#and more obvious characters always say the same things over and over why bother participating in the holidays to get an item you

[comixandco]

not sure where i’m going with this but

a time loop farm sim where the same year repeats over and over

[usermischief]

♞Pairing: Steo ♞Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Theo Raeken ♞Tags: canon divergence, Theo is part of the Ito pack, mutual pining, minor Malia/Stiles ♞Words: 2505 ♞Bad Things Happen Bingo - Blackmail ♞ao3

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begin again

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See, blackmail is something he expects from people like Theo and Peter, and Deucalion, maybe even Jackson on some special occasions. He didn’t exactly expect Malia to be the one to hold his secrets over his head to force him back into a relationship with her. After their breakup, after Theo and Lydia remember him, after a month-long and very awkward relationship with the latter, and Stiles leaving for Quantico — after all the signs proving that they’re just not meant to be, she decided that they are and that she would ruin his life if he disagreed. The threat alone wouldn’t have made Stiles agree to come back. 

It’s the fact that she could very much ruin his life if she so chooses.  

She knows everything about the nogitsune, how Stiles feels about it, the nightmares and memories, the things a human should not be able to do, and worst of all, the things he craves. 

So, Stiles will have to play out her little fantasy until she’s either ready to move on or he found a way out of this mess. 

Not that he can do anything about that right now. Although part of him hopes Malia will attach herself to one of the werewolves blatantly hitting on her. That’s what all these werewolf conventions are for, aren’t they? Politics and mating — or mating for politics. 

“You look as bored as I feel.” Theo collapses into a chair next to him, tugging on his tie. 

Stiles huffs out a breath. “I’ve been fighting the urge to pull a fire alarm for almost an hour now.” 

“Is that why you don’t move?”

“If I get up I can’t guarantee anything.” Stiles glances around the room, watching werewolves mingle, watching some looking back at him. “Besides, I don’t think I’m particularly welcome here.” Kira decided not to participate from the very beginning. A fox amid hundreds of wolves probably isn’t a good idea. Stiles tried to tell Malia that it’s more than likely the same applies to him. Naturally, she didn’t listen and dragged him here. If he trusted Theo and his motives a little more, he’d ask whether it’s obvious or not. As it is, he should probably keep that to himself. One person blackmailing him is more than enough. 

Theo crosses his arms on the table. “Your scent doesn’t match any of the packs here. It makes them nervous.” At least it’s not the fox thing. “The rumors going around probably don’t help either.” 

That’s not something Stiles wants to hear. “Rumors?” he echoes regardless, trying his very best to sound nonchalant. “What type of rumors about a human could possibly be concerning for werewolves?” Because it would be perfect if they stopped floating around. The only thing more worrying than being an outsider in the middle of a bunch of werewolves is being an outsider who makes said bunch nervous. Conventions like these aren’t always peaceful. More often than not, fighting breaks out. Stiles would prefer not to be in the middle of it. 

Theo’s gaze sweeps across the room, narrowing only slightly before he turns back to him. “It’s about what you’ve survived,” he says and, leaning closer, he adds, “what you might have become of it.” 

Stiles stares at him and clenches his teeth. If he says a single word, he might out himself. Other than Malia, Theo is the only person who knows what may have become of him. Maybe Theo is the only one who really knows him — even the parts Stiles is hiding from himself. 

“Kira is one thing, but you, Void?” 

Stiles slams his hands on the table. “Is that a threat? Are you seriously threatening me?” 

“No.” Theo doesn’t seem particularly bothered by the outbreak. He never is. For someone with a short temper, Theo has always proven to be very patient with him. “It’s a warning.” His gaze flicks back into the crowd. “Maybe you should get better friends because the ones you have are dropping subtle hints about what you are.”

Tensing visibly, Stiles narrows his eyes at Theo. “Malia probably doesn’t know any better.” The words are no sooner out of his mouth when he questions himself why he even defends her. She’s blackmailing him. She is actively fucking him over, and yet, here he is, protecting her image from Theo’s accusations. 

Theo barks out a laugh, humorless and dangerous and perfect in every way possible. With a smile as dangerous as his laugh, Theo leans even closer. His breath brushes over Stiles’ cheek and chin, like ghostly fingertips tickling all those buried feeling back to the surface. “Do you really think,” he whispers, placing his hand on Stiles’ thigh, just high enough to be considered intimate, “that Malia is smart enough to blackmail anyone? Let alone you?” Theo leans even closer, pressing his mouth against the shell of Stiles’ ear. His hand moves higher, crossing lines and boundaries he shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near. But Theo doesn’t care. He never cared. Instead, he places his free hand on the side of his neck. “Let alone you, Void?”

Stiles pulls back so fast he almost slips off the chair. “Do not—“ he bites out and grabs Theo’s hand, not pulling it away, just holding them in place “— call me that.” 

Theo’s smile only widens. “How do you think Malia knows about the video Agent McCall keeps hiding to protect you?” 

Stiles can feel his blood run cold. This was supposed to be a secret only Stiles, Rafael, his dad and Scott know about. That footage will put him in prison faster than anything else ever could. There’s no convincing anybody that the person on the tape is a thousand-year-old fox demon wearing his face. Stiles thought it was destroyed, but if Theo’s telling the truth then— he furrows his brows. Wait. “How do you know about that?” 

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Theo squeezes his leg and gets to his feet. “If you come to your senses, Satomi always has a place for strays.” He nods toward the other direction of the room and leaves. 

Heart pounding in his chest, Stiles watches him walk away. He’s probably more than aware of the damage he just caused. As per usual, Theo dug his fingers into all of Stiles’ biggest insecurities and tore him apart. The blackmail, his being a nogitsune, the friendship with Scott, and his feelings for the chimera. Theo knows him better than anyone, that’s why he can hurt him so much. But Theo also understands that Stiles needs this pain to start helping himself or accept another person’s help. 

Stiles pulls his phone out of the pocket of his jacket and heads in a different direction. If anyone can get rid of this video footage, it’s Melissa — and the best person to talk to her is his father. 

- - -

The good thing about his father dating Melissa is that they’re basically attached at the hip, so Stiles does not have to worry about his dad being alone again. Stiles could also hear the beginning of what would undeniably become a rather uncomfortable conversation for Rafael. The footage most likely will be deleted before the day is over. 

The bad thing about his dad and Melissa dating is that they will end up in the crossfire of what’s going to be the end of Scott-and-Stiles, no matter how much they’ll try to keep them out of it. When Stiles told them about the blackmail, Melissa was sure there had to be a good reason or a misunderstanding. Stiles is sure Scott thinks he has a good reason, but it’s not a misunderstanding. 

Stiles pushes his phone back into his pocket and returns to the main hall. He’s not going to stay long, all he’s wanting to do is briefly talk to Satomi. To be fair, he’s not sure if he actually wants to join her pack, but he’d at least would like to talk to her about what’s going on with him before she hears it from anybody else. He’d also like to talk to Theo again. Maybe. He doesn’t know. 

“Hey.” Malia appears in front of him, stopping Stiles in his tracks, “where have you been?”

Although it’s really none of her business — now even less than before — Stiles decides to tell her. He’s going to leave anyway. She might as well know why. “I was talking to my dad,” he explains and crosses his arms over his chest. 

She furrows her brows. “Where are you going now?”

“Satomi.” Stiles nods in the direction of her table, watching as Brett beckons Theo over. 

Seeing him is probably what tips her off. Despite everything, their non-existent relationship wasn’t entirely a secret. People picked up on something between them. Malia noticed it too. “If you go over there—“

“Then what?” Stiles snaps his gaze back to Malia. “You’ll ruin my life?” The only person he was worried about knowing the truth about him already knows everything, and Scott turns around to blackmail him with it. Stiles should have never returned to the McCall pack. He was better off on his own. It certainly would have spared him a lot of pain and heartbreak. 

Malia flashes her eyes. Once again, control is slipping through her fingers. It’s nothing new. She’s never been trained well. The only time she stayed mostly in control was when Stiles acted as her anchor. Maybe that’s why Scott wanted Stiles to date her again. It makes life easier for him. “You can’t do that. I’m going to tell everyone the truth about you.” 

“Awesome, and while you’re at it,” Stiles says in a low voice, “tell Scott Melissa wants to talk to him. She didn’t sound particularly happy about the whole blackmail thing.” Smiling at her, Stiles turns on his heels and walks away. He’ll quickly talk to Satomi then he’s going to leave. Simple as that. He’s over all of this bullshit. 

“I’m pretty sure,” Malia calls, her voice trembling noticeably, “the people here would like to know a fox is hiding in their midst.” 

Although everything in him wants to stop and turn around, he forces himself to keep walking. If he pretends she isn’t talking to him, he might make it out of the room before the others are putting everything together — if they even care. It’s hard to tell with werewolves. There might be a lot who are just like Satomi and don’t care about foxes. There might be a lot of other wolves who consider the complete opposite. He works his fingers through his hair and catches sight of Satomi getting to her feet. The rest of her pack follows. Well, everyone but Theo, who is already right in front of him. 

Smiling softly, Theo places a jacket around his shoulders. “Hey babe,” he says in a low voice, “let’s head out.” 

Stiles narrows his eyes. “Excuse me?” He wants to brush off the jacket, but Theo keeps it firmly in place by grabbing his upper arms. 

“I said let’s head out.” Still smiling, Theo places a hand on the small of Stiles’ back in an attempt to move him. The hand around his right arm tightens a little. 

“No.”

Surprisingly, the smile does not slip from Theo’s features. Instead, he leans closer, pressing his mouth against the shell of Stiles’ ear again. “If you don’t want me,” he whispers, and it’s the most threatening tone Theo has ever used on him, “to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here, I recommend you come with me.” Gently tugging on the jacket, Theo stands back again. 

Stiles wants to smack him. Hard. He curls his fingers into tight fists. 

Theo’s hand slides down to his wrist, and he tugs him closer. His smile turns sharper. “Don’t even think about it.” 

Grinding his teeth, Stiles glances over Theo’s shoulder. Oh, but he wants to. So desperately. Because it’s easier than leaning into the other boy. However, people are watching. Most packs wouldn’t dare to make a move on someone from Satomi’s pack whether she’s in the room or not, but the chance is not zero. Not at all. Theo, as of right now, is his shield and most likely the only person standing between him and being pounced on by a werewolf who thinks he’s sneaked into his place. Theo is putting himself at risk. 

Stiles licks his lips. “Why are you doing this?” The last time Theo protected him, the whole thing was a setup. Theo used killing Josh to blackmail him. “You don’t care.” He wants something from him… unless he’s doing it for Satomi. 

Furrowing his brows, Theo pulls back. For what it’s worth, he looks actually offended at the statement. “Of course, I care.” 

“No, you don’t, and don’t give me that—“

Theo leans closer. This time, he’s not aiming to whisper in his ear. His warm breath brushes over Stiles’ cheek. It smells sweet like the stupid white wine Theo’s been drinking all evening. Gently, Theo nudges their noses together. The simple gesture feels too intimate to move, to breathe. 

And then Theo kisses him. His lips are gliding against Stiles’, one hand cupping his jaw, the other pulling him closer. He’s kissing him, and his eyes are closed. He’s kissing him, and Stiles’ heart sings. 

He wraps his arms around Theo’s waist, curling his fingers into the soft shirt. He’s holding on a little tighter than he needs to, but now that he has Theo exactly where he’s wanted him for years, the thought of letting go again makes his stomach turn. 

The jacket slides from his shoulder, but Theo catches it with ease. His lips curl into a smile against Stiles’. When he wraps the jacket around him again, he uses it to pull him closer. His chuckle ripples through Stiles’ body, making him shudder, and press closer to Theo. 

“Now that I’ve proved my point,” Theo whispers against his lips, “we’re going to make our exit.” 

Stiles shakes his head, but he can’t help but laugh. “You’re a jerk, you know that?” 

Theo hums. His fingertips run down Stiles’ arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. “You love it.” With a small grin, he intertwines their fingers. “You look good in my jacket.” He slips an arm around his waist, pulling him to his side. When he leads him towards the exit this time, Stiles doesn’t even think about fighting it. 

“Looks like I have a habit of dating people ready to blackmail me.” Stiles glances at Theo out of the corner of his eyes. 

“I’m a changed person.” 

“Right.” Stiles bites back a smile. 

Theo pinches his side. “Careful,” he whispers into his ear again, probably highly aware of the goosebumps he causes, “I can still be vengeful, little fox.”

Stiles smiles and glances over his shoulder, spotting Malia and Scott standing side by side, watching them walk away. “Good.” Stiles turns to look at Theo, now smirking. “I’m counting on it.” 

[kadi-sann]

About Hiyori not wanting to leave any evidence of his existance

I always assumed (as many of us did) that Hiyori didn't want to leave any evidence of his existance because he's simply a criminal and he was rather careful with not ending up in trouble if he'll get found out about messed up things he did. Murders, illegal experiments on people, stalking, abuse and other weird thingies??

And if that’s the case then leaving his own scarf in Shin's memory was his stupid mistake of sorts. But the more I think about it the more it doesn't make sense. He is way too smart for this.

Because Asunaro can cover up much bigger stuff than this, right? They have goverment and police on their side because of their truly large influence in both in underground world and among the people who have no idea what their real deal is and that they have darker side. They are able to cover up murders, illegal experiments, free prisoners from prison or even pin crime on you that you didn’t even commit.

So I'm going for conclusion that Hiyori just wanted to get rid of any evidence of his existance just to mess with participants (and probably people in general) after he erases their memories about himself and they’ll remember him again when the time comes. It’s like going trough the same trauma TWICE. That’s probably why he was so insisting on them to get those memories back in the first place. And that they have to do it on their own.

Like think about it. He left Shin’s memories about himself because his whole relationship with him was one big trauma. It's obvious that Hiyori being Hiyori will benefit from it and enjoy nothing more when he will find out his “friend” was even worse than he normally thought. If he would truly care about being caught by law he would erase Shin’s memories as well. And as for his scarf he clearly left it on purpose since it's obvious he didn't want Shin to forget about him at all.

Even if Shin wasn’t much of a threat in a slightest on his own to expose him - especially when he was rather lonely - Hiyori would risk way too much by not erasing his memories if caring about the law would be the case. He shouldn’t allow himself for even the slightest mistake: even if possibility of uncovering him would be only 1%.

Asunaro’s influence is the main base for Hiyori’s incredible power to begin with and even in game he says he’s obligated to listen to them. They’re probably the only people in the world who he would ever let control him to some degree. Simply because ties with them are very convenient for him. I won’t believe he would want to risk that much of a convenience that allows him get away with every fucked up thing he does.

But no, it seems that’s not the case at all. It’s like he isn’t bothered as he knows Asunaro is more powerful than that and so he can fool around. Asunaro didn’t stop him from that either. They could erase Shin’s memories on their own but they also didn’t do that.

Think about Reko and Alice too. It's obvious Alice will go trough even bigger confusion, anger and pain if he finds out that dude who he supposedly killed is alive. He will go trough similar pain AGAIN after he'll finally learn the truth of his existance and the fact it was all one big set up which resulted in messed up relationship with his beloved sister.

For Reko it’s the same result, just the opposite where she thought her brother was a killer. Losing their memories made everything even worse as they couldn’t even talk things over with each other and to learn it was one big misunderstanding before one of them died no matter what route you take.

So yeah in my opinion it wasn't a plot hole or even a stupid mistake on Hiyori's part. It was just bonus level of being fucked up and it fits perfectly with his character too.

TL:DR: Hiyori doesn’t care about leaving a trace of his existance because he’s scared of being caught but because he wanted to double the pain of  participants’ trauma when they’ll learn the truth about him. That’s also partially why he erased their memories too.

[shinidamachu]

Did you hear the latest drama on how Rumiko finally drew Sessrin and “adult” Rin, but made a massive swerve by putting her in Kagura’s kimono? Now it’s becoming a meme that Sesshomaru isn’t just a Pedomaru, but is extra creepy by making his now-wife dress up as his dead ex because he’s apparently STILL not over her and pretends Rin is her. Funny, this is the same thing shippers used to mock InuKag about, funny how the tables have turned. 🥴

you antis 🤢 have 0️⃣ nothing 🚫🚫 to 💬 say, you have not understood 💭❔ that Rumikois ✝️⛪️God📝🛐 in Inuyasha 🐶👹 and everything ☀️🌞 he says or does is amen🌟🙏 and you insignificant 🐜🦟🦗🦟 are silent 😶 before 🕟 his will 🥀🤪

Rumiko 👩🏻👩🏻 despises 😠😠 you 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 She is literally teasing 🤪 you 👇🏻👇🏻 and slapping 🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻 you, and you are celebrating🎉🎉🎉.Is it possible that you don't understand 🤔🤔🤔 the message ✉️✉️✉️ Rumiko 👩🏻👩🏻 is sending 📨📨📨 you ??! She is making fun 😂😂of you !! Wake up!! 😴😴 Idiots! 😵

It's the way the fucking Kaede edit looks less creepy for me! But all jokes aside, I think this is a turning point for us, yes? Nobody can tell for sure what happened behind the scenes, but from the informations given to us through the years, I think it's more than fair to assume that:

Takahashi always intended for Rin and Sesshomaru's relationship to remain platonic and for Inuyasha to have a definitive end. She adopted a "you do you" instance when it came to the problematic pairing because she didn't want to alienate part of her fans.

But then Sunrise came up with the sequel and I honestly don't think she had the power to stop them from going ahead and using her name to promote it, legally speaking. What I find extremely hard to believe is that she would be under any obligation to draw the character designs.

No. She did it because she wanted money, even though it meant participating in something that effectively ruined the original vision she had for her own story. It's glaring obvious that, other than that, she didn't take any part in the creative decisions or supervised shit, but the thing is: she didn't have to get involved at all.

Then, when the controversy blew up on her face, she played the "hogosha" card to cover her own ass. So I'm sorry, but I don't buy the "massive swerve." She is just swalling her own principles in exchange for money. Again. Because just like it happened with the character designs, it's hard to imagine she is being forced to do it. They offered her more money to draw it because the show is sinking and they needed something to bring attention back to it. And Takahashi took it.

I know it sucks, but we just have to accept that she just doesn't care about Inuyasha as much as we do. The similarity of the kimonos might have been intentional or not. It makes no real difference in the end of the day.

And maybe she trusted Sunrise more than she should, to the point of not even bothering in taking the time to check what they were gonna do to her characters. Or maybe she was always aware of it, but it didn't upset her enough to step back. Whatever the case, the conclusion is the same: she didn't give a flying fuck.

So why would we give a flying fuck about her, what she says or does? Takahashi gave us Inuyasha and for that I'll always be grateful, but if she won't respect her own art and fans, I'm under no obligation to respect her in return. In this aspect, it's just another JK Rowling situation: as long as I have any saying on it, they will never, ever, get a single penny from me. All of my admiration and support is reserved to the people who truly deserve it: the content creators of this fandom.

I'd say "death of the author now" but the sad truth is that this author has been dead to me for a long time. I just hope this incident was the final push for some of you guys to realize that it's perfectly possible to enjoy Inuyasha without trying to give Takahashi a free pass. Yes, she is part of the problem. No, you don't have to crucify or defend her in order to enjoy what you enjoy.

The original series speaks for itself, so if the author comes up with detached content that painfully contradicts it, I don't have to accept it or pay it any attention. It's completely irrelevant.

Also — and this is less important — I really wish I could gatekeep the hell out of Inukag, so their names wouldn't be in the mouth of #those people. They've been throught enough already.

[autisticcassandracain]

I have many thoughts on the weird phenomena in the DC fandom and the Batfam fandom specifically where probably the majority of people just straight up. haven’t interacted with the source material. and almost all of those thoughts can be summarized as ‘lmao that’s weird and mildly concerning’.

and because I’m annoying I will list them all here right now <3

1. To preface this post, I mean, obviously, comics are inaccessible as all hell, both in the disability kind of way and the ‘you need to understand the concept of hypertime to fully comprehend the DC timeline’ kind of way. Because of this, even if you don’t have a disability that prevents you from reading comics, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at the amount of comics you need to read to have even a base understanding of a character and go ‘no thanks <3′ and just enjoy fanart and fanfic in a vacuum. Ultimately, this is fandom, this is supposed to be fun, it doesn’t really matter.

2. That said, it’s VERY weird to me that the majority of this fandom just straight up hasn’t interacted with the source material, and moreover, that it’s considered rude to tell people that they should do so. It’s especially weird considering the amount of fanon-only fans I’ve seen who straight up have a superiority complex over canon. The idea that it’s gatekeeping to tell fans of something to actually interact with canon is just. so weird, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what ‘gatekeeping’ actually entails. 

3. But honestly I’m less interested in discussing the ways in which canon and fanon fans should interact with each other (personally, I think it would be helpful to create separate tags of some kind, but that’d require quite a big overhaul of the current fandom state) than in figuring out how this actually happened in the first place. On the one hand, it’s obvious; long-running superhero comics the way DC writes them have made themselves so thoroughly inaccessible that most people are simply too daunted to even try. Most media has a cohesive beginning and end (or at least, a planned end somewhere). Comics just... don’t.

But I do think it says something that, even among people who are clearly interested in the characters (since they have, you know, entire blogs about them), the effort to get into comics just seems to be too much to even bother. This really doesn’t bode well for the future of DC Comics. Obviously, I am no expert on anything at all ever, but I’d personally be surprised if DC survives beyond the few decades, at least in its current form/without a big overhaul.

4. But on the other hand, I don’t think the confusing state of DC Comics is the only thing to blame here. Fandom has a well-known problem with reducing any character down to archetypes to more easily ship and write fic/make content with. This problem is particularly prominent in fanfic, which, if you read enough of it, you’ll eventually start seeing not just the same tropes and trends, but essentially the same fics over and over again. And not just within the same fandom; everywhere, or every large fandom, at least. 

Fanon Batfam is entirely built on a bunch of those tropes; insecure/depressed sadboy Tim, team mom with optional hidden trauma/emotional problems Dick, bad boy with a heart of gold + sadboy combo Jason, abused sadboy Damian/angry easily-villified-for-fic-reasons monster Damian, good dad Bruce for found family fic and bad dad Bruce for angst fic, etc. This all culminates in a found family dynamic that’s generic and malleable to whatever fic the writer wants to write.

(This isn’t getting into the ship fic, which I avoid like the plague because the vast majority of it is incest, but I’d bet real actual money that the tropes in those fics fall under what is often preferred by the Migratory Slash Fandom.)

By having a decent excuse not to get into canon (the inaccessibility of comics) and a, by now, well-established fanon fandom, many fans feel free to use the batfam fandom as essentially an excuse to write whatever fic with reduced archetypes and tropes they personally feel the itch to write, without having to bother with even consuming a canon. This is compounded by the fact that canon itself is often contradictory and frankly bad, meaning that whatever interpretation of a character you want/need to go for your fic is at least theoretically backed up by canon (for example, you can just as easily cast Bruce as an abusive shithole dad who his kids need to get away from as a loving father figure who cares deeply for his children), which you can always use as a defense if people question your characterization.

5. This focus on fandom trends and tropes over actual creativity or care for the characters is also visible in the way bigotry manifests in this fandom; namely, in literally the exact way you’d expect. The female characters and characters of colour are shuffled to the side, non-existent, vilified, and/or reduced to harmful stereotypes. 

Barbara is probably the one I saw the most often in fanfic, but usually just as ‘Dick’s girlfriend’, and even then, she was often vilified for Dick angst (especially in fics about examining Dick’s trauma from his canon sexual assault; Kori also often gets the short end of the stick in those). After that, probably Stephanie, who fanon fans don’t really seem to know what to do with, so she’s basically just there as comic relief waffle girl, most of the time, though sometimes she can be used to either further Tim angst or further vilify Tim, whatever the fic calls for. Cass has gotten included more in batfam fics as of late, likely in response to critiques of fandom racism for leaving her out, but again, it’s clear people don’t actually know what to do with her. She’s often reduced to a racist stereotype of a quite, stoic therapist for whatever guy du jour needs it. That, or she’s in Hong Kong and just not there. Duke especially gets left in the dust in fandom, usually just being non-existent, but when he’s there, he’s almost always nothing more than the straight man for the actual fun characters to play off of. Talia probably has it the worst, though, and almost universally gets vilified by fanon stans in order to write sadboy Damian.

All of this is extremely predictable behaviour and falls entirely in line with general fandom misogyny and racism; ignoring or vilifying women and characters of colour, or using them as very minor characters at best. The only two characters of colour who aren’t regularly left out of fic are Dick and Damian, who are both also conveniently the two characters most often drawn and written in a whitewashed manner. In addition, there’s a real trend of demonizing Damian in fanon fics where he isn’t written as an abused sadboy, which I’d argue is in no small part due to fandom racism, considering Damian’s behaviour is in no way as bad as Jason’s, who doesn’t get anywhere close to the same demonization and gets woobiefied instead. I also find it convenient that Damian is probably the batboy who receives the most vilification in fic, when he’s the most obviously non-white of the batboys they’re willing to acknowledge.

Fandom often cries for more diversity in canon, only to ignore the diversity already there and focus on the same generic white guys. The batfam fandom is a brilliant example of this.

Which is not to say that fandom racism and misogyny isn’t present in the canon parts of the fandom (and canon itself); it absolutely 100% is. But I’ve found that canon fans are also more likely to like and care about at least one of the characters I’ve listed as ignored/vilified, and are willing to create and consume content for them, whereas fanon fans... aren’t, really. I’ve never seen a fan of fanon Cass the way I’ve seen fans of fanon Dick, for example. Obviously, this could just be by coincidence, or I’ve just surrounded myself with people like that, but it’s been a trend I noticed. Racism and misogyny is present in every part of this fandom and should be addressed as such, but I feel like it manifests the most blatantly in the fanon parts of this fandom. 

(I’d also recommend the articles Migratory Slash Fandom’s Focus and Beige Blank Slates, which expand more on the type of fandom racism I think is especially prominent in the batfam fandom, as well as literally every article in the What Fandom Racism Looks Like series.)

6. All this leads me to conclude that the majority of fanon fans don’t actually like the characters all that much; they’re convenient excuses for them to participate in fandom. Which I also think is, in no small part, a reason why so many of them react so negatively to being told to pick up a comic; they came to this fandom specifically to consume it as a fandom, because they wanted the fandom experience without having to consume a canon. 

This is not a phenomena unique to the batfam fandom (again, see the Migratory Slash Fandom), but it does fascinate me. While fandom is often said to be an experience focusing on transformative art, I think it’s also safe to say that, especially as fandom has become more mainstream, an increasing amount of people are looking to it less as a way to engage with their favourite pieces of media, and more as a type of media in and of itself. I think the reasons for this are similar to the reasons mass media entertainment like the MCU are so popular; you gain a lot of enjoyment out of it with very little risk involved. 

By consuming the same fics of the same characters (or the same archetypes) over and over again, you are rarely at risk of being challenged or even disappointed. It’s often very clear right from the start whether or not a fic will appeal to you, and if it isn’t, it’s easy to just look for another one. It requires less emotional investment than most other types of media, even ‘popcorn media’ like the MCU - or, yes, DC Comics. It’s safe, it’s enjoyable, it’s comforting, like McDonalds, but just like McDonalds, it’s ultimately bland and unsubstantial. 

7, TL;DR. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s like, wrong to enjoy the fanon version of the batfam without wanting to engage with canon, and I certainly don’t think it’s okay to harrass people over it. But I do think it’s in large part based on a desire to interact with fandom rather than other pieces of media because people are scared of being let down by those pieces of media (or worse, just uninterested in actually thinking), which is mildly concerning. 

[pfreadsandwrites]

Kakashi NSFW Alphabet

18+ CONTENT AHEAD - NO MINORS - ANY MINORS CAUGHT INTERACTING WITH THIS POST WILL BE BLOCKED

Okay, attempt 2 - That’ll teach me to try ever posting from the mobile app. This is a rewrite from scratch and I’m way too tired to reread and see if it makes sense or if there are typos, it’s probably not a good thing this is longer than the original though.

No one asked for this, no one at all, and I know everyone’s done these but hey, it’s Kinktober, and you can never have too many Kakashi headcanons, right? Right? Right. I hope you enjoy these!! Goes without saying that these’ll be smutty. It’s also about 6.4k words. There is some real filth ahead, very nsfw, seriously, the thirst is so real. (I hate myself), so, this is 18+ only!

Also, I'm tagging @allthingskakashi​ because she asked me to (i really hope these aren’t disappointing)

Side note: This is all written from the view of an established relationship. I can kinda remember most of what I said, so these will be still be very long despite being a rewrite from scratch. Apologies for any rambles and tangents I might go on, since I was rewriting this, my brain got weird and tired, but I wanna take you through my thoughts. I’m also very concerned about keeping things in character and not self-indulgent/self-projecting of what the writer’s personally into so I won’t be doing that here... You’ll see what I mean as I go on. But I still wanna make it hot so i’ll try lol. I’m new to writing but I’m even newer to writing dirty stuff so i’ll try my best. And with this post goes my dignity

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Straight after sex is one of the rare times where Kakashi feels completely at ease and relaxed. He’s pensive, often quietly mulling over what you two have just been doing and trying to come to grips with it, his hands gently running through your hair or along your back. He’s probably at his most affectionate here too. Expect gentle, lazy caresses, little kisses here and there, soft, easy conversation. He might not always be the most talkative, but post-coitus is where you’ll most likely hear him say something earnest and romantic compared to other times. You’ve gotta understand, you’re a miracle, and you being in his arms is like heaven, but he can’t really believe it? But he’s also overwhelmed and tired to let it bother him too much, so he’s able to let his doubt and restraints go a little easier and just breathe. He feels safe, he feels at home and that’s a rare thing, so he’s really just happy to bask in the afterglow and the quietude of it all. It’s the safest, easiest thing in the world for the both of you.

If he’s been on the rougher side, he’ll definitely make sure you’re alright and be more gentle in comparison. and he’s generally more attentive than usual. He’s usually nice about cleaning you up, too, a gentleman lmao.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Kakashi quite likes his upper body, or his torso more generally. He’s lean and broad, but not in an overbearing or obvious way, and he really likes the reaction he gets when you actually do get to see him shirtless. He’s also a little sensitive on his back (and he doesn’t mind if you end up scratching it). But if you rub his shoulders or massage his back or chest, he’s putty in your hands.

When it comes to a partner? So the fandom seems to be consistent in thinking of Kakashi as an ass man, and I’m inclined to agree. He just loves to grab it, slap it, just look at it tbh or whatever, but even if you don’t think your ass is that great, there’s very high probability that he does anyway. But honestly I think he’d have a hard time picking a favourite part of your body.

Some other body parts he definitely loves that don’t get mentioned though: he just loves your waist and how it curves in and out into your hips. He’s mesmerised by it.

plz imagine Kakashi’s nice big hands running gently running along your waist while he thrusts into you deep and slow, your back arching and then they settle on your hips?

Also, he loooooves legs, how they feel wrapped around him, the soft thighs omg. When you wear stockings or heels or other things that accentuate them, ahajhfkaj have mercy on him. Also, wrists and ankles? They’re so pretty and delicate he’ll just grab them where he can. If you both are in some kinda position where he can, he’ll definitely give you lil ankle kisses. also wear an anklet to see him blush

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

So uh, I’m really doing this, huh?

Soooo hear me out. Kakashi’s diet is impeccable. I don’t take criticism here lmao, it’s been mentioned multiple times how much he hates deep fried stuff and sweets (yeah yeah he’s one of those weirdoes that enjoys healthy food most, Kakashi we get it) and he’s always feeding Naruto veggies (or trying to). My point? His cum would taste good, okay? Or at least, not strong or bad at all, very neutral if not good. (You have zero problems swallowing)

Also, he cums a pretty good amount. He tends to try and hold back his orgasm so when he does come it does build up. Coming inside you is his favourite, just the intimacy of it, of filling you like that.

But…. he’s pretty ashamed of it at first, but he does love coming on his partner. Whether it’s on your face (ughhhh when you lick up some of his cum around your mouth after a blowjob), or your breasts, or your back, or wherever tbh. He doesn’t know whether it’s the visuals, the eroticism of it or even a territorial aspect? He doesn’t wanna ponder it too much it’s just hot okay.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

So this one was hard… because, unpopular opinion, I don't see him as into anything too crazy or depraved?

But here’s what I came up with: he’s totally fucked in the Hokage’s office. It’s only a dirty secret because of how improper that is, how inappropriate it is that the man in charge of the whole village is having sex in the very epicentre of where he’s supposed to be doing that, when other Hokage have been in that room before him… but it’s also why he’s into it.

Also, he’ll die before he ever admits to you exactly how many times he’s jerked off to the thought of you. And after you got together into a pair of your panties when you were away and he missed you too much

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Short version: Kakashi’s not as experienced as you might think, but this doesn’t translate into lack of skill in any way.

The long version: Ahhh so I go back on forth on this but I’ma attempt to think this through here. Okay, so, fandom has generally two sides when it comes to Kakashi and this topic. He’s either the completely suave, smooth ladies’ man who has all the one night stands or on account of his issues he’s a passive, stuttering virgin who’s constantly flustered.

Neither of these are that accurate. So I do get ladies man Kakashi to a point. It comes from the fact that he is quite smooth? And women do seem to like him quite easily in the series. And Kakashi definitely has the capacity to be a charmer, and is quite good at flirting when his job requires it or it’s a stranger etc. He’s good at reading people and winning them over. This is more complicated when he’s faced with someone he’s attracted to, or that has the potential to mean something to him. He still might be charming, but he’s very good at using this to keep you further from him, so you can’t really get to know him or get close to him so it’s not quite the same. It’s his way of controlling the distance between you.

Now, when it comes to experience, I don’t think Kakashi’s incapable of using casual sex as some kind of a coping mechanism (it’s not the healthiest), but if he was going to do this, it’d be during the latter part of his ANBU years. I can see him having sex as just a means to forget and remember he’s alive, and quell an urge, with basically faceless partners, or maybe complete strangers on missions. This does make him feel even lonelier after a while though, and it’s not really what he wants. Eventually having sex with women he’ll never see again serves to make him more miserable, and I think by the time we see him at the beginning of the series he doesn’t really do this anymore. So I wouldn’t say he’s completely inexperienced sexually at least, though he definitely is romantically.

Generally after that, Kakashi’s gonna reserve sex for someone who he has a deep emotional and physical connection with, but God forbid he ever calls it what it is - a relationship. Basically, if he’s sleeping with you, he pretty much loves you whether he knows it or not. And if he’s comparing that to his past experiences, he really feels the difference and cherishes it all the more (but it still scares him and he won’t admit it to himself.

So here’s how I see it. There’s always been a sexual chemistry between him and you, and a physical and romantic attraction. But of course Kakashi is Kakashi so he does absolutely nothing about it and doesn’t want to let you do anything about it. Still, you’re surprisingly persistent, and you do become close to each other in a friendly capacity, in whatever way Kakashi’s able to participate in that. Eventually, ( I haven’t thought this through quite yet) you do end up fucking and Kakashi tries to convince himself that he can just do that, that he can keep up having great sex with a great friend and that you don’t mean the world to him. You try to do the same, for his benefit, but you’re in deep and neither of you can’t deny there’s a bond and your connection is so strong that you’re basically in a relationship - and you kinda are by the time you start having sex - but he doesn’t really have the balls to actually call it that till after the 4th shinobi war. (I have some thoughts about how the war impacted Kakashi’s psychology but it’s generally then when he’ll genuinely feel comfortable enough to fully commit himself to you and see a future for himself, which he’s never really had before, and a future with you to boot).

To bring it back to this (I’m sorry what a fucking tangent), Kakashi’s maybe not had sex with a large amount of women, but he’s a quick learner and has natural skill. He also learns your body and what you like quickly. So whilst he’s not as experienced as he seems, he’s definitely more skilled than he has any right to be.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

When it comes to positions there’s very little he wouldn’t enjoy tbh. He does have an affinity for positions like doggy style, just the visuals and the power it gives him. It’s easy for him to get a bit carried away though, but that’s his go to when he’s feeling rougher.

When it’s more romantic and slow and sensual, he also loves variations of missionary, because he loves the intimacy of the eye contact, and how your body is so close he can hear your heartbeat but his absolute favourite positions are missionary variations where your legs are on his shoulders, or where he’s spreading your thighs as perpendicular as possible and really testing your flexibility are probably his favourite cuz legs, and he can go even deeper and get an amazing angle.

But he definitely likes it when you ride him too, whether you’re facing him or away, it just feels too good when you’re bouncing on him like that. Also it’s nice to relax a bit and not have to do more of the work… plz take care of him from time to time…

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He definitely has the capacity to be a fucking dork, as we know, and this has the potential to translate to his sex life. It’s a sign of complete ease if he can laugh and joke with you during, and he loves to have fun and play around with you, but at the same time, he does prefer to be serious most of the time. This means a lot to him and he’ll make sure you know that. He’s also gonna get a bit exasperated if you don’t seem to be taking it as seriously as him, or if you’re too into jokes and giggles for his liking that day. Probably will try and shut you up one way or another.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

(Ughh okay so the idea of Kakashi with a silver happy trail leading to a messy shockwave of hair down there really does things to me okay, I’m sorry, I’ll see myself out)

Okay so… Have you seen how Kakashi manages his hair? Spoiler alert: he doesn’t. I don’t even know if this man owns a hairbrush. So I can definitely see him not being assed about shaving his bush. It’s probably kind of wild, or at the very least more on the unkempt side.

But then again he’s assed enough to keep his face clean shaven so he can wear his mask, so maybe he does, like I do head canon that he’s a very clean person and he probably feels like it is a *bit* cleaner that way but I’m leaning towards nah he just leaves it alone, but will trim it from time to time when it gets too wild or if it bothers you. I do think he probably has slightly more body hair than you’d expect tbh, but his hair is so light especially against his complexion so it’s not really noticeable. Oh and obviously, the carpet matches the drapes. (Idk why this made me imagine Kakashi with a ginger bush..  LMAO there’s a thought)

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

It does depend on the mood between you, what kinda day he’s had, what position you’re in etc but he places a lot of value on sex in your relationship, for the intimacy and emotional bonding, not just the physical pleasure. So there are a lot of times where he’d be super intimate. Kakashi’s a man who chooses his words and actions very carefully in normal life and during sex he allows himself to let all that go. His actions really convey the depth of what you mean to him, what being with you like this means to him. He’ll hold you close to him, running his hands all over your body just to feel you everywhere, kiss you everywhere you can whilst he moves, bury his face into your neck, breathe you in - he just is very overwhelmed by this and there are times during your most intimate moments where he’s so in awe and so happy that he could die right there.

That being said, if he’s fucking you over his desk in the hokage’s office and it’s rough and fast, it’s a little harder to feel the intimacy and the romantic connection. Still, it is underlying every moment between you too. You’re the only ones that see these sides of each other, and make each other feel that way, and he really values that. He’ll still make it feel tender somehow and not just mindless fucking (no matter how blank he makes your head feel)

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

I don’t see him as being a particularly frequent masturbator tbh. He strikes me as disciplined and he can probably go a while without it, especially if he’s busy, but more than just that, he kinda sees it as an inconvenience he just has to do sometimes? To blow off some steam, or when he’s not had sex in a while or something got his mind racing and it’s a distraction because he literally can’t think about anything else. He’ll probably use his books, but he prefers to use his imagination tbh, though the books can start as a seed for that.

He also doesn’t like having to put too much effort into jerking himself off? He doesn’t like to overcomplicate things when it comes to his sex life, and especially when it’s just jacking off.

He just kinda wants to get it done so he can move on to something more productive or fall asleep or something. So he’s just happy to pump himself off until he gets there.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Okay here’s where I’m gonna lose some of you.

Kakashi’s just not that kinky. Or maybe not kinky by tumblr/fic standards. Like I said in the previous head canon, he just does not see the appeal of making his sex life more complicated than it needs to be and his kinks aren’t gonna be too crazy. He just wants to feel good with you and he’s not that difficult to get going. With that in mind, here are some things he likes:

Spanking ;)

Teasing

Face-fucking

Dirty Talk (to a point, anything too stupid sounding or too dirty might make him laugh or take him out of it…)

clothed sex (where you are so horny for each other you can’t even wait to get undressed properly)

semi-public sex (he would hate the idea of actually being seen but the idea of *almost* being caught is kinda hot to him, not that he’ll ever let that happen if he can help it),

body worship (is that a kink)

LIGHT dom (I’ll mention it more later but he’s not too extreme into this stuff, but if you call him Hokage-sama or captain he might get a little too into it… not that that’s bad) I heard someone call him general during the war arc and that shit SENT me

he maaaay do a a threesome with shadow clones (either two of his if you want that, but two of you seem kinda hot… that being said, this might delve into that ‘making things too complicated’ so Idk, this might just be hot to me cuz I would like two Kakashis to rail me and I do think he’d enjoy it if two of you focused on him),

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

The bed is fine but that’s really what he associates with either morning sex, or romantic, intimate lovemaking type stuff. When it’s more raunchy and playful, he really likes bending you over stuff tbh, his desk, kitchen counter etc most surfaces work well. He likes the shower too. Also, one time you both were just so hot for each other and didn’t make it to the bed and went at it on the hard floor and it was so wild and rough.

But he really loves fucking you up against walls, doors, mirrors, etc, Wall is his favourite, it’s just so intense and he gets animalistic and yeah it’s so good.

WAIT, how did I forget, sex in front of the mirror?! This is something he enjoys more with a more flustered or shy s/o who’s not used to looking at themselves. I have been thinking about writing something for this

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Kakashi’s more on the traditional side in terms of what he likes but it’s really not that hard to turn him on. He loooooveeees when you wear lingerie for him, anything pretty and lacy but also stockings and all that. But then there’s something about when it’s simplistic too, like when you’re just wearing his shirt and nothing else? That’ll get him going too. But yeah, plz surprise him with a sexy outfit when he comes home from a long day of work and he’ll love you 5ever.

I dunno why I’ve always thought this, but I also think he’s turned on by subtle, understated signs of femininity? It’s just such a contrast to what he’s used to and he really appreciates it and is just mesmerised by you tbh. It’s things that are natural, the way when you sit down your hips get that crease where they meet your thighs, you might sometimes look down when you smile softly, the way you walk, pretty hair. If you have a really classical, elegant/sophisticated kind of style he loves that. Kinda hard to explain what I mean with that but like, say a dress or skirt that shows off your curves but isn’t too revealing? It really gets his mind racing. That make sense? (No worries if that’s not your style either, like I say, it’s not that hard to turn him on) But I also think he kinda likes when you wear jewellery? Like nothing too ostentatious but if you’re naked beneath him and the only thing you’re wearing is a necklace or some fancy earrings he just thinks you look so beautiful.

He also likes the comfortable, gentle teasing and flirting in the conversations you have, the jovial aspect to them, the connotations they carry. You could say one comment and not mean a whole lot by it and it might get his mind racing. He’ll think about you all day.

I mentioned before but offering to massage his back/chest/shoulders is his favourite, and if you kiss his jawline or neck even innocently it might not be innocent for very long ;) just when you’re generally affectionate and gentle with him.

He’d definitely enjoy it if you were confident, but I also feel like he’d like a shyer s/o too? If you were a little easier to fluster than he is, he finds it much easier to be confident and make you feel that much better ;) he likes making you blush.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Okay, here’s where I’m definitely gonna lose some of you. But hang with me.

Short version: He doesn’t really like BDSM, be nice to him and let him be

Long version (I’m sorry guys):

By the time Kakashi’s in a loving relationship with you, he’s shown you his vulnerability and he trusts you, and he’s happy to try things within reason, but he has boundaries. And he expects you to respect them, just like he respects yours. You’re gonna frustrate him and make him close off if you’re wanting to push him to try new stuff or go out of his comfort zone. He can be set in his ways. If he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t want to. So if that’s not cool for you, that’s a turn-off.

He’s not into role-reversal. This is a tricky one to explain (and I’d explained it better in my first version of this that got lost to the void but alas this is where my memory is getting hazy), but though he’s a man with a lot of power and responsibility and control, these things aren’t necessarily things he’s insecure about or that come unnaturally to him. They’re not a persona or things he’s necessarily putting a lot of effort into being. He just is. He’s self-aware of his own abilities and strengths and he’s very a-matter-of-fact about them. I guess what I’m saying is, the more masculine attributes of his personality and demeanour that make some people say he’s DaddyAF and others say he’s probably not like that sexually, are just who he is naturally. He’s not putting effort into being these things and does not see the appeal of working to reverse this in the bedroom, or better yet, doesn’t really understand it. It’s way more effort for him to do that than it is for him to just be who he is. I could go way more into the psychology of this but this thing is long enough already but part of that accepting him for who he is is just letting him be. I’m saying he’s in no way a sub, basically.

But he’s not a huge dom, either. He’s actually really not into anything hardcore when it comes to dom/sub or bdsm stuff like at all. Like he’s not gonna be your daddy or your master or anything like that. He really values ease above all else and is happy to just enjoy the two of you and your body without adding extra layers of extreme power dynamics and kinks on top of it. He’s happy to be more on the authoritative side, which is why I say light dom, and it’s more natural for him to take the lead, but he’s not thinking about it too hard. I also don’t think he’d be averse to some mild power play - in that mean he likes it when you get a little cheeky, tease him, you can make fun of him, there’s a bit of cat and mouse between you, but if you’re too much into control or power that actually might bring out his rougher dominant side a bit more than normal. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not incapable of lying back and letting you do your thing.

…But he is still a bit of a control freak at heart and he doesn’t want to feel like something could go wrong, so if you make him feel like he can’t do anything about the situation or having no control at all is likely gonna be a bad experience for him.The other thing is that Kakashi doesn’t feel like he’s had control over his life where it counts, and he still feels pretty shitty about himself a lot. He’s not gonna wanna relinquish all control during his sex life, no matter how much he trusts you. He’d hate feeling completely passive, and if you humiliate him you’re just gonna make him feel shitty. He doesn’t wanna humiliate you either. So what I’m saying is, he’s just not into femdom or extreme male sub stuff or anything like that, sorry not sorry. He’s felt shitty enough in his life for you to turn it into a kink. He’s a pretty chill guy, but he still has his comfort zone, and he trusts you enough to be vulnerable, don’t take advantage of that. Be kind to Kakashi Hatake 2020.

With everything I’ve said so far, he’s never gonna let you peg him. It’s not something that really appeals to him visually or psychologically, plus any kind of receiving anal stimulation is just not really his thing. Leave Kakashi Hatake’s asshole alone 2020. Also, he doesn’t like the plastic/artificialness of toys in general, he’d much rather genuine skin on skin contact and feeling your body and you his, and just yeah you having to use toys on him will turn him off or seeing you in a way, that’s you know, not you, with an artificial appendage is just, a big no for him. Probably has the exact opposite effect you’d want. 

He’d also never wanna hurt you, or be into you hurting him. If it doesn’t trigger his PTSD or his tendency to self-loathe like all the other things I mentioned, he’s been getting hurt his whole life so he’s likely not gonna enjoy this in the bedroom, it’s either banal to him or a complete turn-off at the least. He’s self-aware enough to know it’s not gonna be the healthiest thing for him to sexualise it. He’s also hurt too many people to do something that could potentially hurt you, so no weapons, ninja techniques, things like that. I don’t think he’d even be into choking you. He just wants to relax, and enjoy himself and being with you in a way where he can feel safe, but not passive, and he loves having a partner that can allow him to do that.

So a partner being too dominant to the point of making him feel shitty and weak would be a turn-off, or just generally one that’s impatient or unkind. You’ll need to be empathetic and warm to get anywhere with him anyway, or at least you’ll struggle otherwise. Also, he wouldn’t ever want a threesome. It’s taken so much out of him to build up trust and intimacy between you, he’s sure that introducing another person, even if it’s only a one time thing, would ruin it. He also doesn’t want anyone other than you to see him in that way, or vice versa.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

So I don’t know why but I feel like Kakashi sees eating you out as such a special, intimate act? It’s a big deal, and this is something he probably wouldn’t do with someone he doesn’t have a strong connection to, or not as much. But when he does love you, your responses and the whole act are just mesmerising to him. Maybe it’s how vulnerable delicate you seem, how your moans are more gentle and delicate compared to when he’s fucking you, how he’s up and close against your most private parts, how he’s the only one that sees you like this… It really gets him going tbh, but it also takes a lot out of him? It just ends up meaning more to him than a blowjob might mean to you. So he might actually end up receiving more than he gives, despite the fact that he enjoys it and is very good at it. I don’t mind I’ll suck his dick 25/8

Like most men, he’ll be putty in your hands if you give him a good blowjob. It’s one of those things that never cease to amaze him or drive him crazy, no matter how many times you’ve done it, the sight of you on your knees, sucking him down. He’ll feel guilty but he face-fucks you sometimes, and it feels amazing, but he honestly might let himself get carried away. So he’ll sometimes grab your hair or clench his fist instead, otherwise he’ll just try to gently guide your ahead along sometimes. His moans during blowjobs are also damn hot as well. Like guttural groans and moans, he’s louder than normal.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Depends with Kakashi! Whether it’s a quickie, the position, where you’re doing it. He has a penchant for slow and sensual though. He wants to savour you, the sensation, the moment, the sights, everything. He really wants to bask in the intimacy of what’s going on and go as deep as he can and take his time. He likes taking it easy.

But there’s always gonna be moments where he can be pretty damn animalistic and rough and he’s pretty good with that too. Though, where he has the time to do so, he likes to build up to it? Occasionally he’ll be too pent up/frustrated or too short on time to really do it but like if time and space allows he doesn’t wanna start ramming into you like right away, he wants you to adjust, and will slowly fuck you until you’re really want it as crazily as he does.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

He likes a good quickie, or rather, they’re his only option sometimes. He’s a busy guy who can’t always plan his schedule, and this goes tenfold when he becomes Hokage. So whilst his favourite will also be something longer where he can take his time and enjoy your body, you’re gonna have to accept that there will be periods where all you’ll get is quickies in his office, or in the morning before he has to leave.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

So despite all that stuff I listed about all the things he won’t do, he’s willing to try a lot of stuff with you. He does enjoy experimenting and he thinks it’s fun and brings you guys closer together, but within reason. He doesn’t wanna do anything too complicated or too strange by his standards, but he’ll be up for new locations, new positions, and he is risky in the sense that he won’t mind doing some stuff in public, or semi-public at least.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

So it’s definitely better when he doesn’t have his sharingan constantly sapping his energy anymore, but not to the point that you really noticed there being a problem before. He just puts a lot of effort and concentration into not cumming before you, and he’s pretty good at that. Depending on how pent up he is, he can last a decent amount of time. But if he has lasted quite a long time, when he finally does cum, he might not be in the mood to go again.

I see him going for like, one short round and one long one. Or if it’s shorter his recovery time’s pretty decent. But if you get ever happen to get three or more rounds of him in one go you should definitely praise him or take care of him cuz that’s pretty difficult and his dick might be broken for the next few days.

The only time his ability to hold back his orgasm goes to shit is when you’re having his way with him by riding him or sucking him off. You’re just too good have mercy on him But he’s better able to control that stuff and slow down and take breaks when he needs to when he’s the one leading things.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Nah, this harkens back to the whole thing about him not wanting to overcomplicate things and just have fun without thinking too much. He can’t be assed with toys and won’t use them on himself. I also mentioned earlier that he doesn’t like the fakeness/artificiality of toys, just the gimmicky-ness of it, the plastics... Nah. He wants to feel something real. Besides it’s canon how crazy this man’s physical skill is, his hands, his fingers… He’s completely satisfied with just his hands. And you are too

If it means a lot to you, he can use toys on you. But let’s be honest I really don’t think you’ll feel the need.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Kakashi is a little shit, we all know this. He loves to tease and edge, and he just loves seeing how frustrated you get, your scolding, knowing that you still can’t make him do anything he doesn’t want to do, your annoyed little whines and huffs… But he always more than makes up for it later.

He is so bad at receiving teasing though, he cannot withstand as much as you can, which is lame, considering how much he can put you through.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He’s not that loud, though there are times he can be. When he’s getting close to cumming, when he finally does are probably his loudest. But generally, his noises are so so nice. He makes soft little grunts and pants mostly, but he’ll growl and groan, whisper your name.. But sometimes you can get a semi-loud moan out of hiim and omg it’s so so hot.

He’s a little louder when he’s tired, or first thing in the morning? He’s more sensitive. When he’s not having to concentrate so much or think too much about what’s going on, he’ll get a little louder. He’s also louder when you’re riding him than in other positions.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

You know what I’ve gone in so deep with this head canons that I can’t think of a random one and I can’t remember what I wrote yesterday.

So Kakashi really appreciates just physical contact with you, wherever it might be. It doesn’t necessarily need to be sexual either but it makes him feel at ease. I said this already too, but Kakashi loves the comfort of just being vanilla. Nothing special, nothing elaborate, no gimmicks, just him on top of you, with your legs around his hips, as he drives into you. It’s literally just you and him in the world and that’s all there needs to be and nothing’s ever felt more right than that.  

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

It’s canon Kakashi is big need I say more. Okay I’ll say more. So it’s pretty long and thick. It’s not like monster huge but he’ll definitely take some adjusting. Probs uncut, and the same girth all the way down. Also kinda veiny, there’s some big ones on the underside. You’ll definitely feel him throb inside you.  But his body is nice too, but we been knowing that. He’s lean, and muscular, but in an understated way. He also has really nice legs? Like his thighs are good. The only time I saw his legs was in ep 101 of og Naruto but I was very pleased tbh. Like they’re well-trained but not crazy muscular like those men who work out a lot get… do you know what I mean? The round calves and stuff? He doesn’t have that. He also has a very nice ass. Gets flustered if you stare at it or slap it. Please do though his reaction is so cute.

Anyways, back to his dick, the colour is slightly darker than the rest of his body and the tip a tad darker than that. I remember seeing a picture on twitter and omg I couldn’t like it cuz I need some semblance of keeping my twitter professional but omg I saved the link, this is it though, the artist gets him perfectly.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

It’s high but nothing ridiculous. He’s controlled enough where he can go a while without it, but this is harder once he has a partner.

Once you guys have settled into each other and grown comfortable, he’s probably up for it 3-4 times a week, but depends on you and both of your schedules too. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes less.  But he’s a busy guy and has tons of things going on so as much as he’d like to, he can’t think about having sex extremely frequently. He’s also gonna have periods where he physically can’t see you that much, so the times you do see each other might be spent having sex so it might feel like it’s crazy high, but it’s more that he’s making up for lost time.

As he gets older his sex drive does decrease slightly, but not by much tbh. He’s very adaptable to your needs too. If you wanna fuck a lot that’s all great but if it’s like twice a day every day then calm down dang you might need to satisfy yourself. But if yours is a lot lower than is, he might struggle, but eh, he can manage.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Sex definitely depletes him and makes it easy to sleep, but he’ll normally wait for you to fall asleep. It’s a control thing and a protective thing, but he just feels a lot better about sleeping once you’re already there dozing off in his arms, and after sex is one of the rare times where he feels relaxed enough and his mind is empty enough where he can get a good night’s rest without any issues.  

[duhragonball]

Intro

I keep hearing about this influx of Tik Tok users (Tokkers?), and that sounds like a weird prank.  Like, I thought Tik Tok was the cool thing all the young people do now, so why would they want to come use Tumblr, the hottest social media platform of 2011?  But I’ve been seeing an uptick in people liking my old posts, so maybe this is a real thing.  

I won’t bother telling new people how to use this website.   It’s a dumpster fire, and half of my followers have empty blogs that just say “Sem Titulo” in the header.  You can pretty much do whatever the hell you want, as long as it doesn’t have nipples in it.  I suspect a lot of users just signed up so they could see all the content, which is why they use default pfps and they never reblog anything.   They want to be spectators, not participants, and I can respect that. 

I am thinking that maybe I should make some sort of introduction to this particular blog, because it’s been almost ten years and I’ve never really spelled out what I’m here for.   I mean, yeah, it’s Dragon Ball content, with a little JoJo and Hellsing on the side, but I also overanalyze stuff, while refusing to take the thing too seriously.  That’s a tricky balance, and I probably don’t always get it right, but I like to think the “duh” in my username helps set the tone.  Dragon Ball is a show about silly cartoon characters beating the shit out of each other.   It’s very dumb but also very clever and poignant at the same time.  

I did a liveblog of the entire anime in 2019, which is probably the most popular feature I have.   You can check that out here, here, and here. 

A lot of my more popular post are replies to asks.   The tag #ask duhragonball would cover them all.  You can feel free to send me a question of your own, but be advised that I turned anonymous asks off last year.   I used to take anon asks, but they gradually got stupider and less relevant over time, to the point where it just became unpleasant on multiple levels.   The last one was some guy asking me about a direct-to-home-video Popeye movie, no explanation given.   I have found that the quality of the asks goes up when people have to take accountability for their questions.   I get a lot fewer asks these days, but the ones I do get are 100 times better than the crap I used to see.  PROTIP: If you’re worried about getting on my good side, ask me about my OC.  This seems like an obvious strategy, but someone out there decided to ask me about Popeye instead, so maybe I’m putting out the wrong signals.

Speaking of my OC, I write fanfic, which I tend to cross-post to this blog.   The main feature is this epic-length story featuring my take on the Super Saiyan who lived one thousand years before Goku.  I made her a girl because it would piss off people who deserve to get pissed off.   She wears yellow pants and she’s sad a lot and she beats the fuck out of bad guys.  Is this my magnum opus?  Well, it might be.  The fic itself is tagged “#lssjluffafic” and the related material is tagged #luffastuff.  I think.   I’ll have to double check.  

That’s about it.   At some point, I need to formalize this a little more and make it into a proper pinned post, I guess, but it’ll do for now.  

[takadanobaba]

Prizoom Ticket Buying Walkthrough

Have you ever wanted to experience what a cheering screening is like regardless of location, even overseas? How about soundboard hell?

Well you’re in luck because there’s literally nothing stopping you because prizooms are a thing and they aren’t region locked at all!!! And I love them!!!!

I love them so much that I made a whole post just to make the ticket buying process even more easy!!!! 

If you’re interested in attending a prizoom, please participate and show your support for kinpri!!!

So to preface, “prizooms” are online King of Prism cheering screenings using Zoom and featuring a soundboard powered by Ainotte. Tickets are sold through RakutenTicket.

My first prizoom was Jin’s! 💙  I posted an impressions post here, in case if you wanted a detailed summary of what a prizoom is like! I also posted about Rei’s prizoom and will be using screenshots from buying tickets for that during this!

~

You’ll need a Rakuten Ticket account before trying to make your purchase, so if you haven’t, go to this link (the Rakuten member registration page) and make an account.

(Actually forgot most of the details for making an account when typing this but I do remember it being decently easy so.... if I’m missing anything it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out ^^;)

First part is pretty straightforward, they even have an official English translation of the registration page so you don’t have to put it through google translate! Also it doesn’t matter what language you set during registration, your account will work for buying prizoom tickets even if you don’t use the Japanese page.

For the address, I just looked up “Japanese postal codes” and put in the first result that showed up and picked the prefecture it came from (Tokyo) just to be safe. Pretty sure you can just put whatever you want though. Forgot what info I used (and can’t figure out how to see my account info to check?) but pretty sure I didn’t type in legit info and it went through anyways.

For the phone number, you can use your actual full phone number, including the country code!

(I forgot if they need to verify your phone number, but I’d suggest to use your real phone number just in case)

After that, confirm your information and create your Rakuten Ticket account!

So first you would go to whatever prizoom you’re interested in’s information page (usually found promoted on the kinpri twitter account) and then click the blue link, which will take you to its Rakuten Ticket page!

Then if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see the different tickets available for purchase! The first and most expensive option is for every showing in the event, the ones below it are specific showings.

Also!!! If you want to skip a showing, you’ll have to go through the purchasing process for each single ticket you want to buy. There isn’t a cart function as far as I’m aware, so I had to pay the service fee twice. It’s kind of a pain but I guess that just gives more incentive for people who just want to do 2+ showings to just go all the way.

(Looking back on it, I regret only doing 2 out of 3 and not just buying an all-inclusive ticket for Jin’s showing since I would’ve loved it...)

I want to attend the screening of SSS part 4, so I’ll click the red button for the 3rd option!

Next screen is where you choose which room you want to participate in!  The red option is the cheering room, and the blue is for the chat+soundboard only room. I’ve heard that the cheering rooms are more fun (and a closer experience to an actual cheering screening), but I started out with chat-only rooms and personally REALLY REALLY REALLY enjoyed them! Both rooms use the soundboard, so if you’re interested in cheering through that (seeing as most people using this walkthrough would proooobably not have much experience cheering or be confident enough in Japanese to turn on their mic), it’s okay to attend either room!

I’ll be going to the chat-only room again! So I’ll click that, and then click the dropdown and set it to the only other option so that I can buy one ticket.

After that, a confirmation screen pops up. The orange button on the left is to cancel/go back, and the one on the right is to confirm.

The next section asks how you would like to pay, you’ll probably want to (and most likely can only) pay with a credit/debit card, so just select the first option before scrolling down until you get a bunch of blanks to fill out like below.

Now here’s the fun part! Putting in some really obviously made up information!

The first line asks for your last name, and the line below that asks for your first name. Don’t bother trying to type in your name in English letters/romaji, the system will only allow Japanese letters. As long as it’s in Japanese, you can put any name you want! 

In the section below the first 2 boxes, it asks you to rewrite your name in katakana specifically. If you have trouble with differentiating hiragana/katakana/kanji, you can always just paste something into a katakana converter or go wild with google translate till something works. Though it’d be good for you to learn at least a little bit of Japanese since it makes the whole screening experience more enjoyable.

I just set my name as 高田馬場 (Takadanobaba) ジョージ (Joji) because why not. For the second set of name boxes I put タカダノババ (Takadanobaba in katakana) ジョージ (Joji again, almost every kinpri character’s first name is already written in katakana). If you don’t want to bother with putting in different info then you can just paste that in haha.

For the address, make sure you put in a Japanese zip code! Non-japanese codes won’t work. You can select any prefecture you want, but for the example I put その他 / ”Somewhere else”. For the next few boxes you can type in literally anything you want, it doesn’t matter. It’s just an online event so the only place they send you anything is to your email! (They should just remove the whole address section since it gets tedious to fill out and isn’t used for anything haha...) Your address doesn’t need to be consistent with the info you used to make your account! 

ALSO!!!! If you’re running the page through google translate or something and get stuck, make sure you revert it back to its original before filling in your information and hitting the orange button! If you don’t then it keeps switching your birth month to the default 1/January and you won’t be able to move onto the next page. Your birthday needs to match up with the info you used to make your Rakuten account with!

When you’re done, click the orange confirmation button to go to the next page!

Next page just asks if you want to use your RakutenTicket points to discount your purchase. You can only use them if you have at least 50 points.

After that, put in your payment information! You don’t need a Japanese credit/debit card and can use the information for any card you want......... as long as it’s valid for you to use! Don’t steal someone’s card info or put in fake information for this. This is a transaction with actual money involved here. ^^;

Putting in the numbers on your card is also straightforward, the most confusing part would probably just be the name. Make sure you type the cardholder name in ALL CAPS otherwise it won’t work.

Should be obvious but I only used “TAKADANOBABA JOJI” for example purposes, if you’re copying my info, don’t actually put that unless if your name is actually Takadanobaba Joji and your credit card really says that. I changed it to my legal information after taking this screenshot so my purchase would go through. Use the actual name on your card!

After you put in your payment info and it’s verified, review your purchase, scroll down, and check the box at the end if you want to go through with your order.

The box before that asks if you want to receive email notifications for when events relating to King of Prism and online events have their tickets up for sale.

When your tickets are bought, you’ll get an order code like this! (You don’t really need it, this isn’t used in your prizoom ticket)

To see your ticket information, you can either check your email or go to the RakutenTicket home page and log into your account to view your purchase history.

When you click whatever ticket you want to see information for, scroll down until you find your “入室用ID” / “Entry ID” information.

From here, you’ll see your ticket info, alongside a link to the event’s bonus zoom backgrounds right above it!

You will also get an email with your ticket information!

Your ticket info will consist of numbers separated into three sections by slashes like this! The sections in order would be:

1) The Zoom meeting ID code (882 8702 1252)

2) The password to be let into the Zoom meeting (964689)

3) What you need to set your display name to before entering (6703)

(The numbers won’t be the same, also this is from Jin’s first showing so it’s long over and this information is useless outside of providing an example.)

Only one device is allowed per ticket, so don’t try to distribute the same ticket to multiple people to get out of paying for yourself or anything like that!

(Assuming you don’t need this guide to tell you how to download Zoom or find the option to join a meeting)

Put in the first number into the first box and the third number into the second box. Then you’ll get a popup asking for a passcode, so the second number.

Then it’ll show you when the event is scheduled for in your timezone! This is helpful for if you haven’t already and want to set an alarm for when it starts but don’t want to fumble through time converters. Though it would be good to double check just in case if the popup is off.

On the day of the event and a bit earlier from the first showing, you’ll get an email with a link for the prizoom soundboard! 

The soundboard is the same for all of the event’s showings and both rooms, so please only participate when appropriate so you don’t ruin the experience in showings you’re not attending if you choose to listen in on them!

I’ve annotated the buttons for accessibility  💖 

The gender/voice options can be switched in the top right corner (it’s set to the female option by default). The volume can be controlled with the sliding bar (the default is 5 which is honestly wayyy too low of a number considering how loud it is)

And with that, you’re all set! Once you’ve done all of the above, all you have to do is just wait for the event to start and then experience the prizoom sparkle!  💖

Shortly after the event ends, you get an email asking for feedback like this!

Just click the link and you can also put in any information and comments you want... whether you decide to let the staff know that there’s international interest in kinpri is up to you ^^

If you find that you enjoy prizooms, or just want to help make sure that there’s an opportunity to experience cheering screenings regardless of location, it would be helpful to comment that they should keep holding them in the future!  💖

If there’s any other questions, I’d be happy to answer!

[sprawa-przybyszewskiej]

I cannot claim to know about this play more than some others (Ewa Graczyk, Jagoda Hernik-Spalińska, Kazimiera Ingdahl and Maria Janion, in alphabetical order, are the official Horsewomen of the Apocalypse in this topic), with a lot to bring to the table, and so I will sometimes discuss parts of it which are - at the very least at the first glance - absolutely and doubtlessly simple; but  by discussing them I hope to be able to bring into the discussion some new material, new evidence, perhaps - for the contrary of the popular belief.

I remember when I first read the scene between Danton and Robespierre, I was completely mystified, just as Maxime. To somebody who at that point knew nothing about the historical events, the exchange between them was very logical (and everyone knows how hard it is to obtain, especially in a piece of media where the author blatantly favours one of the characters over another). I am very glad then, to be able to say that while Przybyszewska did everything she could to humiliate and belittle Danton in the more visual aspects of the scene - his gestures, movements, actions, mimicry, even the sound of his voice etc.  - she didn't bother making him out to be a complete clown. His arguments are populistic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when you're n politician aspiring to be even more than that. Perhaps she thought that painting him out to be a weakling would somehow diminish Robespierre's awesomeness, which is a valid concern. For Robepsierre has little left to do in this scene - it is made out to ba a confrontation between them, of sorts, but is it one, really? I don't think so, not for the large part of it. Robespierre comes in, dishes out few sarcastic lines, looks at Danton with disgust and contempt and then crushes him in a yet another sarcastic line and then leaves. There isn't that much he can do not only to participate in the exchange, but to be visually and audially appealing to the audience as a character in a play. And even though we all know staging The Danton Case is a secondary affair, the main thing you can do with it is to read it and ponder over it, when you do stage it, a lot of responsibility rests on the actors recreating the part. Which is why choosing a good actor can, potentially, make all the difference, sometimes going as far as completely changing the way you view the very same scene you read earlier.

I have always assumed by "the same man" they meant Robespierre. It makes some sense in the light of the conversation, altough I have to admit it makes little sense in the light of Robespierre's reaction. The question thus presented to us is: do we go by what is written, do we percieve a play as a piece of fiction in a real world, OR do we immerse ourselves in the fictional world, suspend our disbelief and for a moment treat it as an alternate reality of sorts?

Polish director Jan Klata has managed to put on stage a compelling retelling of The Danton Case and I would like to present to you a scene from his version, which we're lucky enough to have on YT, with translation courtesy of @that-one-revolutionary​. I've seen the play in its entirety: some metaphors were heavy-handed to say the least, some aspects I wish he'd done differently, but all in all, when choosing the main protagonist, the director casted in the role a truly splendid actor (please note that Marcin Czarnik was young. Young! It made all of the difference and it's worth watching if only for that), who brought home some of the points of character of Robespierre's which could have easily been brushed aside in order to highlight some other aspects of the conversation (the most famous example of this would be the very same scene from Wajda's movie, where the appealing and in all aspects imposing Gerard Depardieu dominantes the scene, thus presentign it in a very different ligt). While it can be read as a political statement, or a match of two great personalities, or a display of cunning on either part, Klata (or Czarnik; it's hard for me to say what the director tried to do with it, a lot of Robespierre's quirks, mimicry, gestures etc. seemed to come directly from the actor, which I can only say because I've seen him in other things and that's sort of his style of acting; all in all, I'll try to treat this not as a discussion over this particular staging, because for that I lack needed data, but it's unavoidable in the long run at least at some points, so please bear that in mind) treats the conversation itself as a minor thing in comparision to what is going on in Maxime's mind at the moment.  Just look at this: there is no significance brought into their meeting, no change of the scenery, nothing indicates this meeting is special in any way. The logical conclusion is, then:  it's not special. Both Danton and Robespierre seem to treat this as a step which cannot be avoided, but which bears no great weight either. The only reason they agreed to make this step altogether is - for "the same man". For Camille.

I do think Przybyszewska's intention was actually to disguise Maxime under this vague title. If this is a play about love - as I will always state it is - she wanted to underline the fact some people will be hatefully loved by those who are beneath them, who have nothing whatsoever in common with the object of their affection simply because the loved one is so great, so genius, so shining and bright it is impossible not to love them. I think this is the relationship between Danton and Robespierre (that is, on Danton's part) up until this point in the play. Danton idolizes Robespierre against his will (against both of their wills, really), because Robespierre is truly made out to be a demi-god at the very least. If you could team up with a hero like this, you should. So Danton goes through a humiliating process of trying to reconcile with Maxime, because humiliation, if everything paid off in the end, would be worth it. That Robespierre doesn't reciprocate the affection is simply a further proof that he is above Danton in every way.

Klata-Czarnik duo seems to have gone into another, subtler direction though. The man that both politicians make an exception for seems to be Camille, moreso because Robespierre loves him than because Danton has any special feelings for him. What is his relationship with Camille, anyway? They are cordial enough, but always a bit on the edge, and we know that Danton doesn't know everything that Camille thinks and feels in regards to Robespierre, mostly because he doesn't care that much, but also because he is characterised as a brute, and this simply goes above his head, it's too subtle, too delicate of a feeling for him to know it. It is also clear he knows Camille pretty well, but he doesn't know his soul, so to say. Therefore, he cannot actually love him, not to the point to make him the one and only excpetion from his otherwise coldly and precisley calculated plans.

Is there, however, a scenario in which Camille could be Danton's exception? Yes, when it becomes more about Robepierre than about Camille. When Camille is sort of offered as a mean to lure Robepierre in. Danton could make this exception only if it meant getting what he wanted (which is later mirrored by his blatant admission that the only reason he lets Camille take the fall with him is to deny Robespierre any joy in life after this point).

Robespierre, however, doesn't see it this way. He actually makes the exception for Camille and I think Danton's words – whatever he means by them, whichever interpretation we think is correct – put him on alert, for the fear of having his secret discovered. In the video linked above it is even more than that – once Robespierre hears Danton indirectly name "the same man", he gets aggressively defensive. For him to have someone like Danton talk almost openly about what he treats as his personal secret (a secret that Danton, being in great familiarity with Camille, could potentially know for certain) is equal with defiling it. I have violated your secret. Do you know what he says in the original? I have raped your secret. It really brings into the focus how much “the secret” needs to be protected, and how much it will hurt Maxime once it’s uncovered and destroyed.This is what he fears pretty much for the entirety of the conversation, his suspiscion somewhat confirmed when Danton says: No catchphrases, Robespierre. I know you.

As I mentioned earlier, the shift in my reading of the scene was prompted by the video. It is worth observing what exactly does Robespierre do when mentioing Camille by surname – he gets visibly more upset, he ponders for a split second for the best way to talk about him. His choice of words is interesting as well:

Both translations here are poor and I quite like what that-one-revolutionary did with it. "Katarynka" is a music-box, so "an instrument" fits much better (not to mention the obvious English connection to the phrase "play like a fiddle", which is adequate here). A parrots is after all a living being, something with a will of its own, if steered by more powerful handlers. But admitting that Camille, from his own free will decided to go against Maxime and everything that Maxime believes in is much harder for Robespierre than calling him an inanimate object, which can be unwittingly used by people with their own agenda. That leaves Camille almost blameless, perhaps careless and foolish, but not responsible fo anything that has transpired.Calling him names serves another purpose as well, which is to steer away the suspiscion that Robespierre protects Camille becuase he cares about him in a special way. He knows there are Danton's accomplices turning ears by the door, so he doesn't want to give himself away with his care and concern.

Ultimately, what do you believe, whom do you think they were referring to I think says a lot about what you think about Maxime's state of mind at the time. Danton's too, though, it can be used as a litmus test whater or not you believe he was honest in idolising Robespierre and offering him his adoration and obedience. In some stagings it will be presented as true, in some as a lie, and that's the beauty of adapting a piece of literature, there are so many options, all blooming from the same roots.

[rpbetter]

I often see multis post that they want to make a new muse, at the same time as they're backed up on threads and asks, and they get their followers to "enable" them to make that muse in the post replies. What is your take on this? Is it a they-can-do-what-they-want situation, or is it reasonable to be annoyed when I see this? Or both?

Hey, Anon!

Both.

I mean, as usual, this is my opinion of an opinion-based matter. This isn't an equation that has an objectively right to wrong scale, it isn't actually hurting any living person or thing. But...it is incredibly annoying and can be hurtful.

They can totally do what they want, and much of the nature of genuine creativity is exactly that - the allowance of doing whatever you so desire. It's something I support rather adamantly, but it's also something I support trying our best to do responsibly and without being hurtful to anyone in a hobby that involves more than ourselves.

This isn't deciding to write another fic when you've not finished the previous four or five that others were interested in, or never finishing any of your original fiction, but continually starting new projects. While others might be enjoying those things as well, you didn't agree to interact with them. They're audience members, not participants.

When others are participants in a hobby that has to work both ways, it's different. Your actions do affect other, real human beings.

So, I totally feel like you've a right to be annoyed every time you see that happening. I do. I tend to unfollow people who do that repeatedly, as we're not pursuing the hobby in the same way. I'll argue all day that someone has a right to their, sometimes literally, eighty-plus muses they never develop or stick to, but that doesn't mean I want to engage with them as a writing partner.

For those of us who want long-term writing partners with the same, well-developed muses, this kind of thing just is annoying. As is everything else that comes with it.

As in...

They're constantly posting "talk me out of adding x" as code for "talk me into writing x."

No one actually wants to be talked out of it, which was probably more obvious to everyone else here than it was me for a little while lmao I tend to take things rather literally. This was, as one can imagine, not appreciated! Telling someone in total earnestness, "I really don't think that's a good choice. You're always saying how overwhelmed you are and just dropped multiple threads yesterday, so adding another muse is going to make you feel worse eventually. Don't do it! :)" is so not what they were looking for. As was evident by the return meltdown over how they could do what they wanted, like I said they couldn't or had any authority over what they're doing with their time.

It's an obnoxious bit of pandering for a foregone conclusion.

Have you ever seen anyone who posts that sort of thing not pick up that muse? I haven't. I've only seen muns who are legitimately on the fence about it asking others in private conversations or testing out the muse decide against it. The thing that makes this incredibly irritating is the attention-seeking and need to validate something they must know isn't a great choice, otherwise, they'd just do it. They're aware that they're behind on drafts, asks, and other things - aware that this is maybe a dick move when they owe everyone already. So, they're seeking "permission" with full knowledge that multiple mutuals are going to hop on that post with encouragement, even some of the ones being messed over by this choice.

It puts people in a bad situation.

Some of those people genuinely don't care, they just want to interact with any muse, and I'm going to be awful and say it - they don't care about totally interchangeable muses and have them themselves. That's fine, this isn't a problem for them. It is for the mutuals who are hoping that maybe if their writing partner gets into this new muse, they'll get a reply to their threads with that energy, or that they'll stick to this one and they can have consistent interactions with them. It is for the mutuals who feel pressured to respond positively because they fear not responding at all will make them seem like bad rpers.

One more thing playing into the counter logic excuse for shitty behavior of "it's just a hobby" is one more thing too many, and it does exactly that.

No one wants to be accused of being remotely too invested in RP anymore, of taking it too seriously, or having any emotional investment in muses, stories, or muns. Not accepting every choice someone makes that negatively impacts you with a grin on your face while you dump confetti on them for it just isn't a comfortable option for a lot of muns anymore. Honesty isn't a comfortable option. While the other option isn't either, it seems better than that mutual noticing you're the only writing partner who didn't hop onto that post with support any of the multiple times they reblogged it. It's only a hobby in which everyone can do what they want until what one wants clashes. Then, you're getting a callout for being addicted to RP.

And the way it tends to clash most is in having expectations of others. Ones that would be totally normal in any other hobby requiring interaction with other people.

Like not overburdening yourself at the expense not only of yourself but those on your "team." That's what is being done when someone knows they cannot keep up with themselves, but continues to add to the situation with new muses.

Not only are you no longer getting responses already while they're intending to add even more to their overflowing plate, you'll be dropped again when they have to "fresh start" their blog because they're burned out.

I have to put that in quotations because I don't know how it's a fresh start when you keep everything but the blog layout the same. All the muses and all the behaviors, including adding a new one despite not having the time or interest necessary to do so, is inevitably maintaining the problems that led to burnout. Dropping every thread, changing the URL, a new blog layout, new aesthetics, isn't fixing the issue even if it temporarily reinvigorates the mun.

The mun is definitely doing things that are not helpful to them, it's stressful and upsetting to experience burnout, but it's at least that mun's choice. Both to do it and to become defensive over fixing it, thus, never fixing it. It isn't anyone else's choice to be repeatedly dropped or ignored, though...unless they just keep sticking around for it.

Again, we're supposed to respect everyone's choices. That's fine when it really works that way, when it is truly everyone. But it's not an acceptable decision to see a multimuse of twenty or more muses and say that's your limit, that you've experienced too many muns who are serial muse-adders not being able to keep up with themselves, so you don't interact with these blogs. If one feels that way, they had better not put it in their rules or ever be upfront about this as a reason, when one is demanded, for not following back or interacting.

It's not acceptable to see a writing partner adding another muse after they've owed you for months, just wiped their inbox, and keep expressing being overwhelmed/behind and become annoyed. Let alone dropping them or explaining to them why you are doing so.

The only "acceptable" course of action is hoping that they totally forget you exist so you can quietly slip away.

I don't feel like that's especially fair or mature. It certainly isn't helping the communication problem we absolutely do have here in the RPC when only one party is allowed to communicate without fear of being labeled, rather ironically, as a bad RP partner.

While this problem seems to be most prevalent in more casual RPers, it's certainly not isolated there. I feel like it's necessary to say that I've had muns I both interacted with and were simply on my dash alike who were not on that more casual side who went from being multis to being muse collectors. Once they hit over fifteen of them or so, they stopped even bothering to try to refrain from picking up at least one muse from every new piece of media they consumed or were inspired by.

It was more annoying because they had been capable of writing truly unique characters they stuck to, and even if they were, with full and upfront admission before interaction, slower to respond, those responses were well worth any wait for the quality of writing and storytelling going on. That's so much worse than someone who was always at a lower skill level as a writer, didn't have a good grasp on characterization, and wasn't especially dedicated to anything. It's depressing and disappointing, but it's also not what you think you're getting into when trying to carefully pick who to write with. Like everyone else, my time to enjoy this hobby is far from twenty-four-seven as well. It's important to me to try to choose muns I'll work out with well so that neither of us is wasting the other's time. And that's what it feels like - the investment of time was a waste because their hobby became adding infinite muses, or rather, the idea of muses.

So, yes, while it is fully everyone's right to write what and how they want to (even if it amounts to not writing at all), it'd be nice if we were all as committed to doing so in a way that was adult enough to respect commitments we've made to each other as we are, as a RPC, to losing our minds when someone merely drops the words "commitments" or "respect."

For the inevitable muse-collectors running across this:

Fiction is inspiring! That doesn't mean you needn't be inspired by anything, just that picking up or creating a whole other muse might not be the best way to follow this inspiration.

If you're considering another muse, but you find yourself already behind and/or overwhelmed? Try one of these instead:

create a plot based on it! Write up the idea and put it in your wanted plots/wishlist tag. Bring it up to partners you think might be interested in it as well, or seek out a crossover from that fandom

make it a new verse for an existing muse! This is as close as you get to creating a new muse without actually doing so, and in many ways, it takes even more creativity. How is your muse different in this AU than they are in canon, how are they the same? In the ways that they are the same, what similar events but done in a way that is natural/logical to this universe have happened to maintain that? Get really creative!

for either/both of these, make some moodboards and aesthetics with that energy while you're waiting on someone to take you up on these new things. Answer some HC asks or tag games using your new verse, or write an independent HC for the verse or plot

talk to writing partners who already love that muse about their new verse/your desired plot! No, not pressuring talk, just normal conversation between friends, but maybe they will be interested in starting a thread

simply be inspired to include some aspect of what you liked in an existent thread. A particular scene you could pull ideas from, the overall mood of a film, or the way something was written in a book - include that in your replies somehow! RP is creative writing, be creative

There are so many, honestly more organic, directions to take inspiration than bluntly adding a new muse. Especially when you're already overburdened, not holding up your end of replies, and/or not able to portray each muse as their own character properly.

Sometimes, it's not just not a great idea to add a whole new muse, and that's alright. There seems to be a serious problem with fomo going on with this whole issue, too. You're not going to miss out if you do not immediately add this character to your multi, and you're never going to fully keep up with what is trending anyway. Do it because you still want to write this muse in four months instead, they're obviously not going anywhere if that's the case, and they'll be a better developed, interesting portrayal for that.

And people do have a right to be annoyed when they feel sidelined by you seeing a shiny object and repeatedly pandering for validation in dropping them for it. Particularly if you're a mun who, further, expects everyone to be just as interested in every new muse you make as the last. As in, you're annoyed when you keep creating muses no one is falling over themselves to interact with, guilting, shaming, or outright demanding that this new muse is interacted with before they have access to the previous ones.

They don't have a right to be mean you to, but they have a right to be annoyed and to drop you. They even have a right to politely decline explaining this to you if they feel unsafe, or to politely explain it to you before they move on.

Absolutely everyone's right to pursue RP and every facet of it as they so please, but no one else has to like what you're doing.

If this response grates on some of you out there? Consider the other options you have, how you might be making others feel, and that it's actually completely okay to tell yourself no. You won't perish if you tell yourself no to taking on a new muse when you, honestly, should not! It'll be okay! Maybe, you just need to evaluate if there is another muse, or more than one, you should remove before adding one. Maybe, you just need some time to reorganize how you reply before you add this one. "No" when told to yourself can simply mean "no, not right now, it isn't a good time/situation."

[dragonrajafanfiction]

The Cassell Cynic Part 2

A continuation of @hectabdr @hectab‘s lovely characters.

When Nathan lay back on the bench, Hana’s face filled with furious determination.

Nathan protested loudly as she stomped his feet, seized his arm in a mighty heave and lifted him across the back of her shoulders. Her strong arm was wrapped around his leg and other her hand gripped his wrist. He tried to pull away but she held him tightly secured. “What are you doing?! Let me down!”

“I’m not going to let you make me fail this assignment!” She grunted roughly and stomped off toward the medieval looking administrators building.

Nathan used his free arm to pull his ear buds out. “Are you kidnapping me? Go die by yourself!”

“You think you’re going to die?”

“Of course I’m going to die if I go on assignment with you!” He struggled futilely against her iron-like grip. “Let go! You’re ruining my day!”

“When the dragons come back, they’ll do more than ruin your day. Or do you not know that because you don’t care to study?”

“I know that and that’s why I don’t bother! It’s obvious that someone else is going to do it, why should I care about it?”

“Because we …” She puffed, staggering with her struggling captive. “You're heavier than you look.... We all have a role to play. No one is going to slay the dragons alone! When the chips are down everyone needs to think about what they can do to make sure the dragons don’t win!”

“If I face a dragon, I’ll bow down and say ‘I welcome my new scaly overlords!’” He hollered loud enough for anyone in the courtyard to hear.

She stopped. Her face turned to him in horror. “You don’t mean that. Surely.”

His face was full of indignation. “And even if I don’t, so what? I just hope they don’t eat me and I live another day because I’m not slaying any god-damn dragon and chances are, neither are you! Now put me down!”

“Don’t put me in the same league as you, you coward…”

“I’m a coward? You’re a coward!” He turned to look at her over her shoulder. “You’re so scared of getting something less than an A+ that you’re kidnapping me! That’s what this is about. Don’t give me that Dragon War spiel. You’re more scared of your report card than a dragon. Am I right or am I right? Exactly. If this assignment was about dragonslaying, I wouldn’t be on it, being C ranked… No one’s going to put the world in my hands! Put me down!” 

She finally lowered him from her shoulders and he brushed himself off and smoothed down his hair. He turned to look up at her. “Thank you!”

She gave him a stern look, lips pursed. “You’re really serious… about not doing anything.”

“Yeah! I am serious! Thank you for finally acknowledging that!” He stepped around her to return to his bench.

“So you weren’t put up here to sabotage me?” She asked.

“I am not doing this to sabotage you. No. But someone might be. You do what you need to do if your grades are that important to you, but leave me out of it. I don’t need grades to stay here.” Nathan turned fully around and walked backwards towards the bench. “Contrary to your belief, your assignment is not the end of the world and, if it was really that important, they will find someone else to do it!”

He sat back on the bench, groaning in dismay as he picked up his ruined blunt where he’d dropped it.  “If I have to be on your assignment for you to pass then you might as well stay here on the bench! Because I’m not going. Period. You’ll have to deal with the smudge on your record. Though… knowing you, you’ll suplex them until they give you a make up assignment to erase the quote-unquote bad grade, so your parents don’t call you and cuss you out. If you do kidnap me, though, I’ll definitely make sure you fail, you psycho!” He rotated his shoulder. “That hurt, you know.”

Hana stayed where she was and helplessly watched him as he sat back down at the bench. “You’re really not coming. You’re not going to help me at all?”

Nathan didn’t respond. He rolled another blunt and lit it in silence. He could tell she wasn’t giving up, she was just changing strategy. She was drunk on the whole Dragonslaying mission Kool-Aid. He could feel his buzz actively dying as she approached him and sat back down. He passed it to her and she refused. But he insisted. “Take it, you need it more than I do.”

“I don’t smoke.” 

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He inhaled slowly. The skunky smell of the marijuana filled the air. “You shouldn’t care so much.”

“I do care but it's because this is what comes natural to me. I’m strong and talented and I can do the things they need me to do. My talents will be wasted elsewhere. No one’s putting pressure on me. This is who I am and what I do best. So why not excel at it?”

He coughed on a rough pull. He was genuinely shocked. “No? You don’t have some mommy and daddy at home who will be disappointed if you get a B?” He asked, scoffing at her. “You don’t care at all if you ‘fail your ancestors’ or something?”

“No.” She said firmly. “I don’t. I didn’t come from a prestigious family or a famous bloodline. I don’t even know who my father is. Unlike you.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’m self motivated and good at what I do. A few of the professors were thinking of putting me on a track to become faculty. They said I have to learn how to be an earnest guide. They wanted me to take you on an assignment and walk you through it.”

“Really? ...damn.” Nathan shut his mouth for once, scratching his head. “I’d pegged you as one of those trust fund babies.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “Believe me, I’m not. Like I said, I don’t care for them. They’re just coasting on their parent’s allowance and pretending to be better than everyone else. Kinda like you. At least you’re a trust fund baby who has their head in reality.” She grinned but there was no humor in it.

Nathan couldn’t argue that. “So uh… what’s this assignment?”

“I just have to accompany some cargo to the airport. But it’s sensitive cargo. So we just need to guard it.”

“Ah ha!” He tilted his head back. “So solve one problem with another. Very clever. You know what I think? I think my lack of urgency pisses them off so bad that they would do anything to get me to care even a little bit. And if they can’t get me to do anything, then they can get me off campus so they don’t have to look at me. They don’t need me here. It’s all head games. So I’ll play their head game.”

“What do you mean?” She tilted her head.

He pointed to the blunt in his hand. “What I mean is, this weed is going to give me the munchies. So, I’ll go ahead and put in a big order from the canteen. What do you like?” He pulled his cellphone from his pocket.

“I guess. Italian… pasta. I like Greek Food?” She said.

“Pasta and Gyros… sounds good to me.” He typed to put in the order.

“Are you ordering food for me?” She peered at his phone.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Nathan turned to her. “Wow… you really don’t have any friends.”

“You don’t either!” She snarled.

“I did before I came here. And I will when I leave here. You on the other hand… good luck on your ‘Hero’s Journey’. Heh.” He chuckled.

“Why don’t you just leave if you hate it here so much.” She stretched her legs in front of her and looked at the sky.

Nathan continued his lengthy order. “I don’t hate it here. I can live here, eat good food, and do nothing. Duh. It’s like the best vacation ever. It just sucks that by the end I won’t get to remember any of it. It’s like an alternate dimension. I just want them to give me good memories. Like I did something awesome. That’s all.” He waved his book of false memory ideas.

“You’re going to let them erase your memory?” Hana lowered  her voice, partly shocked, partly amazed.

“Yep. Here I’m no better than a regular human. So I might as well live like one. Order will be ready in 45 minutes.” He put his phone in his pocket.

“Why not split the difference? Do just enough to participate and stick around. That’s what Fingel does.” She wondered.

“Oh ho... Not just Fingel. Isn’t that what everyone else does? I look at everyone around me and… you’re  the first person I’ve met here who actually believes all this is for saving the world. That’s cool. You want to be here for that. But that’s why the other people get on your nerves. You can tell they’re faking it, and you’re not about the BS.”

Hana fell into a thoughtful silence.

“Which is why they sent you to talk to me probably.” He lowered his blunt. “It’s not that I don’t care that dragons are big and scary, it’s just I know I can’t do anything, just like 90% of the people here… so…” He shrugged. “There’s going to be maybe… what … 10 or 12 people actually fighting dragons? The rest? They’re just in it for the social points. And I’m not interested in social points.”

“What are you interested in?” She asked.

“Enjoying life while I have it.” He sat back and blew out a long plume of smoke.

Hana sat with him and stared out into the empty courtyards. On the peak of a gabled roof, a mockingbird was singing its heart out and doing acrobatic leaps in the air as it did so. Hana pursed her lips and tapped her feet. “If you could… please do this one assignment for me. I won’t ask again. I’m backed into a corner here and I don’t really have a choice at the moment.”

Nathan sighed loudly. “You could always do nothing, Hana. Just say, ‘He’s not coming, figure something out.’ I don’t want to get in your way, but I’m not going to let them play the pity card either. We’re all adults here. Don’t ask me to play their game. And it is a game.” He looked at her with wide eyes, waving his blunt. “If this assignment is really important, they’ll find someone else. The assignment isn’t the real issue here. This has nothing to do with your grade. I guarantee it has everything to do with their ego. They’re just like my parents. They’re just like my brother. Trying to make me care about their shit and I don’t. And that pisses them off.”

“You’re… pretty defensive right now.” She laughed.

He laughed in disbelief. He was getting pretty riled up about all this. “I want them off my back! I don’t understand why they need the C-ranker to be on board with their war games.”

Hana smiled disarmingly. “I for one… appreciate your honesty. You’re not so bad. I can’t be the only one who feels that you’re not so bad either. I think I’m here because they want to keep you around.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows. “Tch… Yeah good luck to them.”

 Hana pushed off the bench. “Alright. I’ll ask them to pair me with someone else or… do something else about it. Nice talkin’ to you.”

“Hey, don’t forget. Food’s gonna be here in 40 minutes.” He shouted after her.

“Alrighty!”

[maybeebeee]

The Instance of the Curry Cup

Hi! I haven’t written and posted something in quite a while, but Pokemon SWSH has absolutely consumed my life so here’s a little thing while I’m writing a much bigger thing!

A group chat leads to a party that leads to a curry cooking competition. Piers relentlessly teases Gloria for having a crush on Hop. Hop has a crisis. Just another day in the life of some of Galar's most prominent figures.

As a note for the group chat section of this fic, here are the nicknames to note which characters are who!

Hippity Hop = Hop Eat Sand = Raihan Champion Time Snr = Leon Croon Toondra = Gloria Mermaid = Nessa Big Tiddy Goth GF = Piers Flame Dad(dy) = Kabu Wooloolooloo = Milo Kung Fu Fighting = Bea Rocky Horror = Gordie Baby Goth = Marnie

Rated G, some mild language use | Hop, Gloria, and the other rivals are around 15/16 | Read on AO3 or under the cut!

It had all started with a group chat.

Not long after becoming Champion, Gloria had been added to the gym leader group chat. Leon, Piers, and Opal were still in it and she had learned quickly that Piers, Gordie, and Raihan were the instigators of most of the chaos in that chat. Marnie seemed to encourage her brother a little too much on that front, but overall it was fairly controlled chaos.

Then the second group chat came about.

Raihan had started it, mainly to avoid Melony’s constant reminders to be aware of the language being used with Allister around on the other chat. Subsequently, neither Melony nor Allister were on the new chat.

Nearly everyone else was, though, besides Opal. Even Hop and Sonia had been added, given that it was more of an open chat than the “official” gym leader one. Given that combination, however, it was far more of an ordeal to try and deal with that group, and with Piers and Raihan apparently never sleeping at all, it felt like Gloria’s Rotomphone was constantly buzzing with notifications at even the most insane hours of the night.

It had been just over a year since she’d won the Champion Cup, and Gloria now found herself standing in the kitchen of Leon’s sizable flat in Wyndon, surrounded by the physical embodiment of the most ridiculous parts of that second group chat.

Raihan had suggested the party-but-not a few weeks back, and after a fair bit of negotiating schedules, it had been decided that tonight was the best night to do it, so here they all were. Gloria was glad for the reprieve from her neverending Champion duties, and she’d been absolutely over the moon to see Hop again after what seemed like forever.

And now here she was, knocking elbows with her rival-slash-best friend as they and a bunch of their partially tipsy adult friends battled it out in what had been dubbed the Curry Cup by whoever had suggested the stupid idea in the first place. Probably Raihan.

“Two minutes left!” Slurred Sonia from across the bench. She was just about completely relying on Nessa to stay on her feet at this point, yet somehow still had it in her to decide how much longer those of them competing could cook for. Coming to these gatherings had certainly been an eye-opening experience for Gloria, seeing so many of the most well-known figures in Galar coming together and getting completely sauced for the hell of it.

“You said ten minutes literally thirty seconds ago!” Hop whined, haphazardly throwing in some extra ingredients to finish off his curry when Sonia simply waved him off. Gloria wondered how much of Sonia’s hangover her friend would have to deal with at the lab in the morning, or if the young professor simply wouldn’t show up at all.

It certainly wasn’t two minutes before all of the participants were ushered away from their curries, but Hop still seemed quite confident with his final product. Gloria couldn’t say the same for her own, especially being so used to taking her time with cooking when she camped out with her Pokemon. Not that she had much time to do that anymore, really.

“Sorry to say, but I’m definitely crushing you in this competition, mate, I can just feel it!” Hop said as he slung a friendly arm around Gloria’s shoulders, watching intently as Sonia, Nessa, and Bea walked along the row of curries on the bench to judge them all. Gloria tried to ignore how warm her face was suddenly feeling, but the look she got from Piers told her she wasn’t doing a great job at hiding it.

Damn her own big mouth for blabbing to him about her crush on Hop, the one time she couldn’t sleep and happened to be awake at three in the morning, with Piers being the only one she could think to message at that hour. It had been a good conversation, actually, but still.

Every time she’d seen him since then, it seemed like he was teasing her about Hop. Even directly in front of Hop. It was constant, but Piers claimed it was because Marnie didn’t get crushes on people, so he was using her as a stand-in when it came to teasing about that kind of thing.

Ignoring the ex-gym leader’s very obvious silent mocking, Gloria turned her attention back to Hop and lightly elbowed him in the side before wrapping her own arm around him in return. “As if,” She laughed, “Who’s the undefeated champion in this room? I’ve got this in the bag.”

As it turned out, neither of them were destined to be crowned the Curry Cup Champion, and the competition ultimately went to Leon. Hop decided that it was all rigged because the judges weren’t sober, and had wandered back into the living room with a dramatic huff as most of the other guests went to congratulate his brother.

Piers seemed to take the opportunity to suddenly appear next to Gloria with a ridiculously smug look on his face. “Seems you’re ‘aving fun. Said anything to ‘im yet?”

She folded her arms and pouted crossly. “No. Cannae say anythin’ with you nearby anyway, you’re such a pest.”

Piers scoffed. “Please. I’m doing the both of you a favour, bruv, since ‘e won’t say it and neither will you. The two’ve you are gonna go crazy if this keeps up. I’m gonna go crazy if I ‘ave to watch you idiots keep dancin’ around each other for the rest of time!”

“Shut up, he’s obviously not got anythin’ to say on the topic. Do ye know how much he talks? Surely he’d have said something by now if there was somethin’ to say.”

“Do you ‘ave any idea how much he talks to me? ‘E always messages me at times kids your age shouldn’t be up, sayin’ how he doesn’t want to bother you but can’t sleep and keeps thinkin’ about you so ‘e decided to message me and blah blah blah. Please just tell ‘im so that he actually messages you when he’s thinkin’ about you, there’s only so much more of his sappy shit I can take.” Piers practically begged, seeming like he was mere seconds away from pulling out his phone to show her the evidence. Gloria didn’t doubt that Hop had messaged him plenty, but she still wasn’t convinced that he reciprocated her feelings, even though she knew she had no reason not to believe Piers.

Still, she pulled up the collar of her cardigan to try and hide the bright blush on her face at the thought of Hop being all sappy about her. The question still remained, though, “Why doesn’t he just tell me that himself? Not like he hasn’t messaged me at four AM before sayin’ he misses me or whatever. Gotta say I’ve done the same, prob’ly more sappy than him too.”

Piers gave a dramatic sigh and turned back towards the kitchen. “I need another drink. You’re ‘opeless, the both of you.”

Gloria let out a huff of her own, but decided now would be a good time to retreat after her rival, hoping that maybe now they could actually catch up a bit more now that she’d gotten Piers off her back and everyone else was still preoccupied in the kitchen. Only, she got to the living room and found Marnie and Bede, with no Hop in sight. The other two weren’t sure where he’d gone, only giving a vague direction to “outside.”

With that clue in mind, Gloria headed for the balcony, recalling how Hop had mentioned once that he liked to stand out there and see if he could spot Postwick in the distance, past all of Wyndon’s bright lights and vast expanse of the Wild Area even further past that. It seemed like a good place to start.

True to her assumption, Hop was leaning against the railing and squinting out into the night, so she casually sidled up next to him and prodded his shoulder. “Thinkin’ about something, Hopscotch?” She questioned, a gentle teasing note in her voice.

Hop shrugged. “Nothing to worry about, mate. Just the usual.” His tone was flatter than Gloria had been expecting, so she raised an unconvinced eyebrow at him despite the fact that he wasn’t looking at her yet.

“The good usual or the anxiety usual?” The teasing was gone now, replaced with concern as she let her hand rest on Hop’s shoulder. Many late-night phone calls over the past year had made Gloria well aware of the fact that her best friend still suffered greatly from the many untruths and insecurities that his mind threw at him, even though he seemed to be doing better than he ever had before on the outside, and it was always heartbreaking to watch when he got like this.

“Stop calling me out like that.” Hop joked halfheartedly, his weak smile quickly falling back into a frown, “But really, don’t worry. Just me getting all upset over something stupid again, which is the usual.”

Gloria squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll bet my hat it’s not stupid. Is it the competition?”

He nodded sheepishly following a moment of silence, as if he knew he wasn’t getting out of this now. “It is stupid. Who gets worked up about losing some stupid curry contest that Raihan came up with anyway? It was supposed to just be some fun thing and I ruined it for myself by...by doing what I always bloody do, you know? Losing, and then getting upset about losing, and then getting upset because I know I’m never going to be number one at anything, and then beating myself up for being so stupid, and--”

“Hey.” Gloria interjected, “You’re not stupid, you hear me? Losing doesn’t make ye stupid. Being upset about things doesn’t make you stupid, and your brain lying to you about your worth doesn’t make ye stupid. You are not stupid, alright? You’re strong.” She encouraged, shifting to settle her arm properly across Hop’s shoulders and pull him closer to her side. Their height difference was making it a little harder now that he’d suddenly sprouted almost half a head taller than her since the last time they’d seen each other, but Gloria didn’t care.

Hop didn’t say anything, but leaned into her a little more, so she continued. “You wanna know a secret? You’re my number one. Always have been. So don’t go sayin’ you’re not the best at anything, because you’re the best to me.”

There was nothing but the sound of Wyndon's bustling streets below for a long moment, but suddenly Gloria was being pulled into a tight hug, with Hop's head resting atop hers. "Thanks. Really." He breathed into her hair, "For the record, you're my number one, too. Undefeated champ or not." The soft laugh he let out that time was genuine, and Gloria couldn't help the smile that came to her face in response. Never would there be another sound as sweet as Hop's laughter, she thought. 

When she finally leaned back just enough to look at Hop properly, Gloria had to take a breath to compose herself, suddenly noticing the lack of space between their faces. She hadn't intended on that happening, so she tried to ignore it, like she always tried to ignore her feelings for him. "Say, I was thinkin' about going camping in the Wild Area tonight, wanna tag along? We could make some curry together with our Pokemon, no competition allowed." That wasn't exactly the usual way one went about ignoring their feelings, but at this point she figured it didn't matter. How many times had they camped out together anyway? No big deal.

Hop beamed. "Sounds brilliant! Shall we go now?"

Gloria laughed, but was already reaching into her bag to find Flygon’s pokeball. Since becoming Champion she’d realised she needed to be extra careful about keeping her Pokemon as close to her as possible, especially given that she now had Zamazenta as a trusted member of her team. She didn’t want anything to happen to any of her dear Pokemon friends, which was why these days she always kept her bag on her, or at least within arm’s reach no matter where she was. Just in case.

Flygon let out a happy trill as it burst from its pokeball, setting down expectantly on the balcony behind Hop and Gloria as if it already knew their plan. The two young trainers quickly climbed aboard the eager Pokemon's back, and Gloria's heart began to race when Hop settled in behind her and curled his arms around her waist. We're about to take off, you daft bastard, of course he's gotta hold onto something, she reminded herself. 

“Alright, Flygon, let’s get goin’. To the Wild Area!” Gloria announced. The Pokemon didn’t hesitate to take to the sky once again, both of its passengers whooping with delight once the initial jolts and jerks had passed. Maybe a Flying Taxi would’ve been a smoother ride, but there was something so much better about trusting your own Pokemon enough to transport you safely to where you wanted to go, and it was certainly cheaper than paying to get all the way to the Motostoke side of the Wild Area from Wyndon in a Flying Taxi.

It had already been reasonably dark when they’d left Wyndon, being a little while after dinner time by then, but by the time they made it to North Lake Miloch it was well and truly night time outside. Gloria had actually started to doze off at some point when there had been a pause in conversation, and she awoke with a start as Flygon landed back on the ground. Thank goodness for Hop being able to direct Flygon as effectively as she could herself.

Still, the heat rushed back to her cheeks when she realised that she’d been leaning almost entirely back into Hop’s chest as she’d fallen asleep, but by that point she could only hope that he hadn’t taken too much notice of it. They’d fallen asleep on each other plenty of times, anyway, why should it matter now? Catching feelings was annoying.

If Hop had thought anything of it, he didn’t mention it, and the two of them went about setting up camp with as much friendly banter as usual. Gloria had a handful of berries and half a bag of mushrooms in her supplies, while Hop had some other berries to contribute as well as a few potatoes. They figured it would all mix well enough together, so they let out all of their Pokemon and set to work.

“Maybe letting twelve Pokemon have free reign of the camp wasn’t the best idea.” Hop commented when Gloria’s Flareon came up for the third time to try and taste some of the curry before it was ready. 

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” The Champion said coyly, gently shooing away her meddlesome Pokemon, “They’re all such angels, they’re not doing anything wrong at all.”

Hop laughed. “You’re right, it’s just Flareon. And also our Dubwools chasing each other around everywhere. And Zacian and Zamazenta looking like they’re about to murder anyone that dares get too close to the camp.”

Gloria shrugged as she fished around for a few plates to get ready for serving up. “At least they’re looking out for us. I feel better having them ‘round, just in case.” 

“Fair call.”

Not long after that, the curry was served and most of the Pokemon had been settled down by the offer of some food. Hop and Gloria sat close together by the fire that Flareon and Hop’s Cinderace were keeping an eye on, and chatted idly about this and that, all sorts of things that they’d missed in each other’s lives since the last time they were able to meet up, or even have a long conversation on the phone. 

There were neverending topics to cover. Hop being able to do research on some of his own projects now, Gloria’s latest exhibition matches, silly things they’d caught their Pokemon doing...it always felt as though they’d never missed a beat when they saw each other, like no matter where they left off they could always pick it right back up again.

“You know,” Hop said after a while, once they’d both truly lost track of time and could only guess that it was some time in the middle of the night by now. Gloria was leaning against his shoulder, with his arm casually draped around her in return as they both lay up against their Dubwools. “I really wish we got to do this more. I mean I know we’re both really busy and all now, but…” He sheepishly glanced away, “I dunno. I just miss you, mate. A lot.”

Gloria gave a gentle smile and leaned into Hop a little more. “I know the feeling. Seems like we went from seeing each other every day when we were growin’ up, to once or twice a week during our Gym Challenge, to now...what, once a month if we’re lucky? It’s stupid, I just wanna see my best friend all the time.” She sighed.

How long would it be after this time that they’d be able to spend an extended period of time together like this again? Sure, Gloria had tomorrow as well, but after that she had to head to Kalos for Arceus knew how long for all manner of exhibition matches and photoshoots and advertising campaigns. It was unfair how little time she got to spend at home anymore, she still didn’t know how Leon managed to do it for ten years straight, and from an even younger age than her, for that matter! 

Hop’s next quiet comment cut her out of her spiralling thoughts. She could’ve sworn there was a slight blush tingeing his cheeks, but it could’ve just been the firelight. “Best friend, huh?”

She quirked up a brow in surprise and sat up slightly. “Aye? Always have been, always will be, you know that. Is...something wrong?” Surely this wasn’t going where her lovestruck teenage brain was hoping it would. There was no way Hop liked her like that as well. Piers could not be right about this whole thing.

The boy in question kept his gaze trained on his lap, but Gloria felt his fingers tapping a nervous pattern on her shoulder, where he still had his arm around her. “I, um.” Hop started, rather eloquently, “I...like you. As in, like like you. And I think I have for a really long time but I just never wanted to say anything because I figured you wouldn’t like me back since we were always just best friends, but...sorry. You don’t have to like me back, I just wanted to let you know. Just in case, I guess. I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have opened my big mouth.”

Gloria could’ve sworn her heart stopped in that moment. She felt like she was acting on autopilot when she reached over to grab Hop’s free hand, only hesitating for a fraction of a second before pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek as well. His skin was soft and warm under her lips, and she felt so giddy as she drew back to look at Hop’s adorably surprised expression, his wide golden eyes and slightly parted lips. An irrational part of her mind wanted to lean in and kiss him properly, but now certainly wasn’t the right time for that.

“Of course I like you back, Hopscotch. Honestly cannae believe you didn’t notice how unsubtle Piers was being about teasin’ me literally every single opportunity he got, he’s an idiot.” Gloria laughed, giving his hand a squeeze as he seemed to still be processing what had just happened.

Hop managed to sputter out a laugh of his own a second later, pulling Gloria closer to his side and planting a little kiss of his own to her head. “Are you kidding me? I thought Piers was teasing me about it constantly. I had a three AM crisis to him months ago about it, I can’t believe it.”

Gloria snorted in her laughter, causing a few of their nearby Pokemon to look at her with concern. “I did the exact same thing. Arceus above, I really thought he was havin’ a laff when he said you were messaging him about me!”

“Serious? With the way he said it I was sure he was kidding when he said you were doing the same thing as me! Maybe he was right, we really are dumb.”

Somehow they ended up in a bit of a tangle as they laughed, unapologetically clinging to each other now that they were both apparently on the same page with what it all meant. Maybe nothing had really changed that much with their admissions at all, maybe - much to both of their dismay - Piers had been right, and they’d just been subconsciously waiting for someone to say something this whole time. 

Either way, once they had finally composed themselves enough to focus, Gloria leaned in to press her cheek up against Hop’s. “So...Hop, my dearest best friend and favourite rival.” She teased, “You wanna...be my boyfriend as well?”

Hop grinned, his eyes crinkling up with glee. “Gloria, mate, my number one and favourite champ, obviously yes.”

Gloria beamed. “Great. Brilliant.” She whispered giddily.

The following morning, a photo of the two of them in close quarters surrounded by several of their Pokemon was sent to the group chat, accompanied by a short message.

Hippity Hop [7:48AM] :

sorry we disappeared last night lads, spontaneous camping trip! also we’re dating now. have a great day :)

Eat Sand [7:49AM] :

wait...you weren’t already dating???

bloody hell my life is a lie

leon why’ve you been lying to me

Champion Time Snr [7:53AM] :

this is news to me mate i thought they’d been dating since they started the gym challenge

Croon Toondra [7:54AM] :

WHAT?!?

....you’re havin a laff right

Eat Sand [7:54AM] :

no lee really said he thought hop was your boyf

Croon Toondra [7:55AM] :

canny believe ye lee

thought we were friends

Champion Time Snr [7:55AM] :

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mermaid [7:58AM] :

honestly i agree w/ the boys i thought you were bf + gf for ages

sonia said you were

she can’t defend herself rn she’s still passed out hungover so

Big Tiddy Goth GF [8:00AM] :

bout time innit

felt like reality tv at this point

congrats tho took you ages

Flame Dad(dy) [8:03AM] :

Congratulations, although I have to say I was also under the impression you had been together since the Gym Challenge.

Wooloolooloo [8:04AM] :

Same here! You two are right cute though so congrats :)

Kung Fu Fighting [8:07AM] :

yeah rai told most of us that lee told him ages ago so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ good job anyway you cute

Rocky Horror [8:10AM] :

think we can all just agree someone was wrong and we’ll leave it there

that someone was lee but we’ll ignore that

reckon he’s just tryin to get us off his back about him and rai ;)

Champion Time Snr [8:11AM] :

thanks everyone appreciate it

also gordie please shut up

Hippity Hop [8:12AM] :

I forgive you lee!

at least for the sake of this group chat >:)

Big Tiddy Goth GF [8:14AM] :

get him hop it’ll be funny

lee watch out bruv

also you’re literally as bad as the kids with your feelings it’s disgusting

Baby Goth [8:15AM] :

Ignoring piers i’m happy for you two :D

Also thought it was a thing but that’s coz it just seemed like you were

No one actual said anythin to me

Croon Toondra [8:17AM] :

love ye all but i’m also fookin over ye dkjafhf

lee just go sulk and cuddle your boyf

Eat Sand [8:18AM] :

who’s lee’s boyf???? >:(

oh wait i see

fml

[cutesuki--bakugou]

What I Needed

@bnha-christmas2019 | Day 27: Company Party, “I thought you said you weren’t going to come>”  | Bakugou x Fem!Reader | Explicit | Cursing, Sex, Oral Sex, Alcohol Consumption, Soft Baku, Comfort, Confessions

Words: 7228 Genre: Romance / Angst / Humor

Please blacklist the tag cutesuki-lemons if you do not want to see this content from my blog. I will no longer be tagging with specific keywords for this type of content.Thank you~

Due to the nature of this post, the characters are 18+

Having his own hero agency was everything Bakugou had ever wanted. He had power, fame, popularity, influence and the high social status that came with being one of the top heroes in the county, just like he had always dreamed. In his late twenties, his life was exactly how he had wanted it, but there were some… responsibilities that he, in all honesty, despised. Fame came with the need to socialize, to have a decent relationship with not only his fans, but the people he worked with. Sure, this wasn’t the first time he had to throw a company party, nor was it the biggest he had ever done, but that didn’t make it any less irritating. 

A party to celebrate the holiday and new year weren’t anything to bat an eye at, especially not when it was open to any hero from any agency that wanted to participate. For less successful heroes or those still growing their reputation, who wouldn’t jump on the chance to party with the greatest heroes in the country? It wasn’t just Bakugou mingling around in the giant ballroom in the basement floor of his agency. Midoriya Izuku was here somewhere, as was Todoroki Shoto and others whom had grown the ranks with Bakugou from high school. There were even some older heroes present, old mentors and teaches. Friends and rivals alike were invited. 

And that included you. 

What were you to Bakugou, really? Were you a friend? A rival? Competition? His crush? All the above, if he were honest with himself, but calling you his ‘crush’ made him feel like a child. His feelings for you being just a ‘crush’ were a huge understatement. No, he had more than just a crush. In truth, he was head over heels for you, even surprising himself with how deeply he felt. 

It had been like this since high school. He hated you at first, as he did everyone, but there was something about you that called to him. Did he ever act on it? Of course not. All his focus was on school, on training, internships and pushing himself to the highest degree he could manage. He had no time for girls, even if you were nearly irresistible. It didn’t help that it had been obvious you were into him, too. Still, all your advances were ignored, until a barrier had grown between you and nothing was achieved outside of a mildly awkward friendship. 

It changed after you both graduated. For nearly two years, neither of you paid any attention to each other, until you ended up interning in the same agency. As adults, the spark was unmistakable. But Bakugou still couldn’t find it within himself to commit to a relationship, not when he was still working so hard for his goals.

That didn’t mean that he couldn’t resist you, however. Whatever relationship the two of you had was a physical one and nothing more. Fucking your brains out in the men’s locker room of the agency became almost a weekly occurrence, with many nights spent at each other’s apartments. Though, you could both admit, silently to yourselves, that there was something else there. The late nights watching stupid movies, stuffing yourselves with pizza and other shitty food, laughing and telling stories was proof enough. It was something Bakugou never wanted to lose. 

Until you both became independent heroes. Bakugou left you in the dust at first, refusing to show you even an ounce of mercy when it came to bringing in villains or numbers of rescues. Being in the same region didn’t exactly help that, as his goals to be at the top wouldn’t be derailed, not even by a woman he adored. At one point, he was positive that you hated him. Your tenacity and perseverance pushed through in the end, and you climbed the ranks just as he had. The entire world saw you as rivals, and so Bakugou figured that is what you should both stay. Rivals with a past and nothing else. 

Years pass with only business talk between you both, but lately, Bakugou could have sworn that spark was beginning to return. The way you looked at him and the sweet flow of your voice reminded him so much of your time together that he couldn’t resist falling for you all over again. All this time, no other woman he had slept with could compare to you, and it only grew worse the more you began to interact. 

Bakugou knew that he may have everything he ever wanted in a career. But in his personal life, there was something missing. A partner, someone to spend his life with and have a family. Out of all the women he had met in his life, who had tried to woo him and gain his affection, not a single one had come as close to the level of adoration he felt for you. Even still, there was the itch in the back of his mind that he had already burned that bridge long ago. How could you possibly still care or want him after all this time and all the grief he put you through? 

It was a shock to see you suddenly in the crowd of people, casually making your way to the bar with an already empty glass of champagne. That was enough to tell him that you had been here a while, so either you hadn’t seen him yet or you were just straight up avoiding him. If you were, then that bothered him quite a bit. He wanted to talk to you, to try and fix that he had broken between you. But if you didn’t want to see him, then was it really worth the effort? 

“Mr. Bakugou? Did you hear my question?” 

“Eh?” His attention on you broken, Bakugou’s gaze was pulled down to the woman in front of him, who was peering up at him curiously. She had been blabbering off to him for the past half hour, doing everything she possibly could to keep his focus and conversation. What she was really trying to do was obvious, with her low-cut dress and flirtatious body language. From what he had gathered, she was brand new to the hero scene, and she wanted to climb up the ladder based off networking and… sleeping with the big boys. He had considered going along with it, even though he barely remembered anything she had told him, but now he just didn’t give a shit. He just wanted to get away before he lost you in the crowd again. 

“I asked if you were planning on taking in any new interns. If so, I… wanted to get my name out there. Maybe we can talk about it in private?” 

“Uh, no. I’m not. Excuse me.” The way he pardoned himself was more like a demand to move, not bothering to pay attention to her whining as he squeezed himself out of the group he had been standing in. Thankfully, when he was finally free, he saw you still waiting at the bar, eyes on the bartender as they mixed up a drink. Sitting on a stool, you looked exceptionally elegant in your glittering dress, which hugged your figure. It came to a stop right above your knees, though the fabric was hiked up to your mid-thigh from your legs being crossed. The black hose you wore only hinted at the soft skin beneath, and how badly he wanted to touch you was almost suffocating. 

“Thank you!” You spoke with a smile as the bartender handed your drink to you, still not having even noticed Bakugou. “Getting a lot of business, are you?”

“Ah, yeah!” The young man spoke with a pleasant grin, beginning to dry out some glasses with a rag. “These parties are always a riot! And they pay well.” 

After taking a healthy sip from your drink, you leaned back a bit to sit up straighter. “I bet you’re getting amazing tips. You have to be at least a little tipsy at these parties. Especially if you’re dealing face to face with the host!” 

It was then that Bakugou decided to step in, clearing his throat as he came to sit beside you. “Excuse me?” 

“Oooh, well, speak of the devil.” A sly smile crossed your lips as if you had known he was there the entire time. Of course you had known, why else would you say such a teasing and rude thing to the little bartender? After two hours at this ridiculously rowdy party, you had finally found and gotten Bakugou’s attention. 

Finally. 

“I thought you said you weren’t going to come.” With a snap of his fingers towards the bartender, he got his attention. “Whisky.” 

Ignoring his command for alcohol, you stirred your own drink with the straw. “I wasn’t at first. But everyone was talking about how big this party was going to be and how it would look good for me to show up… I decided the networking and positive publicity was worth having to suffer through your presence.” 

Even though he felt a twinge of annoyance at your snarky attitude, Bakugou gave an amused scoffed, taking a hefty swig from his drink once it was placed in front of him. “You can bullshit other people, [Name], but not me. Don’t fuck around.” 

“You’ve done enough fucking around for both of us, Kacchan.” Your words were tinted with ice, even though there was still a flirty heat behind them. “How does it feel? To have so much fame that all these people come just to get a chance to introduce themselves to you. Or to have women on their knees in seconds. That poor little blonde you left over there; she must be very dejected.” 

“You know damn well networking irritates the shit out of me. And you’re no better. If I wasn’t sitting next to you, there would be men lining up just to be rejected by you. Why the fuck do you have to bring that shit up, anyway? Can’t we just have a normal conversation without you throwing that in my face?” 

“It’s all I was to you,” Your gaze left your drink to look up at him, the man that you adored more than anything. Yet, here you were, pushing him away again with your bitterness. You had already forgiven him, for pushing you aside and abandoning what life you could have had together for his career. He seemed to be making an effort… why couldn’t you? “What else would you want to talk about? Work? Ratings? Money? That’s all you care about, so if you want to boast, then go for it. I’ll pretend to listen like you do to those girls.” 

“In the past year that we’ve had more than a five-minute conversation, I’m pretty fucking sure I hadn’t said a word about myself. That’s you. You bring it up.” 

With his accusation, Bakugou could see your cheeks begin to flush, your frustrations with yourself showing themselves even so slightly. He knew that forced blank expression, that stiff posture as you tried to stay strong to not let your tough front crumble. More than anything, he wished that wall you had built around yourself would crack, even just slightly, to allow him in. 

“You’re the one that told me all those years ago that you only care about building your career and you wouldn’t let anything get in the way of that. So why are you even trying to talk to me right now, Kacchan? You have everything you ever wanted.” 

“That’s not true. Come with me.” Bakugou stood, picking up his glass as he did. “I can’t talk to you over this fucking shit music.” 

For a moment, you hesitated. You knew that if you were alone with him, you would break. All this time, you had refused to give him any more than a few minutes of your time, but it wasn’t because you hated him. You were scared that your feelings for him would explode the instant you were alone, that the craving to feel that happiness from all those years back would cause you to make a mistake. 

Would it be a mistake? Or would you finally feel complete again? 

With a sigh, you stood, fixing your dress back into place before snatching up your own drink and following him towards one of the many exits. Much to your annoyance, many people tried to stop you both to chit chat, or to keep Bakugou's attention as long as they could. Over and over, he either ignored or dismissed them, even people you recognized to be CEOs of huge corporations. Each time, your heart fluttered, softening your resolve until you were blushing fiercely. 

Out in the hallway, Bakugou gave a heavy sigh, relieved for the music to be muffled after the door shut behind you. “Finally… I hate that shit.” Taking a few steps forward, he pushed a button on the elevator, prompting you to glance up as the number began to descend. 

“Where are you taking me?” 

“To my office. No one but me has a key to get in. We can be alone…” 

“Don’t you think it will seem suspicious for us to go up there? People will talk.” 

“People talk anyway. People were talking the instant I sat down next to you.” Bakugou’s crimson glare set off that familiar fire within you, making you clutch onto your dress with your free hand. “You think people don’t know how we used to be? We weren’t exactly subtle…” 

“That was a long time ago…” 

“Five years isn’t a long time. Not to forget things like that between such high-profile people.” 

With a ding, the elevator opened in front of you, and with a vague gesture from Bakugou, you walked inside first. He stood beside you, and the instant the elevator door closed, the tension was almost palpable. But it wasn’t an uncomfortable tension, which you slowly came to realize as the elevator rose up to the top floor. It was a mutual wanting, some type of magnetic force that you were both fighting against with all your strength. He was so close to you, within your grasp and yet so far away. 

Could you really let him back in? 

Bakugou once again allowed you to exit first before following, sipping from his glass as he headed straight for his office entrance. This wasn’t the first time you had been up to this floor of his agency, but it was the first time you were going to visit his private office. Corporate meetings were held up here, just down the hall, and you had always wondered what was behind those double doors to the left. 

Pulling out his ID from his pocket, he held it up in front of a sensor, which went off with a beep and the click of the doors unlocking followed. Pulling the door open, Bakugou nodded for you to go in, silent and cautious. At first, you only watched him for any signs of regret or reconsideration, but you saw none. Even your own second thoughts were hidden in the back of your mind, so you entered, a bit surprised at the perfect and professional order of his office. It wasn’t quite what you expected, but then again, there were a lot of things about Bakugou that were unexpected. 

Most people would see him and instantly think ‘that man is a brute’ or ‘he’s absolutely vile’. Was he? Yes, absolutely. But there were things that only you had seen, that he would not dare share with another living soul. He had told you about his insecurities, his worries and his regrets. You had held him when he awoke in a panic, brought on by nightmares he couldn’t control. He had laughed with you about teenage memories, smiling with such sincerity that you were sure he must have been another person entirely. Even more special, the way he would caress you and kiss you with such a sweet tenderness you would just melt in his hands. He was gentle and loving behind all that explosive anger. 

Loving… Were we in love? I… never really thought it would have been possible… For him to love another person. Feeling your emotions swell a bit at the thought, you struggled to restrain the burning in your eyes, refusing to cry in front of him already. How could you possibly become that weak willed just because you were alone together? Had you really put on such a strong facade for the public that you didn’t even feel like yourself anymore? 

“People always assume I have everything just from what they can see.” Bakugou spoke after the door shut, gaining your attention and momentary distraction from your emotions. “This office. That’s all you see. Awards. Certificates. Success. Or at least, all what people assume success to be. And I’ve reached it faster than most… Because I worked so hard for it.” After finishing off his drink, he sat the empty glass down on the edge of his desk. 

At the moment, your sharp tongue was dulled, finding that you wanted to hear what he had to say. He was speaking so calmly, as if this was something that he had been waiting for, like his speech had been rehearsed in his mind over and over. That, or he was tired of hiding his emotions. 

Little did you know that both were true. Bakugou had thought about what he would say to you in a situation like this, how he would get his point across that he had made a mistake pushing you so far away. How he was going to tell you that he wanted you in his life desperately? With these desires, he knew that he couldn’t hide a single ounce of himself from you. If he did, he would lose you, and he refused to let that happen. So, no matter how embarrassing it was, how frustrated he was at trying to find the right words, he would fumble until he caught his footing. 

“I wanted this.” Bakugou gestured to their surroundings. “I wanted it more than anything. I wanted it so badly that I lost sight of something that I needed. That time with you made me happier than any of this shit that I have now. And I was stupid to not realize that back then.” He came up to stand in front of you, and by now, the burning in your eyes was uncontrollable. The instant is hands came up to caress your upper arms, you lost the slim control you had, the hot tears rolling down your cheeks. 

“I think about it all the time. How we could have spent all these years growing together. I was selfish back then… You were right to hate me for the things I did to you. For treating you like… just an obstacle in my path. Then, and now, I don’t deserve you. But I want you. And before you snap at me, it’s not just your body. I want your laugh, your smile, your support and happiness. And I want to give you mine.” 

Sniffling, you felt strangled as you tried to process his words. You could tell by the softness of his tone and his touch that he was being genuine. Bakugou, out of all people in the world, couldn’t lie without becoming a flustered mess. The truth was often even harder for him to admit, so the fact that it was coming out of his mouth so smoothly made your heart and stomach flutter. It was your turn, to tell him that you wanted all the same, but the words were lost to you. How could he admit his feelings so easily, while you were completely useless? Had you really built your wall that strong, that not even the person you loved with all your heart could get through? 

“Katsuki…” You finally got through with a hiccup, only able to manage a quick glance up at him. “Did you ever love me?” 

“Are you shitting me? Do you think I’d tell you all this if I didn’t? And what happened to ‘Kacchan’? Hm?” The snarky smirk that crossed his lips brought a more intense fire to your cheeks, giving a playful click of your tongue as he wiped your tears away with rough thumbs. 

“I only call you Kacchan when I’m pretending to be mad at you.” After setting your drink down on the nearby desk, you placed your hands on his chest, tenderly adjusting the collar of his nice dress shirt. “After all this time you still refuse to wear ties. Even to your own company parties.” 

“I hate them. I need to breathe.” 

“I think you just like looking like the bad boy.” You couldn’t resist stepping in closer as his hands fell to grip your hips, the heat of his body so irresistible. “You and your tough guy facade.” 

“Whatever. We both know you fucking love it.” 

“I do, Katsuki.” You caressed his cheeks softly, entire body tingling with the feeling of his hands sliding up your sides. “I never hated you. Never. Maybe that makes me stupid, too… But I always knew it…” 

“Knew what?” His lips were dangerously close to yours now, brushing softly as he spoke. Even his gaze was nearly crippling, already feeling your legs growing weak. He was so dangerous, so absolutely irresistible to you that there wasn’t anything you could do to control your wanting for him. Not anymore. 

“That you would come back to me.” 

With that, any restraint the two of you may have had was broken, lips immediately crashing into each other with a fierce and familiar passion. How long it had been didn’t matter in that moment. Bakugou knew exactly how to kiss you, how to hold your body against his and make your legs weak. The hot taste of whisky on his tongue made your entire body feel warm, starting from your core and spreading through each nerve. It was like every inch of you was on fire, the heat pooling between your legs as you couldn’t resist your arousal. Everything about him was exactly like you remembered, only… there was more. 

It was obvious to you that he had grown in experience and practice, even just from this short time together. Although you couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy towards the other women whom he had relations with, you knew that from this moment on, if you accepted him, it would be only you. There would never be another woman or man between you, nor any career or goals. It would be you and him together, to be everything you ever wanted. And needed. 

“A-ah, Katsu--” You couldn’t resist a soft moan as his hands eagerly gripped onto your ass, even though it was immediately smothered by the kiss. His palms were so hot that you could already feel them through the fabric of your dress, only further reminding you of the things you loved about him. You didn’t know if it was because of his quirk or if it was just how his body was, but any time he got all hot and bothered, his palms would become unbelievably warm. It was never to the point that you couldn’t bare it, but it was just enough to melt you and make you crave to feel it against your bare skin. Tugging him backwards with a simple step and yank to the front of his shirt, you stumbled back until your legs hit his desk, the rattling of the ice in your drink barely registering in your feverish mind. 

The loud crashing and clanking of other miscellaneous belongings falling to the floor was just as ignored by the both of you, pushed aside with a single sweep of Bakugou’s arm. In nearly the same instant, you were turned, upper body forced down onto the desk from a strong pressure between your shoulder blades. One hand firmly on your back to keep you in place, Bakugou let the other travel down your side and to your hips. 

“Five years have done you a lot of favors, [Name]. Your body is fucking irresistible.” 

Unable to really move, you could only support yourself on trembling legs, entire being racked with excitement and anticipation at what he would do to you next. You could feel his cock pressing into your ass from beneath his pants, and you knew damn well he was doing that on purpose. It was just another way to tease you at what you had been missing all this time and what you desperately wanted. “Are you saying it hasn’t always been?” 

“Don’t be a smart ass with me. I’ve craved every inch of you…” With that, you felt the cool air of the office on your backside as your dress was pushed up to your lower back. Both strong hands moved to grope you and spread you open, an amused chuckle following. “Fuck, I can see how wet you are already. And no underwear? Were you expecting something?” 

The feeling of his thumb stroking against your sex made you shudder, nibbling at your bottom lip. Even through your hose, the pleasure of his touch was irresistible, softly gasping with each stroke to your clit. “Any time I see you, I always hope that you’ll want me again. It was an impulse… not to wear underwear. I thought that… maybe ton-- a-ah!” You were cut off by a moan, surprised by the sudden hot and wet pressure against your clit. Unable to see him well, you didn’t notice that he had knelt down until he made his presence known, running his tongue along your sex with the hose still in place. 

The sensation was odd at first to the both of you, but you couldn’t deny how good it felt. Even if he wasn’t on your clit directly, the cloth still grew taught against it with his movements, teasing you with just a hint of pressure. You wanted more so badly, but you knew begging wasn’t going to get you anywhere just yet. He was going to do whatever he wanted with you, and there wasn’t any point in trying to stop him, not with how badly you wanted this. 

Suddenly, there was a new sensation and sound. With a firm tug and the ripping of cloth, you felt your hose loosen from your body, splitting right down the middle seam to fully expose you. Bakugou had done it with his teeth, you knew his antics well, but that didn’t mean you were any less annoyed that he just ripped your favorite hose. “Hey, Katsuki! These are my-- ooh, fuck!” You dug your nails into the wood of his desk as he began to eat your out mercilessly, gripping onto your hips to keep you still. 

Turning your face more into the desk, you moaned and panted against the wood, the pleasure tingling through your body like hot sparks. Within minutes, you were brought to a leg shaking orgasm, your knees buckling. The only reason you stayed up on the desk was your upper body and Bakugou’s hands on your hips. 

“Fucking hell… I’ve missed seeing you cum like that. You always cum so hard for me.” Slipping his fingers beneath the hole he had made in your hose, he ripped them just a bit more, giving him full and easier access to your wet and twitching pussy. He could have just stared at the heavenly sight for hours, watching your juices drip down your thighs and onto the floor. Never had a woman get so wet for him the way that you did, always so hot and ready to be fucked from something as simple as a kiss. While he used one hand to stroke your folds and tease your swollen clit, his other moved down to his pants, loosening his belt. “Such a good little bitch. Tell me who you belong to.” 

“Y-you, Katsuki.” Body still recovering, you couldn’t resist the slight jerking of your body with his teasing of your clit. 

Once his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped, Bakugou began to stroke himself to the sight of you, spreading your pussy open with his fingers. “Have you ever had someone fuck you as good as I do?” 

“No, only you can make me feel so good. No other man can ever c-come close.” 

“No other man will ever come close.” Standing, Bakugou pressed his tip against your waiting hole, teasingly pressing into you until you were squirming beneath him. “Now tell me what you want.” 

“I-I want your cock!” 

“Beg.” 

“P-please, Katsuki! Please, fill me up and fuck me!” 

Leaning forward, Bakugou allowed himself to slip in just slightly. He pressed his lips against your flushed cheek, smirking against your skin. He loved seeing you like this, already completely smitten and hopelessly aroused. You’d do or say anything he wanted, and he knew that being treated like this was what turned you on more than anything else. “Harder.” 

His low voice in your ear made your head swim, becoming increasingly frustrated with the teasing. “I’m begging you! Please hurry up and fuck me, Katsu! My pussy is yours, please do whatever you want to me, until I’m ruined with your cum dripping down my legs! Katsu, please!” That sweet nickname flowing from your lips again after five years instantly flushed Bakugou’s chest full of a raging and familiar fire, both of his hands moving to grip tightly onto your hips. 

“That’s it, babygirl.” Slowly, his cock began to fill you up, forcing a gasp from your lips as you arched your hips up into him. The soft grunt he let slip near your ear instantly almost had you cumming again, looking up at him from the corner of your eye. Vision blurry with pleasured tears, you could barely make out the furrow of his brow, though the passion in his glare was perfectly clear. You were about to be absolutely ravaged, and you couldn’t wait a second longer. But you did, soaking in the feeling of each inch vanishing within you, filling you to the brim. “You want it so bad, then take it.” 

You were already trembling by the time he hissed the demand into your ear, knowing that if you weren’t lying down on the desk, your legs would have given out by now and you’d be sprawled useless on the floor. Already you could feel how full you were, his cock pulsing against your constricting walls and just itching to move. Unable to resist the urge himself, Bakugou sat up from you, hands gripping your hips tightly as he began to slowly and roughly thrust his hips. The first few thrusts of his cock inside you felt foreign, like you had almost forgotten what it was like to be fucked by him. But, very quickly, he found his rhythm, bringing back all those things you were familiar with. 

The hot slapping of skin. Burning palms. Fingers with a grip so tight you knew they would bruise. Sticky liquid coating your body, from sweat to your own juices as it rolled down your legs with each aggressive thrust. Bakugou’s grunts of pleasure, mixed in with your own uncontrollable moans. A deep presence within your womb, enough to make your stomach feel full every time he sunk his cock into you. The teasing words and name calling, forcing his dominance upon you in a way that made you completely swoon. 

In no time at all, you were cumming again, arching your hips up into his as you screamed and begged for the release you had so desperately missed. And then, in typical Bakugou fashion, he removed his cock from you, right on the edge of your orgasm. It faded away in a rush of tingles, and with some ounce of strength, you pushed yourself up onto your elbows to glare at him over your shoulder. 

“Seriously, Katsuki? You’re still into that edging shit?!” 

“Into it?” Bakugou smirked, grabbing you by both arms and forcing you back up onto your feet. His cock settled between your legs, pressing into your sex as he held your body back against his. With soft, slow thrusts, you watched as his tip vanished and reappeared again, stroking against your clit. Releasing one of your arms, the other came up to grip your neck, resting his lips at your ear. “I’ve mastered it, babygirl. And don’t try to pretend that you don’t love it.” 

Putting some pressure on your neck, Bakugou kissed and nibbled at the exposed skin of your shoulder. “I’ve missed seeing your expressions when you cum so hard after being edged over and over. The way your eyes roll back in your head… That crazed and satisfied smile on your lips. Your body trembling and jerking. Fuck, you’re just so damn sexy.” He used his free hand to pull the already low-cut neckline of your dress down, allowing your breasts to fall free. He increased the speed of his thrusting, giving a sigh of pleasure in your ear as he groped and massaged your breasts. 

Although the thigh fucking was a much slower pace than what he had been taking just a moment before, you couldn’t resist how good it felt just to be played with. There was no effort on your part, except for somehow finding the strength to stay standing. His lips on your skin. His teeth in your flesh. His hands on your breasts. His cock between your legs. All of it was sending you into a whole new round of bliss and almost the feeling of being… worshiped. Yes, it was for his enjoyment too, but each movement he made and shifting of his hips was to bring you pleasure. 

“K-Katsu,” you moaned out sweetly, reaching up to run your fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe you still remember how to play with me. What my body wants and begs for.” 

“I could never forget your body, [Name].” He paused for just a moment to allow his cock to slip back into your waiting pussy, watching your face as it contorted with pleasure. “Everything about it drives me fucking crazy. Not just your body, but you. All of you. I can’t stand the thought of being without you a second longer.” With a slight push from his thumb, you turned your head to meet his lips in a passionate kiss, which spurred his thrusts to go faster. He held your body back against him, one arm around your waist with the other across your chest, caressing your neck and playing with your breasts as he wished. 

You felt so close to him, so wanted and adored for the first time in so many years. In that moment, you decided it wasn’t enough. You wanted him closer. 

“Stop, wait--” With a slight push of your hand to his stomach, he stopped as instructed, even though confusion flashed across his face. Turning, you hopped up to sit on his desk, immediately pulling him closer and wrapping your legs around his waist. “I want to hold you, Katsu.” 

Another passionate kiss was shared as he picked back up on where he had left off fucking you, but his movements became rougher and more excited. Having you in this more intimate position must have spurred on his excitement, and that wasn’t anything for you to complain about. But, for you, there was a twinge of sudden reconsideration that you hadn’t expected. It came with a sudden rush of pure emotion, a raging storm that you had tried to keep at bay. 

Disbelief. Excitement. Remorse. Anger. Wanting. Fear. Passion. Love. 

Love. 

That’s what it was. 

As you began to feel another orgasm building rapidly within you, you released your grip of your arms around his neck to instead caress his cheeks. “Katsu,” With the soft mention of his name, his gaze caught yours, though he never lost his rhythm or pace in the way he was fucking you. You knew you had to get it out before you lost control of yourself again, barely able to speak against the pleasure that was only growing. “Katsuki. I love you. I-I’ve loved you since the beginning. I w-want to do this together. To be together.” 

Bakugou let his hand fall to your lower back, shifting your body closer to him to allow him in deeper. Leaning back a bit with his movement, you kept yourself propped up with one arm while the other was around his neck, clutching on tightly to the back of his shirt. At first, your eyes were drawn down to watch how he fucked you, until his words brought your eyes back up. Behind the haze of lust and pleasure, you could see it, the genuine adoration and love for you that he had been hiding all this time in fear. There was no more fear between you. Only hope and the prospect of true happiness. 

“I love you, [Name]. And from now on, I won’t ever let your stupid ass forget it.” With one more kiss shared between you, he immediately increased his efforts, fucking you so hard and rough that the already abused desk began to creak. The sound of your drink falling and glass breaking across the pristine tile floor was ignored; all focus the two of you could muster only on each other. 

You could feel it, building up within your core, and you couldn’t stop it from showing on your face. “F-Fuck, Katsu, I’m going to cum! Please! Please let me!” 

“It’s okay, babygirl. Cum for me.” With his words whispered in ragged breath against your lips, you couldn’t hold back another moment. As the ball that had grown within you exploded, you collapsed back against the desk, your voice squeaking with the powerful onslaught of pleasure. With full access to your hips, now, Bakugou held onto them tightly, fucking you through your orgasm. To him, it was a beautiful sight, your sweaty and ravaged body completely broken and at his mercy. Bakugou never wanted to stop, but before he realized it, his need to cum was suffocating. 

“[Name]...-” 

Gaining a moment of lucidity from hearing your name, you peered up at him, smiling as you rested your arms up above your head. “Come inside me, Katsu--” With your permission, Bakugou immediately grew more aggressive and erratic, your moans edging him on. “Please cum inside me! Fill me up with your hot cum, Katsuki!” 

Within moments, Bakugou did just that, tugging your hips against his tightly as he released inside you. It was so hot you could feel it, filling your womb and coating your still contracting walls. With his release, Bakugou let out a satisfied grunt, before sighing in absolute pleasure. From your view, he looked so worn out, sweaty with clothing and hair completely disheveled. You were sure that you looked exactly the same, but in Bakugou’s eyes, you were nothing but absolute perfection. 

With his cock still pulsing inside you, he leaned himself forward, propping himself up on his elbows on either side of your body. Softly, he moved some hair out of your face before his lips met yours. It was different now, a tender kiss that made your stomach flutter like you were a little girl in love for the first time. You wrapped your arms around him, running your fingers through his hair and softly stroking his back as he showered your lips, cheeks and neck with sweet affections. 

“This is what I’ve missed…” He spoke near your ear, low and calm. “This… gentle intimacy. You’re the only person I can experience it with- who I’d want to experience it with.” 

“My Katsuki… Me, too.” Now, the tears began to return to your eyes, so overcome with bubbly happiness and pure love. “I never want to lose you again.” 

“You won’t, [Name]. Never again.” 

With another sweet kiss, you were both suddenly startled by a loud buzzing in Bakugou’s back pocket, which reverberated through your still connected bodies. With an annoyed huff, Bakugou removed himself from you and allowed you to sit up and adjust your dress back over your breasts as he grabbed his phone to check the message. “Ah fuck.” 

“What is it?” 

“My assistant… I’m almost thirty minutes late for my speech before the gift raffle. Well shit.” 

Giggling softly, you looked down at the mess you had both made. Broken glasses, scattered office supplies, papers and even his name plaque littered the floor. “Well, at least we still kept all our clothes on.” 

With a click of his tongue, Bakugou headed over towards a door, walking inside. “I still have to fucking change, I’m sweaty as fuck.” His voice echoed, so you grew curious, following him in to see that it was a whole bathroom with a shower, tub and everything else that came standard. You followed him around a corner to see that he also had a full walk in closet, making you gasp in shock. 

“Damn, Katsu! Think you have enough space? Do you live here?!” 

“Of fucking course I don’t.” Bakugou glowered at you, stripping off his shirt before stepping out of his pants. “I just have extra clothes.” 

“Won’t people be suspicious if you come down in new cloths- oh. You have the same exact ones.” 

“Always have to be prepared, [Name]. I just… don’t have an extra dress for you. Or hose. Sorry.” He smirked at you as you looked down at your legs, the hose you wore soaked with liquid and torn all the way down to your thighs. Huffing, you pushed them down before plopping yourself onto the toilet, relieving yourself as you took off your shoes. 

“My dress is fine, it’s my hose that I’m upset about! These were my favorite ones!” 

“I’ll buy you more. Are you taking a piss?!” 

“You’re lucky I didn’t piss all over your desk, I’ve had to pee for like an hour.” 

“And I still wouldn’t want you to leave.” 

Smiling, you rolled the ruined hose into a ball and put them in the trash, cleaning yourself up with toilet paper. Once done, you put your shoes back on, flushed and went to wash your hands. While you were doing so, Bakugou emerged back from the closet, back dressed just as spiffy as he had been before. Coming to stand behind you, he wrapped his arms around your waist, giving your cheek a soft kiss. “I’m happy you’ve forgiven me, [Name]. That you want me back…” 

“Of course I do, Katsuki. These few years just made me realize that… I can’t be happy without you.” 

“Me, too.” After another kiss, he went to the other sink, grabbing a toothbrush and squeezing some toothpaste onto it. 

Confused, you wiped your hand on a towel, before attempting to fix the mess your hair had become. “What are you doing?” 

“Brushing my teeth. I can’t exactly go back to a party with my breath smelling like whisky and pussy, now can I?” 

“Nah, you should. It’ll keep all those girls away.” 

“You being on my arm will keep them away enough.” 

“Touché. Going public already… Bring it on.” 

“You got it, babygirl.” 

[ghostmartyr]

(1/3)Hi, Immi! I’m sorry it will be a long-read, but I can’t keep it bottled anymore. When you say you feel tired about Historia’s situation I can easily relate because I feel the same, exhausted and irritated. It’s just exhausting to keep looking for some positive signs when it becomes more and more obvious that Isayama just made her irrelevant because she’d turn into an obstacle to his plot as an active character. I believe the main reason for him to not explain her situation is that he wasn't

(2/3)able to come up with logical reasons for Historia to follow Eren’s plan and to have a child so he just forced that into the plot. The same way Survey Corps guys just miraculously met Annie eating the pie. We don’t see Historia, her words and her thoughts because it’d destroy the flimsy screen Isayama have draped over her. ... The other Historia-related thing which bothers me a lot is that quite a lot of people argue – in relation to the pregnancy – that she isn’t exactly a lesbian.

(3/3)Like it’d somehow make everything better! They completely miss the point. Even if we’d replace Historia with a random 101% hetero girl she’d still have a kid with a person she doesn’t love, with a person who abused her during her childhood, and this child would be created ONLY to allow Eren to enact global genocide. Wow, what a great improvement! … I’m really sorry for being such an aggressive pessimist but I’m just tired of being optimistic for 25 months straight to no avail. I guess.

Yo.

Put politely, some of the things this particular plot point inspired people to say is why I do my level best to avoid the fandom outside of close friends. It was... not good.

For a quick note, since everything you said has been on my mind for over two years, and ah yes, how it festers:

Coercive sex has nothing to do with preference.

I’m bolding that because hell, did it need to be said when 107 dropped, and as far as I’m aware, it still needs to be said. Instead of people being upset and hurt, the conversation turned into how much of a right people even had to those feelings, because why ever would lack of consent bother someone unless they had a stake in an interpretation of canon.

But in any case, yeah. The fact that Historia’s sexuality became the debate topic it did after 107 is -- hell. I know why it came about, and I could draw a very neat logic tree, and honestly, some of it did come from legitimate places of grievance.

Watching fandom feed like locusts on the discussion of what type of queer had been trapped in a dubiously consensual sexual relationship was still painful. Watching her entire relationship with Ymir be invalidated every other post, when that had limited relevance, was a twist to the knife.

We have a character whose arc revolves around finding herself and reclaiming her agency. The very next arc she is a participant in cheats her out of that agency. She’s nineteen, and everyone around her might not actively pressure her to breed children, but the situation is outlined so that she knows if she doesn’t, everyone will suffer.

This character has routinely protected children, and knows the suffering of being born unwanted.

It’s a disgusting story, and it doesn’t even get to be her story. It exists to make Eren upset. As if he really needs help with that. And after two years, the only addition we have to her role is that she might have gone along with it to help global genocide happen.

I have been waiting for this story to explain itself for a while. Each month, it doesn’t. Each month, I very carefully do not shout to the rafters exactly what I feel about this, because I’ve chosen to wait and trust that the story is not actually being this stupid. Each month, it seems less and less likely that this is ever getting fixed, and I feel like an idiot for going along with it.

However much I think there’s room for a reveal, each month, we’re a tick closer to the end, and nothing crops up. My argument has always been that for something kept off the stage for so long, it’s going to stay off the stage until it’s ready to blow us away. Great, awesome, but in the meantime, by all appearances, one of our main characters agreed to get knocked up by a guy she doesn’t like with a child she doesn’t want for the sake of a global genocide she doesn’t support.

When our actual main character is murdering literally everyone on the planet over how intolerable he finds that practice.

This does not make sense. This does not work on a thematic level, it doesn’t work on a logical level, it doesn’t work on a character level, and yet I’m here, stuck putting up with it for those exact reasons. This is the exact type of thing that got Sherlock fans so much mockery. “No guys, it’s bad on purpose for the secret extra season!”

I’m tired of being optimistic, too. Being optimistic often feels like letting it go unsaid how fucked every part of this is. Loads of characters die, or don’t show up for months at a time, but having a character’s emotional consistency actively dismantled to serve another character’s arc is something that basically never happens in this series. Unless you’re Ymir or Historia. Nice.

Because of how good the character work has been, I am optimistic. Still.

At the same time, the things I love most about the series have been fucked over worse and more completely than anything else going on in the story, and sometimes, I would like a little room to be pissed.

Where is my fucking wall scene, WIT?

[writinginthedarkwood]

Yandere Himiko Toga x Shy Fem Reader: Anything for You.

Honestly this is pretty soft compared to some yandere pieces I’ve seen, but it took me forever to write and I’m proud of it! My requests are open!!

Warning: Smut, yandere

You get your coffee from the same place every morning. You’ve been enjoying a morning brew here for a couple months, you wake up, get dressed and bring a stack of papers to grade while you sip happily on your dark roast. You shifted uncomfortably in your chair, the past two day’s someone had already payed for your order by the time you got to the little shop.

She’d been staring at you with those bright eyes all morning. The beautiful blonde stirred sugar into her tea, she chewed on her lip while slowly circling the silver spoon around the rim of her cup, a little clink ringing out with every turn. You wanted to say something to her, but she couldn’t possibly have been the one to purchase your coffee... why would such a gorgeous woman want your attention?

You looked over at her again out of the corner of your eyes, she licked her lips after taking a short sip of her drink. She pointed a finger at you and curled it, motioning you to come to her table. You swallow hard and point to your chest. “Me?” You mouth silently to her.

A big smile spread over her lips, her Cheshire like grin sent your heart beating heavily, trying to jump out of your chest. You stood up and straightened out your pencil skirt, she looked up and down your body with obvious desire.

“Hi there cutie. Why don’t you come and sit with me?” She had a thick sweater on that’s long sleeves covered the better portion of her hands. Her long and dainty finger tips cupped the sides of her face as she leaned on her elbows. “Oh, uhm. Sure, let me grab my things.” You tried to straighten out the mess you had left on your table quickly, stuffing your students lab reports into your leather brief case.

You sat down in front of her and gave her a soft smile. “Did you need something miss?” You asked sweetly.

“I’ve been hoping to get your attention for a little bit now, but it looks like I needed a more direct approach to get your eyes out of all those papers.” A light blush sprinkled her cheeks and she bat her eyelashes at you. A blush covered your face, a bit more harshly than hers. “What did you need my attention for miss?”

She reached one hand out to touch your hand, her cold palm resting on top of your fingers. “Oh please darling, call me Himiko.” Her thumb rubbed light circles on your sensitive wrist. “I just really want to get to know you better. You’re so cute it’s annoying.”

The two of you talked for a little while, she asked a lot of questions about all the things you like, your family, your work. “But you look too young to be a professor...Especially something so science-y!” Her eyebrow raised when you told her you taught at a regular, non hero related university. “I guess that’s thanks to my quirk. I have heightened intelligence.” You looked down embarrassed, talking about your quirk made you insecure. Some people thought it was cheating that you moved through your education so quickly because of your quirk, it’s not your fault. “Wow you’d have to be super smart to teach what was it? Rocket science?” You think it’s cute how interested she is in your work and smile. “I teach astrophysics to graduates. It’s boring to most people, kids want to grow up and be hero’s, not scientists.”

Himiko rolled her eyes and made a gagging sound. “Well fuck that, people like you are the real hero’s. Educators are so underappreciated.” She dripped her words with honey, never taking her eyes off your face. “Did you go to school Himiko? I feel like we’re only talking about me.” You said with a small, nervous giggle. Himiko just shook her head with a grin. “I like talking about you! You’re so interesting Y/N.”

A brief intrusive thought interrupted your happiness. Who really is this woman? Why does she want to know so much about me? Himiko must have sensed your sudden hesitation. “It’s a bit embarrassing, but I didn’t ever finish school. I dropped out when I was really young.” She said with a light pout. “You’re so smart and cool, you don’t think any less of me now do you?” You squeezed her hand. “Of course not, are you doing any kind of work now?” Something flashed behind her eyes for a moment, a spark of something. Not many people can notice sudden bodily changes in other people, but you pick up on things other people might not. “I do odd jobs here and there. I have a friend who runs his own... business and I help him with that.” She bobbed her head up and down, satisfied with that answer.

“Himiko I’m going to ask you this in the most polite way I can...” You thought about a possible solution to why this gorgeous woman was vying for your attention so hard. She looked slightly nervous for a moment. “Are you a... sex worker...?”

You make quite a bit of money, it wasn’t impossible she had seen that magazine article about you that published recently.

Himiko burst into a fit of giggles, covering her mouth with her long sleeve. “No you goof! I’m just a normal, super cute girl. Most people don’t get what I do, so it’s easier to just say I help out my friends.” Your face burned red, horrified you’d even think to ask something like that. “I’m so sorry, if I have to be honest I’m not sure why you’d like me for anything other than my money.” Himiko stopped laughing and furrowed her brows. “Don’t even say that Y/N. For a smart girl, you’re kind of dumb.” She leaned in all the way across the table, putting her face right in front of yours. “I don’t think you’ve noticed, but you’re insanely hot. I can’t get your pretty little body out of my head.” She practically purred, either unaware of the other occupants in the shop that are starting to stare, or she didn’t care.

You thought about leaning in and planting a kiss on her when your alarm on your watch went off, telling you it was time to head to the university for your first class.

“Can I take you on a date Himiko?” You blurted out while quickly grabbing all of your things. The blonde stood up and happily clapped her hands together. “Really Y/N? A date??” She beamed, clasping her hands together and holding them by her face, leaning her head to the side with big puppy dog eyes. “That would make me the happiest girl in the world!” She gushed. You couldn’t help but display a big goofy grin on your face. “Okay then... here.” You handed her your phone and Himiko put her phone number in it. “Send me your address and I can pick you up!”

Himiko was quick on her feet, she never faltered with her excuses. You didn’t think twice when she suggested you met her downtown so that you two could have a nice walk together. You thought it was sweet, that she was an angel. How did you ever get so lucky? You walked to the campus in a daze. Her face was burned in the back of your eyelids. You daydreamed about the restaurant you wanted to treat her too. There’s that really fancy Italian place with the expensive wine... Oh no how about that steak house where they always bring something to the table? Your train of thought went along uninterrupted, you felt like you were floating just above the pavement.

Himiko snickered to herself. “This is just too easy...” She muttered under her breath. You never even turned to see if anyone was following you, you never did. She’d been watching you for months, even going as far as to pick through your things in your office while you were teaching. She’d been tempted to leave you little love notes, but no. She had to be careful, you’re just so shy. She would never want you to mistake her for some kind of stalker. She loved sitting in your classroom watching you teach. It was such a turn on to see that pretty face talk about all of that nerd stuff. Who would she be today? That one bitch always talked to you too long. Visiting your office hours and interrupting your lunch. Was she trying to move in on her darling? Himiko wasn’t going to let that ruin her mood. It’s not your fault you’re so perfect. “That bitch is going to get it...” She pictured your students contorted face in her head. The way she would scream as Himiko’s knife cut through her neck. She might even cut her enough that stupid girl would die, it’s not like anyone would miss her pathetic ass. Himiko watched you fumble to put your reading glasses on, you dropped the frames and they hit the side walk. “Is it me that has you so distracted baby? You silly girl...” She purred under her breath. You bent down to pick them up, a man walking by did a double take, leering at your ass as you bent down. Himiko rolled her eyes. Men can be so disgusting, they always disappoint her. Not you though, no your the first girl you ever made her feel this way. You care about her, you had too. Nobody could see through her disguises, but the way you looked her in the way while you spoke, it was like you knew you were looking into the eyes of your soul mate.

That pig walked down the street, Himiko stuck her foot out and tripped him. He tumbled forward and looked around to see who had the nerve to bother him with a scowel.

No one was around.

You pulled up the wrong slide show for your lecture. You started teaching the wrong chapter before one of your more participating students chimed in. You apologized and the right thing loaded on the board. “Doctor Y/L/N, you seem distracted. Something on your mind?” You liked all of your students. This girl was always chatty, and asked plenty of questions. However, this sentence sort of struck a cord with you. It seemed a bit out of character, she was always very shy and stuttered often, only daring to ever talk about the topic. You were too happy to think too much about it. “Oh I just had a really pleasant morning is all. Let’s get back to chapter 49.”

You rushed home and showered, blow drying your hair and trying to apply some makeup that didn’t make it look like you were trying too hard, where the hell is that lip gloss that’s clear? Your thoughts felt frantic. A message popped up on your phone letting you know that the car was here to pick you up and take you downtown. You shot yourself another glance in the mirror and took a deep breath. Your outfit was pretty cute, you sported your favorite outfit. A plain gray pencil skirt and a white blouse. You spiced things up with a platform heel, you grabbed your jacket and purse and rushed out the door.

“Wow Y/N that’s a fancy car!” Himiko stole your breath. You hardly made it out of the car before she hooked onto your arm, giving your upper arm a side squeeze. She was wearing a tight, strapless blood red dress with matching lipstick and heels. She let her long blonde hair down and had drawn on eyeliner that matched her cat like iris’. “Himiko you look beautiful.” You managed to stammer out. She bat her long lashes at you and tipped her head up to kiss your cheek. She left just a light peck on you, you blushed and touched your face. “So where are you taking me, sugar?” She looked around the plaza. Bright lights bounced off of her eyes as she drank up the sights, busy people rushing to the different shops and restaurants.

It’s been awhile sense Himiko has been able to walk freely in public. She usually stuck to the shadows, wearing another persons face constantly has helped her hide over the years. The last thing she would need is for someone to interrupt phase one of her master plan.

“I have the worst time making decisions... there’s a pretty popular place called Aragawa... and a restaurant that serves French food too.” You wanted to impress her, but you didn’t want to look like a show off. “Those places sound expensive Y/N! Are you sure?” She looked at you with complete adoration. You wondered how no one has ever treated her to something like this before. “Of course I’m sure... there’s something about you I can’t put my finger on, but I know your special Himiko.”

If only you knew.

You two settled on a pricey Italian restaurant, Himiko had never tried pasta like this before. The waiter brought red wine to the table, Himiko swirled her glass around and looked at you with a haze over her eyes. She licked her teeth and shifted on her side of the leather booth. “Is the wine okay Miko?” You had thought of calling each other cutsie names, she lovingly has called you darling all night. Things were moving quickly between you two, somehow everything you said she agreed with and loved too. You had the same favorite movie and T.V. shows, she listened to some of your obscure music choices and even understood some of your more nerdy references. It was like you two were made for each other.

“Hold out your hand under the table, darling.” She purred through ruby lips. “Uh-uh okay. You’re so silly-”

Your face burned bright red. She handed you a small amount of cloth. You looked at your hands, it was her black lacy thong. Thin enough you wouldn’t even call this suitable underwear... what would this even cover?

“How fast can that driver of yours come pick us up?” She hooked your ankle with her own foot and uncrossed your legs. “Slip yours off. I want them.” She gently commanded you. “My car can get here through traffic in probably a half an hour...” You started to text your driver when she snatched your phone out of your hand. “That’s too long. Let’s just walk...” She bit her bottom lip and ran her nails along your arm. “Waiter! I’ll be taking the check now...” The waiter nodded politely and headed for your table. “Your panties darling...” She said a bit more stern, but with a wicked smile on her face. You looked at the wait staff around and the small intimate gathering of people. You nervously shimmied out of your own pair, pulling it off of your ankles and handing it to Himiko. She studied them for a second a bit too close to the the lip of the table where people could see. She opened her small clutch and folded them up, stuffing them inside with no intention of ever giving them back.

The two of you walked hand in hand down the street. You told a joke and Himiko laughed so hard she had to stop walking for a minute.

“Well well well...” A dark voice called from behind. You jumped, knocked out of your trance. Himiko’s body went rigid. You turned to see who had called out to the two of you. “What are you ladies walking around so late for?” The man was covered in scars. It seemed like the majority of his body was burned, deep purple scars sat under his eyes and covered half of face and all of his neck. He leaned against the wall.

Is this a villain? You wanted to move and protect Himiko, but you stood frozen on the sidewalk. “Leave us alone.” Himiko said with a sickeningly sweet tone. “Can’t you see we’re busy here?” She almost sang.

“I can see a lot of things. Pretty interesting what I’m looking at actually.” He smirked, Himiko still stood with her back to him. Her shoulders were tense and she clenched both her hands into her fist.

Was he following me? The league was working the next city over, why would he follow me after I explicitly said I was busy? Himiko seethed. He’s going to mess everything up!

“H-himiko we should j-ust go.” You couldn’t help but cower a bit. His eyes were startling, they pierced through you. He pushed himself off of the wall and approached you two. He kept his shoulders slack and opened his arms wide. “Go? Aw come on don’t go, you two are pretty cute. Why don’t we all go somewhere and have a chat...” He stuck out his hand to touch you, it was like time was moving slowly, yet everything happened within just a few seconds. Himiko spun her heel, revealing that she had been carrying a knife that was strapped to her thigh. She grabbed the mans arm and threw him against the wall, she pressed her knife to his neck and smiled. “I said that we’re not interested. Get. Lost.”

The man just sighed and shrugged. “Alright fine. Message received.” Himiko dropped her fighting stance and the man started to turn on his heel. “Would be a shame if anyone else found out about this. Not my problem though.”

You had tears welled in your eyes. Himiko put the knife back into it’s holster and cradled your face. “Oh baby, baby girl don’t cry I’m so sorry!” She wiped a stray tear away from your face.

“I didn’t mean to-” Himiko was terrified she had blown this. She had one shot to get this perfect and her line of work always had a way to worm itself into her personal business. Before she could even muster up a type of explanation, you interrupted. “Himiko do you think that man is going to try and twist this date around in the tabloids as something wrong? He said he was going to tell others...” You had a well respected position, you’ve been published multiple times. You didn’t think you were a celebrity by any means, but you didn’t want anything to happen to your job if someone were to spread a rumor about you.

Himiko almost sighed in relief.  She thought for sure you would put together that she knew the “stranger” but you hadn’t. It was like you were the smartest person in the world, except when it came to her.

Even plugging in her first name “Himiko” to google her criminal profile might pop up. “Everything will be perfectly fine honey. Let’s go back to your place and watch a movie.”

Himiko gasped when you opened the door to your apartment. It was immaculately clean, but that wasn’t what impressed her. It was high rise, the window was huge and slid open to a gorgeous balcony. It was a sizeable space with luxury furniture.

She stepped inside and twirled around. “Wow darling, it’s beautiful.” She instantly started playing with your things, picking up the magazines on your coffee table. Touching your nick nacks and studying them. Himiko was ecstatic, she’d been in here so many times while you slept. She hadn’t been able to go through a lot of your things, she was worried you would get mad that she messed up your organization. Now that you two are so much closer, she can finally take a look at all of the things that keep you busy when you aren’t studying or teaching. “It’s nothing special, I’m sure your place is nice too Miko.” She was touching a daisy you had in a modern looking vase, her look got a little distant for a moment. “Are you alright?” You stepped towards her and she flashed you a smile. “Of course! I have to travel for work a lot so I’m between places.” She looked around at the nice space around her. “I guess I’m just looking for some stability you know? It was nice when I was younger but I think I’m ready to settle down, you know?” You nodded your head and kissed her forehead. “That’s really mature. Life goes by so fast doesn’t it? My job has aged me so much.” She snuggled into your chest. “I think I’ve even seen a grey hair on my head...” Himiko giggled.

You showed Himiko around your place room by room. She lingered in your bedroom for a minute, she was resisting the urge to tear into your dressers and go through all of your clothes. She stood politely by your side, and when you opened the master bathroom she followed a few steps behind.

“It looks like a spa in here!” She was astonished. Your few makeup products were scattered on a large sink counter. You had a stand alone shower and a jacuzzi bathtub. She turned around and grabbed the collar of your blouse. “I have a naughty idea...” You could still smell the wine on her breath. She placed a sweet kiss on you and you couldn’t help but close your eyes and enjoy it for a moment. She pulled away, nibbling on your lip. “We should take a bath together.”

Both of you laid back while the jets massaged your bodies. Himiko playfully dumped almost the whole bottle of bubble bath into the water. You had your eyes closed, looking relaxed but truthfully you’ve never been more nervous. Himiko squealed when she saw you undress, gushing about how cute you are.

Her hand touched your thigh and your eyes shot open. She was staring at you intently. She pushed herself closer to you, her breasts pressed against your own. Himiko kissed your neck and you whimpered. “Oh cutie I want to make you purr so bad~” She nipped at your jaw and pressed her fingers around your hardened nipple.

The water sloshed around the rim of the tub, Himiko had you pressed against the porcelain wall, she held your leg in the hook of her arm. She rubbed herself against your throbbing pussy. She relentlessly caused friction on your swollen clit, you held onto the edge of the jacuzzi for stability. Himiko laughed between her own moans. “Your face is so cute. Cum for me baby please- I want to see the face you make when you cum.” She gasped and moaned wildly, she almost screamed, her noises becoming manic. You could hardly move, you hadn’t felt this type of stimulation before, it was almost too much. “I- I’m going to cum M-miko I can’t take it!” She moved her hips frantically and you spilled over the edge. You called her name out and she slowed down a bit, both of you were slightly out of breath. Himiko let your leg go and kissed you softly.

Himiko and you watched a horror movie in your bed. You snuggled under the blankets, Himiko picked the movie. It was sort of gory, you didn’t really like this sort of thing but for some reason it was one of Himiko’s favorites.

It’d been about two months. At this point, you two were together every day now. You’d meet for coffee before you went to work, and she’d come by your apartment at night for dinner. On the weekends the two of you took little day trips, Himiko hadn’t seen a lot of the major tourist places in your area which surprised you. She visited you at work a few times, she added an intense spice to your life. She practically threw you into your office during your lunch hour and ravaged you, clawing at you desperately. Every time the two of you were intimate she acted like you would slip through her fingers, she was wild and a delicious lover.

Himiko couldn’t be happier with how things were turning out. This was following her plan almost exactly, but she was running out of time. Dabi had done her a kindness by not mentioning you to anyone else. But it was a matter of time before she couldn’t make any excuses anymore. Other members were catching on that she was disappearing for long periods of time, that her loyalties were fading.

It was time for phase two of her plan.

“Himiko we have to talk about something serious.” You were shaking you were so nervous. Things were getting serious between you too, you didn’t want this to end. “What’s wrong my darling?” Himiko knew exactly what you were about to say, she calculated this down to the exact sentence. She knew you so well she knew you would be terrified to bring this up. “I got a really crazy job offer outside of the country.” Himiko had been practicing in the mirror what face she would make. A face of concern, but not too sad. “I can’t take it, it’s a ton of money and it’s the job of a lifetime... but...”

Come on just say it baby... Himiko was great at masking her excitement.

“I can’t take it. I love you, I know it’s kind of early but I love you so much. I can’t imagine leaving you here.”

Jackpot.

She gave you a moment to finish your piece, but she didn’t hesitate to gush about how much she loves you too.

“Y/N... I think you should take it.” She took your hand and smiled.

“Wh-what? I can’t leave you.” You thought for a moment. “Himiko I think that maybe, we should go. Together.”

Finally, her ticket out. A life on the run, a life underground was fun while it lasted but finally. She could have a family, a new life across the ocean. Nobody would know her name, she would be your trophy wife. One you could parade proudly at high profile events. More importantly, more than anything.

You would be all hers, she could give you all of her time.

You’d buy first class tickets under your name, she had already a fake passport. It was easy to black mail that stupid scientist in Switzerland, he lost his job and she sent in your application at the perfect time. If they hadn’t offered you the job she’d just keep going down the line, taking out anyone who stood in your way.

The minute she first saw you, she knew you two were meant to be together at all costs. Nothing mattered, but you two.

You two packed up everything in your apartment that week. You and Himiko bought matching rings, and matching cozy clothes to wear on the plane. Himiko had a head ache that day, she wore sunglasses on the plane and an oversized beanie. Poor thing wasn’t feeling great and stayed quiet for the long trip. She laid on your shoulder and you two cuddled the entire ride.

“I’m so happy Y/N, this is everything I could have ever dreamed of.”

[rwby-redux]

Deconstruction

Worldbuilding: Genetics

If any of my Deconstruction posts were going to turn heads, I had a hunch it would be this one. You’ll probably find this topic incongruous with the others simply because—unlike Aura, Semblances, Dust, and Grimm—genetics isn’t one of RWBY’s unique gimmicks. If I’m being entirely honest, part of why this post exists is because I still had some miscellaneous talking points to address, but lacked a proper heading to file them under. Call it what it is: a dumping ground for wayward thoughts.

But there’s a bit more to it than just that. The reason why I want to talk about this is because, much like the other mechanical aspects, genetics does have a bearing on RWBY’s worldbuilding, and the stories that were subsequently built around it. It has an undeniable impact on the sociopolitical human-Faunus schism that set the stage for Remnant’s immediate past, and the present-day terrorist acts committed by the White Fang. Genetics is also an extension of RWBY’s adherence to color theory, reflected in the hair and eye color choices of the ensemble cast.

Before we can finally conclude Part 1 of the Worldbuilding posts, we need to discuss this topic from both a narrative and a production standpoint. Genetics is firmly rooted in the development and design choices of the writers—choices which, as you’ll quickly see, had long-lasting consequences for the show.

Today we’re going to be dividing this topic into two sections. Since I’m sure it’s already on your mind, let’s get the obvious one out of the way first:

The Genetics of the Faunus

The Faunus are going to have an entire post dedicated just to them, but it’s impossible to talk about genetics without at least a passing mention of one of Remnant’s two main species.

Subspecies.

Races?

Yeah. You can quickly see where this is going.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me provide some context. Just like the conception of the Maidens, the Faunus can trace their developmental history to a rather impulsive design choice:

“Monty really wanted a character with cat ears,” admits Miles Luna. Shawcross expands on how Blake Belladonna’s look resulted in a cornerstone of the show’s lore. “So if Blake has cat ears, does that mean anyone can have cat ears? Could they have other animal traits? It’d be cool to see someone with scales or a fox tail…” [1]

Let me clarify by saying that there’s nothing wrong with basing a decision on aesthetics (in principle, anyway). And RWBY isn’t the only franchise guilty of doing this. It only takes a few seconds of consulting TV Tropes to see that zoomorphism is extremely pervasive. And while I have a tendency to complain a lot on this blog, I’m not such a kvetch that I’ll deny that animal-people with lion tails and ram horns look fucking sweet.

The problem I have with Faunus (from a genetic standpoint) is the way they’re inconsistently described in relation to humans. While Qrow unambiguously refers to them as a separate species, [2] we have Faunus characters that contradict him by describing themselves as a race. [3] This leads to the inevitable issue of whose account do we trust? On one hand, the information provided to us by Qrow is through World of Remnant, a spin-off series whose entire purpose is to clarify information and teach the audience about core worldbuilding concepts. On the other hand, what we’re told about the Faunus being a race comes directly from Ghira Belladonna. In this context, who would you expect to be the better authority on Faunus—a human, or a Faunus?

Even if we set aside the complicated implications of an outgroup member talking over a minority, we’re still left with the issue of well, which is it? Are they a race or a species? And why does it even matter?

Before we can answer any of those questions, let’s quickly define both terms:

A species is a taxonomic rank used for classifying groups of organisms together on the basis of being able to participate in genetic interchange via sexual reproduction, to produce fertile offspring.

A race (in biology) is an informal/unrecognized taxonomic rank below subspecies, defined as unique subgroups with either geographic, physiological, or genetic distinctions from other subgroups within their species. In anthropology, however, a race is typically regarded as a social construct. In this case, it refers to an identity held by members of a population that share physical or social qualities that are seen as categorically distinct.

The answer, if we’re being objective, is probably something along the lines of “RWBY’s writers thought that the two terms were interchangeable, or they didn’t think the distinction mattered enough to do the research and settle on a definition.” Unless someone specifically reached out to a Rooster Teeth employee and asked, we’ll never truly know. Speculation will only get us so far, and where this blog is concerned, we need a definitive answer—or at the very least, we need to talk about why the distinction matters to us.

So, are Faunus their own race? Meaning, are they a self-identifying ethnic group with a common language, ancestry, history, culture, nation, or social treatment within their residing area?

Common language: That’s a definite no. RWBY still hasn’t managed to explain how everyone across the four kingdoms speaks the same language, let alone develop any conlangs.

Ancestry: We actually don’t have a canon answer for this. The show has yet to tell us where the Faunus came from, so we can’t make any assumptions about how related they are to one another.

History: Technically, yes. But the series has a gross tendency to homogenize the experience of Faunus across Remnant, so the history of Faunus in Vale is virtually identical to that of Mistral. This trend results in storytelling discrepancies, like the Faunus in culturally-unprejudiced Vacuo [4] being equally threatened by and involved with the Faunus Rights Revolution, when there shouldn’t have been an in-world basis for this scenario.

Culture: Don’t make me laugh. RWBY couldn’t even be bothered to give any of its four kingdoms distinct cultures. Apart from a few scenes in Menagerie where you see a bunch of background characters hanging out in the Shallow Sea district of Kuo Kuana, there really isn’t anything culturally unique to the Faunus.

Nation: I guess? I personally wouldn’t consider Menagerie a nation, simply because it’s not one the Faunus originated from, but were rather given in the aftermath of the Great War. As far as we know, Faunus have always been just as widespread across Remnant as humans.

Social treatment: We’re told that social treatment for the Faunus as a whole is shitty, but that the degree of shittiness varies from place to place. Forgive me if I don’t buy that. Not after we’ve seen students in Vale physically harass a Faunus, [5] shops in Mistral refuse service to Faunus, [6] and companies in Atlas extract labor from Faunus. [7] If social treatment is contingent on shared experiences, then why are we told that these experiences change depending on the kingdom? And if the kingdoms vary in levels of racial acceptance, then why are we repeatedly shown the exact opposite?

Based on the aforementioned criteria, I’m inclined to say that Faunus don’t fit the definition of race.

So, are the Faunus a separate species from humans?

“History gets a little fuzzy past a certain point, but we do know that their kind and ours are completely compatible, from a—a biological standpoint.” | Source: World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 6: “Faunus.”

That’s a resounding no.

As much as the taxonomist in me wants to talk about things like the multiple competing species concepts, or the fact that plants frequently violate the definition of species by producing fertile hybrids through polyploidy (chromosomal doubling), I have to restrain myself. For simplicity’s sake, we’re accepting that Faunus and humans are members of the same species on the basis that they’re not reproductively isolated.

The reason why genetics matters in regards to the race-species discourse is because we have yet to learn what the Faunus truly are. If we ignore the fact that they exist because Monty Oum wanted to stick cat ears on a girl, then we have to figure out what their existence means to Remnant’s past: Did the Brother Gods intervene in the early evolution of Humanity v2.0, by creating a subset of people with animal traits that would sow discord, for the sole purpose of giving Ozma another obstacle to overcome? Did Salem (who watched Humanity v2.0 evolve) try to influence their evolution, and somehow managed to bestow animalistic traits upon select groups of early hominids? Is Dust like a magically-radioactive fossil fuel that by pure chance mutated early people through exposure, resulting in their animalistic traits? Are the Faunus’ animal traits completely irrelevant to the plot, and are only there for the sake of style?

That’s why the Faunus’ genetic background matters—because as the story progresses, it’s going to inform what questions the audience asks.

There’s a good chance that all of this will end up being nitpicky conjecture, and there won’t be any storytelling payoff. But I think it’s still important to address, if for no other reason than to illustrate why pre-production worldbuilding is essential for telling a coherent story. But I digress.

Genetics, and Its Relationship with Color Theory

It goes without saying that RWBY is defined by color. It’s reflected in nearly every facet of the franchise—team names, wardrobe, Dust color, Aura color, emblems, characters’ names, even the show’s title—and it’s just as important from a worldbuilding standpoint as it is from a narrative one. [8]

Where color theory and genetics cross paths is in the field of character appearance—specifically, hair and eye color. For the moment, let’s set aside eye color as a visual device for foiling and paralleling characters (like Yang Xiao Long’s purple eyes compared to Blake Belladonna’s yellow eyes). Instead, we’re going to talk about these phenotypes from a hereditary perspective.

We’re going to streamline this discussion a bit by focusing on hair for the moment, and picking three colors that would be considered unnatural by our world’s standards. Let’s go with blue, green, and pink. Here’s a handful of characters who have these traits:

Blue hair: Neptune Vasilias, Ciel Soleil, Henry Marigold, May Marigold, Nebula Violette, Sky Lark, Trifa

Green hair: Emerald Sustrai, Marrow Amin, Bartholomew Oobleck, Reese Chloris, Russel Thrush, Sage Ayana

Pink hair: An Ren, May Zedong, Nadir Shiko

Now we’re going to take those lists and swap out the characters’ names for their inferred country of origin:

Blue hair: Mistral, Atlas, Atlas, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, Menagerie

Green hair: Vale, Atlas, Vale, Mistral, Vale, Mistral

Pink hair: Mistral, Vacuo, Mistral

We can conclude that these hair colors are natural on the basis that we never see characters dying their hair, and that similarly unusual eye colors (red, pink, purple, yellow) would also be natural in Remnant. Unless we’re assuming that everyone is wearing custom contact lenses, then it’s safe to say they’re legit. With the example of hair color, you’ll notice that they’re distributed across a wide number of nationalities, with little hint of consistency among them.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to write this off as “the writers wanted to have cool character designs and not have to think too hard about the worldbuilding implications behind them.” But there is a worldbuilding implication behind them, and it’s one that I’ll be focusing on in later Deconstruction and Amendment posts, so I want to make sure we talk about it now:

RWBY has repeatedly shown us that people are fairly geographically isolated from each other, and travel between kingdoms has always been difficult due to the Grimm. It wasn’t until eighty years ago, when the Great War ended, that a combo of international political cooperation and technological advancements made travel safer and more commonplace. Keep in mind that when populations of humans are geographically isolated from each other over prolonged periods of time, it results in those populations evolving specific anatomical traits.

Let me give you a few real world examples. Epicanthic folds are predominantly found in East Asian, Polynesian, and North Asian ethnic groups. Red hair, while not exclusive to any one nationality, is statistically highest in people of Northwestern European ancestry. Darker complexion is most common in equatorial populations, where high melanin production (especially eumelanin) protects against UVR exposure.

RWBY has every reason under the sun to ascribe certain phenotypes to the ethnicities of each kingdom, and for some reason it just doesn’t. Like, why not make green hair a trait common to people with Sanus ancestry? How about red eyes originating from Anima?

Avatar: The Last Airbender pulled this off by making dark skin, brown hair, and blue/gray eyes features of the Water Tribes. The Fire Nation, to reflect its broader geographic distribution, has a much wider range of phenotypes, with both light and dark skin tones and black or brown hair. However, it still retained golden, amber, and bronze eyes as a distinguishing characteristic of people descended from this ancestry. Frankly, I love that the show took the time to establish those traits among its ethnic groups. Not only was it a great way to visually communicate to the audience the ethnicity of the characters, but those traits took on entirely new meanings in the sequel Avatar: The Legend of Korra. When we meet the brothers Mako and Bolin for the first time and see their respective eye colors—amber and green—we’re immediately able to deduce that they’re the products of successful multiculturalism, something that would’ve seemed impossible seventy years ago when the world was gripped by war. It’s a powerful statement that was conveyed through careful attention to detail and excellent worldbuilding. Given that RWBY also takes place several decades after a global war, the writers had the opportunity to pull off a similar feat. And I don’t think it ever occurred to them once.

At the end of the day, it’s not the worst thing RWBY could’ve done. I think I’m just disappointed by the missed opportunities. The show already has so little going for it when it comes to shaping the identities of its four main kingdoms, so with color being such a vital motif for the show, this feels like it should have been a natural progression of those ideas.

On a more positive note, we’ve finally reached the end of Worldbuilding (Part I) - Mechanical Aspects! Next time, we’ll get to introduce the second section of worldbuilding topics: history.

-

[1] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 42.

[2] World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 6: “Faunus.”

[3] Volume 5, Episode 3: “Unforeseen Complications.” Ghira Belladonna: “[Adam’s] actions not only tarnished the reputation of an organization originally created to bring peace and equality to all, but to our entire race.”

[4] World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 4: “Vacuo.”

[5] Volume 1, Episode 11: “Jaunedice - Part 1.”

[6] Volume 5, Episode 6: “Known by Its Song.”

[7] Volume 7, Episode 1: “The Greatest Kingdom.”

[8] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 44.