crying scared. The oldest said a prayer to Inti so that Shanks would not lose his life. They spent the whole night awake until dawn came and the tired mother said that she could see that he was already awake and feeling better. Y/n ran to where he was and knelt next to the bed holding his hand, he saw her and smiled tiredly. She began to cry without holding back and Shanks stroked her hair.

"Please don't cry, I hate seeing you like this"

"It's all my fault," she sobbed, "I should never have invited you and put you in danger."

He shushed her gently "hey don't say that, I've been in worse situations. Although I can't remember any right now" he laughed.

She looked up slowly, "You're going to be okay, right?"

Shanks nodded "Yes, but… I must return to my island, I have to regain my strength"

"Do you really have to go now?" she asked sadly

"I promise I'll be back" he kissed her hand.

At that moment a pirate knocked on the door frame to catch his attention. "Sorry to interrupt you, but everything is ready to go."

They both said goodbye with a kiss and hours later Shanks was already on a bamboo stretcher near the beach where his boat was. Before saying goodbye, Y/n had whispered in his ear that she would come see him before leaving and give him something. As if by magic he saw her appear along with her mother, her sister and other villagers. Mele ran next to him crying sadly

"Don't go shanks!"

He hugged her tightly and smiling said "I'm sorry little one but I have to do it, I have to be strong" and smiling he kissed her forehead "Promise me you'll behave well"

The girl nodded and walked away. y/n wasn't ready to say goodbye but she walked over and crouched down, hugging his chest.

"This is for you, a gift. It is a conch that I found years ago, it is the rarest of all and now I want you to have it, I have treasured it for years"

Shanks took her in his hands "she's pretty, but you are the greatest treasure I carry with me"

Before she could cry he kissed her intensely. When they separated her face was still centimeters from his lips. "I'll miss you," she whispered in his ear.

"Me too"

The mother watched the scene moved from afar, at that moment a high-pitched scream broke the air. It was blue that went around and then went down to Shanks' shoulder

"Hey buddy, I think you had forgotten about me" he stroked the bird who purred in contentment.

"Uhm captain? We should leave now" Beckman cleared his throat.

Y/n and Shanks looked into each other's eyes and then carefully lifted the captain onto the ship. One shouted, weigh anchor! and the sails were spread to resume the journey. The ship left the port and headed towards the sea, moving away. Her eyes were fixed on the wooden ship until they became moist and her vision became blurry.

Y/n's mother approached, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Go, angel, run."

Her mother smiled and she hugged her, whispering a thank you. Y/n ran like a gazelle along the beach, high up and behind the hills she saw the white sails of the ship fluttering in the wind. She did not stop running with her heart pounding in her chest until she reached the top of a hill where the ship could be seen in all its splendor. The salty breeze swirled y/n's hair, she couldn't see Shanks but she was sure he was looking at her. And so it was, from the boat Shanks looked up and saw her pretty figure, so far away that it seemed like a point. Y/n raised an arm high in greeting and he did the same. Knowing that he had seen her, she smiled with tears in her eyes, wishing or rather knowing that she would see him again, she whispered in the wind.

"See you soon, my love"

.....

help, that was longer than I expected lol I'm really sorry if it went on too long and because of that rushed ending, I didn't feel like writing anymore lmao

[gamerbearmira]

My Take On Wish

I liked it. Now, it’s not the best. But it’s still pretty good in hindsight. They had a good idea, but they executed it poorly.

I think a big reason is the movie had such high expectations. It was the movie for the 100th anniversary, which is huge. But they had no time and no money. The movie feels rushed, there's so much that happens too fast in such a short amount of time. That brings me to my next point.

Time. This movie should have been longer. Of the most recent movies, like Turning Red, Encanto, Luca and Elemental, they run for about 1 hr and 35-49 minutes. But they don't feel rushed. Everything us spaced out and works, at least for the most part. Every movie has it flaws in run time. Wish runs for the same amount of time as Encanto; but it feels so much more rush. The movie should have been longer, and I feel like people wouldn't have been too made at an extra 20 to 30 minutes. It would've given a lot more to world and established things, and answer questions that were left unanswered.

Characters. They weren't bad! They had some good characters, and the designs were...good. I like them, and I can see what they were doing. Like Magnifico and Amaya, I really like their designs! Same with the teens (save for a few things, mostly color, but I digress). Valentino is cute, but I don't like how they gave him a deep voice. Asha and Star? They're ok, at best. Looking at the concept art in the book, there was SO much potential that they didn't use.

Asha looks a lot like Isabela. It's a running joke. But the closer I look, she looks too much like her. Literally, if you look in the book, you can see that she actually had a floral dress that seemed a little too similar to Isabela's. The thing is, she had a lot of other really good designs, which I used in the redesign below, among other things. Star, he's cute but...it's sad. He was so obviously going to be a love interest. AND YES DISNEY. IT'S OK TO HAVE A HEROINE FALL IN LOVE. I took one of his designs that nearly stuck and tweaked it a little. He still has a star form, for other purposes.

The songs. They were ok, but I'm sort of understanding the joke if "They were written by ChatGPT". They sound so empty? But when you listen to the demos they sound better. That brings me to "At All Costs". I heard it in the movie. It's sung by Magnifico and Asha, when it was so obviously meant to be sung by Asha and her love interest, which would have been Starboy. And the demo is actually really good.

For my redesigns? I changed quite a but on Asha. Her friends are supposed to be like the seven dwarves. So why in the world didn't they utilize Snow White for Asha? I'm not saying she had to be a carbon copy, but jeez, it would've been nice. In my design, I gave her a mix of other dresses she had in the book, changing it a bit to look like snow white's but still being original. I changed the colors, toning them to be more similar to Wish's colors.

Valentino stayed entirely the same. I saw that he was originally he was going to be much larger, pretty much grown. So, I took that and gave him a sister. They aren't really "siblings, Valentina was born way before Valentino, but he's always following behind her, so Asha deemed them "honorary siblings". And I mostly wanted Asha to have more animals around her, like Snow White.

Star is still Star, but he also has a human form. In my opinion, it wouldn't be very present until later in the story. The more tine he spends around Asha, the more he feels more comfortable using it to help Asha. And also, he wants to be like Asha. He loves humans, and watches them from the sky all the time. He may or may not be the North Star. I'm still debating.

Maybe I'll do more with other characters.

Story. I want to try a rewrite. Not now, cause I still have a bunch of Encanto that I'd want to finish, but definitely in the future. I may do more Wish posts on my designs and what I'd worldbuild with some ideas were:

Asha is already Magnifico's apprentice.

Magnifico used the book before he founded Rosa, and built Rosa to take people's wishes for his power under the guise of what he does in the movie currently. He keeps some wishes alive to grant them. No one knows, not even Amaya. Asha finds out. This means he's evil from the start and stays evil. No redemption. No return.

Wishes affect a person not just emotionally, but slightly mentally and sometimes physically. When ita given away, the person feel not just an emptiness, but also heaviness in their body physically.

Amaya is a bit more morally gray, being in Magnifico's side, and even helping him, but slowly shifting to Asha after seeing what he's doing.

Star plays a bigger role much earlier on. The Teens do as well. I feel like they had no character in the movie. Not even Dahila, who I do I love.

It's closer to Asha's birthday. So when she finds out about Magnifico, she's scared of losing her wish, and being unable to restore everyone else's that was already lost, like her Saba's.

Asha may or may not have a staff like Magnifico's. But like?? A training staff??

Magnifico may or may nit being trying to corrupt Asha with the book. She is subject to hus magic still, and sometimes it seeps into her mind, but Star is there to counter it.

Star is much stronger in terms of magic, enough to be on par, or almost on par with Magnifico.

TL;DR: I like Wish. But it has flaws. I wanna try my hand at a rewrite one if these days.

[tangledbea]

Hi! I first wanted to say that I adore your page. I love everything Tangled. And I was looking at your facts and didn't see anything about this, but if you can't answer that's totally OK! But do you think Disney will ever release an art of the series book? I know it's a smaller community in the Disney world, but it would be amazing to see one day. I love the art style of the show and think it was animated beautifully. Again, I love your page and seeing Tangled!

Unfortunately, they did make an art book of the series... but it was a limited run, exclusively for the crew who worked on the show. There have been a few photos and videos of it which the fans have taken copious screencaps of.

As for whether I think one will ever be released to the public, I doubt it, but I would love to be wrong!

However! A fan has also put one together for the other fans! It's not as all-inclusive, but it's better than anything else we've got!

[jq37]

Please let us know if you solve this mystery!

OK! It’s the end of the year so let me compile everything I was able to come up with (with the help of everyone I dragged into this–you know who you are and thank you and I’m sorry). 

To anyone who’s just seeing this and doesn’t have context, in November, right before the movie Wish came out, I made a longish post questioning who Allison Moore was (which, incidentally, is the first post that comes up when you Google “Allison Moore Disney”).

The reason I was curious about who this random writer is is because she’s credited as one of the co-writers of Wish, Disney’s 100th Anniversary Feature Film BUT she has no obvious experience writing for animation, children, or fantasy when everyone else on the main team has credits on stuff like Frozen and Encanto. I thought it was bizarre that there would be someone so green on a project so big so I went digging. 

Here’s what I learned:

(1) Moore wasn’t originally announced as being attached to the project. Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Fawn Veersunthorn were all mentioned when the project was officially announced in Sept 2022 (for example). Moore was not. And you’d think they’d mention the *co-writer*, right? You don’t start to see her name until a year later in Sept 2023 when the trailer dropped (for example). So it seems like she was brought onto the project later. Of course, this could just be a normal quirk of the industry or something I’m misinterpreting, but I think it’s worth mentioning. 

(2) Moore seems to have a lot more credits in stage writing than she does in screenwriting. I wasn’t able to 100% confirm it until recently (I’ll get to that in a second) but she’s written a bunch of plays and it seems like this is where she has most of her bona fides. 

“Allison is the recipient of two Jerome Fellowships, two McKnight Advancement Grants and the Bush Artist Fellowship.”

That sounds fancy. But it still doesn’t say “Top Choice for Disney Anniversary Movie” to me. That’s not a statement on writing quality. I haven’t read/seen any of her plays. It’s about the subject matter. Look at some of these synopses:

None of that really screams Disney. Which isn’t to say people can’t have range. George Miller wrote all the Mad Maxes but also Babe and both Happy Feet. But if I was hiring someone for a really big project, I wouldn’t want that project to be their first attempt at expanding into that genre. 

(3) This isn’t actually inherently important but she was on an episode of Nailed it. That’s where this picture comes from:

She won the first round and the game ended in a three way tie for the first time in the show’s history. 

The only reason this is noteworthy in the larger scale of things is that, until very recently, this was one of only two places online you could see Allison Moore talking. The other is this very short interview on the red carpet during the premiere. 

There’s nothing in that interview that explains anything. It’s mainly her talking about how it was fun working on the movie and how good the movie is. 

Honestly, good for her for not being Extremely Online, but it really felt like I could get a bit of a handle on everyone else who’d worked on this project in a high profile way but not her. Which is part of why I started down this rabbit hole to begin with. There was nothing to show where she might have had a connection or an interest or anything that would connect the dots. 

For reference, Fawn (who was one of the Directors and story writers) has the kind of resume that I was expecting Moore to have when I initially Googled her:

Smaller jobs on other kids/animated movies (Hop, The Lorax, Despicable Me 2), some storyboard or art work on other Disney stuff (Frozen, Moana, Zootopia, Ralph), and then a big break (Raya and Wish). Based on my understanding of the industry (and I know a fair bit because it’s one I’m interested in professionally) that’s a very typical track to get to the writing side of animation.  

A couple of people speculated that Moore got onto the project in a mentorship capacity. Now, I’m a Black woman who writes fiction professionally when I’m not on this hellsite (affectionate) with the rest of y’all. That means I have firsthand experience with what mentorship looks like in writing–both official Diversity and Inclusion type mentorship and more organic “Let me take you under my wing” type mentorship. I have *never* seen anyone get a job this high profile at the jump just due to mentorship alone. Going from zero to Disney’s 100th anniversary is kinda insane. This wasn’t some B project or something. It was a Big Deal Project. And this is Disney so they could have hired basically anyone they wanted. So you have to assume this was an active decision someone made and not just a thing that happened for lack of options. But in all my searching, Moore wasn’t mentioned except to just say she wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Lee. It was just the baking show and the Youtube clip.

Until today.

(4) I’m going to preface this by saying this doesn’t actually answer the question in a big AHA! way, but it is the only interview I’ve seen about Wish from Moore besides the red carpet clip.

On December 15th, Moore gave this interview with the San Antonio Current.

I stumbled across it while searching for a different piece of information and eagerly clicked to see what she had to say after three weeks of silence after the movie dropped on November 22.

Here are some highlights:

-In high school she was a theater kid and thought she wanted to pursue acting. 

-I college she did playwriting and eventually she got her MFA from Iowa (which has a weirdly great MFA program btw, and also, this interview is how I confirmed she was the playwright Allison).

-When she started on the theater track at her college, she told them she was a playwright so she could study that too even though she’d never written a play before. So it sounds like Wish isn’t the first time she’s just jumped into a new thing without experience. You have to respect the hustle.

But this is the most important line in the interview because it’s like, an answer and a non-answer all in one. She’s asked, “How did you go from writing plays to writing for TV and film?”

And her answer is, “I had a whole career writing for theater, and then when my son was born, I realized I needed to make more money, so I started pitching for TV. I worked in television for about a decade. In the midst of working in TV, I continued playwriting. That's how I got on the radar at Disney.”

Which kind of sidesteps the most intriguing part of the question? Like, first of all, it’s not 100% clear if she means her playwriting or her TV writing caught Disney’s attention. I’m guessing playwriting, but I could be wrong. Secondly, who is “Disney” in this situation? A Disney recruiter? A Disney director? Did Jennifer Lee see a production of Slasher: A Horrifying comedy while passing through Texas and think, “Her. I want her to be my co-writer on this children’s film.” And what did she do to impress them so much that they right away put her on the the *Anniversary Project*? Like, I know I keep harping on this but I can’t stress enough how big of a deal this is. It’s hard enough to write for just your average sitcom or little movie. To just jump on something this big is baffling. I obviously don’t expect Disney to be justifying their every hiring decision publicly but, usually, when someone is doing something like this, it’s very obvious why they were chosen and, even with this sliver of explanation, it’s still frustratingly opaque. And with the strange post hoc timing of the interview (seriously, doesn’t promotion usually happen PRE movie release?) It almost reads like an interview that exists because someone realized the lack of any online presence was weird. 

(5) When she was a kid, Allison Moore had a crush on Fox Robin Hood. That’s not at all important to the mystery, that’s just information she volunteered during the interview and that I’m now sharing with you. So when you search her name now, the top results are me wondering who she is, her IMDB, and her talking about how she liked Fox Robin Hood's little hat. Which isn't a LOT of information, but it’s more than we had before and that’s something.  

[artoatsblog]

Did you enjoy my middle school au?

good because here's more on it.

Ok first things first, Rick and Nicky were made in a lab, they look kind of off normally and they can turn into flesh abominations for fun.

Nicky acts aloof but they just don't know how to talk to people, Narcis says shit like "Yeah, I hate humans too, I hate them so much we should be friends." 2012 website behavior/pos, it works too because Nicky thinks their unironically cool.

The challenger can pick up people twice his height with literally no problem.

Due to how Nicky was made they have the defect where their limbs, just, fall off, their "parents" (The dockers who made them) give them prosthetics and tell them to cover up (there limbs grow back, don't worry), at one point challenger saw their robotic arm and Nicky said they were a robot, challenger believed them.

Rick needs glasses but he never where's them because he thinks there for nerds (he bumps into everything.)

Hurricane usually has dreads but whenever he has his natural hair out, it, is, so, large.

Gabby jay is only 10 years younger than the original version, but he looks far younger, he has one (1) gray hair and stars crying about it and then Hoy drop kicks him into space.

Dragon Chan is still named Dragon because his ass is HYPERFIXATED on them, almost all of his shirts have dragons on them, Rick ones showed him a dragon anime about maids and he almost fainted, he loves Eragon, he loves lotr and wants dnd.

Dragon also has a lot of acne.

Aarn is Dragon's only friend, Aarn is also a metal head.

Everyone is convinced that Heike is an alien (he's not for the record).

Heike is friends with Narcis and Bob Charlie

Charlie sees the odd shit Heike does and just goes "Oh, Heike you're so silly :)".

There's a paranormal club with three members, mad clown who only joined because his mom said he needed to make friends, Masked muscle the founder of the club, and Aarn who talks about getting abducted (lie).

Heike dresses like a 2000's Disney channel star he unironically wares a skirt over jeans.

[pixiedust-poppers]

Okay so after you reblogged my post about jatnp I’ve been stalking your blog and I didn’t realize there was a fandom for this show?!?

Anyways while I was looking down your blog I kept getting more questions so I figured I’d do it all in one ask.

Do you think all the Disney neverland stuff exists in the same universe (the Disney verse or just specifically the neverland stuff) and if you do what’s your explanation for the discrepancies. Ex the missing lost boys in jatnp and then the lost boys showing up in Peter pan 2 or Captain Hook not knowing how to use pixie dust in jatnp but he flies well in the pirate fairy etc? I have some of my own theories that I’ve been adding to my notes app of Disney timeline from Covid but I’d love to hear someone who is clearly a strong fan, since you definitely would be more knowledgeable than me.

And if you don’t think that it’s the same universe, like athena p (ooh name twins), that YouTuber who made a video on jatnp (thank you for posting that on your blog, it was a very enjoyable watch - she has a stf video?!?! That show was my Covid) or do you have a different theory on why / how it’s not the same timeline.

Also going off of athena p’s video what’s your thoughts on the time loop / fairy’s controlling everything theory that athena p mentions?

And then what are your ships? By what I’m seeing for your posts and reblogs that Izzy is basically shipable with anyone. Anyways I’d love to hear your favourites.

And then I’ve seen you mention fanfiction, have you written any on ao3 or Wattpad? I’d love to read it.

Along with that if you have any ff recommendations with either grown up / aged up crew or darker themes, that’s something I’d read.

And then this is my half baked theory but how do you think the doubloons come from? Because it’s like green pixie dust do you think it’s another form of fairy alchemy zarina created that’s like transportation? Idk if that’s a popular fanon theory or if it’s a stupid idea that is easily disproved.

Along with that what do you think the origins of the crew are? (Because I’ve seen some mentions of izzy being adopted by fairies which is very interesting)

Ok that’s all you don’t have to answer everything, I’m not sure if one big ask is preferable to a whole bunch or smaller asks, but what’s done is done.

Well well. this took a few days to craft. Its a bit of a long one so buckle up, I decided to do this all in one go, because it makes more sense than breaking it up even though it would be faster. So enjoy this long-ass ask…

cracks knuckles Ok Let’s break this down 

Yes! Yes hello! We are very small, but we are here!

To start off, I don’t think it's in the same universe as the regular Disney neverland, or well they could be but you would have to cut out certain episodes to make it work. Also JATNP’s neverland would mess with the Original Peter Pan movie/Neverland universe, timeline + world the movies have set. So Jatnp is just in another version of Neverland that’s a mix of the Disney property and some elements from the original book. Because in Peter pan remember they don’t like Pirates so why would Peter have a pirate team in this movie? The boys would be lost boys and Izzy wouldn’t be here. But Peter Pan obviously happened (in Jake’s universe), but he never told either group about one another for some reason, like Jake and his crew didn’t know about Wendy till literally that night when Peter asked them to go get her. But Wendy + the brothers did meet the lost boys as she lead them to The Hangman’s tree, where hammocks and Peter’s bear throne was set up as well as some of the brother’s things were there (no Jake and his crew didn’t know where this was, implying that he ALSO never told them about this or the Lost Boys) Speaking of lost boy’s where are they? It’s obvious why the Native Americans are not mentioned but The Lost Boys, I can only assume that they weren’t in Jatnp because of money reasons or that the animators didn’t want to animate six more kids? For show reasons, you could theorize that the lost boys left once they realize they all missed having mothers and are now out in London with their adopted families, and Peter never told Jake and his crew about Wendy, or the lost boys was because he didn’t want them getting the idea of leaving. After all he DID bring them to neverland to protect it and they can’t do that if you present them with the idea of how the others left lol

But judging by the pitch bible, these guys (minus izzy) were supposed to be the lost boys Jake was originally named Slightly and Nibs... well Nibs, and Cubby while not exactly like Curly there is some semblance, or maybe they were place holder names until they could finalize things. I mean if you’re a showrunner trying to pitch to your boss that “hey we should re-visit that Peter Pan property again, but this time make it preschool show and more pirate!” you are going to have to sell them that certain characters could totes work and once it gets approve either rework them or drop them once you realize they don’t work. 

*Quick Peter interlude- He also couldn’t be the same movie Peter because he’s just. Too nice, less childish and older brother-y in the series, to be considered his movie counterpart. But he seems lowkey negligent of them considering whenever he comes these kids are willing to do just about anything for his undivided attention.

As For Captain Hook, you’re just going to have to take Zarina out of your mind for this show’s canon. I’m sure the other Disney fairies do exist but for Jatnp, his history with that woman just does not exist and I don’t think they ever intended to make it so. He’s ‘supposed’ to be Hook from the original movie not from the Disney fairies’ movies. The Pirate fairy didn’t debut till 2014 and by that point the show was already on for 4 years why they never did a ‘crossover’ or have a pr marketing thing to promote the movie is beyond me, especially since she’s a pirate and all. I guess they thought girl related pirate things and fairies wouldn’t sell??? … then again Pixie hollow online did shut down in 2013..I guess Disney didn’t think fairy anything was worth heavily promoting? Dunno.

But back to the show’s canon, you could put Zarina in there (like the rest of the fairies) and Hook either distantly remembers her or doesn’t remember her period since that was a long time ago, and who knows how long it’s been since he’s aged? (Continued below)

Speaking of aging let’s go into that Time loop. But before that my thoughts on the video, I’ll admit... It wasn’t my favorite. I feel like she skimmed over alot about the series and the certain things within it for example, time does pass in neverland as they do have holidays and seasons (well ... just winter apparently). And the idea of Sharky and Bones being the ultimate gods behind the scenes of things, I just no, if I wanted to really care about pirate men in a more meaningful way, I would watch Pirates of Caribbean or Our Flags Mean Death. And I wished she focused on the kids more because they are their own little individuals and there some points you can bring about their dynamic that are like ‘wtf?’ for example, Jake never leaves his friends with a sword or his previous ones to protect themselves when he gets a new one. Or when he does give over his sword, he always gives it to cubby for some reason despite Izzy being his first mate. Then Izzy, she clowned on my girl so badly that she didn’t bring up the point that Izzy from beginning to end the only useful thing she got from peter or neverland is the pixie dust, while the boys got more (i.e. Jake… everything and Cubby a map, a compass, learning magic with Beardini) meanwhile she’s also pushed to side in favor of letting the boys shine, she does get her episodes don’t get me wrong . (Also, it’s interesting because the series tries to show that girls and women can be the lead, be captains and princess without being tied to men… but it fails because Red Jessica, Molly, and Winger were clearly made to be love interest. Misty, the PP, Queen Caroline, and Marina fades from recurring to basically non-existent. The only woman to make to the S3 final was Beatrice and then poof she is gone. Leaving Izzy, who slowly loses her usefulness + main identity as the less they go on adventures together and the more Jake just solves the issues with his sword and they give her NOTHING ELSE to focus on or anything, despite her being close with the mermaids, knowing a lot about neverland + its items, and she’s willing to adventure by herself if the boys don’t give a shit about what interest her. Not counting Wendy + Tinkerbell they’re special characters.) Which I find both sad but also a bit ??? considering if you look in her gallery on the Fandom wiki under merchandise has her own ship and they also give her a sword with one of her minifigures, so they could have given her more things but they just never did. But I will say her line at 1:12:14 (“And Izzy turns invisible, just like every other girl in this series”) did get a laugh out me and unfortunately, she is telling the truth. BUT I also know that Athena was Busy with important IRL things and JATNP is ALOT especially when you factor in the other Neverland universe so it can get overwhelming and she was already stressed about the video so while I’m still happy we got the video, I think that some things could be improved. 

But ANWAY BACK TO TIMELOOP. I think its an interesting theory that could explain why Hook or the others don’t emotionally mature and there’s something that is just devastating about that, because he can be shown to change but because of this time loop he is unable to and in the end no matter what lesson he learns will be fruitless because the loop just resets and he's back to square one. It’s honestly sad if you think about it because if you think about it with the Kids, he could learn to be a better person (sort of) and eventually realize that it's time to move on. He can’t chase Peter forever. But Neverland will always need a villain and even with all the threats they continue to introduce no has come as close to matching the Icon that is Captain hook, plus Peter doesn’t give a shit about them lmao, who’s going to be his biggest hater other than hook. 

But I do not think that the fairies are doing all this, I think it’s neverland itself. I was told by @/perciouslittletoonette that the neverland in the book can apparently physically stop and hold you in place you from entering it if it doesn’t want you there. Also, that it’s always moving?? (towards Peter) AND can also look into your mind and see if you want to go somewhere and if it does not want you there it can fuck with its own geography and make something that takes usually 30 min to get to a 2-day trip. Which is so terrifying that I have to make neverland responsible for all the mindfuck things that can possibly happen and considering that this island geography changes almost daily for these kids I can’t fathom other horrifying shit this sentient island can do. Also, since it can also make you forget about your past life and according to Battle for the book, Neverland itself entirely if wendy’s book is away from them for a long period of time…Yeeeeeeeeah this island is fucked, why did Peter leave these kids in the vicinity of this place.

The doubloons? I have no idea where those things come from, hell the island probably just teleports them from other various hidden treasures around Neverland when the kids survive or do sometimes it deem as morally good as both a reward and motivation but also as compensation. Because I’m not sure how the fairies would know of all the kids happen without them noticing the fairies at least ONCE. so, this is probably the island’s magic again. But I do think it would be funny if the doubloons just came from the bottom of their team treasure because their chest is so full that they don’t even notice them missing. 

Now onto origins! Jake + Cubby are obviously from the Mainland, because they recognize a lot of sport and modern objects that show up on pirate island. Hook doesn’t, which is why he often takes their things and then doesn’t know what to do with them which then brings up the question “Hey if it's 1906 in London…where did Peter get these kids from?” In which my only thought is that when he was traveling in the lands beyond the neversea after the lost boys left, he went through a different star and landed in a new era of the mainland and on a different continent each time. For example, I think he got Jake from Britain (so he’s British), Cubby from Scandinavia (Sweden; I headcanon him as German/Swedish, yes, he can still speak both.). Izzy is Latina/French (she would be from the US, specifically Miami) if she’s from the mainland.

 I say “If” because I’m not sure Izzy is from the mainland. Listen, this girl knows too much shit about this island, and the artifacts + legends within it at 7 years old. Which brings up this theory that I saw in a fic and really liked it, and it’s that Izzy is from the mainland, but she has already been in Neverland for DECADES before she ever met Jake and Cubby (in case you're wondering how long she has been missing in the fic she has apparently been missing since 1907, she was born in 1900. Jake was born in 1935, cubby in 1941. And she doesn’t meet them until 1944 and 1948 with the forever quest taking place in 1950.) I could not imagine being stuck in this place for 43 goddamn YEARS, I do not know how she did not go insane by 1917 (well she did later... But like for different reasons) Remember this is someone else’s interpretation but I really do like this as an explanation on why she knows too much shit about neverland. My theory that does not involve the mainland is simply the island quite literally created her. Peter was Gone, maybe the lost boys followed him and the island was lonely and with some help of the natives and fairies, boom made herself a child so it wouldn’t be lonely. Yes, I do think a sentient island can do this, this thing is like an eldritch cosmic being to me. And to make a long story short; Izzy was created (no infant-toddler period; she was just born a child) by the island to replace Peter + Lost boys, then it lured her to the dense part of the jungle once they returned and basically trapped her there via endless jungle loop. This side of the jungle also just so happens to hold the fairies and Pixie Hollow and they eventually take izzy in as their own. ….I’m still trying to think about the rest of this but this is the general idea and I KNOW this would be easily debunked by watching Pirates sitting pirates but whateverrrrr, headcanons rule. Now for the fun stuff. Ships* and Fics

*I should note that like my other fandom, if a ship doesn’t involve my favorite character, then I’m either neutral or I don’t care. Unless I vehemently hate it for reasons.

Jake/Izzy - From a shipper to anti-jizzy to once again liking it, the essay I could write about these two and how despite my early love for it, the fandom basically made me fall out of love with them, because no one ever went anything beyond surface level and no one ever did anything new - it was crush -> love -> marriage -> shitton kids -> that’s it, nothing interesting with it. OR when someone did, it was once again the most surface level shit (Abuse and SA, no they did not explore the complex trauma that comes with Izzy being Abused by Jake, someone she has trusted for years, Also no Jake faced no consequences.) and became “oh it was just a ‘’’mistake’’’, we’re still besties”, and in the end they got married and kids anyway. So it was the same method but with unnecessary steps that doesn’t affect their dynamic in a scenario where it def should. Also, I’m not saying that traditional fluff and love between them can’t be done but when you see it over 1000 times and can predict the end result each time, it got boring.  

But to me now (going to overanalyze the hell out them for a moment excuse me), Jake x Izzy could be the interesting case of “We’ve known each other for DECADES, I’ve seen you at your highest and I’ve seen your absolute worst, yet I will still be by your side till the end. I know I won’t find someone like you again.” They’re so familiar with one another that trying to do the same with someone else from a different planet (earth) would take alot of time so why bother? I also think they ground each other in a way that they both do need, Jake for example sometimes need to be told No and that he’s being reckless, and Izzy is going to do that in a really blunt manner. Or sometimes Jake will have to be the one to calm her down and not be so hotheaded and not let the first things that slip out her mouth be something that is hurtful or rude, but to more empathetic and be nicer. I know it’s not their original personalities. But please bear with me I’m trying to make them less as a unit and more individual-

John Darling/izzy - Nerd x nerd come on. His gentleman Bri ish swag won her over, and they’re very cute when they interact. I think that if Izzy were to leave neverland and stay with him I think they would be okay, though that depends if he survives WW1 if he doesn’t then I think that she would go back to Neverland or maybe emigrate to America or something... That got dark fast uh anyways-. 

Marina/Izzy - You said something about tragic sapphic relationship? I’m here for it. Now you could do this cute thing, where after they realize it’s pointless to have beef over liking the same boy, he’s probably not interested anyway so what’s the point of being enemies? And their relationship begins to heal, and they become close friends again and then realize “holy shit... I like her.” and boom love. They are now in a relationship yay!

Now let's think about this tragedy, come walk with me a bit- Who do you think is willing to sacrifice their livelihood for the other? After all, Marina is a mermaid and Izzy is a human Pirate with legs. The question is “Do you love me enough to become a mermaid forever or have legs forever?” Because while I’m sure both options have their pros they most certainly have their cons. Cons for Marina being - her family is down there, her livelihood and things she holds dear, the ocean and its creatures are important to her and who says the potion that makes her human is reversible and what will you have to sacrifice for said potion? Such a spell doesn’t come for free you know. Then there’s Izzy, she’s a pirate, I know she’s pushed to the background, but she enjoys her life going on adventures and the fairies still trust her with pixie dust. Not saying there isn’t adventure in the ocean as well but one might go insane with how much blue and ocean there is, not to mention that most of her friends would still be on the surface so who will she communicate with? Who is willing to constantly go out on adventures with her that farther and farther out of the mermaid's comfort zone?

I could see Marina being worried whenever Izzy goes off with Jake on more dangerous and dangerous adventures, and don’t let them be adventures where they go beyond the neversea. She wants to sail alongside them to make sure Izzy will be safe but at the same time, she doesn’t want to venture far because she knows if she’s captured out there then she’ll be mermaid meat. Each time Izzy comes back there is a new scar from battle and she wonders one day if Jake will bring back her corpse. Izzy knows there are no reassuring words she can give Marina that will relieve her worry. You can consider their relationship a constant worry “What if you never return?” and the other trying to downplay the very real possibility that she CAN die.

✨crossover👑

Sofia (yes the first) x Izzy - Pirate x princess girl edition boom. A very sweet relationship and Izzy would probably tell sofia to sit the hell down every once in a while. 

Amber x Izzy - Pirate x Princess enemies to lovers’ girl edition. I’m pretty sure Izzy and Amber would buttheads more often than not. But I do think they can encourage and bring out different sides of one another for the better... Or for worse!

Fics!

Oh gooood do I! 

One of my favorite fics of all time is this one from ficbook

Часть 1, Тонущий корабль — фанфик по фэндому «Джейк и пираты Нетландии» (ficbook.net) (Sinking ship) - Oh my god. The concept that Izzy was supposed to be the new Peter Pan and Jake was supposed to be the new Captain Hook. But Jake being selfish and wanting to be Peter pan himself because he thinks he’s worthy of it. He basically spits on the crew’s friendship and changes his destiny. Leaving Izzy to go to Captain Hook and tells him to train her to be like him. (Cubby stayed with her, she couldn’t bear to leave him to someone like Jake, who already abandoned him). And in the end, she fills his role both figuratively and literally. Girl. She fucking WILLINGLY feeds her hand to tick tock croc to LITERALLY fill his role, took his hook and everything. That is so fucking metal of her, and I love her for it. It’s a good read, I really recommend it. Sad ending tho :(

Часть 1, Потерянные детки — фанфик по фэндому «Джейк и пираты Нетландии» (ficbook.net) (Lost Kids) - BITTERSWEET. The trio just trying to do their best to stay sane on an island they so desperately want to leave but can’t. It's mostly from the third Povs of Jake and izzy but still I can’t help but feel for these guys. It does make you wonder, what if these kids want to leave someday, once they get tired of being pirates will the island or Peter let them leave? If not, then why? How many times have they tried to get out? It makes you think.

I am the Psycho Pirate Chapter 1: What Happened?, a jake and the never land pirates fanfic | FanFiction Jake gets back from traveling with Peter from the lands beyond the neversea and the weird thing? He has grown up to the age of 15 AND neverland is quiet AND half of pirate island is burned down, Cubby is acting strange yet bitter toward him. Skully is nowhere to be seen and Izzy is as well. Yet there are rumors going around about this Psycho Pirate… who is this psycho pirate and why is everyone being so weird about it. The abuse Izzy and cubby suffer through in flashbacks will get dark, particularly for Izzy so uh content warning for physical abuse and sexual assault. The sequel is currently still in progress! So, after you read this and maybe the prequel if you can stomach it, check it out!

Eye of the Storm - Chapter 1 - Seerless - Jake and the Never Land Pirates [Archive of Our Own] It's unfinished but it's basically about the crew breaking apart and going their separate ways and what they go through during this period away. But they’re going to reunite in the end dw. So far only Izzy and Cubby’s chapters are out but they’re still a good read. The Hand is Gone - TheBackyardigirl - Jake and the Never Land Pirates [Archive of Our Own] Evil Peter hours! And he gives Jake the hook treatment! and it's very well written and a bit gory too. But Jake stumbles around as he loses blood all the while trying to comprehend why Peter did this to him, leaving an ambiguous ending. I really hope the author comes back and does a part 2 :[

[Content warning for physical abuse and some sexual abuse for these next to fics, I’m so serious if you are uncomfortable with stuff like that don’t read these]

Peter's Wrath Chapter 1: The abuse begins, a jake and the never land pirates fanfic | FanFiction We got evil Peter hours again hellll yeah! Not on purpose this time, however, though it might seem that way. This is purely Peter verbally and physically abusing them the fic and them trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with him. It can get brutal but does get ridiculous towards the end especially when they figure out what's wrong with him. If you think he’s going to jail after this you will be disappointed. 

The Wrath's Revenge Chapter 1: Prologue, a jake and the never land pirates fanfic | FanFiction

Sequel to Peter’s Wrath, my Roman fucking empire. This is from Izzy’s pov and if you thought Izzy had suffered enough under Peter, Jake is about to show you he needs to be locked up immediately. This is Izzy just being domestically abused and she’s only 11. You're going to question why she didn’t just run or try to blind him with pixie dust at points. Also shit will get very brutal and bordering on Sexual assault towards the end. However, it's the ending that makes me lose my fucking mind, the WAY that Izzy gets Jake back to normal is the Stupidest fucking idea I’ve seen simply because if you were to try to apply it to a real-life situation, it absolutely wouldn’t fucking work and the assaulter would just laugh in your face and probably think you want it more. And then he faces NO consequences for his actions, and Izzy somehow isn’t weary, or nervous or doesn’t feel any negative emotions or feeling from this simply because he was “possessed” MY ASS. That being said, this fic for me is important because when I read it when I was young, it was something that was new and violent and it involved Jizzy no less, so while it might not be the greatest thing in the world, it’s a nostalgia read. 

Now to end this, I do have an ao3! It's MaggotsMeat. If you’ve looked on there and Saw a work named “Clarity” that’s my writing!^^ I have a lot more WIPs in my google docs lol that I can barely focus on but I do hope to crank them out soon and write more… eventually!

[hearty-an0n]

Bad quality photos I will scan them @ school tomorrow but have some lesbian amys

I don't know why courf turned yellow in the last image I don't have any good brown pencils (Cosette looks weirdly grey irl because my pencils hate me) so suffers, that's why Bahorel, Combeferre and Musichetta are basically the same colours girl help I have one (1) good brown HELP

Anyway headcanons as a treat:

Combeferre: bisexual but very un interested in that sorta romance stuff, would probably id as demi if he cared enough to. Kind of guy to wear suspenders for practicality, has a glasses chain. Combeferre's face claim to me is 100% chidi from the good place, that is Combeferre 2 me.

Courfeyrac: sexuality? Yes. Gender? No. Courf uses he/him for convenience only. Longs to be a DJ, has a crush on Jehan and learnt tarot for them.

Jehan: they/any queer, knits their own sweaters, owns 200 plants that have slowly consumed everything they love, not getting their deposit back.

Feuilly: distinctly Irish to me, owns every single obscure tool known to man, Swiss army knife owner of a person, most people would assume eponine is the go to to pick locks? WRONG feuilly. Unclear on sexuality but Enjolras had a crush on him for years.

Joly: has pots and eds, guy who falls over all the time forever, despite dislocating joints and being in a relationship with bossuet and BEING A MED STUDENT he is horrifically squeamish about injury and unless he's in a professional setting he is stressed. Owns an asthma puffer not because he is asthmatic but because he knows that Marius would rather die than carry one on his own.

Bossuet: nose broken 1 million times, he doesn't have an excuse for how many joints he's dislocated but he is rivalling Joly. He is kind of nearsighted but never wears glasses because he broke them. His running gag is that he is working in a new job every single week and manages to be fired and hired at a truly monumental rate.

Musichetta: has never played a bass before but is convinced that she could, has been trying to lure eponine into the polycule for months to little success, extremely bisexual and it is everyone else's problem.

Cosette: has extremely strong opinions about Elle Woods, despite being built like a Disney princess she is allergic to every single animal, studies law to try and help people like fantine and valjean.

Marius: I'm probably a trans woman but I have work so idc. Has not acknowledged that he is bisexual in hopes that it will go away. Most autistic guy to ever live.

Eponine: I never get hcing eponine as a mother figure to gavroche first of all, she doesn't even know gavroche, secondly, she would set Azelma on fire if she could get away with it, stop trusting her with her siblings. Biggest girl failure to ever live, full-time job of lying on the floor crying. Has a vivid original story in her head that she has only ever told grantaire, he drew her ocs and she cried. was obsessed with Bratz as a kid.

Bahorel: person you would call for disposing of a body, he enjoys hiking and no one trusts that, was the first of Les Amis to get his license and proceeded to lose it within weeks. Is semi regularly told "you should be a therapist" and when he says he's studying law they nod and go "no ok that makes sense"

Grantaire: BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER that's it that's all I have to say .

Enjolras: gay, disabled, I don't remember how this hc came to be but it did, these designs are not my trans enjolras because my trans enjolras is identical twins w/ Cosette, however, this Enjolras is Felix Tholomyes' son w/ his wife (Cosette is an affair baby) and so they r half siblings. Dad died and mother was deemed unfit to raise him so he was placed in valjean's care because the system wanted to reunite the siblings, idk if that's how it rlly works but it is how it works 4 me. Raging fucking commie, exploding all liberals w/ his mind.

MARIUS SOOOOO TRUE SO TRUE i love them all sm i love jehan’s jacket. love love loveeee musichetta EPONINE IN THEIR POLYCULE IS SUCH…. i have never imagined before but i love that. cosette serving aurora realness

[almadesarrollo]

MLB London Special, S6 and the bad decisions they are making 😱Part 2 and end.

PART 1 :

Ok, let's talk about the S6, it hasn't been released yet, and I would almost say that it's better because for what awaits us, I prefer it🤣 :

ANIMATION: WE HAVE NEW ANIMATION AND IT SHOWS, the good thing? that they will prevent errors of this type from happening again🤣:

The bad thing is that there will be a longer hiatus because it means more time and more work, and could this be bad in the long run? Yes, and this is what causes me a big problem with Miraculous.

MLB has POOR ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANIZATION, BUT, IN ADDITION, THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO KEEP THE "FLAME ALIVE", WHICH CAN REALLY KILL MLB 😓.

Ok, let me explain better, there is a long hiatus from one premiere to another, right? And if we receive news and updates etc… but that doesn't help people to be aware, you have to give them something else, logically Thomas is anti spoiler 😂 , precisely what makes people think and elaborate theories and therefore, make content, which makes the series continue to be popular, but then what does it give us in that interval? NOTHING!!! that's the problem 😑.

You're telling me that with all the money they make, they can't even release a comic that talks about, for example, how Emilie and Gabriel met? What about the chibis series? We don't even see them anymore… and if we do see them, it's a chapter every 3 months and how long do they last? seconds. Isn't there anyone who can release things while the other thing is in development? Something that TAKES LITTLE TIME AND MONEY? It seems not🤨 , then people get tired… everything has to be done at the same time, everything has to be synchronized, and of course, since then they don't even clarify anything, what happens happens: they release it, then they don't release it, it gets cancelled, it doesn't get cancelled… errors in animation, etc.

THEY ARE NOT ORGANIZED WELL 🙄​, there is no need for everything to be SO CONTROLLED… while one thing is developing another can be done, because this series has many things to explain and it does not necessarily have to be tied to current events (I mean what happened to Emilie and Gabriel) this is where the series is in danger, I have seen very little activity from the fandom since the premiere in London and I am not surprised if they do not give us anything… but wait there is more 😂

THE STORY: THIS IS THE WORST 😂

LOOK AT THE S6 CHAPTERS LIST:

do you notice something strange in the titles 😐? HALF ARE RECYCLED, HALF!!!! Look, I have always defended this for the reasons you know in my previous posts, but I think that everything has a limit, 😐 how is this possible with the new animation they have, then what does it mean? that s6 will have something new in half of the chapters more or less, and that is where the important thing will begin (it is certain that Felix will appear in 3 or 4 chapters, for the importance that it should really have) then put yourself in that situation​🙃​:

To those who are waiting with enthusiasm, don't get your hopes up😂, because you'll have to add some more time to the wait, taking into account that these recycles are filler… and no, it's not worth it for you to tell me that it will be more dramatic, please, don't treat us like fools because we're not… we all know what's going to happen in season 6 with the protagonists…😑​ S6 and we're still like this and on top of that with a delayed date?

We can talk about more things but I feel like this is the main thing so nah....

[conclusion] Miraculous and its fandom are going to die, it's just a matter of time, if not now, then later, so, you know what I'm saying? While these people get organized, I'll go back to my favorite Disney hero 😍 because now with the sequel, there's a lot to talk about and theorize and (so if you're a fan of Disney and Hercules, you already know 😍) do you know what's the strongest? THAT THIS SEQUEL IS CARRIED OUT BY 4 CATS, AND IT'S FUCKING WELL DONE AND WRITTEN​​🤩​ , if comic format, not the greatest thing, but well done, where you can see how the writers and cartoonists really know the characters well and give them their continuity knowing what they write and draw and how they do it… how is it possible that Miraculous can't do this being so big now… anyway…😑

I am currently with MLB 😎.

Like, reblog, and follow me if you liked the content and also to see more of this type.

[dausy]

I have officially lived in El Paso for a year but if anybody asks I've only been here for a few months ok. I gotta still use that "I'm new here" excuse. But here's my thoughts on this city from an outsiders point of view looking in. This is in no way to shame any persons or cultures, it is just me pointing out differences compared to other places I've lived.

So first things first, I have lived in many places in my life and every time I move, the locals ALL say the same things "Nothing ever happens here/its boring here/theres nothing to do here/we have the worst drivers". Everybody self depreciates and never has anything nice to say about where they live.

El Paso has what I consider some major positives to me. Because it does have things to do here. Theres an outdoors community. There are hikers and there are outdoor rock climbers. I suppose somebody out there goes hunting but I don't know anything about that. I'm sure theres somewhere to go kayaking too. But we are in the desert and theres a lot of brown, so its different than outdoors on the east coast.

There is shopping. I really care about "living in suburbia" I want, what I consider, my "luxury" stores. Before I move I google the stores a town/city has because if they can afford to have certain stores then they probably have a level of comfort that I enjoy in my every day life. El Paso does have a huge, living mall. Malls are dead and dying elsewhere, you're lucky to see a bath and body works in some places. El Paso, does have one thats alive. Which is an oddity these days. It doesn't have a food court but it does have the new Abercrombie adult line and an athleta and a lululemon and your boxlunch stores. It has some cool anime and gaming stores. It has a lot of those japanese gotchupon machine things. Like its very nice. On the other side of the mall they have a kpop store. They can afford things like those sushi restaurants with the conveyor belts. They have an outdoor outlet mall with a disney store!!!! (!?!??!), a whole foods (!!!1) and ofcourse other things like top golf and one of those touristy skydiving places. The few things this city is missing is theres no IKEA, no REI, no bass pro shop. But I was honestly just happy to have a homegoods and a super target. The one walmart and super target they have down here are REALLY nice. Thats probably setting the bar low but when you're used to driving an hour+ away to get to these things, its amazing to have them.

Also, I've been a spanish student for many years now and I really wanted to obtain some form of immersion. I could literally walk to Juarez. I can look out my window and see Juarez. There is spanish here. I have learned a TON since moving here.

now some of the odd things that I've noticed: again this is not to attack anybody. Just because I'm not a fan doesn't necessarily mean anything is in the wrong, its just different and culture shock. I think this is the weirdest place I've ever lived in and we lived in Japan and Albuquerque, ok.

Again, the spanish language. Not a jab, I wanted to learn and I'm learning but it takes a special type of person to learn a new language, especially as an adult. America is so huge that in many places you are lucky to hear something other than english every blue moon. People here in El Paso have told me "you don't need spanish to live here" but they do NOT understand that the amount of spanish spoken here is so foreign that it feels like you're in a different country. The last time my brain felt this overwhelmed with another language was when we were traveling through Italy. The return plane trip back, when I heard an American accent for the first time, I literally felt like my brain melted in a sigh of relief. Thats how I feel here. You step outside and everything is in spanish. At walmart the signs are in spanish and the overhead announcements are in spanish (in english too, but in Powell Tennessee you are not going to see or hear anything in spanish) it is so blatantly in a different language. I can go an entire day at work and every single one of my patients speak spanish only. Even though I really wanted to learn and I want to say I'm conversationally fluent, it is so far outside my comfort zone, my brain wants to run back to east coast, so it can relax in english.

The other thing is, I have heard that El Pasoans are extremely friendly and they will welcome you into their houses and treat you like family and feed you food. Which is probably true and I have had coworkers feed me but the general population, outdoors, in public settings do not show friendliness the same. Again, I don't mean this negative, I don't mean that the population is a mean population, its just different.

When I first moved to Tennessee, we were looking for a house and we would get creeped out so bad by people. We would be driving through neighborhoods and everybody outside, whether they were walking their dogs or playing with their kids, they will stop to wave at you and smile like robots. If you are standing in line at the grocery store, the person behind you will start up a conversation with you about anything. They'll ask you how your day was and what you plan on doing later. Its a very overly creepy nice and it took a long time to get used to. They do similar in Georgia and Alabama. I could be an axe murderer and everybody smiles and waves at you. Its creepy.

somehow, I kinda miss it. Here in El Paso, you could be walking through a store, nobody is going to look you in the face, nobody is going to apologize for being in the way/moving out of the way/if they need to squeeze by. They wont shoulder check you, but they're not going to make room for you and they are not moving out of the way. Its the same thing when crossing the street in a parking lot. They're not going to look both ways before crossing the street. They're not going to apologize for walking out in front of a car. If I'm the pedestrian, a car is not going to stop for me. I have never heard one "I'm sorry/excuse me" since being here. Again in the southern east coast you tended to get caught in "no you first" arguments. Whether you're at a 4way stop or trying to cross the street. I could be walking my dog and I may try and wave a car on because it would be faster for the car to go first buts its a guarantee "sign language" fight of "no you go first" before I have to awkwardly sprint across the street because they insisted I go first. They don't do that in El Paso. It is very much everybody is in a personal bubble, they don't want to talk to you or acknowledge you and theres no self depreciating "Im sorry for existing, pardon me as I squeeze through here" like there is where I came from.

and the drivers too. So I would actually argue people drive vaguely slow here. I don't see many people driving faster than 65 other than the odd sports car. Everybody drives pretty slow but they are a literal almost 1million person population so there are A LOT of cars on the road in certain areas. The people here do not want ANYBODY in their lane. They do not want you to go any direction but straight. I may put my blinker on a couple exits in advance to let people behind me know I plan on getting over and that is the ONE time they will decide to speed up to prevent me doing so. I don't understand why. People will speed up to keep you from getting over and they may not even need in that lane. They'll keep you from getting over only for them to then need to keep left. Like, why? I hate driving just because of this. I got rearended twice when living in Savannah and I almost prefer their method of just speeding while playing on the cellphone more. I guess because obviously these people are paying attention while driving and their thought it obviously "OMG NO, YOU CANT GET HERE, SPEED UP" its such a jerk thing to do. I don't understand it.

which reminds me of other bizarre car behavior. It hailed here some odd weeks ago. And on the east coast, people will just leroy jenkins it and keep driving. Some people (like motorcycles) will get off the road, but if its a tornado or hurricane you just drive through it blind. For fun. Here, this is the first time I've ever seen this. Everybody squeezed their car to try and fit under the overpasses on the interstate. It was a 3 lane road and it wasn't just like a couple cars off the side of the road under the overpass, it was a good 20 cars smooshing at awkard angles to fit under this overpass and blocking all interstate traffic until the rain stopped. I kinda like zigzagged and squeezed my car through to get past the stopped cars. NEVER seen that EVER. So WEIRD.

but otherwise, the other thing El Paso has going for it is I've actually managed to find a coffee shop I like more than Starbucks. I've been to many a home-town coffee shop that just tastes like dirtwater. I feel like surpassing starbucks taste shouldn't be that hard. But I found one here. Best iced coffee and el-paso-mex cafe food.

but I'm ready to leave here for sure. Do not want to be here for another 6 months.

[runthepockets]

I've been thinking a lot about "the war on masculinity" today and I came to this conclusion: I don't believe there's any grand war being waged on it, or that men are being "pussified", or whatever, but I do have reservations and resentment toward anything that boils down to "if men would just embrace their feminine sides and paint their nails and wear pink and show their soft sides more, everything would be perfect!" and nothing beyond that.

Look. I like stuffed animals, and chick flicks. There was a point in my life where I was a "boy with long hair" (I had dreads and cornrows till I was like, 14) I tell my little brothers and my dad and my roommate and my friends and pretty much everyone I love in my life that I love them and miss them and am proud of them and when I'm sad or insecure like, every day. I'm chill with dudes who like makeup and skirts and pink stuff, and wholeheartedly believe there's merit and letting these guys know they're as sexy and desirable as any flannel wearing, beefed up dude. I'll admit that there was a point in my life where I was that of your standard homophobic middle school straight boy where I turned my nose up at / mocked guys like that, but now I'm older and wiser and learned better and I have no ill will or condescending remarks or anything to say toward them. I know all that soft stuff pretty intimately, and feel no shame in admitting anything of it.

That said: I still kinda hate the idea that in order to be seen as "nonthreatening" I gotta divulge all of these things about myself. I won't say it's a large scale issue, or whatever, but I do sense the hesitation when I see people recommending that men who worry about their positions as patriarchs under patriarchy and what that means for the women and kids and gay people in their lives, who have never explicitly expressed any prior interest in experimenting with their presentation or interests or genders, simply "accept the feminine side they're so obviously in denial of" as the solution to combatting the capitalist white supremacist patriarchy and the rigid gender roles they're beholden to rather than, like, advising those guys to pick what they like about their current interest / presentations and shirking off all the bits that come off as chauvanistic (IE: I'm a heterosexual, working class dude from the south. I like guns, I like fancy pocket knives, gritty rock music, I like old school muscle cars and 90s pickup trucks and doing shit with my hands. I'm also black and a huge nerd, and am fully aware that these subcultures are very gatekeep-y toward women and gay people, let alone myself as another straight dude solely because of the color of my skin, so I just treat everyone that shows any interest in them the same as I would any other dude.) and simply proceeding on as you were before.

Again, I think it's great that men are very openly wearing skirts and painting their nails and watching magical girl animes, and stuff. That shit is wicked, and I know the occassional "friendly reminder that it's ok for boys to be soft" or "I love boys who've undergone the trials and tribulations of unpacking toxic masculinity, I feel so safe around them" post is helping more than it hurts, and generally isn't the grander opinion society draws to and needs to be said as a result. But also.....idk man, you can't be telling me the only way to escape hegemonic masculinity as a man is by being more like Harry Styles. Or by telling girls you listen to Pop Music and cry over Disney movies. Like even in a world without patriarchy, that's not going to be most men. Even under patriarchy, that's not all women. That's not a sustainable mindset. This can't be all there is. Surely there's a way to enjoy action movies and archery as a man without alienating the marginalized people around you or having to compromise yourself.

[misguided-madness]

As somebody who grew up in Southern California, one of my favorite places in the world is Disneyland, the original park that Walt built. When I was young, I wanted to be an animator and work for Disney. As the crazy kid that was in advanced placement art all through junior high and high school taking college level art classes and such, It was one of my dreams. I was also one of those kids that believed in the magic of Disney and in fairy tales. Something that every Child that falls in love with Disney gets to experience, but as an LGBT kid I didn’t get those reflections in those Disney movies or even in society until recent years. LGBT characters have not been so main stream. Yes, we’ve come a long way since then, and I am a believer that change does come sometimes slow, but that’s how you change hearts as an advocate and activist for the LGBT community for all of my life and running an LGBT organization for 20 years, I’ve learned it takes one heart at a time I can remember moments when I saw the fairytales reflected with me as a reflection they were little tiny things you know the way Jafar from Aladdin seems way too gay and too obsessed with Aladdin I’m just saying, Captain Hook, or how Clocksworth was such a prissy little queen and Lefou was clearly obsessed with Gaston! Heck to this day, I still think Maleficent might a lesbian and all those princes, well little girls were not the only ones crushing on them! Although Disney didn’t directly have the characters in films that reflected me completely. They did reflect the stories of people that were different and how different was good, I mean the first time I was a little boy about three or four years old I remember meeting Mickey for the first time, Mickey hugged me just like every other kid. I’m proud to be different and part of LGBT community, I even still believe in fairytales , even through my current frustrating and sad ending of my long marriage. I know my story is is not over, there’s a happy ending for me, it hasn’t turned me away from being proud or wanting the the prince that loves me and is out there waiting for me. My fairytale isn’t over, I just meet the wrong prince. Ok you get what I’m saying. So, this past June Disney had the first ever official pride night at Disneyland, there have been pride events in the past at Disneyland, but they were not sponsored directly from Disney. I’ve been to a couple of those. But this magical night was the official endorsement of sorts that everybody deserves that Disney fairytale. There was lots of coverage, boycotts, and such and don’t get me started on everything that’s going on in Florida and Disney World. I’m just talking about Disneyland. I watched lots of videos about this special night at Disneyland and secretly would’ve loved to have been there. It just seemed so magical. Well this year being it’s 100th anniversary I wanted to visit the park doesn’t look as though I’ll be able to do that part. I find myself watching some great videos on YouTube, which brings me to my point. The video that I have attached to this post. It’s truly the most beautiful coverage of this event. It’s about 15 minutes long. You should definitely watch it. It warmed my heart in a way that wasn’t because of its content but because of the message that they provided in their coverage, how can anyone hate love, we are so divided in this world right now. It’s heartbreaking, It was nice to see something that showed that as I’ve always said, we are no different we all bleed the same. We all love the same, we all want the same things, we all are living our own fairytales, and we all want our prince or princess, our heroes, our villains or our magical friends. You know that happy ending! So take few minutes, watch it, I guarantee you it’ll warm your heart as it did mine, after you watch it I’d love to hear your comments, and let’s not get political or mean, just live your fairytale, tell me that special, Disney magic or Disney moment that you cherish in your heart, I’d love to read it!

[linabirb]

OK OK SO. 3 16 24 (i was LITERALLY gonna ask abt 6 and 7 but taru beat me to it LMAOAOAOAO) ummm i wanna see for twst and milgram pls <3

HEHEHEHEHE thank you for sending these sol!!

3. "screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr"

twst: OHHHHHH THERE'S A LOT. but i'll keep it short. again, that one bday vignette line and also people saying that riddle will grow up just like his mother despite the character development he got. that one hurts me so much because again, i had said it many times, i have anger issues myself and one of the many reasons why i like riddle is because of how much i relate to him and because he feels so human and not just. you know. "haha angy boi". so seeing things like "ohhh he should never have children because he will treat them like he was treated when he was little" is so. painful.

milgram: tbh there's so many that my brain just kinda refuses to process them anymore ALSO SINCE THE FANDOM IS KINDA SMALL. I FEEL LIKE ALL THOSE POSTS ARE EASY TO FIND but again i'll keep it short: mahiru is NOT a stalker/kidnapper/etc, stop saying she is, she literally said she's not one and i doubt it was a lie and also hhhhhhh i have my. own opinion about whatever is going on with kazui but i don't wanna go into detail but basically. before he himself said that his crime wasn't related to cheating, there were some people who were like.. very passionate about voting him guilty because he's a cheater and like. i'm sorry this is so funny to me like we have a guy who killed a child and MANY different animals, we have a guy who cyberbullied a teenage girl into committing suicide, MIKOTO, SHIDOU LITERALLY ASKED "WHICH ONE" AFTER HE GOT A QUESTION ABOUT HIS VICTIM(S) and cheating is where you draw the line?? 😭😭 ah and also whoever says that it was his wife's fault <3 i'm in your walls right now.

16. "you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)"

twst: HMMMMM LET ME THINK ABOUT IT. okay okay let's see. well, first of all, i'm not a fan of the time loop theory simply because i'm not a fan of time loop tropes in general. i'm pretty sure there was a time (i think it was like.. late 2000's-early 2010's? maybe even earlier) where like ALMOST EVERY SINGLE VISUAL NOVEL, GAME, ANIME, MANGA, ETC (but especially vns), used that trope AND I HATED IT SO MUCH. i love it when time loops are used to make a character go through the same painful event over and over again to completely change their character, but most of the time (haha get it) time loops feel like.. basically it's like writers use them to just explain everything that doesn't exactly make sense in-universe. why does this character say mc looks familiar to them and doesn't elaborate? well that's because they've seen them before in previous loops! why does mc know how this world works even though they've never been there? well that's because time loop! why do these two characters are in love with each other even though they've never even talked? well that's because they were in love in previous loops! i can talk about my hatred for that trope for hours, honestly.

okay, let's talk about characterization. tbh there's not much i can say because.. let's be honest, even though twst characters are definitely deep and interesting and fun, their personalities feel a bit "limited"(?) mostly because of their disney counterparts or because of how strong certain traits of their personalities are. and i'm not complaining.. mostly. i really wish some characters had more personality traits. but what i really hate is when some writers just.. throw away all the "ugly" or "unlikeable" traits of those characters to make them more "imagines-friendly". like i'm sorry, but sometimes i just read some fics and go "he would NOT say that". i know that people love the "OH BUT HE'S NICE TO Y/N" trope, i use it too sometimes, but like.. some people just really forget that this game is about characters who are literally based on disney villains. like it's okay, let them have flaws. and i don't mean those flaws that are like "omg he's so shyyyy >///<" or "hehe he can ramble a lot <3" NO. I MEAN ACTUAL FLAWS.

milgram: it's okay. it's okay guys. i promise it's okay that somebody can't see that character being gay or ships them with someone of an opposite sex. it's okay. and that's coming from someone who has almost no straight ocs.

like, listen, i'm a 0104 shipper. i see their relationship as romantic but i absolutely have nothing against platonic interpretations. but when people see something like ship art and go "muu is literally a lesbian btw" i'm like. i have so many hcs too but it's one thing to say that "hey i think this headcanon is very plausible and i think it's very neat" and to go "IT'S LITERALLY CANON" unironically and not as a joke. like idk, i'm just that kind of person who has lots of headcanons but until i see them actually being confirmed, i won't try to make people change their mind. (and just so you know i'm not trying to deny that she's attracted to girls. she has that vibe and she literally says "i love you" when she sees a girl and her pupils become bigger like?? but come on. it's okay for people to ship her with a male character until she literally says that she's not into boys in canon)

kazui is a whole different thing, i really was interested in the whole "yeah he's gay actually" theory and i love the memes, but now that people are saying it's "officially" canon and lowkey just. kinda being annoying, yeah, i don't even want to look at the tag anymore because i want to see actual theories and i don't want to see another "yeah he's gay so vote him inno". i'm not here to say that it's a dumb reason to forgive him, since we are literally allowed to have all kinds of reasons to forgive a character, but i think it's a weird thing to say when this guy really does seem like a very deep character, but i can't take him seriously anymore because of those theories that don't even sound like theories (and i mean it in a bad way and not bc they sound so canon)

24. "topic that brings up the most rancid discourse"

twst: honestly, this fandom mostly has like.. people-related drama, like this artist/writer/etc did something problematic, things like that. but i think if i had to choose a topic that annoys me the most.. these two topics kinda go together but i'll start with mc's gender. it actually doesn't get discussed that often, since we're supposed to see them as a self-insert, but i've really seen people say things like "mc is obviously supposed to be female" or "mc is obviously supposed to be male", etc.

i'm not going to pretend that i don't have my own opinion and i'm going to say that tbh i see twst mc as being male (one of the reasons why my mc is a guy), but that's mostly just because i usually prefer to play as a guy when it comes to games like that. (honestly if i have a choice, i choose fem mcs very rarely, stelle is like one of the few exceptions) however, i never try to prove why i'm right, i just kinda go "eh you do you". but i'm not gonna lie, those who believe that mc is female are the most annoying ones, like i get it, of course, a large part of twst fandom are women who are attracted to men, but also. there are. so many otome games. no literally a huge reason why i often don't feel comfortable playing otome games is because I HAVE NO IDEA WHY but i really just don't want to play as a girl and i don't want those characters to see my mc as a girl. (i rarely see my mc as a self-insert btw and almost always see them as their own character) LIKE I DON'T KNOW CAN'T PEOPLE WHO SEE THEIR MCS AS MALE/NB HAVE SOMETHING. like i literally love twst and obey me (i really should play it more often but again. my phone doesn't like it and idk if it will run on my tablet) exactly because of how "genderless" their mcs feel and that i can just see them as whatever gender i want them to be. and idk it just.. doesn't feel good when people are trying to remind me that "btw mc is obviously supposed to be a girl" especially when i already kinda know that considering the audience/demographic.

the second topic was probably more popular to discuss when i first got into the game and when it first came out: character x mc or character x character. i was a big character x character enjoyer and didn't really care about character x mc at first until i got interested in riddleyuu and malleyuu. but yeah, watching those sides fight was like. guys you both are losing. like some character x character fans were being mean and hating on self-inserts and some character x mc fans were saying things like "y'all just want more guys to ship". and like. there's nothing wrong with both of those things like calm down. i still can see people arguing because of that, but i just try to ignore them now tbh.

milgram: *clicks on the tag* .. yeah whatever is going on right now.

[icarusthelunarguard]

This Week’s Horrible-Scopes

It’s time for this week’s Horrible-Scopes! So for those of you that know your Astrological Signs, cool! If not, just pick one, roll a D12, or just make it up as you go along. It really doesn’t matter. Better yet! Check out “Heart of the Game, Fredonia” - they can sell you those D12’s with the symbols on them! Get in contact with them on Facebook, shipping to the U.S. only, and tell them “Shujin Tribble” sentcha. “Hail, Hail, Fredonia!” Home of the Blue Devil!

Looks like someone decided to take us up on the whole “bribery” thing and made a topic suggestion: Animal Group Names. And BOY How-Dee did we come through for you. Starting with a list of 121 we ran it through a list-randomizer three times and paired you each with the first twelve that popped up. Some of our favorites didn’t make the cut. So we give Honourable Mentions to… A Crash of Rhinoceroses, A Stud of Mares and a String of Ponies. Not to be confused with a String of Sheep.

Aries 

What do you call a Tactical Assault Pig? That would be a Boar. And calling it that isn’t an understatement. They’re big, mean versions of the cute little OINK-OINK machines that give us bacon. So This Week… The term is A Sounder of Boar. And since we’re currently in their rutting season how about we don’t go Sounding with Boar. OK?

Taurus 

In your case this is both disappointingly common and, “Huh! Shoulda seen that one coming”. Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along, you get thirsty, you spot a little brook, you put your little deer lips down to the cool clear water... BAM! A fuckin bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces! Now I ask ya. Would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing? So This Week… Herd of Deer? We have. Even seen a few of them, too. There’s safety in numbers. Stick with your herd.  

Gemini 

We know that most of those who pay attention to the Horrible-Scopes are part of the Furry Community. So for those of you who aren’t in the know about this one, just know that you’re better off. Your animal is a Fox. And we take no great pride in this one. So This Week… Your term is A Leash Of Foxes, and may we just say that typecasting is alive and well out there. Use it to your advantage.

Cancer Moon-Child 

We were all ready to make your animal a nice and easy one, but then a curve ball hit! So for your animal you’re getting, very specifically, a Wild Cat. And even though there actually is a species of cat named “Wildcat” across Europe, we’re talking about free-range or feral cats. Meaning the ones that, like the Rum-Tum-Tugger, would rather eat a mouse when offered wet cat food. So This Week… The term for a collection of Wild Cats is A Destruction and has nothing to do with “Covert Action Teams”. 

Leo 

The biggest problem we have with yours is how to make it interesting. Your animal is the Rabbit - which is very different from a hare. The joke about them multiplying got used in the movie “Zootopia”, and how Disney approved of it is anyone’s guess. So This Week… A group of Rabbits if known as a Warren, sure, but could also be a Colony. So when it’s time to colonize a new world, DON’T BRING THEM ALONG! They’ll eat everything in sight!

Virgo 

From the “It’s Just So Obvious!” Department we bring you an animal sure to make people say, “Wait, there’s a term for a bunch of them together? Aw Hail No!” Your animal is the Porcupine. The cute, adorable, humming-as-they-nom-on-pumpkin critters with harpoons for hair. So This Week… How did we not know that a group of them is called A Prickle? In retrospect it’s just amazingly obvious, right? So maybe try solving this week’s problems with the most painfully obvious solutions. WHo knows, its just so crazy it might just work.

Libra

Look, we don’t know who came up with this one, but we’re guessing they’re related to the Porcupine Public Relations Team. Try to imagine needing a plural-term for… Rattlesnakes. Again, besides thinking it should be, “SCREW THAT!”, which is a perfectly valid concept, you’ll both adore and hate this one at the same time. So This Week… Your term is A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes. So we’re yet again suggesting you learn how to do Latin Swing Dancing. It’s FUN!

Scorpio 

You know what they say about Buffalo, New York? “It’s a Drinking Town with a Football Problem” - which is more true than you know. But do you know what a group of Buffalo is called? Yeah, if you’re following the same line of reasoning it should probably be called A Tailgate, but that would be wrong. Funny, but wrong. So This Week… You have a choice. You can either call it A) A Gang or 2) An Obstinacy. We’re gunna suggest using A Gang since there’s LOTS of Buffalo Bills merchandise that says, “Bills Mafia” around. So… A Gang it is! 

Sagittarius 

Again, not gunna lie about this one; the naming service was just having an Off Day when they handled Locust. You know, the super-angry Super-Soldier versions of Grasshoppers? Well, get a collection of them together and there’s no chance it’ll be anything less than Biblical in scope. So This Week… SERIOUSLY?! A group of Locusts is called A Plague?! I mean… Bravo? But it would be more fun if there was a different term. You know, something cuter and less ominous, like maybe……… “Tim”. A “Tim” of Locusts. If you’re named “Tim”, we’re sorry. You’re now made of three Locusts in a Trenchcoat. 

Capricorn 

It feels like this should be one that isn’t a surprise to anyone, but it’s on the list, so damnit we’ll remind you anyway. There is a term for a group of Oysters, and it’s used most often by those that farm perls out of them. So This Week… The term is A Bed of Oysters. And by that same token spend a little more time with yours. Consider calling in sick for a Mental Health Day. 

Aquarius 

As much fun as it is to be in the middle of a group of specific animals, we’re suggesting that you not do that in this situation. Your animal is a Camel; The Ship of the desert. You have to remember that they can be vicious in a way that most other animals aren’t - they spit. And not just any spit! They’re like Zeitgeist from Deadpool 2 by spitting stomach acid. So This Week… A collection of Camels is called A Caravan. It is NOT called A Firing Squad. Do NOT piss off those that are best able to give you grief.

Pisces  

We want you to never forget this one because it’s just That Cute. You’ve always liked Elephants, right? Big, hulking, empathetic, gentle, lumbering land masses with sub-sonic vocalizations that can be heard for miles and miles. Well, there’s a term for you. So This Week… It’s called A Parade for a reason. So if you’re planning on strutting because you’re super-proud of something you did, dial it back a little bit and just enjoy the moment quietly. 

And THOSE are your Horrible-Scopes for this week! Remember if you liked what you got, we’re obviously not working hard enough at these. BUT! If you want a better or nastier one for your own sign or someone else’s, all you need to do to bribe me is just Let Me Know - or check out the Ko-Fi page ( https://ko-fi.com/icarusthelunarguard )! These will be posted online at the end of each week via Tumblr, Facebook, Discord, and BLUESKY.

[vitaliadev]

202024.03.22, 6:14am

Some things about State of Unreal 2024.

animation short won an Oscar or smth.

got me curious to try UEFN, especially because from April all UEFN creators will have a free year of Marvelous Designer. UEFN also supports Metahumans import at least for npc now.

Connect store for the Marvelous Designer has a lot of free stuff, which is now more compatible with Unreal Engine. The temporary license above probably doesn't include Unreal Engine itself usage, but I guess it will be ok to just import a couple of costumes etc.

I lack space on PC, but once I'll clean it up a bit, I want to seriously roam around UEFN features, even tohugh my primary objective is always Unreal Engine.

The UEFN part allows to earn while basically being a total noob and a modder, not fully dev like with UE. It is still awesome tool for prototyping and for younger gen to learn. It also has its own programming language (verse, which is also coming to Unreal!). I kept skipping UEFN because I do not play Fortnite and am not particularly interested in working on fan art/modding stuff, my aim is always commercial. But it seems worth checking now.

Oh, and Lego Fortnite looks very good, will check all the related experiences as well. also a lego cat game? they know how to sell it..

Apparently Connect + MD is a good side hustle idea. Both are more applicable to some people I will suggest it to, not me.

insane giveaway of 500 animations (mostly walking cycle, seamless). Animations will be more natural due to some updates, which allow to pick combos based on the environment. Also from upcoming updates in the roadmap: animations adapt to moving environment.

environmental stuff that allows to make realistic snow coverage, frosting, footprints etc. (dynamic tessellation)

the smoke visuals from Marvel's trailer were insane. UE is notorious for lagging a bit in terms of water simulation and similar natively (without special addons etc), I guess it got fixed. (i can be talking out of my ass here< I'm too noob to know)

Epic store comes to mobile. I wonder how much will everything lag or maybe they will finally optimize the Launcher. So, it will be an alternative to Android and Ios app stores.

Unreal was used in +800 film & tv projects in a year

On top of Fortnite modding, you can do same in Lego islands

IP based games future. potentially earn from fan games and mods of your fav games. currently only related to fortnite and lego, but may be applicable to other brands, who knows. would be awesome to do so with Resident Evil, the fan community already does insane stuff for free. Seems to be Disney is joining which i am not super thrilled about because Disney.

Oh, Crono mmo had a cute dragon and some intreresting visuals.

It was also cool to see a lot of women of the industry presenting new features they use themselves as well as being in lead positions for some of the very well known titles etc. I do not watch much of such conferences, but what comes to mind from such instances is only actress from Hellblade coming to stage and some indie devs.

Overall, so much stuff to check out and to wait for next, I am very glad I have a bit of knowledge and experience to ride the Epic train for this long instead of only hopping into it now. Years ago I chose engine for gamedev, I made a right choice. The stuff the team delivers for the community for free is just insane.