#but it is fine for now. it isn't like they are BAD character designs it's just that i could do better

[jackgoodfellow]

I made a new suitor for my horror-comedy dating manga concept I Escaped My Genre!

At this community cooking college, majoring in dinner theatre of course means that you must master the art of theatre AS WELL AS the art of cabaret-appropriate foods that align with the themes of whatever show you are doing!

But the college also has a vibrant student theatre scene: Phoenix is actually directing the Drama Club's production of Romeo & Juliet this spring as their end-of-year final! I wonder if Samo will try out! (And I wonder if Phoenix will end up looking romantically into Samo's eyes and finding that in that moment, all zyr carefully-curated bravado drops away, and suddenly, ze is no longer acting; ze is simply feeling, and it changes everything.)

Also, since I put so much work into this character design, Phoenix will absolutely be making an appearance in my graphic novel! (You can find my published scripts and concept art here, if you wanna make my day!)

[he-calls-me-kitten]

Dirty Dozen (ft. +2)

GN! MC x Pervert! OM Characters

(Cause y'all seemed to love the first one omg. Also TW: I made everyone wayy more sleazy and nasty than before so read at your own risk. MInors DNI)

Pervert! Mammon who likes to ask you for something specifically when your hands are full. "MC, lend me a few Grimm could ya?" He asks when you're in the middle of cooking.

"My hands are covered in cake batter, just take some from my back pocket."

"Are you sure it's there? Let me check both pockets." He isn't so much searching for coins as much as he's feeling and practically groping your ass. Seriously you start to wonder how it's taking him 20 minutes to find something that's right there.

Pervert! Solomon who keeps his room colder than usual when you come over for magic lessons.

"Is it too cold for you MC? I apologise, I kept it this way because some of the potions have bad reactions to heat but if you'd like-"

"I'm absolutely fine, Solomon. You worry about me too much." You smile at him reassuringly, not noticing how his eyes are so eagerly trained at your nipples perking up through your thin t-shirt.

Boner Bonus points if you allow him to hug you for some warmth. His fingers will definitely brush against your chest more than once.

Pervert! Beel who seems to make a mess whenever he's trying to help you in the kitchen. "I'm so sorry, MC. I didn't mean to spill it on your hands!"

"It's okay Beel, it's just some cream and syrup. I can just wash it off right away."

"But it's such a waste. Please allow me." He starts to thoroughly lick your fingers and you shake your head and let him knowing his fixations on food.

But he can't help it - you taste so good. He secretly wonders what you might taste like down there, drooling at the thought.

Pervert! Levi who has taken to sitting on pillows Japanese style while gaming and offers you the same. Sure enough you don't even suspect an ulterior motive.

"Did you get inspired by some human world anime again? Careful though - your legs and butt will start to cramp after a while."

"MC you're too gracious! Caring so much for an otaku like me!"

After you leave, he promptly takes the pillow you were sitting on and puts it in his bathtub. He's going to sleep on it ofc. Your scent on it helps him jerk off better.

Pervert! Belphie who now asks you to rub his belly till he falls asleep. "What's so funny?" He asks as you giggle at his request.

"Since when do you need help falling asleep?"

"I care about the quality of my sleep. And I sleep better this way."

Fortunately you believe him and don't suspect that it's because it's the closest he can get you to fondling his dick. He has such a difficult time holding in his moans and hard ons, every time your hands go even a bit lower than usual.

Pervert! Barbatos who got into sewing clothes as a hobby and specifically likes making them for you now. But you never understand why he needs to take same measurements over and over again.

"Oh? This is a different kind of design, MC. So the measurements will vary from before."

"Always making new things aren't you? You never fail to suprise Barbatos." You smile at him admiring.

The tightening of the tape around your chest and crotch are subtle. He can hardly keep it together when you praise him after all. But he has to if he wants to skim his hands over your body like this again.

Pervert! Diavolo who takes you on such long drives that you always doze off in the front seat, waking up apologetic for missing so much of the journey.

"Hahaha, it's okay, MC. We've been on this same road lots of times. I assure you, you didn't miss anything. And I like that you feel safe to sleep in my presence."

"But still, I'm so sorry, it feels disrespectful..." You apologize, not even knowing how hard he is in his pants right now.

Afterall, he can keep squeezing your beautiful thighs, maybe let his hands wander between them and imagine himself fucking you in the back seat as much as he wants, when you're asleep.

Pervert! Simeon who will have noone except you as his muse for art classes. And the themes just keep getting more erotic each time.

"Are you sure you're okay with this, MC? You don't have to do it if you're not comfortable-"

"Nonsense, Simeon. I feel super comfortable if it's you. You're a true artist after all." You say as you lay on his bed wrapped up only in bedsheets, exposing your entire back and legs.

If only you knew, this angel has thoughts dirtier than most demons. How he's practically fucking you with his eyes. How he's definitely going to jerk off into those bedsheets, moaning your name.

Pervert! Satan who loves teaching you things - standing right behind you, guiding your hands to make latte-art, or trying a new style of painting.

"That's it, nice and slow. Look how much you've improved, MC." He beams at the cute kitty in the coffee cup.

"All thanks to you, Satan. I can't wait to learn more from you." You smile at him earnestly.

He almost feels guilty for tricking you this way, but the way your hands feel in his, and your ass feels against his groin is so addicting. One of these days, he wishes could teach you to be on all fours and take his length in your pretty little mouth.

Pervert! Asmo who loves keeping your eyes on him and noone else. From elaborate performances to petty staring contests, he cannot have enough of your gaze.

"Oh you're turning red in the face, Asmo. Did I manage to flutter the heart of the Avatar of Lust?" You lean forward smiling.

"You're my only weakness after all, MC. It's your fault for making me this way." He almost moans.

You laugh and mock apologize at his antics but you don't know he's been grinding like an animal on his seat, and creamed his pants under your innocent gaze. Your undivided attention just turns him on so much.

Pervert! Lucifer who makes his desires too obvious sometimes. He'll regret it in the morning and take you to dinner to apologize but not until he's already done something dirty.

"Lucifer, it's 2 am. You need to throw away that coffee and sleep." You're practically dragging him to bed.

"Fine. I'll go sleep if you'll stay in my room tonight." He says knowing you'll comply. You care too much for your own good. He's not even going to let you sleep on the couch, no you have to stay wrapped up in his arms.

You might wake upto him groaning your name in his sleep and you might mistake it for a nightmare - not knowing how he's balls deep inside you in his dreams.

Pervert! Thirteen who likes how excited you get over her newest inventions and keeps making more things to call you over.

"And this little baby and can throw pie at people's faces without ever missing. Guaranteed headshot." She smiles proud.

"This would be so useful in a cafeteria food fight and then get banned right after its glory. But I so wanna use it!" You whine.

She loves how much you appreciate her inventions. She is secretly working on a 'pleasure' device scented like her to give you - she hopes you'll like it just as much.

Pervert! Mephisto who is actually taken aback by your duality. You're such a mischievous little imp usually but turn so well-mannered in front of Diavolo's esteemed guests.

"So even you can be prim and proper sometimes? If only you could maintain this on the daily." He huffs.

You laugh and mock-bow in front of him. "Of course, anything for you my dearest lord. Would you like to dance with this proper human while you can?"

He blushes at the sudden offer. Why you little- how dare you tempt him like this. You can't complain about him gripping you somewhere improper or too tight. You deserve this for your attitude.

Pervert! Raphael who is still navigating new feelings of lust he's never felt before he met you. Why his heart skips every time you fall asleep on his shoulder or why he felt a sudden warmth at the pit of his stomach feeling you breath so softly into his neck.

"Thank you for helping me tidy the classroom, MC. I didn't even know where the cleaning supplies were."

"That's alright. It's more fun with two people anyway and wait Raphael there's a bucket over the-" The fresh bucket of water already spilled splashing all over both of you.

You immediately fetched a towel to help him dry up but he couldn't stop staring at you instead. With the uniform sticking to your body like and the water glistening on your exposed skin - why was he so enthralled? Why does he feel a strange pulsing between his legs as you hover over him?

[dinanikto]

Spoilers: Episode 4 of the Walten Files

I think people misunderstood Felix as a character?

I've seen so many fans WISHING that Felix would actually die?? Like, "if I was Jack, I would beat the shit out of Felix" or "Felix, do a flip".

I thought it was shown pretty well that he is not in the right state of mind.

Before reading this, please, gather all of your compassion and sympathy, and listen to what I'm about to say with a clear mind.

Let's speak chronologically:

1) Felix and Jack meet in college and decide to create animatronic-based restaurant. They are teens/young adults in the year 1958-1964 (not truly canon, but close to). According to Martin, they're very close, they love and trust each other.

2) Jack meets Rosemary, they start dating. She creates designs for Bon and other characters.

Felix is, presumably, left alone to himself, as he doesn't have anyone else.

3) They graduate and contact CyberFun Tech.

Felix meets and marries Linda, while Jack and Rosemary have their first kid.

4) october 30th, 1964.

Linda notes Felix's heavy drinking and his poor self image. She's stressed and scared.

Felix is close with the Walten family. Jack and Rose get two more kids, and they all call him uncle!

And yet, he doesn't feel welcome. He uses alcohol as a coping mechanism. "He drinks for the sole purpose of drinking!"

Please note, the year is 1964!! Even nowadays not many people can get help and cure their addictions. Not many people believe that they can, or that they deserve it.

5) december 25th, 1970.

Krankens and Waltens are so close they spend Christmas together. And yet, Felix is burdened with something.

Jack and Rose are lovey dovey, Felix and Linda are not. Waltens have three kids that love their parents deeply, Krankens do not. Jack is happy, and Felix is not.

He's still using alcohol to calm himself down.

He can't control himself anymore.

Linda tries to talk to him, but Felix doesn't respond. Or rather, it's how Linda frames it.

"He feels bad about it, but doesn't try to change."

Honestly? Sounds like he tries to communicate, but his depression isn't letting him do it well. Again, it's 1970, and I don't think anyone has ever truly tried to help him.

He's a man. Why can't he man up? Jack is doing fine, why can't you, Felix?

Or why won't you just tell everyone how you feel? It's not like men have been bottling their emotions for decades now, right?

6) april 1974.

The Bon's Burgers is about to be open in a few weeks.

Felix and Linda have a fight (verbal). He hurts her feelings.

Jack asks Felix to pick up kids from a school party. Felix says no at first, but Jack won't listen.

Eventually, Felix says yes.

7) morning of may 2nd, 1974.

Linda leaves Felix. Only thing left after her is a note.

No talking, no nothing. His wife of 10+ years left him.

Have you ever gone through a breakup? A breakup with your spouse? Were you in an intoxicated state of mind when your wife left you? Were you depressed when seemingly everyone have left you?

Wait, right, he has Waltens. So of course he's gonna get those kids home, that's the only thing left for him! Everyone are asking him of it.

7) evening of may 2nd, 1974.

The car crash happens.

8) may 3rd, 1974.

He's awfully drunk. He's depressed. He got almost killed. He tried to kill himself twice. He has no one to talk about this with.

He has killed two children. Children that he loved.

Jack is going to hate him. And he does! Jack DOES want to kill him, Felix knows it even before speaking to him.

Note that he's not afraid of Rosemary.

9) may 3-6th, 1974.

He hides. He doesn't sleep for three days, and gets hallucinations.

He's scared. But the fact he actually faced Waltens is surprising. He's trying to fix things as best as he can.

10) may 6th, 1974

He lies. What else can he do?

Jack disappears. Susan disappears. Rosemary and Charles disappear. Brian and Ashley disappear.

And THIS is noway near his fault.

Bon's Burgers close. He has no money, several murder cases. Everybody is dead.

_____________________________________________

And after all of this, people don't find Felix even a little bit likeable? But support an agressive, irrational Jack, who was blind to his brother's struggling and pain? Who was the only person to not notice Felix's drinking problem?!? I'm confused.

I feel like Felix almost constantly. The mentally ill guy with no support system, that has no one to talk to. Never the one to get any help, even when having a "family".

And it's not like he thinks that he deserves love and attention. He never goes searching for Linda. He tries to end his life multiple times. He's masking as a nice corporate guy, while suffering internally.

He suffers more than anybody else in the series. And why? What did he do? Did anyone teach him how to deal with these situations?

In conclusion: don't hate people. Never ever wish the worst for them, especially publicly.

And if you associate yourself with Kranken? Try to get help. Again, and again, and again. We live in a scary, but wonderful world. Your life is worth living, you deserve to be happy. Don't give up.

[copypasteking]

Ok, I don't usually post about these kinds of things, but I think I want to briefly talk about the new Overwatch hero because I've barely seen anyone talk about it yet.

So this is Juno, the newest addition to the Overwatch 2 roster, we currently don't know much about her. Now, don't get me wrong, I think the design is appealing enough, pretty cute even - in a vacuum (hehe), it would be fine. However... if you've been following the development of Overwatch at all and seen the other heroes, especially the female characters, you may see why this design is frustrating to me.

Why yes, it's another conventionally attractive young woman in a skin tight suit, despite being some sort of astronaut. Damn, must be some amazing future tech that allows people to wear space suits that look like body paint and yet still provide protection against radiation, vacuum and extreme temperatures. One could argue that this isn't her full suit and she is just wearing this in-game because combat, but come on. I want to add that having a body like this isn't bad, of course, it's more so the fact that the women in this game are rarely allowed different proportions or facial features.

And yea, I wasn't kidding when I said skin tight.. Certainly she also has movement animations with gratuitous hip-swaying to accompany this certified Blizzard-Moment™ of a design. The animations are cool, but this combo left me stunned when I watched the trailer haha.

The sexualisation part isn't the only thing that bothered me, of course. I actually liked this concept art much more - it provided a bit of bulk and visual interest while still retaining that sleekness that they wanted to have in there.

But for some reason, they stripped her of this, leaving it almost a bit under-designed, especially for Overwatch 2 standards.

All of this is just my opinion, and I want to emphasize that I don't fully hate the design. I'm just lamenting what could have been and the fact that, for a new hero, they just made cute Overwatch girl number 12 again. In the end, they want to market to straight gamer boys so eh, it is what it is.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

So With Spider-Punk: Arms Race #2 right around the corner: .......I'm gonna say it

Hobie's New Design is Bad.

Incredibly bad. Like 'leave it in the drafts homie' bad. Fuck it, I'm about to start using words I ain't even know I knew - this shit is EGREGIOUS.

It ain't cute.

It's bad. It's ugly, bro. His hair is serving Coral Reef And I'm tired of pretending it's not.

And it feels SO subtly anti-black.

[A very SHORT essay where I basically say: Oh hell naw]

For one I feel like they're stripping Hobie's black features. Or toning them down a LOT.

Even if we aren't counting the blue eyes they gave in him in Issue One.

Now, over time Hobie's looked many different ways - but throughout his runs his features were 100% supposed to be interpreted as black.

And while his newer comic runs tone that down a bit, it still looks natural.

And his hair has ALWAYS been natural. So much so that it's one of the defining features of movie Hobie as well.

This.... Isn't that. Not only has his natural hair been shaved and died, but it was done into a style made to DIRECTLY ripoff an already popular WHITE character - Gwen Stacy.

And once again, BLUE EYES???

And it's so bizarre!!!! Cause his design hasn't changed, but it REALLY HAS!! LIKE LOOK-

This is supposed to be the same guy, making the same expression. This is not the same fucking guy.

They have the same brow shape and lip shape and nose, but that's not the same fucking guy and I can't articulate why.

Looking at his profile highlights this way more, especially when putting him next to Movie Hobie.

Notice how ALL of Comic!Hobie's features are RAZOR sharp?

Whereas, Movie!Hobie's features, his features are actually fairly soft.

His nose and lips are curved and soft - even his pronounced brow bone is still curved, DESPITE him having a sharper face shape than Comic!Hobie.

That's because Movie Hobie has Black People Features.

Comic Hobie DOESN'T.

I wish I was joking when I say -

I feel like they're genuinely using Johnny Storms model and coloring it brown.

It's just... too bad not too be.

This redesign is atrocious. It's worse than the Attack on Titan manga.

And from what we can tell - this is a HOBIE SPECIFIC problem. Riri Williams - IronHeart - looks FINE.

Not to be dramatic, but this is very much a disappointment. It's honestly impressive how they managed to fumble the design bag SO EASILY.

Marvel Comics only leases Hobie Brown character to Sony. Hobie is still their IP - they can plunder his SONY design as much as they like, so long as it looks reasonably Not Identical.

And still they decided to do a 180, tone down his black features, unnatural his hair, and give him blue eyes.

Marvel. Pack it up. You're chopped.

[inkskinned]

accidents happen. accidents particularly happen around children.

we make scissors designed for children because we know they can hurt themselves on it. we cut their food up smaller so they are less likely to choke. we "babyproof" our houses, make sure our medications are all closed and locked, close all the outlets.

we are told to just carry a gun.

at some point a kid is going to get hurt. everyone with or around kids knows this. often adults (who shouldn't work with kids) are a little-too-okay-with-this. they sneer that in their time, kids just got hurt. which is great for them, but i don't feel it's particularly necessary to willfully allow children to break bones just to "build character". the kids do just fine when i do my job right. i make sure, to the best of my ability, that they don't break the bone. it turns out you can still learn life lessons without trauma. yes, at some point they'll get hurt. that's the nature of it. but i like to try to keep it to a minimum of bloodshed.

about five years ago, in the middle of my summer training, the cop that came in to prepare us for mass shootings actually happened to be the same cop that used to be my DARE officer. what a small world! his hair had gone grey.

before working with children, i had no idea how many things a child can hurt themselves on. i had never thought about the possibility that a child could climb a bookshelf, only for that bookshelf to topple over. everything has to be screwed down. nothing can have particularly sharp corners - what if a child falls backwards onto it? - or be particularly breakable. no plastic bags or choking hazards. watch out for allergens, do your best to clean your super-gross classroom with all-natural (and expensive) fragrance-free products. there's a million other considerations, most of which are difficult on a public school budget. i hate the calculation - either the kids get a new playground 5 years from now OR they get new books now and just risk the tetanus.

the gun is not included in the paycheck.

we do our best, you know? but like, there's the rest of the actual job to do. we're neither trained, paid, or aided in our one-person quest to somehow get jason to stop giving himself splinters. and besides, we have the 98 other things to consider for our 30 other students. one of which is, you know, teaching them.

the children aren't prisoners. we need to walk this incredibly fine line of "chaotic exploration" and "reckless endangerment." to be frank - they're gonna do stupid shit and get hurt while they do the stupid shit. it's my job to at least try to predict the stupid shit, and minimize the risk. and before you judge the kids - i'm going to remind you that adults die every year from shaking vending machines. people just do stupid shit.

did you know that the leading cause of childhood deaths in america is to guns? we're the only country in the world with that statistic. it used to be motor vehicles, which is why there are so many laws about seatbelts, air bags, babyseats, and other protections against accidents. 1 in 5 childhood deaths will be a result of guns. of these deaths, 65% are the result of an intentional attack.

my brother often takes me to archery. i fucking suck at archery, because i have no aim, bad eyesight, and no grip strength. it's fun, though! as a teacher, archery at my school is super banned, because kids could get hurt. no throwing rocks or sticks. no impromptu self-made bows or arrows, oh my god, why do we keep having to have this conversation.

i remember this one conversation with a parent. he was chatting with me during pick-up and mentioned that kinder eggs being banned is so stupid, because, like, if a kid is gonna choke - they kind of "deserved it" for being so stupid. without thinking, my response was, "we don't typically practice darwinism at school, but you can encourage that at home if you wish!" which did result in me getting written up - for "talking back", i guess.

but his idea isn't unusual, is the thing. there's this sense that there's somehow almost an "expendable" child trauma rate. that it weeds out the weak or whatever, which is categorically cruel & dehumanizing. children should be able to mess up and have fun and - again - do stupid shit. they might get hurt, yes. but the job of the adult is to just go help the kid.

i had to quit teaching. i was really, really good at my job - 15 years of practice. but i would wake up at night, coating in sweat. trying to figure out how to bullet-proof my public school classroom with a public school budget.

bad things happen. in every other category: we try to prevent them.

[aleppothemushroom]

I saw IF yesterday

First off, I completely understand why this didn't click with critics. This is a movie that takes the "avoid exposition at all costs" rule to an extreme level. It also has a big twist may or may not rub people the wrong way. Not to mention, it's not an entirely original family film with several of its plot points being done before.

However, I am a sucker for "adults reconnecting with their inner child" stories. Not to mention, I can tell that's what director John Krasinski was trying to invoke here. He wants to make one of those "old-fashioned" family movies from the 90s. If that's not your cup of tea, skip this one.

I do want to point out that the acting here is incredibly top-notch. Even the main child actress gives an incredibly believable performance. Not to mention it's nice to see Ryan Reynolds play a character that isn't so "Ryan Reynolds." Some of the voice cast can feel a bit like getting celebrity names on the poster, but the main ones really become their characters.

Speaking of which, I love the IFs. Every single one of them has a totally unique design. They all look like they come from different movies, which is fine by me since they're supposed to be imaginary friends. I want to hug Blue so bad.

So, in conclusion, I liked it. Yeah, it's basically if Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends the movie if it was directed by Steven Spielberg in the 90s, but I can appreciate it for being a homage to classic family films. If you like stuff like Jumanji or Hook you might like this. Also, looking at the film's box office, I understand why these types of movies aren't really made that often anymore. But I have a feeling 20 years from now, this movie will have an incredibly nostalgic fanbase.

[dotster001]

Twisted Earth

Summary: What if we are the game characters in Twisted Wonderland? Gn!reader x Crowley/Crewel/Vil/Rook/Malleus/Idia

requested by @stygianoir

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

He plays your game instead of actually doing his work, but he thinks no one knows. (everyone knows)

You're his favorite character. He relates to you, (or he thinks he does, but he's a little delusional). If you got transported to your world, he thinks of how he'd treat you to whatever you want, and then you'd stay with him forever, constantly praising his generosity. Ah, bliss.

Despite you being his favorite, his gacha luck is very bad, and he only has two or three of your cards. He has a lot of your best friend, and even more of that one character that the game devs keep alluding you have a history with, but only a couple of yours. It drives him crazy. He's very pouty at the end of an event period.

He wrote one self insert fanfiction. Except it was the kind of self insert where the author gives the reader, a name, a personality, and a physical description. So it was just for him in the end.

He got the game because he saw Crowley playing it in a meeting (again), and he became curious what the big deal was.

You're his favorite because you have the best color scheme and design.  He has an SSR from an event of you, and it made him like you even more because it gives him a major power boost.

He has that event SSR, and all your regular cards. He doesn't mind what he's got, he can just see the rest on the internet.

His latest fashion line was a collaboration with the game devs, specifically for your character. The devs are also thinking about having an event with his outfits. He is patiently awaiting the start date.

He found the game when they reached out to his manager for an endorsement on his magicam feed. He played the game a little, and got your basic SSR in his first pull. 

He plays on his free time (which isn't very often), and mostly focuses on the main story, and your side stories from your cards. Like Crewel, he has an okay collection.

You just live such a different life from him, it's fascinating to see!  He likes to think about how much you could teach each other if you were real. He also just wants to pamper you, especially after that recent angst arc.

He may be lined up as a celebrity voice actor for season two of the game's plot, but we can't discuss that at this time.

He has two best friends now. Gao Gao dragon kun, and you. 

Got the game after Lilia told him "all the cool kids are playing it". He plays it every day, multiple times a day.

He finds your character to be an endearing human, and thinks your adventures are cute. He likes you a lot, because he thinks if you were real you'd be his friend, and maybe something more? Oh! He gets butterflies thinking about it!

He doesn't have very good luck getting your cards, but he's fine with that! He takes good care of the ones he has.

He discovered fanfiction! He is the biggest fanfiction reader on any platform, and is single handedly funding all of his favorite writers. Has made many requests, from various authors, for y/n x lonely fae prince. He cries for angst, and giggles like a kid for fluff. Lilia has read all of his favorites.

He may or may not be working on a spell to make you real.

If the Great Roi du poison endorses a game, you can bet that Rook will be playing it.

That said, he only opens the app once a month. He's too busy and distractible to remember to play more often, but you're definitely his fave character.

He likes to imagine just watching you. Seeing you explore a magical world after coming from a nonmagical one. He finds you to be a fascinating character, and is an avid theorist for all the lore!

He's a fanart drawer. You cannot change my mind. It's mostly of you, but sometimes, if he's feeling generous, he'll draw other people's favorite characters, or draw ships people have for you. But  he has to grit his teeth the entire time he does the latter. He'd rather draw you and him.

He's been playing the game since it came out. He was on the developer's hype train months before the release, and downloaded it the second he could.

He has average luck, but he's also spent real money on the game just so he can have the entire collection of your cards. He's only missing one, because for that event he had worked himself into a gamer coma, and now he'll never forgive himself. He's waiting impatiently for the revival of that draw.

He simps for your character so hard. You have all the traits he's looking for in a significant other. Although, he is one of the realist gamers, who worries that irl you wouldn't like him. But he likes to pretend anyway, hugging his body pillow of you, and imagining you both cuddling every night.

He has bought every bit of merch he could find. He has read every x reader fanfic of you on the internet. He has commissioned several fan artists for pictures of you, him, and Ortho as a happy family. He has paid your voice actor on Magicameo terrible, I know I'm sorry to wish him a happy birthday in your voice. He's unstoppable.

....

Tag list- @shytastemakerthing

[kroovv]

This isn't criticism but does that anon know about the hundreds of identical ocs that exist out there? Off the top of my head right now I can name at least 3-4 dark haired white emo boy ocs who all have band shirts and skinny jeans and a purple hair streak and that's just the ones I remember (and have seen)(not judging its just what I can think of rn lol). It's literally like, fine, if you make a design that looks like someone else's. Nothing is original etc etc, eventually 2 people are going to completely independently make identical ocs it's just how it goes sometimes. Nothing to be anxious about. Most people when they see someone has an oc that looks like theirs aren't going to go "hey! Thief!!" they're going to go "oh neat!" and move along, it's chill it's fine, if making a character that looks like someone else's was bad we'd have run out of art to make by the stone age

👆👆👆

[quirkwizard]

I'm in the middle of writing about the ending of MHA. I wanted to include a bit where I talk about the updates the characters have had to their looks and costumes, but felt that it was too long of a diatribe. Instead, I'm throwing it out here. That may be difficult considering how crowded the final shot is and how there is no official colored version out, but I can do my best.

Mineta: Also barely changed barring the little grape vine on his head and a similar design around his writs and he does his waist. It's more cohesive, I guess, but it's still whatever.

Sato: I honestly thought that Sato only had a pair of gloves as his new costume. Still though, I miss the mask as a part of his look. I would say more, but Sato's design has never been interesting, so I'm not disappointed.

Hagkaure: She has the biggest downgrade. Poor girl lost half of her costume during the time skip. She doesn't even have access to shoes anymore. That or she secretly has the best costume and the lighting was wrong.

Sero: Barely anything changed here. His helmet is sharper, which I could take or leave but do prefer the older one, and he's our first example of characters getting wrist bands. Not the more prominent trend, but one I noticed.

Mina: There isn't any notable changes to her costume, except more wrist bands which you think would just be melted by her acid, but I like the longer hair and horns. Even if the fact that her horns seemingly changed positions and shapes bugs the life out of me.

Kirishima: I don't even think there is anything different about Kirishina's costume. Maybe more pronounced teeth on the mask and making his gears more jagged, but that's about it. At least he has the best hair designs out of the new looks.

Ojiro: I like the changes. He got rid of the silly one sided fur on his neck in favor of a full one. He traded out the white gi for a black one, showing he evolved further in his martial prowess. And again, he has the headpiece like a few of the other characters.

Jiro: She exchanged the leather jacket for the vest. It's a fine trade, giver her more of a proper punk rocker look. Once again though, she is the part of the odd trend of giving characters wrist bands, seemingly loosing her arm speakers.

Koda: The character done the most dirty for design. In both panels he's in, his entire costume is covered by text boxes. At least his lost the mask, both showing him being more open and because it was basically useless now.

Shoji: Odd how one of the few students with their own panels has pretty much nothing changed about their look. And his may be a hot take, but I don't like Shoji with longer hair. I just think it looks really weird on him.

Tsuyu: A very minor change to how her headpiece looks, but I like it. It looks like a cute little summer cap instead of hulking headpiece she had before. The lenses looking like frog eyes were certainly a nice touch and adds to the "cute and friendly" look.

Tokoyami: The only change seems to be that Tokoyami now has a scarf on top of his cloak. I don't really get it. It doesn't look good and doesn't have any particular benefits. Was he really taking tips from Square Enix with wanting more cloaks?

Shinso: Shinso grew out his hair. That's about it. I'm mixed on this. It's not a bad design, but it can make Shinso feel more and more like a clone of Aizawa. So much of his design is already based on Aizawa. Could we maybe do something a bit diffident?

Iida: More of a sidegrade with this one. The extra muffles around his head look silly. I like the more cap shaped helmet, more resembling his brother's costume and looking similar to the cap the Greek god Hermes would wear for neat little visual reference.

Aoyama: I'm conflicted. One the one hand, Aoyama's costume does look a more practical with the removal of things like the cape and sliming down the design, but it loses a lot of the personality. Plus his pants are really dumb. I don't care how they are colored, they just look silly.

Denki: He may just have the most improved costume. His disk launcher has been broken down into a smaller version of it, seemingly with darts instead. The lightning patterns on his pants are nice as well to give his look more flavor. And the headphones work with his design.

Uraraka: I miss the space visor. It really brought the whole them of the costume together. Instead we get another pair of headphones. I do like the little bits of Izuku's costume in the look, such as the metal around her neck and the launchers around her arm looking like his gloves.

Momo: Momo has a proper shirt now. I do wish it has some more design to it. Maybe some white accidents around it reminiscent of her old look to make more like an evolution. Maybe she could have taken some visual ques from Midnight's or Magic's costume to show respect to her former mentors.

Shoto. Not a lot changed here, surprisingly. The most there is Shoto having designs similar to Enji on his chest. Which I do hope has more of the red and white as part of it. It'd be a neat way to represent how Shoto is still Enji's kid who incorporated everything he learned from him, but is more then his own person at this point that can be free of the shadow that Endeavor cast over his life.

Bakugou: I don't much care for this new design. While I like how they intergrade more of his winter costume into his standard look, it loses on a lot of personality that the old costume had. Things like the blast shaped mask and grenade bracers were great additions and it really needs more of that orange and green to break up all the black. The little fuse tassels are nice though.

Izuku: Out of the all the characters here, I find myself the most reserved about Izuku's new look. Because it depends so much on the coloring. The look itself I think is fine. A natural final conclusion to his costume. But the colors have always been an issue for me. I'm just hoping the cape and highlights are plain white as opposed to the clashing orange and yellow of his last look.

[bhpop]

Stylizing Eyeless-Yuu is fun and helps kill time personally.

These are mainly simple outfits of the uniform, Eyeless-Yuu can have a "casual" vibe to them as they themselves are a bit conservative due to being from a different time and not yet accustomed to Twst'd more modern fashion, they have a different sense of style to whatever makes them comfortable or what they were most before they arrived to Twst.

(I personally like to have Eyeless-Yuu be a bit conservative as I myself am not that fond of showing much skin due to personal reasons as I like to put a bit of my own habits and likes into my Oc's/Yuu's)

The second option of clothes is my attempt at trying to keep a Snow White like vibe to them. (Eyeless-Yuu is again based off many things, they themselves aren't based off Snow White and just the Evil Queens dagger, the outfit is just reminiscent of the time period Snow White supposedly took place in which I'll be following, as it's a slight attempt at Germany's 16th century fashion/clothing.)

(I'll be doing more research and make myself more knowledgeable in Germany's clothing/fashion during that time as I admit I'd like to make a historically accurate design of Eyeless-Yuu in that clothing but for now I'm just sketching for fun.)

Though since Snow White seemingly takes place in Germany, and Eyeless-Yuu being connected to the story, Eyeless-Yuu themselves isn't fully German or anything else as I have said I would like you all to have fun and be able to connect with my Yuu's as well, so Eyeless-Yuu can be what YOU'D like (mainly in appearance, but also personality if you'd like !), and if I were to someday confirm or give them a different skin tone, ethnicity, or personality (which isn't to likely at the moment) than that's okay ! I'm perfectly fine with others having different impressions/thoughts of what my Yuu's would look like and act or preference.

(I'm okay with you all ever wanting to imagine my Yuu's differently than what I make them out to be, as long as it's respectful and doesn't harm anyone, nor is used for bad intentions then I'm perfectly fine with different impressions of my Yuu's as long as some credit is given. Also I mainly keep Eyeless-Yuu's backstory pretty vague on the time period I will say now it is during the 16th century as I planned it to be, I just won't be specific of where since I want you all to again be able to have fun with my Yuu's as well with their backstory as long as not much is changed but again I won't mind as at the end of the day we all have different preferences, thoughts and limits to what we can and can't do with creativity at times when it comes to characters.)

[sprintingowl]

How To Have Good Combat In Games Where The Combat Is Bad

I've been running 5e for about 50 sessions now. It does have some good points (like most big rpgs it encourages you to make a detailed character and dig into the fun of developing them,) but it also has bad combat.

Bad combat doesn't always mean a bad game, and what makes combat bad can differ from game to game. A lot of indie systems have bad combat because combat isn't their priority.

This isn't the case with 5e.

I'll go briefly into the reasons:

---It is common in 5e to spend a turn trying to do things, do nothing, and then end your turn

---The winning strategy in 5e, unless the GM specifically prevents it, is to do as much damage as possible as fast as possible

---Unique boss mechanics in 5e (Lair Actions, Legendary Resistances, save-or-suck effects) designed to counter the above issues instead amplify the problem

Other combat focused rpgs generally don't have these problems, but this doesn't mean that 5e (and low-combat indie games) are a lost cause.

You can still have good combat in games where the combat is bad, you just need to follow these principles:

---Ask Players To Make Choices (give them meaningful decisions. these don't have to be devil's bargains or involve rolls. do they rush to free the prisoners or chase after the zealots? do they stand in the center of a telegraphed AoE to achieve their objective now or do they wait until it's safer?)

---Give The Players Good Information (choices feel more random the less information the players have. skeleton ants will march from left to right across the arena, powering up the boss if they touch him. standing on blue tiles will switch the boss to arctic mode. hinting is fine, but you want the players to understand how a fight works so that they can interact with it)

---Crib Shamelessly From Videogames (without human-to-human roleplaying to compensate for the weaknesses in their design, non-ttrpg games that center combat need to make that combat at least interesting---and ideally good. MMOs telegraph attacks and turn fights into dances. SRPGs give rewards for focusing on side objectives. JRPGs start by saying "your attack hits" and give you a lot of different attack types to choose between)

If you're GMing in a system that doesn't have a lot of rules for combat, you can largely forget the third point, but never forget the first two.

You're breaching the house. Are you doing so safe or fast?

You're trying to subdue the werewolf. Do you care if he gets hurt? Are you willing to use things (poisons, a silver whip, tranquilizers) that might be traumatic for him?

Someone swings a club at you. Which bodypart do you use to shield the blow?

Any game can have fun combat if you work at it.

Of course, the question that follows is "should you?"

But I'm 50 sessions deep into a 5e campaign, so I can't answer that.

[faelapis]

alright! we got one whole person interested, so here's my hot take:

the first "how to train your dragon" movie is WAY better than httyd 2.

i know everyone loves like, the cool warrior mom design, the romance and the "epic animation moments" in 2... but can we for a moment be honest and say the whole "hiccup becoming a leader / which dragon is the Good Alpha" plot was dumb as hell? also, the villain sucked?

the original httyd is pretty good about keeping the structural problem grounded in real societal fears. namely, fear of the unknown and of beasts. it makes sense for any ol' village dealing with such a problem. it was intelligently designed around a solid premise.

httyd 2 is like. actually, dragon taming is a big thing, even outside berk. and theres a Scary Foreign Man dragon tamer who is bad and just wants power. it's okay to other him. being a good guy is about being a protector instead of an evil, power-hungry guy... which hiccup never was anyway... so no real growth there. just be good instead of bad. wow. what a theme. very thought-provoking.

people act like httyd 3 being bad came out of nowhere, but httyd 2 was the original sin to me. it totally dropped the societal themes in favor of generic good vs evil fights and "worldbuilding" - despite having no more interesting stories to tell.

it also kind of ruined hiccup for the sake of developing him. like. his whole thing is that he can't fight, so he has to find other ways to contribute to society. he's the anti-macho hero. which ends up being important in convincing the village that dragons can be peaceful. he's empathetic to the other, because he's been othered.

meanwhile in httyd 2, hiccup's like. Cool Warrior Man, who needs to step up and be the hero king when his dad dies. he can fight just fine, because he has a cool dragon to fight with. so he's just like any warrior, but one who fights with weapons instead of brute strength. aka most fictional warriors who arent just "the heavy."

the first movie isn't beyond criticism, obviously. the animation was a little meh compared to httyd 2 - i get why visually its seen as an upgrade. plus, httyd 1 also did the thing of having like a last minute evil dragon to defeat... but that wasn't the point. the POINT was the village and its fears. the POINT was overcoming that.

whenever people list why they love httyd 2 and consider it superior, its like... lists of details. like, look at the upgraded character designs, the cool flying scenes, the affection between hiccup and astrid, or the clever way hiccup's prosthetic leg is designed.

but these are film *details*, not fundamentals.

if you told me the sequel to httyd was going to have a much more generic story, ignore the themes of the original and makes its deliberately lanky and weak protagonist into Handsome Hero Warrior Boy, i'd be like. that sounds kinda bad. but the Animation Details (tm) i guessssss

i know hiccup is still "himself" in 2 to some extent, btw. he's an inventor, he's intelligent, and he initially tries to talk to the villain. but none of that ends up mattering. its arguably looked down on by the movie, which really, really wants him to step up to be the warrior king like his dad. aka a generic Hero Strongman.

i'm not totally against evolving the themes of a work to fit new conflicts, btw. sequels should generally be different from the first movie. that's fine. that's expected.

but while the new conflict in httyd 2 IS born out of the results of the previous movie, that evolution feels very literal, not thematic.

namely, the evolution is "more people have dragons now." it builds the conflict from there. its based on worldbuilding, not on theme.

i don't think a very interesting evolution.

it kinda went from, in httyd 1: "the theme is fear of the unknown. how prejudice/ignorance manifests, educating oneself through compassion, the dangers of worshipping violent masculinity, and the importance of questioning what you're taught by society."

to, in httyd 2: "the theme is dragons. who has them? what they want with them? how can the Good Guy humans protect dragons from the Bad Guys? also, being a Good Leader means being a strong Hero Man who protects his friends," without asking any deeper questions related to the themes of the first movie.

and i'm like. guys. guys.

the theme shouldn't just be "dragons."

the theme of the first movie was NOT just "dragons." the first movie could've been about people being afraid of unicorns. or large birds. or unusually intelligent bears. it was not just about literal dragons, it was about societal fears and trying to overcome our base gut instincts.

i think this is what really plagues httyd 3: it builds on the themes of the second movie, not the first.

httyd 3 asks further questions that only really revolve around the literal relationship between humans and dragons. it does not understand any broader themes of what that relationship represents.

it clearly thinks its very intelligent for asking "what do the dragons themselves want?", but that question is not respected enough to be explored in any thematically coherent way.

the only real weight its given is the argument that there will always be "bad humans" out there, and so, dragons are safer in the wild. which sure is... an argument. but its a very "othering the problem" kind of argument.

it acts like its caring about the agency of dragons, but its not really. dragons were not actually portrayed as "oppressed" in berk society after the first movie, nor lacking agency. they were only at risk of "bad individuals", to which that solution is stupid. the racialized bad guy in httyd 2 didn't steal all his dragons from berk. he caught and subjugated them, mostly from the wild.

all while looking like... this, by the way. i feel like we don't talk about that enough. all the good guys are white nordics, while the only man of color is scary, domineering and cruel. in a series of movies that was once about having empathy for the other.

MAYBE if berk had been really oppressive towards dragons in httyd 2, we could've had a theme. maybe if they treated them like a dangerous commodity that must be tightly controlled despite their nominal acceptance and inclusion, we could've had a thematically tight 3-movie arc about like fear and oppression or whatever.

but that would require, yknow... making the movies be about broad societal problems, instead of just evil individuals. and only the first movie cares about making any real societal critique.

also, the solution in httyd 3 would've still sucked. these movies, in terms of writing, really decrease in maturity from 1, down to 2, to the plummeting depths of 3.

there is no relationship of oppression that is solved by completely segregating society and going our separate ways (httyd 3). just like there is no oppression that is solved just by defeating bad individuals (httyd 2). we have to learn to coexist as equals, to educate ourselves and be compassionate to the other. even if we're afraid.

that's the dream only the first movie kept in its heart.

[fatetainted]

Clearing the air here though I'm genuinely afraid for my own safety to.

I didn't block @whitexdove "for no reason" and if they had an ounce of self awareness they would know they were an abusive, manipulative person who drove me to attempt suicide because "it's been a week now" and I "need to stop being so negative all the time." If I didn't respond to their messages they would ask me if I hated them or tell me I was ignoring them or I was making their paranoia worse so I would update them that I wasn't in a headspace because I was having a breakdown or a meltdown and would look later. Because of this they accused me of making their anxiety worse and I needed to get over it because I was having a very bad week with my life falling apart. I nearly killed myself because of years of manipulative abuse and them telling me to just get over it when I was suicidal.

But they've been suicidal for years and I was meant to comfort them every time and several times now they have threatened to cut me off multiple times over the most minor, insane little things. Instead of actually communicating what was wrong and how they felt they made essentially a break up playlist blaming me entirely and told me to listen to it to see what I did wrong and the only fault they would ever take was that they didn't say anything sooner. But suddenly when everything was fine again they would ask when I would send them a gift I bought them. However they had essentially convinced me we were over to the point where I grieved the friendship and returned the gift because I had no use for it anymore.

They hide behind mental illness and autism as if that excuses them being abusive to me and the things they've said to my friends. They blame my BPD for blocking them when it's their own actions and I'm sick of your annoying pity parties.

For years they have emotionally abused me and for years my therapist has been telling me they're not a good influence on my life and she was correct. I developed a THC and xanax dependency because they caused me so much anxiety with their abuse that I could not speak to them without using both daily (and of course, if I didn't speak to them or tell them why I wasn't going to be, they would tell me how paranoid I was making them, but if I DO tell them then I'm being too negative and ignoring their boundaries)

They were ALWAYS setting unreasonable boundaries and I bent over backwards to accommodate. Blocking them is my boundary. And now they're fishing for attention and sympathy for a situation they caused themselves and to drag me back into their abusive cycle.

In addition to this they would say very shitty things about my other friends that actually treated me well and tried to manipulate them into not only making them a LOT of free art but making the character details and backstory (which is a very similar thing they got mad at another artist for!). Most of my friends didn't even like them and were being cordial because I was their friend.

They are now refusing to remove characters based on my original work and flipping out on my friends for no reason other than jealousy and pettiness. Stop plagarizing me, stop claiming you just added to my lore when you added NOTHING and nearly everything is based on my ideas, including Dreameater who is literally the twin of my oc in my original work. And Caelum who is the brother of another oc of mine in my universe. You said you "won't throw away characters you worked hard on" but you have no lore that isn't mine and barely ever spoke of these characters or developed them. You added nothing to this universe or these characters. Don't you EVER use the design I made for the alien species (that is my lore and not yours!) again. It's no longer yours and you can have back that mime design you gave me, I truly do not care. But if you don't listen to me now then by your own logic I can bring back those ocs I made in your universe and I will use them because I worked "so hard" on them.

Before you pull the "I'm younger than you, how can I be manipulative?" Like you did before when you had a major fall out JUST like this (and yes! You also force shipped with me and guilt tripped just like you did with her!) Anyone of any age can manipulate someone else of any age. Just because you're younger doesn't make you the victim.

Stumpy. You are a toxic person the refuses to seek out ANY form of help and expected me to play therapist for you all the time but God forbid I need someone to listen and you expected me to accept how terribly you treated me forever. That's why I left.

You identify with and project heavily onto a character who has canonically killed her entire school and drugged her crush to get him to like her and you ship them despite the clear sexual assault and how canonically abusive and terrifying her obsession with him is. She's a genocidal white savior and that's fucking terrifying. Even more so terrifying is the way you joked about how you kill your rats and feed the dead rats to raccoons. And the fact you fetishize trans men being pregnant, it's a very clear very gross fetish you cannot let go of and forced on me constantly. The fact you seem to fetishize sexual assault and rape and ship people like that with their victims is vile. The way you talked about sleeping next to me in the same bed was disturbing as I look back on these things and I truly don't trust you to have not done things while I was unconscious. I have that little faith in you because of how you act and fetishize things.

You also told me you were going to whitewash a canon poc character and it's okay because it's you doing it. Genesis is Asian. He isn't white. You drew my Japanese character with yellow skin. You white knight in public but you're shitty to any race that isn't Korean or Native American.

For the record, I don't hate you. But I'm happier without you in my life and I don't feel anything for you anymore because of your own actions that broke our relationship irreparably. You're a toxic, vile person and completely self centered and extremely possessive.

Get help. And stop playing the fucking victim.

Allow me to return the favor. I take accountability for not saying anything sooner even though with your unreasonable boundaries and constantly telling me you're suicidal that I could never bring it up with you or any bad thing you were doing to me because you would probably kill yourself if I upset you.

Now you take accountability for your actions and deal with the consequences of abusing me.

You literally never loved me, you just miss having someone love you so much you didn't have to love them back (which you pretty much told me several times you were incapable of even with your own family).

Good riddance. Thanks for the memories even though they weren't so great. I truly will not be returning to this blog so don't bother trying to contact me here or anywhere else. I'm done.

[cryptidcorners]

Hi! Could I request literally any kind of story with protective Mike (from the FNAF movie). It really doesn't matter in what sort of context it is, I just want some protectiveness. Thank you so much in advance!

~ Mike Schmidt x Reader ~

= Title: Sheild

= Character: Mike Schmidt

= Media: Movie!Five Nights At Freddie's

= Prompt: N/A

= Description: During a coffee break, Mike notices you look more worried than normal. In reality, a former friend of yours is on the same floor as you, and the troubles you faced with them drive you away from Mike. It isn't until they finally approach and you see a different side of him.

= Request: "Hi! Could I request literally any kind of story with protective Mike (from the FNAF movie). It really doesn't matter in what sort of context it is, I just want some protectiveness. Thank you so much in advance!"

= Tags: Fluff ! Small Angst? Mall Setting, Protective Mike, Sweet Talk, Platonic (with Slight Romantic Implications? It's up for you to decide !), Affection, Cute Ending + Reader is !GN

= Warnings: Slight Stalking? (Reader has a Former Friend who approaches them (!GN)), Some Tension + Anxiety/Worry + No Spoilers, Really!

"Is something wrong?" Mike's curious tone had fished you out of your softened paralysis. In a flash, your eyes flicked upwards. You had forgotten where you were due to your gaze being on someone else. "What? Oh, sorry." Your palms sunk around the design of your coffee cup, and with its heat bleeding around your fingertips, you promptly pulled away.

"Sorry," you echoed. "I dozed off."

Even the busy foreground of the mall couldn't hook your mind. You weren't trying to be rude, or ignore Mike on purpose, but you couldn't stop thinking about them. Your lips twisted into a frown.

"Everything okay?" His face softened with concern. Even with that, you still looked around as if you were dazed. That's when he connected the dogs and reluctantly spilled a: "Is somebody bothering you?" Mike's throat strengthened. He didn't even have a set response but his shoulders were already peaking.

"Maybe," you sighed. Your warm hand fell to your cheek. His face fell and you quickly brushed it off. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Mike was getting antsy in his seat. "You can tell me who they are. I'll tell them to go, I mean, I am a guard. It's what I do, you know?" As if to showcase his title, he sat up, expressing his "security" symbol running across his light uniform. That brought you some ease. Sort of.

Then you felt his hand on yours, grasping it protectively. "Please? Tell me who it is." Mike asked, "I don't want you to feel this way." Would it be wrong to tell him? The character orbiting in your mind had not hurt you per say, but you had history. It hurt too much to see them.

You sighed and gave him a reassuring grin. Your eyes were still on Mike, "It's okay, I know I'll be fine with you here."

Mike pulled away shyly. He could defend you easily, but he still had to make sure he knew. Before you could speak after a sorry sip of your coffee, a dreadful buzz crawled out of Mike's radio. Rapid, low-quality chatter. Mike looked like a lost animal, and hesitated to leave. But, he had a duty. "Damnit, I gotta go. I'll see you later?"

"Right, right. Bye," you awkwardly waved. You felt ridiculous. You were so focused on somebody you used to know while having a brief coffee date with your friend. It was hard to ever grab a seat with Michael, and you managed to mess it up.

Your disappointed expression rested on your face with a soft groan. Stupid.

"Hey there." A familiar voice made you feel like a fish out of water. Your attention flew upwards. You shuttered, "Hey?"

Internally, you were panicking. The same person you were shivering over was now looming over your shoulder. They must have waited until Mike had left. Damnit.

You were trying to pull away from their conversation. You both had left on bad terms, and it felt uncomfortable how sweet they were. There was nothing kind about them at all. And you knew it.

"I should really go," you finally declared. You attempted to pull out of your seat, but a sudden force stopped you. They grabbed your arm.

"But it's only been a few minutes, come on."

"I really want to stay, but I need to go." You said nervously. They didn't budge.

Anxiety began to grow, and your mouth was sewed shut. You completely drowned away everything they were saying until you heard a vicious: "Get off!" from Mike.

He gripped their shoulder and pulled them aside. Mike sucked his teeth and swore under his breath, "They want you to leave. So, fuck off."

"I don't think you understand, sir. We know each other." They protested.

Mike's gaze grew into something stormy, "Leave. Or I'm calling the rest of security." As soon as your follower squirmed out of his grip, Mike walked over and shielded you away. They apologized, making up a silly excuse as to why they were holding on to you. Mike didn't buy it and snapped again. You were left alone, drowning in relief.

"Are you okay? Look at me." Mike quickly discarded his hard expression, his eyes were already calm with longing. "They didn't hurt you right? I'll find them, I have good memory, I-" he was holding you. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"it's okay. It's okay. Mike, I'm fine." You answered. "You protected me, and that's all I can ask for."

He was still worried, so he felt the need to pull you aside, talking to another floor just in case. Mike released a heavy exhale, forbidding himself to let go of your hand. "I can give you a ride home,"

"You don't have to."

"I can pay for a ride,"

"Mike."

"You can stay near me too, I don't-"

"Michael." Your tone hardened. Mike's attention veered towards you once again. "You don't need to worry." Your were hands softly wrapped around his, "I'll be okay as long as you're here."

"Okay." Mike's demeanor relaxed at the sight of you. "Just . . . tell me when someone is wrong. I don't want you to get hurt."

"You got it." It felt strangely intimate. You had never been so close with him. You did have a habit of shielding away your hardships, but now, it felt wrong to hold it away. Especially from Mike. "It won't happen ever again."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

[meabh-mcinness]

I really loved your Narnia courting headcanons!, can we get the same but for Kalego and opera?

You sure can! We’ll start with Kalego and then do Opera in a separate post because space~ totally not because I find them harder to write hahaha😅

Main Masterlist

Kalego Courting Human!reader

Much like his older brother, it’ll take a minute for Kalego to even admit he likes you, much less try to court you.

But for a completely different reason.

Whereas Narnia wouldn’t want to because you’re human, Kalego wouldn’t want to because he seems to have some less than desirable thoughts towards “love”.

Likely due to the way he was raised I will strangle whoever came up with the Naberius rules, I swear He seems to be the type to believe love is a distraction rather than something to seek out or even want.

Probably doesn't help that you're related to a boss he hates and a student who constantly causes trouble. Not to mention who your security devil is.

Also, he probably doesn’t know you’re human still, at least in the beginning.

Because let’s be honest, at this point it’s not so much that no one trusts him with the secret so much as you just literally forgot to tell him and have assumed he knew, since both Shichirou and Opera do, and he's always involved in things that happen.

(This leads to a very funny confrontation one day when you kinda just throw out some knowledge about the human world in comparison to the Netherworld.

“You act like you’ve been there.”

“Well of course I have, it’s a bit hard to be born a human down here. Although I wouldn’t be too surprised if there's a small colony or two hidden somewhere. As a race, we're rather adaptable, it's why Iruma and I can attune to different situations so well.”

“…born as a what now?” 😐)

He may have a tiny fit about this at first.

Humans are considered weak and fragile, after all.

But he gets over it.

Once he finally admits to himself he does in fact fancy you, he still won't make a move right away.

Kalego is a surprisingly cautious demon, and he doesn't want to risk the humiliation of rejection, or make either of you uncomfortable.

He will however choose to be around you more, subtly testing the waters with your reactions to different things.

He isn't very good at it, though.

You ask to borrow a pen since yours has run out of ink? He'll hand one over with only a bit of snark, his fingers purposefully brushing against your palm and linger for a moment or two longer than necessary.

You complain, only to him, about running out of your favourite brand of something? The next day, you have an "anonymous" gift of that very thing.

He is only slightly less petty to you. Whereas other 'newbie' teachers will end up with piles of work as tall as them, yours is maybe half that.

Just as I said in Narnia's, I think demons start courtships with gifts!

I think he'll probably give you something along the lines of practicality, but specialized practicality.

Perhaps a leather-bound notebook with a pretty one of a kind design on it. If you're the artist type, he might get you the highest quality brushes with your name ingrained on them.

I still stand by that Kalego is the silent acts of service, gift giving and quiet quality time type.

He's a confirmed rich boy, and so has no issue giving you gifts he thinks are worthy of your station.

Definitely not into PDA. The most you're getting out of him in a public space is an offered elbow and a hand on your back to guide you in crowded areas. If you're lucky, you might get a hand to hold.

I don't know why, but hand holding with him just seems super OOC to me. But him placing a possessive hand on your back seems far more in character.

He's an old school lover by personality and training.

He is better at initiating at home, but not by much.

Will hug you randomly when he needs comfort, though. Buries his face in your neck to inhale your scent until he has nothing but an empty brain and you.

While he's bad at initiating touch, he's perfectly fine with you doing it. Just gotta warn him before you do bigger things.

Want to rest your head on his shoulder while you both grade? AOK, as long as you're in private.

Want to sit in his lap while you both read, sharing a glass of wine, music playing in the background? He's more than OK with that.

He also enjoys having you pet his head. Enjoys the pressure of your fingers against the spots where headaches had been forming, and then are chased away by your skilled ministrations.

Also, I feel like he would enjoy ear messages?

I personally think that much like Narnia's been confirmed to have a seriously good sense of smell, Kalego has seriously good hearing.

He says "Silence!" so much, even when the people around him don't seem that loud, because they actually are that loud to him.

Better than normal senses are both a blessing and a curse. For him, though, it's mostly a curse.

He works in a high school filled with loud teenagers and just as loud co-workers. His ears are probably practically bleeding before the first period has even started.

Which is why he enjoys the ear messages. Helps the pain go away.

When it comes to you, though? He's never been happier to have it.

He loves music, but he's found no better rhythm than your heart beat and has never heard a better vocalist, even when you're sick with a scratchy voice.

You are quite literally his favourite song.

Hope you're brushed up in musical terms, by the way. He will use them a lot.

Despite his love of music, he probably doesn't get much chance to talk about it. So you're going to bear the brunt of everything he wants to say from the "The lyrics are atrocious, but the melody is quite lovely. Though they could stand to add a piano bit here and perhaps a few more strings." to "Have you heard so-and-so's latest album? It's really very good compared to other things coming out lately. It almost seems like this band knows what they're doing. Almost."

Although let's be real, hearing him jabber on about his interests is not going to be a chore.

Speaking of interests, I hope you're OK with cacti because they are everywhere.

He likes to collect them and takes great joy in caring for them.

Will occasionally compare you to one, but he means it in a good way.

Not in a 'you're really prickly' way, but in a 'Much like their beauty, yours is incomparable and unmatched before anyone else's' kind of way.

He'll also do things for you without prompting.

Running low on items needed for a beloved hobby? You'll suddenly find them replaced the next day.

Need to eat, but you don't have the energy to cook? He'll either cook for you or have a spontaneous restaurant date.

He'll always have a fresh steaming cup of tea for you in the morning. Or your whatever your favourite drink is if you don't like tea.

On a side note, I feel bad for you coffee lovers because I'm pretty certain it doesn't exist in the Netherworld, and it doesn't seem like there is a counterpart to it.

Have fun going cold turkey! -Love from a tea enthusiast

He will play music for you!

And if you also play an instrument? Even it's just singing or a light clapping of the hands, he would love to duet with you. Having a partner to play music with is literally something I can see him looking for in a partner.

If you don't play an instrument, but like to dance? He would more than love to see you dancing to his music.

It makes him feel things he didn't know he could feel.

If you can't music or dance, don't worry! He's more than happy to just play for you as you listen.

If you're interested, though, he'll be more than happy to teach you.

Little at home dates teaching you to play the piano or the violin, or any instrument you want to learn, is one of his favourite ways to spend time with you.

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He's quite distressed though when he realizes that by courting you, he's exposing himself more to the Sullivan family. He had to call out for a few days from the headache it gave him and wanted to cry at the fact he'd have to be related to the two demons he hated most, plus his favourite problem child.

Unlike Narnia though, he's incredibly helpful with raising Iruma since he practically already saw him as his own pup anyway. (Lets be honest, all of the misfits are his kids, even if he won't admit it.)

He brings the stricter side of parenting to your softer one to help balance it out. Iruma is quite happy with this arrangement, since now he has another parent to bring pride too and encourage him.

Sullivan cries a lot at Kalego blocking him from a good portion of his overboard ideas when it comes to you and Iruma. It's one of the few times you can see Kalego and Opera working together without complaint.

He's also a real guard dog when it comes to you.

He is fully willing and able to fight off anyone and everyone who decides they want to have a go at you. Even if it's his own family members. Whether it be members who have gone rogue coughNarniacough or members who think that courting is beneath Naberius's, especially unranked demons, he'll fight them all.

Listen, I have a headcannon that the Naberius clan uses highly ranked surrogate carriers and just don't do courting/marriages because romance would be a distraction.

Kalego fully believed in this until he met you. Now he's fighting the other family members (i.e his father, because his uncle couldn't care less) into submission because he refuses to give you up.

Speaking of Naberius headcannons I'm pretty sure they all have dog tails, and while Kalego usually hides his, he'll let it out and about for you. When you're alone, of course.

He refuses to admit it out loud, but he enjoys your fingers running through his tail fur, move your fingers just right, and you might even get to see it wag a little.

Will occasionally sit down next to you and just plop his tail in your lap for the pets while pretending to have not noticed and be doing something else.

Also, he's addicted to you even if he's very good at not showing it.

He's not pleased to go an extended amount of time without seeing you.

Will be extra grump and waspish during that separation period, and then will actually be slightly touchy when you're back.

Especially after the HeartBreaker exam, he will be keeping an incredibly close eye on you, and will be making lots of excuses on why you should be spending time together. From schedule/training planning for the misfits, to paperwork discussions when on school property, to a lot of at home dates when you're not at school.

In other words you have your own personal guard dog.