#i could not sum up his reaction with words. so i chose to make this instead.

[sunhated-a]

What has more lives than a cat?

A frog because it croaks everyday.

(Just gonna casually leave this here From Dōma)

[bradshawed]

Masterchef ft. Mama Seresin

summary — ladies first. it’s chick’s turn to wow jake and she’s scrambling all over the place to get the perfect night together with the help of bob and a rooster sized distraction

warnings — no use of y/n, female reader, fluff, mild cursing, bobby being a sweetheart <3 and rooster being a cockblock

word count — 1k words

Chick’s an anxious sweetheart determined to win and Jake’s Jake (I feel like that sums it up pretty well). Sometimes things might not entirely go according to plan or they may need a little help from the squad but that’s okay. It’s how their family works, they’ve got each other’s backs.

This wasn’t how I’d planned to start off the series and some of it may seem a little out of order but that’s sort of how they work. Hope you all like it and them and feel free to drop in any thoughts or ideas of your own that you’d love me to write for them xx

the love olympics masterlist.

Fuck. The time on the oven inched closer to half past seven and the peach cobbler had only just been placed in the oven. You were a flour covered mess and your kitchen counters weren’t looking any better, although it seemed that Bob had avoided the brunt of the explosion. Panic had officially set in as Jake could walk through the door any moment and there was still so much to be done.

Bob, sensing your panic, placed a calming hand on your shoulder, wiping a smudge of flour from your cheek as your body collapsed against his. “You go get ready, I’ll clean up the kitchen and check on Jake’s status and we can set the table together.”

“Are-are you sure? You don’t have to do all this, you’ve done plenty already Robby I-”

“I did it because I want to, and that was an order Chick, go get ready.” You raised an unconvinced eyebrow at the man who’d quickly become a brother figure to you, “Go, you seriously need a shower.”

“Okay, okay I’m going. Thank you for your help, I really couldn’t have done it without you.” You thanked him with a flour covered kiss on the cheek before bounding up the stairs to get your much needed shower.

By the time you’d put on Jake’s your favourite sundress, the kitchen had been cleared, the table set and candles lit, illuminating the room in a soft orangey glow.

There was a note in Bob’s soft cursive sitting next to the oven with little instructions and an apology for looking through your things to find the candles which you really hadn’t minded one bit. He’d signed off the letter with his usual signature adding a small ps on the end mentioning that Jake might be a little late. You chose not to question it as you sat down on the couch waiting for the aviator in question to arrive.

A soft knock came from the door and you scrambled to find the remote to turn off the tv. Nearly falling over yourself in an effort to reach him, you collected yourself for a moment before opening the door with a shaky breath. There he stood dressed in an emerald green shirt to match his gorgeous eyes and black slacks, holding out a beautiful bouquet filled with your favourite flowers.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

You smiled up at him shyly as you accepted the bouquet with a kiss on the cheek, welcoming him inside before he could make one of his usual smart ass comments.

Jake was stunned into silence at the aroma that filled your small house, his feet (once void of his shoes) carried him straight to the kitchen like he was five again in his childhood home.

“Dee- is that-?”

You gently took his hand in yours, bringing him closer to the dishes, as you moved to plate the dinner you’d prepared with Bob’s help.

Bringing the dishes to the table with Jake trailing behind you like a puppy carrying the beers diligently, you felt a nervous pit in the bottom of your stomach. Whether it had been brought on by his reaction or the fact that it was him, you couldn’t tell, but it caused you to wring your hands together once you’d sat down after Jake had kindly pulled your chair out for you.

“You know Chick, I wasn’t expecting this for the first round. It’s not bad but I could definitely show you a thing or two to make it better.”

Jake had flipped back into himself almost immediately while you were both eating. The conversation flowed naturally as you asked each other about anything and everything. You weren’t quite sure what caused it or if you were glad to have that part of him back but it did ease your nerves. This you could do, this was comfortable, it was natural, just one more surprise left, you could do this.

“Don’t worry cowboy, I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve.” You quipped before standing up to retrieve the plates. Jake however, stopped you, taking them in for you while you led the way to the kitchen to plate up dessert.

A pair of arms came to wrap around your waist, trapping you between himself and the counter. “Sorry I was late darlin’ Rooster was being weird and kept stalling for something.”

“Stalling? I’ll have a talk with him later, ask him what’s up.” You had a few ideas, possibly one involving a certain aviator making a phone call to check on Jake’s eta, a phone call you’re guessing went straight to Bradley. You were gonna have to bake something to thank them both.

You entangled yourself out of Jake’s arms carrying the plates to the couch, refusing to let him help you. His pout however, was quickly erased at the first bite to which he let out what sounded like a moan.

“Fuck this is so good! It tastes exactly like my momma’s recipe. Where the hell did you get this from?”

“Made it, from scratch, with Bob’s help..” A smirk creeped up onto your face, “the recipe, I got from Evelyn.”

Jake froze with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “You talked to my mom?” A giggle escaped you as Jake wrapped his arms around your body pressing you into the couch, “No wonder everything tastes so good.” You let a shout of protest at that.

“And you call yourself a momma’s boy but you can’t even tell your mother’s recipes. Shame on you Jacob Thomas Seresin.”

His signature mischievous smile creeped up onto his handsome face, “Oh, you’re gonna get it now sweetheart.” His fingers began to tickle you, your yellow sundress beginning to ride up as you giggled and tried to squirm away from him, begging for him to stop.

Laughter subsided as his movements began to slow down, both of you realising the position you were in causing your faces to heat up. That’s of course, when Bradley decides to walk into your house ranting about how Bob owes him a huge favour.

He pauses, squealing, as he slaps a hand on his eyes, “Are you both decent?”

feel free to ask to be added to the tag list!

tags; @waklman @sematarygirls @djs8891 @genius2050 @dempy

[obamousse]

I went through five stages of grief when I knew Osamu was pursuing a career in cooking.

It was so devastating not only because Osamu won't become his volleyball buddy, the relationship rifts and Atsumu cannot do anything about it.

All our lives we never kept our childhood friends. When we got out of elementary school, we lost contacts with one another and occupies ourselves in middle school. And then we replaced our middle school friends with high school friends, and in some short years lost them too. We could keep each other's numbers by then, but what are the chances of everyone meeting up for class reunion or texting with one another? People are occupied; meet-ups and texts happen even rarer with fewer friends, so why waste time upholding these meet-ups and texting which are the only threads holding these friendships?

That would happen for them. Osamu would be so caught up in his restaurant work, spouses and kids he would forget about anything Atsumu texted, or calls from him. Atsumu has important things to say, his needs to vent, and would brush it off when Osamu replied to him 5 hours later. Attending Atsumu's matches doesn't mean anything, what if it is only one match out of all Atsumu had played? How many matches could he attend? That is the only reason Furudate gave to convince us that they were still close friends. The distance created is inevitable and nothing could bring it back, and Atsumu had to accept it as part of the reality. That he had to live alone and sometimes see the ghost of his old friend, that they did not live together anymore, that Osamu prioritizes other things over his brother in his daily life, that in practice, they became acquaintances.

That rift kills me, and it would kill Atsumu too. The best part about having a sibling, no, a twin, is that you go to the same school, live in the same home, and stick to each other making memories and happiness. When you grow up, you drift apart and you could only call them, if luck is with you, once a month, like with many other used-to-be best friends, your normal friends, your acquaintances. The people you'd see the most are going to be your spouses, kids, and then colleagues, and finally, siblings and other friends. They went backstage. Your twin was not as important to your daily life when you grow up. But siblings would always bound together whenever their parents are sick or one of them is sick. But if all our relationships in the present could be summed up by perfunctory texts and once-in-a-month meet-ups, then who are we?

I don't understand how people accepts this, adjusts to this, how Osamu worries about Atsumu's reaction more than this. Maybe it hurts deep within him but he doesn't share with the audience, may be the reason why Atsumu wanted Osamu to give up his dream was for the sake of their friendship. Fuck growth or whatever is said in the manga for Atsumu to accept Osamu leaving him. If we are going to drift apart, if our friendships were never the same as before, if we are going to be fleeting acquaintances of each other, the growth is never worth it.

Growing up, you may have to live alone in an apartment building, and friendships and relationships became more convoluted: you can only bond with them for 2 hours within an entire month, you understand your best friends and siblings prioritizes other things over your relationship, people have their own agendas, you have to be careful with every word you say, nothing lasts forever, you are meant to drift apart. If that's what to inevitably come with adult life, then growing up is so fucking lonely.

So anyways, here are some headcanons for me to cope:

Osamu and Atsumu became neighbors, and Atsumu would visit Osamu frequently.

That's it. IDK how people can live far from each other, only do text and calls and still keep their friendship alive. There are some fanfics about this that says "Not because we chose to be on different career paths mean we would separate." Because how does that work? Is the not-separating only limited to a friendship where we would meet for 2 hours, talk about the 10% surface of our lives and be done for? Is that how a friendship is supposed to be and we have to accept it, that the friendship had changed? IDK how some of you deal with this. Explain to me pls????

[writeingdocs]

Untitled.

stray kids bangchan x fem reader genre: angst masterlist an: this is a short fic i wrote last year (that got quite a reaction from my friend haha) and posted on ao3 that i forgot to post here…  x

“Long time no see.” She greeted with a smile.

“Mhmm.” He returned the gesture as she sat across him. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that? Considering your busy schedule.”

He let out a chuckle.

“I’m surprised you even had time to invite me for lunch.” She continued.

“Well, we have a couple of extra days to roam around. And I would be lying if I say I didn’t plan to meet you here.” He said placing one hand on his nape. “But enough about me, how have you been?”

“I’m alright.” Her lips formed a line before continuing. “I got engaged, actually.”

“You’re getting married?” It didn’t come out as a question, much to his dismay.

“Yeah.” She answered briefly.

“Wow, I, uhm, congratulations!” He was at par with words.

“Thank you.” She smiled.

“I uh hope your fiancé’s not mad you were meeting your ex.” He tried to joke around.

“Nah, he’s cool. He knows you and your family’s very dear to me, way past us dating.”

“Well, that’s a relief. Guess you got yourself a good man.”

“Guess I did.”

“But he’s even luckier.”

“Yeah?”

“Any man would be the luckiest to have you by his side. I sure was back then.” He said with a sad smile.

“Well, I was lucky to have you by my side back then too.” She offered him a warm smile.

“Just not lucky enough for you to stay.” He said a bit bitterly.

“Chris—“

“Look, I’m not saying this to mess you up or anything, but I have to be honest why I asked to meet up. I wanted to know what happened…with us.”

“I thought you already knew.” She took a deep breath, trying to sum up the reason why their three year relationship ended almost two years ago.

“We both couldn’t let go of the things we wanted for ourselves. We came to a point where we can’t compromise anymore and so,“

“You left.” He finished for her.

“I left.” She nodded.

“And you didn’t come after me.”

His head shot up to look straight at her.

“I, I didn’t know you wanted me to…”

She shrugged.

“It was you who wanted to break up.” He didn’t mean to make it sound as if he’s blaming her.

“That’s right.” She nodded.

“But hey, it turned out to be for the better, didn’t it? Mr. Producer of the year.” She tried to make light of the conversation by grinning.

“Stray Kids is getting bigger and bigger, and I get to be the homemaker I’ve always dreamed of. It’s a win-win!” She exclaimed, a tinge of bittersweetness in her eyes albeit her high pitched voice.

But was it? Was it a win-win?

Because surely, Chan felt anything but a winner.

He felt quite the opposite actually—like he’s the most defeated man, even more so now that he has completely lost his chance to get her back.

But everything she had said was right. They both wanted two different things. And no matter how they tried, and they did try, they’re inevitably bound to choose what they want or each other. And they chose the former.

So with a breath, he gave her his most genuine smile. And she knew it was so.

“I’m happy for you. Truly.” He said before pulling away from their parting embrace.

“Thank you, Chris. And I’m proud of you, too. You’re doing well. Take it easy, yeah?” She patted his arm.

“Mmm, you too. Don’t go crazy on your wedding planner, okay?”

“Yah!” She laughed and faked scolded him for hinting her perfectionist persona.

“Send me an invite?” He said when they both calmed down.

“You’re not going to try and stop it, are you?” She raised a brow.

“Tempting—aw!”

She jokingly punched his arm.

“I’m kidding! But not about sending me an invite.”

“Fine, sure.”

“Take care, yeah?” He began walking backwards, still looking at her.

“You too.”

“Don’t trip—“

“Goodbye, Chris!” She cuts him off again and rolls her eyes.

“Just making sure.” He grinned before giving one final wave.

“Goodbye.”

And they parted ways after that. x thoughts? likes and reblogs are appreciated, thank you for reading!

[luvbrie]

TXT REACTION . . . to you getting braces ?!

PAIRING txt ot5 ( separate ) x gn!reader 

WARNINGS nothing, txt might be a little ooc pretty much just comfort/crack

WORD COUNT 1.2k words — bulletpoint scenario 

c. yeonjun !!

when you first show him...i think he would laugh NOOO

he immediately reassured you that he's not laughing in a derogatory way

he thinks you just look adorable??? like wow you actually make braces look CUTE

apologizes a lot after the incident 

but yeonjun is yeonjun n he'll start complaining about it because it's harder to kiss you now :,)) 

you think after a while he just learns to live with it... 

No.

he is GENUINELY upset about not being able to kiss you properly 

a whole year and a half (maybe even LONGER too?!) without a kiss? yeonjun's not having it

he'll remind you to floss after every meal so you can get that tooth prison out of your mouth asap!!!

will prop get whiny if u tell him that you forgot or sum LOL 

"my love. do you understand the torture that stupid metal teeth straighter puts me through?? i need that thing off before i go insane and YOU NEED TO PLAY YOUR PART IN IT!!!!" 

overall he is just a simple man who wants to kiss his lover :,) whipped af i swear 

c. soobin !!

doesn't really think much of it tbh 

he visited you after the appointment and he didn't even notice honestly LOL 

kind of good for you? because you were slightly embarrassed ehe 

but when he offered you some chips you declined and he was like ????? but it's ur fav 

and then he remembers 

you nod and give him a big smile to show him your braces

and like HE MELTSSS WHY DO YOU LOOK SO CUTE 

he has this really loving look in his eyes and :,) he just loves you wow

he often forgets about your braces but reminds you to floss and pops into the bathroom whenever you do 

u ask him like ? hey binnie what's up do u need something

he'll give you a back hug and pinches your cheek when you're done with your regular cleaning 

"no, i just think you look cute with your braces. :)" 

just a very supportive boyfriend who loves u very very much !!!!! 

c. beomgyu !!

ASSHOLE

all he does is tease u istg this man

ofc he knows like not to be too mean but omg does he EVER SHUT UP? 

obviously the answer is no.

though contrary to his present behavior, when you first showed him he lowkey did not care HELP 

he's like "oh cool. how long do you keep them on" 

he didn't really comment on it but gradually he got more used to seeing them so he started teasing you about it more 

ofc he knows never to go too far with his teasing, but if you ever tell him you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable with something he said

he will kiss all over your face n start telling you how perfect you are too him and his little butterfly pecks will NOT stop until you're a giggly, smiling mess 

he'll randomly grab your face (gently, of course) and push your upper lip n start pinching ur cheeks cuz he thinks ur flustered reaction is TOP TIER 

he will absolutely make a ton of "brace yourself" jokes.

despite his relentless teasing, he does not let ANYONE else tease you for ur braces . not even yourself 

you could make a quick comment like "lol my braces look stupid" and he's like

"what the hell. no. what? what are you talking about. you literally look fine. you're gonna be taking them off anyways?? don't talk about yourself like that" 

n you just gotta take it cause it's beomgyu why complain 

k. taehyun !!

pleaseee when u first tell him ab the braces this man is like "ah. nice" 

then you SHOW him and he starts ....bitching about the color you chose HELP 

it's like a consistent thing tho LIKE even after a month or two he'll keep mentioning it 

u have to physically shut him up by giving him a "gentle" slap to the neck but even then... 😞

he'll prob mention it every now n then after that period but it won't be as bad

there was a time where you guys were having a movie night with just the two of you 

n you were so invested in the movie but taehyun himself just could not get into it. maybe it was the genre (he was never one for sad romances)

but that led to him watching the much, much more interesting beauty in the household, which was you 

the way your eyes were so focused and you leaned in when there was a particularly suspenseful part; the way your hair fell ever so gracefully in front of your eyes only for you to just as gracefully push it back...

it was like he fell in love all over again

it was such a sudden surge of emotion. the fact he could call you his? he considers himself blessed 

it wasn't until he blinked did he find that you were staring  right back at him, tilting your head at his silent admiration 

it took him maybe a second too long to realize what was going on but he didn't look away. he simply said,

"you should've done a different braces color."

h. kai !!

an honest one here tbh 

you'll show him your braces and he'll be like "oh! they look nice on you... *adverting eyes SWEATING nervously looking EVERYWHERE BUT YOU* 

LIKE LISTEN.... 

it's not because YOU look ugly ... it's the braces...

he will ABSOLUTELY make that clear though 😭😭 he loves u ok ur adorable pls don't think much of it 

if u ask him for encouragement, he'll be the one that's all "it's okay... they'll be off soon.. they aren't permanent love..." 

if he's feeling particularly playful expect "i feel your pain. i have to look at you like this all the time you know" LMAOO

it's clear that this boy is no fan of your braces 

both of you guys are young so i think he'll let you eat whatever you want tbh, he doesn't feel like he needs to monitor you eating. he thinks it's a tad bit weird actually

unless it's something too squishy/sticky, because he knows that those are rlly hard to clean from your braces 

that being said, i feel like he would have this cupboard in the kitchen of a bunch of your favorite snacks that he's banned you from eating for the time being

he told you that he'll let you eat ALL of those snacks the day your braces come off. but only if you keep away from those same snacks while you have your braces on

everytime you slack off n eat something you're not supposed to, he takes a snack from the cupboard and eats it right in front of you LOL 

it actually does help haha

you bet that once your braces come off, you two will have a late-night picnic in the park, eating all those snacks and eventually leads to you two invading the playground at like 2 a.m 

it's just a vibe. kai is your vibe, as you are his! u two just complete each other. he's just happy to have you. <3

[beomglocks]

☆.｡.:* pairing: boyfriend!beomgyu x reader

☆.｡.:* warnings & other: minors dni, smut, a little bit of edging, squirting, fingering, oral (f receiving), brief mentions of piss, i was trying to figure out which member would fit best in the scenario and low and behold to absolutely no one’s surprise i chose beomgyu, idk what this is, tmi but squirting is difficult, don’t ask, i actually hate this one :D

☆.｡.:* w/c: ...

“you know that feeling you get when you need to pee.?” he ponders on what he just said for a moment, making sure it sounds right. when he thinks it makes enough sense he nods to himself.

“pee?!”

he didn’t really have a thing for bodily fluids per se, he just liked the look of embarrassment you dawned whenever your body did absolutely anything in reaction to him. in sum, he liked knowing he had such an effect on you.

he didn’t really have a thing for bodily fluids per se, he just liked the look of embarrassment you dawned whenever your body did absolutely anything in reaction to him. in sum, he liked knowing he had such an effect on you.

he didn’t really have a thing for bodily fluids per se, he just liked the look of embarrassment you dawned whenever your body did absolutely anything in reaction to him. in sum, he liked knowing he had such an effect on you.

“i- i don’t wanna pee…..on you,” your face goes hot at the thought. you can’t believe you just said that outloud. he holds back another laugh of his as he explains, “don’t worry, it’s not really pee…i’ll be fine.”

you nod shyly as he continues fingering you. you don’t really know what enticed him to go through with this but you won’t lie, it’s been feeling good so far. sometimes beomgyu could degrade you or whisper praises but today he was quiet and you don’t know if that was a good or bad thing. it was almost scary. as if he was on a mission and determined to complete it, so laser focused that he couldn’t come up with words to say.

he picks up speed, pumping his long fingers into your cunt and curling them up so that they brushed along your sensitive spot. you suck in a sharp breath to which he aptly tells you to relax.

you breathe out, letting your body enjoy the feeling of being played with. beomgyu’s hazy eyes stare at your swollen clit and he decides to attach his mouth to it. he moans, closing his eyes and sucking on the bud.

“g-gyu…” you whine. he ignores you and your body threatens to thrash around at the overwhelming sensation of his tongue and fingers.

he feels you tighten around his fingers as he continues speeding up and you swear you think you feel him smile. suddenly he pulls his fingers out of your wet cunt and detaches his lips from you. “no wait-“ you start but he cuts you off.

“you need to let it build up my love,” he explains. “do you feel it?” your lip trembles, almost as if threatening to cry. you didn’t know he would also be edging you today. “gyu..”

“ill make it up to you,” he says, slowly spreading around the little bit of cum that seeped out as if he was in a trance. "so wet..do you like when i use you like this?" he grins. he spreads your lips with is fingers, continuing to make the area wet with his spit and your cum. you jolt when he slowly inserts his fingers again.

something about the constant change of pace makes you slightly throb. he would go fast then suddenly slow down whenever you got just a little too tight or started to breathe a little too heavy.

after a while he casually presses down on your lower stomach. you try to move his hand off you but he glares at you in response. “a-ah that..” he shushes you. “gyu i can’t!” you protest and in return he presses harder. “just let it out baby,” he coos. “you can do it~”

you shut your eyes, embarrassed about the whole situation. the pressure is starting to build up and beomgyu is relentless with the way he thrusts his fingers in and out your pussy. he has some of your cum on his lips and around his chin, not bothering to wipe it off. “fuck- please-“ you shake your head trying to stop yourself from cumming just from the sounds of beomgyu abusing your sopping cunt.

you start to feel a wetness trickle down your folds and onto beomgyu’s hand. he marvels at how it gushes out onto the bedsheets as well. your body twitches as your orgasm also comes with it. “wow,” is all he says.

he retracts his hand as more of your juice seeps out and you come down from your high. “you did so well!” he praises, massaging your thigh which makes you jump. “i made a mess,” you mumble shyly. “we can clean it up later don’t worry,” he kisses the corner of your lips quickly. you whine as some of the cum that’s on his face transfers to yours.

“be ready to do it a couple more times..it’s hot,” he winks.

[watchmegetobsessed]

BLACK&WHITE (part 3)

A/N: woo part 3!! things are getting exciting, drama is around the corner so i hope yall will enjoy this one! can't wait to read your thoughts and reactions!

PAIRING: long hair college!Harry X Mitch’s little sister!Reader

WORD COUNT: 4.2k

SERIES MASTERLIST

“I can’t believe you made me do this,” you grumble, as you fill up your profile with some of your personal details. You kind of swore you’d never have Tinder, it feels like a meat market, swiping left and right on guys while knowing they are doing the exact same thing, judging you from just a few photos and the words you wrote about yourself. That’s just not enough to sum up a person, but others don’t think the same way apparently, because basically every single guy from school is on this goddamned app according to Bonnie.

This whole thing started out from Bonnie telling you about her horrible date she met on Tinder. She went on and on about how the guy ate like a literal toddler, but luckily she just took it as a joke and you guys had a laugh. But then she asked about your dating life which is like nonexistent since you’re still longing after Harry, the only guy you know you shouldn’t have feelings for, but you just can’t help it.

You couldn’t tell Bonnie though, you still don’t feel like you’re ready to share this secret with her, but then you didn’t have anything to tell her in the department of boys and she wouldn’t stop bugging you until you downloaded Tinder. Now here you are, sitting at your desk as Bonnie is helping you to set your profile up, babbling about how you two could even go on a double date if you find two competent men on the app. Though you doubt that.

“Make that picture the first one, you look so hot in that!” she cheers pointing at the photo that was taken at the party after your graduation. You wore a nice lilac dress and sandals, you got a blowout that morning and it was still holding up well, the red lipstick you chose to wear was an exciting addition to the look. You really did feel pretty and you like the picture too.

“And now what?” you sigh when your profile is finished.

“Now you just go through the guys and swipe on them, see if you get any matches!” she smirks at you playfully.

Bonnie plops down to her bed and you turn around in your chair, hesitantly hovering your thumb over the screen before finally checking out the first profile that pops up.

The guilt that grips your chest is upsetting and not even only because of judging people from just their looks and a few emoji’s in their bio. No, it’s mostly because if you matched with any of these guys, exchanged messages and they were to ask you out on an actual date, you wouldn’t be able to say yes truthfully. Because there’s only one person you want right now, but he is kinda off limits even though you’ve been non-stop texting with him these past weeks.

“Oh!” you stop, squaring your shoulders.

“What is it? Did you find someone you know?” Bonnie jumps up in excitement.

“No, but… I think I have my first match?” Turning the phone you show her the screen with the ‘It’s a match!’ sign along with your and the guy’s profile picture.

“It has begun! You are officially on the market, my friend!” Bonnie sings, but you just shake your head laughing. You’re not entirely sure if you want to be on the market, well only if one particular tall, long haired, tattooed guy wants to take you off said market.

Thursday afternoon Harry spends hours in the library, working on a paper he knew would be a pain in the ass if he left it to the last minute, so he decided to just start it early and not screw himself over. Hunched over a pile of books and his laptop, he got a head start on the paper, though he still has a lot to work on the assignment when he decides to head back home.

School has started over a month ago and he has gotten into a sort of routine with his days, a routine that’s nothing like the one he used to drive. His first year of college he went to at least two parties a week, always had rendezvous’ with girls around campus that would end up in a quickie either in a toilet stall, in a random dorm room or his room.

He flinches thinking about the kind of person he was. Even though the girls came to him willingly, it was always empty and meaningless and for a while that didn’t bother him. But those times are over.

“Hey guys,” he murmurs his greetings walking into the house. Some of his mates are in the living room watching TV, someone is cooking in the kitchen and normally he would love to join them but he feels like he would rather just be by himself for now. However those plans are thrown out the window when he walks into his room and finds an unwanted guest.

Georgie Whitaker is lying on his bed as if she lived there, owning the place. Sprawled out, scrolling on her phone with a bored expression until Harry walks in. Smirking to herself she sits up, her dark red locks bouncing around her frame messily, but it’s the kind of mess that’s for sure intentional and she spent hours styling her hair in the morning probably.

“What are you doing here?” he growls, stepping to his desk, throwing his notebooks to the pile there, setting his laptop to the only clean space on the surface, the rest is covered in books, wrinkled papers and other school supplies. He might have been a party animal through his years in college, he never pushed it to the point where he would neglect his school work, it always came first and he still lives by that. Unlike some of his friends who go through college with one notebook and a pen, he puts time and effort into his education.

“I’ve missed you,” she coos, her legs dangling from the side of the bed, her skirt riding up dangerously high on her thighs and she knows that.

“That doesn’t mean you can just come into my room whenever you feel like it. Who let you in?”

Harry knows he’ll have a little chat with his house mates about who they are letting into his personal space when he is not home.

“You didn’t mind it when I showed up last year,” she purrs, ignoring Harry’s question. “Now you don’t even answer my texts.”

“That should be a red flag to you, Georgie,” he mumbles under his breath, still moving around the room, trying to ignore her presence, hoping that she would give up and leave.

Georgie used to be one of the few girls Harry spent more than one night with, but it was nothing romantic. They both needed relief and sometimes it was too much energy to find a girl, chat her up and bring her home and even then, it wouldn’t be granted that it would be good. Georgie and Harry hooked up for the first time last year on freshmen’s week, and they ended up repeating it a week later. From then, they had a silent agreement that if one called, the other would be there, they were using each other in a consensual accord.

The last time Harry saw her was a few weeks ago but he did everything he could to avoid her. Georgie started texting and calling, clearly desperate to get back to their old habits, but Harry lost interest a while ago, but it seems like the girl couldn’t take the hint.

“Thought you were just busy,” she shrugs. “I’ve heard that you haven’t been too welcoming with girls lately. What’s the matter, H?”

Standing from the bed she walks up behind Harry, placing a delicate hand on his back that slowly slides over his shoulder and up his neck but before she could reach his face he grabs her wrist and spins around, his eyes flaming at the girl in front of him.

“The matter is that you and every girl like you think that I owe you something. Like I live to be your toy. But I’m done with the little games. And I’m done with you.”

He is towering over Georgie, the expression on his face clearly a warning for the girl that he doesn’t wish to be played with now. The way his eyebrows knit together, the fire in his eyes and how he clenches his jaw, he appears powerful and almost scary. If only they were in a different setting and in less clothes, Georgie would almost find it exciting, but not now.

She yanks her hand out of his grip and takes a step back. She doesn’t like to be treated like this, she doesn’t like it when things don’t go her way, but there’s nothing she can do.

“You’ll be coming back to me, Styles. Begging and on your knees,” she hisses, but her warning does nothing to Harry.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Georgie,” he grunts, dismissing the hurt girl who rushes out of his room like it was on fire. The faster the better, Harry thinks.

Harry lets out a long breath pinching his nose, this was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. To be honest, he doesn’t want to deal with anything, except… except you. Lately you’ve been the only person Harry could think about even in his worse moments, he’s been checking his phone obsessively to see if he had new texts from you and there were evenings when he was lying in bed and couldn’t stop thinking about wanting to call you and hear your voice.

He reaches for his phone with the intention of texting you, just knowing what you’re doing would easily take his mind off of everything, then he hears Mitch’s voice coming from the hallway and it stops him. He’s been the only thing that’s been keeping Harry away from you, the guilt he feels every time they run into each other and Harry feels terrible because he’s been kind of avoiding Mitch lately. They used to study together, hang out on campus, go to see the movies Sarah didn’t want to watch with Mitch, binge watching series on Netflix… now all Harry does is making up excuses why he can’t do anything when in reality he is just trying to ease his own guilt for talking to you when Mitch told him to stay away from you.

He drops the phone to the bed and decides to clear his head in another way. Changing into sports clothes and putting on his favorite running shoes, he grabs his headphones and goes for a run.

It’s been quite some time he went for his usual routine, right around campus, running a few laps in the sports center and then heading home. He used to do this at least twice a week, last year, but this semester has been just way too busy for him to take the time.

Focusing on his breathing and keeping his pace steady he finally reaches the campus, only a couple of students lingering around since it’s getting late. He wipes his forehead with the back of his hand as he heads to the sports center. The running track circles around the football field, there’s no practice today, though he spots another runner and when he recognizes the familiar figure… he stops in his tracks.

He came to this run to clear his head without bothering you, doing the right thing, yet, he is now staring at you in your tight yoga pants and hoodie, your hair in a bun high on your head. You’re wearing a wireless headset and suddenly Harry just needs to know what music you listen to while running.

Harry needs to take a deep breath as his eyes linger on your curves, the way your thighs and calves flex with every move, your heaving chest from the rapid pace you’re breathing and oh God… You surely are wearing a sports bra, but he can still see your breasts jumping up and down slightly and it’s definitely doing things to him.

Still breathing hard he walks closer, wondering how long it will take you to notice him. Leaning against a pole he folds his arms on his chest, the tip of his tongue running along his lips as you finally turn and notice him, stopping abruptly.

“Hey!” you call out, letting the headphone hang around your neck as you walk over to him.

“Didn’t know you like running,” Harry smirks down at you cheekily.

“Well, I gotta do something to keep myself going,” you chuckle lightly, still trying to catch your breath. “But I can see I’m not the only one.”

“Needed to air my head out, but I wasn’t expecting to run into you.”

“Everything alright?” you ask concerned, taking in his figure, looking for signs that tell you why he was so keen on getting fresh air.

“Yeah, just… sometimes it’s hard to leave things in the past,” he words vaguely.

You want to ask him more, wanting to hear details, but he would have phrased it clearer if he wanted to share more. But it’s still obvious that he is keen on forgetting about something and you’re more than happy to help him.

“I know we both came out for a run, but… I’m kind of starving. Do you want to grab something to eat?”

Harry knows he should say no. He should tell you he wants to finish his run and then go home, but he can’t. He is itching to be with you, to listen to whatever you have to say. So pushing the guilt down he nods at last.

The pizza place at the edge of the campus is one of the most popular places during the day and since it’s open until two in the morning, students like to stop for a late night slice on their way home from a party as well. The time you and Harry wander in is kind of a dead time sloth, so there’s plenty of empty tables and no trace of the line that usually queues long to the cash register.

You both get your slices and you grab a bottle of garlic oil from one of the tables before sitting at the one at the window.

“So how is the friend-making going?” he hums, taking the first bite of his slice.

“Oh, it’s going well! I’ve met a few friends of Bonnie and they invited me out to the movies with them,” you beam happily as you sprinkle some of the garlic oil on your slice and bite into it.

“That’s great! See, I knew you’d be alright.”

“But it wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t help,” you smile at him thankfully.

“How are things between Ruth and Erik?”

“Oh, they went on a date, but agreed that it’s better if they just stay friends, so… yeah.”

“And how about you?”

“Me?” you ask a bit confused what he means.

“Yeah, are you planning to go on dates?”

Harry beats him up for even asking right away. What was he thinking? Bringing up your dating life when he should be keeping his distance from you? There’s gotta be something wrong with his head for sure.

You’re surprised by the question, and you can’t deny that it swirled quite a few thoughts about why he might have asked, but you don’t shy away from answering.

“Haven’t been asked out on one for about two years,” you admit with an awkward chuckle.

“When was the last time?”

“Junior year, I dated this guy for a few months, he was a senior. But don’t tell Mitch, as far as he knows I haven’t had a boyfriend,” you scoff.

Because of your brother’s overprotectiveness, you kept everything and anything a secret you knew Mitch wouldn’t approve of and boyfriends were on the top of the list for sure. You’ve had two so far, one of them even met Mitch but you just never told him you were dating the guy.

“You didn’t tell Mitch?” Harry’s eyes widen in amusement as he stares at you over the table.

“How could I?” you laugh covering your mouth. “He was watching me like a hawk and even wanted to have a talk with every new friend I made. A boyfriend would have never survived him.”

“He was really that annoying?” Harry cackles.

“Yes! Do you want to know the worst of it all?”

“You know I do,” he smirks, chewing lazily.

“He even gave me the sex talk.”

Harry almost chokes on his slice and you can’t hold your laughter back as you watch him trying to regain his composure. It was truly in the top three most awkward moments in your life, having your brother talk to you about sex, but it doesn’t feel that bad right now, using it to make Harry laugh.

“He just sat down and talked about the birds and bees?”

“No, he was very straight forward, didn’t use any metaphors,” you chuckle. “Though I didn’t let him finish, ended our suffering when he started talking about STDs.”

“Oh God, I would die to hear this conversation!” he laughs, his head falling back.

“Believe me, I wanted to die right then and there,” you mumble into your pizza slice.

“So when did you have your first boyfriend?”

“Um, when you guys left for college. Dated this guy for a few months, but it wasn’t quite the match.”

“As soon as Mitch was out of the house, you jumped right into dating?” he chuckles shaking his head.

“I admit I felt a little more… free once he was off to college,” you grin at him.

“So then what about now? Do you like someone?” he asks, pretending to be unbothered when he is almost holding his breath, waiting for your answer. If you say that you actually do have a crush on some idiot from school Harry is not sure he can control his emotions.

“Uh, no. Not really. Haven’t had time to meet someone I might be interested in,” you answer clearing your throat to cover up your nervousness.

There’s a short silence where you both get to the end of your slice. Now that Harry has asked you about your dating life, you’re curious to find out more about his. Well, you know a few things about that already from the gossips and his reputation, but you’d prefer to hear the truth from Harry.

“So what about you?” you finally ask, watching him intently to see how he reacts to the question. You can tell he doesn’t feel too comfortable, but he answers anyway.

“Haven’t been on a date in a long time,” he admits, but you both know what this means. Just because he hasn’t been dating it doesn’t mean he’s been sitting around at home, playing UNO with his friends.

“I’ve heard a few things. About you.”

“Not surprised,” he chuckles bitterly, leaving the crust of his slice on the plate as he leans back and wipes his hands with a paper towel. “What do they say?”

“Just that you’re a ladies’ favorite,” you hum, but it’s not quite how you’ve heard others word it. The worst was when you overheard a girl call him a manwhore. You almost walked up and punched her in the face for talking like that about someone she probably doesn’t know and for what? Most likely because she didn’t get to have her way with him, Harry must have rejected her and now she is just jealous.

“I admit I’ve had my fair share of hookups,” he nods timidly. “But… I’m trying to change. It’s not what I want anymore.”

Harry’s eyes jump up to meet yours, as if he is waiting for a certain kind of reaction, something he fears to see, but is surprised when it doesn’t happen. Instead, you just smile back at him warmly, because all you have for him is hope and support because you believe in him, unlike many others around him.

“I think that’s good. That you want to change your old habits,” you nod reaching for a paper towel to clean your fingers from the garlic oil.

“Yeah? You think I can do that?”

“Of course,” you nod confidently.

“I think then you’re the only one to believe it,” Harry comments bitterly. Inspecting him you see the hurt in his eyes even though he is not looking at you, keeping his gaze fixed on the table in front of him. “I feel like everyone around me keeps thinking of the person I used to be and no matter what I do or say I’ll always be just my mistakes and bad habits.”

“Well, I don’t think that anyone is just black and white in the sense of being strictly good or bad. It’s never just this or that, there’s a spectrum and you can always work on yourself to move to a direction. In the past, you weren’t clearly just bad, it’s always a mixture, you did good things too and you’ll make mistakes in the past no matter how much you change. And if even after all the work you put into yourself someone doesn’t see the change in you or tries to make you believe you’re just your mistakes, you don’t need that person in your life.”

Harry stares back at you in awe, as if an angel is sitting right in front of him and he is kind of convinced that you really are one. But what he did to earn your presence in his life, he has no idea about that. What he knows is that right in this moment he can’t imagine his life without you.

Even though the pizza is long gone, you stay and talk, just whatever comes to your mind, both of you distancing yourselves from whatever you were trying to escape today. Getting lost in the conversation you barely even notice that the Sun has completely gone down and you’ve been sitting around for an hour at your table. Bonnie’s text snaps you out of your little bubble, asking if you’ve been murdered in the sports center or you’re just training for the marathon.

“I should head back to the dorm, I have some studying to do,” you sigh, though you want nothing else than to just stay with Harry.

“I’ll walk you back,” he nods, both of you standing from the seats you’ve been occupying for way longer than customers usually do.

“Oh, no need, I can just—“

“Y/N, I’m not letting you walk back to your dorm in the dark in those clothes,” he cuts you off, but you raise your eyebrows at his words, looking down at your outfit.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?”

“Nothing it’s just… those pants are really… tight,” he breathes out, obviously avoiding to look into your eyes, but you catch him checking out your legs as you step away from the table.

“Well, they better be, it’s the only way body shaping pants can keep everything in place,” you scoff, the two of you heading out of the place.

“Body shaping? Why the hell would you need that?” he grimaces, holding the door open for you. Stepping out you definitely notice that it’s chillier than when you left for your run, but it’s still not that bad, though a nice hot shower will feel amazing when you get back to the dormitory.

“To shape my body, obviously,” you point out.

“You don’t need these, Y/N,” he shakes his head, pinching the fabric on the side of your thigh, along with some of your skin which makes you jump and giggle. “You look amazing either way.”

Wait, what was that? Did he just compliment you? Harry Styles just said that you look amazing with and without body shaping pants? This eerily feels like those daydreams you used to have about him in middle school, though those dreams ended a little more PG rated than how you’d want it now.

“Watch out, Harry. If you keep up with the compliments I might get the wrong idea,” you warn him as completely just a joke, though Harry’s alarm goes off.

He shouldn’t be complimenting you and he definitely shouldn’t be harboring thoughts like the one he has seeing you in those tight pants, but he just simply can’t stop himself. How could he when you hypnotize him with everything you do? At this point he’s convinced you have a spell on him, one that he has no chance of breaking, not that he wants. For the first time in so long he truly feels accepted and happy, in a place where he can be himself without judgment and you created that place for him. He wants to be selfish a little longer and keep this feeling close to his chest.

“There’s no wrong idea,” he whispers under his breath, thinking that you didn’t catch it, but you did. You very much did.

The walk back to your dorm is a bit quieter, you’re hung up on Harry’s comment and Harry is way too deep in his thoughts about you. Walking side by side, you feel like something is slowly shifting between the two of you into a whole new and unknown territory you haven’t touched on when it comes to Harry.

“Thanks for walking me home,” you smile up at him reaching the entrance of your dorm. You turn to face him as he stares up at the building, stuffing his hands into his pockets, a hint of nervousness showing in his features.

“It’s the least,” he smiles back, finally looking at you. Just as you open your mouth to say goodbye, a familiar sound rings from your phone, the notification to an app you’ve been learning your way around with. Not even thinking about the closeness of Harry you pull it out of your pocket and make the mistake of tapping on it, the Tinder logo immediately appearing on your screen as the app loads.

“You’re on Tinder?” Harry asks with wide eyes and your head snaps up to see him staring down at your phone.

“Oh, just… Bonnie made me try it,” you shrug awkwardly as the screen finally loads and Harry spots all the matches you have and a bunch of unread messages.

He can barely control the jealousy that bubbles in his chest. All these men not only find you hot but you also liked their profile enough to swipe right. Who are they? Are you gonna meet them? Are you talking to any of them? Do you like them? God, Harry just wants to snatch your phone out of your grasp to delete every match you’ve made so far and block the app forever. The thought of you with another man outrages and scares him. It can’t happen, no one can lay a finger on you, only him…

“So, um… so you want to date again?” he asks, trying his best to mask his disappointment.

“I-I mean I’m not trying to grow old alone,” you chuckle awkwardly and locking the screen you slip the phone back into your pocket. “I’m meeting with a guy tomorrow for coffee.”

At the mentioning of an already fixed date Harry starts fighting himself, he is so close to tell you that you shouldn’t go out with anyone else but him, that he wants you and can’t stop thinking about you… but he remains silent. Pressing his lips together into a thin line he just nods, taking a step backwards.

“Well, see you around, Y/N,” he sighs and you sense the change in him but it’s also clear he is trying to leave as fast as possible so you don’t keep him up though you wish he did.

“Bye, Harry,” you smile at him before walking up the stairs and getting inside the building.

Harry runs all the way back to the frat house, but not because he wanted to finish his workout, more because he was channeling his frustration through it and he got a lot of that.

No one comments on how long he was away when he gets home. He is dreading after a long shower hoping to clear his head since his run just complicated his thoughts even more, but as he is walking towards his room he finds himself stopping at another one. He knocks gently and waits for it to open as he hears shuffling inside.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Erik smiles at him, the sound of some kind of video game coming from behind him in the room as he steps out into the hallway.

“Can I ask you to do something?” Harry lowers his voice and digging into his pocket he pulls out twenty dollars knowing it will be more than enough to get him to do anything. Erik takes the dollar bills and nods as he folds them and shows them into his pocket.

“Sure.”

“I need you to have a chat with Mitch and just casually drop that you heard from Ruth that his sister is going on a date with a guy from Tinder tomorrow.”

He ignores the alarm in the back of his head though he is definitely not proud of ruining your date using your brother, but the thought of you with someone else is just unbearable. He keeps telling himself that he is doing this for your own sake, though he knows it’s just a terrible excuse for his jealousy.

Erik gives him a puzzled look, but doesn’t question his intentions, just nods and Harry is thankful he is not the nosy type to ask around.

“Got it.”

“Thanks, man,” Harry hums, patting his shoulder before finally heading into his own room. Just as he is closing the door he hears Erik knock on Mitch’s door, inviting him over to play with him and probably to drop the bomb Harry just handed over to him.

NEXT PART

Thank you for reading! Please like/reblog if you enjoyed!

[anormalweirdo]

YO BESTIE saw your post abt reqs and i uhmm,, i wanna request sum??? Just reactions or HCs of Oikawa, Ushi, Kuroo, and Sakusa to their S/O having a lot of piercings?? Like they were surprised one day seeing her with lots of piercings. Can be NSFW or SFW just pls make it timeskip thankies

of cousre bestie you know I got you( I didn't know if you meant peircing on the face so I just chose it all over the body+face if that's cool) Warning(s): NSFW, suggestive content, bad grammer lol

SFW

I feel that Oikawa would show you off to everyone and anyone it doesn't matter who it is. He'll go up to a random man outside and just yell" LOOK AT THEM I KNOW YOU'RE JEALOUS BECAUSE THEY'RE WITH ME AND NOT YOU" and the poor man's just looking like😨. He would always want you to show them off as well and if you don't he's just pouting like a little baby. He would always ask questions like" did it hurt?" and "will if mess my face up if I get some since I don't look as good as you?" and you're just like go off ig. WHen he does actully get one he's like "one down 800 more to go and we'll be twins".

Ushijima would think it was a big deal as long as he could still give you kisses. Whenever you tell him you're going to go get a new peircing he'll just fould you like a lost puppy and he'll watch you get it no matter which one it i. When you're done he'll say things like" it looks nice" and "don't forget to clean it so it doesn't get infected" and he'll by you different types.

When Kuroo first saw you he wanted to talk to you but was lowkey nervous. He thought you would instanly push him away and didn't want his heart shattered even though he didn't know not one thing about you. Whe he did meet you that only made him like you more, he fould all the peircing on you face and body really pretty and he finally build up the courage to ask you out properly. He loves it when you wear croptop just so he can see your stomach and the peircing with it. When you get a new peircing he comes with you much Like Ushi but he also says a ton of things like" where are you putting it again?" and "will it hurt because it look like it will". He's just a nerd that's inlove with you and your peircings.

Sakusa at first didn't understand the hype about people with a lot of peircings until he met you and his mind quicky changed. Mans really went from" I don't get it" to " I get it". His crush only got worse when joined the team as their manager. He only "confessed" because Atsumu yelled "AIN'T THAT THE GIRL WITH PEIRCING YOU LIKE OMI". At first Sakusa had to get used to your peircing but when he did all he could do was stare at them. You were so amazing to him and he was happy he even got a chance with you(whether he admit it or not). When you came up to him one day he immediately knew and was like" you got a peircing without me watching?" And you're just like how did you know.

NSFW

One of Oikawa's favorite things is when you cry while sucking him off because he loves how your tears fall to you nose ring and down your face. He likes when you sit on his face and he loves the face you make. He'll say something cocky like" look at my little cutie being so lewd and falling apart just by my tongue". He would play with the peircing on your tongue while he fucks you harder in the mattress. You would have a least 5 orgasms if not more. His aftercare would be perfect though. He'll clean the both of you up and run a hot bath for the two of you and would whisper soft words into your ears while you're going to sleep.

Ushijima would have you ride him a lot just so he can see your pretty nipple decorated with the metal from the peircing. He loves hearing you whiles when he sucks on your nipples and move the metal with his mouth. When he fucks you he has deep and slow and speeds up when you're fully comfortable. He likes when you say things like"it too b-big daddy it won't fit" and he'll always say " yes it can it fitted before". He can make you cum by his dick around 5-6 times if he didn't try. Aftwards he would clean you up and give you water and you'll fall asleep and he'll clean your peircings.

Like I said before Kuroo loves your stomach peircing so his favorite position is any position as long as you're infront of him and your peircing is visible. Much like Oikawa he likes it when you cry and he like Ushijima he loves to here how much he fills you. He's still a nerd so some things he say would make you giggle a little and he'll get flushered. He would put your pleasure before his anyday and would make sure you're feeling good. After he would make food for the two of you and ya'll would cuddle while watching TV.

Unlike the rest of them Sakusa likes to do you doggy style just so he can see your back arch and see your ass jingle. He loves how you legs start to shake after your 3rd orgasm of the night. He like to see how all you peircings shine even during the night and how much of a wreck you'll slowly become.He'll say things like" You're daddy's little slut right? You like it when I fuck you're slutty little pussy huh?" He loves how you'll whimper out a weak "yes" while he's pounding into you harder. His aftercare would be good as well he'll clean up everything while putting you into the tub with him and when he's done he'll put on light music while you guys talk and order food.

I hope you like it this was my very first NSFW type of content so I don't really know what I'm talking about just yet lol. Hoped you enjoyed and don't be shy to ask for any request love ya.

[logicalbookthief]

Things Left Unsaid -- An Analysis of Rei & Touya

Apparently Rei has been getting a lot of flack lately, all of it undeserved, and since I had a post analyzing her relationship with Touya in the works already, I figured no time like the present.

Disclaimer #1: There are a lot of issues with the writing for Rei’s character that have nothing to do with her and everything to do with how the storyline is using her, which I will address and examine.

Disclaimer #2: I’m someone who, while always curious as to what kind of relationship Rei had with her oldest son before he died, never thought it would be revealed that Touya was close to his mom. I don’t think you get the Dabi we see in Chapters 290-295 without him being so warped by his relationship with his father yet so dependent on his attention that he was willing to kill his brother and himself simply for his father’s acknowledgement.

But that’s what I find so interesting about Rei and Touya -- it’s a relationship that mainly consists of regrets and things left unsaid. There isn’t the anger or resentment Dabi feels for Endeavor, because that intense level of emotion sprung from the loss of the father who used to be his whole world. His feelings toward his mother seem more amicable, but also more distant.

And while she could’ve done some things differently in regards to her oldest, I want to make it clear that the distance between them was very much by design.

After all, Touya was the end goal of their marriage. It was never any secret as to why Enji wanted to marry her and to some extent Rei must’ve realized that this child was not meant to be hers: the child was the transaction, the thing she was needed to create, to give to her husband. Of course she loved Touya and was likely his primary caregiver for most of his life, but there was no doubt that once his quirk manifested and he could begin his hero training, his life would be dominated by his father. Which is what happened.

Here, I would like to point out something I noticed in the flashback chapters. We never see any panels of Enji alone with any of his children during their infancy -- even with Shouto, the perfect child he longed for, we see Rei holding Shouto, sitting by him as he sleeps. Enji is there tangentially. Once Shouto begins his training, that is when we see him with his father.

So to see Enji with Touya when he was a baby, prior to his quirk manifesting, strikes me as a big deal. But it makes sense if you remember that he’d placed all his hopes, dreams and expectations on his firstborn. Initially, it doesn’t look like he even considered the possibility that Touya wouldn’t be his successor or that his little eugenics experiment would fail; this was his first, most optimistic attempt at a masterpiece. So I don’t believe it’s far-fetched to see him spend more time with Touya right off the bat (it’s what will make the eventual abandonment all the more crushing).

However, Rei isn’t seen at all in the snippet of Touya’s infancy, despite us knowing she was relegated to the caregiver role. Rei is literally out of the picture. Compare this to how she features prominently in Shouto’s infancy or how we see her holding a baby Natsuo. You could argue that, hey, we don’t see her holding a baby Fuyumi either, but there’s other scenes where Fuyumi’s attached to her mother’s hip or crying over her being hurt. Things that suggest a closeness, when the only scene we get of just her and Touya is one where they’re at odds. 

As we move further into Touya’s childhood, though, Rei becomes the only voice we hear advocate for him against his father. I’m referencing two specific instances:

When Enji coerces her into having more children to replace Touya now that his father has deemed him a failure, something she knows will hurt their son deeply.

And after Touya lashes out at Shouto, which Rei doesn’t blame on Touya, but rather on his father. She delivers such a satisfying condemnation of his actions, probably the most cutting one Endvr’s received to date, and it so accurately sums up one of his major character flaws.

How can you call yourself a hero when you can’t even face your own son?

The tragedy of it all is that Rei never said any of this in front of Touya -- it was always said in private, just to her husband. That alone took courage, yes, but it would’ve meant everything to Touya to hear her condemn his father aloud. Instead when she does speak to him, she says this:

It’s why I can’t wrap my head around that scene in Ch 302, where after Enji admits he didn’t know what to say to Touya, Rei replies, “Neither did I.” 

When we’re shown in flashbacks during that same chapter that she did understand her son. “He just wants to be acknowledged by you” is quite the indication that she, at the very least, understood the cause of Touya’s turmoil even if she couldn’t fully relate to it herself. So why can’t she say any of this to him?

The answer is in the way she addresses Touya, as it is nearly identical to how Nao addresses Tenko in this scene:

Both Touya and Tenko grew up in similar households: the father had all the power, physical and financial, so the mothers were left to try and comfort their children in a way that didn’t go against their husbands’ desires -- and so, to use Tenko’s own words, they would “reject them with kindness.”

So it’s no wonder that Touya lashes out at his mother after she suggests he pursue other things. He isn’t five like Tenko was, he’s thirteen and has a much clearer understanding of why she says this and why it’s a bit hypocritical, since he’s aware of her situation, too.

Just as she was bound by her family, who wanted her to marry Endvr for the money and status, he’s bound by the expectations of his family. I’m not sure if I’ve seen anyone else touch on this detail, but when Touya states that he knows his grandparents sold his mom into marriage so his dad could have a child, we could infer that Touya knows enough to realize that his mother might not have necessarily wanted him.

Not him specifically, but any child — the story has neglected to flesh her out beyond her marriage and motherhood, so we have no idea if Rei wanted to become a mother prior to this arrangement, despite how much she loves her kids now — although it is possible that he might’ve internalized it this way.

So you have Touya, who at least knows with certainty that his father wanted him to exist, yet he comes to understand that his father only wants him if he can meet a specific set of expectations, and if he cannot, he’ll be discarded. If he can’t surpass All Might, he can’t fulfill his reason for existing and his father will have to replace him. So to have his mother urge him to follow a path other than becoming a hero would mean, to Touya, accepting that he is the mistake he fears he is. Of course he isn’t going to respond well to that.

I don’t like when people try to compare Touya’s reaction in this moment to Shouto’s when Rei tells him he isn’t bound by his father’s blood, using that to paint Shouto as the “good” child and Touya as the “bad” one. They didn’t react differently because of any innate sense of goodness or lack thereof -- they reacted differently because the situations are different.

Telling Shouto that he didn’t have to be like his father comforted Shouto, who only knew his father as the bully who hurt his mom. He associated his father, and his father’s fire, with all of that fear and pain -- and thus, he associated the part of himself that took after his father with those feelings. She wasn’t denying his dream of becoming a hero, only assuring him that when he became a hero it could be whatever kind of hero he chose to be, that he wasn’t doomed to be like his father.

Whereas what she tells Touya sounds a lot like what his father told him, which was to give up on being a hero and pursue other aspirations.

Encouraging Shouto to become his own version of a hero still falls in line with what Endvr ultimately wants, which is for Shouto to be a hero capable of surpassing All Might. Whereas this is what happens when Touya continues to train to do that against his father’s wishes:

This is where the framing begins to bother me and where Rei’s characterization becomes inconsistent. 

So in this scene from Ch 302, we see Enji abusing his wife for “letting” Touya continue to train, punishing her for her “failure” to stop him. Obviously, none of that is Rei’s fault. If anything, Enji would be more responsible for preventing Touya from hurting himself since he’s the reason his son is hurting himself in the first place.

Moreover, the fact that he hits Rei over this sort of muddies the water of an previously-established narrative. Since the Sports Festival arc, we’ve known that Endvr abused his wife because she tried to interfere with Shouto’s training. It got to the point where she was terrified of her husband and it drove her to a breakdown. Why introduce this new aspect to the abuse, when it was already established that a) he was physically abusive and b) his motivations for abusing her were explicit to the audience? 

I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense that a man who hits his wife for one reason could find another reason to do it and justify his actions to himself. And while the scene does portray Endvr in a bad light to show how wrong his actions are, literally draping his figure in shadow, why does it even dare to suggest the idea that Rei was remiss in her duties as a mother? Again, the scene isn’t even necessary, since the narrative has long-since showed the audience that Enji abused his wife. 

By itself, the scene would read as further exploration of how Rei was victimized and how it affected her children. When you look at it with the chapter as a whole, though? Remember, this is the chapter where Rei claims that all of the family shares the blame in what happened to Touya, displacing some of the blame that rightfully rests on Enji. 

But my major gripe with this scene is how it reframes the sole moment we get of Rei and Touya alone. Because we know that Rei understands Touya, based on her confrontations with her husband in Ch 301 & 302. Rather than encourage him to be what he wants or acknowledge that his father is in the wrong, however, her advice falls in line with what Enji wants -- to stop Touya from training. And this comes after a scene where we see Enji beat his wife when she doesn’t stop Touya from training.

With all that in mind, it could potentially be read as Rei trying stop Touya for the sake of protecting herself and the family -- I don’t think it’s coincidence that in the scene where he hits her that we see Shouto, Fuyumi & Natsuo all as witnesses who are very distressed by what’s happening to their mother -- at the cost of Touya’s need to be validated. And if executed well or at least better than it has here, that wouldn’t be a bad choice of narrative per se, and it would fit into the pattern where the households the villains were raised in -- notably Shigaraki, Dabi & Toga -- mimic the society they live in, just on a smaller scale.

Except. Does that sort of narrative make sense based on what we already know about Rei?

Certainly, it is natural to want to protect yourself under physical and/or emotional duress by appeasing your abuser. This sort of complicated dynamic appears in the Shimura family, too. Just like in the house that Kotaro built, the Todoroki family revolves around the desires of the abuser and is dictated by his whims.

I would argue that Nao does give us a well-written example of this narrative. From the beginning, it’s established that she loves Tenko dearly. But in the house her husband built, there’s no room to love her son as he deserves. She prioritizes the feelings of Tenko’s father for the sake of maintaining peace in the household and this is established quickly and plainly.

Early on in the flashback, Kotaro exerts his control over the house, while Nao + her parents look uncomfortable. Despite this, we watch as they comply with his rules, all at the expense of Tenko’s feelings. When she stands up to Kotaro at last, it is not where Tenko can see and already too late. It’s a painful story, full of regret and sadness, but it is consistent from start to end. Nobody feels out-of-character or there to prop up anybody else.

So why doesn’t Rei feel as consistent in this narrative?

Because it doesn’t fit with everything we knew about Rei prior to her abuser’s subpar redemption arc.

The way she interacts with Touya would make sense, if this was how she was portrayed from the start. However, her behavior in Shouto’s flashback -- where she was first introduced -- contrasts what we get in the later Todoroki flashbacks.

Let’s compare this to the scenes in Ch 302. Here, Rei interferes on Shouto’s behalf. She advocates for her son in front of Shouto where he can hear. She stands up to his bully/villain and tries to protect him, while also validating his feelings in the process. Directly after this, Enji hits her, not for failing to comply with his demands, but for defying him. 

It is difficult to reconcile this Rei with the Rei we get in Ch 302. And if you try to find an in-story reason for the inconsistency, the options either do a disservice to Rei or make things even more painful for Touya. But I’m sure most of you have realized that I’m going to suggest a reason for this inconsistency that goes beyond the canon.

Because when Rei was first introduced in the story, Endvr was unequivocally the villain in the Todoroki family, not some misguided patriarch trying to atone for his “past” mistakes. Years later and in the midst of his redemption arc, the narrative seems to be intent on making this man more palatable to readers, and it’s used Rei at every opportunity to prop up his efforts to be better. Often, though, it takes some of the heat off Enji by displacing it onto other family members, most significantly Rei & Touya.

Like, you can literally see the difference in the frame from early in the manga to now:

Ch 39: Endvr trains his five-year-old to the point where he’s throwing up due overextension and being punched by a fully grown adult who is also his father. Rei tries to protect her son and gets slapped by Endvr. All the blames rests squarely on Endvr, who is clearly the aggressor and painted as the villain here.

Ch 302: Endvr hits Rei for not preventing Touya from sneaking out to train, knocking her to the ground. Again, Endvr is clearly the aggressor, but oh this time it’s not driven solely by his selfish desires it’s also cocnern for his son; Rei is the victim but oh she also should have been watching him more closely, and oh well why was Touya going out in the first place, when everyone has told him to stop and he knows his mom will get punished for it?

Honestly, I can understand where some people have mixed feelings over Rei’s character, particularly since the writing has done her such a disservice recently. With that being said, however, it takes a minimum amount of critical thinking to recognize that while you can criticize some choices she made, you cannot hold her to the same standard of accountability as Enji, it’s absurd. The power imbalance was obviously tipped in Endvr’s favor, always.

It is a shame, too, that we can’t have more discussions that don’t turn into some readers (a lot of whom are attempting to make Endvr sound less horrible than he actually was) trying to demonize her. It’s doubly a shame the story itself doesn’t bother to flesh her out as a person, instead using her as a prop, because the complex relationships she has with Touya -- with all her children, really -- has plenty of room for exploration. 

Like, there was no reason to add this new dimension of resentment due to her spouting Enji’s words back at Touya, when there was already a source of tension supported by previous canon -- the neglect the Todoroki kids suffered because Rei couldn’t be the parent they needed, due to her declining mental health and eventual breakdown.

Or, if you want to complicate their dynamic further, why not add something that focuses on Rei and has nothing to do with Enji? We learn in the flashbacks that Rei agreed to the marriage more-or-less to please her family, lamenting that she “intended to smile through it to the end,” essentially admitting that her hope was she could grin and bear it. It is telling that she had this attitude before entering her marriage; evidently, she was raised with the idea that she should be acquiescent to her parents’ whims and not express herself if she was only going to be contrary. Maybe she didn’t know how to deal with Touya’s very expressive, very emotional outbursts as a result. And her inability to respond would be the exact opposite of what Touya was seeking.

Not to mention that Touya died, and for the last decade, Rei was under the impression she had lost her son forever. He died while she was hospitalized, torn up with guilt over what she did to Shouto, only to find out that her other son died in a frankly horrific manner, and she could do nothing. By the time she would’ve found out, it was too late to even try to do anything. I can’t imagine what she must’ve felt in terms of regret alone, plus her grief. And I’m still mad we were robbed of her reaction to Touya being alive, because now suddenly there is a chance to do something, to change what was once written in stone.

Or what about Touya’s feelings for his mother, that have yet to be given much depth? As the oldest and most aware of his existence, it seems like he was the first to truly understand his mother’s situation and I can’t help but wonder: If Touya knew he vessel for his father’s ambition, and his mother was sold into role of creating/caring for him, did he question her love for him? Once he found out one parent’s love was conditional, it wouldn’t be a leap for him to consider it for the other. And yet if that’s true, Dabi doesn’t appear to hold any ill-will towards her for that. He was angry at her hypocrisy, because he knows she should understand, but her words to him didn’t reflect that.

All of that is fascinating and so much better than what we got in canon, so far at least. I’m hoping for them interact in the present at least once before the end of the series, and I think they will, but as to how satisfying a reconciliation it’ll be, I guess we’ll have to wait to see how the Todoroki plotline progresses from here on out.

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

Cult Girl: Doctorate (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 4

Will

Cult girl attends her grandmother's funeral and is approached with a highly unorthodox last will and testament.

@wisesandwichshark

Trigger warnings: emotional manipulation and abuse, verbal abuse, death, slight emetophobia, body-shaming, ED mention, pregnancy and family planning

There was no use recounting anything from the leading up to the funeral. You spent that first night wine-drunk, munching on foie gras, watching Arrested Development and diagnosing each character to the best of your psychological abilities. You remembered cry-laughing at the same jokes you had memorized, and reminiscing on all the insane shit your own personal Lucille Bluth pulled on you. That was the highlight of the week. It was all downhill from there. 

Firstly, you were sick. That Sunday, you wrote it off as a hangover. Then, the hangover returned with a vengeance, just to add salt to the already open wound of having to pretend to mourn your abusive grandmother. At least the physical pain would give your acting an air of sincerity, you thought. 

Hannibal dressed in a solid black tux: it was almost uncanny to see him outside of any of his normal checkered suits. You selected a plain black dress and a strand of pearls.

The funeral was to be held at the same country club Anna’s wedding was held. Your grandmother was like a pharaoh, insisting that the empire she built know that even in death, she reigned supreme. The country club was her pyramid. 

Anna asked if you wanted to say a few words. As much as you wanted to get up and tell all her country club friends about the time she reported you as an abducted child at age twenty-two when you refused to leave your boyfriend and move back in with her, you knew that it wasn’t in good taste. You racked your brain for any story that could be considered remotely funeral-appropriate, but none came to mind. 

You spent the entire funeral trying not to roll your eyes too obviously at the stories of abuse her country club friends somehow remembered fondly. Your soul just left your body throughout the entire process and you were unsure if it would ever return. 

All things considered, it could have gone much worse. Then, it did. 

The beginning of the end was when your grandmother’s estate lawyer pulled you and Anna aside to conduct the reading of the will. He showed you to a side room, then excused himself before closing the door behind him. 

“Hello, [F/N].” Liam greeted, trying to cut through the awkward silence that came with first seeing each other after four straight years. “I’m very sorry about your gran. She was a great woman.” 

You gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes. “Thanks, Lee. I appreciate it.” 

“No she doesn’t.” Anna muttered. “And it’s Liam.” 

“I don’t mind ‘Lee’.” Liam contested. “My mum called me Lee. I actually quite like it.” 

Anna was in one of her ‘I’m so upset, please ask me why’ moods. She sat on one of the heavy armchairs with her legs crossed and eyes to the wall. You weren’t going to bite. 

Liam wasn’t so cautious. “Princess, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing.” She pouted, not even dignifying her husband with a look. “I just think it’s interesting that I put the funeral together all by myself and someone couldn’t even be bothered to speak.” 

You shot Liam a look that said ‘way to go, jackass’. 

“Yeah,” You said, sitting down in an adjacent armchair. “That must suck.” 

Anna glared at you. “You really have nothing to say? Really?” 

You tensed up. “Let’s see, which charming anecdote would you have me tell? How about that time when she made you wear a fat suit for an hour after you complained about how the low-carb ice cream tasted like chemicals?” 

Liam looked in shock at his wife. “Did she really?” 

“Once.” Anna confessed, holding up one finger. 

You turned to Liam, as if you were sharing some hot gossip. “That was all it took to give her an eating disorder when she was thirteen.” 

Hannibal was just a fly on the wall. Anna noticed his lack of reaction. 

“And I bet Hannibal knows all about this, huh?” Anna said, throwing her hand in his direction. “Because he just needs to hear all of our private family business, right?” 

You stood up from your seat. “First of all, I take offense at the implication that my fiancée isn’t family.” 

An evil smile spread on Anna’s face. “But he wasn’t always your fiancé, was he, [F/N]?” 

“Holy shit, you cracked the code.” You said, flatly. “There was a point in time when Hannibal and I weren’t an item. Real shocker, that one.” 

“You know what I mean.” She sneered, then approached Hannibal. “Dr. Lecter, is it true that before you and [F/N] became romantically involved, you were her therapist?” 

Liam looked scandalized. Hannibal was just as put-together as always. 

“That is true.” He said, feeling no shame whatsoever. 

Anna turned back to you. “Now don’t you think that’s just a smidge unethical? For a therapist to date their much younger patient?” 

You narrowed your eyes. You carried yourself with the lightness of a woman who finally had the moral high ground. “So you want to talk about what’s ethical, huh? I suppose that means you’ve told Liam about pineapple.”

All the blood drained from her face. You crossed your arms and held your head up a little higher. 

“That’s what I thought.” You grinned. 

“Look, could we just pretend to be a normal, functioning family for ten minutes?” Anna pleaded, as if there were anyone other than herself to blame for provoking an argument.

“That’s on you two.” Liam, rightfully, pointed out. He gestured to himself and then to Hannibal. “Neither of us have said anything.” 

The estate lawyer must have gotten his juris doctorate alongside a master's in impeccable fucking timing, because that was when he decided to make his entrance.

"I'm sorry for the wait, everyone." He announced. "And I'm sorry for having to pull you aside in your hour of mourning. Usually the last will and testament is handled through email to the beneficiaries, but your grandmother was quite adamant it be approached this way."

"That definitely sounds like her." You said, exchanging glances with Hannibal. You'd talked about this for what felt like hours the week prior. She was going to pull some last-minute bullshit to humiliate you from beyond the grave. Give all the inheritance to Anna and leave a snide comment about you in a legal document. You knew it was coming. All you could hope was for it to be quick.

The lawyer pulled an envelope from his briefcase. "She specifically asked for her two living grandchildren and their significant others to be present."

"Did she say it like that?" Anna raised an eyebrow. "Or was it more like, 'Anna and her husband, and [F/N] and her therapist'?"

"Mrs. Young," Hannibal said, taking your hand. "Until you tell your husband about pineapple, you aren't allowed to judge us."

Anna glared at you. "What the hell? He knows, too?!"

"Yeah." You answered. "I tell him everything."

"Okay, who or what is pineapple?" Liam interjected. "And why do I get the feeling I'm the only one not in the know, here?"

"That's cause you are." You confirmed. "And you have your lovely wife to thank for that."

"Everyone!" The lawyer called out. Clearly, he'd seen his share of dysfunctional families. "Please, let me just read the will and you can continue arguing afterwards."

"Y'know what? Fair enough." You said, crossing your legs. "Let's rip off this band-aid, shall we?"

The lawyer opened the envelope and produced a single page. He cleared his throat.

"I, Beatrice [L/N], being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath all my worldly possessions-" He began reading the long first sentence. "Including but not limited to, a collective sum of $45 million, the family home and my shares of the country club, to the first of my granddaughters to give birth."

You expected nothing. You expected something. But you never could have expected this.

"Can you please read that last part again?" You asked, unsure if what you heard was the result of a stroke.

"The entire inheritance goes to the first one of you to have a baby." The lawyer clarified, trying to make it sound like a reasonable arrangement.

"That makes sense." Anna said, nodding.

You looked at her, dumbfounded. "How in the fuck on fire does that make sense to you?"

"Well, the money would be going to a good cause." She rationalized. "To raise the baby, right?"

You shook your head. "No, this is insane. Grandma has always had this weird obsession with bloodlines, and now she's trying to incentivize us to carry it out."

"What happens if neither of us can, y'know?" Anna asked.

The lawyer pushed his glasses up his nose. "If neither granddaughter is willing to produce a child, the entire inheritance will go to the Eagle Forum, so my ungrateful grandchildren can learn about family values."

"She hated the Eagle Forum!" Anna objected. "She wouldn't dare."

"She absolutely would." You pressed your fingers into your forehead. "That's upper-class white moderates for you. And she doesn't have to be around to see when they name a fucking wing after her."

"The Beatrice [L/N] center for denying women bodily autonomy." Hannibal said. "It's quite fitting."

"[F/N], we can't let that happen." Anna pleaded. "We can't let Eagle Forum get a penny of that money."

"Why the hell not?" You said. Though on principle, you agreed, you knew this was just another one of your grandmother's power grabs. At the end of the day, she chose to leave her money to the Eagle Forum. And it would be her name on that check, not yours.

"Oh my god, you actually hate babies more than you hate conservatives." Anna stood with her mouth agape.

"Don't put words in my mouth." You snapped. "I don't hate babies. I hate grandma for trying to threaten me into having one. I hate grandma for pinning us against each other and making sure it stays that way."

"What do you have against giving me a little niece or nephew, huh?" Anna folded her arms.

"I'm fucking done." You said, throwing up your hands. "This will be the last you ever see of me."

Of course, that's what you said the last time.

[lamelinam]

The maid and the Cat, Ren and Akira: some musings

What gloomy love brightened the half-lives of the Sohmas’ most Cursed ones?

I often wonder what the relationship between the former Cat and his attendant would have looked like, twisted and sad as it must have been. Precious little is shown about those two, and only through Kazuma’s pov. We know she took care of and pitied the Cat, to the point that she even slept with him and bore his child. This is not unlike Kureno’s relationship with Akito. She might have treated him with the same kindness and devotion, distant, perhaps harmful, yet selfless.

Selfless? I think another way to extrapolate on the story of Kazuma’s grandparents is with Ren and Akira’s relationship.

Many great meta writers have already pointed out that those who fill in the positions at the extremes of the Sohma hierarchy, the Cat and God, or in this case the Cat and the idolized, deified family head, are foils to each other and are the ones that are dehumanized and isolated the most.

But now I think that you can also compare the way the previous Cat and Akira both chose ("chose" being a relative term in the case of the Cat) a romantic partner.

(Akira wasn’t God, but as the family head, he was worshipped just like Akito. His sickness also contributed to making him stand apart. Not only was he kept inside the compound because of his frailty, the hold that death had on him blessed him with this ephemeral, divine aura. “Was it the sorrow that befell him at such a young age that gave him that otherworldly beauty?»)

Both Kazuma’s grandfather and Akito’s father were doomed, Akira to die an early death, Kazuma’s grandfather to live the life of a living dead. Both were buried alive in the Sohma estate, either at the outskirts or at the center of it.

Both reached out to their progeny. (But Kazuma rejected the offered cake, and will endeavour to atone and honour his grandfather’s memory. Akito clung to every memento she had of her father and will need to learn to let go of him.)

And both the previous Cat and Akira found some measure of comfort in the affections and arms of their female caretakers, Sohma servants who saw their loneliness and expressed their compassion, though not in a particularly healthy way: Kazuma’s grandmother acting out of pity, Ren out of obsessive love.

It’s interesting to me how their respective position was reflected in their partners’ feelings : the imprisoned, despised Cat, Kazuma’s grandmother looked down on. The respected, otherworldly beautiful Akira was adored by Ren.

Kazuma sums up his grandparents’ relationship thusly:

Those correspond to the main "duties" that a wife is traditionally supposed to provide her husband.

The day-to-day caring.

Childbearing.

Attending their husband’s deathbed.

Obviously Ren wished she could have skipped the second one and be there for the last one. (I headcanon that she had prepared her last words years in advance, finding small pleasures and comfort, on the back of the wave of despair anticipating Akira’s death, in rehearsing the declarations of passionate love she would address to the dying man.)

The Cat’s companion attended her partner’s deathbed, seemingly very composed, even cold, as seen in Kazuma’s memories, while Ren, deprived of her husband’s last moments, that she felt were “stolen” from her by Akito (in reality by the maids :@), was mad with grief.

"The only one who can save him"

Those parallels make me wonder whether or not the Cat’s companion might not have developed a saviour complex, like Ren, both believing that they were the only one able to save this lonely, condemned person they were taking care of, and relishing it.

“I love you” vs "I pity you"

On Ren’s side though, it seems that she believes she truly saw Akira, as the person hiding behind that otherworldly aura, filled with sadness and fearful of death. Seeing that Akira agrees with her ("Ren noticed I was lonely"), fought against the Sohma leaders and regretted on his deathbed that he and Ren couldn’t reconcile, I believe this is not a delusion of hers. Her love was genuine and passionate, and she and Akira were happy. Unfortunately, that happiness didn’t survive her pregnancy, for she was also jealous and obsessed.

Kazuma supposes that his grandmother believed that she was doing something good. I wonder at her expression. It is shadowed, enigmatic. Is it a smirk or not, is she sad or not? i wonder whether she was selfless in her pity, like Kureno, or selfish like Kagura, perhaps feeling better by «sacrificing» herself in associating with the Cat for the sake of a miserable soul.

(Whatever you can say or imagine about her, Kazuma doesn’t seem to suffer from the stigma of being the Cat’s grandson, nor does he bear any trace of an abusive upbringing - in fact, he was among those doing the abusing - or even the echoes of the previous generation’s, so my guess is that she was an okay mother and grandmother... which would have made Kazuma’s disappointment and hurt at her words all the sharper... Like Tohru thinking of the zodiacs members she finds so kind and adorable secretly looking down on someone else she realizes she cares about more than she thought.)

There is no way to know how the Cat reacted to a pity-love. But considering Kureno and Akito’s relationship, this might also have been but a superficial balm, and potentially just as hurtful. Then it depends on the interpretation. Kureno’s pity cocooned Akito and kept her from moving forward, but the Cat was condemned anyway to an eternity of imprisonment. Moving forward was forbidden to him. And if his self-worth was already completely destroyed as his role and his treatment are meant to do, he might have just felt grateful towards the attendant. There’s no way to say for sure whether he would have been hurt or not by the truth, and I don’t know which option is the saddest!

... but I know what could be sadder. Because is the maid entirely to blame? We know that in Fruits Basket, love requires a measure of selfishness. The one cursed with the Cat has no self, no existence, no wants and no future, and they accept this fate. They believe they deserve it. (Which is why the Cat's Room doesn't need bars in the manga, nor locks. Rin was under lock and keys because either Akito didn't completely trust her to keep her word or she didn't want someone to discover her.)

It would be very difficult for someone to fall in love with a person who has renounced to everything, perhaps including love. Because who's to say that the Cat loved the maid too?

Recognition vs indifference

How depressingly fitting that we don't even learn the Cat's name, while Akira’s is remembered by all and echoes back and forth in the later part of the story.

Ren marrying the Sohma family head was such a big political deal it provoked a family schism. The Cat’s story with the maid gets completely ignored. It is probably known, just not "officially recognized", says Kazuma. Like everything related to the Cat, it was relegated to the back of the minds, in the dusty closet of the things that are uncomfortable to think about but that you tolerate if it doesn’t upend your little world-view. Ugh, some maid is being inappropriate with that monster! Well, as long as she doesn’t free the loathsome creature, who cares. (And she wouldn’t, because she’s no Tohru.)

In contrast, the maids of the main family thought that Ren was stealing Akira from their grasp. Ren didn’t seem to care for the family, and in a way, her love allowed Akira to also escape from them, "snatched away" by "that woman”, for the old attendant. Unlike the Cat’s attendant, Ren felt like a threat to the Sohma strict hierarchical system. (Fortunately, God will be born to bring back the right order of things, phew! Certainly she he will accomplish what Akira-san was momentarily too misguided to do and rid us of that woman!)

Inheritance.

Both women's profession of their true feelings deeply marked their progeny and the way they view relationship, whether personal or not, romantic or filial.

While her mother affirmed that "a woman only needs one man", Akito leaned on the love of the zodiacs ; Kazuma viewed and loved Kyo as a human and dreaded that his son would find himself in the same situation as his grandfather but also with the same kind of companionship. (His reaction to Kagura speaks of a long-held anxiety). But Ren's hatred for Akito coloured the way Akito interpreted her words, while Kazuma’s grandmother’s declaration shook Kazuma, his personal relationship with his grandmother notwithstanding.

This comparison isn't about good or evil, neither to judge those characters. Furuba isn’t about that. Obviously, they are not blameless. But it is very difficult to say whether or not Kazuma’s grandmother was wrong to act out of pity if it provided a bit of comfort to a prisoner. And is it surprising that Ren developed this saviour’s complex when it seems she was the only one willing to breach Akira’s isolation bubble?

Anyway, Takaya-sensei is really good at making foils. Either because she does it on purpose or because her characters are so deeply intertwined with the themes of the series the parallels appear on their own. But in this case, I don’t think it’s for nothing that the chapters recounting Ren and the Cat’s attendant stories follow each other (chapters 114 and 115).

Of course, this meta is less an analysis and more suppositions and conjectures (frankly, I wonder if I might not as well have written a fanfic). From the little we see, the Cat’s companion and Ren work as distorted yin-yang mirrors, their differences highlighting the similarities of their situations, from the ugly effects of the inner workings of the Sohma cult to the messed up inner workings of the heart. Genuine but obsessed, jealous love... Pity, perhaps self-serving, in the guise of martyred love.... One thing I can say for sure is that these two both gave me chills in their own way.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

(pt 1) i really enjoy all your atla analyses & you've done a great job breaking down the usual arguments re how eip shows that kataang shouldn't have happened. i'm curious about your take on one specific argument that i just saw today, in an analysis of the show by a zker that was otherwise quite good and respectful (i know you've already talked about eip a lot, so no problem if you don't feel like rehashing). the premise: aang didn't just pressure katara in eip, he threatened her.

(pt 2) they point to when katara joins aang & asks if he’s alright: “aang: no, i’m not! i hate this play! katara: i know it’s upsetting, but it sounds like you’re overreacting. aang: overreacting? if i hadn’t blocked my chakra, i’d probably be in the avatar state right now!” the suggestion is he’s threatening her when he says ‘i’d probably be in the avatar state right now’ to describe his anger. i think this take exaggerates and oversimplifies it, but interested in your thoughts on it.

Hello my friend!! It is true I am Old inside and don’t like rehashing dhdlksjslks BUT your comments on my posts are always incredibly kind and insightful so I am more than willing to do a bit of rehashing for you 🥰 Besides! I’ve seen this general take before a few times and it’s always irked me for the exact reason you point out - it simultaneously exaggerates and oversimplifies the situation (and honestly that’s an impressive duality since it’s seemingly contradictory, so hats off to them lmaooo) - and now is as good a time as any to address it. So, for starters, let’s go ahead and get the excerpt they love to focus on so much:

Cut to Aang standing alone on a balcony. Katara enters and walks up to him.

Katara: Are you all right?

Aang: [Angered.] No, I’m not! I hate this play! [Yanks his hat off and throws it on the ground.]

Katara: I know it’s upsetting, but it sounds like you’re overreacting.

Aang: Overreacting? If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!

Here’s the thing about so-called analyses of this excerpt: in a manner extremely convenient to the poster, they never seek to contextualize this moment. (I mean, to do so would deplatform their entire “argument” - perhaps that’s why they avoid performing a full analysis?) So let’s avoid that pitfall from the start.

Firstly, below are some links to related posts; I’m going to do my best to summarize the most relevant parts, but for anyone who desires greater detail, I gotchu 😤

This post explains why EIP (the play, lol) is imperialist propaganda and is intended to belittle the entire Gaang.

This post explains how Aang never acted “entitled” to Katara’s affections, particularly in regard to EIP.

This post breaks down the infamous EIP kiss like Snopes Fact Checker, covering common misconceptions, important perspectives to consider, etc.

Alright. With that out the way, it’s time for some context.

Aang and Katara have this conversation on the balcony after watching 95% of “The Boy in the Iceberg,” a play chock-full of Fire Nation propaganda that demeans the entire Gaang in order to prop up the Fire Nation as superior (hence why the play ends with Ozai’s victory). Here is my general breakdown of Aang and Katara’s treatment in particular from a previous post:

- katara, an indigenous woman, is highly sexualized and portrayed as overly dramatic and tearful, because the fire nation objectifies women not of their own people and views them as less intelligent and less emotionally stable

- aang, the avatar, the sole survivor of the fire nation’s genocide of the air nomads who is incredibly in-touch with his spirituality and femininity, is portrayed as an overly-airy and immature woman. the fire nation portrays him with a female actor to demean him (like, that’s classic imperialistic propagandist tactics) and furthermore writing his character as a childish airhead reinforces the fire nation sentiment that the air nomads were weak, foolish people who did not deserve to exist in their world

In other words, these kids have just watched almost an entire play that preys upon their insecurities and depicts them using racist and sexist stereotypes about their respective nations. It is completely understandable that tensions might run a little high and that their interactions would not be as balanced as usual (Katara and Aang have a great track record of communicating well with each other, as it happens!).

So we have to keep that in mind when examining the aforementioned excerpt. But there are other factors to consider, too! Namely: they are kids. Children. Teens. Aang is 12, Katara is 14.

If we want to be scientific, a person’s brain doesn’t finish developing until they are 25, lmao, and the preteen/teen years are when the prefrontal cortex that controls “rationality,” “judgement,” “forethought,” etc. is still developing. This doesn’t mean Aang and Katara are irrational and make poor decisions 24/7 (obviously not), but it does mean that in an intense, highly emotional situation, like after watching a play that intentionally demeans them and depicts them as inferior, they are more likely to overreact, more likely to be emotional, and more likely to make mistakes. Like, I’m serious, lol. “Teens process information with the amygdala.” That’s part of the brain that helps control emotions! It’s why teens sometimes struggle to articulate what we’re thinking, especially in situations that require instinct/impulse and quick decisions, because we’re really feeling whenever we make those choices. Acting more on emotion. Our brains simply haven’t finished developing the decision-making parts, lmao.

In sum: Aang and Katara are both kids, not adults, and should be interpreted as such. This doesn’t negate their intelligence, because they are both incredibly smart and Aang is arguably the wisest of the Gaang, but they are human. Young humans. They have emotions, and we should not be so cruel as to assume they’d never act on them.

So taking that all together, we can now acknowledge the high stress Aang and Katara are under, understand why they might be upset (*cough* imperialist propaganda is hurtful *cough*), and examine how their youth might play into their emotional reactions. And funny thing - all analyses that come to the conclusion of Aang “threatening” Katara here do not usually bother with this context. I can’t imagine why!

And you know what, let’s add one more piece of context: Sokka states that Aang left the theater “like, ten minutes ago,” which is what cues Katara to go look for him on the balcony. The reason I mention this line is because to me, it suggests Aang knew he was more worked up than usual! He chose to separate himself from his friends so he could process his frustration! He did not take his anger at the play out on them; instead, he purposefully took time and space to be alone.

With that in mind, I don’t understand at all how Aang’s Avatar state quote could be interpreted as a threat? Canonly, Aang is someone who was aware enough of his frustration to separate himself from the others - yet the logical next step is him threatening Katara as a result? He knew his intense emotions were because of the play (which he says himself), so the logical conclusion is that he then pinned the fault on Katara? What?? Sorry, that interpretation has no textual basis, lmao. But I digress!

Aang tells Katara, “If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!” As you said, this is the line people point to in an attempt to justify their (baseless) conclusion that Aang is “threatening” Katara. So let’s bring in the two key pieces of context: imperialist propaganda and age. Given that Aang is 12, and given that Aang has just watched almost a full play that demeans him and everything his people stood for (and let’s not forget it also mocks his and Katara’s love for each other)…

His reaction is understandable. An exaggeration and needlessly dramatic, but understandable. He feels vulnerable and insecure and Aang is human. He is human and flawed and he overreacts here and I love that A:TLA shows how even our heroes, even people who are truly good at heart and in soul, can get overly upset (especially given the aforementioned circumstances!). Would Aang actually be in the Avatar state at that moment, had it been possible? Of course not! He’s young and he’s hurt and as such he says something dramatic to convey his anxieties and frustrations. The line is not meant to be taken literally, and seeing people do so despite all the factors that should be taken into consideration when analyzing it… Cue a long, tired sigh from me and so many other A:TLA fans.

And to be honest? I cannot fathom how people watch this episode and come to the conclusion that Aang is “threatening” Katara. To me, this episode - besides being a recap episode - is one that humanizes our cast even further. Aang snaps at Katara, kisses her when he shouldn’t (which the story appropriately treats as wrong). Katara pushes down her true feelings and retreats into herself, afraid to start a relationship with the boy she loves because she’s already lost him once before and can’t bear to do so again. Zuko further confronts the hurt he’s enacted upon others, especially upon Iroh. Toph practices being vulnerable and accepting vulnerability from others by conversing with Zuko. Sokka witnesses how others have erased his contributions and labelled him as nothing more than the token nonbender in the group. Even Suki learns that she is not the only person who holds a place in Sokka’s heart and that she can never replace what he has lost.

To watch this episode where our heroes must come to terms with how the Fire Nation deems them inherently inferior, with how they have more fights to overcome in the future with the Fire Nation than a single war, and to come to the conclusion that… that what, Aang is abusive? A monster? Irredeemable? That he would threaten his best friend, someone he loves in every way?

Wow. That says more than enough about the viewer, doesn’t it?

[bloody-bee-tea]

JC Love Month 2020  Day 7

Family’s Obligation

Day 7 of JC Love Month brings some modern Lan Qiren feels, who doesn’t even try to hide that Jiang Cheng is his favourite student. Warning for some shitty, shitty parenting from JFM and YZY, I guess.

Jiang Cheng is sitting in Headmaster Lan Qiren’s office and he really wishes he could be anywhere else.

“Are you in pain?” Lan Qiren asks him and Jiang Cheng looks down at his bandaged wrists.

The nurse thinks it’s broken, so she recommended a trip to the hospital to get it checked out even though she already bandaged it and Jiang Cheng is just waiting for his parents to pick him up.

Or at least Lan Qiren is waiting for that.

Jiang Cheng knows better than to expect them to come for him.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Cheng says, even though it’s still throbbing painfully.

Lan Qiren seems to be able to look right through him, because he gets up and hands Jiang Cheng another cold compress. Jiang Cheng doesn’t even know where he got it from, but he gratefully takes it anyway.

“You should speak the truth if you are in discomfort or pain,” Lan Qiren chastises him as he sits back down and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

It’s not like people in his household usually care much if he’s hurt or not, his siblings not counting.

And speaking of siblings—

“Where’s Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Cheng asks and he thinks that he can see a vein throb on Lan Qiren’s temple.

“That hellion ran away after what he did,” Lan Qiren presses out and Jiang Cheng is just about to protest, because there was a whole gang of Jin’s after him, when Lan Qiren pinches the bridge of his nose. “And it was probably the smart thing to do as well,” he sighs. “Still, he’ll have to come in eventually and I’ll have to punish him for what he did.”

Jiang Cheng would protest that as well—Wei Wuxian was only defending him after all, and he was not the first one to throw a punch—but Jin Zixun has been kicked out of the school, so whatever punishment Wei Wuxian will get, it will probably be a lot better than that.

“Thank you for kicking Jin Zixun out,” Jiang Cheng mutters and Lan Qiren levels him with a look.

“He attacked three different students, was entirely disrespectful towards your sister and your brother, seriously injured you, threatened your family and broke so many rules that I won’t bother reciting them all now. Of course I wouldn’t tolerate that.”

“And Wei Wuxian—?” Jiang Cheng dares to ask, because Lan Qiren seems to be in a talkative mood at the moment.

“As much as I don’t like him and his insolvent behaviour I have to admit that it was good of him to stand up for you and Jiang Yanli. He certainly has the right values, unlike other people in this school,” Lan Qiren spits out and it’s no secret that he holds no love for the Wen or Jin heirs.

“He’ll have to copy the rules,” Lan Qiren says after a moment of deliberation and Jiang Cheng raises his eyebrow.

That seems like a very lenient punishment, especially coming from Lan Qiren.

“I guess Wangji will have to oversee it,” Lan Qiren goes on and suddenly Jiang Cheng’s eyes burn.

Everyone in this school knows that Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are so very desperately in love with each other and it must have reached Lan Qiren’s ears as well.

This is no punishment at all. It’s a reward.

And since Lan Qiren holds no love for Wei Wuxian this must be a reward for Wei Wuxian because he came to Jiang Cheng’s defence.

It’s like an unspoken secret that Lan Qiren holds a soft spot for Jiang Cheng, even though Jiang Cheng himself could never figure out why the hell that would be the truth, but it seems like everyone else was right. Jiang Cheng never dared to believe it, even when Lan Qiren checks in him personally at least once a week, and when Jiang Cheng’s parents forgot to pick him up, Jiang Cheng got to do his homework in Lan Qiren’s office.

Still, Jiang Cheng always thought he was just being a decent person to a sad, lost boy, but it seems like everyone was in fact right when they say that Jiang Cheng is Lan Qiren’s favourite.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Lan Qiren strokes his goatee, clearly uncomfortable with Jiang Cheng’s expression of gratitude.

“Where are your parents?” he asks instead of letting the moment turn more awkward than it already way, and every warm feeling flees Jiang Cheng’s body.

He had called them from the infirmary, but he hadn’t reached them. Jiang Cheng suspects that they chose to ignore him, rather than missed his call, because he called both his parent’s work phones.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I couldn’t reach them.”

“Are they at home?” Lan Qiren demands to know and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

He hasn’t seen either of his parents for the past few days, but he’s not going to mention that to Lan Qiren now.

“I think they are at work. There is some big deal going down if I’m not mistaken,” Jiang Cheng finally says and Lan Qiren nods, though he seems anything but happy about it.

“I see,” he says and then reaches for the phone.

It’s enough to startle Jiang Cheng into motion, because if Lan Qiren calls them then his parents will think Jiang Cheng did something wrong and he doesn’t want to hear their reaction to that.

“Please, don’t,” he says, before Lan Qiren can dial a number and he freezes in his movement.

“What?” he asks.

“Don’t call them. I can just go home by bus, it’s no problem,” Jiang Cheng desperately tries.

“You’re supposed to go to the hospital, not home,” Lan Qiren sternly tells him and then simply dials the number.

“They won’t come,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and Lan Qiren’s eyes snap to him.

“Headmaster Lan, what did Wei Wuxian do now?” Madam Yu’s voice rings out from the speaker and Jiang Cheng tries his best to melt into the seat.

“This is about your son,” Lan Qiren says and there’s a beat of silence.

“What did he do?” Madam Yu asks and whereas she sounded annoyed the first time, there’s real anger in her voice now.

“He got hurt,” Lan Qiren says with a frown and Madam Yu sighs.

“Is he alright?” she asks, and Jiang Cheng’s hand clenches around the cold compress.

His wrist hurts, and with his luck it’s more damaged than just bruised, and his mother is not going to care beyond the fact that he can’t work at his intern job in the company.

“His wrist got injured. A trip to the hospital is advisable,” Lan Qiren tells her.

“If it’s only his wrist, he can take the bus. My son is not so weak that he needs to be coddled. He can take care of himself. He better got that by beating someone else up,” Madam Yu says and Jiang Cheng wishes she would stop talking.

“Madam Yu!” Lan Qiren says in outrage but Madam Yu doesn’t seem to care that much.

“Is he there?” she asks and Lan Qiren expectantly looks at Jiang Cheng.

“Yes, mother,” he dutifully says.

“What happened?” she asks and Jiang Cheng tries to hide his wince but going by the twitch in Lan Qiren’s brow he doesn’t know how successful he is.

“Jin Zixun said something mean to Yanli so I tried to make him stop,” he sums it up and Jiang Cheng goes cold at the answering silence.

“And?” Madam Yu icily asks after a moment.

“And then Jin Zixun almost broke my wrist,” Jiang Cheng goes on.

“Wei Wuxian?” Madam Yu wants to know and Jiang Cheng shrinks even more in on himself.

“Came to my help.”

“Is he hurt?”

“Not that I know of,” Jiang Cheng says and he knows what’s coming next.

“Then you are not, either. I expect you at work later this afternoon,” Madam Yu says and Jiang Cheng hangs his head.

“Yes, mother,” he agrees and Madam Yu hangs up without another word.

There’s only the beeping sound for a horrible long time and then Lan Qiren lets out a long, long breath.

“Does that mean she’s not coming?” he then asks, voice carefully controlled and Jiang Cheng nods miserably.

“Your father?” Lan Qiren asks then and Jiang Cheng is quick to shake his head.

“He will go looking for Wei Wuxian, claiming that it’s more important since we know that I am fine, but the same can’t be said about Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng predicts and is very grateful when Lan Qiren doesn’t pick up the phone to verify.

“Is it always like that?” Lan Qiren carefully asks and Jiang Cheng is very ashamed when he bursts into tears.

But it’s just all too much; the whole day has been a rollercoaster of emotions starting with the anger towards Jin Zixun and the adrenalin and then he got hurt and Wei Wuxian came to his rescue and now this whole mess.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how to handle any of this at all.

He startles badly when someone awkwardly pats his shoulder but when he realizes that it’s just Lan Qiren he almost leans into him. Jiang Cheng wonders which one of them feels more awkward about this, but he can’t bring himself to care, at least not right now.

“Jiang Wanyin, is it always like that?” Lan Qiren asks again and this time Jiang Cheng nods.

“I haven’t seen either of them for a couple of days. I know they are home sometimes, but mother goes to talk to Yanli and father goes to talk to Wei Wuxian and then there’s simply no time for me. Father would drop everything to search the whole town for Wei Wuxian but driving me to the hospital would be a chore. Caring for me is an obligation neither of them know how to handle, and by now I am not expecting anything anymore,” it bursts out of Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t get much for his position as an intern, but what he gets he saves. When he turns eighteen he’ll be out of his family home immediately and he doesn’t think his parents will notice for at least a week.

It’s a thought Jiang Cheng tries to push very far away.

Lan Qiren is very quiet at his side and Jiang Cheng is afraid to even look at him, too scared to see what his reaction is to that, so when Lan Qiren puts his hand more firmly on his shoulder, Jiang Cheng is startled.

“Get up, we’re driving to the hospital,” Lan Qiren says and Jiang Cheng is left staring after him, because immediately after his declaration Lan Qiren left the office, talking to his secretary.

Jiang Cheng isn’t entirely sure how he ended up in Lan Qiren’s car, but he’s there before he can gather a coherent thought.

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Jiang Cheng says as Lan Qiren already starts the car and Lan Qiren silences him with a look.

That does nothing to Jiang Cheng. Madam Yu is his mother, he’s used to much worse.

“Really, you must be busy. There must be other things you need to do,” Jiang Cheng insists, but Lan Qiren shakes his head.

“There is nothing more important than making sure that you are alright, do you understand me?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng has nothing else to say to that, so they spent the rest of the drive to the hospital in a tense silence.

Lan Qiren stays by his side through the whole examination and when the doctor asks Jiang Cheng if it’s okay to tell him the results in front of Lan Qiren who is neither a parent nor a guardian, Jiang Cheng simply nods.

Lan Qiren feels very much like both of these things in the moment and Jiang Cheng is not at all sure how to deal with that.

“Your wrist is broken,” the doctor tells him then and Jiang Cheng slumps, because of course it is.

Nothing can ever be easy for him.

They put a cast on his arm and then Jiang Cheng is back in Lan Qiren’s car, when Jiang Cheng’s phone rings.

He accepts the call when he sees that it’s Wei Wuxian.

“Where are you?” is the first thing Wei Wuxian asks him and Jiang Cheng snorts much to Lan Qiren’s dislike it seems.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Jiang Cheng gives back but Wei Wuxian sounds worried and Jiang Cheng is not liking it.

“Listen, I managed to run away from the Jins but I had an encounter with Wen Chao,” Wei Wuxian says and Jiang Cheng winces.

Wen Chao is nothing more than a slimy bastard, but he always has Wen Zhuliu around and he’s a real piece of work.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Cheng asks, because of course Wei Wuxian would go straight from the fire into the frying pan.

“A little roughed up. Got a nice shiner. Do you think Lan Zhan will kiss it better?” Wei Wuxian asks and Jiang Cheng wonders if Lan Qiren will pop a vein with how angry he seems at hearing that.

“What do I care?” Jiang Cheng gives back, but if Wei Wuxian is hurt, he can guess where this is going.

“A-Cheng, I don’t think you should be coming home today,” Wei Wuxian says just on cue and of course.

His father thinks it’s Jiang Cheng’s fault Wei Wuxian got hurt, and his mother thinks the opposite, so they are fighting again.

“Bad?” Jiang Cheng wants to know even though he damn well knows the answer.

“I’m going to stay with Wen Qing tonight, and shijie is with Jin Zixuan, so—,” Wei Wuxian trails off and that means it’s more than bad.

“Fine, I’ll find a place to stay,” Jiang Cheng sighs, even though dread curls in his gut.

He’s not quite as lucky as Wei Wuxian or Jiang Yanli with his friends. His only real friend is Nie Huaisang and he and his brother are out of town at the moment.

Jiang Cheng guesses he could beg Jin Zixuan to let him take the couch but he doesn’t want to ruin his sister’s evening and Jiang Cheng would rather sleep on the streets than room with Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian.

“Take care,” Wei Wuxian says and then simply hangs up on him.

“What was that?” Lan Qiren demands to know and Jiang Cheng startles, because over his own dilemma he almost forgot that they are in his car.

“The usual,” Jiang Cheng tries, but Lan Qiren levels him with a look and Jiang Cheng deflates.

“My father thinks Wei Wuxian’s injury is my fault because I started it, so he is mad at me. My mother can’t stand it when he is mad at me instead of Wei Wuxian, so she gets in these really vicious fights with him and if that happens it’s really best if none of us are home,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug.

“Where will you stay?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng admires him for everything that he so clearly wanted to say and still swallowed.

There’s no way that was his first thought to this.

“Don’t know yet,” Jiang Cheng gets out with a desperate smile. “I’m gonna find a place.”

Lan Qiren looks at him as if he can tell exactly that Jiang Cheng is most likely not going to find a place and then he sighs.

“You’re coming with me,” Lan Qiren decides and Jiang Cheng gapes at him.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You’re not going to sleep on the streets or whatever you are thinking,” Lan Qiren almost snaps at him as if he’s offended even thinking about it. “I have a guest room and you’re going to use it.”

Jiang Cheng opens his mouth to argue, but then he realizes that there isn’t much he can argue against. It will most likely be awkward as hell, but Jiang Cheng is out of options, so really, what is he going to say to that.

Jiang Cheng tries not to gape when they come to stop in front of a huge house, because this neighbourhood is even nicer than Jiang Cheng’s own, and he only drags his eyes away from the house when Lan Qiren turns towards him.

“Jiang Wanyin,” he starts and Jiang Cheng dreads whatever comes out of his mouth next. “I have a spare key and you’re going to take it,” Lan Qiren tells him then and before Jiang Cheng can protests, a key is being pressed into his uninjured hand.

“What?” Jiang Cheng very dumbly asks but he doesn’t understand what’s happening right now.

“If that is a regular occurrence, I never want you to fret over where you’ll stay,” Lan Qiren says with vehemence. “If you can’t stay at friends of yours, then you’ll come here. I have a spare room and no one who uses it and if I hear you’re sleeping on the streets or something equally outrageous then I’m going to drag you here by your ear.”

Jiang Cheng has to blink very fast at that, because his vision gets blurry and he thinks bursting into tears right now is only going to make Lan Qiren retract his offer.

“And if you ever need a place just to get away from your parents, even for just an hour, you also come here,” Lan Qiren goes on and Jiang Cheng is quick to nod, because if he already accepted, Lan Qiren can’t take it back anymore.

“Alright,” Lan Qiren says and squeezes his shoulder once before he gets out of the car.

He gives Jiang Cheng some time to compose himself, but when he finally follows Lan Qiren into the house and has to use the key to enter, Jiang Cheng bursts into tears again, because a very small part of him thought that maybe Lan Qiren was just fucking with him.

It’s almost not at all awkward when Lan Qiren hugs him, and even if it was, Jiang Cheng wouldn’t mention it.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

It’s really nice to be held.

Next part

[lilyclawthorne]

Escaping Expulsion Thoughts (once again very stream of conscious-like while i rewatched the episode so there’s a bunch of stuff here)

i fucking knew odalia was gonna be an oracle, i knew and i hate that for her family. i’m not sure if this necklace thing is specifically a form of oracle magic or not but im assuming it is, and either way the second i saw it happen that made my stomach twist. the fact that she just keeps this direct line to her daughter at all times feels so disturbing

so, i get that the joke with glyph lessons here is that eda and lilith are probably acting the exact same way they did when they were younger, but it does also feel a little odd for me. in my post for episode 1 i talked about how it felt like lilith probably missed the structure of the coven, and maybe even having an authority figure, and it does concern me a bit that it could be projected on to luz here. 

also, i saw someone mention that they thought lilith could be regressing a bit, which is interesting seeing as she’s been in the coven since basically being a child and now that she’s out, she could be going backwards because that was probably the last time she had a personality of her own instead of one that was carefully crafted to be socially acceptable for others. and to be fair, the few moments in season 1 when we see glimpses into the true lilith, she is pretty childish.

anyways lilith has such pretty handwriting i love it

gus!! witch puberty!! do not worry buddy eda will get your name eventually. probably.

amity went out and murdered those fairies for luz didn’t she

i need to know why the heck bump has no choice in the matter of the expulsion. typically a pta (or pca in this case) wouldn’t have power that much stronger than the principa?? so i wonder if the blights have something over bump, or if its even just something such as donation money they’d withdraw

odalia blight you gaslighting bitch “I’m appalled you’re not in class right now what are you thinking” YOU MADE HER COME HERE

PLEASE i know gus and willow are sad here but the whole “live off the land” thing and “water you one last time, with my tears” are so fucking funny ok

GO LUZ, YOU TELL OFF ODALIA

i feel like alador doesn’t really care what’s going on and just wants to be back home making his abomination inventions, also he seems to have an affinity for different creatures as well which is an interesting detail

i love that willow stated they would get back in on their own right in front of alador and odalia. these people fucked up her friendship and caused her a lot of trouble that she shouldn’t have had to deal with so i love that she’s unafraid to speak like that in front of them

between the first & second episode, and some of the seasons trailer, it seems like Lilith may have an affinity for ice magic? which is interesting seeing as eda was always a fan of her “spicy toss” aka some fire magic. interesting to see the two of them as fire & ice basically

i LOVE how much bump loves luz, willow, and gus. it’s kinda really sweet, but again it feels so concerning that he had no choice in the matter. makes me think he’s more likely to eventually rebel against the standards that have been in place for so long at some point. (also abominations coven for bump!! interesting!! i appreciate seeing the coven marks included on the adults so far)

what is it with these kids and being dragged off by their hoods in this episode

love that the blights address includes “right arm”, also i took a quick look up of the word “bruegal” which is boulevard they live on, and it’s probably just a coincidence but the first google result was actually for a european think tank that specializes in economics

yknow i actually have wondered about layering glyphs on top of each other and making a super glyph the way eda did, so good to know that would NOT work out

luz you’re really gonna give the blights their own flowers??????

it goes by so fast but please take a moment to take in and appreciate the design of that blight entry room/living room-esque area and it’s combination of abomination and oracle decor. also the blight family portrait.

i could talk about alador and odalia and their relationship dynamic here, when luz is meeting with them, but i think it’s best to save for the end, but i will say i don’t think it’s just odalia controlling everything (though she does control a lot) and alador just suffering and being silent. 

the more i stare at odalia’s hair the more i feel like she has an odd receding hairline

love that the abomination kept the cat shape luz gave it and that amity knew immediately from that

WILLOW’S DADS!!! I LOVE THEM! I love how much they want their daughter to have a great education even if they have to be the ones to do it! (even if it could come across as a little intense) Although, the fact that they’re prepared to teach plant magic to her makes me question why they put her in abominations once again. (wish we could’ve gotten a glimpse of their coven marks!)

odalia is definitely the one who handles more of the parenting and alador is more distant. at least that’s what i get based on the twins specifying to amity not to tell their mom specifically

absolutely insane that odalia is just letting the abomiton destroy the whole place to kill a child

“stay away from my luz!” oh my god,ohmy GOD 

i like how lilith can’t tell if these are normal noises or distress ones. really sums up life in the owl house. also lilith? kicking doors in?? this combined with “I AM A WITCH, UNHINGED” tells me she’ll be as chaotic as the rest of the owl house in no time and i am here for it.

the music when amity jumps in to protect luz is absolutely killing it here i need a soundtrack now

YES AMITY DESTROY THE NECKLACE (and oh god please don’t let odalia give you something even harder to remove or destroy)

Luz is blushing!! The feelings are starting to be returned!!!

“Luz, Willow, and Gus are my friends!” love it. love the open declaration. love that she’s telling her mother off. love that i have something to check off my bingo board already.

okay, i know a lot of people have already suggested that alador is smiling here because he can tell luz and amity like each other, but i’m pretty sure it’s only because he’s noticing how much amity’s magic has grown and improved

small detail but i love the smoke from the units order sign filling the background while odalia is fuming herself

oh? alador has had the ability to tell odalia off and successfully calm her down this whole time? and chose not to use it till now? yeah he sucks too. he very clearly has a plan for amity as much as odalia does as well, but he’s much better at seeing the long-term goal

“the glyph combo, copyright me, lilith” im screaming, lilith you DORK

ok i really wish eda or lilith asked where luz had been. i’d kill for these sisters to go off about how much they hated the alador and odalia in school, as well as threaten to hurt them for hurting luz.

the statue lilith made and her reaction to the gold star she received re-emphasizes my concern about her need for approval and for an authority figure. (ok but her noise at the gold star WAS very cute tho)

alright lets get down to business on the blight parents. so far i definitely do not view their relationship as being one-sided with odalia in control. honestly, i think they do have a sense of mutual respect for the other. to me it seems like all alador really wants to do is focus on his work and nothing else, and odalia seems not only more than happy to let him do so, but willing to take care of everything else the company needs, and he seems fine with that and going along with whatever because he only has to do his part. and clearly his abomination tech combined with her showmanship/advertising (and honestly probably some oracle magic) has clearly made them successful. 

so what im saying is that i think their power in their relationship is actually pretty balanced, if it looks otherwise that’s just because that’s how they best function together, with odalia being more forward and alador being more distant, and therefore they’re very much both to blame for shitty parenting. 

also I know some people have joked about the blight family name coming from odalia (which is also a dumb joke like why is it funny if the family name comes from the woman and not the man) but anyways I definitely do think blight is aladors family name and odalia married in simply because he takes the whole blights keep up their end of the deal thing much more seriously than odalia. probably something that’s been taught to him since he was a kid yknow, whereas she was super ready to ignore it when it inconvenienced her.

as for the very final scene with them and the golden guard, i had an interpretation of it that i saw, but it seems that everyone else ive see react to it so far saw something different than me so maybe i’m just plain wrong. but like, i have this feeling that maybe the blight parents, while they do want power, might not be as aligned with the emperor and his coven as we may think?? not saying they’re good people, just that there could be more going on here. but idk, i’ve seen no one else interpret it that way yet so i won’t go off about it unless either someone wants to know more of what i thought or if i ever actually make myself get around to making a separate post about it. 

[soyeahitsmiddleearth]

Dimension Jumping Pt. 5

Comforting a grieving hobbit and time get everyone ready to go out!

Via the genius idea from katzrfsoa / Kat88

There's been mention of the reader not wanting to take the groups out, for fear of the public's reaction... so what about a cosplay convention? it would give the Reader the perfect excuse to allow them out, and they would wear their original clothes 

----

This morning has been uneventful for the most part.

Breakfast passed by without issue and now everyone is off doing their own things.

You looked outside and took a peek in the guest room, but you still can't find him.

Sam, Merry, and Pippin are playing a board game you showed them; Legolas is doing his meditation sleep thing; Boromir and Aragorn are discussing something; and Gimli is stacking bread on Legolas' leg to see how long it takes until he notices.

Frodo, however, is missing at the moment.

Right as you were considering telling the others of his disappearance, however, you heard some shuffling from your hall closet.

You open the door carefully and take peer inside, not wanting to startle the small hobbit, and at first you don't see him.

There's more shuffling and you hear a quiet sniff, followed by soft sobs, and you then realize he's hiding behind the shelf.

The door makes a soft clicking sound when you close it, and right away the quiet cries cease. You didn't want to alert him with the door, you wanted to do it yourself, but it's too late now, so you just go with it.

"Frodo?" You call in a gentle voice, staying by the door incase he wants you to go.

"Y-Yes?' He calls back, not moving from his spot.

His voice is thick with emotion, and the sadness in his tone makes your heart ache painfully. And when you walk closer and see him huddled up behind the shelf, your heart breaks a little for him.

He hastily rids his cheeks of any evidence of his sorrows, though the puffiness around his eyes and constant sniffles don't much help his cause, and looks at you with a false smile.

"Frodo, why are you crying?" You ask with furrowed eyebrows, kneeling down in front of him so you may look at him at eye level (mostly).

"It's nothing." He tells you quickly, looking away from your compassionate face with the same sad frown on his lips.

When you don't move to get up or leave, his gaze slides back over to you and he realizes that you're not going to leave unless he straight up tells you to go away. This makes him sigh, but truthfully, he doesn't want you to go away. Not really. For having company in a time of sorrow always mends suffering.

"I... did not have a proper time to mourn Gandalf. I've been so caught up in the oddity that is this place that I almost forgot my sorrows altogether, but then this morning is all... came rushing back." He explains with a surprisingly even voice.

While he speaks you cross your legs and listen along intently, your hands folded neatly in your lap. When he finishes, you reach forward and place your hand atop his with a gentle touch, "I didn't know him, but I can tell he was very dear to you. Honestly, I can't offer much advice, but I can tell you that keeping it all bottled up inside is not a good idea."

He looks at you with that sad face when you speak, and it prompts you to continue, "Also, I know everyone else can be pretty overwhelming or they just don't understand, and I want you to know that I'm always here to listen if you're feeling down, okay?"

Your words draw a small smile from the grieving hobbit and it elicits a similar grin from you.

"Thank you, Y/N. I... actually do feel a little better."

"I'm glad."

---

After your discussion with Frodo you rejoin everyone back out in the main room and let him recollect himself, going right onto your laptop to get some work done.

You're idly scrolling through a scholarly article you need to research when you see it.

An advertisement for some sort of comic book, cosplay, convention... thing in the area (no wonder you've been seeing so many oddly dressed people recently).

At first you almost scroll past it, but then you get hit with the brick of knowledge and a lightbulb goes off in your head.

"Yes!" You scream, successfully scaring everyone in the room and Penny who is sitting with you for once. "Ohh, my god. This is freaking perfect!" You exclaim, clicking on the link to get some more information.

Your eyes practically soak up everything on the information page, and, once you've skimmed through all of it, you look up with a bright smile on your face.

Literally all of them are looking at you like you've grown two heads, but you only clap your hands together a few times. "Guys, I just had a huge brain moment!"

The joke goes over their heads as per usual, but you don't let that deter you.

"Huge brain moment?" Pippin asks in confusion, looking at his cousin like he thinks he heard it wrong or something.

"Yes! I've figured out a way to take everyone out!"

That certainly gets their attention.

"You have?" Sam asks exuberantly, dropping his game piece so he can turn towards you and pay perfect attention.

"I have, yes," you start, continuing once you're 100% sure they're all paying attention, "So here's the thing, I knew that I could take out you tall boi's without issue besides having to find a hat for Legolas here, and I could explain that Gimli here has dwarfism," you pause at that and realize it may be offensive to him, but you continue once more, "but I also knew that there's no way I can explain away the hobbits, and then I found this gem."

You turn the computer so it faces all of them, but they only look more confused.

"There's a convention thing in town for the next week, and it's the perfect opportunity for me to bring everyone out! We just have to dress up the hobbits a bit and pretend that they're children."

At your explanation you receive multiple pleased smiles, and it serves to make you feel even better about your idea. "And you can all wear your normal clothes, too. And if someone asks who you are... I'll figure out a game or something you guys can use as an alias."

"Are you sure that will work?" Aragorn asks with furrowed eyebrows, sitting up from his spot in your arm chair.

"Um, like, maybe 98%." You confirm with a shrug, "It's better than 88% though."

He doesn't seem like he disagrees with you, so you look back at your laptop again and start to look for ideas to make them more believable as humans.

---

3 hours of research later, and you've successfully compiled a completely fool proof plan to smuggle this merry band of bizarre boys out of your house.

What you've decided is that you'll put some makeup over Legolas' pointy ears to make them look more fake since the concept of elves is not lost in this world. Boromir and Aragorn can go as themselves, and you'll put some makeup on the hobbits much like you will Legolas (they'll be children elves since there are no hobbits in your world) and tell everyone who asks how they look so good that you're a professional makeup artist.

Gimli, fortunately for you, was the easiest to come up with something for next to the other two humans of this group. You can just tell people he has dwarfism and that's why he chose to go as a dwarf character.

Everything is in order except for what you're going to do, though you suppose you should match their theme and be some sort of renaissance, maiden, lady, thing. You'll figure it out, though you do need to make sure it's convincing like theirs.

You decided to, instead of putting it off, go ahead and start working on finding a costume to match theirs.

A couple of searches later and you come across a really pretty dress that looks to fit their style, and when you show it to them they give you the thumbs up, so you order it with express shipping so it should arrive tomorrow.

It's a lovely flowy medieval dress *just look up flowy medieval dress and go to images, there are some good examples there*, and you feel excited just looking at it. Of course, there's no guarantee that it'll be the best quality, but it's got great reviews and you certainly paid a hefty sum for it.

After that's done with you head to your bathroom to see what makeup you've got, and you find that you don't really have any theatrical/special effects makeup. You're going to need skin colored wax makeup, powders, and contour stuff.

You're no makeup artist, obviously, but luckily for you, your goal is to make them look less realistic, so it should be easy enough.

It's surprisingly easy to figure out what you need to make them as convincing as possible, and pretty soon you've got a nice little list going on that outlines each thing you need.

Since you don't want to delay anymore, you head out of your bathroom and grab your bag while putting on your shoes, "Legolas, I'm leaving now if you wanna come with." You suggest since he stated his desire to join you in the one of the last chapters (:o).

When you call his name he looks over at you quickly, smiling a bit at your offer, "Yes, but you said I need a hat."

"Oh yeah! I have one, just gimme a sec." You tell him, walking over to a drawer.

When you open said drawer, you find a grey beanie with ease and toss it over to him, "Here ya go. Make sure it covers your ears... and uh, tuck your hair up into it too if you don't mind."

He does as you say with ease and, surprisingly, he looks just as good with shorter hair as he does longer hair.

It sticks kinda awkwardly at first, so you waltz on over and gesture for him to crouch down so you don't have to reach up.

Once again he does as you request and leans down so you may fix it.

You adjust it a bit to make sure it won't fall first, and then you smooth it back a bit so it'll also look stylish. And once you're done you take a step back and smile at him brightly.

"All done! Let's go!"

---

He seemed rather fascinated in the way your car works first and foremost, but once you got him to look out his window instead of watching you, his excitement quickly turned into awe.

When you both get to the ULTA store he follows you without hesitation and asks some hushed questions about things he sees, like the light up signs, other passing cars, stoplights, and some other things.

You, of course, answer each question happily and lead him inside, holding the door open for him while he enters and looks around the brightly lit up makeup store.

Right away you head towards the general direction of the nose and scar wax (it's multi purpose, don't judge me), forgetting to make sure that Legolas follows you.

When it does occur to you, however, that the blond elf didn't come after you, you panic.

You turn in a circle and only stop when you see him standing with some ladies who practically have hearts in their eyes.

Unconsciously you breathe a sigh of relief and head over with the wax in your little basket, immediately reaching up to wrap your arm around his, "I got the first thing on my list, come on."

The girls stop their giggles and flirting as soon as you show up and look genuinely surprised.

You give them a smile and nod in acknowledgement, not wanting to make them feel bad over something so silly before turning with your arm still around his own and walking him over to look at some contour stuff and other things.

They make some snide comments when you turn your back about you being a 'clingy girlfriend' and 'not pretty enough to be with a model like that', but you only ignore it and relish in the fact that you didn't make them feel bad over something as silly as a cute guy in a makeup store.

"Why are those women talking about you like that?" He asks in a whisper, leaning down so only you will hear his question.

You look up at him with a bit or surprise since you didn't expect him to pick up on that, before you smile, "They're attracted to you, and they think that I was being selfish with taking you away from their advances."

"Selfish? Advances?" He looks confused, but you only smile and turn back to the display case.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over it, Leggy my boy."

"Leggy?" He asks slowly, looking at you in confusion.

"Leggy." You confirm with a nod with a distracted hum.

It isn't much later that you have everything you need, and so you go to the checkout and buy everything.

"Going to the convention?" The girl at the counter asks with a smile.

You smile back and nod your head, glancing up at Legolas before looking back at her, "That obvious?"

"No of course not, just the items in your basket always fly off the shelves around convention time." She replies with a giggle, ringing up all your items.

"Well, that's fair." You muse, putting your card into the reader to pay for it.

Once everything is in order she hands you your receipt and adds, "Maybe I'll see you there."

"Maybe!" You chirp back happily, liking the nice conversation going on here.

"You and your boyfriend have a good day now!"

You elect to ignore that.

---

On the way home you pretend to not notice the black car following yours and make small talk with the elf, answering some more of his questions and speaking idly on different things.

"There are so many odd, interesting things here..." He comments after a while, glancing out the back window. "Are you aware that, that car has been following us for the past 10 minutes?"

You nod and hum as an answer, "Mmhm, it's just Brian. He's probably trying to figure out who you are."

The blond knits his eyebrows together and glances back to look at the car again, "Should I do something about it?"

"The only thing you can do is ignore it. He went from lowercase 's' stalker to uppercase 's' since you guys arrived, and it'll only get worse if you intervene." You mumble, trying not to look in the rearview mirror at him. "It's fine."

"You don't seem to think it's fine." He challenges in the same even tone, turning in his seat towards you.

Instead of answering his question you look at him while you stop at a light and grumble, "I told you to put your seatbelt on."

"It's uncomfortable."

"I don't care."

"I will be fine."

"Not if we get into a crash, you won't."

The two of you stare each other down before he slowly reaches up and buckles his belt, never breaking eye-contact.

"Good boy." You coo in a way-too sweet voice.

"Anyways, I know we said as much before, but you needn't worry about that man while we're here." He continues despite your obvious subject change.

"I know." Your reply is softer and less defensive this time, for you really do appreciate it, "Thank you."

He looks surprised at your sudden gratitude, and his expression shows as much "For what?"

"For being you. For looking out for me. All of you."

This time he smiles and says no more.

---

When you both get back to your house you immediately put everything in your bathroom and get onto your laptop to view some techniques on theatrical and movie makeup, Pippin and Merry on either side of you while they view through the pictures and videos with you.

"That one looks interesting." Merry pipes up suddenly, pointing at a person to wolf makeup transformation.

"Yep, and way past anything I can do."

This pattern of going through pictures and viewing clips goes on for a little while until they two hobbits depart to have lunch, meanwhile you continue on so that tomorrow will be a success.

You're both excited and nervous at the same time, wanting to see how it'll all turn out but also dreading it incase something goes wrong.

You know the most important thing is to have a positive mindset about it, but it's kinda hard sometimes during your more anxious moments.

Also, there's the issue of Brian possibly following all of you...

Nah, that'll be a problem to think on for tomorrow.

"What time will we leave tomorrow?" Aragorn asks from his usual spot on the rocking chair, Penny still nestled in his lap as per usual.

"Around the morning. I bought the tickets already so we won't have to stand in line for too long... Hopefully."

"Thank you for working so hard so that we may see more of your world." He comments suddenly, stroking his hand down her fluffy back.

You tilt your head to the side and smile a bit, "You don't have to thank me."

"No, I do. You have seen to our every need and we no doubt pose to be a huge burden. Thank you, really."

His words make you flush slightly, and you look away shyly.

You've grown to care about all of them, so of course you would do anything to keep them comfortable at this point. More than anything you're just glad they see how much you're trying to make things easy on them. It feels nice being recognized for your efforts.

Plus, the added protection from Brian is pretty sweet.

"Anything for you guys."

[just-like-playing-tag]

How did sexism play a role in affecting tpn?

※ I'm not tagging this as spoiler since I think it might be of interest for anime onlys as well, however some manga events and characters are mentioned here. It's not any major plot point, but pay special attention or avoid reading this if you don't want to stumble across any spoiler at all.

I don't think Anon follows my blog (otherwise the question would have most likely come a long time ago, since sexism in the second season of the anime is an issue I have mentioned several times already), so I think it's fine to link back to all the posts I could find that addressed the matter. Here's some posts that underline in what ways the anime has been sexist:

First of all you'll want to read this post: as I hope to have made clear, it is not only about what she's wearing, it's never about what a girl is wearing.

Secondly here is an early reaction to episode 5 that hopefully clears up what's wrong with Emma's character in the second season

Further readings that address to the matter, approximately in chronological order from when I first read them:

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧ (in my tags to the post)

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧ (I think this post summarizes pretty well what makes Emma so amazing and revolutionary both as a female protagonist and as a shonen jump protagonist and cutting all of this from her character is, in my opinion, automatically sexist)

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧ (in my tags to the post)

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧ (this one is in Turkish but can be easily understood with the support of an online translator)

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

Probably more were made when episosode 6 came out, but I haven't been following the anime as much since episosode 5 so I can't know. Maybe if I'll find any new post on the matter I'll update this ask.

Anyway, to sum up the main points:

• Emma wears a skirt for no reason, enforcing female clothing categories

• Emma is the only girl showed hunting; additionally, her hunting skills are significantly decreased compared to her manga abilities

• Emma isn't the one to kill the wild demon, and the moment was given to her male counterpart to shine

• The fact that Emma was shown being interested in the shelter garden, while in the manga it was so beautiful to have gender roles subverted with her going out haunting and her male counterpart cooking

• The fact that as soon as Emma loses the support of her (occasionally implied love interest) other male counterpart she becomes weak and depressed and useless

• The fact that she thinks she was wrong and naïve not believing in her male friends' words and following her ideals instead (which is so dumb like... Yeah Emma it surely would have been better to leave them all to die)

• The fact that in the demon town she's the only one not carrying a bow to defend herself (?????)

• How she was clearly dumbed up (though this happened to pretty much all the GF children)

• How Emma has lost all her leader qualities she showed in the manga

• Look the simple fact that. I can't think of a significative thing she's done since the start of the second season. She didn't provide for everyone's food. She didn't make any plan to go save Phil. She's just been crying over herself as the next shonen female side character (can she even be considered the protagonist at this point??)

• One of the most striking things is how anime Emma compared to manga Emma has lost all of her independence and individuality. She has no plan, no idea on how to go on, and is quite literally waiting for some (guy) to come and save her. The way Norman was introduced in the anime as a savior was so upsetting.

• Honestly I consider having cut out so many arcs that showed how strong, resilient, brave, determined she is to be sexist on its own

• The only thing that's left of her character is being kind which is... Honestly extremely problematic. One thing is to show a complex and multilayered character who, among many other qualities and strong points, is also kind and emphatic; another thing is enduring the stereotype that kindness and empathy are the only characteristics girls can have.

• Emma is kind, but not stupid; she doesn't like to kill demons, but she won't hesitate to do so in case they create an immediate danger for her family. Her helping the demon at the temple doesn't make any sense.

And this is only about Emma. It's clearly sexist:

• Don's line in episode 4 that literally translates to “don't cry Rossi, boys don't cry” that is,,,, not only unspeakably gross, but also unbelievably ooc from Don who always supports his family and has cried like five times in the manga, always without an ounce of shame.

• Cutting the scene of Gilda being badass in chapters 59 and 96, that featured her repeatedly threatening a grown-up man

• Not including an arc with amazing female characters with breathtaking fights. In Goldy Pond all the girls are always displayed as being equal to guys in their fighting skills; the best (or at least very talented) snipers are considered to be girls, while the medics are two guys (I like to stress this point because it would have been very easy to introduce a sweet kind nurse girl in that role).

• Honestly cutting Gillian deserves to be mentioned on its own. Such a great complex female character. Her role in Goldy Pond was outstanding, and her scenes in chapters 110, 130, 145 and 172 give so much deepness to her character. Moreover, showing how she doesn't sympathize with demons makes her a nice counterpart to Emma, building a solid cast of diverse female characters with different inclinations and natures. Not to mention how we won't have Gillian chosing to support Emma no matter her opinions, which was such an heartwarming example of girls supporting each other. Honestly I can't not consider sexist to exclude such a well written female character.

• Cutting Anna being praised without shame or envy by her male friends to have become the best of them all in the medicine field (a field women have a particularly hard time being employed in), and her male friends aknoweledging how hard she worked to get her competence.

This is only on top of my mind but there's definitely more. Additionally, we still have to see whether they're intentioned to include Ayshe (a great woc who is mysterious, reserved and an impressive fighter, typical qualities assigned to males) and Legravalima (a badass villain who is greedy and at the top of the demon society, again a typically male role). The changes of Isabella's storyline most likely mean they're also going to change (or fully skip) chapter 170, which was such an empowering moment for the mamas and made such a nice metaphor of women overthrowing an oppressive system to find freedom.

Honestly, I could have ignored some of these things had they been lone cases, but all of this together? Again, I'm not saying that CloverWorks is entirely bad, but the second season of the tpn anime surely cannot be praised for its female representation.