#edited: grammatical errors

[the-nerd-beast]

I believe Carmilla Carmine to be a fallen angel

As well as the fact that she has daughters when sinners can't reproduce there is an important detail I can't believe no one has brought up.

Look at her, I mean really look at her, what is something you might notice? Other than her stunning beauty

An amazing lack of features she has. She has no wings, no shark teeth, no monstrous/bestial features, no horns (I was surprised to learn that her buns weren't wrapped around horns), no inorganic parts like Vox or what have you and she shares this trait with her daughters Odette and Clara. The only arguably inhuman trait are her large hands, which are not exactly a very defining trait especially since they moved away from her pilot design of having claws.

Look at the denizens of Hell:

They are incredibly diverse in form, having taken on features influenced by personality, sin, time period and cause of death. Even most "basic" sinners still look like generic devils.

(I used Mrs. Mayberry from Helluva Boss because she is the best shot of a "devil" sinner but they are seen often as background characters in Hazbin Hotel as well).

Now there is an exception to this though: Velvette

Now with her, I believe that is less a lore reason and more an artistic design choice since it is apparent her outfit and hairstyle is going to be different in every appearance she has so they left out any extra features to make that easier for the animators.

She is essentially a blank canvas for the animators to play dress up doll with, but she does still lack a nose which makes her a little less human looking than Carmilla.

Now getting back to Carmilla's daughters, even if Odette and Clara also died at the same time as Carmilla which is why they are together in Hell, the chances that they wouldn't have enough variables to have any unique features of their own feels slim, did these three really have so little variation in personality and sin one of them wouldn't look a little more monstrous?

Some have pointed out the horns they have are probably fake, with Odette's being her hairband, which with Carmilla's hair buns seem to almost be an attempt to "fit in" with the sinners.

Overall as many have brought up, the Carmines have more in common with Vaggie design wise with how few unique features they have, and we all know what Vaggie's deal turned out to be.

Anyway that's my two cents and I'd love to know your thoughts if you have any.

[claitea]

as a kid i really liked the little minigames you could do at hotel richissime in xy, so i tried to make something up for hotel z! i'm thinking theres a set amount of these logic puzzles and when completed, the trainers included in it might appear in the lobby :)

[allangelschaos]

[das-a-kirby-blog]

they are making me insane

[unkillable-gays]

Honestly not a fan of Ronance for the simple reason that I think Steve should get to have his best friend dislike his ex a little on his behalf. He's too much of a self-sacrificing sweetheart to do it himself, and tbh he deserves it.

Like I don't hate Nancy or anything, and I often enjoy when people write Stancy as still being friends, but resenting the ex simply on principle is, like, best friend basics! How can we talk about Steve not used to having someone in his corner without letting Robin have his back in the simplest of ways?

[faux-ecrivain]

Yan Emperor

(Twelfth Official Post)

(Duke’s name is Isaiah Hartfeld)

(This one might be a bit muddled, but I tried my best.)

(Emperor’s name is Adonis Margold)

(this one focuses on the Emperor, part two should focus on the Duke)

     The Duke, Isaiah Hartfeld, was well known for being a promiscuous womanizer and he often caused an uproar in society. Which is what prompted the Emperor to marry Isaiah off to someone that would whip him into shape, you. You were a well known person throughout all social circles, you were the head of you family and you didn’t let anyone push you around. Of course, when the emperor first proposed such an idea you immediately shut it down. You didn’t explain why, but you did say that nothing in this world would ever make you change your mind. So, he decides to offer you something out of this world, something only he can give you.

     The Emperor greets you as you enter the throne room, a sly smile on his tanned face. “Ah, Good Morrow, my dear friend, how are you this lovely evening?” He descends from his throne, his boots click against the marble floor. He holds a gloves hand out and waits for you the greet him, you reluctantly grab hold of his hand with one of your own gloved hands. (Gloves are very popular around here) You place a respectful kiss on his knuckles (which, of course, causes the Emperor to smile) and then let go of his hand (which causes the emperor’s smile to fall).

      “I am doing no better than any other day, why did you call me here, Your majesty?” You respond with an air of formality and familiarity. The Emperor frowns, finding your formality unnecessary. “Come now, my dear subject, formality is not necessary. We’re practically family!” He says with a grin on his face and wink of his eyes, you, however, are confused. But you just nod your head and let him say what he wants. He waits for your response, but his joy diminishes with each second of silence.

     He clears his throat and pats your shoulders. “I see you’re in no mood for small talk, so I suppose I should just get to the point.” He forces a smile on his face and places his hands on your shoulders, he chooses to ignore the way you lean away from him. “I’ve decided that you shall marry Duke Hartfeld.” Your eyes widen and you’re about to disagree when the Emperor interrupts you. “Ah, Ah, Ah, I already know what you’re about to say, but trust me, you do not want to reject this deal.” He leads you to a nearby chair, which seems to have been placed just for you, and sits you down. He kneels, on one knee, in front of you.  “Your majesty! What are you doing?!” You exclaim, finding his behavior strange. He brushes off your worries and continues speaking.

     “Listen, [Y/N], I know you aren’t from this country and I know you want to go home. So, if you marry the Duke and straighten him up, then I’ll take you home.” Your expression shifts from disbelief to doubt, how would the Emperor send you home, and how does he know you aren’t from here? Unless, by home, he means returning you to your country. Which would make more sense, because you were a prisoner of war when you first came to this country. Now, you’re a high ranking general and commanding an army, you can’t help but be proud of yourself. “What on Ilasatra do you mean?” (Ilasatra is the equivalent of earth in this world.) You ask him, a frown developing on your face.

    The Emperor smirks and brushes your hair back, then he stands up and begins to circle your chair. He stands behind you and leans his head down to whisper into your ears. “You know exactly what I mean.” He purrs, placing his hand on your shoulder and caressing it, which causes you to lean away from him. He touches you far too much, it makes you very uncomfortable. Your breath catches in your throat and you can’t help the hope that claws its way to your heart. “You can send me home?” You mutter, turning to face him and your gaze catch his. There’s such a hopeful look in your eyes, he smirks, it amuses him and then his eyes are caught by your lips. Oh, how he wishes to love you, but you would be of better use whipping the Duke into shape. 

    He clears his throat and drags his gaze away from yours, he resumes his previous action of circling your chair. His hand trails down your arm and causes goose bumps on your skin (because you’re uncomfortable). “Yes, I could get you home, but only if you do something for me first.” His tone is quite mysterious, he seems to know something you don’t. “It will be worth it, I promise.”  His hand entangles itself with yours, you pull away and he reluctantly lets you go. 

     You contemplate his words, your brows furrowed and you wipe your hand on your coat (which, of course, causes him to chuckle). You hesitantly agree, knowing that making a deal with the emperor is a bad idea. “Very well then, Your Majesty, I trust you.” His heart flutters when you admit to trusting him, he didn’t know those words could have such a pleasant affect on him. He smiles and yanks you out of your chair, he then places both his hands on your shoulders. “That’s wonderful, [Y/N], I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” He traps you in a tight hug, despite how uncomfortable it makes you (and it makes you very uncomfortable).

      You struggle somewhat to escape his grip, eventually giving up and letting him hold you as long as he wished. He sighs, his mind awash with loving images of you and him together. He knows it will never happen, but he surely can dream about it. You’re pretty sure he was sniffing your hair and that was your sign to escape the hug, so you stepped on his foot and then backed away from him. His pained groans are muffled by his hand and he tries not to scream, he forgot how sharp your boots were. “Ah, my dear, that was quite rude of you, but I’ll forgive you, just don’t do it again.” He warns you with a rather playful tone, even waggles his finger at you, but the threat is real. You frown and shuffle away from him. 

     He tsks and drags you back to him, although he does have to fight as you dig your heels into the marble flooring. “Come now, dear, I won’t hurt you. Don’t you want to know what I need from you?” His smile tightens as he struggles, he didn’t expect you to be so strong. He chuckles nervously, he even sweats a bit (which irritates him because he absolutely despises sweating). He lets go of you, causing you to stumble back yet you retain your balance. “Okay, you just stay there and I’ll explain the deal to you, alright?” You nod your head and he claps his hands together. His smile grows and his tone shifts from agitated to cheery. “Wonderful! My dear, do you know who Duke Hartfeld is?” You nod again, then verbally respond. “Yes, I’ve heard rumors about him.”

     Actually, you’ve heard many rumors, all of them attest to his hedonistic lifestyle. You don’t like him very much, you absolutely despise him. The Emperor smiles again, he smiles a lot, and walks towards you. “Great, I want you to marry him-“ You gasp in shock and then interrupt him, because there is no way in Natiscle (Natiscle is the equivalent of hell in this world.) that you’re going to marry that worthless wrench of a man. “Oh, like Natiscle I will marry that man! I wouldn’t marry him if he were the last man on Ilasatra!” You exclaim loudly, the servants in the room startled by your behavior. The Emperor is amused by your response, he chuckles and feels himself growing fonder of you with each word that escapes your mouth.

     “Oh, Baiyases, (Baiyas is the equivalent of heaven in this world, so Baiyases is the equivalent of heavens.) now dear, you shouldn’t overreact. He really isn’t all that bad, if you ignore his faults and he won’t be any trouble if you smack him around a bit.” The Emperor does not like the Duke, at all, and neither do you. But you could never smack Duke Hartfeld around, he’s so weak and it’s not like he’s a criminal. “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be right.” She responds causing him to rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Oh, please [Y/N], you’ve dealt with far more reputable enemies than that old Duke.” You cringe when he mentions your past, as a general you’ve had to take down many people and you hate being reminded of that. Also, the Duke Isn’t that old, he’s actually younger than you. Which might explain his promiscuity, they say, that is the noble women say, that young man are very adventurous, and often have trouble committing to a relationship. 

     You sigh, a frown etching its way onto your face. You look away from the Emperor, which causes you to miss his frown, and then think about his offer. You don’t want to marry that wretched Duke, but the Emperor says he can send you home and you really do want to go home. You sigh again and massage your temple. “Okay, I’ll do it, but you have to promise you’ll send me home right after. I don’t want to stay with him any longer than necessary.” You fold your hands together and tug at your gloves. The Emperor smiles once he hears you accept his request and he can’t help but hug you again. “Oh, thank you so much, my dear! All I need you to do is whip him into shape and then you can leave, okay?” 

      You nod, then wriggle your way out of his hold. This time the Emperor doesn’t frown, he seems happy to have heard you agree to his favor. “How long do I have to be married to him?” You ask, causing him to tilt his head and pretend to think. “Oh, perhaps two or three years. That’s not too long, is it?” You groan, just a week around that Duke is too much. You couldn’t fathom spending two years with him, let alone three. The Emperor chuckles upon seeing your disgusted face, he takes joy in knowing that you despise the Duke just as much as he does. “Is that alright, dear? Surely you could handle two, or three, years with the Duke? After all, you’re a very strong person, the Duke couldn’t be much worse than those on the battlefield, right?” 

     You frown again once the Emperor brings up your past, he sure likes to do that. You sigh, roll your eyes and cross your arms. “I can’t do two years, but I’ll do one year.” The Emperor tilts his head, amused and intrigued by your behavior. Not many nobles would have the gall to negotiate with the Emperor, that’s why your his favorite subject. “Hm, a year and half.” He says, which causes you to glare at him, then speak again. “No, one year and three months.” The Emperor exhales and his eyes narrow, he’s becoming irritated with your boldness. “A year and two weeks.” He responds, you consider his offer, then nod your head. “Fine, a year and two weeks, but no more.” He smiles, quite happy now that you’ve agreed with him. “Wonderful, oh, I can’t wait for the ceremony!” (Although, he would rather you marry him, but oh well, such is life) He claps his hands together and kisses your cheek, as a way to share his congratulations, but it just made you uncomfortable.

———————————————————————

Bonus Scenes:

You: “Do you really think me strong?” Not many nobles admire your strength, they believe you should fit into a certain mold, and it’s rather frustrating.

The Emperor: He places his hand son your shoulders, a flirtatious smirk on his face. “Why of course, darling! You are so very strong, the strongest person I’ve ever met..” He purrs, his hands trailing down your arms.

You: You puff out your chest upon hearing the Emperor compliment your strength. “Hmph, that’s right, I’m the strongest person around.” 

The Emperor: He chuckles, amused by your behavior. He thinks you’re absolutely adorable, he’ll do anything if it means having you next to him.

——————————————

(Hope you enjoyed this fan fiction, this one was a bit longer than most of my other written works. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment if you want more.)

(This is just part one, it focuses more on the Emperor than the Duke, but don’t worry the Duke will have his turn soon enough!)

(this took hours and days to make, mostly because I procrastinated, but at least it’s done. This is part one, part two will, hopefully, focus on the Duke.)

[suchasurfriend]

pete's voice lines are such a treasure

[psychopomp-namine]

Ahhhhh your theory about how Vein died is sooooooooooo fucking real. Like I've seen people talk about how Lu Guang might have a secret power? But I feel like that's not the case cuz then we might have seen it play out in S1 and S2. Lg would surely would have used it in the fight with Qian Jin.

for context, anon is talking about this post where I theorize how vein "died." I go into it in more detail there, but the tl;dr version of it is: no lu guang did not kill him vein directly. he just delayed vein from entering the clinic early, thus creating a butterfly effect (hence his whole speech about it) that led to wang qing being awake when vein tries to leave with the notebook, thus creating an opportunity for her to "kill" vein which she wouldn't have had originally. but liu xiao interrupted this chain of events and that's why vein is alive using the faking death ability.

I am linking the reblog version here because other people have added their own thoughts since the creation of the post. I'm not sure if anon has seen it or just the original post, because in my original post I posit that liu xiao has the faking death ability. but after seeing other people's thoughts, I am now more leaning to the idea that wang qing has the faking death ability or perhaps, that a combination of wang qing and liu xiao is what made the "heart attack but fake death" happen. perhaps (unintentionally) they created a power combo-ing effect similar to how lu guang and cheng xiaoshi can create a mind link across time when combining their powers, or how li tianchen can possess people across space by proxy of li tianxi.

a power combo that works across "death" would be interesting, though this is merely speculative at this point. it would certainly provide another perspective to why they're paired up in the ed.

to now address anon: yeah, exactly. even if the addition of non-photo based powers is a recent change in writing direction (that they may not have had foresight on during the writing of previous seasons), it still would be too much of a drastic change for lu guang to be hiding another ability.

as I said in the post, it is unfortunate that we have to rely on information outside of the show to make sense of it, but yingdu really does make more sense when you've seen the recent interview with director li. in particular, it is heavily implied that liu xiao has more than one ability, and the process of gaining an ability (aside from inheritance from parents) is through death or stealing it from others.

while I am a believer in the idea that lu guang is willing to do morally questionable things for cheng xiaoshi, I don't think he would've had an opportunity to just get a new ability so soon after he just got the diving ability from cheng xiaoshi. on the flip side, if he always had multiple abilities since he was a kid, it would be bad writing lmao because then why has he never used it until now? especially when he's been timelooping for who knows how long to avoid a death node. I know link click is possibly retconning some details (2018 is now 2019, they changed the plans for red eyes, etc etc) but I don't think this would be a retcon they'd do because it would change too much of lu guang's character.

I am going to use this ask as a jumping off point to talk about yingdu's storytelling style, and how we should take this into account when analyzing this season. putting this under the cut now since this gets long and is kinda just a tangent now to the ask itself, though it does circle back to lu guang's role in vein's "death" in the end.

part of the reason vein's death is confusing is definitely because of the animation of lu guang puppeteering wang qing. I can totally see how people would come to the conclusion that lu guang was controlling her somehow. but we have to remember that yingdu is not like S1 and S2, for multiple reasons. one, it's a shorter season meant to introduce plot hooks, not plot; it's a setup for S3. two, it's a change in perspective from cheng xiaoshi's more grounded reality to lu guang who has been timelooping for forever. three, it was animated by a different studio than studio lan. fourth, it aims to provide a different story, and the storytelling style reflects that.

whereas S1 and S2 has a storytelling style that focused more on plot details and building up tension; yingdu focused more on relationships and emotions. it heavily uses visual metaphors in its storytelling compared to previous seasons.

in a way, although I have qualms about yingdu's writing, I do think visual metaphors is a valid solution to the problem of, "we only have six episodes to establish new plots and characters and motivations. how do we convey information efficiently in that amount of time without compromising artistry?"

I will mention one metaphor in detail that will be relevant for the lu guang discussion later. one example is glasses as a perception metaphor. this meta was written in YE5, and YE6 continues the metaphor as well because we see lu guang wear clear glasses for the first time, symbolizing that he is no longer stuck in his rose-tinted glasses era of looking into the past, and has decided to look into the future, solidified by his decision to remove vein from the situation and also because he reveals later that this is the last time he can loop.

there are, of course, more examples. idk if I have links for existing meta on this, but we have hands as a metaphor for relationships (hand holding, handshakes, fist bumps, etc) and the power balance of each relationship (with regards to secrets, deals, etc). we have various color theories floating around. we have theater/cinema and chess as metaphors for everyone's narrative roles. lu guang's imaginary clock as a metaphor for how he thinks the timeline should go, and how it's prevented from running by red strings forming the word BRIDON. we even see the clock fall apart in one of the later episodes (I forget which one atm). hell I could write a whole meta on liu xiao's tetris game as a metaphor for how he sees the "game" he's playing and the role xia fei plays into all of it.

side note: I think it's incredibly valid for people to feel that yingdu did not have enough space to properly establish characters, and I feel the same way too. but at the same time, I think a lot of characterization also gets missed in yingdu because it's a season that loves its metaphors and encodes character motivations through it instead of just showing it to us. I have conflicting feelings about this, but ultimately, they only had 6 episodes to tell a story, and I think that's something we should always keep in mind when managing expectations.

circling back to vein's "death" and lu guang's role in it... visual metaphors are gonna be confusing if people don't know this is what yingdu's storyelling heavily uses. I don't think we should be reading yingdu the same way we did S1/S2.

someone could watch lu guang puppetering wang qing and think, "oh he's using her to kill vein directly" but if we stick to yingdu's storytelling style, it is more likely a metaphor for him learning to manipulate the butterfly effect for his purposes (again also symbolized by the glasses metaphor, since he wears clear glasses in the same episode)

scenes should also not be taken out of context. there is a reason he made a whole speech about the butterfly effect first. a small change (delaying vein) results in a big change (killing vein). if lu guang was controlling wang qing or whatever, that is not a small change. that is not a butterfly effect. we literally had a butterfly land on lu guang's shoulder after he made this speech to vein. the point was to create a butterfly effect that would lead to a situation where vein dies.

and for my final tangent: this sets us up perfectly for S3 because I believe lu guang and liu xiao are supposed to be narrative foils.

they both have expressed wanting control over the timelines. liu xiao wants "to make uncertainties into certainties" (whatever this means) and lu guang wants "to make certainties (cheng xiaoshi's death node) uncertain." but as of S1 and S2, lu guang was not yet in a position to properly rival liu xiao over this theming, because we know he's been timelooping and failing over and over to save cheng xiaoshi, while liu xiao has been successfully manipulating people into doing things for him (getting li tianchen to retrieve liu min's phone for him; baiting cheng xiaoshi to go to bridon so he can use him to bait wang qing to revealing where she hid the location of cheng weimin's notebook so vein can steal it).

now, lu guang has shown some semblance of control. and we have seen the effects of it. cheng xiaoshi is still alive and well in a post-S2 post-yingdu timeline.

I mentioned this way back in YE2, but there's also a distinct change in the way we're moving from "closed loops" to "butterfly effects" as a theme in yingdu. yingdu has many objectives it wanted to do as a season, but the main one was lu guang learning to manipulate the timelines through creating a butterfly effect. in keeping with this theme and objective, it just does not make sense for him to kill vein by somehow directly controlling wang qing.

[void-chara]

what do you mean princezam asked what polyamorous is, bacon relied saying "you know, like eclipse federation", and zam said "thats a polygamy. [...] are they the same thing?" this explained things to him??? he didnt know what polyamory was and bacon comparing it to eclipse federation explained to him?? also. "thats a polygamy" implying eclipse federation was married??????? because thats How that works. polyamory is about approach to relationships and polygamy is Marriage Specifically. they were definitely divorced, but divorce is a state of mind and does not necessitate marriage. they were married?? wow awesome. thanks for the info princezam !

[violent138]

There have to be times when Gordon preemptively assumes that Batman's vanished. Like if there's a break in the conversation or a vital clue's been shared, without looking he says, "I guess we'll have to ask our questions next time," and Dent goes: "Or we could ask him now? He's right next to you."

[transmothofaman]

Behold, if you will, two young men. One, a tightly kept Victorian teen with a fondness for both magic and knowledge. The other, a reckless teenager born in 1973. The catch? They are both dead, two ghosts caught in what they believe to be an exciting whirlwind of adventure to run from the inevitable. What’s more is that they’ve opened a detective agency of sorts. Their current case, a young woman named Crystal Palace with a forgotten past and abilities. Accompanying them is Crystal’s new roommate Niko, a delightful young woman who’s detective qualifications consist of knowledge from Scooby-Do. Say your prayers and hope that Death comes kindly, for tonight you are thrusted into the twilight zone.

[chelnciel]

Another thoughts about ch 23b and some hopes for the future

“What the hell is this?”

I wonder the same thing, dear.

“I’m all screwed up…!!”

I don't know how to understand Hirano's last thought, is he saying he's screwed because he is admitting that he has feelings for Kagi or because he's so deep in this thing that he can't see how to get out without hurting himself or Kagi in the process?

"But i've realized…Just thinking isn't enough to let me decide"

Hirano saying it is no longer enough just to think about it to make a decision... Is this a statement that the 10 sec of touches are no longer useful to him? Can we get our hopes up and think that he wants to try other things? Maybe not just an innocent touch of hands?

I want to believe that from now on, they will begin to explore more flirtations and intimacy between them (yes, even more), leaving aside a little bit the 10 seconds rule that fell short for both of them, and that we will see more BL development (as our dear author called it).

After reading and rereading the chapter, that phrase keeps haunting me (1), and it makes me hopeful that maybe Hirano's confusion/indecision comes from the fact that he reacts (unconsciously) more to emotion that manage to enter in that dense head of his than to physical contact and this deal they have has given him no major clues as to whether he can see our beloved basketball player as his boyfriend (I think he really only reacts to Kagi's reactions. Not to the touches themselves, not to what people around him say, only to what Kagi communicates to him, only to what Kagi says to him verbally or paraverbally).

Although when I was thinking about it I had forgotten a panel: when Hirano questions why he wanted to pet Kagi's hair and restrains himself.

So, he's not sooo foreign to touch, perhaps the problem is what kind of touch he knows and how he classifies it as a romantic touch. 

Initially he didn't want hugs, he considers them too intimate, but despite that he has never had a problem with all the times Kagi has pinning him (that is, Kagi to eat from his dango leans towards him, to make him feel if he has a fever he leans over him, and a few other times).

Or, maybe there's an issue with how Hirano interprets the touches, and how he assign the intention according to the context (or how he gets lost in the context). I mean, he allows him to put the earrings on him, or the lap pillow thing, or that they're always glued to each other, invading each other's personal space... isn't that something tremendously intimate per se?

It calls my attention by how in this chapter he doesn't show even the slightest bit of rejection to Kagi's clearly intimate closeness, where he only gets angry because Kagi doesn't look happy and not because he touching him, pushes him against the wall and tries to kiss him (impossible for him not to have thought about it with how close he was to his lips).

But, while so far he has been practically indifferent to the touches (not even a blush in front of Kagi after they almost kissed), the question now is how it will impact on him to have directly felt Kagi's racing heart, if in ch 20, only Kagi's look made him understand that all that passion was focused on him, what effect will it have to feel with his own hand the heat and beats of Kagi's heart focused 100% on him?

I keep my hopes high for the next chapters, since Hirano says that just thinking about it is not enough to make a decision, can we expect the deal to change and try to have a lovers experience closer to reality (maybe try to have a date? I need them to try dating), While it seems to me that the boundaries could be more relaxed, I still don't think he will let himself be kissed right now, but I do think the next moves will be initiated by Hirano, which I'm sure will continue to fall little by little until he himself, in a fit of impulsiveness, kisses Kagi.

At least in this chapter we got to see part of what he's thinking.

After his consideration of being someone else's next, I think this may arouse Hirano's curiosity about Kagi's love past.

I would love to see him ask him directly if he has had girlfriends/boyfriends and have Kagi confess to him that the lap pillow was a test to find out how he really felt about him since it was something he did with his ex, and then Hirano thinking what action would be useful for him to be able to define if that love is a romantic love ( and also what else Kagi will have done with his exes).

Another thing that fascinates me is how amusing Hirano's contradictions are: on the one hand he dismisses what Miyano says.

But on the other, he wants to keep trying. It's like he doesn't want to acknowledge that he loves him, but he's willing to try to love him (if that makes any sense), and also he doesn't want to monopolize Kagi's time, but at the same time he does want to. That poor head is a mess!

And there is an important difference in his reactions. While in ch 20 he tries to escape Kagi's hug (I love the whole scene), in ch 23 he doesn't make any gesture to push him away when he's obviously about to kiss him (and in manga's time it's been like two weeks apart). I don't think it really bothered him.

Also interesting is the late reaction that he always shows in front of Kagi, since only after shouting everything (thank goodness Hansawa wasn't in the next room), and only when he doesn't see him, is when he reflects and blushes just like in ch 17.

It's as if with Kagi present he has a extremely limited atention and can't see anything else or suppress anything. And in the end he sees him so brightly, it's as if he is dazzled by him and his actions every time he sees him.

About the next chapters I still don't have much idea of what will come (since how after chapter 20 Harusono surprised us with the whole date thing that we never saw coming, it's not very clear to me where the story will go), so maybe it's time to show us Ogasawara's date (which he agreed to go because he was in the middle of his gay panic) so that Hirano begins to understand how lovers behave and consciously or unconsciously replicate those behaviors.

It would be so funny if the date with Ogasawara ended up being a group date, with Eimi bringing some friends (of course, if Ogasawara can bring reinforcements, she has all the right to bring her friends). I see Sasaki listless in a corner, half asleep probably thinking about Miyano, Hirano comparing anyone to Kagi (how is he not comfortable without him, how Kagi would be happy eating a lot, taking the fries off his plate, and probably would like to go to the arcade...) and Hanzawa with his poker face while Ogasawara happily fixing things with his girlfriend.

I still believe that Sasaki is going to help Hirano discover his feelings (from what they mention in the ch 15 of ssmy), so hopefully he can help him get his feelings in order soon.

Although sometimes I get swallowed up by the negativity (and the over-analyses of KGHR's crumbs in ssmy that populate my daily thoughts) and I get the idea that they won't be together so quickly, even though in the last few chapters we've seen such a huge progress in such a short time of their timeline, but in ssmy there are panels that make me think that they won't be a couple so fast (I think there's still moderate angst left in this story, unfortunately for me).

On another topic, I still want to see:

🏀 Kagi's reaction to Hirano's black hair and that he's not wearing the earrings at the end of the school year.

🐉 Hirano with his black hair in Harusono's current art style (I live for this, I know I'll frame those panels).

🏐🏀 And if we'll ever get to see the Interclass Ball Games that never seem to come.

I don't want to calculate how many months or even years in real life we ​​have to wait until we see a kiss between them.

Btw, what happened to the hand cream? Was it in the bag? Maybe that date/non-date part is one of the extras in vol 5. anyway i'd rather they didn't show us this “date” (even though we were waiting for it for a year!!!), since it wasn't really a date.

Am I the only one who, based on the development of this chapter and the progress between them, thinks that this could be the chapter that closes volume 5? Crossing my fingers to have volume 5 during this year 🤞

[phoenixtakaramono]

Human Rose Vase Butchlander Threadfic 🥀 - Part II

Navigation: I | II Week 2024, DAY 4 PROMPT: Mpreg/ Domestic/ Pregnancy

SUMMARY: Butcher knocks up Homelander. That’s the plot.

PAIRING: Billy Butcher/Homelander

CW: omegaverse, mpreg

(You can read the Twitter version here! There are a couple small differences.)

(A/N)- If you’ve come here from Twitter, then you can already tell the couple of differences from the version uploaded here and the original version on Twitter. Originally I felt a bit cringe with the idea of giving their baby boy Leonard heterochromia, but then I decided to embrace the cringe for tumblr, haha. Mostly I just like the mental visual of their mpreg abomination glowing scarily yellow and red lasers, inherited from both daddies. And I wanted to give them a son because the trend is to give them a cute daughter (which I love), but…that made me want to try something new! Again, kisses to everyone who voted for the name! I tried to make the short story reflect the neck-and-neck race between James and Leonard, haha.

The ending is up to reader interpretation, but the gist is that Billy’s got a diabolical plan cooking. It’s the type of plan where if Homelander hadn’t made his generous offer to make a baby together, Billy would’ve secretly poked a hole in the condom anyhow to ensure it’d take. 🫣

Things I would’ve done differently had this not been a oneshot and I had the power of hindsight, I’d extrapolate more of the birthing process, combining some body horror (Homelander and comic Ryan…your births were horrendous!) interspersed with the cute moments. Ideally explore the traditional alpha/omega dynamics more—and subvert expectations. Show a little more of the lives of the Super!Butcher family, show Billy slowly but surely brainwashing both Ryan and Leonard using emotional manipulation and tactics he’s learned during his time in the CIA to turn them against HL (that way, it’ll hurt even more when all three disappear off the grid) and ensuring Homelander falls deeper into the rabbit hole of the fantasy of the perfect family he’s always wanted. But Billy fucks up :) not realizing, in the process, he’d somehow fallen for the omega himself and gotten attached to their sons.

So despite the emotional upheaval and Butcher’s schemes, it’d end on a happy note. They’re a dysfunctional family (and would need a lot, a lot, a lot of self-reflection and a lifetime of therapy and healing and answering for their crimes), but that’s butchlander for ya. We love us some toxic old men yaoi. 👍

Navigation: Part 1 | Part 2 (End)

[theladyofshalott1989]

Don't mind me, just tossing the new opening of ch. 20 of "Like Moths to Flame" at you and bolting away 🏃

Where in Merlin’s ever-loving name was Ominis? By now, he ought to be back at Hogwarts! When Sebastian didn’t need him, Ominis had an uncanny ability to appear out of thin air. But the moment Sebastian was desperate to find him? Nowhere to be found. Just his luck. It was almost comical. Almost.  Sebastian had scoured the Slytherin common room, the Great Hall, even made a detour to the Astronomy Tower. He checked the Undercroft and Ominis’s favorite secluded alcove in the library: second floor, tucked away in the shadows where no one would disturb him. Empty. Dammit! Frustrated beyond measure, Sebastian spent an entire hour - an hour! - pacing outside Defense Against the Dark Arts Tower before finally admitting defeat. Ominis must still be stuck at Gaunt Manor. Under different circumstances, Sebastian might have spared him some sympathy. But unless Ominis was prepared to spill anything further about Slytherin’s scriptorium, he had little patience left for him. No, he wasn’t sorry one bit. 

[boogeyalltheway]

Can we please get Shakespearean English right? I have literally never seen anyone ever get it right. (other than in formally printed texts but those dont count)

Thou = you (subject)

Thee = you (object)

Thine = your (possessive, before a word starting with a vowel) eg “thine avocado”

Thy = your (possessive, before a word starting with a consonant) eg “thy bread”

[bwobgames]

End of round 3

Spoilers!

Playtesters Do Not Interact!!!