#i'm just painfully dedicated to the joke.

[keitea]

haikyuu guys as the types of study partners

[note: cw!swearing other than that nothing else! this is a little self-indulgent (yet again) AHAHA studying for long hours really exhausts the shit out of me and sometimes my breaks are too long :( but to students out there, always prioritise your health and well-being first!]

[note 2: i wrote this months ago while studying for finals and forgot about it ㅠㅠ but i'll post it anyway hehe enjoy~]

— miya twins

you should just run away at this point

naur i'm joking

anyways they're probably not so clueless that you'll have to teach them everything

it does help that they're twins, because mfs will compete over everything

that includes grades

imagine you're tutoring them in chemistry and they don't understand anything in the first lesson

you kinda blow it off because you understand that it's difficult to process organic chemistry in a day (i fucking love organic chem)

however in the next lesson they show up with their worksheets done and they bombard you with questions

needless to say it makes your job a lot easier

bonus: they always bet on how many bowls of ramen the loser would buy. let's just say they've had their fair share of suffering for a month :)

"okay 'tsumu, how much did you get?" he raises his paper proudly, displaying the 73/100 grade for chemistry. "hAH! ONE MARK HIGHER YA DUMBASS!" osamu starts cheering, rubbing his victory into atsumu's face.

you mentally facepalm at the sight in front of you, silently begging for kita to show up.

"need help?" suna pops out of nowhere, eyeing the twins with a grin on his face.

"not the person i was expecting but go ahead."

— akaashi keiji

helps but you can tell he’s done with you at times

he knows math isn't easy (i throw myself off a cliff everytime i do a math paper i hate it here)

it's hard for you to process anything related to math, and you often have to dedicate hours after hours just to get a decent grade

that alone is time-consuming and a very dreaded period of time

mainly because you struggle to understand shit and you're just demoralised and unmotivated

keiji has noticed this for a while and offers to help!

at first he's quite understanding with how much more effort you need to put in, but as time passes and exams are around the corner, he gets more stressed because you're panicking and still don't get anything

(when i say this is self-indulgent, i'm projecting my own suffering here)

BUT you two eventually work things out smoothly and yall got the grades you wanted :) until his history paper got a little messed up and you offered to help him out :)

and then you experience how he probably felt when he was teaching you math

"keiji, just think that britain and france were not it." he furrows his eyebrows and stares at you. "but why?"

you try not to sigh in exasperation, but you've repeated yourself for the nth time and it isn't processing in his head. you could practically hear the gears in his brain try to shift.

you have to thank him for teaching you math.

".. y'know sometimes you don't have to know everything," there's a pause and you know keiji was just waiting ".. well it's because they prioritised their national interests and because WW1 fucked up their economy??"

"…" "is your brain too overloaded with soviet union's history?"

"clearly," and this makes you both laugh painfully.

[basketballanonsblog]

I'm a little nervous to post this because this is the first time I've written for Tzuyu. I dedicate this to @dinoooo-w who requested a Tzuyu one-shot (I hope you like it). It's just fluff

Synopsis: What's the best way to confess to your crush ?

Paper Trails

Power forward.

That was your position on the school's basketball team, something you prided yourself on.

It also boosted your popularity amongst your peers but for the past few months, there was only one person whose attention you longed for.

Chou Tzuyu.

She transferred at the beginning of the semester, and the first time you saw her, was painfully memorable.

You dribbled the ball before passing it to your teammate. Swiftly, you ran closer to the hoop, but your attention was stolen by the prettiest girl you had ever seen. Walking to the bleachers had never looked so good.

A minute later, it hit you that you were still playing. Literally hit you. The impact from the basketball knocked you back to reality. You weren't too disoriented, but some gathered to check if you were alright; effectively blocking your view of the person who unknowingly had a role in this commotion. Not that you were mad or anything, just curious.

Since then, it was difficult not to notice her. She sat a few places in front of you in most of your classes, and her presence was so magnetic. You could listen to her talk for hours, even if it was about algebra.

It became a dilemma after a week of losing sleep over her. No one had made you this giddy before.

Class had finished, you were almost out the door when you heard your name.

"Y/n, you dropped your pen." You spun so fast, you swore you got whiplash.

"You know my name?!"

"It's hard to forget the name of the person who got hit with a basketball." Tzuyu said no more and walked away.

Her tone was so dry, you couldn't tell if she was teasing you or not. Either way, that was your first interaction.

-x-

"I don't know man, what if it doesn't work?"

One of your teammates, Jeongyeon, suggested leaving a written compliment in her locker.

"What's the harm? She won't know it's from you, so you can play it cool. Besides, the team has agreed that we're sick of seeing you pining." The joke made you feel a little better.

Right, here goes nothing.

You slipped the paper in and left.

-x-

This went on for a month, and now again, you'd notice when she read the little notes you left her.

One day, in a bold move, you decided to ask her about them.

"A little birdie told me that a secret admirer is leaving you love notes."

Her lips curled up minutely.

"Yeah, they're cute, but honestly, I'm uninterested and throw them away after reading them."

Your heart sunk.

"Oh."

"Yeah...anyway, I'll see in you class y/n."

-x-

You missed again.

"Y/n! What is up with you today? You haven't made a single shot this afternoon!"

"Sorry, coach, I'm just having an off day." 

He sighed but didn't berate you further. With a big game next week, he understood the pressure that comes with it.

"Damn, she really got under your skin, huh?"

"I don't know what I was thinking, she's way out of my league."

"That's true." You didn't regret throwing a basketball at her.

"You know, Jeongyeon, you should really be nice to your captain, or else you'll end up doing extra push-ups."

"Empty threats don't work on me, young one. Anyway, I think you should write one more hand it to her directly, so she knows."

-x-

For some reason, you took her advice again.

You managed to catch her after school. You trembled a bit when you approached her.

"Tzuyu." The words flew out your head when she smiled at you. "This is for you." You practically shoved the paper into her hand before running away.

She opened it, and her smile grew.

I like you, will you go out with me?

Tzuyu knew exactly how to give you her answer.

-x-

"Ten seconds on the clock! Will y/n be able to make the shot in time?"

You were just a bit too far from the hoop, but you took the risk.

9

8

7

6

There was silence as the ball glided through the air.

5

4

3

2

1

"And it's in! What a victory for the last game of the season!"

Your team tackled you in a hug and then lifted you in the air since you scored the winning shot. Amidst the celebration, you locked eyes with Tzuyu, who waved at you.

You met her outside once you had showered and changed.

It was her turn to give you a piece of paper.

Yes.

P.S. I never threw them away, I knew it was you leaving notes in my locker. Your handwriting is distinct.

You looked back up at Tzuyu, who held her gaze on the ground.

How can someone be this adorable?

"I'm meeting the team for some pizza to celebrate. Do you want to join me?"

She reached for your hand and grinned.

"It's a date."

[fideidefenswhore]

So Anne Boleyn didn't want her nephew Henry Carey at court cause he was supposedly disabled? Just like Gregory, Borman turned a good thing Anne did for her sister into a nasty thing? What evidence does she shows for Henry being disabled, or Anne not wanting him around? And for goodness' sake, isn't it strange that some historians and fiction writers seem to hate Anne (like Borman or Weir) but can't help to end up writing about her, because, let's face it, ANNE BOLEYN SELLS! They must feel so bad for always having to return return to this woman they are so eager to portray as the Worst Human Being Ever.

Literally none, and I'm not even joking. There's no citation, no additional information or details, she doesn't even name this nephew so I don't even know if it's Henry Carey to whom she's referring, or one of the Stafford children (whose existence/survival remains disputed), or even the later Elizabethan priest, George Boleyn, dean of Lichfield, who has been erroneously labeled as the son of Viscount Rochford, George Boleyn(illegitimate at times, by marriage other times), Julia Fox has argued for the likelihood he was some distant Boleyn cousin, and I'm inclined to agree. The claim is dropped into a paragraph about the perils of childbirth to contextualize Anne's own potential fears as if from the sky:

Worse still, Anne's closest female relations had suffered an unfortunate history in this respect. Her mother had lost several babies in infancy and her sister, Mary, had borne a son with mental disabilities whom Anne would not suffer to be at court. But in her favour was the fact that her health was generally considered good, and as one observer remarked, she seemed 'likely enough to bear children.' --Elizabeth's Women, Tracy Borman

So...yeah, if who she meant here was Henry Carey, I have no idea what she's talking about, A, and B, this is the sole* "factoid" she chose to mention about their relationship? Not that she had wardship of him, not that she arranged for him to receive his education from the scholar she patronized, Nicholas Bourbon, alongside Henry Norris (the younger), Henry Dudley, and the son of Nicholas Harvey, her 'strong partisan' and the husband of her great friend, Bridget Wingfield...all signs which point to Carey being in Anne's favour. I have no idea if he was ever at court, but if there's no record of him at court while Anne was queen, does it not seem more plausible to attribute this to A) how brief that time was and/or B) that his mother was banished from court due to the marriage she had made without royal permission?

I just don't...know, with Borman, really? It'd be interesting to have the unedited interview footage from BSR because I was surprised how overall sympathetic she was towards the subject, honestly. And I can't speak to the new book, I haven't read it, but the PR push for it has centered around praise of AB as an individual, as to her character.

For Weir, I mean, she received the deal to do that fictionalized serial on the six Queens of Henry VIII, of course AB had to be included. If I'm being perfectly honest, I feel like everything she has done since Lady in the Tower has had this weird self-animus pushing behind it, guilt over having further popularized a figure she hates so implacably. Her original view ("a total bitch...she alienated so many people that that must be true") has been evident in all her subsequent works and interviews; from claiming in one in 2017 that there exists a letter extant in AB's own handwriting where she orders Lady Shelton to beat her stepdaughter (there isn't), to depicting AB in her latest novel as having been so ugly and "painfully thin" naked that it was an instant boner-killer for her poorest little meow-meow.

*I believe other sections of this book are dedicated to the Careys so hopefully she expands later...I can't remember if she does. So far in my current read she has not mentioned the wardship and it was in 1528 and the book is now in 1533, so....

[grim-echoes]

Hey do you have any more information on Karl Jobst being a cryptofascist? I’ve heard less than great things about him before, but I’d rather have my facts straight.

i can, unfortunately there's a lot less information than i'd like to present because the way that a lot of this came to light was when rwhitegoose was outed as a nazi in a discord server (which has an imgur album of over 130 screenshots dedicated solely to his exchanges--i wouldn't recommend scrolling this unless you're in a good headspace, the shit he's said is fucking horrifying but important to contextualize that this is the kind of person karl jobst was associating with and still considered to be a good friend even after his outing; be warned for EXTREME racism, antisemitism, transphobia, and much, much more); karl was part of the same server and only a few scattered screenshots exist of his exchanges in there and on twitter and he allegedly nuked every last trace he could of his previous online interactions when this all came to light so what i'm going to post isn't comprehensive, but it's more than enough.

tw for racism (including several depictions of anti-black/japanese slurs), homophobia, misogyny, asian fetishization under the cut:

when karl was first accused of racism, fellow speedrunner tomatoanus made a public statement on twitter that he'd cut ties with jobst for "things he (karl) had said/done in the past that conflict(ed) with my (tomatoanus) morals". the catalyst for this, as mentioned, is this screenshot that emerged from what i believe is rwhitegoose's personal discord of an interaction between the two of them:

he went on record defending this interaction by claiming that the n word "wasn't offensive" in australia (where he is from) and that "it isn't part of our vernacular" with an accompanying screenshot in the reddit thread i was able to find a lot of this in of multiple locations in queensland alone named for the slur, some of which had since been renamed:

jobst had also been active in the political channels of the goldeneye 007 and perfect dark discords, and made claims that his interaction with goose was "likely from the goldeneye server", as he was either rarely in goose's personal discord, or "left months and months" prior to when this all came to light depending on what version of his story he's telling.

another instance of him making the "i'm not racist because racial slurs don't exist in australia" defense is that time he got his followers to attack a smaller streamer for criticizing his use of the word "jap":

i like that he constantly asserts that "x word isn't offensive" in famously non-racist predominantly white utopia australia, because overt racism is a centuries-old issue that has manifested in not just general xenophobia (including anti-blackness and antisemitism, who'd have fucking thought), but the continued displacement, genocide, and assimilation of its aboriginal populations so i think what he actually means to say is "i've surrounded myself with dozens of people who are right-leaning and don't consider the weight of their words and i shouldn't have to either".

speaking of which, here's another screenshot where he defends his stance on the n word and also throws out the casual misogyny and asian fetishization:

yeah, he was a pickup artist by the way. here's a video of him in action. don't watch it it's painfully fucking cringe

here's a few long since deleted posts he'd made on his twitter involving homophobic "jokes":

aside from this, there's very likely more i'm just not aware of--apparently he'd deleted around 15 years' worth of posts on the speedrunning forum the-elite and from his social media, but i know he's also taken donations from notch before who had been visibly and demonstrably alt-right for several years by that point. if there's anything more than this that anyone else has i'd also like to see it.

as an aside, he regularly gets hundreds of thousands, often over a million views on his videos and retains over 900k subscribers. what makes him and others like him crypto isn't just that publically observable evidence of him voicing alt-right ideas and behaviors is incredibly restrained, actually finding information beyond surface level is difficult to begin with. he's still well respected in the community and collaborates with people who are otherwise much more provably reputable, so sometimes even picking someone out by association isn't accurate. the average person has no idea what a dogwhistle even is, so trying to clock a potential fash by the things they don't say is a skill you need to hone by becoming uncomfortably, miserably intimate with them as people and as communities before you can ever even think of picking one out of a crowd.

[sapphire-weapon]

I'm not on Twitter and have no idea what happened today (mainly thanks to insanely toxic fandom shit, I do not have the headspace for that anymore) but as per your last ask, I'm sorry people were shitty to you today. I don't know what happened, but being dogpiled over ships is so stupid. Regardless, you're a talented writer and I absolutely adore your blog. I enjoy everything you put out and I'm saying this as somebody who's painfully neutral about Leshley/Eagleone lmao. The way you break down Leon, Ashley, Ada and others is so, so well fucking written and it's so lovely to see someone who can agree with my own opinions (even if I'm a relatively new and poorly articulate fan!).

My point: I hope hate never gets to you. You don't deserve it. Keep talking and writing, you're wonderful!

It doesn't get to me, and I think it was frustrating for a lot of the people who tried to jump on me to realize that I was treating them like a joke. I'm done playing with them now, though. I got bored, and now I'm just blocking anyone who decides to be a clown.

Basically what happened was, I went to Twitter and I yelled at EagleOne fandom to stop trying to appease the rest of RE fandom by wringing their hands and insisting that the ship is purely 100% innocent and there's no basis in canon.

And then Aeon fandom found the Tweet and they went full

and they took the whole "no, actually, Leon and Ashley's shared arc in RE4make is, in fact, canonically romantic in nature" thing very personally.

What I learned today is:

EagleOne will never be treated as a valid ship in fandom because the rest of the fandom has beaten down the majority of EagleOne people into believing (or at least saying they believe) that the ship isn't valid. We are our own worst enemies, and we are the ones holding the ship back -- not Aeon fandom or anyone else. As long as EagleOne people continue to care about what the rest of the fandom thinks of us, we will never be able to enjoy the ship on our own terms.

There's a really weird and uncomfortable sex-averse thing happening in fandom that I kind of vaguely knew in the back of my mind was there, but I had NO IDEA just how prevalent and insidious it was. Half the people were going "no no no there's no there there in canon" and the other half were legit saying "why do you have to sexualize it?" (as though two people being attracted to each other isn't inherently sexual in nature to begin with?) or even going so far as to say that my brain has been ruined by porn, as though I'm not like. A full grown adult who has had several different dicks in my own mouth, ass, and vagina at varying points in my life.

When given actual evidence for the claims I was making, the people who received it shut the fuck up and never came back into my mentions ever again. It is possible to get people to second-guess the narrative that's been fed to them by fandom, but if there's a way to effectively do that en masse, I don't know what it is.

Slash fans are based as fuck, because their responses to my Tweets were "ok but in my head Leon is still getting railed by dudes" and that is, objectively and unironically, the best attitude I've seen held by any shippers in any fandom ever. They're right, and they should feel good about saying it.

I'm not trying to pull an "it was just a social experiment" because it wasn't, and I genuinely was trying to call out EagleOne people for being a bunch of spineless cowards who are dedicated to destroying their own fun, but a very interesting bit of social commentary did shake out of the whole situation unintentionally.

But like I said to the last anon, I'm glad you're here, bro. I'm glad to be able to provide a place in this fandom where people can actually have intellectual conversations about scripting, game design, and cinematography/film direction/symbolism without the fear of the mob jumping on them for daring to think a little bit (as opposed to not at all).

[fizzingwizard]

Because of those last two posts I randomly started thinking about Yugioh... and in particular the Doma arc... about which my opinions haven't changed since I was a teen, even though they were unpopular ones.

Since I'm perpetually long-winded I'll put the tl;dr up here: fans were unreasonbly harsh on Other Yugi during Doma because they were too busy feeling upset about Yugi to appreciate Other Yugi's storyline. But some of that is Doma's fault because while it's way stronger than a lot of filler, it's over-involved and has a rushed ending that fails to express its hero's growth. Also YGO fan culture circa Doma-era majorly sucked lol.

I never hated Doma. It's is my favorite filler arc, and what's great about it because it's filler is that it's not dumb. So much of 90s/2000s filler arcs in anime were just painfully stupid. But YGO, buoyed, I guess, by it's over-reliance on card games, was able to construct a couple filler arcs that weren't mindless nonsense. Not all of them! The KC Grand PRix, for example, is so bad it's unwatchable. But the Noa arc gave us a lot of backstory for the Kaiba brothers and asked some interesting questions about family and love. It doesn't go super deep, and the ending is uh, pretty weird, but also very fitting for sci-fi. It's not my favorite, because despite the ways it's better than most filler it's still got a lot of "stupid filler" features. But I appreciate that it took on something which was going unaddressed by canon (the Kaiba bros and their history) and tried to develop it.

Doma was like that. It took on the fact that Other Yugi is the soul of a pharaoh from ancient Egypt who has no memories of being so, and asked, "What does he actually feel about that?" Because all he does is play card games. Now and then we see him joking around with Yugi, even more rarely the others. But mostly he shows up, plays a cool combo, makes a kingly speech, and then disappears back into the Puzzle. It made sense in the context of the story. He's still fighting the war from the past, and he doesn't want to interfere too much with Yugi's present life. But as a fan, you gotta wonder what Other Yugi felt, discovering he's not actually an aspect of Yugi's personality but an entirely separate person with a past he no longer remembers.

Doma decided to ask that question. Of course it couldn't give us Other Yugi's backstory, since that would happen in canon. But it could address how Other Yugi feels while still not knowing anything. It could look at all the horrible things which have happened which are connected to Other Yugi, and which people (even fans sometimes!!) blame Other Yugi for even when it's not his fault, and ask what impact so much pressure would have on him. It said, "He's stressed. He acts strong, but he's not okay. He's reliant on Yugi for humanity, which means compassion and faith in his own goodness. If Other Yugi is a good person, he must be unable to look at the horrors going on around him and think it's fine. He must be wondering if he himself is evil, for being part of the cause. And a good person who thinks he's evil is bound to reach a breaking point."

I'm not counting the battle with Kaiba at Pegasus's Castle as a canonical breaking point because it's really more about Yugi's strength, and Other Yugi didn't even have a concept of himself having a past outside of Yugi then. That's memorable for totally different reasons. Although he initially tries to sacrifice it for Yugi's sake, in the end Canon Other Yugi follows the course of "destiny" with unfaltering dedication. I suppose the idea is that Other Yugi's convictions about his destiny are just too strong to brook any misgivings like the ones posed in Doma. But I always thought Other Yugi needed real character development, and before Memory World, Doma is pretty much the only thing that gives it to us. So I have to admire it for that.

Here's the tricky part. Doma took on something huge for Other Yugi. It put him in a situation where he had to face his anxieties that he might not have been a good king, that he might be just as bad as Bakura's other self. Where he had to exist on his own and trust in his own goodness sans Yugi's influence. It's a huge undertaking for canon, let alone filler!

I think Doma is right in its take on Other Yugi: that he'd be lost and bereft not because of not having Yugi but because not having Yugi means those weaknesses have nowhere to hide. Other Yugi is struggling, but he always struggles where no one else can see, and presents only strength and confidence in public. But the thing is, fans had never seen that before. The most we saw (if you were watching the Japanese version, btw, the US dub just wrote right over the following lines) was Other Yugi apologizing to Yugi for what he had to go through and wondering briefly whether he was bad for causing it. That happened in Battle City and was quickly forgotten.

We always see Other Yugi the winner. Doma showed us Other Yugi the loser. And fans did not accept him. I know the reason why is because he bartered Yugi's soul for the sake of winning. He thought he was bartering his own soul - a relevant point I feel many fans overlook - but it's still clearly risky, and on top of that, he went as far as to block Yugi from interfering with his duel with Raphael. Other Yugi took a massive risk with a power they knew couldn't be trusted, and he barred Yugi from having a voice while dueling in Yugi's body. It's all round terrible choices on Other Yugi's part.

Which is another part of Doma I love. It didn't give Other Yugi some stupid choice no one could really hate him for. It said we're going to test this guy for everything he's worth and it fucking went for it. That makes it very different from the Noa arc, where the Kaiba bros are unquestionably the stars and heroes.

In themes, Doma and Noa are similar. Both call into question one person's loyalty to another and ask whether their love is real or simply useful. Kaiba, as a sometimes villain, sometimes anti-hero, gets pretty lovely treatment: the fact that he's not a nice guy and puts his brother in dangerous situations all the time barely matters. And also when he loses it's fighting for his brother, and then there's someone (Other Yugi) to step in and win on his behalf. Meanwhile, with Doma, Other Yugi starts out as a hero, so he has much farther to fall. His duel with Raphael isn't for a righteous reason, but a self-serving one. And when he fails, there's no one to help. And he really loses what least deserved to be lost.

The stakes were high and Doma let the hero fail catastrophically. Because Doma understood that the only way characters grow is through failing tests against themselves. Not against business executives. Not against millionaires.

And Doma gave us plenty of explanation for Other Yugi's failure too! It didn't make him a temporary villain who would just go back to being the hero at the end of the filler arc so we'd all say "oh, Doma, yeah that was stupid and doesn't fit anywhere in the story as a whole." Doma told us that Other Yugi is breaking down without anyone knowing, and Raphael and Orichalcos are the final straw. Doma says this was going to happen, and if it hadn't happened, Other Yugi would have been weaker going into his final battle for his destiny. Doma said Other Yugi is traumatized too. And why shouldn't he be, having so much pressure on him all the time, with so little knowledge of himself and so little to distract him in that dank, dark mental labyrinth where he's trapped day in, day out?

This is what I think fans as a whole missed because they were too busy freaking out about "angelic Yugi, poor baby!" Don't get me wrong. Yugi is everything good and Other Yugi did make a horrible choice with Orichalcos. But Other Yugi is suffering from trauma every bit as much as the Kaiba bros. It's an existential trauma as well as a magical one which means it much less relatable, much less visceral. And Yugi is so sweet and kind! It's so easy to forgive the Kaiba bros because they love each other, be upset on poor Yugi's behalf, and completely ignore the intense mental upheaval Other Yugi was going through. It's not that Other Yugi should get blanket forgiveness. But his motives should be understood and his pain should be respected.

He didn't set out to risk Yugi's soul, or the Duel Monsters either for that matter. He meant to risk his own and to prove his mettle as a king by overcoming the Orichalcos's influence. It was stupid because he didn't have any proof that that was a good idea except that Raphael provoked him to try or accept that he was a failure. As a very strategic player, Other Yugi is used to taking calculated risks. But this wasn't that: if he'd been calm, he'd have realized that he couldn't be sure Yugi's soul would be fine and only his own would be lost. And he'd have realized that he had only Raphael's word that a pure soul could overcome Orichalcos to go on. Granted, Raphael seeming in perfect control while using Orichalcos himself probably seemed like pretty good evidence. But it certainly wasn't the only possible explanation and normally Other Yugi would know that. He chooses to play the Orichalcos card clearly under a lot of strain, even pushing Yugi away, which is unprecedented.

What this means is that, afterwards, the reason Other Yugi is suffering isn't just because of losing Yugi. It's also because he's now lost what sense of self he had. He had so little of it going into the Raphael duel, and he wanted to gain more by overcoming Orichalcos. Instead he lost Yugi and he lost his idea of himself as someone who cares about others and can trust his own heart. That's why he wanders. That's why he's so mixed up and and sad and broken for the next several episodes. And it's why, once again, Doma put off fans.

Because fans don't like to feel sad, unless it's in an "aw, poor puppy" way. They don't like to see someone who is strong wrestle with not being so. And words like "arrogant" or "impure" are trigger words in fandoms: apply them to any character even one time and that's all fans will remember about them forever and ever. Other Yugi made an arrogant decision; he acted arrogantly. But arrogance isn't who he is. How can we tell? Because he comes back, he wins and gets back what he lost, and he apologizes. And he doesn't do it again. He does better. The same goes for "impure." What even is purity? Why did fans accept it just because Raphael said it was real and mattered? Raphael provoked Other Yugi's anxieties and then laid a trap for him: he gave him what he most wanted, a duel that would "prove he's a true king," and set him up for an entire mountain of despair to crush him one he fell for it. Even with Yugi, Other Yugi was already in such a state of confusion and fear that it was something others could manipulate. Losing Yugi was heart-breaking, but it wasn't the cause of Other Yugi's troubles: they already existed. I prefer Doma's odyssey of test and riddles to the manga version of Atemu, who blindly does what he's told to do because "destiny," but who is also revealed to be just as much the player as a pawn during Memory Game without any transition.

Now that I've praised Doma up and down, let me wind back and say I also hate it. Because for all it gives us that's great, its execution leaves a lot to be desired. Other Yugi is rather hard to watch when he's so sad and weak for so long. It's especially hard when he's got Jounouchi and Kaiba for comparison, both of whom were put in much more heroic storylines. I find Kaiba's dull, since there's not really much Kaiba is really guilty of there - Amelda's grief was Gozaburo's doing. Jounouchi's is great for him as a masculine hero, but fucking sucks for Mai who is a helpless female caught between two men and sapped of any personal motivation. I love Jounouchi/Mai so I really wanted to like their subplot, but Doma really ruined Mai for the sake of Jounouchi's heroism.

Which makes me wonder if Doma hates Other Yugi. It gave classic hero stories to the others, but beat Other Yugi so hard he was wounded forever in the eyes of some fans. Especially in the aftermath of Doma's first airing, every fic had to make sure to describe Other Yugi's "arrogance" to prove they didn't like him an unreasonable degree. It's one reason I stopped reading YGO fic back then: I couldn't open one that didn't mistreat Other Yugi, often while glorifying Yugi's perfection or going to lengths to sympathize with and justify Kaiba's wrongs.

So are there things Doma should have done to lift Other Yugi up the same way? My overall opinion is not really. I think Other Yugi's Doma arc is clear and fitting right until the final battle. BUT! It fumbled the ending. It fumbled it really bad. The battle with Dartz gets stupid by not doing anything with Yugi and Other Yugi's long-awaited reunion. Not only was the art in that episode unfortuantely awful, but the scene itself is like... seconds. Barely memorable. Yugi hugging his friends is way more satisfying. And the weird bit at the end-end where Other Yugi gets hit by the vortex of anger and grief, I guess, was meant as the final proof that he had overcome all the tests Doma threw at hm. But once again bad art and a "running out of budget" vibe hurt that as well.

Endings are important. You can't rush them. Because Doma fumbled the ending, Other Yugi's victory has much less of an impact. Because it doesn't step back and reflect, but just kind of spouts some cliche phrases, we forget what Other Yugi has really accomplished. Kaiba sacrificing himself to let Other Yugi keep battling is memorable. In fact, Kaiba was much more useful than Other Yugi in most of the final Dartz duel, because Other Yugi had not quite recovered his confidence. After Kaiba's loss, Other Yugi faced real despair again, which should have been awesome but was, by then, kind of like "oh, he's sad again. Will he ever stop being sad?" Yeah, he won. We got cool golden lights and shit and then a miracle. But it's not the same as that victory being felt by fans.

So that's why in the end, I'm always half-and-half on Doma. Because it did what no filler ever dared to do before, I admire it so much. But because it was filler, it also couldn't keep all the subplots in balance, it couldn't do its main characters justice, and most importantly, it didn't stick the landing. For all those reasons, I understand why fans have mixed opinions on Doma. My general sense is that it's disliked but in a weird way where everyone still references it and uses it in their fics - proving how superior Doma is to other filler.

I will always have beef with fans who are unreasonably hard on Other Yugi over Doma, especially when those fans don't bat an eye at things other characters do. I hate that the purpose of Other Yugi's Doma arc flew over so many heads or just went unappreciated. I really felt it was much needed character development. And most of all I hate the impact it had on fandom, which made it so impossible to find Other Yugi-related fan works that didn't either overdo Doma or make sure Other Yugi was everlastingly apologetic about it.

Really, I can't express how nuts the fandom nonsense was - I didn't even want to talk about Doma, because fans were so extremely sure about Other Yugi's arrogance and Yugi's saintliness. Call any of that into question and you'd get attacked. It's been like two decades now though so I should be safe... right? X'D

[rrasado]

how do u think the savanaclaw boys would react to the reader cooking some traditional/comfort filipino foods for them while they're sick or smth?? stuff like sinigang or tinola or arrozcaldo yk??

• Tastes from the far East •

My utmost apologies for getting to this late it's graduation season and I'm a tad busy dealing with papers and school transferring TwT. This req definitely helped me unwind before the big day ;D. Even had to ask my brother for help because his favorite Food is sinigang.

Serving them something from home:

There's a very faint feeling in my chest that he'd like our tomato sauce dishes. Afritada, Caldareta, Menudo, Mechado etc. He's someone who doesn't like vegetables but I feel like the sauce/broth used in the aforementioned dishes would somehow overpower any other veggie present that and- Savory meat 🤤.

In the case that you do serve one of the above while he's sick, I'm partially certain you can sneak the carrots into his system but that's just me most likely hidbdkf

Leona would most likely be against eating them in the first place, especially with how they look. It's not that he looks down on the dish/es it's probably because he's more used to another sort of mix from the afterglow savanah. Even then you'd have to shove the spoon into his mouth in order for him to eat said food (don't worry you didn't forget the rice)

Ever since then he had a very distint memory of the taste, remembering how foreign your recipe was yet it wasn't so otherworldly to the point of alienating. On the contrary it was an ironic nostalgia he can't pin point but suffice it to say he's mood isn't too bad as it was the first time.

"What? You honestly think that's enough to get me full? What do you take me for, Herbivore?

Be careful of feeding him other ulam tho TwT. Tinola, Sinigang and Bulalo are clear enough for him to turn away from the complimentary greens. Perhaps tomatoes aren't a bad part to his diet tho...

Undoubtedly the most appreciative, at first glance he comes off as just grateful that he doesn't need to spend any money or effort for his meal (sick or not). I'm pretty sure Ruggie himself is a hidden specialist in concocting delicious food from the most simplest of ingredients. So it's easy to picture him being somewhat astonished by Tinola and how tasty it is despite the few ingredients you used.

You could've been a bit fancier to be honest, but you had to purposely leave out a few ingredients due to the short notice. Then again you'd be caught dead if you dare remove the malunggay leaves. Regardless— Ruggie doesn't seem to mind, to him it was a good meal and the way the broth complimented the subtle flavor of the chicken and greens *chef's kiss*

He's cheeky enough to joke about cooking that food again for him next time. In the case you do entertain his lighthearted request he doesn't turn down the serving. And now that you've had time to actually prepare for it the dish is finally complete in its contents.

He definitely spits out the peppercorn, tried biting it the first time thinking it'd taste a bit differently with your foreign dish but no it's just the same annoying piece of dried crop he's accidentally chewed as a kid in the market.

"Oi it tasted fine without it the first time!- maybe leave it out next time? Eh? Well yeah there's a next time-"

Worry not about the tedious preparation, the more times you do it the more willing he becomes in assisting with the gathering process. If you're both dedicated enough, you'll reach a point where Sam has your order of ingredients memorized and prepackaged.

I'm gonna take my chances with Jack. You feed him Paksiw na Isda and he's opened a whole new alley of culinary pallete. Before even getting him to eat the dish he's turning his nose away from the smell of fish and..vinegar? Yes he's questioning it-

He's sick, but his sense of smell is painfully hyphened and the aroma of vinegar isn't exactly helping his nasal health- the look on your face was the only thing that got him to open his mouth when you spoon fed him a portion of the salmon within the dish.

His ears would twitch in different directions but eventually he opens his mouth for another bite without any other word whatsoever. You'll have to take this as your sign that he did indeed agree with the odd combination (as odd as it is to him.)

Then you serve him Sinigang the next day, he's slightly taken aback by how different two sour dishes can be despite both being, well, sour. Yet he somehow prefers the latter soley because he cam bare the scent a bit more.

"Look you really didn't have to... it's a nice change though and well- I think you're holding back."

He was partially right- you did held back after his first reaction to your paksiw dish but you started a routine of experimenting other ulams for yhe first year. By the end of the month he's likely made a verdict of what's his favorite but he'd keep it to himself. After all you looked quite happy cooking your native dishes.

Taglist: @sherbet-shark @luvielle @citirusu

[magnusmodig]

thematic headcanons / @clxscdeyes / not accepting !

╰┈➤ hc + 🚶‍♂️ for a habit-themed headcanon

||. Thor counting the days between events in Earth Time is something he picked up for Jane and because of Jane, but it is a habit entirely unnatural to him. For Thor, being such a long-lived being, time passes differently for him. ESPECIALLY on Asgard, which is in its own time and space. To Thor, time is something fluid, never quite stopping, starting, or slowing. One day to him could be weeks or months - even years to a mortal on ANY planet not Asgard. Earth in particular moves so fast, with entire generations passing in an Earthen millenium, where to Thor that time spent across the stars is hardly more than a couple of asgardian years. So his keeping express track of the Earthen time passed, down to the exact number of Earthen years, months and days is a testament of his complete dedication to Jane... and also a testament to how sorely he misses her. In some ways the counting is a form of torture, forcing himself in a state of mind where he is painfully aware of the passage of time in a way that no other asgardian (or long-lived being) would DARE.

In some ways it's like the following quote from THE LAST UNICORN (1982):

I'm a little afraid to go home. I have been mortal, and some part of me is mortal yet. I am no longer like the others, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but now I do. I regret.

But he does it to stay connected to her, even when he can't or doesn't allow himself near her. He longs to be at her side, and share her days, little as they may be to him. So he counts the days, and refuses to forget the passage of time, even when everything and everyone else tells him to.

╰┈➤ hc + ✂️ for a hair-themed headcanon

Thor's hair is INCREDIBLY precious to him. I'd imagine similar to viking culture, having long hair is a symbol of honor and status. While I do think that Thor's hair length fluctuated throughout his youth (primarily cut from battle skirmishes gone wrong), I think he kept his hair relatively long. Largely around his shoulders and tied back in a half-up-half-down do. Never shorter than medium-length at his shoulders.

Getting one's hair cut - especially at his age, with his status - is a grave insult. It's usually reserved for the poor, weak, servants/slaves, etc. When the Grand Master forcibly cut Thor's hair in Thor: Ragnarok it was a genuinely distressing time for him. (I think that would be true even if the movie tries to play it off as a joke... >>;;;) He was forced to comply, bound, had his head cut and shaved by a complete stranger and then shuttled off to die after being sold as a gladiator slave. I don't think that's particularly funny.... and I don't think Thor is especially fond of it even if long hair wasn't a thing in viking/asgardian culture anyways. He likes his glorious locks, thank you!

╰┈➤ hc + 👗 for a clothes-themed headcanon

While Thor is royalty and dresses regally, he also dresses incredibly modestly. That isn't a headcanon really, it's just the truth, regardless of what Tai.k.a Wai.//ti.ti and his costume designers have to say ;;;; Long sleeves, well-fit shirts and tunics, pants (hardly ever jeans or shorts, certainly never distressed), capes and cloaks. If it can cover his body and be a minimalistic, color-forward statement, Thor is probably okay wearing it. When he's going for a more casual look, he might don a shorter cloak or cape, or otherwise go with sleeveless tops. I don't think Thor enjoys being oggled at. I just think he's learned to accept it as an inevitability and rolls with it. Were it up to him, Thor would stay with modest, business-casual, classy, minimalistic clothes.

Examples of his preferred styles earthen include: (x) / (x) / (x) / (x) Examples of his costumes: (x) / (x) / (x) / (x)

[absolute-flaming-trash]

Heya! I wanted to try my luck with your event! :D I'm in my late 20s and I'm female! I'm usually a loud person who cracks jokes like every 10 minutes. I like to be with friends but also to be alone! I'm a masters student but I think I'm fucking dumb when it comes to common everyday knowledge. Only know things in my favorite subjects. My top 3 fears are easy to name (I have an anxiety disorder yay) 1. I'm absolutely scared that no one likes me or that the people I like don't like me. I think about this many times a day. :D 2. I'm scared to be alone. Like really alone, with no friends or family. Scared to lose someone on a weekly basis. 3. I'm scared of death. I'm really hypochondriac. The top 3 things I like: 1. Feeling loved by people I love. 2. Cute things. Plushies, animals, pink shit. 3. I really like drawing my own characters and make stories about them. Also I love being active in fandoms. I hope this is what you meant, I'm sorry if it's not! And I also don't know if we should say a fandom for this. Just in case I say hunter x hunter, but if we shouldn't do this ignore it! Thank you for making such a cool event!

This is totally what I meant, you're all good!! Thank you for joining!

What attracted them to you:

It would be as much as a surprise to him as it would be to you. You're very loud, he isn't so much, but you're incredibly intelligent - enough so you're going for your Masters degree - and that's what would draw him initially. Someone he knows would make wonderful conversation and increase his own knowledge at the same time.

Be it him seeing you on your way to do some research in the field, or even typing away at your thesis and so immersed in your work, yet still going out of your way to be kind to the people you interact with to the point it may even hinder your work is shows a level of dedication that he can appreciate. He could use a person like you, in more ways than one.

How they got to you:

Your anxiety, love, that's painfully easy to exploit.

With him, you'll never be alone. You have his company as well as the two other troupe members that he has with him at all times, so that's well and taken care of! He'd make sure you have all the little cute things you wanted, all the art supplies needed if you draw them traditionally, or the latest tech and pens if you prefer to do it digitally. However if it's the latter, the device will come with some... adjustments. Mainly modified so he can watch you and what you're doing when he isn't in the same room.

He, as well as the Troupe, will become the people you depend on for everything, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

[sassypotatoe1]

If this is a controversial take I will scoop my eyes out with a spoon and eat them but Seinfeld is painfully unfunny. The last 10 minutes of the episode I just watched, by virtue of my brother is watching it and I'm in the same room, was dedicated entirely to a bit about staring at a 15 year old's cleavage and how it's male nature and uncontrollable and they don't see age, and it's supposed to funny. It's not. It's painfully unfunny. And then a joke about how women are obsessed with shoes. If you watch and enjoy Seinfeld in this day and age you are a walking red flag and should just block me right now.

[saixpuppy]

I pick the worst jokes to commit to. (Based on that one BB craft essence.)

[watermelonlovershigh]

A Day of Breastfeeding

Thank you to this ask for the request of this one shot prompt

Things to help you read this easier:

(Married for 3 years/Any solo Harry era)

(I pray that this photo doesn't get my account in trouble again. It's an innocent photo with no real nudity shown.)

Today has been a busy day with you and your four month old daughter. She woke you up at the early hour of 5:00 am and you've been up ever since.

When she woke up at five, you crawled out of the warm bed you and Harry were sleeping in to go into her nursery. Her reason for awakening was hunger. Instead of feeding her in the nursery like you do most mornings, you carried her back into yours and Harrys bedroom so you could feed her in the comfort of your bed. You climbed back in bed with a hungry baby and laid her on your newly exposed chest. She latched instantly and you may or may not have dozed back off again due to exhaustion.

At 5:30 am Harrys alarm goes off, letting him know he needs to wake up to go to the studio for a few hours and record new music. He reached for his phone, shutting the alarm off, and turned around to glance at his beautiful wife. Beautiful wife who some how stayed asleep through the sounds of his alarm. What he wasn't expecting to see was his equally beautiful baby girl laying on top of your naked chest with your nipple exposed to the cold air of the room. Presumably due to your daughter having finished eating and your nipple falling out of her relaxed mouth. Harry sleepily smiled to himself. How did he get so lucky he thinks internally.

Harry knew he needed to get ready to be at the studio but he just couldn't help himself. He got up and quietly walked around the bed to pick up your sleeping daughter from your chest. Your eyes shot open at the loss of contact with her but Harry was quick to whisper, "Shhh my love. I'm just going to take her to her nursery and let you get some comfortable sleep. Then I'm leaving for the studio. If you need me, call me. I'll come right home. Love you." He bent down to place a kiss your lips and you give him a thankful smile. Right before he let the room, he covered your exposed chest with the blanket so you don't get cold.

Harry decided to burp your daughter on the walk to her nursery knowing she hadn't burped yet. She let out a soft little burp from her tiny mouth on her daddy's shoulder and Harry kissed her soft head in appreciation. He noticed her diaper was dirtied, so being the father he is, Harry changed her poopy diaper and cradled her back to sleep. He placed her back in her crib and gave her one more good bye kiss on his way out. Then Harry got dressed and left for the studio.

Your daughter let you sleep until 7:00 am when she got hungry again. You got up to feed her and decided to just stay awake and start your day. After you fed your daughter and changed her soiled diaper, you went down the stairs to make you something to eat. While you ate your yogurt and berries, the four month old played in her playpen. Then you put her down for a midmorning nap so you could clean up a bit. Around 11:00 am, you breastfeed her again while you watched a bit of tv. She fell asleep shortly after and you called Harry to let him know you were doing fine and talked about dinner options.

Through-out the rest of your day, you pretty much alternated between breastfeeding your daughter, changing dirty diapers, putting her down for naps, and did house chores: dishes, vacuuming, laundry, and dusting. Around 5:00 pm, you felt super disgusting from all the sweating you did today. The only problem was you were home alone with your daughter and there was no one to watch her while you showered or bathed. Usually you'd wait until Harry came home but the sound of a relaxing bath sounded heavenly to your ears. So the only reasonable fix to your problem was to bring her in the tub with you.

Harry and yourself have allowed her to get in the tub with either of you before. Sometimes Harry will be taking a relaxing bath and you'll kill two birds with one stone and have your daughter get a bath with him. Being only four months old, its still expectable for her to bath with her daddy. Or sometimes while you're taking a bath and Harry is watching her, she starts to scream and cry, needing or wanting you, so Harry has no other choice other than to bring her in the bathroom and allow you to comfort her to your warm, wet body.

Now in current time, you're in the bathtub with your naked daughter laying on your bare chest, just relaxing and cooing gentle words into her ears. It feels super nice to have all this skin to skin contact with her, but you're just praying she doesn't pee or poop in the tub. Maybe you should have kept her diaper on.

At first she was calm and relaxed, just staring off into the distance, but now she is grabbing at your boob wanting to be fed again. You reach down and position your nipple to her mouth and she laches on quickly. Your nipples are painfully sore from all the feedings you give her through-out the day, everyday. Harry has told you that you should start pumping and give your nipples a break but you can't seem to do that. Even though its quite painful each time she sucks, it's one of the best feeling to have a baby feed from you directly. That may not make much since to just anyone but you're sure other mums will understand.

While off in your own little world, you don't hear Harry come in the house. He finished for the day at the studio and came home to be with his loving family. First he questions where you two are. He walked in the kitchen to find it empty. Then he walks up the stairs and to the nursery to find it empty. Lastly he walks into your shared bedroom and it's empty as well. He starts to get worried until he hears a soft voice coming from the bathroom in your bedroom. He carries his sock covered feet to the bathroom door and gently pulls it open to see a pretty sight. You breastfeeding your daughter.

"Now we're feeding in the tub, are we?" Harry softly speaks with a content smile. He startles you at first but then you force yourself to relax so you don't disturb your baby.

"I needed a bath and had no one to watch her. Then she got hungry for the millionth time today. I actually think my nipples are going to fall off." you reply back and though you sound like you are joking, Harry could hear pain in your voice when you talked about your nipples falling off. He hates you're in pain.

"I'm sorry my love." he sincerely speaks while kneeling beside the tub to run a gentle hand over the babies back. He has always been infatuated with watching her feed from you. Not in a inappropriate way because they are the same boobs he loves to see jiggle when having sex but in a way where he's in total awe.

Seconds later your daughter spits out your nipple, so you ask Harry, "Could you maybe burp her and get her dressed for bed please, so I can properly wash myself."

Harry responds immediately with, "Of course darling. Anything for you." He bends forward to peck your lips and stands to grab a towel to wrap her small body in. He returns with a towel dedicated just for babies. It's made with thin, soft material so it won't be too rough on their skin. Then with the towel over his shoulder, he bends down to pick up her wet, naked body and lays her directly on his towel covered shoulder. She whines from the cold air but he shushes her. "Shhh my little love. It's alright." he whispers to her while wrapping the towel around her frame and begins to pat her back so she can burp. Before he steps out of the bathroom, he turns to you and says, "I'll be in her nursery. Yell out if you need me for anything."

"Okay." you comment back. As you began to wash your hair and body, all you can think about is how great of a husband and father Harry is. He never puts up fights when it comes to taking care of his daughter. It doesn't matter if it's 3:00 in the morning or while he's working. He'll always come to her aid or your aid for that matter.

Harry successfully burps her and lays her down on her changing table in the nursery. Before any accidents occur, he puts a clean diaper on her bum and finds some clean pjs to keep her body warm. "Alright. All done sweetheart." he tells his baby with a kiss on the cheek. Harry carries her with him to the kitchen, her face burred in his neck. She's awake but the warm bath and feeding did make her sleepy.

In the kitchen, Harry tries to decide what is best for dinner. He decides on a veggie pizza to pop in the oven, knowing you should agree with that choice. Right as the pizza goes into the pre heated oven, you come walking down the stairs in a loose fitting shirt and pajama shorts. "Feeling better?" Harry questions you with a dimply smile while soothingly rubbing your daughters back.

"Much. Thank you for getting her ready for bed." you tell your husband.

"You don't need to thank me. It's my job as much as it is yours. She 'our' baby." he responds.

You take your daughter from his hold and walk into the living room to feed her one last time before you put her to sleep. Harry takes the cooked pizza out the oven and plates you and him a slice. Then he makes his way to the living room, deciding you both can eat in there tonight so you're more comfortable. You eat and breastfeed at the same time, doing mummy multitasking. When Harry finishes eating, he takes your now sleeping baby girl from your hold and carries her to the nursery. Like every time before he leaves her room, he makes sure to lay a soft kiss on her head. Once all that is done, he comes back to you in the living room.

"Please use the pump for tonight. Your boobs need to rest and also that way I can get up to feed her through-out the night and let you get some proper sleep." Harry says to you as you're cuddle each other on the couch.

"But I'm scared if she uses a bottle that she won't want me again. She may realize the bottle is better than my nipples." you mumble in his neck.

"That's silly. Of course she'll want your breast again. You're her mother. She very much enjoys the bonding time with you when you breastfeed her but she's getting to the age to where she needs to have other options. In a month, she'll be able to try baby food. She'll still need your milk but just introducing solids to her diet." Harry calmly speaks while rubbing over your back in a calmly manner.

After a lot of convincing on Harrys part, you decided to try and pump for the first time. So you both stand from the couch and head to your bedroom. Harry grabs the milk pumper from your closet and you get comfortable on the bed. You take your shirt off and pull the covers to your waist. Then he brings the machine over to you and sets everything up. He helps you attach the pieces to each of your nipples, being very gentle knowing how painful they are. Once they are suctioned properly, he turns the machine on and asks, "Are you alright by yourself if I go take a shower? I promise I won't be long." You nod your head and Harry grabs a pair of clean boxers, than makes his way to the bathroom and began his showering.

When Harry returns from his quick shower, the two bottles that collect your milk are near about full. He helps you remove the suction cups and disconnects the bottles from the pump to place them in the fridge for later tonight. As he returns, he see's you standing in front of the huge mirror in your bathroom, just staring at your boobs. Specifically your nipples. Your nipples even look painful he thinks to himself. He walks up behind you, resting his chin on your shoulder and caresses your ribcage with his fingers, looking straight ahead at your body in the mirror. "Go lay in bed and I'll put some cream on them." he whispers in your ear.

You follow his instructions and exit the bathroom to get in bed. Harry grabs some cream and returns to you. "I'll be gentle." he says in his tired voice, straddling your lap. He dips his ring less fingers in the soothing cream and bends down. Cradling the sides of your boobs with one hand, he uses his other to rub the nipple itself. His movements are slow and if it was under other circumstances, you swear you would have just gotten turned on by his actions. He looks to be in extreme concentration and you can't help but feel happy. For the second time today, you realize how great Harry is to you and your baby.

Once Harry has covered both your nipples in the cream, he helps you put a bra on that has leaking pads in them, to prevent the ointment from making a mess on the beds covers. Then he goes to wash his hands and comes back to crawl into bed and snuggle with you. "Love you y/n." Harry whispers quietly.

"I love you too babe. And I know you said not to thank you earlier, but thank you. I'm grateful to have you in my life." you blindly reach up to kiss his lips and then shove your face into his neck, smelling the manly scent of his body wash.

Through-out that night, anytime your four mouth old daughter woke up needing a feeding, Harry got up and warmed a bottle from the fridge and sat in the rocker located in the corner of her nursery each time. She would curl up on his tattooed chest, sleepily drink the bottle, and he would rock back and forth, lightly singing to her in a sleep ridden voice. Then he burped her after each feeding and put her back to sleep comfortably in her crib. That night, you got the most uninterrupted sleep you've gotten since before she was born and its all thanks to your wonderful husband and baby daddy, Harry.

MASTERLIST & My Favorite Harry Styles Fics MASTERLIST

[christinebloodwrittings]

Briefly Instant (Part seven)

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x reader

Summary: Life is complicated, always moving and working in ways we can't comprehend. Between the bubbles and the heartache, an unfortunate encounter left a half-broken heart and a strong connection which separated this soulmates for a long time. Two sides of the story, two hearts that longed for each other painfully. One brief instant was enough to know.

Warnings for this chapter: Toxic ex.

Previous Chapter ___ Next Chapter

TH Taglist: @lucky-foxface @lokisprettygirl22 @criticaltrinket @vbecker10 @huntress-artemiss

Your head was a boiling mess, yet no fever, you were hungry, but not of food. Something just changed, soared, when you saw Tom bring his inner fighter out. He scared you, but you also kind of…like it?

That threw you off even deeper.

"We're almost there my sweet" you heard him, but did that line sounded familiar to you?

“What did you say?” he looked down at you, “I said we’re almost there" he had the sweetest look in his eyes. ‘Oh Emma, you brother is divine’ you thought looking at the ocean inside his eyes. But Oscar managed to crawl around your head again.

There were many good things that you loved about Oscar, such as his dedication in the kitchen, the beautiful relationship he had with his mother and his brother Juanito, how cute your brother-in-law was, he was going to start eighth grade, what a brilliant boy.

But bloody hell! There were things he did, now those were clear to you.

Like eating with his mouth open, never opening the door for you, canceling plans at the last minute, or being an hour late for everything. All the "I'm sorry love" and the so horrible "I'm tired now". At some point he not only hadn't come back after work, he didn't answer his cell phone, no one knew where he was and then he showed up at your door wet as a dog, apologizing for disappearing and kissing you like the first day. That's how you realized he was drunk.

Because that's how it seemed to work, sober he was cold and distant, but drunk he was a walking honey bun, sweet and gentle.

He didn't even speak to you during the day sometimes, but he held you by the waist with a smile to show you off to his friends, and you had allowed it, because you thought he loved you.

"How could I be so stupid?" Tom heard you say, "What do you mean?" you wanted to get out of his arms to go up the stairs on your own but he wouldn't let you, "Oscar is cheating on me with another woman" Just saying it out loud hurt, however Tom's eyes shone, he was happy on one hand, but also worried. You seemed heartbroken, but at the same time you looked as if you had already seen it coming, as if you had almost been waiting for it.

He laid you on your bed, making sure you were comfortable, but you didn't let him go. "Darling?" You nuzzled your head against his neck, bringing him closer with your arms around his neck.

"Could you stay a bit?" How could he say no to you and your adorable puppy face? He took your hands off his neck to climb up in bed by your side.

He opened his arms and remained there expectant while you fixed your blouse. When you saw his outstretched arms and warm smile it didn't even took you a second to jump and let him wrap your body with his.

"Y/n, the best that you can do right now it's to relax and enjoy the holidays, he doesn't deserve one single thought in that beautiful head of yours, just breathe and have fun" he tried his best to sound friendly instead of loving, but it was so hard.

"You're right, but it hurts anyway. I can't explain how it feels, but it's like a huge weight has been lifted off my back, but it only fell to hold onto my ankle, so I'll have to drag it along the way anyways" you sniffled, taking in his wonderful scent.

"And then Emma comes with a hammer and smash your chains, and him along the way” giggles filled the room, between the joke and him lightly pinching your sides to make you laugh.

"Yeah, I can imagine Emma opening Oscar's head with a sledge hammer, she never liked him, now I know why” The only thing that Tom wanted at that moment was to have that bastard in front of him to break his jaw, but what he neglected was Tom's gain. At least that worked that way in his head.

"She will kill me if she sees me with you like this" you sadly stated.

“I'm comforting you in your recent heartbreak, I'm not breaking a law”

"She won't see it that way"

"Why are you so afraid of her seeing us?"

"Because she has been my only friend since I moved to live in London, and I'm not good at making friends, so I kinda would be lost without her” you looked so sad, and again he was being an insensitive idiot, 'quickly, fix it somehow' he scolded himself.

"How did you two meet?".

"It was six years ago, she had just got her driving license, she didn't look at the road and almost killed me” Well the truth is that she did hit you with the car, it resulted in a minor sprain in your right leg, luckily she hadn't broken anything important.

"What?! You're joking” he slightly jumped, but managed to make it look as if he just wanted to shift in the bed to bring you closer.

"Nope, she felt so bad about it she invited me to have a drink, it was early in the morning so we went for coffee and cake, and somehow we've been friends ever since" she took you to the hospital and after the doctor checked you and put a splint on your leg, you two had horrible machine coffee and donuts that tasted like carboard.

It was definitely one way to meet someone.

You were barely 29 when you met her, two woman of the same age and generation, of course you had a ton of things in common. It felt normal, because none of you made it weird.

But why was it so strange to be with him?! The feeling that you already knew him and the desire to eat his mouth with kisses rose up your stomach to your smile, which shyly hid the softness of your personality and the bitter poison of the pain that you carried inside.

Your laughter was real and natural with him, his warmth enveloping you comfortably, never suffocating you. His hands never left your body and yet they kept a small space between the two of you.

He wanted to win your heart, but at the same time he was scared of crossing a line and disrespect you in any way.

He then remembered something you said that night, when you searched for him in the sheets not long after he turned off the lights. "Thank you, no one had cared like that about me" your words cut into his heart introducing love and affection, the sense of duty only forced him to help you out of the bar, but seeing the beautiful and brave woman he had found, he couldn't help but feel that he wanted to put his heart in a box and give it to you.

He knew he might be exaggerating, but five years? A woman had him crazy for five years after spending much less than eight hours together? It was so brief that it seemed like a joke.

To top it off, you're friends with his sister, she’s your only friend. He knew her character and warped sense of loyalty, she would just push you aside…but hadn't she already?

Having thrown all the pain against his chest, you jumped when you heard the front door open, the squeak of the hinges echoing throughout the house. His eyes filled with pain at the sense of loss of you.

“We should go” you wanted him to stay like that with you just one minute more.

“Right” he almost said ‘Stay’, but he rather not cause you any problems.

While you and Tom had your little moment, Emma had seen everything. How her brother's demeanor shifted completely, like she was witnessing the man he was five years ago. She saw you were in trouble with Manuel so she was about to intercede, but Tom was inhumanely faster to go to your rescue.

She entertained Viv and Nao so they didn't noticed the situation, and allowed you to go away in the arms of her brother, almost never minding the oddity of the looks of it. But he was just being nice...right?

Banoffee pie was the star of the Christmas dinner you and Emma made. She and Tom were handling the meat and the tofu stuff while you handled the making of the garlic bread and pastries for desert.

“How do you do that?” he asked leaning over your shoulder as you kneaded the bread dough, “Well, I just do it, I don’t really have a technique, I learned by watching my grandma do it” you knew Emma’s stare was piercing though Tom’s head, so you masked your teasing tone with an elusive answer.

Tom was watching your hands squeeze and mold the dough, feeling his pants a little tighter by the minute.

“Hey I need someone to taste this, please?” Tom propped himself next to you like a kid waiting to lick the spoon. “Tell me if it’s too sweet, sometimes I can get carried away” you handed him the wooden spoon with a small taste of the lime custard for the strawberry tartlet you were making.

“A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide! The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love” he quoted Romeo’s dying words from Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’, earning a playful smack in the shoulder on your part.

He moaned in delight after he tasted it. He even leaned slightly on top of the kitchen isle, making you laugh, “It’s perfect” he repressed the impulse to go and kiss you. There was something similar between you and the taste of it, sweet, delicate and at the same time strong, but that could be the bitterness of the lime. It resembled you perfectly.

‘What the fuck?!’ Emma thought to herself watching the whole thing, she then turned to see her other friends not really paying attention to them, were Nao and Viv oblivious to their behavior?

Whatever that was continued during dinner, Tom and you constantly eyeing each other, laughing at each other’s jokes. It sickened her.

Your phone started ringing during the toast, Oscar’s name on the contact name. “Excuse me one second, I have to take this” you slipped out of the dining room and went straight to the terrace.

“Hello?” you didn’t meant to sound hostile, but your entire mood was ruined with his call, “Y/n, we need to talk”.

[nexyra]

RWBY's Love Language - Part 2

Hello friend ! I'm back at it with a second part and whatever character I can think of ! (Among which best boy Oscar because he deserves it, and also more adults)

Let's go !

***

Oscar Pine

So ! While I love Oscar with my whole heart, honestly guessing his Love Language is no easy feat. One thing for sure : touch isn't is thing even if it's how everyone else chose to communicate their love.

I saw a post a while back detailing how Oscar is always putting his hands up as a barrier when he's scared or uncomfortable and that makes me cry a little instead but it's true TT. Anyway...

In the latest volumes we've got quite a bit of comforting Oscar-talks but I have to wonder how much of that is due to Ozpin's influence really. As a result I've decided to settle on... Acts of Service or Quality Time ! This is based on a few details : when people are upset with him in one shape or form, Oscar was always very eager to prove himself useful, give some aspect of concrete help (such as cooking a Casserole, ringing any bell ?). Plus I imagine that's the exact brand of help his Aunt would have needed most on a farm. Added to that, he always seems fairly happy to be included, be with the others no matter what's going on. Training ? Yay ! A movie with Jaune & Weiss ? Smiling puppy look. Fancy party ? Shenanigans together ! So yea, I love seeing my boy loved and hugged but please everyone settle for the loving he's most comfortable with <3

“She made a choice! A choice to put others before herself! So do I.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I thought you guys would appreciate a hot meal after... spending all day looking for me, apparently.”

“No, it's okay. These past few days, I've been scared of the same things you were. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be... me. But I did some thinking, and I do know that I want to do everything I can to help with whatever time I have left.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Ozpin

For our favorite immortal wizard aka not quite dead Headmaster... I think the answer is rather obvious. When you're so careful with your words, but also so fiercely devoted to humanity, Words of Affirmation is a must. Ozpin constantly does his best to calm, to reassure. He's good at controlling the conversation and getting people where he wants... Except he more often than not use it to make them think and help them reach an healing ore motivating conclusion. This man is so insisten on giving and cultivating hope, so painfully aware of just how much words can change... There's no doubt in my mind that it's through these very same words that he tries to fight the darkness in others' mind, even when they don't want to let themselves be persuaded. And with some help from the farmboi, Ozpin is gaining in honesty and earnestness. And that can only help in giving comfort.

But to be honest... If you offer him a hug I doubt he'd refuse, and he definitely deserves one. Also therapy. For Oscar too. Everyone in therapy 2k21.

“Ruby. I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them. Do you?”

“It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget.”

“Don't worry, Mr. Arc. Your journey is far from over, and the same might be said for all of you. Unlocking your Semblance isn't the end. It can still grow and evolve. Providing you are willing to put in the work, who knows what could happen?”

- - - - - - - - - -

Emerald Sustrai

Now here I'm gonna go ahead and say that the way Emerald has been taught to express her love and the way SHE would rather preffered to be loved most likely do not align. At the side of someone like Cinder, and even Mercury who isn't exactly the most emotionally vulnerable person; the only brand of love that gets an easy pass is Acts of Service, and that's probably what Emerald is the most used to. I can go on a mission with you. I can help. We go right back to the "I can be useful" mentality and I'm not sure she's been shown any other way honestly. Let's be real though : if someone offered a hug or some gentle words ? She'd probably pout & fuss but I hardly doubt she'd object.

“I don't care about Salem! But I owe Cinder everything. You want to fight her that bad? Be my guest.”

“I just... Cinder was the only family I ever had. She cared about me, taught me things... But without her here, I don't know if what we're doing--”

“I've been working on my Semblance. I can help. I won't tell anybody.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Pyrrha Nikos

What's with everyone and dedicating their whole love toward just helping their teammates anyway they can ?! Stop ! But any way, you guessed it. I'm pretty sure one of Pyrrha's top way of showing love is Acts of Service, and nothing means quite as much to her as Quality Time. For someone who's been put on a pedestal and has a hard time relating to people; both touch and words can be a bit awkward. But if they're wrapped up neatly in a training session or semblance explanations ? Well that's already a more familiar area. Pyrrha gives her whole to her friends and those she cares about. And in exchange, if anyone can simply... be there and spend time with her... May it be at the ball or simply sitting in the courtyard... I'm sure our girl would be delighted.

“Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask.”

“I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise; but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. But thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime.”

“I'll do it. If you believe this will help humanity, then I will become your Fall Maiden.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Qrow Branwen

If I say Gift Giving for the corvid, is someone gonna hit me ? Come on it's fun ! Okay, more seriously... I think this kind of love conversation is kind of a necessity for Qrow. With a semblance such as Bad Luck, making everything complicated... Qrow tries to keep his distance from those he cares about. And since he's an emotionally repressed (but caring) asshole on top of it... Well that kinda narrows down his option. You know what DOESN'T put anyone at risk but can still bring smiles on their face ? GIFTS. Shiny things, souvenirs from his missions all over the world to give to 2 smol nieces. Sounds safe right ? That said, as any good emotionally unavailable character in this show, I gotta say Qrow probably has a thing for helping out and making himself useful in relation to Oz, Tai or the rest of the inner circle. So you know what that means *whisper* Acts of Service.

That said ! When it comes to receiving some love back... Qrow probably likes everything he doesn't allow himself to have. Soft touches, loving & comforting words, spending time with a friend without his semblance making everything complicated... We know that's all he wants.

“You idiot. I know you didn't do this.”

“Look, pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece alone.”

“No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good...”

- - - - - - - - - -

Clover Ebi

And among our newbies (and gone too soon) friends we have Clover ! Clover was a very good contrast to our dusty old crow but also a great help. Kind-hearted, perceptive and honest; he knew just how to put Qrow's self-loathing in his place and push him to give himself some credit. He always had a nice word or a joke for everyone, and visibly the rock of the Ace Ops : an expert a keeping the moral up and the mood companiable. Evidently, Words of Affirmation was his expertise. Had things gone differently, I'm sure we'd have had time for many more earnest and helpful conversations with this teal-eyed fisherman.

“It's a good thing they had someone to look up to and get them through it. Not everyone is so lucky.”

“I meant deflect a compliment. Those kids wouldn't be where they are without you. You've had more of an effect on them than you realize.”

“We don't have to fight, friend.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Winter Schnee

And today in the "emotionally unavailable" category we have... Winter Schnee ! TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS PEOPLE ! Just - I would say look at Ruby but even she doesn't talk about her bad vibes... Nor does any of the "Words of Affirmation" peeps. Honestly what's wrong with y'all people ? Anyway Winter cares so much. Is it hidden behind professionalism and a stern *big sister* demeanour ? Sure. But it doesn't negate just how much she loves her closed ones. She's fiercely loyal, and even if she doesn't let her personal feelings get in the way of her duty and doing what needs to be done, no one is allowed to say she doesn't care. Countrary to Weiss, Winter doesn't seem as good nor as aware of the love that exists in simply *being* with people. Rather, she's dutiful and ready to help any way she can when given the chance. You guessed it, yet another Acts of Service kind of love... Maybe I'm doing this wrong XD. I'm on the fence about Words of Affirmation as well. Despite her standoffish looks, Winter has always been very open & reassuring during her discussions with Penny. But she's more stern when it comes to Weiss so I dunno x)

“I don't recall asking about your ranking, I'm asking how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?”

“You've grown up a bit, haven't you? You're not the little girl clinging to the family name anymore.”

“You can't just buy trust like everything else! You have to earn it!”

And that's it for Part 2 ! I might do some other characters if people suggest some but I don't have a pressing need to right now. I have many ideas of songs to apply to various characters however so that's prob what my next posts will consist of (or fun templates)

If anyone has tips to create RWBY gifs or links to download the eps in good quality I'll take it ! Good day everyone !

[marigoldsandbuttercups]

ok how would UT/UF sans and US/SW bros feel about their s/o calling them the weirdest nicknames like "whats up mr studmuffin/bone baby/sugar skull" or "heeyyy my love bug honey poodle" and sometimes they cant even say the nickname cause their too busy laughing at how funny the nickname is hopefully this makes sense XD if it dont ignore me, I'm not good at wording

hahshsjsjsj it makes sense!

Ultra Cheesy Nicknames

Sans: Oh man, he loves it, they tickle his funny bone and he just can't help but find it humerus everytime you pull a new one out of nowhere. But make no mistake, this is Sans we're talking about, the skeleton who has pranked someone through time and space, he will absolutely come up with own ridiculous nicknames and they become your inside jokes, much to Papyrus' chagrin.

Red: At first, it was so random it threw him for a loop, but then, he found himself to be more and more entertained by them. He also can't help but laugh with you everytime before you even finish the name, and while Red does make his retaliation, he comes back hard. And so, so much more lewd, they're so ridiculous that it's hard to even feel flustered by them as you're giggling so much!

Blue: Like Red, it threw him for a loop for a good bit but after a while, he found himself being amused by it as well. He loves the overly cheesy, painfully sappy ones! Blue is a Sans, he will create his own kind of ridiculously sweet nicknames and he'd ever suggest to do it in front of his brother to bully him. Ah yes, it's not often he makes Stretch pretend like he doesn't know him, so he relishes in it!

Stretch: Boy, you've definitely got him all flustered for sure! He can't help but be enraptured in giggles when you first pull it on him and while his nicknames for you might never reach the same level of absurdity (he tries, but he forfeits that crown over to you) he likes it, it kinda makes him feel all fuzzy inside with how detailed you can get about it.

Black: He's.. Perplexed. Well, Black considers himself to be a true romantic, one of such a caliber that none of the other skeletons to could come close no matter how hard they try. With that being said, it will take him a while to get used to it entirely and though he might not react much in public, he'll have maybe one or two cheesy nicknames for you.. That is until you find a journal and see a whole page dedicated to ridiculous nicknames hshshsjs.

Rus: Oh honey, you just hit the jackpot! He loves it so much and here can't help but laugh his nonexistent ass off everytime you come up with something new. Rus is, in other words, shameless so he's bound to come with ridiculous nicknames that could very well rival your own, much to his brothers dismay if you do it in public while he's there.

[redphienix]

There's an interesting feeling of betrayal (I guess?) involved with a fad being one of your favorite things and then everyone else moves on and the entire discussion around your favorite thing is about how "played out" "overdone" or whatever it was.

Like in no uncertain terms, 'full band rhythm games', specifically Rock Band but obviously most of the guitar hero titles qualify, IS one of my favorite game experiences.

Hundreds of hours dedicated and yet no real interest in being the best, I just really love them- Rock Band 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, I have so many memories and in-jokes built around that generation of rhythm games with my sister and cousin, I have an OC built from those titles that remains one of my favorite dudes who I wish was evolving with the times but he's trapped in a dead series.

And the only time things like Rock Band or Guitar Hero ever come up in discussion is to slam them for being a tired idea that Activision saw fit to drown to death through over-exposure. The only time anyone mentions them is to laugh at plastic guitars and bi or even tri-yearly releases.

and I'm stuck standing here frownin' because at one point everyone was into the thing I found pure joy in, and now it's painfully difficult to experience it again- with scalped prices and dead instruments, with drums being a pain to find and guitars being more often than not unusable, meanwhile the conversation is busy insulting the specific genre of rhythm game for even existing and I'm :(