#i love his storybook like videos

[rinnstars]

third’s times the charm!

in which you try to confess three times before rin finally understands your feelings

itoshi rin x reader : mainly just fluff, a bit of angst of readers part, no proofreading + likes n reblogs r rlly appreciate ily <3

rin has always been an enigma, as if hes from another world - an alien like figure on your life yet a constant, like an orbit from another galaxy orbiting around you. slowly, youve grown fond of him and suddenly, its no longer just a friendahip - your heart is pumping weirdly, your palms are sweaty, your throat goes dry the second youre beside him (which is most of the time but hey!) maybe its part of growing up, you tell yourself, but deep down this is the “love” you’ve seen in storybooks, manga, movies. denial is always the first thing, avoiding rin during break times, opting to go with your other class friends. eventually, you fall back to the same routine, beside him for lunch in class, stealing the candies he brought (specially for you, he wants to confess but he doesnt.) and of course with love, the next step should be confession as all fourteen year olds rationalise, and thus began your attempt at rizzing confessing to itoshi rin who has become your star.

#1 —VALENTINE CHOCOLATE?!

as all mangas and love story dictates: a gift during valentine practically screams a love confession, if not already hinted by the hearts clumsily pasted onto the heart-shaped box containing your own hand-made chocolates. of course, it comes with a sort of insecurity - what if he doesnt like it? what if he doesnt see me that way? what if our friendship forever changes? what ifs? yet, you held on tightly to the chocolate, walking into class to rin. until you see your own desk beside his flooded with valentine chocolates addressed to rin himself where all of the sudden, you wished to run away far away, you wished to live just in solitude by the ocean, you wish to pretend to be sick and go back home and cry again and again. its stupid, you think, youre just another person in love, youre nothing special. yet, when rin looks at you with sparkling eyes at your chocolates unlike anyone else, you feel as though youre at the top of the war, youre like diamond amongst the rest, that maybe rin sees you differently.

“is that for me?” if he didnt looked so expectant, so hopeful, you might have just not given it to him, simply from the pile of chocolates (that you hope hell pass to you after valentines, and he does.) on the desks. you nodded, passing it to him with a awkward smile. he doesnt get the hint you think, as he opens it without hesitation to eat one - his usual grimace that melted into a small smile changed into a grin, chewing happily onto the overly sweet chocolate you made. you want to be mad, that youll always be in competition with everyone, but when he smiles like that, youve got no choice but to look at him like hes built the very world for you, like hes your star in the dark, like hes your own galaxy.

its now or never. whats the worst that can happen? - that your friendship is forever broken, that your heart is shattered by his own hands, that youll never ever see him the same way again And he’ll never see you again?! “i.. i like you..!” courage, right, thats what those mangas would call it, but deep down it was just an impulse, as if you were born to say it to him, born to love him, like you were soulmates. he doesnt even blink, replying back with about the worst thing someone can hear when they confess : “i hope so? we’re friends.” with the most deadpan voice that had you question everything. nothing like this happens in those romance mangas - he should have either said yes or no! not an in-between?! this doesnt match up to any calculations, not by your friends, not by romance mangas, not by any youtube videos could have prepared you for that response.

nonetheless, you went home with a plastic bag with all of itoshi’s confession chocolates. thats a win? sort of. but its clear that you need a more straightforward approach to get your romantic intention, NOT platonic intention across.

#2 — CONGRATULATIONAL FLOWERS?!

after long months of cringing at the first failure attempt at confessing, and long days of rereading cheesy love mangas to gather ideas, it was finally time for round 2. this time not because of simply encouragement, but from the bursting butterflies in your heart. ever since that, your lovesickness have only gotten worst - if hanahaki was real, no doubt flowers would be pouring out of your lungs from the amount of love that has grown roots into your heart. every moment felt like straight from a k-drama through rose tinted lenses, every action of his felt like a confession, every second with him felt like heaven. and enough was this barrier called embarrassment, fear, cowardice to stop you from pursuing. another year had passed and now each second is like diamond - counting down every second to when lunch starts, to a free period, to after school, to after club - anytime where you can maybe, just maybe spot rin even if he ocassionally runs off for football training that had only lasted longer until the sun sets after the argument with his brother.

deep down, even though youve never met sae, you wished you did just to punch him - for now rin has only grown more distant, whilst your feelings had grown more deeper. like oil and water, you no longer merge together as one, and perhaps this is the last chance to confess before he eventually disappears. growing up is hard, but maybe losing him would be the scariest and hardest part. yet, here you are, still attending all his football matches, waiting for him in the air-conditioned library until the clock ticks to when the school gates closes to find him, waiting for him to come back to you.

flowers. longing and yearning - cameilia and carnation replied back all those cliche love mangas. and so, you saved up for weeks just to buy an overly expensive bouquet - one that seemed out of place with your bags or rin’s everexpanding confession gifts. would it be a rejection, a success? a repeat of the previous year, another retry of last year’s failed confession, just that this time he might just get the idea? hiding the flowers in a separate bag, because certainly this could count as romantic, and youd rather do away with gossips or talks. yet of course, fate strikes again.

“thanks..? its alright to not get gifts for my football matches win though, its nothing major anyways.” and suddenly you take it back. you rather he just thanked you for it platonically. in what world do friends get romantic flowers with ribbons and all sort of decorations for a simple congratulations for a no-name match?! perhaps you two were never meant to be, and this had to be a sign from the gods or something, you concluded. you blinked and laughed it off, your mind spinning with all sort of thoughts - was this his way of rejecting you?! was he truly this clueless or is he trying to let me down?! suddenly all the fantasies and daydreams had fallen flat - this is real life. there is no true school romance, that rhese are feelings left better unsaid as your parents and adults in your life say. teenage love never last, they say - but in this case, they dont work, or at least for you. maybe, your teenage life would be the same mundane, boring ones - filled with just waiting for rin, doing homework, talking with friends, one that is filled with love and normalacy but never the exciting and romantic films you see on tv.

and maybe, just maybe, youve given up on pursuing itoshi rin romantically for the time being. but thats alright, as long as you were friends, youd stay together forever right?

#3 — CONFESSION FOR YOU UNSAID?!

youve lived the rest of your mundane life, completing routines after routines as if its a time loop. maybe, that failure had affected you, brushing off datdreams quickly. growing up meant to be logical, to not blush like a teenage kid, to not linger on hopeless love and dreams - you tell yourself. and rin is still here, like the sun to the earth, always orbiting around you. as long as the world continues to hold you two together as though connected by red strings, itd be alright.

yet, it stings when he tells you about blue lock. its evil, its bitter, its jealousy, its anger that pumps through your very veins. just as rin and you were falling back to back then, where you guys were connected by the hips, to when you had first been enchanted by his star-like eyes. you want to blame the world, the universe for being so cruel. you want to lock yourself, trap yourself in your room, throwing away the key. yet, theres only limited days with itoshi rin, and youd rather die than not be with him until the very end. even if its to the end of your friendship, your dream, your life with you and him together. whether that is to bring him to old arcades where tou two once played, bring him to the old now run-down convenience store where you and him went after school to get lunch, bring him to the mall to take your final photos and lucky charms with him. each moment now even more precipus than previous ones - and suddenly you understand the saying ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’. its love. you know its love, you knew since you were 14 when you gave him the chocolates, you knew since you were 15 when yoi presented him a bouquet, and you know now that youre 16 about to send him off to another world you can never reach.

its selfish when you blurt it out as he was half-way out of your door after your last sleepover. its out of desperation, out of feelings youve kept hidden in an bottle that is now exploding. its impulsive, its unconscious - the way youve just confessed to him that you loved him. “i love you” theres no way to misinterpret that. maybe he’ll tell you theres bo need to be sentimental, that hell be back (you were convinced he wouldnt.), that its cringe. yet, its silence that fills the room and all you wished to do was to run back to your room, to cry into the pillows, to read all those hopeful love mangas.

“.. i hope you meant it.. i love you too.” its anticlimatic, theres no dramatic scene of profession of love the way mangas portray it, yet you think that theres nothing more than you need. its the most itoshi rin (though youve never thought hed ever say love in a context outside of horror movies and games) and yet, its the words that you longed and yearned for for years by now, its the dream youve been daydreaming in class and in bed, its the life yoive envisioned as you look at him from the stands. and perhaps the world has finally answered your prayers, your musings, your complaints.

third’s the charm they say - and you for once agree with those stupid sayings because on your third attempt of confession did you finally get to be with itoshi rin.

[silvergyus]

GIRL DAD YEONJUN IS A BIG YES LIKE OML I STALKED THROUGH YOUR HEADCANONS LIKE AN ABSOLUTE MADWOMAN i do not regret it its 7am and im melting from the fluffiness of it all

but what about the other members 👀

how would they be as a girldad and as a boydad? i’d love to see your take on it!

omg omg thank you so much anon🩷 we must be on opposite sides of the world lol

hehe I feel like I have differing opinions than the rest of moablr but please headcanon what you like!

txt as dads

⋆｡°✩ Yeonjun:

I obviously believe in girl dad!yeonjun supremacy (read more here and here) but I feel like he could also have an extremely cool son- think adult-size sunglasses too big for his lil face. a taste for fashion when his friends are wearing those horrendous neon Nike shorts. but yeonjun's daughter would be such a daddy's girl and he would be a girl dad first and foremost. yeonjun isn't as into video games as some of the other members so I feel like his son (or daughter) wouldn't be as into them as the kids of the other members either

rest of the members under the cut

⋆｡°✩ Soobin:

I believe in girl dad!soobin because 1.) it's the most adorable thing ever and 2.) I think it would be so funny

hear me out, we obviously saw him with the twins but he said he was super nervous going into that since he is only used to hanging out with his nephew. imagine soobin with two daughters having his first son and he thinks it's gonna be a breeze since "boys are easier" but boy, was he wrong. his cutie son is a lot to handle and it turns out raising a boy from birth is a *lot* different than being a leader

like every other moa, I can see soob having the most kids. he just seems like the type of guy to have kids hanging off of him. plays video games with his kids but is also very strict about them washing their face/brushing their teeth. reads to them a lot and gets sucked into the storybooks they read together even when it's something silly like the day the crayons quit (a favorite of mine when I was a student librarian hehe)

⋆｡°✩ Beomgyu:

BOY DAD!!! I know girl dad!beomgyu is so popular but I just feel in my heart that he is a boy dad!! picture him and his son in matching sunglasses and tshirts. those silly ones with like "the original" on his and "the remix" on his son's. would call the baby "beomgyu junior" the whole pregnancy but once the baby was born he would have a million lil nicknames for that kid.

I can specifically picture beomgyu getting one of the other members to both go out with their babies in carriers on their chests and they just wave to everyone they see with the babies' hands. like, use the babies' hands to wave instead of theirs

boy dad beomgyu who builds the best pillowforts and is the best at play fighting and buys the coolest nerf guns and foam swords. boy dad beomgyu who had a special relationship with his dad and carries those traditions on with his kids. boy dad beomgyu who plays guitar for his kids and they think he's the coolest dad ever

if he has a daughter, she totally roughhouses with the boys but she gets princess treatment when she sits on daddy's lap while he plays guitar, her tiny fingers resting on the wood so she can feel the vibrations of the music. her big eyes filled with such deep appreciation for the music.

⋆｡°✩ Taehyun:

hmmm, honestly I also feel boy dad but he has a science son :) his wide-eyed son with glow in the dark stars on his ceiling and an ant farm and he exclusively wears dinosaur tshirts. taehyun and him nerd out together all the time. his son loves the planetarium and the library and also is in all the school plays. plays minecraft with beomgyu's son and soobin's oldest daughter

however, I can also see tyun's kids playing a lot of soccer (I can see him with two boys, close in age). they both would be on the soccer team that he assistant coaches (thank you @https-yeonjun for that headcanon<3). they are both into soccer- just like their daddy- and the one is into a bunch of other sports so he's always off to practice somewhere with his grass-stained knees and toothy grin. the three of them would spend match days glued to the tv to watch their favorite team. he'd buy them all matching jerseys for their favorite team too, with each of their favorite players names on the back

also taehyun would absolutely get a cat for his kids and they would have a chore wheel for days on who feeds it/ cleans the litterbox

if tyun had a daughter she would have the highest standards as a grown-up like. not quite spoiled like yeonjun's daughter, but omg the absolute most princess treatment of all time. that girl would have all her oranges peeled and her juice poured in her favorite cup and her hair brushed and she would never walk because she'd want to be carried everywhere and her daddy is strong so he carries her. she totally wears the matching soccer jerseys with her brothers and daddy too like, c'mon. soccer jersey and tutu and she absolutely crushes the other team when she's on the field

⋆｡°✩ Hyuka:

I feel like hyuka girl dad??? I also feel like he has the second most kids behind soobin. his daughter is just like him, effortlessly good at playing musical instruments. she plays like 4 and the house is always full of music. he's really calm as a dad and he isn't super shook when his kids act up. really good at gentle parenting and loves to teach his kids through their shared interests.

his daughter's bed is absolutely full of plushies. she def collects them and names them and they have a special order they have to go in on her bed. she sleeps with them all every night and gives each one a kiss before she goes to sleep. he takes her to the store and is the biggest enabler of her collection. he says he isn't spoiling her, just gifting her as a fellow collector, but we know she's spoiled

you know how hyuka is a copy-and-paste of his dad? if he has a son it's 100% gonna be a carbon copy of him. like, that boy is a HUENING and everyone can tell. tallest kid in his grade and has the exact same laugh and nose and eye crinkles.

any hueningkids would absolutely LOVE pokemon though, just like their dad. and they would totally get a dog and name it eevee

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims Shares Details About Collab with SixamCC

You Make The Sims Featuring SixamCC

The Sims community is a place of big ideas, storytellers, content-makers, and creators of all kinds. Our players inspire us to keep looking for new ways to tell universal stories, and to continue to invite collaboration and creativity from all kinds of Simmers to help shape the game we all love. For this edition of You Make the Sims we’re sitting down with SixamCC to take a look at what inspired the Storybook Nursery Kit and how he and The Sims team brought it to life!

SixamCC (also known as Alex) is well-known in The Sims community as a custom content creator and 3D Digital artist. A lover of both video games and Japanese fluffy pancakes–a winning combination, tbh–SixamCC works in the creative field and spends his free time creating CC for the community he loves..

Like many players, SixamCC was introduced to the game by a family member, and knew from that first playthrough it was going to be one of his favorite games.

THE SIMS TEAM: Tell us about how you were first introduced to The Sims and what inspired you to start making custom content.

SIXAMCC: My cousin was a big fan of The Sims at the time, and she told me about The Sims 2 and how fun it was. She told me all about the endless possibilities and opportunities to tell every imaginable story with the game, which sounded fascinating to me. One day, she brought the Deluxe CD to my house and got me to install it. Ever since then, I knew it was one of my favorite games.

I’ve always wanted to make my own custom content for my Sims, but I never had the time to get into it. During the 2020 lockdown, I finally decided to try it out, and I found the process so fascinating and fun.

THE SIMS TEAM: Kit collaborations are some of our favorite things to work on, because of amazing creators like you who pitch a concept to The Sims team. As a creator, how do you approach creating a new concept from scratch?

SIXAMCC: I always ask myself what kind of stories I want to tell with the concepts I design. I like to go beyond just decorating a room. I think the game allows you to create your own stories without needing specific new gameplay, which is why I aim for my ideas to have something unique and interesting to explore.

THE SIMS TEAM: How did the idea of ‘legacy’ play into what you wanted to create?

SIXAMCC: I truly believe our most iconic Sims characters have set the perfect example of legacy; Bella and Mortimer have shared a story that has stood the test of time and distance, we’ve seen them in different life stages throughout the games. This is what inspired me to create this Kit—a space, or in this case a nursery room, where every legacy story can take place.

THE SIMS TEAM: What kinds of stories do you hope to see Simmers tell with this pack?

SIXAMCC: I want players to have the chance to expand their legacy storytelling in any way they dream of. I've seen some truly amazing family trees from players who’ve spent years crafting the perfect legacy family, and I think that’s just fantastic. This kit is perfect for kicking off a new generation and keeping it going strong.

For those who’ve never tried it before, I invite you to start with this kit . I know it can be tough to say goodbye to our favorite Sims, but sometimes that’s part of the fun of creating new stories. (And hey, you can always bring them back to life!)

THE SIMS TEAM: You've created so many wonderful items for children and infants in the past; what interests you the most about designing and making objects for younger Sims?

SIXAMCC: Making content for younger Sims is just fun. You can experiment with different silhouettes and bright colors, and still provide swatches and options for more serious players. I feel like my creativity flows more freely when I work on content for kids. I also love to hear from my community and they’ve been pretty clear about loving children's items.

THE SIMS TEAM: This kit has a real air of elegance to it; is there a particular object you knew you had to include to make this feel like an elevated nursery?

SIXAMCC: Oh what a difficult question, the truth is that each of the elements that make up this kit are perfect and I can't imagine any of them being left out. But if I had to choose I think it would be the canopy, I'm sure the players will use it to give that extra bit of elegance to their little ones rooms.

The canopy taking center stage in this pink and white colorway of the Storybook Nursery kit.

THE SIMS TEAM: Do you have a favorite detail or easter egg you’d be willing to share?

SIXAMCC: I love all the easter eggs in this Kit, I would like to mention them all! I won’t spoil them! but I think one of my favorites without a doubt is the hanging mobile where, if you zoom in close enough, we can actually see Bella in the hot air balloon. It certainly brings back a lot of nostalgic feelings from The Sims 2.

THE SIMS TEAM: You’ve collaborated with other Sims community members in the past; are there any creators you’d really love to work with some day?

SIXAMCC: I could start listing all the people that come to mind, and we’d probably run out of time for the interview, haha. There are so many talented Simmers I admire, both as individuals and as content creators, modders, and other CC creators. I’d absolutely love to work with all of them, but the truth is, I’m super shy and I always hesitate when I think of asking. (Some people are going to laugh when they read this, but I promise it’s true!)

For now I can say that I would love to collaborate with Juno Birch and Trixie Mattel; I love their style and I think something extremely cool and unique would come out of it.

THE SIMS TEAM: For anyone who’d like to start creating their own digital art, is there any advice you’d give them?

SIXAMCC: (Looks at the camera) You, yes, you, don’t overthink it, just do it.

Honestly, it can seem scary, but the most important thing is to just dive in and give it a shot. There are so many places out there now where you can get help and learn whatever you need. And as they say, practice makes perfect, right? It doesn’t have to be perfect on the first try.

THE SIMS TEAM: You answers have been so great, so let’s end on a truly tricky question:

You can only pick ONE!

SIXAMCC: This is a tough one because Jenni, from The Sims team, made me love the possum that we made for this kit, but I think I'll probably choose a sloth one because it's my absolute favorite animal.

The council of the eight plushies awaits your decision: If you can only choose one, who are you choosing?

Thank you to SixamCC for his time, thoughtful answers, and for all the work he did to bring the beautiful Storybook Nursery Kit to life with The Sims 4 team! Choose your very own favorite stuffed animal friend and level up your legacy with this kit when it releases later this month.

The Sims 4 Storybook Nursery Kit will be available for purchase beginning September 19 in The Sims 4 on PC and Mac® via EA app, Epic Games Store, Steam®, PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One systems.

[hudsuns]

✎ rating oc headcanons!

(huge thanks to @yourpenpaldee and @pixies-love-envy for the open tag! check out their posts here & here :D ++ bonus thanks to dee for the template i used, it made everything 10x easier)

RULES: use this headcanon generator to generate some headcanons for your OCs! how accurate are they?

(TAG UNDER THE CUT)

— alex

Alex chews their nails when nervous.

0/10. Alex is more likely to drum his fingers against a table or bounce his leg when nervous. He saw those pictures and videos of the long-term effects of nail-biting and it was enough to scare him into never doing so.

Alex hates being alone.

5/10. Even though he thrives when he's alone, I rated this one a 5/10 because there are times where he can't stand being alone with his thoughts—especially after Wally's passing.

Alex can't handle criticism.

9/10. Alex would tell you that he handles criticism well, but he's so obsessed with proving people wrong that criticism often leads to spiraling.

— bea

Bea is a great artist.

4/10. Bea can make sure her make-up looks good, but that's about it when it comes to art. The kids at the daycare center where she works tease her about her drawing skills, and she can't really sing, dance, or play instruments either. She's more sport-oriented.

Bea instinctively cleans messes in their own house as well as other peoples.

10/10. It took a while for Bea to accept that her home wouldn't be tidy as long as she lived with her overworked and naturally messy father. She's the kind of girl to help your mom with the dishes after dinner, take her shoes off at the door, and make your bed even if she sits on it for five minutes.

Bea cringes at their middle school yearbook photos.

0/10. Bea was homeschooled by her aunt in middle school.

— julia

Julia does intricate and expensive cosplays.

6/10. Julia doesn't cosplay, but she used to take Halloween very seriously before her brother passed away. Intricate? Yes. Expensive? No… her elaborate dance costumes are where the expenses come in.

Julia gets road rage.

0/10. She doesn't drive yet, but Julia accepted that some people are going to be stupid on the road. She's mostly excited for the freedom to go wherever she pleases whenever she pleases.

Julia is a cry baby.

8/10. As a child, Julia was teased for how much she cried in school. She doesn't cry as much in public anymore, but she knows that she needs to cry in order to process difficult moments in her life—thanks therapy! Dance is also a huge outlet for her emotions.

— pj

PJ wears Hello Kitty socks.

10/10. She stole them from Bea… then replaced them so they have matching Hello Kitty socks!

PJ has an incredible short-term memory but an awful long-term memory.

0/10. PJ has amazing short- and long-term memory. She remembers things you forgot about yourself.

PJ doesn't know how to say "no".

1/10. The only person she doesn't know how to say "no" to is Bea. If something comes up that messes up plans they'd already made, she does everything in her power to make it up to her. As for everyone else, "no" is one of her favorite words.

— wally

Wally is a horrible liar.

10/10. Wally didn't lie much because he could never get away with it. There was especially no lying to Julia.

Wally can play the piano.

10/10. And he could play it well! He took piano lessons from age three all the way to the time of his death. He loved to play for Julia's dance company's recitals.

Wally can't spell resturaunt.

0/10. My boy was a 3-time spelling bee champion. He would never let you live it down if you made a typo in a text message. He had to teach Alex how to spell appreciate.

i'll tag: @ibuprofen-exe, @mitchell-nihil, @charlies-storybook + open tag! have fun :D

teenage vows taglist (ask to be added/removed!): @fleurtygurl & @wildswrites

[pastelwitchling]

How about Alex has never been horseback riding and a horrified Michael must remedy that right away! ?

@ashleymarie1684

***

Michael didn’t have many moments off at the junkyard. It was usually one busted engine after another, customers ranging from angry truckers to flirty housewives, his back aching, beads of sweat rolling down his temples, his knuckles white on his wrench as he tried to remember that he was married now, and that if he ended up causing an earthquake to swallow his more annoying customers, then Alex would be left brokenhearted when government agents inevitably came for his husband.

Still, every now and then, there was the brief half-hour when Michael would have just sent off a disgruntled drunk, and got to text his Alex, tend to his sunflowers, call his Alex, study his star charts, FaceTime his Alex, and ride the horse Walt kept tethered around.

In fact, Michael was just doing that when Alex had driven over one afternoon, a bag from the Crashdown in hand, and instantly found Michael on the outskirts of the junkyard. His smile warmed and he raised the Crashdown bag for Michael to see, and a chuckle rose unbidden to Michael’s lips. That had been happening a lot since he’d gotten married; laughter and joy felt like it was always below the surface, so that instead of wanting to set things on fire all the time, Michael felt like he wanted to scream his love to the world.

Sliding off his horse, he ran at Alex and picked him up. His husband yelped, Michael burying his face in the crook of his neck and spinning him in circles, breathing him in.

“Guerin, you’re going to drop me!” he laughed, clinging tightly to Michael’s shoulders.

“Oh, never, baby,” he groaned, sliding a hand between Alex’s shoulder blades. “Never, never, never.”

“Michael, put me down already!”

Michael heaved a sigh, setting Alex down on the ground and keeping their cheeks pressed together. “I don’t have to let you go though, do I?”

He felt Alex’s smile against his stubble. “You’ll have to if you want to eat.”

Michael hummed, sliding his hands down to Alex’s hips. “But I’m not hungry for food.”

“You’re such a . . .” Alex squirmed out of his hold, his face a deep red, trying to hide his smile. “I got you your favorites. Ooh,” he reached in for an apple, and held it out to the horse still watching them. “good thing I got this, too. There you go, cutie.”

Michael tried to stop smiling, his cheeks burning, but watching the love of his life so at peace . . . he looked like a prince out of a storybook next to that horse, and Michael took one step back, pulled his phone out of his back pocket, and snapped a picture of the afternoon sunlight gilding his beautiful husband.

“Hm?” Alex blinked. “What are you doing?”

“Climb on,” Michael said shamelessly. “I want to get a video.”

Alex tilted his head, looking between Michael and the horse, and he slowly lowered his hand. “I can’t.”

“No, it’s okay, it’s Walt’s horse,” he dismissed. “I ride him all the time.”

“Uh, no, I mean, I can’t,” he said, his blush worse. “I’ve never ridden a horse before.”

Michael lowered his phone. “You what?”

“I’ve –”

“No, I heard you,” he frowned. “I’m just in shock. You’re, like, Captain America, there’s nothing you can’t do! Are you sure you can’t ride a horse?”

Alex pressed his lips together, and this time he looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Pretty sure.”

“And you’ve never done it?”

“Not once.”

Michael nodded, mostly to himself, then decided. “Right. Okay, hold onto me.”

Startled, Alex’s smile fell at once. “W-What?”

“Hold onto my shoulder here, and put one foot in the stirrup.”

“Michael!” Alex visibly panicked. “I-I can’t, I’ve never ridden a horse!”

“Yeah, I got that,” he said. “That’s what I’m rectifying now, baby. C’mon, I’ll be right behind you.”

“But –”

“Hand here, Alex.”

Alex groaned a little under his breath, and downright whimpered when he was fully seated. Michael gently nudged the horse forward, talking Alex through how to sit, how to hold the reins – how to breathe when he started to panic.

“You said you’d be right behind me!”

Michael’s shoulders shook with his suppressed laughter, and he patted Alex’s thigh. “All right, baby, I’m coming. Here; one, two . . .” and he leapt up to sit right behind Alex. At once, Alex grabbed Michael’s left arm and wrapped it around his own waist, giving up the reins and clinging to him with both hands instead. “We’re so high up.”

“You’re an airman!” Michael fully laughed at that. “You’ve flown planes!”

“That was when I had both legs!” Alex argued. “Besides, planes make sense. Planes go where I want them to. Horses do whatever they want!” He said all of this in a stage-whisper, as though afraid the horse would hear him and buck him off just for the insult.

Michael groaned, smushing his face against Alex’s shoulder. “I have the cutest husband in the world, I can’t.”

“This isn’t funny!”

“You can’t be a cowboy’s husband without ever having ridden a horse,” he hummed, hooking his chin over Alex’s shoulder and smiling contently.

“You’ve never ridden a plane!”

“I rode a spaceship,” he said easily, and Alex took a second to think about it before he cursed under his breath. Michael chuckled, hurrying the horse along a little bit, and Alex gasped, his nails carving into Michael’s arm with the force of his grip.

“Don’t drop me, don’t drop me, don’t drop me,” he said in one breath.

Michael turned to nuzzle his neck, breathing him in, more at peace than ever before. “Never, baby. Never, never, never.”

[thenewrises]

a welcome home prattle from my mind

so I've been on the Welcome Home train since last year but I never delved into theories about the website. mostly I've just searched from the side, talked to friends who also enjoyed it, and watched videos on it such as Night Mind. but! with the recent updates, I have to say I have sooooo many thoughts and ideas about it. with horror being my favorite genre and loving when I have the ability to research a website full of secrets, it was only a matter of time before I dived in.

so! if you're interested, here are some thoughts I have about the update and maybe some interesting theories.

also! some of these ideas are thanks to the many theories I've read here on tumblr as well as watched when Night Mind released his vod. also including findings as well!

Welcome Home belongs to the lovely @partycoffin! if you are new to this site, please read the credits page where you can find warnings!

stick around and get comfy, this is a long one.

so there is no perfect order this will all go in, so I will label what I will discuss in bold and then go from there.

Voice Warps

something that we are not strangers to is many audio recordings and their voice warps. from the last update, anytime someone tried talking to or about Wally, their voice would contort and the tape would end. this time, we received more vocal content (shoutout to the VAs they are incredible) and there was one in particular that me and many others caught on. Wally is known not to know much about emotions or how to express them. from my knowledge after many hours perusing Clown's blog, Wally is somewhat of a blank slate. learning as the show moves.

in the audio recording "Homewarming Storybook Record", during the end of this tape in the last two or so minutes, Wally says that he's sad and doesn't know why.

starting at 18:16, after Barnaby explains why he may be sad, Wally gets... frustrated. upset. he says in a clearly perturbed voice "...how can that be?" the audio warps during this time, almost as if his entire environment around him changed just by his own emotions.

why is this? we know Wally is somewhat the center of this puppet universe, and the moment he expresses a negative emotion, it's almost like the worlds stability was tilted.

as long as he is his normal and happy self, the world seems fine and at peace. yet, the moment he expresses his despair, it's like a switch flipped. it's only when Barnaby explains what the meaning of Housewarming is, which reassures Wally, that he returns to his happy and now relieved self.

Frank and Julie (TW: Homophobia)

this will be a much more sensitive topic to discuss, and as someone who is LGBT+ myself, it is not always a fun thing to research. but, I think this plays a super important role in the overall story of Welcome Home and my theories for the future.

another new edit I discovered, as well as something I've learned reading on the site and listening to audios, is the push for Frank to play a straight role. of course, this is the 70s we're talking about. the Stonewall Riots had only just happened in 1969, and homosexuality was still noted as a mental disorder. when the DSM-I was released, homosexuality was labelled as a sociopathic disorder until 1974. the idea of an LGBT+ relationship in a children's show would be unheard of.

with us knowing Eddie and Frank are romantically involved, that makes this all the more heartbreaking to know. Frank playing off his feelings by calling Eddie "Mr. Dear." Frank playing all the straight male roles alongside Julie. Sally calling Julie and Frank's costumes "a couples costume."

I find this such an interesting thing to include because not only is it eerily accurate to the timeframe, it also makes me think.

these are puppets. fictional and unthinking puppets. costumes you could even say. a person who creates the so-called fictional world of Welcome Home can control the narrative however they please because these aren't real people! of course they can be whatever you want! so... why did they create this relationship for Eddie and Frank? could it be someone within the Playfellow studio wanted to bring more positive awareness to the topic? were the actors who voiced (in this fictional world) the characters romantically involved?

or... are these puppets alive? they have their own emotions, thoughts, opinions. we know Wally is a sentient being, I mean, he literally would talk to us through the website. he reaches out to us through links, videos, audios, and even phone calls. so, does that mean EVERYONE is sentient?

in the audio "Eddie's Big Lift Storybook Record", we even hear Frank say to Eddie, "you always did work so hard." so, did they know each other in a past life? is this representative of the real life in story (fictional) voice actors?

we'll discuss this more later.

Sally Knows Something Is Out There

this is not new, as this was from the Halloween update but I wanted to include it because I feel like it's a look into the horrors of the world.

in the audio "Happy Haunting to Boo and Yours! Storybook Record", the transcript down not catch this, but Sally goes on to explain that out in the night, something lurks and waits for prey. it crawls around at night, up walls, scratching and screeching. Sally made sure to mention to ask, "why don't we go out at night?"

with her being a star from the sky, I sometimes wonders if before coming to the neighborhood she had seen it. and if not that, she mentioned if you stay quiet and stick close to the windows you can hear it. it cannot enter homes, it eats bugs if it's starving. it seems to have eaten other "neighbors." what could "it" be? some kind of creature in the night? why is it hunting them down?

Away From Prying Eyes

from all the symbols scattered on the website and with the help of the decoder in the Merchandise tab, we end up unscrambling an address.

we discover the website https://www.awayfrompryingeyes.net/ . in this site, we get to peruse "W" and their findings. now I think I can speak for a lot of people that my initial reaction was this was Wally. of course, this was dismissed rather swiftly after realizing that 1. this person was contacted by Wally and 2. they work for the project.

one thing that caught my eye quickly was the fact that the curator of the initial website became "unwell" and no one knew why. they claimed they did not know what caused them to be so unwell, or why they "created that page."

my guess is they mean the new (or in general) Welcome Home website. the curator created the new one because of Wally's interaction with it. they are trying to keep him silent, push away any suspicion. just who might this curator be?

W explains how they became Paranoid (with a capital P) once they discovered the collection of crude drawings, texts, and videos. seems to show that they are understanding that this has gone from a simple project to a unnatural phenomena.

the phone call from Wally is him talking to You (the collective You he knows) and he seems to express loneliness. "everyone is so busy during Homewarming", and he explains how quiet it is. I think he finds You to be a way to not feel so alone, as he seems to be the only sentient puppet of the crew.

well... he used to be the only one.

Commercials For Cigarettes and Pills

in the commercials, we get an array of holiday-themed music and advertisements. of course, we'll talk about the Eddie snippets, but I found a lot of disturbance with some of these. Welcome Home is a children's show, and many of the advertisements reflect that! products like cereal, music, Wally Ball and Cup, and Mama Beagle's Barnyard Eggnog. and then it gets... odd.

adults of course can enjoy this show, but it targets a young demographic. we get a commercial for Hooplah, a cigarette brand. then a commercial for Remderem, a sleeping pill.

now, this is the 70s, so maybe this could be a poor judgement marketing goal. I would not be surprised if it was a ploy for more money, but I still just find it so interesting that a children's show would advertise these. even in the merchandise tab of the project website, there's a fake pipe that blows bubbles. it all feels highly inappropriate for a child to intake this kind of material.

well, who said Playfellow was a moral brand?

Eddie Becomes Fully Sentient

we watch in real time the moment that Eddie realizes who he is.

during the commercials video, we find Eddie Dear preparing for the holidays. he starts off with a conversation with Poppy, which moved into her saying he works too much. throughout the video, we have snippets of real-life felt puppet Eddie decorating a tree, wrapping gifts, and at one point he plays multiple solo rounds of Tik-Tac-Toe.

he is wondering why no one has come to him about delivering gifts. why has no one visited him? he gets so distressed that he even slams his felt hands on the table. why has no one come to see him?

Sally resolves this by saying they did it to give him a break (which is interesting to me seeing as she tends to not give him the time of day), and she brings him to the Homewarming party. so he's surrounded by the neighbors, and in a big chair (Wally's chair, in fact) with a single pea on a plate.

and then things get weird.

Eddie starts sweating, derealization sets in. he's shown alone, single pea on a plate in hand. Home is staring back at him, and a heartbeat can be heard along with Eddie's staggered breathing. is that Eddie's heart or... Home's?

everyone's voices are disappearing in the background, Eddie is in a panic. and then things get even weirder.

Eddie looks at his arms, and they're made of felt. he taps his fingers on the arm of chair, then grips it in fear.

then the frame switches, Sally brought Frank over (was she worried about him?) to let him know that yes, she watched Eddie in the Post Office all day. Eddie is looking at his hands and legs, which are no longer felt but illustrated again. Frank calls out for him, even by his first name, and Eddie didn't even know where he was. but finally just wanted to go home.

this was the moment, that I believe Eddie discovered that he was a puppet. and he was being watched.

I find the single pea on a plate so interesting as this is the description:

"take care not to place them too close together"

why is Eddie being singled out? he was left out of many advertisements during this update, thought everyone forgot about him, and was even left out of the Homewarming story with Wally and Barnaby. they had stated they met every neighbor, but why not Eddie?

Will Eddie Be Removed?

unfortunate news seeing as he is my favorite character in the entire story (Wally and Sally a close second). I adore him, and I want nothing more than for him to remain. but I have a bad feeling he may be our first victim. he's being isolated, becoming paranoid, showing emotions that may not be seen as "neighborly."

I don't think it's any coincidence that this was an early drawing we received:

I believe Playfellow is removing Eddie, or attempting to. but for what reason? because of him and Frank? because he's not needed? that's what I'm hoping to learn more about in the next updates. because let's be frank (ha, get it?), it's not looking good for our favorite country mailman.

Ghost Thoughts and Theories

now it's time for me to ramble and yap your ear off because WOW this update was my favorite by far. I think this will happen every update honestly, but I thought it would be hard to beat the last update. this was incredible, from the animation, to the voice acting, to the crafts it was all wonderfully well done. I want every characters special item from the Homewarming wishlist!.

but now, what do I think could be happening? I have two very shaky ideas. I say shaky because these could be proven wrong easily, but if one or both is not then I can continue to build on it.

1. These friendly fellas reflect reality

so one thing I thought of is that maybe they are somehow reflecting reality. I mentioned before that maybe Eddie and Frank are their fictional voice actors (not the actual ones here in our reality!) who may be in a secret relationship. could those actors reflect their characters? are they getting rid of Eddie to represent them being torn apart?

but, this is a very meh theory. reason being that we have seen these puppets are capable of sentience. they may have their own souls, thoughts, and feeling that don't reflect a real life alive person from the 70s. but, wouldn't that be interesting?

2. Eddie's sentience was real, and his soul is about to be ripped away

there's an ongoing theory I've always juggled with in my head, the idea that these puppets have souls and a conscience. I'm genuinely led to believe this because of Wally himself. he has connected with us directly from his world. some kind of alternate reality away from hours. haunting that show.

would that mean the puppets were all real and alive people at one point? or are they completely new people all together? whatever the case, they are alive but not all of them may be aware they are in a show.

well, now Eddie is and he's in trouble.

although we aren't sure if Home truly is the villain in the story, we know that Home knows Eddie has "woken up." and he does not seem happy about it. if these puppets are alive, I fear that Eddie may be erased if he can't keep quiet. taken from the narrative for not playing his part. all he had to do was be the happy and clumsy mailman, but he had to go fall for Frank. he went and started to get frustrated and negative. he's never supposed to be the angry type, he's off script.

disfunctional.

so what's next for him?

if you made it to the end, I'm glad I could keep you around! I think this update really gets the brain gears going, lots of questions we'll get answered in the future. this story is getting better by the day, and I'm thrilled to see everything that happens in the future. and I'll get to write more posts like this!

I found everything so endearing as I do every episode, and this will be a groovy ride.

[synergysilhouette]

Another 10 Disney hot takes/probably unpopular opinions

Not a fan of Meg and Hercules as a couple. I ADORE them having an innocent male lead and a jaded female love interest, but Meg's situation with Hades makes it feel very toxic. The movie is kinda confusing on whether or not she can refuse Hades; one minute he uses incentive to get her to do what she wants (which is bad enough; her freedom for Hercules' death), and then when she tells him the deal's off, he reminds her that she has no say in the matter. Following this, she rejects his deal and he forces her into being exposed so Hercules will make a deal. She does sacrifice herself for him in the end, but it still feels very iffy for me, particularly since the backbone of her resisting him isn't even "I can't let this guy get killed" but instead "I don't wanna fall in love after getting my heart broken and having sold my soul" (which is EXTREMELY valid, but so is the other point). Had Meg been a normal human and made a deal with Hades to save Hercules or help him earlier on during his training, it'd be so much better.

2. Disney needs needs to stop making sequels just because of financial success and actually work to craft a narrative that requires a sequel or two. It's risky (considering the first film could have negative critical or commercial success, as well as take time and resources away from other films at the studio), but would have a better payoff, imo. I enjoyed "Frozen 2" despite it's flaws, but the fact that it felt independent of the first film did make it feel like we could've used an entirely different cast and made the same story.

3. I need more musicals with a male lead--The last one we had was "Tarzan"--or "Hercules," depending on your criteria. The revival era has had female leads for all their musicals, with a male playing as a co-lead or a deuteragonist. I know the girls are MUCH more valuable at Disney due to the Disney princess line and musicals with a male lead may be harder to market (well, not really; "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" were the highest-grossing animated films at one point, and their remakes grossed over $1 billion).

4. "Moana" needed a bigger (main) roster--Something I love is a nice-sized amount of main characters in a movie. "Moana" only had Moana and Maui for most of the movie, and thus it wasn't as enjoyable for me in that respect. "Moana 2" is introducing new characters, so I hope they can hold my interest.

5. Involve the Anderson-Lopez team in more musicals outside of the "Frozen" franchise--they almost got to do this with "Gigantic," but it fell through. Their music has been great, so I really hope to see them in more musicals for Disney outside of Disney's "Frozen."

6. NEVER return to hybrid animation for a feature film--It's too disorienting for me personally, and while the animation for "Wish" wasn't bad, it definitely didn't have the storybook vibe it was going for except with backgrounds. It would look fine if it was a video game, though.

7. "Gigantic" should've been Disney's anniversary film instead of "Wish"-- I already did a post on this, so I'll just leave it at that.

8. Raya is one of the best Disney leads in a while--Granted, her movie could've been much better and I wish the color of her clothes reflected her culture instead of going for neutral colors, but Raya is the blueprint for a great protagonist. It's been mentioned before how she's a feminist icon without having to really show it in ways others have in films, by being a confident warrior with no discussion of marriage or gender inequality brought up in the film. She's also deliciously sassy and quick on her feet. I may have preferred her OG concept of being stoic, but her swagger makes her one of the more engaging Disney leads, particularly as the adorkable trait started to show up. Speaking of...

9. Ariel and Mulan are the best adorkable leads for a Disney protagonist--While I don't have much issue with Anna and Mirabel and don't really find Rapunzel or Moana that adorkable, Ariel and Mulan were the blueprints for a funny female lead, and they felt less forced than later leads.

10. Aladdin is one of the worst Disney princes--DON'T KILL ME! He used to be my favorite Disney prince, until I watched a "therapists react" video to Disney couples and they brought up the fact that Aladdin had lied to Jasmine several times over the course of the movie. Him being insecure is a great character trait (a common one with Disney leads since the 90s, really), but it's poor writing to make his romance with Jasmine be based on a lie. I'd rather he just kept tight-lipped about his identity when Jasmine caught him the first time rather than covering up with another lie.

[ssruis]

You. 🫵 Go read this. Peak rks. Peak rui.

Obligatory comment-under-read-more Of Shame (ao3 character limit my beloathed)

YOU WROTE THIS SO QUICKLY??? 18k???? Has it even been a month since you mentioned this… You’re cracked. I’m scared and in awe of your power. As soon as I clicked the link in the notes I knew I was about to read peak… I was cackling. The mental image of Rui doing that is so beautiful… Pristine, even. One might say immaculate. Perchance. I got my hat on backwards and it’s time to forget 10 years of positive character growth!!

“I remember.” Guilt. Shame. Sorrow. It had gone badly. He had walked home alone. “Sorry about…I’m sorry.”

> you have such a way of conveying so much with so few words… dagger to the heart

Was he hit by a high speed vehicle?

> high speed door, actually. Happens to the best of us.

A life of solitude, easy and empty. Years of solo tinkering in his room in silence. Finding more ways to enjoy being alone. Not yearning, never yearning. Maybe one day creating something great.

> main story rui & his “I’m fine like this it’s just how life is going to be” mindset ouuuugh… creating because he’s given up on finding something great…

“Such careless design!” Tsukasa huffs. “In a place like that, they should really have some kind of tape so people know to duck!”

“To be fair, most people are shorter than Rui.”

“So that means they should just get knocked out every time they want to enter a room?!”

> as I’ve said before I love the way you write the nene + tsukasa dynamic (even if it’s not the focus here). They’re such an underrated comedic duo… tsk could say anything & she’ll throw out a counter argument just because.

Even a high budget production wouldn’t have props this well constructed.

> and it would have taller doorframes! probably. I love the way you capture how Rui is always always always viewing and analyzing things through his director mindset… everything can be related to shows if you just try hard enough.

“And this is the bedroom back here,” Tsukasa says, pointing through the doorway. Okay, he’s just going to ignore him then.

> he’s so funny. His husband got factory reset and he’s entered overly enthusiastic and fretful tour guide mode out of panic.

Rui stares at his ring finger again, twisting the band around and feeling the metal rub against his skin. Such a quaint sight. 

> “quaint” auugh… main story rui being flung 10 years into the future and seeing that he’s happy and thriving and living in domestic bliss with that obnoxious blond guy & it’s just. Unbelievable and unrealistic in the way that an unearned cheesy “& then they lived happily ever after” storybook ending would be to him.

I only knew you for a couple of weeks, and then we parted ways. And that was a parting that was welcomed by me, if I’m frank.

> nene your spot as tsukasa’s no.1 hater is in jeopardy

Tsukasa makes a face, but it only lasts a moment.

> tsukasa and his refusal to back down or consider failure (unstoppable force) vs rui’s “this guy sucks big time” mindset (immovable object). Tale as old as time.

Rui catches sight of a framed photo up on the wall, apparently a scene from their wedding. Or a show. It’s hard to tell. There may not be a difference.

> there isn’t a difference. Fully believe they’d treat their wedding like a show. They’re incapable of being normal. show freaks (derogatory) (affectionate)

Tsukasa steps out from the doorway he’s been skulking by for the past ten minutes.

> insert sad ant with a bindle image here

“Okay.” For a second the absurdity almost makes him laugh, but he wills away the smile before it’s too visible. “That’s…interesting.”

Tsukasa drops his stance. Why does he seem disappointed? There’s absolutely no way Rui would have ever entertained something like that, future or past. It’s not like there would be that many poses. He would run out eventually. Though, those did seem- specific. Are there more? No, Rui isn't going to waste his time following that thought process.

> HELP ME they’re so weird!! They’re so weird. I giggled. Rui & his initial fascination with tsk (that never really went away, just changed shapes) & tsk and his 100+ poses that he has memorized and ready to pull out at any given moment.

Like he’s going to be led down a path so softly that it’s already too late by the time he realises the direction is wrong. 

> yes… the tsukasa tenma Stockholm Syndrome effect. Millions fall victim to it each year. Fondly reminiscing on the days where I straight up did not care about him. & now that I’ve spent close to a year as a wxs fan I’m tragically very fond of him. As you can see this condition is incurable.

“Well, maybe it’s just because I know you both so well. It just feels like you recognise each other’s vision well, and that comes across when watching.” […] “I have no idea what you guys are doing most of the time. I’m pretty sure the way you express love isn’t the same as most people, anyway. You communicate best through theatre talk and dramatics.”

> YOU GET IT… you get it. They’re so fucking weird. but they are weird together. And obnoxiously happy about it too.

It’s someone that’s making his voice a little softer, at least. Even if he’s still loud. Rui closes his eyes and tries to imagine Tsukasa speaking to him like that.

> saki mention :)

“I wasn’t upset,” Rui says, looking away. “I was simply being honest based on my observations.”

> me when I lie (to both myself and others)

It’s familiar, but it’s- not right. Of course he wants to take it, because this life everyone is telling him about seems so warm and inviting, but- he doesn’t know how. He doesn’t know how to be both himself and this at the same time.

> ow. Pre wxs he’d been alone so long that he started defining himself by his loneliness to the point where he was like “I’m better off like this actually” and now he’s got all this love coming at him from a bunch of different directions… how do you even begin to trust that. Esp when it’s love for a you that you don’t know… ur mind. Love this part.

Two conflicting things can’t both be true at once. There must be an error somewhere. Is that why he feels like he’s doing something wrong?

> He’s so funny... he’s facts and logic-ing his way to the wrong conclusion but because he’s being “rational” about it he can’t see that he’s wrong or that he is in fact letting his feelings get in the way of seeing the problem clearly.

Rui wonders just how much Tsukasa will put up with before he decides he isn’t worth it.

> already shifting from “this guy is the worst I want him to leave me alone” to “he’s the worst but surely he will leave me because I am too much.” Nene was right when she said he’d fall in love again but she had too much faith in Rui (in that he lasted less than a week before the tsukasa Stockholm syndrome kicked in).

> I really enjoy how you show that he’s slowly falling back into his relationship with tsukasa even if he’s unaware of it… he starts teasing him instinctually

There can’t be that much difference between his old self and the new. It’s not as if he’s acting irrationally or strange.

> he’s so blatantly and confidently wrong… it’s inspiring…

It had been an incredible display, by far his favourite part of the entire musical other than Nene’s performance. “Not really. I didn’t notice it that much.”

> HELP MEEE… really holding onto that hatred with a white knuckle grip, huh.

> When I first read this fic I was like “hmm idk if Rui would hold onto his grudge like this but I can see where its coming from” and then I reread it again (fic so nice u read it twice. Or more.) and realized I was so wrong… it’s not just about accepting that tsukasa has changed, it’s about accepting that his life has improved so drastically. He’s mentally still very “I will never belong with anyone and I have to follow my dreams on my own.” Right after the first time in forever that Rui lets himself get his hopes up & then promptly has them shattered during the main story fight, he’s suddenly thrown into a life where he’s happy and fulfilled and accepted for who he is. Of course he’d try to cling to his dislike of Tsukasa, because letting go of that means letting go of the “I’m incompatible with other people” mindset. (Rui vc) that’s my comfort unhealthy-outlook-on-relationships-&-life and I will not be letting it go. Your mind…

“No, she’s happy to do it. Any of us would do the same, if it was something really important. Nothing is worth more than a friend in need, right? Even the best job in the universe couldn’t compete against that!”

> points at Rui in curtain call

“Rui Rui Rui Rui is your head okay do you feel sick do you feel dizzy are you okay do you know who I am Rui????”

> The little pink thing is here (the crowd goes wild)

“Is it true that your head went whambamow?” Emu asks, pulling back to look at him with large eyes. “And now you don’t know anyone and you can’t remember anything like vshhvshvshh?”

> as always I’m obsessed with how you write her like… you nail the emu typical incomprehensible onomatopoeias but I can still understand what she’s getting at.

“Mmm…” Emu’s eyes stay on his face, searching hard in a way that makes Rui feel oddly exposed. Why does it feel like she’s seeing something that he can’t? “I think you’re definitely Rui, but I’m not sure you’re completely Rui.”

> she knows him so well… even putting her insane ability to read people aside she can pinpoint what’s up with him from a mile away even when he can’t understand himself. Because she knows what a happy Rui looks like and it’s not this.

> semi related but it makes me so happy that yes this is a rks fic but it also includes all of Rui’s friendships and takes a look at his dynamics with them. because you write them so well but also because his friends are so so so important to him… there’s a weird fandom brain tendency to go “romantic relationship > importance of everyone else in a characters life” which has never sat right with me, but especially not for WXS. They’re all friends… they all love and support each other & the dynamic doesn’t need to be romantic for that.

“That’s so sad, you really don’t remember any of our shows…” Emu says forlornly, blowing bubbles into her drink as her head dips.

> so cute so cute… you always write in little actions that aren’t plot relevant but do make the scene feel so much more real and I enjoy it every time…

This is the place where everything ended, to Rui. He tries to picture that happiness, really tries to place himself into that life, but it just doesn’t seem possible.

> “where everything ended” obsessed with that. it’s so true. Forever thinking about that little scene they added in journey to bloom after the main story fight where it shows him looking super upset in his room…

“Is it scary?” she asks. It’s the same tone someone might take with a young child, but somehow Rui doesn’t find it condescending. “Because you don’t remember, and now suddenly you have lots of love from every single direction? And that’s a really big change, right? Especially compared to when you first started making shows with us! You always had a big big wall like kztkzkzt.”

> this made me smile she’s so good with emotions & getting to the root cause of what’s wrong… I love seeing emu written so well…

Why would Tsukasa bother to do this, even though Rui has no recollection of their relationship? It’s not something he deserves. It’s not something he should have. Yet, here it is anyway.

> ohhh that hurts… Rui Kamishiro you sad sad man

“Is that a script?” he can’t help but ask. It warrants an overjoyed expression from Tsukasa, and Rui isn’t sure if he’s made a mistake or not. 

> tsukasa tenma you are never beating the dog allegations.

He finds himself looking away from the page to watch Tsukasa as he delivers his lines, something striking about the way he moves and talks. Everything seems so deliberate, yet fully natural too. Well, of course, this must be something he’s performed countless times, but- still. Rui never imagined his own work would sound like this. It’s usually lost once it leaves the paper, but now it seems- more, not less. Tsukasa is- adding something to it, somehow.

Rui keeps reading his assigned lines, but finds himself getting a little more into the performance. It’s hard to consciously sound disinterested when Tsukasa is filling the air with so much energy. Is this what they normally do…? Rui could believe it. It feels familiar. It feels fun. This isn’t bad at all. Distantly, Rui thinks his future self must not be a very good actor, because it’s hard to stop himself from smiling even as he tries to stay in character. 

> You get it… they’re so odd. Why are they like this. So much of their bond is built off of their shared all consuming passion and love for theatre. Height of romance for ruikasa is creating a show together.

An audience full of ordinary people probably wouldn’t enjoy this. Perhaps it’s something his other self forgot to edit out.

> rui :(

Yes, but also no, because Rui is scared that the feeling in his chest is going to keep developing, keep rising with the liveliness of the room.

> “I can’t catch feelings for the man I’m literally married to. I have to leave” I cannot stand this guy. Aren’t you supposed to be smart rui.

It’s been this long, so an argument was inevitable, this is the start of the divorce era- 

“Your jacket’s inside out.”

> DIVORCE ERA… i giggled

“It’s a different perspective, you know? Asking someone for fashion advice with a decade long memory gap? Oh, that reminds me, did I tell you you owe me ten thousand yen?”

> they’re so funny. Your second priority should be checking in on your friend’s wellbeing after an amnesia inducing head injury. your first priority should always be profit.

Mizuki watches him for a moment, then sighs hard, crossing their arms. “Listen, Rui, I’m sorry to have to tell you this. I know it’s going to come as a huge shock, but try to stay calm, okay? The truth is…you’re gay.”

> took me OUT… mizuki you are so funny

A friendly smile and a wave. Once no longer needed, he’d be gone. 

Every time he had tried to go past that level, every time he’d dared to step closer, things had gone wrong. The shows he had shared as a child had ended no different to their performance at the park. Rui had started alone, realised just how different he was, and then gone back to being alone.

[…]

Those feelings he gets when Tsukasa checks to see if he’s okay, when he smiles at him- they’re temporary. They’re frivolous. Rui isn’t the type of person who can love someone like that. And- even if they’re not- he’s not the type of person who can be loved like that. This life is too unrealistic. It’s too selfish.

> I’m obsessed with this part… even past the main story Rui was still holding onto his belief that he was simply incompatible with people - because if that isn’t true, that means there’s no easy logical reason for why he was so rejected by his peers. It means he’s capable of forming relationships and it means opening himself up to losing something so much more important than surface level friendships with others when the people he loves leave him (because they have to eventually, right?). & even though that belief was unhealthy, it let him believe he was content being alone, but now that he has all these people who love him it actively gets in the way of his relationships. It’s so much easier for him to view his desires as selfish than it is to believe that other people legitimately love him.

Performing with his friends, subjecting others to his ideas and creations, forming a close connection with someone…it’s simply too much.

> “subjecting others” love that phrasing it’s so true… baby rui going “I forced my shows onto other people and that’s why they rejected me” and the way he started to view his love for others as something that’s inherently too much - because it can rival his love of theatre, and all his life he was shown over and over again through rejection that this passion was too extreme. So it’ll probably the same thing if he lets his friends know how much he cares about them, right? (Wrong! He is stupid.)

His voice is eager and inviting like always, and there’s the shine in his eyes that’s always there when he looks at Rui. Not too dissimilar from a dog waiting for praise.

> do we have solid proof tsk isn’t a very human looking dog? There’s no compelling evidence against it. So it must be true.

“But I don’t think that’ll happen!” His vigour returns tenfold as he shoots up, eyebrows pointed down. “And before it got to that point, I’d do absolutely everything in my power to ensure you were happy and safe! I wouldn’t ever want to make you uncomfortable, but- I don’t mind however long it takes! I don’t care if I have to do it all over from the start! I would do it ten thousand times for you, Rui!”

> tsukasa “unstoppable force” tenma… the phrase “I give up” isn’t in his vocabulary.

He can hear the water running, though there’s no singing or loud monologuing today.

> you are so talented at show don’t tell I love all the little moments in this fic that - even through rui’s lens of Hate - show how upset and concerned and wrong footed Tsukasa is. He’s more than capable of covering this up with the “Rui will go back to normal eventually” attitude but he is very clearly (unless you’re Rui with amnesia) Not Having A Fun Time. Tsukasa Tenma and the no good very bad 2 weeks from hell.

“[…] I like sharing stuff with you. Understand?! How can you say we don’t have anything in common?! I like all of that stuff! I like it a lot!”

> this whole speech was so so cute and sweet. I sniled so sneetly. I hate them (said with great affection). When it truly comes down to it Tsukasa is so good at locking in and saying something that’s simultaneously both completely unexpected & exactly what needed to be said. The cost of this skill is, of course, being so super obnoxious all the time and occasionally getting treated like a chew toy/guinea pig/clown by his friends (which is always funny and deserved).

Of course, the decorations and the music and the flowers had been beautiful, but it was that moment that had been the true act of togetherness - being there as he cried. The silent understanding of ‘this is what I thought I would never have’ without Rui ever saying it, and the realisation that despite everything, now they did have it. Understanding without needing to be told. Not just sharing happiness but sharing sadness and doubt and courage too. To be understood. To understand. That’s it. That’s love.

> STOP get out… this is so beautiful and touching… accepting and being accepted and revealing your whole, authentic self and trusting that you’ll be loved and can love in return…

“Oh, really? But it’s okay if you want to kill me off sometimes. I have a lot of good poses for death scenes! And we still have some fake blood left, so that could be pretty useful for that kind of thing.”

> of course he does. Tsukasa Tenma voice “every actor should have at least 5 death poses. I, of course, have 20.”

“Would you like me to include a graphic death for you next time?” Rui asks fondly. “I’ve always wanted to experiment with using alternative means of showing blood, such as through lighting or with props. Potentially using colours other than red, too.”

“Oh, that sounds good! I’ve been working a lot on my core stability, so I think I could hold even a pretty complicated pose for a good amount of time without moving. And I’ve been trying a new stage fall technique if you want to try shooting me through the head…I think something with a bow and arrow could look really good…”

> what is wrong with themmmm going from a super emotional moment to immedietly talking about the most artistic way for tsukasa to die on screen. They’re insane. “‘Would you like me to include a graphic death for you next time?’ Rui asks fondly.” help meee… fondly planning out a scene where your husband dies violently. True romance. They always follow up their normal and/or emotionally vulnerable conversations with deranged theatre talk, thus restoring order to the universe. I think this is one of the best rks interactions in fan works that I’ve read like. They would. They so would. Cheering and clapping so hard.

"Would you love me even if I was made from polyurethane foam?" he asks distantly. Tsukasa’s eyebrows twitch.

“Go to sleep,” he mutters. “If it’s you, yes.”

> they are so funny & annoying I need to hit them with a bat

God this was so good… I love your writing so so much & I was so excited to see this fic pop up. I will save the longer comment for tumblr where I’m freed from the restraints of the character limit but I’m so obsessed with this. Perfectly balanced between sweet and serious and hysterical… an excellent rui character study… exploring his relationships with his closest friends and how they’ve grown and changed… so beautifully written… you have such a fantastic grasp on these characters and what makes them tick. Thank you for sharing… I’m going to be rotating this in my mind for ages…

[thebettybook]

🎀 Cosplaying with Leona 🎀

🌸: My entry for the @briarvalleyarchives “New Beginnings” spring event

🌸: During this spring season, with new beginnings blooming left and right, Leona learns about and enters the wonderful world of cosplay with his gn!reader S/O who is a cosplayer

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🍓 Characters: Leona Kingscholar x gn!reader who is a cosplayer. Leona and gn!reader are in an established romantic relationship. Other characters mentioned are Cheka Kingscholar, Idia Shroud, and Ortho Shroud.

🍓 Note: This headcanons + drabble post came to life because hi, I’m a cosplayer outside of Tumblr and if I was dating Leona irl, I would absolutely make him do couple cosplays with me >:)

🍓 Song rec I highly recommend: “SHOCK!” by Ayase

🍓 Other notes: Text borders used from the website Cute Kaomoji

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𓈒𓈊 ┈ 𓈒 ┈ 𓈉 ┈ 𓈒 ┈ 𓈊 𓈒 ┈ 𓈉 ┈ 𓈒 ┈ 𓈊𓈒

🌸 The first time Leona saw you in cosplay, he did a double take. He’s not one to be surprised easily, but for a second, he thought that a whole new and random person broke into Ramshackle (that’s how good your cosplays are ;)).

🌸 He’s not into animes, Webtoons/webcomics, books, or any fandoms really. The only “fandoms” Leona’s even remotely a part of are those of Pro Magift teams, so he’s not familiar with cosplay. You have to explain to him all the cosplay terms, like “cosplan” (your future cosplay plans/projects), “costest” (testing out a cosplay), or even “con-crunching” (putting together your cosplay near the date of/or even the night before the convention).

🌸 Leona’s also not one to care about clothes much in general, but he knows the time and dedication you put into your cosplays…from the hours you spend putting together your cosplay to angling your phone camera just right when you film your cosplay videos.

🌸 If you’re trying to film a video in cosplay for TwstTok or Magicam either in your room in Ramshackle or Leona’s room in Savanaclaw (Leona’s room has better lighting tbh), Leona’s just laying on the bed on his stomach with his cheek resting in his palm as he gazes at you the entire time with a smirk.

🌸 He kept showering you with a ton of one-worded compliments such as “Breathtaking,” and positively relished seeing you break character while filming as a flustered expression creeped up onto your face at his compliments.

🌸 “Leona, can you please go outside for a few minutes?” you mumbled, your cheeks warming.

🌸 “I don’t wanna miss a second of your creative process,” Leona winked, to which you responded with a loving eye roll. He’s so down bad for you. Whenever you post your cosplay videos, he watches all your videos, likes them, and saves them on his private, never-active TwstTok account.

🌸 When you feel more comfortable with filming cosplay videos or doing self-photoshoots in cosplay around Leona, he becomes your cosplay partner-in-crime.

🌸 For example, fixing cosplay wigs are a pain and for a while, you didn’t have a wig mannequin (they’re expensive and Sage Island isn’t the best place geographically to receive online packages via shipping). Thus, you had the brilliant idea of using Leona as your wig model (even though his head shape and your head shape are completely different). He found cosplay wigs weird at first, until you asked him to try on one of your long and fluffy wigs, and the soft material of the wig made him fall in love with cosplay wigs right then and there.

🌸 “Just gimme a few minutes, herbivore,” Leona patted your cosplay wig on his head and laid down on his bed, out like a light and sleeping with his hands folded together on his stomach like a storybook princess. The flowy and wavy strands of your long wig fanned out around his shoulders and arms, and for a second, Leona really did look like one of those storybook princess cursed into eternal slumber. You couldn’t help but laugh, leaning down to kiss him on the forehead.

🌸 Cheka, on the other hand, likes to use your cosplay wigs as disguises of sorts whenever the cub plays hide-and-seek with Leona.

🌸 Your and Cheka’s giggles filled Leona’s room as Leona turned around from facing the stone wall after counting to ten with one hand over his eyes. “Sigh…ready or not, here I come,” Leona indulged his five-year-old nephew in a game of hide-and-seek.

🌸 It didn’t take long for Leona to spot Cheka crouching down next to his bedside table. The cub took one of your long cosplay wigs earlier and wore it; the wig comically and practically covered the cub from head-to-toe. You tried your best to stifle your laughter as you sat on the right side of Leona’s bed, sewing a button onto your cosplay.

🌸 “Gee, I wonder where the furball could be,” sarcasm oozed from Leona’s voice as he sauntered over to his study desk just a few feet away from his bed. “Is he over…here?” Leona clicked his tongue and made a show of ducking under the desk to check.

🌸 Cheka’s adorable laughter grew in volume, to which Leona turned towards you. Leona winked at you, lifting a finger to his lips, before walking over to you. “I just can’t seem to find my beloved nephew anywhere,” Leona sighed. He perched at the edge of his bed, making sure he didn’t sit on your cosplay. “Where could he be? Got any ideas, herbivore?”

🌸 “Beats me,” you hummed, looping thread through the button’s hole. You and Leona were planning to attend a spring anime convention in Sage Island the next day (your first anime convention in Twisted Wonderland and with Leona), so you were officially “con-crunching.”

🌸 “Hm…” Leona rose from the bed and made his way over to Cheka. “What’s this? A furball?” Leona leaned down and scooped Cheka up in his arms.

🌸 “Oji-tan, you found me!” Cheka squealed, your wig almost falling off the cub as Cheka moved the strands of your wig away from his tiny face to look at Leona.

🌸 “Uh-huh, now it’s time for your nap,” Leona gently took your wig off of Cheka’s head. As if on cue, the cub let out a cute yawn and closed his eyes. After tucking Cheka in on the left side of his bed where your cosplay materials were well out of Cheka’s reach, Leona went over to you and gave you back your cosplay wig.

🌸 “We should do a family cosplay with Cheka someday,” you shot a soft smile at Leona. Leona went over to his study desk and plopped down onto the wooden chair in front of it. He sat backwards so that he faced you.

🌸 “Yeah,” Leona hummed, watching you secure the button in place on your cosplay. For the rest of that spring afternoon, you continued to work on your cosplay while Leona helped by handing you more thread, scissors, glue, etc. as Cheka napped.

🌸 The next day, you and Leona attended the “con” (short for “convention”). The two of you were decked out in a couple cosplay (you as a plumber and Leona as a princess from a popular video game). Even though it was barely noon, Leona was already annoyed by the con attendees who pushed past him or almost stepped on his toes in their cosplay heels and boots. He was intrigued, however, by some cosplayers’ extravagant props, and he appreciated their craftsmanship.

🌸 Leona’s usually not one to strike up conversations with strangers, but when you complimented fellow cosplayers’ outfits and props, Leona also chimed in with questions on how they made their props (and that just led to the cosplayers’ enthusiastic and lengthy answers about the materials they used and Leona listened with interest the entire time).

🌸 Leona found the Artist Alley and merch booths to be too crowded, and nothing really piqued his interest. Leona bought some prints and keychains of your favorite anime characters and fandoms for you. Artists gave you and Leona a lot of mini freebies like stickers and gushed over “how cute” you and Leona looked together in your couple cosplay (which Leona would respond with a grin and, “You got that right”).

🌸 Leona also couldn’t help but quirk a proud grin when a little kid with cosplayer parents ran up to you and asked you for a picture because you and Leona “looked so cool.” You noticed that Leona posed in-character for the picture with you and the kid, which made you love Leona all the more.

🌸 Leona took a ton of pictures for you at the con, both cool and professional-looking photos of you in cosplay (you taught him how to take better pictures lol) and off-guard derpy photos of you in cosplay when the two of you rested a bit in a tiny corner (Leona grumped about the lack of resting/sitting areas in the venue) after traveling around the convention venue for hours.

🌸 Even though this was his first con, Leona came to the con prepared (“Be prepared” is his motto, after all). Leona had a bag on his shoulder the entire time with your sneakers in it because he knew those uncomfortable shoes you wore with your cosplay would hurt your feet (for Leona, underneath his cosplay, he wore his everyday sneakers). After you changed into your sneakers and the two of you took a water break, the two of you traveled around the con some more.

🌸 The two of you even ran into Idia and Ortho, the former carrying multiple bags of merch (fan art, official merch, body pillows, what have you). You and Leona didn’t chat with the Shroud brothers long, since Idia scurried away to catch a panel hosted by his favorite anime voice actor and Ortho flew after him.

🌸 You and Leona returned to the Artist Alley near closing time, where there were thankfully less people. At a booth that sold more general trinkets than fandom-specific ones, Leona picked up some stuff like a donut keychain for Ruggie and a succulent keychain for Jack, and some other keychains or charms for other members of his dorm. You smiled to yourself; Leona always thought about others even if he wasn’t the best at showing it outright.

🌸 The last booth you and Leona went up to was a booth selling inexpensive rings (both fandom-specific and general rings). You noticed a pair of matching rings with a slim gold band. The rings’ gems were transparent water-drop ovals with teeny dried-up blush, marigold, emerald, and ivory flower petals inside.

🌸 “Leona, what do you think about getting matching rings?” The ring would pair perfectly with your spring outfits, and the dried-up flower petals in the rings’ gems reminded you of one of your and Leona’s favorite places: NRC’s Botanical Garden.

🌸 “Not too shabby,” Leona grinned as he leaned down to look at the rings with you. “Plannin’ on proposing to me already, huh, herbivore?” Leona then made a show of looking at his left hand, which made you laugh. He liked the rings too, and didn’t care that they weren’t made of real gold.

🌸 “Wouldn’t be the first time someone’s proposed to their partner at a con,” The seller, a fae cosplaying a popular blonde spy character from an anime about spies and families, chuckled as they rang up your order.

🌸 Leona thought about the seller’s words as the two of you left the Artist Alley and ultimately the con after you bought the rings. As the two of you made your way through the venue to the exit, Leona thought about how he couldn’t imagine proposing to you or you proposing to him in front of hundreds of people at a con.

🌸 Leona knew himself well, and he knew two things at the moment: 1. He values his privacy and 2. If he was ever going to propose to you, which he planned to do so in the far, far future, it would be a private, intimate, and special moment for just the two of you.

🌸 Leona’s head then filled with thoughts of his proposal to you in the far, far future. He wondered what the two of you would wear during the proposal, whether it would be fancy clothes, pajamas, or even a couple cosplay. The quiet yet gushy smile on his face was apparent as he thought about all this.

🌸 “What’re you smiling about?” You smiled at Leona before unleashing a yawn. After a whole day at the con, you were ready for dinner and rest.

🌸 “Nothin’,” Leona replied with sly nonchalance. “Just that I like the rings you picked out for us.” He held out his right hand, where he wore his new ring on his right pinky.

🌸 You held out your left hand with your new ring on your left pinky before intertwining your left fingers with Leona’s right fingers. “I like them too.” The gems on your and Leona’s rings cast tiny rays of multi-colored light from the dried petals in front of the two of you as the sun began to set and its golden rays made their way through the glass building of the convention venue.

🌸 Hand in hand, you and Leona left your first (and definitely not last) con together.

𓈒𓈊 ┈ 𓈒 ┈ 𓈉 ┈ 𓈒 ┈ 𓈊 𓈒 ┈ 𓈉 ┈ 𓈒 ┈ 𓈊𓈒

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Important:

🍓 I don’t own any of the characters I mention or write about; they belong to their original and respective creators.

🍓 All content on this blog is created by me, @thebettybook (excluding posts I reblog that aren’t my own posts and unless I state otherwise). Do not modify, claim, repost, or translate my work onto this platform and any other platform.

🍓 Reblogs are appreciated :). Want more Leona romance fluff? Check out my masterlist

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[cannotandwillnotrest]

Simon and Betty, Change, and Acceptance - my thoughts on their story

(F&C and AT spoilers under the cut!!) (long post warning)

So obviously a big thing throughout the finale was learning to understand just how important letting the past go is.

Simon and Betty were no doubt hopelessly in love with one another, and though it's freaking adorable, you begin to notice how all the Simon and Betty-centric episodes of the main series, without fail, feature Betty making some kind of sacrifice or bending herself over backwards for Simon's sake. And it wasn't as clear back then, since Simon wasn't himself for majority of the episodes (I think the only time where he wasn't Ice King in the present day would be in "Betty"), but it's definitely something that settles in the back of your mind. This is a pretty nice setup for what happens in F&C.

Now fast forward to F&C's eighth episode "Jerry", where we get a LOT of Petrigrof scenes in the form of flashbacks. When I first saw it, I thought it was adorable and wonderfully ideal. But even then, there were still a couple things that rubbed me the wrong way, though I couldn't quite place it then. During my second watch, I started to pick up on hints that maybe their relationship wasn't as perfect as the show previously portrayed it to be. There may be more, but here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Betty readily tossing her 6-month trip aside in a momentary decision to go on an expedition with Simon (who, let's be honest, invited her in a semi-joking manner and didn't expect her to say yes) despite really only being acquaintances at best at the time

She also gave Simon all the credit for finding the Enchiridion, and I actually expected him to insist on Betty getting some credit a little more than he actually did

She tosses her 6-month trip away AGAIN the moment Simon shows up- her roommate(?) also placed a lot of emphasis on not letting her miss her bus, and yet she did in the end anyways

☆When Fionna asks if Simon went on the trip with her, Simon's surprised and confused. He didn't seem to consider it as a possibility at the time, not out of malice, just that it never actually crossed his mind

And throughout all of these, notice that Betty's essentially throwing her research opportunity and even her career's future away over and over again because she wants to be with Simon, and Simon never objected or told her that she should go for that trip, so why not? And you can see from the fourth point that Simon kinda just never thought about it like that, so if he didn't notice, then of course he didn't stop her. In this subtle way, Betty was unintentionally encouraged to sacrifice more and more things for him.

This is still reflected even as she to loses herself to MMS (magic, madness, and sadness), continuing all the way until her ultimate sacrifice of merging with Golb at the end of AT.

---------- ---------- ----------

That was Betty's side. Now let's look at Simon's progress throughout the finale a little more. I think that Casper and Nova (the storybook, not just the episode) was used really well to represent Simon and Betty's situation, specifically from a third-person point of view. It served as a major factor towards Simon's epiphany moment, especially since it bore so many similarities to him and Betty, allowing him to finally understand what it was like on Betty's end as well.

Casper and Nova was a choose your own story adventure novel (or at least the video gamey futuristic version of one), and the nice thing about that is how it lets Simon make his own decisions. And what he essentially does is repeat what he did with Betty all over again, even though he didn't realise it at first.

"No do-overs with this book, I guess"

I'd like to bring your attention to this part. When Simon wants to pick the other option when his first choice didn't work out, the book doesn't let him, and what's done is done. Sound familiar?

"I don't want any of those things to happen; I like Nova! There should be more choices!"

"Well, maybe there would be, if you hadn't picked Casper's options every time."

Aaaaaand cue epiphany. Simon realises that throughout the relationship, he was always put first. But just like Beth said, it wasn't necessarily Casper's (and by extension his) fault. Yet Simon agrees that he could have been more considerate.

When he's given a chance to relive a crucial moment in their story, he acts differently due to his prior grand realisation. And yet, he never gets on the bus. He knows that no matter how he would have handled it in the present, that isn't what he did in the past, and that's that. Same as the story of Casper and Nova- no do-overs.

And yeah, that sucks. But look here.

Simon's sending Betty- his Betty, not Golbetty- off, properly this time. This is their goodbye. And immediately after, he sees Golbetty on that bus instead of Betty. He's accepted that his Betty is gone.

If he had just realised the extent of Betty's sacrifices, he would've intervened because the last thing he wants is to do that to her since he loves her dearly, and then things would've been different. Maybe if he had gone on that trip with her, he would've never even found the crown. But he didn't realise, and it's too late now. They've both made their choices and mistakes- not in loving each other, but in the sort of inequality of it all, even while wholly unintentional. But regardless, there's no way to undo them, and there's nothing else they can do about it but move forward.

This doesn't necessarily mean forgetting the past ever happened- they were a massive part of each other's lives. They'll still love each other, and think about each other, and miss each other. But the difference is that they've accepted that they're just no longer the same people they were before, and that's okay.

Simon won't get his fiancée back. Betty isn't really Betty anymore, and will never be again. They've both learned to accept that change. A fatal flaw in Betty's character back in the original series was refusing to accept the Ice King, instead viewing him and not just the crown as something that's stopping her from getting her Simon back. And we all know how that turned out.

Simon and Betty won't ever be together like they were before again. Though devastating, things like these, at the end of the day, are a part of life. The important thing is that they were both able to learn from these experiences and continue on with the cards they have been dealt, and that's exactly what they did; with Betty's new duties as GOLB (or maybe even possible reincarnation as some have been theorising) and Simon finally seeking help (thank god he realised that being a living exhibition wasn't the best idea) and accepting the life he was put into.

Simon's not gonna just magically be better, and that's okay. Little by little, he's gonna move on from the past and learn to enjoy life again , and I think the realism in the way it's portrayed is absolutely beautiful.

[moving-asfateentertwines]

Home

Home

Spider was never meant to find Home 

He knows that. No matter what Kiri whispers to him, what Lo’ak insists when the young warriors of the Omatikaya attempt to chase him off, or what Neteyam mumbles when Neytiri whips around with venom on her lips - he knows it, because if it were wrong, it would mean that everything that’s happened was for no reason. He can’t go that route, and so Home is just a concept he’ll never know 

His siblings tempt to sway him many times over the years - they feel so much like Home it hurts, but he’s not so selfish to risk it for them when he knows he already took it from their mother 

He’s seen his father in the photos the scientists don’t know he has, video logs that show a man that’s only been a horror story his whole life 

But what scares him is he sees himself 

He sees his eyes, the scowl when he’s angry, the cinch in his brow. He scowls at the image and sees his own face stare back. 

So yeah. He doesn’t have a home. He has siblings though, and that’s more than he deserves. So Spider is okay. Really, he is.

But then his Dad shows up 

—- 

Quaritch is everything he thought he’d be and…not. 

He’s angry. The man is full of hate and a need for revenge. He destroys the ground beneath his feet and spits on the life that’s surround them. He doesn’t know Ewya but he hates her none the less. 

But he’s protective. Possessive of what’s his (and yet another damn thing he got from his father) and it seems Spider is included in that

He hates it but a part of him feels protected - it’s safe in the that’s holding a poison blade is. He’s one slip up from hell 

But hell was bridgehead. It was the feeling of his deepest parts being pried out and displayed like the pages of a storybook 

No one cared as they saw some of his best and his darkest days. 

No one cared when the whips came out. When he bled so much he worried it was fatal 

No one cared when he starved, when the distant sound of wildlife made his stomach twist with need. 

Except Quaritch. 

Quaritch snuck him food, bandaged his back, and pulled him down. 

His hands may have delivered some of the blows or his lips produced the words to trigger nightmares but he cared. 

Love is complicated, but he knows his Dad loved him

He thinks he may have too 

Quaritch saw him. 

He didn’t know. He thought he did but he didn’t but he wanted to he knows he did - 

Then Neteyam almost dies. No one came for him. They left him, gave him up, except his brothers didn’t 

Neteyam and Lo’ak fought for him. 

They risked their lives when they had the chance to get away

Spider pieces his home together after that

Home finds him in the nights after when he rests with Kiri on his shoulder and Lo’ak’s hand loose in his grip. Tuk is curled into her mothers chest and Jake stands a silent guard at the door. Neteyam is flat on the bed of one of Ronal’s medical tents. His brother has been asleep for a few hours now with Norms assistance, but his family is too afraid to leave his side

He’s been awake the whole time. He hurts in ways he didn’t know he could until his capture but the warmth of his closest friends is too precious to loose right now. Still, he can’t sleep. Adrenaline is running under his skin and anxiety is inching up his throat. Jake is outside, safe and strong, but his tracker could lead the rest of the sky people here again, never mind Norms tempering, or his memories could have a clue, they had to be recorded, or - 

Jake lays a large hand on his shoulder. 

He jumps and a scared gasp escapes his throat before he processes the subtle differences. The thinner fingers, callouses Quaritch hasn’t had time to form yet, the gentleness. 

“You need to sleep, Kiddo.”

Spider shudders and bows his head. “I will, just…can’t. I’ll go lay down in a few hours. When they’re okay.”

He can practically hear Jake roll his eyes. “I’m here. You’re safe, they’re safe. You need to sleep, Son.” 

They both freeze, blood cold and eyes wide, as the silence envelops them.

Then, of course, Lo’ak snores and the moments gone. Jake laughs softly and suddenly exhaustion is pulling at his eyelids. A cushion slides behind him and a hand gently lowers him down. 

“Sleep.” 

The pieces come faster after that.

He cries with Kiri for hours. Laments his father, spills everything he felt. She’s the first one he tells the truth too. She knows more than he thinks anyone else ever will 

He tells her Quaritch is alive. He tells her its all his fault.

She cries, yells, and then they just lay there. She tells him how scared she was of her mother. How lost she felt without him there. 

He looks at her as she cries and another puzzle piece slides into place

Lo’ak and Neteyam came together when they came back for him, but it doesn’t feel settled until later. 

They’re on their ilu with Spider behind Lo’ak as they race out to meet Payakan. He’s giant and beautiful and damn terrifying, but Lo’ak describes him as his soul brother. An extension of himself and a badass of a friend. They tell him how Payakan saved them. How he helped get Spider home

He’s scared and excited and now sure what to make of the beast, but then Lo’ak is leaving him on the ilu and falling into the water 

He rises on a fin the size of a small marui with a loud whoop that can’t help but make Spider laugh in astonished awe 

“Paya, meet my other brother, Spider.” Then a wave of water is splashing over him as Lo’ak laughs in a way he hasn’t heard since the forest 

His breath leaves his lungs as he laughs and laughs, happy for more reasons than one. Neteyam meets his gaze from across the surf and smiles then one quick nod. He holds his gaze and feels the warmth spread in his chest. 

“Team up?”

“Team up.”

Tuk has been his little sister since he held her in his arms for the first time. Neteyam snuck him over when they were barely into puberty and put a baby the size of his torso into his arms 

He remembers her being the most terrifying thing in the world. He was so sure she would be terrified of him, that he would make her cry as soon as she was in his arms and the other kids would realize he’s a monster 

But Tuk has always been Tuk and she just grinned and pulled his hair. Her Tswin fluttered with her affections and he knew he would do anything for her 

He had never seen her angry, truly angry, until she stumbled into him cleaning the cuts along his hips and back. The cloths on the floor are bloody and his skin is angry and mottled but he had been decent at hiding the level of it until now. Behind her, Neytiri stops in her tracks as she takes in his scars 

Tuk’s eyes fill with tears and then he has a bundle of 5’7” child in his arms 

Her eyes flash and she looks like her mother when she growls out; “What happened? They hurt you?” 

He stutters, not knowing what to say when Neytiri kneels down in front of him. She takes the ointment and the bandages in front of him, moves his arm from his side, and begins to apply. Her hands are shaking and he realizes he’s never seen her frazzled 

“You’re a child.” 

He looks up, Tuk now angrily crying in his arms while she cleans and gently bandages the wounds. “I..I know…look, I’m sorry Tuk saw, I-I didn’t think anyone was coming back for a while..” 

“You’re a child. Children are precious. I-I didn’t realize they…that…” She scowls down at the drying blood and puts the wrap down. She pulls him forward so he rests against her with Tuk snug between them. “I’m sorry, Spider. This will not happen again.” 

His face is red and words don’t seem to work but he manages a scared nod. “O-Okay?” 

She nods, decisive, and resumes her work. Then, lifts a dirty dread with a disgruntled finger. “These next. My children will not be seen looking uncared for.” 

And that’s that. He has a family, a home, and it’s all he ever wanted. 

He doesn’t think it could get better. 

Part two coming cause holy shit it's 2000 words

[siflshonen]

Trauma Doesn't Make Someone Right or Wrong but It Does Make Them Easier to Manipulate: Tomura Shigaraki and All for One

I decided I should talk about the MHA villains more, particularly Shigaraki.

BNHA presentations masterpost

BNHA presentations on Ao3

Let’s mosey under the cut.

The color key is not necessary, exactly, but I will be referencing my other posts with similar color keys. I thought it would be helpful to give a quick visual refresher to what they are. I’m going to referencing the other stuff I’ve written a lot in this one when it’s time to get into the details, so please be aware of that.

Regular white text can also be neutral and mean none of these things, but I think you’ll see what I mean by including All for One on here when you see the graphics.

There is Tenko Shimura and there is Shigaraki Tomura. One of them is the scared child who looks like the perfect victim in need of saving. The other is the obstinate, stubborn, short-sighted and naive social deviant shaped by his trauma and grooming. The only thing he seems to exhibit individuality over is his love of video games and which kinds he prefers.

They are the same person. Traumura Shigaraki. Tenko Traumura. 

Shigaraki is sometimes hard to pin down as a character because his individuality beyond his PTSD is rarely allowed to shine. However, I do believe that there are common threads between Tenko Shimura and Tomura Shigaraki. He sincerely wants to make connections, and he sincerely wants to do right by those that accept him, though his own desires and emotional responses often get in the way - as do the desires of another teeny, tiny influence upon him.

His fucking Master, All for One.

Part of what inspired my initial Bakugo presentation was showing how he breaks down the tropes of “hero”, “antihero” and even “antagonist” in shonen manga. The entire cast of Heroes and Villains (remember, they are also social designations and legal definitions in the world this manga) are doing this to some extent. Shigaraki, in particular, is headlining how there is nothing inherently special that makes someone a villain or hero. The determining factor is the perspective of the observer (or affected society.)

Shigaraki may be an antivillain in this story, but to him, that makes him appear the hero of his own story - all while still wearing the self-determined label of “villain”.

Arguably, the actions he chooses to take as a result of his trauma and fear of rejection also make him the villain of his own story at the same time, but we’ll get into that later.

Deku also has at least one mentor (in the Second User) that makes no bones about telling him that his life and well-being is less important than achieving the goal of stopping All for One. But at least he is honest, I guess.

Still destructive, though.

Most of the characters act truly heroically not in moments of glorious victory, but moments of pain, suffering, or even failure (Early-series Deku does this a lot, like when he falls to earth after heroically saving Ochako in the entrance exam. Bakugo, who is sent crashing to the ground in the ironically-named “Katsuki Bakugo: Rising” chapter after putting himself in harm’s way to save someone else, also has a habit of doing this over and over again), which is not the expectation for an archetypal hero in a storybook or comic.

Shigaraki’s glorious rise with cape, model hair, and awesome suit is likewise a moment that does not bode well for him, though he doesn’t know it in the moment.

I don’t make a slide for it, but as he ascends, Shigaraki becomes, well, ethereally beautiful. As his post-family-death amnesiac self, his suffering made him more fragile, frayed, and conventionally ugly in appearance. But after going through All for One’s training and modifications, he was given a new, beautiful facade.

But he was still on the fast track to misery either way.

This discussion isn’t super duper political, but this is your heads-up that many of these “big presences in power” characters also stand in for political ideologies or even entire countries, in some cases.

Endeavor is, roughly, the Japan before modern foreign influence. I’m sure Horikoshi could give us the specific party or movements he had in mind, but he’s not the focus of this post. If you want a more in-depth breakdown of Endeavor and the Todoroki family, please see this post. 

The Kirishima Presentation post I made has the most relevant information to the topic of Westernization’s impact on Japan’s attitudes and military power, though it isn’t quite for the same approach and purpose.

All Might, the “band aid” on the My Hero Academia society, is a Japanese guy wearing the appearance of the West while wielding a power that was given to him by someone else, and at seemingly random from an outside perspective. While Toshinori’s true heroic qualities have nothing to do with his nationality (and neither do the features and purpose behind One for All or All for One, when all is said and done), it is important when understanding what Toshinori represents to Endeavor and how he views him.

Both the Heroes and Villains in this series make an entire journey and daytime soap opera of fucking themselves over, honestly.

All for One doesn’t just want to be a dictator or tyrant or king. No, he wants to be the ultimate evil and unapologetic about it. He is the big bad and he is reveling in it. He is going to make himself a cartoon, and then he is gonna rule this cartoon world. Why? We’ll find out eventually. But maybe we’ll never know! I don’t really care. He’s meant to be a static evil.

Naruto tried to be real cool by having their big bad talk about how they were gonna take over the world through hijacking the economy and using that as their in to take over all the Ninja Villages and be real fascists or whatever, but My Hero Academia jumps over that angle by taking a more emotional and universal storybook (or comic book) approach. I greatly prefer it.

I also prefer that the story is blatantly framing the movement it opposes by calling it out as a fucking cartoon villain, though there’s also a twist to this that I think Horikoshi has very intentionally performed.

Fascism most recently swept over Japan as a result of influence from the West. Bam. Easy. So it’s no surprise that, regardless of where he is from, All for One doesn’t just look like a white guy, but like fine art of a white guy from the West. Pretentious. But it’s also kinda funny since he looks like a Greco-Roman god and is trying to flatten his marble curves into lowbrow comic form.

Nazi Germany and the Italian flavor of fascist regimes dressed snappy and loved their high art. Surely y’all know how Nazi Germany defined and tripped all over themselves at the idea of an Aryan race.

Meanwhile, American comic books are a Jewish invention. Superman and Captain America were staunchly anti-Nazi, anti-fascist, anti-all that. For All for One, icon of the type of art branded as “Aryan”, to do what he’s doing in the form of a comic book and saying he likes them is... oh, it’s truly disrespectful of him, to put it mildly. It reminds me of the discussion and fallout surrounding Captain America being part of Hydra for some issues.

Anyway, All for One is rebranding again to sneak into the hearts and minds of those with more modern sensibilities (read: “lowbrow”) to do his same routine. It’s truly villainous, selfish, and disrespectful. Fuck this guy. Rip him apart.

...All of this is a compliment. A hateable static big bad is a good thing when it is what the story wants to achieve.

One could split hairs and say, “All for One’s approach doesn’t resemble fascism! It’s like X!” And if you want to do that, great. Pick your poison of specific flavor of awful Authoritarian or Totalitarian movement that causes extreme suffering. Go nuts. I chose this one because I think a broader approach is more applicable - All for One is a timeless, recurring evil with worldwide reach.

I’ve taken the qualities of Ur-Fascism, or “Eternal Fascism”, listed above from this article, which is also an abbreviation of a longer work on the topic by Umberto Eco. I don’t want to regurgitate the whole thing here, so I encourage you to read it. I did incorporate two of the 14 qualities into other items on this list, but I think you’ll find that All for One checks all of these boxes.

If you read the article or essay, please pay attention to language used like “in the name of liberation”, or how these movements tend to start in another movement with one similar ideal or begin to absorb other movements. Think about how that relates to what happened to Re-Destro’s group and ambition, and the fate of the Liberation Army as it was absorbed into Shigaraki’s/All for One’s. Think about how fascism is contradictory in many ways, but still considers itself a single movement.

For more further reading - @transhawks​ hits the nail on the head regarding what the League of Villains are in relation to Hero Society and All for One. They’re not really revolutionaries or a unified band of anything standing against their evil government for ideological reasons. They’re being used. If you want to enter a more extreme political pick-apart or commentary of this series, this is a good place to look and a crucial thing to understand.

It would be real cool if the USA was truly a well-meaning, if hasty, rude, and entitled do-gooder superhero, but, well, this is a comic book. Y’all know that Star and Stripe is meant to be the idealized USA rooted in Democracy and Liberty and all that stuff, right?

But even the superpowered and ideal version of the USA can be corrupted. The USA has neo-Nazis (and a total shitshow political scene, particularly conservatively but not exclusively limited to that party, currently) and stuff, too. The “We Are All for One” sign in the My Hero Academia panel of violence and chaos in the United States’ establishing shot is a good way to represent how the conditions for All for One to take control can come about anywhere.

This dude, and the fascism he represents, is a parasite.

Anyway, that’s all big-picture stuff. Let’s talk about All for One’s specific approach to getting his hooks into Shigaraki and the League of Villains.

Public opinion is one of All for One’s most important tools, especially when starting out.

Again, All for One is a parasite. And I think the moth wings Shigaraki sports in figurative representations in the manga are meant to suggest the lower two of a Death’s-head hawkmoth, which has an association with death in Japan and some other cultures. I’m not totally sure about this, though.

As for me, personally, I am familiar with this genus of moth because I grew up with the Five-Spotted Hawkmoth’s larvae, which we called tomato hornworms, in the garden. Parasitic wasps like to lay eggs in the backs of the hornworms and then the larvae in the eggs eat the hornworm from the inside out before maturing. I don’t know if Horikoshi had those in mind when he made this manga because I think they’re only in North America, but, well, I thought about them.

My point: Shigaraki was an easy target and a natural choice for All for One.

Tenko fucked his whole family over when his quirk destroyed everything. The damage was not limited to his father. His family may not have stopped his father and maybe could have done more to try and stop him (and Hana could have not sold out Tenko and blamed him for their intrusion into their father’s office), but killing them didn’t exactly help anyone.

As @transhawks​ pointed out, the message of “destroying the existing system (house) to root out the existing power causes more sacrifice than it is worth” is a comparatively moderate one.

But for a boys’ manga series, the major idea that, “hey, maybe try to help one another and don’t act in negative emotion - and DEFINITELY don’t become a fascist ‘cause it’s a trap” is perhaps a more immediately relevant one for that audience than a more complicated political critique. The readership of a boys’ manga is at (or about to be at) high risk for becoming the vulnerable youth Shigaraki, Spinner, and perhaps even Dabi or Toga represent.

Sometimes, things can be as simple as the story of a shitty dad doing shitty things to his family because he sucks. Sometimes, this story can also be an allegory at the same time, if it helps your cause. Dabi certainly thinks about it like this!

Shigaraki seems to flip-flop between these hikikomori and NEET categories.

The Kirishima Presentation post talks about this in great detail with more articles.

When I think about this turn of phrase, I think about Princess Mononoke and how the musket ball inside the boar god is what turned him into a monster and sent him on a rampage, and then infected Ashitaka. There’s a lot to unpack here about that, but this is long enough.

It seems that quirks, while not a definite indicator of what a person is like, has an impact on these characters’ individuality, themes, and preferences in the story.

He rises from the ashes always, it seems. And this isn’t even his final form.

“I hurt, so I want YOU to hurt!” If you don’t know much about folks affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, well, Shigaraki is pretty much a perfect textbook example.

And you could have it all... my empire of dirt... I will let you down... I will make you hurt!

People are individuals. Degrees of and conditions for suffering are all unique. But the end result of trauma upon people is the same. They hurt.

So, I think now is a good time to link to this discussion regarding Tenko’s name.

I don’t know if this alike-sound is obvious to the Japanese readership or not, or if it’s just an English speaker’s ear making the observation in similarity between words. Sometimes, what sounds like a pun to an English speaker is not a pun to a native speaker. I really do not know because I am not a native speaker. But even without knowing that for certain, it’s interesting to think about and good, relevant information regarding some of Japan’s general history. If anybody knows, please let me know.

For the longest time, I thought his name was ironic because “ten” sounds like “heaven/sky” and “ko” like “child”, so he would be named “heavenly child” or “child from the heavens”, which contrasts with his “villain” status, though remains accurate because of his incredible, otherworldly power and appearance by his transformation’s end. But it’s not written like “heaven child”. I asked. But I still think it’s funny.

Anyway.

This is a story, so I literally cannot do anything about this situation except say that I am certain that a hero will come for him. I know it’s a cop-out and I am no different than the old woman who left Tenko on the street, but, well, that’s all I’ve got.

I hope they reach him soon.

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

How can you tell if something *is* a pet monkey? Sometimes it's hard to tell esp if people label themselves as rescues or sanctuaries or whatnot.

It can be hard to tell. My usual process involves looking for specific red flags: wearing clothes, being on a leash, being inside a human house, doing human activities, and being the subject of internet content that has little to no information, focusing on the cute factor. Lets take an example:

This is Pockets Warhol the capuchin. This photo, and many others on the twitter account @PocketsWarhol, depict Pockets playing with toys, painting, and sleeping in blankets indoors. Additionally, the Twitter account posts from Pockets perspective. This photo was tweeted with the caption “I know that I never want to stop smiling #BeKindToAnimals #AfterLife #storybookmonkeys“

It is easy to think that Pockets is a pet, and you’d be half right: he used to be a pet before being surrendered to the Storybook Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario. So how do we go from seeing this type of content from determining if Pockets is a pet?

1. Context gathering. Just from scrolling through Pockets’ Twitter, more tweets can be found which indicate more about Pockets’ care and keeping. Not much, but the background of several pictures and videos indicate an enclosure suited to capuchin needs rather than someones basement or living room. He is also only seen engaging in species safe enrichment including baby-proof children’s toys and classic monkey enrichment like sawdust. This still isn’t much to go off of, but at this point we would probably see if his caretaker was treating him unambiguously as a pet. If at this stage we saw him wearing baby clothes, being handled inappropriately/like a human baby or a domesticated animal, or being kept in a persons bedroom, yard, or a similarly obviously bad environment. At this point we can go into the next step:

2. Background Research. We know Pockets lives at the Storybook Farm Primate Sanctuary, but is this a real sanctuary or just someone with a farm that keeps “rescue“ exotics? Let’s look. One of the first things you may notice on the website linked from Pockets’ Twitter bio is an endorsement from Jane Goodall. Pretty solid stuff in their favour, but not every place is going to have an endorsement that so obviously speaks to a high standard of ethics and primate welfare. If you hover over the “About Us“ section of the website directory, you can click on the “Our People“ tab. Here we find some info that you are likely not going to find for any sanctuary that isn’t the real deal:

A board of directors (7 members)

Staff members (3 caregivers and 2 veterinarians)

Names of all the volunteers

Non-legitimate sanctuaries almost never have this level of transparency. This also allows you to look up individuals such as board members to see what their qualifications are. Real sanctuaries value transparency and tend to be more forthcoming. Seeing “John Smith Phd, resident veterinarian” is a big green flag, whereas “Founded by John and Judy Smith who love animals“ doesn’t say much.

Storybook Farms also has a resources tab for educational information, including a tab on pet primates. They do not say outright that primates should never be pets, but instead emphasize that the needs of primates are most often not met when they are kept as pets and that neglect and poor quality of life is very common. This may seem like a questionable stance, but Storybook Farms is very gentle in their condemnation of keeping primates as pets as they form and maintain relationships with primate pet owners to ensure the welfare of these privately owned animals. Primate pet owners should not exist, but if someone has a pet monkey an all or nothing approach is not going to help them or the monkey. As I mentioned, Pockets used to be a pet, but he was willingly surrendered by his owner who realized that she was not capable of giving him the quality of life he deserves.

3. More critters? Pockets is just one monkey out of all the monkeys and lemurs at this sanctuary, and luckily Storybook Farms has a tab where you can read bios and see pictures of every individual there (yay for transparency and good websites!) From reading through these bios I found quickly that most of the sanctuaries residents live in small groups/couplings that are species appropriate and take the needs of the individuals into account. Inner species relationships are prioritized and care is taken to allow natural, non-human-centric lives.

Remember Darwin the IKEA monkey? He lives here! Because Darwin (a former pet like Pockets) was rescued when he was less than a year old, he has been largely rehabilitated to be more macaque than human and spends his time with his own kind, foraging outside. Unlike Darwin, Pockets was a pet for far longer and consequently is not able to be re-socialized as effectively. It’s sad, but long term pet primates tend to prefer humans to other members of their own species, are more easily made anxious, require more attention and reassurance, and often have been castrated or have had teeth removed. Because of this, Pockets and others like him require lives that, while not ideal for monkeys, are better for the individual. Pockets was lucky enough to not have been traumatized by life as a pet, and his life looks pet-like because it is all he has ever known and anything different would possibly cause more harm than good.

Hopefully this helps you do your own research! There will always be ambiguous cases, and don’t be afraid to be wrong or to not know. There have been some places, pictures, and primates that I have been unable to judge due to lack of information, and it is fine to say you don’t know for sure. Feel free to ask more questions if you have them!

[pilot-boi]

Plotbunny AU 5 - WELCOME BACK TO BEACON, LOVEBIRDS

(And we're back to this nonsense. Let's go, this world ain't gonna fix itself)

Come the day of Beacon's semester starting, Jaune gets to work being everyone's brother figure, while Alyx decides to get to know Jaune's siblings, her rivals for his hugs, his crush, friends.

Between Jaune hugging everyone who stands still long enough, the entire student body cooing over Juniper, and Alyx making commentary it all goes pretty good..

Then she drags him up to Weiss and Pyrrha, and Jaune becomes a stuttering mess. Alyx decides to ask the redhead who she is, since her saying hello gave Jaune a coughing fit.

Weiss asks Alyx if she knows who Pyrrha is, and when he says no, looks like she's going to start a tirade ,but Jaune plays peacemaker.

He thought long and hard, staying up late into the night: could he pretend he never recognized her again? Try and be ensure he becomes her partner again? game the system like that?

Manipulate her with false information and half-truths like everyone else did?

(No, never. Not in a million years. Never, ever. He's not the Jaune that loved and lost, he's a shadow of that man, but he could never dream of giving her anything but choices and support)

"This is Pyrrha Nikos, Alyx. She won the tournament in Mistral four times.... oh! And she's also sponsored by my favorite cereal, where I got the sweater from!"

Let it be known that Alyx is a reformed hellion and will game the system for Jaune's sake.

"Ohhhh, sounds important. You should partner up with Jaune here, he's brave and loyal and strong, and he deserves the best partner cause he'll be their best partner in turn! Like a knight from a storybook. Team Jaune will be the place to be-"

Jaune ain't having it. He'll protect Pyrrha from everyone, even his own misplaced feelings if he needs to.

"She's also a person who deserves to have her boundaries respected and for no one to project their wants or feelings onto her, Alyx. Come on, sorry you two, please have a nice day...."

(And Jaune misses Pyrrha watching him walk away with a laser focus.)

Initiation comes. Jaune takes Juniper out of his pocket and she grows to regular size, and Jaune lands safely in the forest...

And has a panic attack

He's already changed things, he's changing things, what if he messes up? What if it all gets worse? What if- THUNK

"Hello Again! Are you okay?"

There's Pyrrha, having jumped on her spear and ridden it like a surfboard after using it's propellant features and semblance to guide it.

Because of course she makes it look effortless; riding the spear until it landed in that tree, looking down at him while he looks up.

Something clicks.

She jumps down, hair falling, and without thinking about it, he catches her in his arms, holding her there for an instant that lasts forever before setting her on her feet.

There a small smile on her face, and his helm is hiding the tears in his eyes.

She speaks to him, a beaming smile on her face:

"So, is there anymore room on Team Jaune?"

He takes off his helmet, smiling in-spite of his misgivings as something seems to align within him. And from her beaming face, he thinks he eels it, too.

"Hardy har....partner."

Eyes lidded, Pyrrha calls her spear to her hand without a thought, smiling back at him.

"Then let's get going, partner."

Jaune helps her onto Juniper, and they rush off towards the Relics.

Together.

(It all mostly works itself out, to Jaune's relief. They kill a Nevermore and a Deathstalker, with style even, and Juniper actually dropkicks an Ursa over the horizon) (When he emerges from the Forest with Pyrrha as his partner, Alyx is very smug, the little brat. Jaune hugs her anyways)

While Jaune goes to classes, Alyx doesn't spend all of her time taking care of Juniper she needs to do other things or she'll go stir crazy.

If she doesn't distract herself from the fact that everything she knew is gone, she'll go mad.

So she reads, and watches videos on her scroll, but eventually, after reading her brother's book for the sixth time, she asks Ozpin for his thoughts on it, as the resident 'Legend Expert'.

Ozpin has many thoughts, and delights at the chance to discuss Legends and the truths behind them.

(And listen, Alyx is taking everything he says with a grain of salt, she has heard many rants from the Rusted Knight about him and his habit of omitting details, but his passion for Fairy Tales seems genuine)

And one day Alyx decides she wants to be Better, yes, but to help more people be Better as well.

"How would you like to help me write a sequel to this story my brother wrote? So everyone knows the truth, even if they don't know it...."

(Playing on that Ozpin seems to be the incarnation most obsessed with mythology and researching and lecturing about them)

And so they write, weeks going on and continuing even as the semester starts and classes begin, sharing hot chocolate and occasionally taking breaks to walk Juniper and check in on Jaune, training in the forest nearby:

>The Origins of the Rusted Knight: A story of the only son with seven sisters running away from his family's farm to become a hero like his family ancestor.

>The Girl Who Wished To Become Real: A tragedy that serves as a Stealth Prequel to The Girl who Fell Through The World, and touches on What Makes A Person.

>The Boy Who Returned Home: A tribute to Lewis, and all he did for her and her apology note and goodbye letter and thank you all in one.

(Ozpin does hug her after they write that and have Glynda let Jaune off from classes that day, strangely fond of this girl who understands him more than anyone but also takes none of his crap)

>The Four Who Finally Arrived: The sequel to the Tale of the Rusted Knight, featuring him surviving the original story, his long vigil coming to an end, and him returning home hand in hand with his friends.

>The Four Daughters: Ozma's own apology and farewell, memorializing his failures and regrets.

(Alyx gives him the hug this time, with Juniper purring. Jaune joins in, it's kinda his thing.)

>The Paper Pleasers: A Lighthearted Tale of a kind people who only want to beautify the land....... featuring the Rusted Knight in a comedic role for a change.

>Tales of the Ever After: A series of shorts and bits, telling fantastic blurbs about fantasy characters.

>The Tree and the Blcksmith: A creation Mythos story, featuring the beginning of everything, she who remakes others again and again, and two figures that become surprisingly important.

As the semester goes on, Alyx and Jaune call his family more often, and Jaune cajoles everyone else into doing the same. They argue a little, but eventually give in. Stupid himbo and his "call your family guys, cherish them!"

Weiss calls Whitley and Winter. It goes.... awkwardly. But by the third week of sunday calls, she could almost swear Whitley was looking forward to them. Odd. Stupid eyes, stinging when she thinks about it. And Winter is so, so glad to hear Weiss gush for minutes on end about her dorm's pets and her new friends.

Tai is relieved to hear his daughters are doing well and making friends. He's not so pleased to hear that their Uncle is apparently hanging around between missions, and says he might be hanging around Vale more himself. Weird.

Blake.... okay, Blake chickens out twice in a row. But the third time, Alyx slips in and presses the button for her before slipping out with a "Hi Mrs and Mr Belladonna, we got your daughter to call, don't worry we're keeping an eye out for her stalker, have fun catching up, bye!"

Brat.

But an hour later, Blake has red rimmed eyes and gives Alyx a hug, so she's not too mad.

Pyrrha calls her mother and, fortified with Jaune's hugs and everyone's encouragement, speaks about stepping back form her sponsorship deals while she's at Beacon and opens up about wanting to be more, feeling lighter afterwards.

Ren and Nora are dragged into Jaune's calls several times, and also Pyrrha's once she starts gossiping with her mother over things after their first call, and both will admit it helps more than they would admit to feel like they belong with these people.

And that's the dose of fluff. Tune in next time for Alyx's prank war against Cardin and Roman's second defeat at Juniper's paws (And Cinder getting rekked again, of course)

God. All the stuff about the new stories got me

Alyx not being quite as good a writer as her brother but trying SO HARD and wanting her new brother’s story to be told. Wanting his suffering to be KNOWN and talked about so it’s not like OG Jaune suffered for nothing

You’re doing great Alyx, you’re getting better

The Arkos meeting? *chefs kiss* Not lying to her because she deserves better than that? Pyrrha still rescuing him, but this time from his own self doubt? Top notch, all of it

ALL THE FAMILY CALLS!!! Blake getting reassured that her parents love her (because they’re the best). Weiss reconciling with Whitley and showing Winter that she’s loved as a person, because fight me they both need a hug

Tai being rightly concerned about Qrow because of the plot stuff that the girls don’t know about, but also taking it as prompting to visit his daughters more often. Because god dammit visit your kids, you know where the school is

PYRRHA SETTING BOUNDARIES BECAUSE SHES FINALLY GETTING THE SUPPORT SHE DESERVES!!! YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!!!

Thank you for the dose of fluff. Can’t wait to see Cardin, Roman, and Cinder get wrecked

Also I can’t remember if the Blake Faunus reveal happened already, but if it hasn’t I can’t wait for that. Also can’t wait to see when/if Jaune’s whole deal is revealed

Because I know it’s not HIS trauma, but god damn with him going above and beyond looking out for everyone, I want him to have his break down and be supported by everyone he’s helped build up

[plasmasimagination]

Oh, fear panic terror, communicate ideas

Hello, I saw all the people giving comments and requests about them. I would like to request the pairing of HSR with the men in the game, the women are cute but I see them all in a platonic way here

I went off the rails... Your opinion about my relationship with any of the HSR men, please do not feel pressured by the request

I'm a human, the term gender is too confusing and ambiguous for me, so I just got used to calling myself a woman because that's how I was born. My MBTI is INTJ, I tried to get my enneagram but I got bored and never tried again to tell you the truth.

My height is quite short for my age, usually people have taken up to 4 years off me, approximately 1.56 meters (I have no idea how much that is in feet) and something similar really happens with my voice and general appearance, I usually wear a lot of pink and pastel colors. My favorite color it's pink, red, purple and white

My personality is usually quite calm, I like to listen to others and sometimes say a controversial comment for the mere pleasure of listening to others debate with fervor. Listening to their reasoning usually says a lot about them, more than any presentation would. For the same reason, I tend to be quite assertive, if someone feels slightly different than usual, I have probably already noticed and tell that person's friends so that they can take care of it, I don't like to be very nosy with the rest, the vast majority don't talk to me and starting to talk to them because of their change in behavior can scare them and leave them on the defensive.

I tend to understand people quite quickly on that side, their emotions are easy to see even with less wrinkled skin, their tone of voice and words give it away instantly.

Outside of my problem of analyzing the social behavior around me... I usually stay in my storybook or my phone all day with headphones on, if my friends don't talk to me I can spend hours reading Andersen stories (Hans Christian Andersen, his stories are my entire existence💕), I usually listen to my friends calmly talk about their hobbies or problems, they usually tell me that I look like a loving mother

When I'm at home I like to cook, clean, organize purchases and play video games on my PC... A housewife practically, When I grow up I would like to take full charge of my home, even without a partner, filling my home with my emotions and experiences seems beautiful to me (I once said that to my best friend, and he said "Like my grandma" in the most neutral voice possible, sigh sigh)

I like to read, write short stories or the beginnings of novels, play with my cats and place a cardboard box inside my head to relieve the sensory load of the day.

Hyperfixation? Cardboard boxes, cats, cannibalism, criminal cases and metaphors

I just wrote a lot, sorry for some misused words or strange phrases, I have a hard time with English and Spanish is actually my first language

(I JUST SEE EVERYTHING I WROTE, I'M SO SORRY)

SWEEETIEEE HAYY ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰

A/n- I don't know how concerned I should be on a scale of one to ten about the hyperfixtion on cannibalism /j

Also please don't worry about the length, it provides me a better insight and it's a lot easier to write that way ( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و ♡

Anyway your matchup iss...

.

.

.

DAN HENG

Calm x calm

Two rational cutiepies

The fact that you can analyse humans so well will be very useful to decide what Dan Heng actually feels, since he's quite reserved and doesn't like sharing his feelings

He appreciates your calm nature, it's refreshing after hanging out with march all of the time-

No but really, he does like the fact that he can chat with you about things, he appreciated being listened to, and he is also a good listener

He's usually spending time in his room, either reading or simply doing other things, except socializing

But the only person he lets be in the room, is you

Cuz you guys have this thing, where you can just simply sit in the same room in silence, without that awkwardness, its a comfortable silence

He also likes cats, though it may take a bit convincing, he'll give in eventually and you can get a cat, after all how could he deny his darling

Generally I think you guys would love a calm and comfortable life, not much changes in your routines and just generally two people living a normal life together loving each other.

[shadowhearts-wife]

Bedtime Story

Gale X fem!tav + family

Summary: Galemancer Week Day 4: Fun With Magic! (SFW edition!) - Galemancer Week is hosted by Twitter/Ao3 user WhirlingInRoses! - Gale and Bryony try a new and inventive way to tell a bedtime story to their children using their magic.

Rating: General Audiences

Word Count: 1,116

Tags: F/M, Baldur's Gate (Video Games), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Gale/Tav (Baldur's Gate), Gale (Baldur's Gate)/Original Character(s), Gale (Baldur's Gate)/Original Female Character(s), Original Drow Character(s)/Original Dungeons & Dragons Character(s), Gale (Baldur's Gate), Tav (Baldur's Gate), original child(ren) of Gale (Baldur's Gate), Bryony Dekarios, Silas Dekarios, Morena Dekarios II, Tarynn Dekarios, Magic, Fluff, Family, Family Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Post-Game: Baldur's Gate 3, Galemancer Week, Galemancer Week 2024, Tara mention, Gale loves being a dad, and loves his wife, Morena mention too, And an Astarion mention

A/N: I haven't written anything in a hot second, so this isn't my best work in the slightest- but I do hope you enjoy!

AO3 Version can be found here!

The wizard’s tower located on the shores of Waterdeep was filled with nothing but children’s laughter as the sun set in the western sky. No longer was it a quiet and desolate place where just Gale Dekarios resided with his most trusted feline companion, but now it was a place filled with wonder.

Sitting on the floor with their little ones had been Gale and Bryony, who were using their magic to make tonight’s bedtime story a little more whimsical for the children they loved ever so much–and the children seemed to appreciate all of the efforts that went into it, no matter the ages that spanned across the three. Illusions of storybook characters were cast into the room above the family, the magical couple using silly voices and effects to make this as fun and special as possible.

Gale and Bryony had been sitting by their youngest, who had been only a few months old now and just able to sit up on her own. Tarynn, named using inspiration from the ever so beloved household friend Tara, had her father’s brown hair and skin that was more tan than her elder sister's, her half-drow features were only shown in her pointed ears, and the streaks of white she had sprinkled throughout her hair.

Silas, their oldest and only son who looked nearly the same as Tarynn despite being a bit paler, was sitting across from his parents as he watched the characters projected by his parents.

Lastly was Morena, the daughter with white hair and more purple-grey skin who looked most like her mother, who was also across from her parents, and she was very insistent on turning the pages of the book laid out for her parents so they wouldn't have any distractions from their little show.

It reminded Morena of the time they all went to the theater when visiting Baldur’s Gate since Uncle Astarion’s sister Violet had been in one of the shows–except her father wasn’t as good at acting as the performers at the theater had been… he didn’t have the talent needed, Morena thought as she listened to him.

“If they fight a dragon, I want to see it! Morie, do they fight a dragon? Do you know? You read this book before, you would know!” The boy asked his little sister quite eagerly.

Bryony raised an eyebrow as she looked at the three-year-old girl. Between her and her five-year-old brother, neither of them knew how to read yet, they couldn’t even process the words when she was trying to teach them. “Read it?”

All these distractions caused Morena to frown, especially with the things her mother was saying and the questions Silas was now asking of her. “Papa, you spoiled the book! This happens every time I pick a book!” She said, shaking her head. “Grandmama read it for me last time she watched us!”

That answered that question, and Bryony shrugged to Gale’s question about the contents being too violent for their children. “As long as we don’t make it too serious it will be fine, I promise.” She tried to reassure her husband and gave him one of her charming smiles.

“Oh, alright… but any nightmares of slain dragons are not on my hands.” Gale made sure to give this disclaimer as he tried to find his place once more in the book laid on the floor in front of them.

“I wanna slay a dragon like a knight!” Silas called out before anyone could read again.

Morena shushed him, wanting the story to continue. If the knight was on his way to save the princess, then that meant the princess would soon be here. Unsurprisingly, that was her favorite character.

Silas was about to start fighting his sister when he caught a look of his mother’s expression, one that told him that it was time to settle down, to not start arguments with his little sister. After all, this was their bedtime story, not a daytime story.

The children all sat quietly as they listened to their parents and watched their mystical illusions dance across the room above their heads, all while keeping it family-friendly enough when a knight was slaying a beast as fierce as a dragon of course! Gale couldn’t have anything too violent in this home for his little angel’s eyes to see at their ages.

By the time the story had ended and the illusions of princesses, dragons and knights, and happily ever afters, little Tarynn had her head lying against Gale’s leg as she had been lulled to sleep by the pretty illusions and soothing familiar voices that belonged to her parents.

Gale picked her up carefully, cradling the sleeping child in his arms as Bryony grabbed the book from the floor in order to put it away. “Did you enjoy the story?” He asked both Morena and Silas, who couldn’t deny that they were both now ready for bed.

With a yawn and a sleepy rub of her eyes, Morena nodded. “I like having something to watch with the story… it’s like the theater.” She told him with a fondness behind her soft and sleepy voice. She always talked about the theater… they would have to take her back sometime soon. Maybe Morena would grow to be an actress.

“Ah, yes, the theater! We’ll have to have stories like this more often. Now, why don’t we get you all settled into bed?” Gale looked between the two older children as they got off the floor and began to head down the hall.

While passing by the shelves where Bryony had returned the book, Gale leaned in to give her a quick kiss. “The kids seemed to have so much fun with that story, we need to use our magic more often.”

“We certainly do… Now, let’s get them to bed, so we can have some fun using magic as well.” Bryony couldn’t help but tease her husband, loving the way a blush always spread across his face.

“I like the way you think, my love. I like the way you think.” Gale said with a grin, and with that he was off to make sure all of their children were in bed safely and soundly.