#also sorry for taking so long to answer but i wanted to reread it under the light of day to make sure that its coherent skskks

[iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife]

please elaborate on where you would have taken hunter's arc!! i am so frustrated that they gave him no time to grieve and didn't even let him confront belos in the end

Godd, you and i both anon, you and i both. Where do i even start.

Aaahh first of all obligatory disclaimer: this is all hypothetical talk and I don't hold anything against the toh crew they did their best with what little wiggle room disney gave them. Well ok theres actually like one or two things i hold against them but we will get to that.

So. Hunter. Its honestly so frustrating how little he does and how little he learns about himself after like. Labyrinth runners? Like we and king see the golden guard graveyard. He doesn't. We see the Caleb statue. He doesn't. We never learn anything more about Darius' mentor and besides like a nudge and a wink the fact that Gus knows that he is a grimwalker simply doesn't get brought up. Most of these are obviously things that the crew would looove to elaborate on but they weren't allowed to which. Tragic. Disney robbed us blind.

But what DOES Hunter know?? Well he knows a few things and they are all horrifying! Caleb, Phillip, Evelyn, witch hunters yada yada yada. Is he ever given any screen time to grieve or scream or cry? Nope!

Aaauughh in my humble and 100 percent biased opinion...the hunter episodes that i Truly Unabashedly Loved with all my heart and soul and i have rewatched like a bazillion times since then are 1. Kings tide, 2. Hunting palismen, 3. Eclipse lake and 4. Hollow mind. What do these episodes have in common? Well Hunter acts like a little bitch in them. He is determined to win, he is capable, he is unhinged. Honestly i was very casual about toh before hunting palismen aired. Like i genuinely didn't care all that much before Hunter showed up 😭😭 but the MOMENT the show dangled a little shiny fucked up bitchboy before my eyes i was a goner. Well past the point of no return and with no desire to return to the way things were.

At the end of the day my stance on Hunter's characterisation throughout the show is that i wanted him to be more fucked up... I wanted him to cling desperately to the ideas Belos beat into his head, i wanted his desperation to be palpable and intoxicating.!!! That happened in the eclipse lake episode and ive simply never gotten over it!! Suuuuuch a good episode. Also i know that getting more friends is definitely better for him in the long run but i wanted him to be like a little feral cat,,, i wanted him to have more weird rivalry-fueled misadventures with luz before getting acquainted with the hex squad and when he did meet the rest of the kids i wanted him to be more mistrustful... God i wanted luz to keep making him fail on his missions resulting in punishment and abuse by Belos. I wanted him to misdirect all the blame onto her since he obviously can't blame his beloved uncle now can he. I wanted him to be mad!!! I wanted him to start biting!!

But whatever thats again a lack of screentime. We barely got to see hunter in his gg era which was a crime, i loved his gg era. At the end of the day maybe im simply asking for too much. Hollow mind happens (amazing episode 10/10). He calls invading belos memories "sacrilege" which has simply never left my mind. The moment the memories he sees don't allign with the propaganda belos has forced into him, his first instinct is to angrily call himself an idiot because obviously being wrong about mindscapes would make more sense than his emperor and uncle lying to him, right???

The first moment he dares to so much as imply that he might be doubting Belos integrity his worst fear becomes reality.

Now at this point i would be SO happy if he begged a little for forgiveness. But whatever its an ok point for him to leave. It makes sense, his only family threatened his life. He runs away into the woods while having a panic attack. Poetic cinema, ten out of ten no notes.

Honestly when hollow mind aired i was SO sure that flapjack would lead him to the bat queen. It makes sense doesn't it? Damaged palismen, damaged grimwalker. Made of the same materials, breathing artificial life into their magical bodies. I was so so so sure. Buuut he went to hexside intead. Works for me i suppose. Labyrinth runners is one of those hunter episodes that just didn't really click for me as much as i wish they would. But it was great nonetheless! He got to kick some ass which was lovely and also graye got to psychologically torture him which was excellent. And then the season finale happens and what was his role again? Oh literally nothing?? Ok. Whatever. Then thanks to them, he gets retraumatised again and then in for the future he is allowed to be grumpy and grieve for a whole five (5) minutes before everyone takes it personally which. Lmao. And then in the finale he just. doesn't do anything.

Have you ever watched any of the smurfs movies? The smurfs and the lost village perhaps but honestly most of them could work for the point im trying to make. Have you seen Smurfettes arc? Isn't it GOOD? Doesn't it feel EXHILARATING when she gets the chance to stand up against the man who created her for a Specific Purpose, proving him wrong and showing off how much control she has over her own life in the process? Well Hunter never got any of that sadly. One day he learnt that he is literally a Clone instead of a Real Witch and he just never really reacts to that horrifying revelation kskskska. And he doesn't play a role at all on the fall of his uncle, the man who has literally killed and rebirthed him for CENTURIES again and again and again. He doesn't even get to vengefully step on his gooey corpse after luz is done with him kskskssm. Im so fucking mad. :D

Now im kinda getting into unpopular opinion territory again but i was so scared this would happen when the blushing between him and willow first started rearing its uninteresting head...i immediately went oh no. They are gonna give me a silly romance plot instead of some actual emotional impact / reaction on the fact that his life literally fell apart overnight. The thing is i really really don't like the way they handled huntllow. Sorry not sorry but i was so desperate for any crumbs of earned character development that the stupid ''will they won't they'' thin they gave me felt like mockery. Hunter got zero time to adjust to his new reality but he got a romance that i really really didnt want him to get. And the thing is ive read fics and seen fanart about them and its cute! Ive actually enjoyed fancontent about them!! But in the actual show? The timing feels so wrong skskks. Giving hunter a love interest feels like such a weird priority considering the fact that he just learnt that he is a reanimated corpse created by the man he called family to be used as a weapon. Im not trying to rain on anyone's parade but i really really wish things could have played out differently.

God another thing that has been driving me insane!! They play up this "half witches" thing with hunter and willow as a point of camaraderie and it makes sense...i was actually looking forward to any possible interactions between them before asias first aired because of that parallel. But well. Theres like a huge difference between them. Willow grew up thinking she was weak only to find out that oh she was super strong and a prodigy all along actually! Which good for her! But Hunter grew up feeling weak and useless, getting abused by the man who made him and then he just found out that surprise! Actually you are not even half of a witch. Like. I can't be the only one who thinks thats tragic, right???? Right???? If i was hunter and willow tried to play the ''i understand how you feel' card on me i would get so mad, no offense. But of course this is toh and as much a s i love it (which is a whole lot i assure you) the characters aren't allowed to be maladjusted, not even a little bit nooo. Everyone has to act like they have dozens of hours of therapy under their belt which i don't mind on characters like luz or willow or gus who have lead relatively normal lives but really fucking annoys me when applied on Hunter who's spent his entire life getting physically and emotionally abused out of his mind, working himself to death and interacting only with his genocidal maniac of an uncle who is somehow both neglectful and obsessed with him at the same time. Like thats the one (1) thing i blame the toh crew for. They kinda give me the impression that even if they had more screen time they wouldn't allow hunter to explode the way he deserved.

My other complaint and i swear I'm almost done is the fact that the moment they took his gg status away from him they went really out of their way to make him out to be some sort of loser?? Like people making fun of him left and right or him just acting really silly all the time and stuff like that...and sure some of it comes off as endearing I won't deny that but. Idk. I never do handle it well when people don't seem to respect my favourite characters. It makes me sad for reasons i can barely explain but hunter was raised as a soldier and as a powerless boy who was constantly fighting off assassination attempts and enemies a lot older than him. God knows he had to fight hard for any semblance of respect or safety but the moment he leaves the emperors coven they immediately rob him of that. Idk it doesn't seat well with me. Like its so upsetting??? He already has so little left,,,giving him space to become his own person shouldnt come at the cost of the little power he was ever allowed to have. Idk. But yeah i dont like the way they turned him into some sort of loserboy towards the end in an attempt to make him more endearing withouth having to actually put him through the painful process of building a new identity for himself. Its just rubbing me the wrong way.

Ok and to actually answer your question: what would i actually want hunters role in the finale to be? Well. In a perfect world he would be allowed to kill Belos himself. But thats kinda unrealistic i suppose considering the fact that at the end of the day luz is the protagonist of the show and in shows like these the protagonists tend to get the final fight. Like im not going to lie, i liked the finale well enough. Out of all the scenarios they could have gone with, a king-eda-luz team up was honestly one of the best things they could do. This show started with them and it ended with them and that was beautifull! Makes sense! But skskksks throwing hunter on the sidelines with camilla, amity, willow and gus feels so funny to me. Like i mean no disrespect to any of the other characters but the stakes for hunter are so ridiculously personal????? Didnt he deserve to have one (1) moment. One scene where he gets anything resembling a proper ending for his character arc??? But noooooo what hunter gets is a schoolyard crush and zero closure. Im so mad on his behalf, he deserved so much better.

[peachesofteal]

hii!! idk if you’ve already talked about this but how did simon and soap meet darling?

p.s. dead disco has me in such a chokehold i reread it literally all the time💞

Hi! I'm so glad you like Dead Disco, I have loved writing it too and am really enjoying exploring their relationship. I love an opportunity to talk about my pairings and explore them a bit so I wrote something as an answer to your Q. Thank you so much!

How did the guys meeting darling? Ghost x Soap x female reader 1.2k words - no warnings/tags - takes place before Dead Disco This was not edited, just a brain to typing ramble. Sorry for any mistakes.

It was at a bar. Not the dive kind, that you were particularly fond of now, but an upscale, too fancy for you type place. The kind where they serve cocktails in thin rimmed glassware with crystal clear ice cubes and two ounce pours of whiskey that cost triple digits. 

You were there for a party, a bridal shower, of all things. Zipped into an uncomfortable dress, feet already crying from the too tall heels that you chose. The champagne soured your stomach, the fake smile you had plastered to your face slipping more and more as the minutes ticked on, the pressure of too many eyes, too many people, too many questions finally starting to wear you down. The bride-to-be was beautiful, and you were miserable. 

Not because she was getting married, of course. You were thrilled for her, proud of her for actually pulling the trigger on happily ever after even if it was something you’re not sure you believed in. She was happy and that’s all that matters. You’re a supportive friend, after all. But, you were tired, the social aspect of a gathering like that quickly overwhelming you, forcing you to slink to a table in the back where you could hide your bare feet under the pristine tablecloth and slump over in your chair, fixing your eyes on your phone so you could escape, if only for a moment. 

Your reprieve didn’t last long before a gaggle of aunts and well-meaning middle-aged women swarmed you, endless questions spouting from their mouths, inquiries about how you were, how your job was, if you were dating anyone being passed around between them like you were some science fair exhibit to be analyzed and dissected. 

You slipped away when they were distracted, fleeing the table out the side door of the banquet room and down the back stairs to where the brick patio of the street level bar was, which was open for regular business and customers, seeing as it was a Saturday afternoon. 

You met Johnny first, that day. You had turned the corner of the stairwell and nearly stumbled into him, your body skidding to a stop when you felt the cold brick on your bare feet and realized you had left your god damn shoes upstairs. He had been leaning against the wall with an almost empty beer in his hand, mohawk slightly grown out, t shirt accentuating his arms, soft shadow of stubble lining his jaw. You clocked him right away because he was beautiful, gorgeously handsome in the way that made you want to sidle right up next to him and take a closer look. There was something in his eyes, when he registered your presence at the bottom of the steps, something… hot, a heat that curved around your neck and across your throat, down to the very center of your stomach, the feeling of it awaking something desirous, something needy inside you. When he gave you a sweet smile, your knees felt light, and then he gestured to you, a sweeping hand motion that felt like an invitation to come over. 

So, you did. 

His name was Johnny. He was brilliantly charming and utterly funny, while also being extremely intelligent and cordial. He was easy to talk to, and the two of you struck up a conversation without hinderance, the flow of the back and forth actually enjoyable and not a drag like most interactions you had with men lately. He was interesting, and sweet, and sexy and you were trying really hard not to drool as he asked you questions about yourself, what you did, where you were from, who you were. You were so engrossed in him that you didn’t even see the other man, the one in the mask that had arrived to stand opposite him, until he was practically casting a shadow over you. 

He was huge. The width of his body, his neck, even his palms had your eyes subtly widening and your gaze tracing him from head to toe out in wonder, and confusion. Even though he was wearing a black cloth mask over his nose and mouth, you could make out his bone structure, the angles of his face and cheeks telling you that he certainly was beautiful underneath it, and he had a crop of sandy brown-blonde hair that contrasted his eyes, their copper brown hue refracting in the light and nearly startling you with how stunning they were. He pinned you with them, your body frozen where it stood like you were an animal, unable to flee, or speak, or formulate a sentence. You just stood there, blinking at him like you had suddenly gone dumb. Throat dry. Lips parted. 

And then, he handed Johnny one of the beers he was holding. Their fingers grazed, and Johnny’s thumb lifted, stroking along the back of masked man’s hand, an affectionate, soothing gesture that you couldn’t look away from. Something so small, so simple, communicated a million words between them within a second. 

There was something about them, something different that you couldn’t put your finger on that drew you in, pulling you closer and closer into their orbit, until the man in the mask looked down and said:

“Yer not wearin’ any shoes.” The deep, rough timbre of his voice scratched something in the back of your mind, and you felt butterflies thrash in your belly. Your body grew warm, embarrassment snaking up your spine and you took a step backwards, a hand nervously rising to find a piece of your hair to fidget with while you tried to manage a smile and explain. 

“I uh, left them upstairs. At the shower. I was at a bridal shower.” Masked man cocks his head like he’s considering your words. 

“Hurt your feet?” You nodded immediately, a tinge of relief cooling the heat of your embarrassment, and Johnny gave you a sympathetic smile before he turned to man in the mask and gave your name, the Scottish accent shifting the pronunciation so that it sounded all that more attractive. For a moment, he didn’t say anything, just regarded you silently, like he was processing you, x-raying you, seeing you inside and out, trying to decide what to say next, before his voice softened and he said, “I’m Ghost.” Johnny tsked aloud and Ghost shifted, his shoulders tensing and relaxing, eyes narrowing above the mask before his chest deflated with a sigh. “Johnny.” He warned, to which Johnny rolled his eyes, and slung his arm around your shoulder affectionately. 

“What do you say you get your shoes, and we go find another bar?” You nodded your agreement immediately, not caring if these two were going to throw you over their shoulders and hide you away forever, or not. You already knew, you’d be going wherever they went. “Atta girl.” He gave your shoulder a squeeze, and you high tailed it up the stairs, pausing to look back for just a second to see him placing his hand on Ghost’s ribs, the gesture reciprocated by Ghost stepping closer and lowering his forehead to Johnny’s, an intimate glimpse that had your heart rattling in your chest. 

You were a goner. 

[sulumuns-dootah]

Gusion x f!Reader - Skipping school (18+)

A/N: A something that I got inspired to write by something that defnitelly didn't happen. This might not be the best out there, but this is my first smut in a really long time (last time i wrote one i was still a minor and had no bussiness in knowing what smut is). Also this is very self-indulgent, so I'm sorry if it's too ooc for you. (Writing this also made me realise that Gusion is pretty much like my real life boyfriend)

⟡ Masterlist ⟡ 

Characters: Gusion

Word count: 1471

‎‧₊˚✧ 18+ Minors Do Not Interact‎ ✧˚₊‧

    ༺☆༻

“I thought you were at school.” Gusion startled you as you were going to the kitchen for another glass of coke. You didn't even notice him sitting in your living room and reading a book from your bookcase. Of course he was reading your favorite book you raved to him about many times before.

“I uh....missed my bus...” you trailed off not wanting to admit to him that you'd now twice in a row skipped school. But then something popped into your head: “...Hey, what part are you reading?”.

“Don't even think about changing the subject. How did that happen again?” his tone was stern and slightly irritated.

“I was literally right there, but the driver is a dick and left even though he saw me clearly there.” you huffed and sat down next to Gusion in annoyance.

“You're a pain to deal with, you know?”

“And yet you still come here.”

“Ugh, whatever. Do you at least have some notes from those classes?”

“Yeah, teachers send us the materials we're working with.”

“Great, so go take your notes and when you're done we can read this book together.” Gusion finishes your argument with a sip of coffee from one of your mugs. You stand up with the same annoyance you sat down with and head back to your room.

Not even twenty minutes pass and you're already fed up with all the different types of fruit for your Pomology class, so you resort to scrolling on your phone instead.

“Just what do you think you're doing right now?” a voice booms from behind you.

“A break. Ever heard of the Pomodoro method?”

“You've barely written down half of a page.” Gusion looms over you to see what you've written.

“There's a lot to get through!” You say loudly this time, annoyed that he chooses to not pick up on your bad mood.

“You really are a pain. Do I really have to supervise you?” he sighs as much as his lungs allow.

The moment Gusion sees your answer is only an eyeroll, he picks you up, sits on your chair and sets you on his lap. You can feel his slightly rapid heartbeat and smell his significant scent of dark coffee and old books. This definitely made things worse and the delicious juicy fruits in your materials would soon be replaced by thoughts about another delicious fruit that you currently sat on. You tried to compose yourself, but Gusion noticed your slightly ragged breath.

“I tell you what: for every page you fill up I'll give you a hickey.” he mutters under your ear and follows it by a soft bite. You only softly hum and nod you head, trying to calm your breathing and start to write down things again.

Five pages and five hickeys later, Gusion is playing with the hem to your shorts and patiently waits for you to finish rereading your notes to make sure you understand them. Something else, that is not so patient has made itself known more and more with every page. Every time you slightly shifted in his lap to reach for something or to get more comfortable, Gusion would quietly grunt trying to not distract you from your task. But now you were finished and any distraction was welcome.

“Good girl. Do you know how attractive it was to see you write all that down? I think you deserve a reward. Can you guess what it is?” his hand that played with your shorts moved slightly inward to stroke your inner thigh.

“I think I know exactly what I deserve.” you turn your head around to kiss him.

“You really are a cocky one. Careful with that attitude or you might not get what you expect.” the strokes have turned into light taps with and occasional squeeze between them.

Gusion picks you up and carries you to your bed with leisurely steps as if he's not the one who clearly needs this more. As he sets you down, his hand quickly makes its way to his tie to undo it.

Your back hasn't even fully hit the mattress and your hands are already pinned above your head to be tied to a headboard. Finally looking up from his neck to see his face, you see Gusion's black eyes are even darker with lust.

He pulls back to fully appreciate your choice of outfit, which only consists of thigh highs, oversized zip up hoodie and underwear since you planned to only stay at home for the rest of the day. Though it did make you feel slightly self-conscious, there isn't much that you can do to cover yourself with your hands tied up and your legs being spread by Gusion kneeling between them.

The hands previously holding the end of the tie that binds your wrists, travel slowly over your torso to rest under your thighs, massaging them. He pauses and simply looks at you with unreadable expression despite having one of his rare smirks.

“Are you only gonna look at me all pretty, or are you actually gonna do something?” you break up the silence, slightly curious how he can manage to stay so collected despite his obviously painful boner.

“What a smart mouth you have, but you better be careful I don't find another use for it.” he digs his nails into your thighs and shifts more backwards to take off his shirt. His skin is so tempting to touch; if only you weren't tied down you'd rake your nails down it. He continues by taking off his pants to be left only in his underwear. You shiver in anticipation of what's to come.

Returning to his previous spot, Gusion runs his hands from your ankles up to rest on your waist for a moment while his mouth resumes where it left off leaving hickeys. He slowly makes his way down by unzipping your hoodie and kisses with occasional bites that will surely leave marks. Stopping above the area where you need him the most, pulling your underwear down and skips to your inner thighs. Each of them earns few bites and kisses until he's up again, admiring his work which has already started to begin to show its blue-black results.

“I should leave you like this so you remember to not skip school.” Gusion pauses to palm himself for a few seconds before he finally pulls his member out “But the truth is, that I enjoy having you in my lap while you're taking notes.”

“So I should be missing it more then, huh?” you reply with a sassy tone in your voice and sticking your tongue out with a wink.

Gusion only slaps your inner thigh painfully and gives you a stern look that warns you to not pull a stunt like that. But before you can roll your eyes in response, he enters you and you can feel tears well up in your eyes from the stretch.

A deep sigh leaves Gusion and then finally is followed by him starting to move. He plants a tattooed hand next to your head while the other moves to play with your tits. You try to stealthily get your hands undone so you can scratch and claw his back, but he's having none of it. His thrusts speed up and become more forceful, which has you bouncing closer to the headboard but also brings you closer to your release faster than you'd like.

“S-slow down... Too much...” you manage to breath out between moans to maybe get some mercy to be able enjoy this feeling longer. Gusion only chuckles into your ear and speeds up even more, which has your headboard banging into the wall. At a time like this you're glad you don't have neighbours.

The hand playing with your tits moves to your clit to massage it and his head moves to plant kisses on that special spot on your neck. All of these things combined have you seeing stars and screaming his name.

It doesn't take much time for you to find your release despite trying to hold off for as long as possible. Gusion lets you ride out your orgasm but doesn't pull out. Quite the opposite, actually - he stops, still rock solid.

“Why did you finish me so quickly? Why didn't you finish yourself?” you still try to catch your breath.

“Do you really think I don't know that you also skipped yesterday? I bet there's a lot of things you have to write down for those classes too.” he picks you up while still inside you and carries you back to your desk.

[doyouknowthischaracter]

RANDOM ASKS GRAB BAG

Putting a bunch of answered asks in one post so I don't spam your dashes too much. Under the cut because it's a very long post. If your ask isn't here, don't worry! The ask box is far from empty, and I'm sorta trying to group them by topic. Enjoy?

Anonymous asked: you mentioned in another ask that there were a few things you were probably going to check out from doing these polls and I was just curious which ones those are, if you don't mind sharing fjdjsj

I don't mind sharing! I had to go through the archive to remember which ones I wanted to check out, but a few of them would be The Walten Files, Red vs. Blue, The Murderbot Diaries, I Am In Eskew, and The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality. Many of the characters posted here look interesting, but I'm such a slow watcher/player/reader/etc. that it'd take me decades to go through everything lol

Anonymous asked: Have you considered doing like uhhh idk how to explain properly, but statistics/data from loads of polls in a summary every so often? I've seen some poll blogs do a most known/least known type bar graph every so often. And I would be super interested in seeing this sort of thing for this blog!! It's fair enough if not though, obviously this would create a lot of extra work for you. Anyway, thanks for running this blog :-) Anonymous asked: I just asked a question about seeing the data statistics/ bar graphs - please ignore it! Just reread your pinned and realised I'd missed that bit :'). BUT, last point remains, thank you for running this blog and putting up with repetitive anons I bet aksjskdjsk

I haven't put the data in a graph yet, but if I figure out how to organize that in a way that's both comprehensible and actually tells us something new, I'll give it a try for sure. Until then, we do have the spreadsheet. And no worries, I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! :)

Anonymous asked: *sees a poll blog* "I must answer each and every poll I can"

Godspeed on your journey and remember to stay hydrated! 🫡

Anonymous asked: this is my favorite blog! Every morning I wake up and check the polls like they're the paper, just to say "I don't know them" Truely a humbling experience!

Happy to be your neighborhood paperboy!

@iceice-baeby asked: Are olyou fearing the day someone submits Solid Snake from MGS and you will choose the wrong picture Because everyone always seems to choose the wrong picture

The only difficulty will be in not using this one:

Anonymous asked: Just scrolled back through your blog up to posts from Dec 3rd and I know why those polls are closed now but I cannot describe the genuine anguish I felt seeing Mr Orange and going NO I KNOW HIM - I KNOW HIM!!!! Anyway I found this blog like ten minutes ago and I love it

Don't worry, he's A-OK! 👍

(Also, thanks! I appreciate your dedication.)

Anonymous asked: scrolling through to catch up on the characters and knowing a whole three of them was so bizarre. im not supposed to press the yes i know them button, im supposed to do my sworn duty and vote no with unending confusion. the world has been flipped on its head 😵‍💫

I bet the next 30 were characters you've never heard of, just for balance to be restored.

Anonymous asked: Whenever i misclick I feel sooooo bad like im sorry my dear friend for not recognizing you I apologize for my rudeness

No polls so far ended with only one vote difference between answers, so you don't have to feel too bad. For now. 👀

Anonymous asked: this is fun cause i’ve definitely submitted some characters but i’ve immediately forgotten who. so i’ll also be pleasantly surprised to see my beloveds on the blog.

A gift from you to you, courtesy of unreliable memory! Sweet!

Anonymous asked: Devastating. I keep missing the voting for the only characters I know.

You'll do it one day, I believe in you!!

@iceice-baeby asked: Would you consider writing in the tags if YOU know a character or not You have done it sometimes before, but I'd be curious if you do recognise some of those random niche as all hell blorbos Also I can't wait for my Blorbos turn. Because either He-and-she is gonna take most obscure place, OR I will actually find maybe more than two people, myself included, who know him-and-her and who I can ramble at for hours until they block me

Oh yeah, for sure. I didn't think anyone would be interested to know, but I can do that when I remember to!

Did your blorbo show up already?

Anonymous asked: I have been having the opposite problem of everyone else, apparently. I'll see a name and be like, "I don't know who that is". But then I see the picture and realize… Yes I do!

That's why I take the time to include fitting pictures, helps jog the memory!

Anonymous asked: I feel very superior every time I know a character most people don't

Hey, nobody likes a show-off. (<- Joking)

Anonymous asked: Wait, has Beetlejuice not been submitted?? I could've sworn I submitted the musical version! Anonymous asked: Oh wait no I didn't submit musical Beetlejuice to you, got you mixed up with @/every-character-ever-poll lol my bad

Indeed he hasn't been submitted yet, maybe next time!

@thetisming asked: sorry for saying something negative in the replies to a post someone was being a dick about jukebox musicals

No worries, but don't let it get to you. People are allowed to dislike your favorite things even without any good reason. It's a matter of taste, which is highly subjective. It's more constructive to focus your attention on people who do enjoy the same things as you!

@autism-criminal asked: What is your favorite color of the rainbow (red orange yellow green blue indigo purple) ?

Orange! 🍊 What's yours? :)

Anonymous asked: "data is not accurate" bro if ur going to a tumblr poll blog for accurate data you NEED to reassess some things asdfghjkl; anyway this blog is great thank you for running it it's a lot of fun and has resulted in some very funny interactions between me and my fiance. notably "what the fuck do you MEAN 6% of the sans undertale website doesn't know who sans undertale is" and "i'm sorry i simply don't believe that ANYONE doesn't know who DRACULA is"

Different people come here with different expectations, I suppose. Which is fine, I don't mind, but they're bound to be disappointed if they expect 100% accuracy all the time. But anyway! I'm happy to hear I can provide a new form of enrichment for you and your fiancé!

@sweetpollyolliver asked: So many manga and anime characters and I know like 1% of them 😭

I'm ngl, I'm not a big manga/anime connoisseur either, so I'm just as lost as you most of the time lol 🤝 (<- shaking hands in solidarity)

@cringelordofchaos asked: If I go insane one day I am going to try to make an English translation for Mesec Boje Purpura so everyone can know who veštica Noks is

I'm fully behind you! Keep us updated if you do.

Anonymous asked: I scroll through your blog. I don’t recognise any of these characters. ‘No,’ I click, ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no.’ I am content in the darkness of the rock I live under. But, alas, all things must end. I continue my scroll, the glee of the irrelevant rampant in my veins. But what’s this? It can’t be… My shelter is cruelly ripped away and the brutal light of knowledge seeks me out like a bloodhound, it gives me no place to hide. ‘Yes,’ I sob, defeated, ‘Yes, I do know the jjba character.’

A modern-day Greek tragedy, truly 💔

Anonymous asked: was really surprised to vote and see that a character was 100% know them. then I noticed I got there early enough to be the only vote

For one shining, brilliant moment they were 100% known and surely that counts for something.

Anonymous asked: You should make up a character and make a poll for them and see how many people lie or misclick

Well....... I'm not going to comment on that. 🐰

Anonymous asked: I follow this blog and another blog that does smash or pass and occassionally I will come to one of your posts and examine the images to decide and then remember this blog's gimmick before trying to hit smash

Imagine voting smash there and then coming here to vote "I don't know them at all" on the same character. Brutal.

@ink7blot asked: *sees big naturals* I hate that. *reblogs*

A job well done, then 😌

[idoodlestuffsometimes]

Brother's Keeper AU:

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How did Caleb live so long? How can he still be here after 400 years?

A: Belos wanted him to stick around and so he made it happen. As for specifics: *shrugs* your guess is as good as mine! This is something I've preferred to leave up to the readers. I will simply confirm that he isn't hiding any goop powers or OP palisman-given magical abilities. He is, for all intents and purposes, a regular human who is somehow really, really old.

Q: If Caleb is still alive, where did Hunter come from?

A: The full story here hasn't been told yet, but you may notice Caleb is missing quite a few bones...

Q: Caleb's ears are pointed! Did Belos cut them??

A: Correct

Q: Does Caleb know about the Collector/the basilisks/Belos' plans?

A: Probably! He's been Belos' sounding board for 400 years. Access to things that could "further corrupt him" or provide him a tool for escape, however, are off limits, so there are many things, like the Collector, that he's heard about but never seen for himself.

Q: Where's Flapjack/Amity/Darius/etc?

A: This is basically a canon divergence. If you haven't seen a particular character, it's safe to assume for now that they're up to whatever they were doing in canon.

Q: I don't get it. Why is Caleb insane?

A: I suggest you reread the first few story posts, my friend! You have fallen for Belos' lies.

Q: Do you have a posting schedule? When will the next part come out?

A: There is no posting schedule. I draw (mostly but not always) traditionally in my free time, for the fun of telling a cool story, and some posts are longer than others. That means the timing of the next post depends on how long it is, how much time I have, and whether or not I'm at home with access to my scanner. Sometimes this means I post quickly. Sometimes it means you'll see me next month. Sorry about that.

Just know that if I know there's going to be an extended wait, especially one where I'm not actively working on the next drawing, I will make an announcement about it. If you haven't seen an update in a while but I also haven't said anything, it's almost definitely because I'm actively chipping away at a part of the story that's taking me longer.

Q: Why do some of the story posts have a letter after the number? Are these less important than the regular story posts? Can I skip them?

A: No, I Do Not Recommend skipping them! They are just as important as the others. They have a letter on the end because they were added later and I use letters as a way to avoid renumbering everything. If you see story posts labeled something like "3, 3A, 4", they are meant to be read the same as you would if they were "3, 4, 5".

Q: Can I make art/fic/cosplay of this au?

A: Knock yourself out! If you post it somewhere, please include credit, but otherwise I don't mind, and actually love seeing what you do with it! If it's NSFW though, please keep it in appropriate spaces with proper warnings.

Q: Wait there's fic/fanart?? Can I see?

A: If you look through the tag on my blog "BK fridge gallery" you can browse any content shared with me that I've reblogged. :) People are free not to share it with me too though, and there are some I don't reblog, especially if its gorey or suggestive, so you might be able to find a bit more elsewhere under the Brother's Keeper AU name if you look for it.

You may also notice I have a featured tag called "BK Soundtrack." That's for songs that people have suggested to go with the AU. You are welcome to browse or suggest songs of your own ;)

Q: :( I sent an ask but you didn't answer. Did you get it?

A: Probably, yes. Sometimes it takes me a few days to get to it. However, if it was theorizing about future plot points, I may actually be holding onto it with plans to answer at a more appropriate time. I like to keep many of my plans for the story close to the chest, so don't be surprised if your theory ask disappears only to show up many months later when the story has progressed to a point where I can give you a more in depth answer.

[muzzleroars]

I've got a couple so here we go,

-What would happen if any of the other archangel's fell for what ever reason?

-do you think any robots have made any little robot towns in hell? Like robots settle down in one spot with like little stores?

-if V1 likes to stay clean does he jump into water like a bird bath? Does Gabriel do the same?

Sorry if it's a lot in one ask! And love your art!!

aaa no problem i love little sets of questions!! :]

if any of the other archangels fell, they would end up in a similar state to gabriel as they are all powerful enough to survive the death and rebirth process, while their particular sins would determine their appearance/punishment (though some things are universal, such as the loss of flight). i have considered what sin would cause their fall based on their characteristics, with michael in violence, uriel in heresy, and raphael in fraud. michael, had his fall succeeded, would have been left with a need to feed on blood ironically enough, to the point where he would almost be forced to live in the phlegethon as there are barely any sinners left to bleed (unlike v1, a fallen angel of violence is perfectly capable of consuming rancid blood). i also do like following through with the idea that he turns white, both because hakita was right about the red on white aesthetics, but also so he appears anemic and bloodless. uriel would be sort of like gabriel's opposite, suffering from a constant burning fever and would spontaneously combust at times, fires that would leave his skin forever scorched even after putting them out. worst part is that he has no fireproof books to read :( raphael is terribly weighed down and constantly suffering from fatigue, every step so heavy that traveling long distances becomes impossible and he is essentially rendered incapable of helping anyone. his clothes become heavily gilded, and what's interesting is that i actually. sort of came up with raphael's design during my reread of the divine comedy, with the inspiration coming a lot from the hypocrites of fraud SO his punishment is quite similar, with a bit of falsifiers mixed in just for the irony as a healer.

other two answers under here!!

god i would genuinely love little machine settlements, but i think of them as not being organized enough/having advanced enough ai to do so. additionally, there is too much desperation in their situation for building up a village of some kind BUT i do think machines can form bonds with one another and do so even with models other than their own. like i really love the idea of a mindflayer that has several streetcleaners following it around, sort of protecting each other and understanding each other's priorities. also very into a sentry and drone pair, where the drone has worked on being incredibly fast and incredibly annoying so it can distract an enemy until the sentry picks them off lol and and i feel like i DEFINITELY got this idea from someone else (maybe on here? twitter? idk!!!) but like maybe there are just. machines on the surface. machines that don't solely rely on blood and got some of the grid back online and just kind of vibe up there. like they do not look at hell, that's wild shit down there. and they definitely have little towns :]

v1 likes to be power washed lol like it wants to be BLASTED with a fire hose, but it will take any kind of pool/bath it can find! it really just likes the process of "having a wash" - it doesn't mind being covered in blood and guts and every other kind of gore (fun!!!) but splashing around and getting hosed off just never gets old for it. gabriel is definitely a lot less playful and sees bathing as a relaxation thing, but he does genuinely find v1's enjoyment of it incredibly amusing. it's just so happy!!! every time!!! when gabriel's actually taking a bath to get clean however, he is much more like a bird in many ways - he likes having a heavy mist/shower available as well as a pool, and v1 ALWAYS makes sure to be close by when he shakes off his wings. this becomes a bit more difficult when he's a fallen angel, his wings hurting too much to make proper care possible, but v1 joins in to help him clean up through taking the time to mist every feather and then help spread them to air dry. the bath itself is a welcome reprieve from his freezing cold body though, and gabe really enjoys soaking in scalding hot water as often as he can after falling (any temp is fine to v1, so it loves all the bath time they get!!!)

[ahollowgrave]

Hiiiii Pigeon!!!! I saw you comment that you like the Locked Tomb series so I had a couple questions to ask...

Are Odette's little skele friends inspired by the vibe of the series?

Does Odette herself have an inspirations that come from the Locked Tomb as well?

What's your favorite character interaction in the series so far? (Mine is the Harrow Bone Soup)

Who is your favorite of the main protags? (I've got a soft spot for Nona, but its barely above the other two.)

That's all for now, hope your day is going well! ^.^

Oh my gosh hello!! The Locked Tomb has been my favorite series since I read the first book a few years ago! I was obsessed I was full in I hadn’t been that into reading since high school when I would read in the back of every class. Never has a book made me ugly cry so hard.

The second book is the main reason I write in 2nd person POV for Odette most of the time (‘:

I’m gonna slap the rest of this under a readmore just in case people don’t want to hear about the books or don’t want things spoiled on accident !! But also this kind of turned into a long explanation of Odette’s whole deal, sorry (mwah).

But! To answer your questions!

1&2:) Yes. Pretty heavily but maybe not obviously? Like. Harrow and Odette would not get a long and Odette as she is does not fit the Necromancer vibes of the ninth house. But I was so enamored by these goth nuns being so out of place and so devoted and Harrow being so!!!!! Ready to ruin her life for her faith because she needed her faith so badly to cope with the grief.

And then the way it just all!!!! gestures.

Odette was always going to be a nun, as a result, and the psychopomp stuff felt right after I’d been playing her for a while. We run into Ashkin/undead several times in the MSQ, side quests, and fates and the like; someone being able to aid these ‘souls’ and return them to the lifestream feels like a role for Odette.

She would maybe make more sense being a nun of Nald’thal but I headcanon that each of the 12 have their own funeral rites. Nald’thal is the judge of all dead, that is his role! But each of the 12 get a say in how their faithful are laid to rest. A psycopomp’s role, traditionally, is not judgement but guidance and love knows no judgement, but she does know guidance.

The moths in her screenshots are souls themselves, flocking to Odette for aid in whatever form that means. Sometimes it means slaying their body so they can rest, sometimes it means cleaning their resting place or returning items stolen by graverobbers, sometimes it means finishing anything unfinished they have left, or solving their death or just finding them and laying them to rest. Each soul needs something different.

The skeletons originally were a metaphor and a call back to that root influence of the Ninth house. With encouragement from friends, though, they’ve become much more ‘real’ in her canon. Serving as her trust and guardians on more dangerous searches. (When None can’t join her but also sometimes with None!)

So you can see it’s a very loose influence, but the 1st book is 100% the reason Odette exists. Death nuns??? Please… What a gift.

I have a Locked Tomb AU with my friend, peep, in which Odette is the Ninth house Cav and Avidia the Third House Reject turned Ninth House Necromancer. The Cav/Necromancer relationship is sooo intense and I love reading into to them too much, as does peep, so it’s very fun for us. Would third house ever send one of their necro to the ninth house? No! Probably not! But Avidia must always be a reluctant ex-pat, and so! (It’s a complicated story but we really like it LMAO takes place far before the first book)

Ahem!

3:) The soup scene is SO good, I reread it a few times because it was just so!!! Amazing. This is such a hard question because so many of the scenes are so good.

Three-Way with God is good. Ianthe’s Arm Scene (SCREAMS!!!) The pool scene from book one is ofc a fav but ugh.

The one I think about the most is from book three and it’s a tie, I think, between tree moments at the very end of the book.

Paul’s (re?)birth and “You can’t take loved away.” and “Why are you not appeased? That is how meat loves meat.”

I can’t wait for Alecto the Ninth, truthfully !!

4:) GOSH! This is hard also!!! Nona is also a favorite of mine and I know she has influenced Odette heavily. She’s just so!!! Nona loves you!!! I hope we get to see some of her again, just glimpses, now that she’s been returned. Sobs into my hands for four days straight.

I think Camilla Hect is one of my favorites and Sex Pal, of course. Which means Paul… Paul… my love I can’t wait to know you.

You didn’t ask this question, but I do think there is a lot of Hect in my alt Prudence. That quiet competence and skill, that devotion, that dry wit.

Thank you so much for this ask and also your patience while I replied to it! I love these books very, very much and I always love to talk about them. Are any of your characters influenced by them @eorzeanflowers?

[aces-drew]

Hi! I just wanted to drop in and say that I adore your two Nace fics so much to the point that I have probably reread them about 20 millions and if you ever want to write for them again I would be more than WILLING (and to tell my soul) to supply you with a slew of ideas because I have plenty <3 your writing is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

hi anon, you have no idea how often i think of your ask and how much i've come back to it since you've written to me. i hope you're still around and still somewhat part of the nd fandom, and that the series finale was something you could enjoy and be satisfied w! truth be told i fell out of the fandom at the end of the third season, it was for a lot of reasons - personal and just the time passing, and with it also came half-baked word docs of nace fics i started but never really got around to finishing. and i never wanted to answer your high compliments with the answer of never considering to write for them again, and in all honesty i forgot my written drabbles in a folder on my laptop for the better part of the last two years. but i went through it on a whim today and actually found something i think is worth sharing, and since your message has stayed with me, i'm going to post it for you and you only, as both a thank you and im sorry i couldnt really give you more. writing for nace was one of my greatest joys in a truthfully very difficult time in my life, and im so glad it was as special for you as it was for me! so here's almost 5k of nace being in their pre-relationship, best friends in tension phase dated to the 21st of dec 2021 - it's certainly not my best work and may seem a bit half-baked, but there is so much love in it, and its happy and sad and hopeful all at once, and reading it again with fresher eyes, it would've been a shame for it to rot in my gdrive with no audience, so yeah thank you for reading this my dear anon. i hope you like it, take care!!

***

Ace let out a soft mumble of a curse under his breath.

‘Florence, this is not the time girl.’

The exasperation in his tone was refreshing to Nancy. Rarely was Ace ever off-centre; he was always the one who held down the fort, who grounded everyone, and especially her, to whatever it was they were working through at any given time. So the fact that car trouble was what got Ace ticking made her chuckle.

And among other things, she had to admit how adorable it was – his brows creased in annoyance, hands resting on his steering wheel, fingers drumming on the small surface in agitation. (Nancy tried to force herself to look away when her mind started to focus on how long and sturdy his fingers were in comparison to the lining of the steering wheel, ignoring the unnatural hike in her pulse).

Nancy observes his leg start to bounce restlessly in its place, his growing frustration rivalling Nancy’s ease. He looks at her through the rear-view mirror, sparkly blue eyes that seem to brace for her remark knowingly, ‘You’re not allowed to say I told you so.’

Nancy playfully clicks her tongue, ‘I told you so.’

He groans in response, but there’s only levity in his tone. When she looks at him amidst her unhelpful giggle, for the briefest of seconds, she sees a ghost of a smile on his lips.

‘Okay I’ve got Earnie on speed-dial, he should be here in like 45 minutes.’

He looks at her readily, waiting for her to take a jab at the fact that he’s on a first-name basis with the Horseshoe Bay’s finest mechanic and tower of cars, but she chooses not to indulge him.

With a small smile, she pulls out a pack of skittles and crinkles it open, offering him a hand-full of carelessly assorted yellow skittles in ceasefire. He looks at her in mocking question, ‘You think giving me my favourite colour of skittles is going to convince me into giving you a pass on the next 45 minutes where you tease me about this incessantly?’

Nancy smiles the brightest smile she can manage, teeth barred like a girl scout selling her cookies door to door, ‘Yep.’

He concedes, nonchalantly shaking his head and turning over the skittles from her hand to his, ‘You know me too well.’

(Nancy ignores the way he touches the pulse point on her wrist when he transfers the candy onto his own hand, how his fingers ever-so gently wrap around her entire wrist, electrifying the skin under his touch).

They sit there chewing in comfortable silence - on the candy as well as their thoughts; it had been a long day. They were heading back from another dead-end lead on de-tangling George’s soul from Odette’s, and though it had been a long shot, the sting of failure extinguishing the little hope that had slipped through to everyone in the group at the beginning of the day was subtly unrelenting. Nancy tried to keep the fear at bay, closing her eyes to refocus away from the painful pulses lightly throbbing at her temple. She couldn’t even think about reliving George’s death again, but the image of her bloodied body on the floor of the Claw re-emerges without permission, and along with it comes bile up Nancy’s throat.

In an attempt for comfort, she reminds herself of what George had to said to them when they regrouped at their cars to drive back to Horseshoe Bay, ‘I’m a fighter guys, and I live every day with intention, I’m happy and in love and I have no regrets. We’ll figure this out.’

She recalls George’s soft smile at Nick, her smirk at Bess when Addy asks for the two of them to carpool back alone together, her hugs for Nancy and Ace – she reminds herself how good it feels to relish in the warmth of her best friend. Taking a few deep breaths, Nancy wills for it to make her feel a bit better.

A gentle tap on her shoulder gets her to open her eyes again, and before she can turn to face Ace in question, she finds herself enamoured by the starry night sky looking down on her through the upper windshield. She wonders how she hadn’t yet noticed the glimmering specks of silver tattered against a canvas of cloudless navy blue, both beautifully and terrifyingly spanning the expanse of her entire eyeline, nestled between tall, dark oaks and pine trees on either side of the road they were currently grounded to.

‘You have to stop worrying about her, we’ll solve this too, we always do.’

That snaps her focus right back onto Ace, and she realises that despite the fairly long drive in darkness, the reason her attention had been obscured from the remarkable night sky was because it had been elsewhere, particularly on a concerning distraction that had been sat next to her this whole time.

She studies him, not rushing her response. She registers the way his lips have come into a fine line in resolve, starkly different to the smile lines that had lifted the plane of his cheeks just a few minutes ago, how the flecks of grey within his clear, sky-blue eyes zap like lightning, reflecting the twinkle of the stars above him – confident, persevering, determined. Her chest expands at how his expression still emanates warmth, a still of comfort when her mind is too convoluted to function, to find the gravity below her. Looking at him, she doesn’t necessarily blame herself for not noticing the night sky.

‘I hate that you can read me.’

She finds the grin in his eyes before his lips, ‘You have to stop being so predictable.’

She mock-scoffs at him, ‘Says the guy who knew his car was going to break down but was too stubborn to back down from subjecting it to a long road trip anyways.’

He takes his turn feigning hurt, ‘Touché.’ He chuckles, ‘Nancy – 1, Ace – 0.’

She sobers up at his still subtly insistent stare, he doesn’t want her to drop the subject just yet but he doesn’t ask again; his delicate push gets her primed enough to voice her thoughts, ‘I can’t watch her die again.’

She hates how her voice fails her, vulnerability and fear lulling her to a whisper, as if she’s afraid the universe will hear her. Ace responds with a shaky breath, returning to her gaze with the truths she’s been trying to convince herself with, ‘We’re trying our best. We’ll get there, and we’ll find what she needs.’

His eyes don’t waver from hers, ‘We can’t live in how her death is something we can’t avoid just yet, you heard what she said Nance, she’s living her best life day after day, and we owe it to her to do the same.’

He says his words with such conviction that Nancy lets out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, (she tries not to melt at how his nickname for her drapes itself so softly on his tongue). ‘None of us will ever give up on her, on any of us.’

She lets out a small smile in understanding, a tear escaping to her cheek before she’s able to get a hold of her glossy eyes. For a spilt-second Nancy sees his fingers reach out for her, possibly to wipe the tear away, but he stops himself, and Nancy tries to ignore the way her stomach hollows out at his reluctance. Instead, he gives a genuine smile in return. 

Before the slight awkwardness can stew between the two of them, Ace speaks up softly, clearing his throat, ‘Alright, come on.’

He gestures to the trunk of the car as he gets out of the driver’s seat, and open’s the passenger door for her to follow him; she wordlessly steps out despite her confusion. The cold wind hits her skin immediately, passing through the soft sleeves of her sweater as if they weren’t even there. She hugs herself, tracing her hands up and down her upper arms to create some insulation.

Ace opens up the trunk and unzips a large duffel bag, pulling out three blankets and two cushion pillows. Taking the especially woolly chocolate and cream checkered throw, he swings it over Nancy’s back and gently swaddles her, ‘Better?’

‘Better.’ She responds, warmth immediately encapsulating her. Before she can ask why they’re outside his car in uncomfortably cold weather, he explains, ‘The stars are out tonight,’ he says looking up, ‘I thought we could kill some time while we wait for Earnie, and a distraction wouldn’t hurt the both of us. Two birds, one stone.’

Nancy follows his eye-line and stares at the sky, ‘Definitely.’

Within five minutes, he lays out the largest blanket he has onto the hood of Florence and sets down the two pillows for them. Forgetting the added weight of the throw, she grabs his hand to get onto the surface, and predictably, loses balance almost immediately, tripping to fall face first right onto Ace’s chest.

Before Nancy settles into how mortifying it is, Ace’s arms instinctually wrap around her waist and secure them in place, his chest reverberating the chuckle he adds to the night air.

Her shoulders loosen, and Ace looks down at her with a smirk, a glint of mischief within those blue eyes Nancy adores, ‘Comfortable?’

‘Shut up.’ Nancy groans, and Ace readily manoeuvres her waist to help her rest next to him, the two of them fully laughing now. (She ignores the way his fingers come into contact with some bare skin on her hips when it happens, a result of her sweater hiking and the blanket falling on top of the both of them when she fell; she tries not to focus on the imperceptible movement of his thumbs against her exposed skin).

As they recover from their laughing fit and Nancy settles more comfortably onto her cushion, shoulder to shoulder with Ace, they both find themselves looking up at the incredible vastness above them. Away from the other’s gaze, and suddenly incredibly aware of how small they were in this expanse of time and space, Nancy feels almost blindingly comfortable with Ace, willing to tell him anything if he asked.

Ace seems to get the same idea, ‘Okay, game time. I give you a story and you give me one in return, could be prompted by a question if either of us have something specific to ask, but otherwise it’s free rein.’

Nancy considers the proposition – she supposes it is dangerous territory, and that she would be tiptoeing between everything she wants to disclose and keep hidden, especially because she was already so comfortable leaving her heart at her sleeve with Ace, but ultimately the urge to get to know Ace better wins her over.

‘Okay,’ she agrees, slightly hesitant, ‘But you start, since you clearly have something in mind.’

She sees him nod in her periphery.

‘My mom used to take me star-gazing to help with my anxiety,’ Ace says, his eyes focused on the sky. ‘I couldn’t sleep after what happened with my dad, and there were a good few weeks where he was comatose in the hospital, and I couldn’t get that image of him out of my head every time I closed my eyes.’

‘I stayed up for like four days straight after the accident, hopped up on energy drinks and just gaming or coding night after night, getting by on twenty minute naps that would just happen because my body was so exhausted,’ he sighs, seemingly disappointed in his younger self, ‘It wasn’t long before my mom noticed the bags under my eyes and asked me to explain myself - I just broke down, told her how his limp body was all I could see if I let my mind rest for even a second. That’s when she invested in Florence, a seemingly temporary rental at the time,’ he chuckles fondly, ‘and every night my dad stayed in the hospital after that, she took me up to the bluffs so that we could see the stars as clear as they were in Maine.’

She imagines a young Ace, so scared of his father not coming home that he wills himself to become his own problem, shielding himself the only way he knows how, and finding himself unwilling to depend on anyone, even as a child. Even though the irony of how similar they are is not lost on her, it hollows out Nancy’s chest.

She can’t also help but find small comfort in the karmic coincidence that the bluffs were somehow similarly significant in both their lives – a place rooted in contentment equally as much as trauma. Nancy wonders why fate sometimes writes in intricately entwining strings so cruel when it comes to her.

‘She pointed out all the constellations, and eventually I learnt them too, and her explaining everything would send me to sleep. It was a lot easier to close my eyes to the stars instead of a dark ceiling, and she always said ‘It’s okay to be afraid, but when you are, just look up, and you’ll be reminded of how vast and complicated this universe is. And if you can believe in that, you can believe that things will work out for the best’. And that hope? That hope has weirdly never really left me, no matter what’s happened since then.’ He finishes.

Nancy can tell that his voice is thicker, and she doesn’t push to ask him why he thought she should know something so intrinsic about him. She breathes it in nevertheless, savouring a piece of his past that has been delicately placed in her hands, an olive branch for her to know him better.

She decides to take him up on it and share something that’s been kept in the dustiest shelves of her own heart, ‘That day the Aglaeca came to claim us, I actually fell off the bluffs.’

Nancy feels him turn his face to her in surprise, the only thing she’d told them was that she’d almost tripped over - she’d never considered talking about the truth till now; she pushes on, talking at the stars, ‘I kept screaming for help, but obviously nobody came. I was meant to die there, just like my mother, and for a second, before my survival instinct kicked in, I almost let go… almost wanted to let go,’ she feels her voice wobble, unable to carry the weight of her words, ‘I felt my own weight on my fingers, felt them give, and I was so tired, so I almost let go… instead of choosing to try and climb up.’

She had never admitted that to anybody, least of all herself, but it felt liberating to do so, to be overwhelmed in how enormous all her trauma seemed at the time, ‘I think it’s because I’d felt helpless for a long time, I didn’t know how to be somebody that other people couldn’t depend on, and I couldn’t get the conversation, or fight, we all had out of my head,’ she adds quickly, with a hollow, humourless chuckle, ‘but I did, I did climb up, and when I looked over at the sea, sitting there, all alone, I wasn’t necessarily glad that I had. I still felt empty, even when I knew we survived.’

Verbalising the last admission felt like a tonne of bricks on her shoulders, but it all came out in a few short breaths – like domino after domino falling in a way she couldn’t really stop once it started. She’d felt so small in the face of everything she’d been through, and even though she knew that life is always the right choice, and she’s convicted of that that definitively now more than any other time in her life, it wasn’t something that came intuitively to her that day. Her introspection is cut short when she realises that Ace has fully turned to face her now, and she struggles finding the courage to look at him.

When she does, the pain in his glassy eyes knocks the wind out of her, ‘Nance, I-I-, shit. I’m so fucking sorry Nancy.’

His voice breaks, faltering as he sits upright with his apology. She follows, sitting up cross-legged next to him, ‘Hey, hey,’ she insists, resting her arm on his bicep, willing him to look at her, ‘I wasn’t done… You know what helped me through that? What made me realise that it had obviously been the right choice?’

Ace’s stormy blue eyes look back at her, and he seems to recognise her desperation for levity, ‘Therapy?’

They both chuckle, cutting through a little bit of the tension, ‘Yes, of course therapy,’ she agrees, ‘but unlike therapy, this isn’t something I’ve had since I was eight.’

She takes a deep breath, hoping her persistent eye contact conveys the principle she that she grounds herself to, ‘It was all of you. Seeing you that day when I walked into the Claw that night? With Bess, and Nick and George? With your relieved smiles, and hugs that were insistent on making sure I knew how glad you all were that I was alive? That’s what rushed all that relief into my body. For a spilt second, the Aglaeca highlighted all of my trauma so that I couldn’t see through to the love I was given, and yes, it didn’t help that we were our worst selves that day, fuelled by fear and regret, but when I’d gotten back into my car and drove back to the Claw, I knew. I-’ she drew another breath, trying to gain coherence; there was so much she had to say about that night, so much she’d packed away into a tiny little box in her mind, ‘when I walked in that night, I knew that I’d made the right call, that from then on, whatever near-death experience I was going to get catapulted into, I would always choose to stick around.’

She could feel her throat closing up a little, her voice thickening, ‘The love that I’ve gotten from all of you, and now even Ryan, has changed my life, and it has forever changed the trajectory of who I am, and I whoever I’ll be, and that’s something I’m only grateful for. I know I don’t tell you all that enough, but seriously, I am so, so grateful.’

The tears fall down Ace’s cheeks freely now, and in the vortex of them under a beautiful night sky with their hearts strung out in the open and them alone in between the woods, his reservations seem to lower just enough. His other hand comes over the hand of hers that’s still resting on his bicep, and he intertwines his fingers with hers, a soft whisper following, ‘Still, I’m sorry, what we said was really fucked up, there really isn’t an excuse for it. We all made the decisions that got us to being prophesied to die that night, and it wasn’t you. Nance, you didn’t bring us to our deaths like lambs to slaughter, it was on us, we chose to be there.’

It’s his turn to pierce right through to her heart through his gaze, conviction steady in his words, ‘You are not a cause, and you are not an omen. You are anything but that. And honestly Nancy, I don’t even fucking know what I’d do with myself if we lost you that night.’

Nancy feels relieved in a weird way, the vindication is anything but hollow and ingenuine, it feels good. She laughs lightly, trying to mask a little bit of the subtle discomfort she feels; she knows the sentiment would be undeniably the same the other way around (except Nancy knows that’s partly also because she can’t really comprehend the enormity of what Ace means to her, how he was somehow so much more than a friend), the heaviness in his tone makes the implications of the statement much more intimate that she’s ready to decrypt. ‘Well at least George wouldn’t have died.’

And there it comes, that exasperated ‘Nancy, using humour to cope with your trauma is not funny’ face comfortably settling on Ace’s expression before she’s even done with her sentence. She chooses to laugh it off again (and pretends not to notice how Ace’s fingers tighten around hers perceptibly more).

Neither of them lets go of the other’s hand, and Nancy eventually lays back down on her cushion, with Ace following suite, ‘Okay on a lighter note,’ she refreshes, ‘where do you see yourself in 10 years?’

He hums in thought, ‘Uh, I don’t really know, haven’t thought much about it really.’

There’s an awkward hitch to his voice, and Nancy knows he’s picked up on her picking up on it, and he concedes into a slightly more nuanced response, ‘I’d like to have the standard stuff y’know?’

She looks at him pointedly, ‘The standard stuff?’

He avoids her gaze, ‘Yeah, the standard stuff. I’d like to be in love, and if I’m lucky, possibly even married. And yeah, eventually something like two kids, a white picket fence, y’know, the whole thing.’

The response surprises Nancy for some reason; it’s such an open admission of domesticity, and she unintentionally pictures herself with him in his ideal.

‘You think it’s dumb.’

She’s frayed from her thoughts, and registers that she’d been quietly daydreaming for embarrassingly longer than acceptable, and that Ace perceived it as the opposite of what she was currently thinking.

‘What?’ Nancy tries to steady her heart beating frantically in her chest, the enormity of mapping her entire future with Ace now settling swiftly on her shoulders.

‘Oh my god, you totally think it’s dumb.’

Nancy tries to think through what feels like her brain is melting, ‘I do not think it’s stupid Ace, come on. It’s endearing!’

He looks at her unconvinced. She tries to centre herself, refocusing from the image of two toddlers with his wonderful hair and her fiery eyes, she looks up and away from him again, ‘I’ve always wanted at least two kids too, I never had any siblings, and I’ve always thought that companionship is really important when you’re young. A boy and a girl… would be nice to have someday.’

When she meets his gaze, there’s something indecipherable about them. She tries to not to let how intensely he’s looking at her waver her in staring back at him (but it’s hard, she feels her stomach jump to her throat).  

The finally, he speaks, ‘At least two huh? Never pegged Nancy Drew for the big house, big family type.’

There’s a hint of an endearing tease that laces his tone, and she knows it’s meant to annoy her; she chooses instead to be honest, ‘Yeah, actually.’

A small smile of satisfaction finds her lips as Ace’s eyes widen for just a second, ‘You’re not the only one who wants the standard stuff y’know,’ she says, imitating the tone he’d used, ‘I would also really like to be in love, married even, and settle down. Maybe here, maybe somewhere else. Either way, I definitely do want a legacy. And what better legacy to leave than to love the people you love, maybe even slip into a life with that one special person I love and work to be with, and hopefully they’re a best friend and someone I completely depend on, and I’ll get to create a family with them someday.’

She places intentionality in her last sentence, letting Ace know that maybe this person she hopes to have all that with isn’t some far away concept, but the wonderful friend and companion she’s been able to completely trust and depend on these last few months. His eyes seem to darken as he processes her words, blue pushed to the edges of his irises; she gets the feeling that he might’ve picked up on the implication.

There was no doubt that they’d been recently tip-toeing around what their friendship was evolving into; between Nancy recovering from the Wraith, Ace getting kicked out and Amanda breaking up with him, they’d both changed into such different people in just a few weeks.  They’d both seemed to realise that though their entire worlds had shifted axes, the two of them were the same – they were Nancy and Ace, detective and hacker, a mind racing a hundred miles per hour paired with a rational, calm decision maker, a comet free orbiting in space and the sun’s gravity that grounded it, two best friends. They were comfortable here, safe in the boundaries of their friendship that was a little more than friendship, in confessions through glances and grazes, where the fear of having to figure out how they fit with each other, who they were and what they wanted was too scary for them to consider. For now, the implication was enough.

‘Yeah,’ Ace seemed to agree, his voice a little dreamy, ‘someday.’

[daily-clace]

Hi!!

Don't you just love it when you read about Clace as side characters and they're just being a cute couple?

I've been reading TDA, The Tales from Shadowhunters Academy and the extras and just enjoying seeing Clace from the other characters pov, just them being "Jace's expression softened looking Clary" or "Clary and Jace are weirdly good together" etc, "Jace sleeping on Clary's lap" or "I've never seen anyone else in love like them (....)" or "Jace and Clary can always be persuaded to go together" or when Jace says "where Clary go I go" in TFTSA

I'm paraphrasing obviously cuz i can't remember the exact quotes but yeah 💖💖💖

And I've also noticed how they're actually quite a playful couple--outside of their own books, cuz when we're reading from Clary's and Jace's perspectives, they seem quite serious sometimes since we're reading their thoughts basically

But i love how to other characters, they're portrayed as still acting like teens and early adults later on. I just--Cassandra Clare *chefs kiss*

Closest example i remember rn since I've just finished TFTSA is when Sizzy and Clace had this double date and Clace is just playing footsie under the table (and Jace may have accidentally rubbed his leg against Simon's) xDD

They're just---Clary and Jace are so cute individually and also in love i just 🥺🥺🥺💖

This is not an ask or anything but i just needed to write this down somewhere cuz I have all these new feelings about them from rereading xD (I read TMI years ago but only just started the other series now)

I'm sorry for the long 'ask' and thank you for your daily Clace quotes! 💖🦆

Hi, love! :D

I'm so sorry for taking so long to answer!! But my life was chaotic this week and I didn't have a lot of time on tumblr and I didn't want to give you a lame answer of three words or something like that 🫣But it's finally saturday and it looks like my life it's back under control, well mostly anyways, so I got some time to fangirl now 😌

Yes!!! I totally do!! I mean, I love TMI of course, but my kids suffered a LOT on those books, so reading about Clace from different characters' perspective on other books it's so refreshing! I love it 🤩🥰

Like how they notice the way Clary touches Jace or how Jace looks at Clary, the way some people is even jealous of their relationship or think they would never fit with someone else the way Jace and Clary do, how in love they are, I'm all here for it!!! 🤩🤩💕

And yes! The playful part 😂😂 I agree, they seem a lot more serious with each other on their books. I love their dynamic in CoB because they got more into each other nerves in that book 😂 But I can't blame them, I mean, CoA and most of CoG was pure hell for them. CoFA wasn't much better. CoLS wasn't really Jace and CoHF (my favorite btw) they were a little more playful in that one. Point is, they were facing some serious problems in TMI, I understand Cassie didn't portrayed them more playful with each other on those books 🫠 So I'm so happy to see them in the other books, happy and confident in their relationship 🥰🥺 I mean, it’s also canon that they are playful with each other even during sexy times 😂😏🔥

And bestie, how they seem to be able to have sex on almost every place? Like on the floor in faerie? They can. On the floor in the greenhouse? They can. Let's not even start talking about caves in Hell. They have no chill 😂😂😂

Also Clary smacking Jace every now and then is so funny to me, they're that kind of couple 😂😭😂

BESTIE NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR A LONG ASK ON MY BOX. I love to receive asks!!! Especially about some fangirling about Clace 😌😌✨

[fangirleaconmigo]

Same anon from the Striga ask. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

I've just read the next short story in The Last Wish, the one with Nivellen. I watched the show back when it aired with no prior knowledge of what the witcher was so I'm technically working my way backwards (I played the games a month or so ago) and I'm wondering why they chose to change the timeline regarding this story. In the show, Ciri is there when he encounters Nivellen and fights the Bruxa. After reading the story, I'm not sure how I feel about that? I like the book version of that event better. Though I did enjoy the knife game they played in the show. I feel like Geralt was less...I'm not sure what to say, but since he wasn't protecting Ciri things played out differently on that front. I'm not sure if I'm misremembering the show, but didn't Geralt leave Nivellen behind afterwards? In the book Geralt helps him leave and doesn't just leave after killing the being that essentially freed the man.

What did you think of the changes and the adaption of this scene?

Have a good day / night!

- 👻

Hello Striga Anon! Sorry it's taken me so long. I wanted to reread before I gave my thoughts and this is how long it took me to get around to that. That's how seriously I take this :D (Just to anyone reading, never worry you're bothering me, even if I take forever to answer. Just keep sending the asks and I'll get to them)

But YAY I LOVE talking about the books. SO, for this short story A Grain of Truth vs the TWN episode A Grain of Truth in S2, first of all, let me say that I recapped and reviewed the entirety of the episode The Witcher Season2 Ep1 here.

So, a compare/contrast of that ep with the books short story: (obviously TW: for all themes in this episode including Nivellen's action that led to his curse.) The main four changes I'll discuss are

Geralt having Ciri with him

Geralt knowing Nivellen previously

Nivellen being a less ethical person

Geralt leaving Nivellen in distress

Having Ciri along. At this point, Geralt and Ciri need to be traveling together. They needed an episode where they get to know each other, I assume, before they show up at Kaer Morhen. You see, in Season One they literally LEFT OUT Geralt and Ciri's storyline and just have them run into each other's arms at the end.

They got a lot of (well deserved, imo) critique for that. This relationship is literally both the inciting event, and the point and heart of the entire series. The showrunner said she took that to heart so I expected for them to have to try to build their relationship from scratch and try to make up for lost time.

So they reached back into the first book and used A Grain of Truth as the setting for Geralt and Ciri spending time together traveling and getting to know each other. I think that was a good choice.

Geralt knows Nivellen. I can only assume they did this for one of two reasons. 1, he has Ciri with him, so I cannot imagine him just waltzing in and staying at the house of a sketchy stranger with her. Also, 2, Nivellen tells stories about Geralt, so that acts as a device for Ciri to get to know him and trust him better through the eyes of another person.

Nivellen is a less ethical person. In the book, Nivellen doesn't know that Vereena is killing townsfolk. In the show, he knows she’s killing and he looks the other way. So, that is a huge huge huge difference as far as Geralt's moral compass. I think they did that to resolve something I find a bit sticky. (Some people don't. Your mileage may vary)

The issue of Nivellen raping a priestess. In the book, he characterizes it as something he did under peer pressure. He was running with a bunch of thugs and they coerced him. Geralt seems to completely accept that as a mistake. As a coerced error and bad luck. I did not like that. It didn't seem to jibe with Geralt's character. He tells us in the same book that the first 'monster' he killed was a rapist. But there are those who disagree with me.

Geralt leaves him. In the books, Geralt befriends Nivellen and offers to help him. In the show, he walks away basically like...so kill yourself then.

I have seen some viewers say that they didn't like that. They said Geralt is supposed to be kind and helpful, and he did help in the book. Meanwhile, he was so cold and heartless in the show. I have also seen people say that they accept the rape as a youthful mistake and that the whole point of the story is that people can redeem themselves. That they can choose not to be monsters. That this is a positive message and a classic witcher theme.

I of course, respect those viewpoints. I can see that. But for me, it’s a no. I discussed this in my recap. But fair or not, I cannot stomach the thought of a rape as a mistake of peer pressure. I know that there are shades of gray in every area of human behavior but that bit bugged me SO BADLY. Geralt literally kills rapists on more than one occasion to defend people. So, to see him be like, oh, yeah, you made a mistake, let me help you, with zero internal struggle ESPECIALLY knowing that his mother figure is a priestess (different temple but still) that I just could not. It irritated the fuck out of me.

I was hoping the show would either take out the rape or make Geralt react more strongly to it. (see, I said I'm not always a book purist). And what they did was they made Nivellen a worse person (ignoring murders) so they could have Geralt walk away and have it make even more sense. Geralt is like...oh...rapist AND murderer (by refusing to stop his bruxa lady from killing), and Ciri agrees. So, he and Ciri are both like fuck you bye.

I don't mind seeing Geralt be cold hearted there. He can be cold hearted sometimes when he thinks someone is a murderer and a rapist. I was fine with it.

So, anyway, Your mileage may vary, but I was good with all of these changes in episode one. And I think it was a strong ep that worked well.

I can’t say that about the next episode.

[seijorhi]

Hey Rhi 👋🏼, this is my first time sending you an ask/message. I accidentally stumbled upon your page on ao3 and I’ve been a fan since, you’re the reason why I got introduced to the yandere genre (I had no idea what it was before but I’m not mad about it at all). You are my all-time favorite Yandere author and I won’t read anything from that genre if it isn’t written by you. It's just something about the way you write that keeps me hooked.

I adore all of your works, but anything about the Miya twins is my favorite. Your latest work of them ‘Means to an End’ is by far my ultimate favorite obsession. I keep it as an open tab on safari from how frequently I go back to reread it. From the moment you published it, it’s been constantly plaguing my mind. The way you wrote the twins characters is so spot on and well done it’s almost as if they were real people. Your characterization of the twins is always chefs kiss.

After reading ‘Means to an End’ I was left with a couple of questions of my own. Please don’t feel pressured to answer all or if any of my questions, I’d be very much surprised if you’ve even read this far, I’ll be happy with anything you give even if that means you only read this (no hard feelings at all).

Without further ado here are my questions:

In the very beginning of the fic when Ame and reader are discussing about Ame’s birthday weekend, is it weeks or months away from her actual birthday?

When and how did Ame and Atsumu meet, did he slide in her DM’s or did he ‘accidentally’ bump into her and introduced himself?

How long were Ame and Atsumu together before the trip?

Before the planning of the trip and it was just Ame and Atsumu behind closed doors, would they go out on dates and do couple things?

How did the Internet feel about Atsumu having a girlfriend? Did this give Ame a bit of fame too? (I was wondering about this since you mentioned that Ame plastered pictures of her and Atsumu on her social media feeds)

When you mentioned that Atsumu had a ‘revolving door of girlfriends’ did this mean he treated them like an actual girlfriend or did he treat them more like a fuck buddy that he liked to keep around?

What time did Atsumu and Ame stop fucking obnoxiously loud? (cause chile we all know Atsumu has pro athlete stamina, this is also just a silly question)

What were Atsumu’s thoughts on buying Ame’s earrings, was it just to keep up the act of a loving boyfriend? ( I was honestly shocked that he got her a gift if I'm being honest)

(Back to Ame’s earrings, I know I'm sorry 🥲) But how was that interaction, Atsumu giving Ame her gift?

Another interaction I want to know about is Ame and the twins in the hot springs, since the reader didn’t end up going, did they say or do anything at all, did they at least converse with Ame?

Welp, that basically sums up my curiosity. Once again please don’t feel pressured to answer any or all of my questions. I just couldn’t help myself to ask. But if you do answer them, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to do so 🤍🫧. Keep doing what you’re doing babe!!!

hoo boy okay, firstly, thank you so much for the sweet ask!!

i'm gonna put these answers under a readmore because... there's a lot of them and that's okay vfhgdsjkvjhbfjds

a month-ish i'd say??

2. i can't remember if i put it in the fic or if i wrote it in an answer or whether it was just another piece of backstory that never left my head, but ame's a sports reporter, which is how they met. he slept with her, had every intention of forgetting her, until he pulls up the reader's social media and whaddya know? there's a familiar face

3. they've been together for nine months. long enough for ame to wonder whether tsumu is considering popping the question (oh ame, poor, sweet, naive little ame) while they're away

4. for all intents and purposes, atsumu made it feel like a real relationship. did they go out to couples ceramics painting classes? no, but dinner at fancy restaurants, taking her to matches, stuff like that, yeah absolutely. if anything, atsumu probably found it easier being in public, putting on a show, there's less of that quiet intimacy of just being together y'know? and if people got pics of them out and about in public, if ame posted gushing about their dates on instagram or whatever, who was he to complain?

don't get it wrong, atsumu doesn't hate ame. she's beautiful, fun. a good fuck. a bit pathetic and far, far too gullible, but he doesn't despise her. she's just a tool to him, that's it. the other stuff makes just makes the whole thing easier.

5. same as any other partner of any well known athlete/celebrity – there's going to be hate, of course there's gonna be hate, just like there's going to be people who are obsessed with it and ship it, people who don't give a fuck, people who think it's cute or annoying or a thousand other things. the main difference would i guess be that ame is already well-ish known, especially within the sporting world. she already has a pretty decent following online so she's well versed in tuning out all the negativity.

6. atsumu has really only ever cared about three things; samu, volleyball and the reader. the girls he dated back in highschool were at best a way to scratch the itch (with maybe the added benefit of making the reader jealous) and at worst a distraction. he didn't go out of his way to treat them like shit, it's just that in the pecking order of his priorities, they never ranked all that high. also, there's the whole obsessed with another girl to an extremely unhealthy degree thing that sort of got in the way of developing any kind of meaningful relationship.

i would say though that atsumu quickly developed a reputation. those girls knew what they were getting into.

7. i had an ask recently where they said that their interpretation of atsumu and ame's uhh extended activities that night was that atsumu couldn't get off which ngl made me snort. i love that. but to answer your question, not too much after the reader's encounter with osamu. tsumu might have that athlete stamina but poor ame has her limits bgfhjekfhjds

8. in my head, i flip-flopped between whether the earrings were fakes or not and in the end i left it up to y'all to decide. for the sake of this question, we'll assume that the earrings were in fact very real diamonds. now as a disclaimer i realise that pro-volleyball players in japan probably do not make a small fortune over their careers, however in my fic they do.

so atsumu's gift serves two purposes; one, it serves to show how rich and successful he is, that he can drop thousands on some jewellery for a girl he doesn't even love just because he can. because it's barely a drop in the ocean of his overall wealth. two, it's yet another tactic to elicit a jealous reaction from the reader.

and i think that if the reader ever did give in (and probably even if she didn't) atsumu would gladly throw money around for her, too.

9. gift in bed with a blowjob to say thank you?? fghdkihvgfjdks

10. i think the first thing that would've popped out of their mouths would've been to ask where the reader was, and why she wasn't coming – because ultimately, that's all either one of them care about. on the one hand, they don't buy her whole headache excuse for a second. it's satisfying for them to know that they're having an effect on her, but at the same time they're both disappointed because... no naked reader :c

fghdjkjhvgfjdks

it's kind of sad in a way, because i think ame would've been really excited to use the whole weekend to try and get to know osamu better. she's head over heels in love with atsumu, and she knows how important his brother is to him. making a good impression on osamu is a big thing for her. and it's not the first time they've met, or even the first time they've spent time together, but for whatever reason she gets the sense that osamu doesn't really like her.

he's never been rude or demeaning, never said anything to atsumu (at least nothing that he's shared with her) but she can't shake the feeling that he doesn't think she's a good match for atsumu. it bothers her, because she thinks that what she has with his brother is something real. something that might be permanent. if he's not on board, she doesn't know if atsumu will ever truly commit.

and so while she's worried about the reader and the weirdness hanging between them, she's also going to use the opportunity of her not being there to try and find some level to connect with osamu on. unfortunately for her, while he's not going to be a dick about it, samu really isn't interested in making a 'connection' with the chick his brother's using, no matter how nice she is.

inevitably, ame ends up being the third wheel while the two of them are wrapped up in their own conversation.

[dee--eer]

Hi:) I just reread some of the early-ish Detective Conan chapters *~200s) and I'd love to hear your opinion! The hotel rooftop and the black knight cases were the ones I read bc I've always loved Shiho so much!! But I've also always wondered why her getting shot 3 times by Gin wasn't a big deal?? She looked bad, sure, but she was conscious and only barely bleeding when they were driving home. I just chalked it up to the "Bullets mean Nothing when it's Cool and Convenient to the Author", but only a few cases later when Conan gets shot in the forest it's a Huge Deal, he almost dies etc.

Was it already a hint about the drug's original purpose to grant immortality? Obviously it's supposed to keep you forever young, but is it also supposed to make you invincible? The drug might have helped Ai with her bullet wounds but Mary still has a cold or something bc of almost drowning/taking the drug and there are cold-like symptoms from the drug.

What do you think? (Sorry for the long ask!!)

Hello there! Thank you so much for the ask, and please don't be sorry because I'd love to discuss anything about Shiho! Also really sorry it took me a while to answer because seeing your ask made me reread the chapter again and then I got distracted and end up rereading every chapter with Shiho appearance lol

Also it is kinda long so I'll put my answer under the cut!

Okay, let's talk about those 2 particular cases first! So, Shiho was shot by Gin 3 times in total, and that does sound pretty bad. However, if we really look at it, Gin's shot weren't actually meant to be (instantly) fatal.

First, she was shot on her shoulder:

And then it's her thigh, shoulder again, and one grazed her cheek:

Those aren't the part you'll usually aim for if you want to mortally wound someone. There are a pretty big artery on shoulder and thigh, yes, but another reason why I think those gunshot wound are pretty 'mild' is because I don't think Gin was aiming to kill her right away. I mean, if he really want to kill her instantly, he should've just aimed at her head on that first shot. Also, being the expert assassin he was, I'm sure he has more than enough knowledge to know where to shot that'll hurt the most without killing his target on the spot.

Conan on the other hand, was shot on his abdomen, a hotspot for dealing mortal wound in human body. One of human's biggest artery is located on the abdomen, so a bleeding on that spot wil be really fatal.

Now, Conan's wound seems to be located more on the left side, where your stomach is, and there are a tons of blood vessels in there. Not to mention that the gunman this time is a civilian and not a highly trained assassin like Gin, so the shot won't be clean and there's a high possibility that the bullet damage more than one organ. An internal bleeding on the abdomen is no joke and can lead to shock pretty quickly due to the amount of blood loss.

In conclusion, on these 2 cases, Conan suffer a heavier damage because his wound is located on a riskier place than Shiho's, and that Shiho was shot with the intention of hurting her first rather than killing her instantly.

In general however, I do think that Shiho has a higher pain tolerance than Shinichi. Even though her status was just a scientist, Shiho was still a member of a crime syndicate, so it makes sense that she probably went through a lot of things that'll give her higher pain tolerance, while Shinichi used to be a normal high school student. One of the latest example of this would be from the case where she turned back to help the Detective Boys on this case:

Genta and Mitsuhiko are shown to be mostly conscious, and they still have enough awareness to hear the sound of door being opened. This implied that Shiho was able to supress her voice enough as to not alert them while she transformed, and it's been shown times to times that the APTX transformation really hurts. Shiho also looks mostly nonchalant when she appears in front of Conan, while Shinichi is almost always look really sick whenever he took the antidote.

One of the exception is that one case with Shinichi's clone(?) where he just transformed back and forth in the restroom in a span of like, 5 minutes and shows up as Shinichi still looking good as ever;

But my argument here is that 1) This is already the nth time he took the antidote so his body's already used to the pain and 2) It's just another case of Gosho's forced writing showing up where he want to drag the 'Ran can't know about Shinichi situation' plot longer and forget he literally made him scream in agony when he transformed into Conan 2 pages before this lol

As for the APTX thing, there's this amazing post that talk about it at length so I suggest that you give it a read! I don't think that APTX is giving them any boost to their healing system tho, since it seems that Shinichi get sick pretty frequently after he took drug and that thing with Mary having a seemingly permanent cold. I mean, one of my favorite hc is that APTX fucked with his immune system so bad that even after getting back to Shinichi he'll still have cold frequently 😂

[anauro]

hi roc!! i finally have the time and emotional capacity to type my very long "Thoughts" re: dass into your ask box :) i sent you the previous ask right after finishing my reread and i kid you not -- life immediately dipped right after. sooooo, here i am. a few days late :[[ -------------- 1) Regulus as a doctor. Okay, OKAY. I cannot tell you how much i appreciate the way you've written regulus as a doctor. Dass!Regulus -- through representation -- provides such an honest insight into some of the pits of most healthcare systems. I've never gotten to see the depth in his characterization as a doctor until MY sister started having trouble with hers. There is one flaw to regulus as a doctor that i think shines: The way he falls back on textbook knowledge when it comes to james. It's such a good and well thought out flaw. He likens, the hit of nicotine from a cig to that of what james usually takes -- or at least thinks they're somewhat comparable. And james finds this amusing. He refuses to acknowledge the doctor in charge of the clinic concerning James' dental visit. He falls back to what he knows as hard facts through what he's learned in med school, thinking it simply is the most logical approach, when simple, rigid, textbook knowledge often lack/s important insight. what happens? james ends up in pain much, much, faster than he should've had. when james was clearly struggling with withdrawal, the way regulus simply offered anti-sickness medicine and paracetamol to james just. felt. so. off. detached? and i know, in that particular scene, it may also have something to do with his and james' early relational distance. but, it does, very much tie into the fact that regulus, even with all his medical knowledge, has much to understand regarding james' needs and current condition. he thinks the science is "sciencing" but it's not. the thing is, regulus isn't stupid! gosh he's so far from that. and you've continuously established reg's prodigal skills. aside from him being a junior anaesthetist, dass!regulus simply mirrors today's reality. we see doctors as great scholars. surrounded by all that knowledge, sometimes it's hard for them to see how what they know, isn't always enough. they're not all-knowing. and for the science to science -- you need insight and empathy. otherwise, there can be observational gaps. for doctors, it's a tight line they have to walk between asserting their professional knowledge and, well, taking into account a patient's unique needs. when they lean far too much on the former it's the patient who suffers.

i think, the way you've taken the time to write regulus out this way is so... very cool of you. i wish i could've noticed much sooner. P.S. this ask was supposed to have more than one item but -- hehe i've made this one wayyyyyy too long!! sorry T^T i do believe that i have to send this one out first ~

Hiya!

Omg, thank you so much for popping back!! 🫶🏼 I do hope life picked up again now 🤞🏼

This answer turned out to be a bit long so I’m gonna put it under the cut and content warn it as addiction talk and inequalities in healthcare (also pls do not reblog)

So yeah, doctor Regulus and addict James really can be summarised as “science isn’t sciencing”. You’re right, Regulus is smart and not just smart enough to be a doctor, but one of the smartest in his hospital (I think it’s Marlene who mentions it that he’s the youngest to pass the exams and anaesthetics is known for having the hardest exams) and yet James puts him in his place really easily.

Regulus tries to break down James’ problems into biteable chunks and fails to realise that’s not how James experiences it. He doesn’t want anything for the nausea or the pain or the insomnia, and part of it is cause he genuinely doesn’t want to bother Regulus and doesn’t think he deserves help with these, but also that’s not what bothers James the most. He’s not gonna go and take drugs cause he’s vomiting, he’s gonna do it cause he can’t cope with the Harry situation, his parents, his crush on Regulus…. And Regulus’ sole reaction to it is “everybody has problems. Go to therapy.” Which is probably very reasonable and kind of what James needed to hear, but also does highlight Regulus’ lack of understanding of how people who struggle with addiction process things and deal with problems.

And James remarks on how Regulus already treats him better than doctors at the hospital did, whilst at the same time Regulus chastises himself for not being understanding enough. And as Regulus’ feelings towards James develops, he starts to compartmentalise James into his and addict, failing yet again to realise these two are the same person. Which. As you may have predicted, will cause issues further down the line as James can’t hide the addict side of himself deep enough.

But the overarching theme of doctors and other healthcare workers in all healthcare systems lacking to distinguish textbook knowledge from what’s in front of them is a huge topic and a sad one. It doesn’t affect just addiction, but also ethnic minorities, people with disabilities (ask any diabetic how easy it was to do their insulin whilst in a hospital and you’ll know) and members of the LGBT community, especially trans people. Ranging from basic nomenclature issues (only having F or M as gender or font on paperwork being too small or otherwise inaccessible for disabilities) to blunt oppression (not respecting pronouns, asking questions not related to current health needs).

I understand there’s only so much that can be taught at universities (or else the courses would be 10 years long lol) and just the pure clinical knowledge is heaps to learn, but I think that’s a poor excuse for not teaching healthcare workers basic empathy and understanding of challenges they might face whilst looking after patients outside of the “white, rich, able bodied and cishet” population.

Anyway, its a topic I could talk on forever and I don’t think anyone would be particularly interested, but the bottom line is: healthcare workers are amazing and brilliant people, but they need to constantly educate themselves on topics that are not pure science, but yet are inseparable part of their jobs. And the healthcare system should encourage that, both by providing resources as well giving time off to learn all those things and reward those who do. Needing to go to a hospital is stressful enough without having to worry about being, bluntly put, disrespected.

[mondfahrt]

fanfic asks: 3, 5, 6, 7, 15, 18 + 29 (sorry i know that’s a lot)

Hiiiiii no worries, I love talking about writing almost as much as I love writing! <3

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Are you going to make me choose between my children?? ... Okay, seriously, I love all of my stories. I'm probably proudest of "Heartleaves", though, and I still regularly re-read "Everything That Touches Us". Even when I'm collaborating, I'm still writing for myself, you know? These are the stories and relationships I wanna read about, so I do!

Also, even if it's not done yet, I'm still very proud of "Neon, Neon". It took a lot out of me to start writing German fanfic again, to publish it, and then to also make it Explicit. I realised that I really like writing porn in German, I guess? Aaahhh, that sounds TERRIBLE!! xD

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

"Never" is a long time.... But I've had this idea of a OFMD/Steddyhands AU that's basically an OT3 take on "Sweet Home Alabama", you know, the romcom with Reese Witherspoon? I even have a playlist for it, but.... there's so many other things I want to write? Idk... Maybe some day...

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

YEEESSSSSS. There's "Benefits & Costs" by trans_chickens, I JUST reread that and it's still AMAZING. Then, the "Polyamory" series by Euphorion. Did I ever tell anyone that I'm obsessed with Kuroko no Basuke? WELL I AM OBSESSED. (Also, uuhhh, very E-rated, but go read the "A Firm Hand" series by lysapadin, it's so good!) I'm sure there are more but those are the ones I remember rn.

Already answered 7. in a previous ask!

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters?

Uuhhh, sometimes it's just words I like or that feel fitting. I like one-word-titles, especially for the German stories. And while I do love to get inspired by music and lyrics, I like lines from poems for titles even more!

(And then there's "Neon, Neon", which is called that, because I couldn't come up with a title, but I knew I wanted something related to Neon Trees.......)

Already answered 18. as well! (Normally I would give you another line, because there are more, but I'm super tired sorryyyyyy......)

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

This is just an excerpt from an Ed/Izzy, with past Izzy/Sam Bellamy story that I'll probably never finish.

"Later, there's a Sam-shaped hole burned into the inside of his chest as if was made out of paper, the edges black and fraying and still able to ignite if it catches the breeze wrong. He doesn't really think about it anymore, only that he burns and has been burnt, so he's decided that, for now, it's better to not think at all. About Sam. About Sam leaving. About any of it. And if, sometimes, he thinks about satin under his hands, cool and soft and almost liquid, if he thinks about Sam's fingers digging into his thighs, about the dark-blue-like-the-sky-just-before-dawn bruises he'd left there, if he finds himself reminded of him when looking out into the night, and reminded of silk when looking out to sea. Well, then, that's his own fucking business, and everyone else can go fuck themselves."

I like the words here, maybe I'll re-use them for something else. (I also thought about sharing something from the One Piece modern roadtrip AU that I have lying around but every excerpt looked too long and this is already such a long answer....)

THANK YOU FOR ASKING <3 this was funnnnn!!!

[appreciatingtokrev]

6 n 8 for the fic ask game ‼️‼️

ty ty for the ask taku <3

6. Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that?

pfahahaha oml yeah. i’m over my cringy warrior cats fanfictions fron 5 years ago but i am NOT over my ayathoma smut fic from september 2021. seriously the only reason it’s still under my name is so i can flex with my 14k hits and 570 kudos adhkgsfjgd 😭 god i am begging all of you to ignore and forget that it exists. thanks 😭😭

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

ohh okay i actually have two answers for this bc i’m not entirely sure abt the older one. but that would be an entire warrior cats fan arc, even with some special adventures and a short adventure. i started working on it in 2019 and to date i’ve only written three chapters, plus i’d have to revamp it all, but something kinda tempts me about it... (this one is actually published lol but i am not gonna tell you where)

the other one is the first tokrev fic i ever started writing, that was back in december 2021. so old... okay. the fic is in hanma’s pov. basically kisaki survives getting hit by a truck but is in a coma for months (close to a year?), and when he finally wakes up he’s lost most of his memory, including everything he used to know about hanma. hanma is devasted but tries to befriend kisaki again, but kisaki doesn’t want to have anything to do with delinquents now because he can’t remember hina and thus doesn’t have any reason to. meanwhile hanma is still hopelessly in love with him, but kisaki doesn’t even know that... they try to become friends some more, until kisaki eventually tells hanma that this won’t ever work and hanma confesses in despair. kisaki tells him that he’s sorry, but that he doesn’t at all feel the same (perhaps anymore, since he doesn’t remember what he used to feel) and hanma finally accepts that kisaki simply doesn’t like him at all now. that’s it lol tho uhm. tbh i kinda wanna revamp it now... with a happy ending... and focus on kisaki still having all of his feelings/emotions from before but taking a while to figure out that the person he misses so much bc he’s in love with them is hanma because he can’t remember hanma, only his feelings for him? like. amnesia fics where they fall in love again are cool and all but like. what if neither of them ever fall out of love. what if the only problem is kisaki is so fucking dense he doesn’t know who he’s in love with even though he sees hanma every day. because kisaki can’t piece the longing ache in his heart together with the guy who visits him every day bc apparently they were best friends or smth before he lost his memory even tho he feels weirdly warm n comfy around him and gets those familiar comfy feelings when he’s with him and also hanma looks very nice and makes kisaki feel safe and happy and all giddy inside. but even then kisaki longs bc they’re friends and not boyfriends, and kisaki just can’t piece together that the longing is for hanma even if they’re close bc he longs for romantic love when they’re only platonic and he is fucking STUPID and oblivious when it comes to himself

ask game link

[emblemxeno]

Hello again.

Sorry to bother you with this topic again, but i reread the 11-part long fates criticism post on reddit, and found so much shit wrong with those posts i could no longer resist the temptation to write a counter-essay pointing out everything wrong with it and posting it to the fe subreddit (rip what little karma i had).

I'm in the middle of writing it now, and one of the parts i'm having issues with is the last one, where OP claims the themes of the game to be family, war being bad, and finding the truth, and giving reasons as to why the themes are poorly done (family is bad because BR doesn't explore Corrin's relationship with the Hoshidan sibs enough, war bad is poorly done and SOMEHOW also somewhat pro-war due to Hoshido's moral superiority over Nohr and Corrin being "absolved of any and all wrongdoing during CQ", and finding truth being bad due to Azura knowing the truth all along).

As expected, i have a LOT to say about those arguments, especially the second one, but i also want to add a little extra to the essay by pointing out what the actual themes of the game are and doing so with evidence from the plots of each route (no supports or other such side material unfortunately, he barely touches on those in the other posts and i don't think it'd be fair of me to use that as evidence when he doesn't bring it up himself in the segment i'm talking about).

Issue is, i kinda suck at thematic analysis and don't truly know what the themes of the game are, even after looking through the scripts of the routes again.

Which is why i wanted to ask you: what would you say the main thene of each route and/or the game as a whole is, and could you give examples of them being estabilished/developed throughout the plot(s)?

I know this is a complicated question, and i'm completely fine with it if you don't feel like answering, especially since my main point will be dissecting why his arguments are bad, with the thematic analysis being more of a bonus.

So anyway, I started writing and I couldn't stop, sooooo... yeah. I hope you don’t mind me posting this public, because I wanted to share my brain mumbo jumbo with others too haha. Thanks for the ask! And feel free to take from this what you will, it's not like I'm going back to Reddit, I hate it there lol.

For starters, all of what I've written under the cut isn't me trying to say that the topics that the OP of that thread aren't major pieces in Fates' story, but... ehhhh. The family aspect is definitely prominent, but I wouldn't say its a theme per se. It's more a tool to drive the dramatic and tragic moments of the plot. Theoretically, you could replace the sibling aspect with "really cool childhood friends" and you wouldn't lose a thing if it was written well enough. The royals being Corrin's siblings just takes less work, because family dynamics are more readily and easily understood (even when they're dysfunctional) with comparably minimal explanation.

'War Is Bad' isn't a theme either IMO, cuz objectively there's positives to come out of warfare for both Nohr (resources) and Hoshido (defense against attacks so they don't have to step out of their isolationist bubble). It's really only Corrin and the litte sisters who push that aesop, but that's because it's part of their characters. Truth seeking is also not a theme in my eyes, it's more a catalyst for things to happen. Like the OP said, Azura has all the answers so finding the truth is a pretty shitty theme. But in that case, why not work backwards? If Truth Seeking doesn't work as a theme, consider then if it's even meant to be a major theme at all. That's what I did, and it led to me to think, no, not really. Azura exposits the truth because it's another way she supports the leader, Corrin, and it helps him and the story at large develop the actual themes meant to be conveyed.

But anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Using He/Him for Corrin, the rest is under the cut!

For Birthright, I'd say the big theme of that route is "Trust and Belief in your allies/friends". From the start, Corrin's trust and faith in people gets tested: Does he believe Silas' words when he says they were childhood friends? He chooses to do so, and it works out. Yay!

From then on though, that faith is shaken with what happens with Zola. True, Corrin's words and actions did shake Zola's core a bit given his words to Garon, but he still betrayed the party and ruined Corrin's plans to end the war early.

This theme is given the spotlight later during the Ice Tribe chapter, during Ryoma's talk with Corrin about it. This hardens Corrin's resolve in choosing not to doubt his friends anymore, leaning into his strength rather than worrying about the risks all the time. This initially burns him with Flora, but it helps win the day with Takumi getting over his possession.

Being more broad, you could put it under a general "The Value of Human Relationships" as well, in order to include the copious moments where Azura's connection and companionship with Corrin takes the spotlight when discussing her powers and the dangers that come with overusing them. This can also include the tragic aspect of Birthright, where the Nohrian siblings' family dynamic is ruined because of Corrin's choice, something that Birthright's story hammers in a lot, especially in regards to Elise; the value of the relationships that Corrin had with the Nohr royals is sullied, pushed into a place of destruction, culminating with Camilla outright saying in BR's epilogue-in the JP version at least-that her feelings towards Corrin and his actions are mixed.

For Conquest, I'd say the main themes are "Where Justice Lies" and "Moral Convictions".

Corrin has a clear and well established moral compass: he fights if necessary, but will always, always do his utmost to find an alternative to war and killing. Can he disarm them? Can things be talked out? Can he deceive ally and foe alike?

This compass gets put to the test during this route. Quelling the Ice Tribe rebellion his own way works out, but fighting against the Hoshidan soldiers and royal family puts him on edge. He can avoid death and conflict to the best of his ability during the Sanctuary and Macarath battles, but innocent lives are put in danger in Nestra, and despite Leo's efforts, Corrin is still uneasy.

Hence the moral question Corrin offers himself during chapter 15: Should he have not joined Nohr, considering all the pain he is enabling by doing so?

Learning the truth that Azura reveals drives the point home further: Corrin now has knowledge of this demon infesting Garon, that's causing all of this wanton destruction. And yet, he does not have the power to rebel. As the story goes on, he no longer has the option to mitigate damage as much as he wants to, either. Is the justice he's fighting for-expunging the demon he now knows of-worth the sacrifice of another kingdom's peace? Corrin even breaks down over this dilemma eating away at him during the Wind Tribe chapter, where he is overcome with emotion at the thought of being seen as a worthy hero despite his actions.

(Fighting for his own justice also relates to Xander, a character who initially thinks justice is a fairy tail nonindicative of the real world, but later comes to terms with being a king who maintains the justice he believes in. I can't talk about Conquest's themes without mentioning Xander heheh.)

For Revelation, I wish I had better words to describe it, but something along the lines of "Be who you are/be true to yourself."

Rev in itself deals a lot with Corrin's personal growth as the definitive leader of the campaign (as opposed to BR or CQ where he's kind of joint-leaders with Ryoma or Xander, respectively) This growth has to deal with being his authentic self, relying on his strengths, cementing his convictions, not putting himself down or giving up.

The branch of fate kind of does this in a very neat meta way, IMO. Corrin can't betray his convictions to side with one family against the other, and seeks to solve things without conflict. While Xander and Ryoma scoff at this and proceed to fight anyway, notice how they only target each other and not Corrin. This is because Corrin remains true to himself by choosing diplomacy first.

However, Corrin then steps out of his realm of expertise. Sure, he's an objectively talented fighter, but he's still inexperienced and doesn't like warfare in general. By taking Azura's advice and trying to attract Ryoma and Xander's attention by taking out their subcommanders, instead of getting the result he wanted, Corrin instead earns the ire of his elder brothers. (As an aside, this also goes to provide an in story example of why Azura isn't a leader type, something she herself says later on. Her calculated strategies don't take into account the emotional aspect of conflict, which fits into her established character of being standoffish and stoic. She's meant to be a supporter, both in-game and in-story.)

What do Ryoma and Xander say of Corrin after he does this? They declare him a traitor, hellbent on being an enemy of both kingdoms. They can't understand why Corrin would attack them like that, and are so incensed by Corrin presumably doing such a 180 on his character that they think malicious madness is the only cause.

It's why it's not Corrin's martial prowess that gets Ryoma and Xander to stop fighting in chapter 13 (you're very much encouraged NOT to fight them given how damn busted their stats are, after all). It's Azura's song and Corrin's words that calm the brothers down and have them begin to realize that Corrin means what he says and is the same brother they know and love. (Something that the other siblings-Sakura, Camilla, and Elise especially-say in very similar terms!!!) Azura creates opportunity for peace through revealing truth and her song, not her leadership. Corrin uses said opportunity to spread his cry for peace and unity, because they are a leader whose strengths lie in believing in people and relying on his friends.

This all comes to a head during the the times when Corrin tries to take all the responsibility unto himself, putting his life at risk in doing so. He attempts to tell the party of Valla because he himself still doesn't believe in his strength as a leader, and tries to pass off the role to Ryoma and Xander. The brothers reject this idea, because it was Corrin's leadership, not theirs, that brought the party together. This comes up again with the Anthony debacle, where Corrin again tries the same thing-taking all the problems onto himself-and has to get the point definitively hammered into him: Your biggest weakness is also your greatest strength. Be true to yourself, and we'll always support you in times of need.

Corrin developing like this makes them the leader that he always was, he just didn't know it until then. It's why as time goes on, I have less of a problem with Corrin leading Valla, because thematically? It works! He pushed back against the cycle of warfare that Nohr and Hoshido-and his families by extension-offered him, and ended it by being true to his moral convictions (like Conquest) and relying on his strengths, that being believing in people (like Birthright). Corrin proves that he's a leader capable of leading Valla out of its ruined state, with the help from his brothers that he'll never shy away from asking for again.

Sorry again if this was a lot, Fates just brings out the analyst in me haha.